Book Reviews (May 2011)

Eric Leskowitz. The Joy of Sox: Weird Science and the Power of Intention. Boston, MA: Self-published. 2010. 291 pp  
$15 when ordered from http://www.thejoyofsoxmovie.com/

Eric Leskowitz, MD, a Harvard Psychiatrist, has written a highly unusual book – exploring and explaining how the wishes and intentions of fans may be able to influence the outcomes of sporting events. While he focuses largely on the Boston Red Sox baseball team, he also explores other situations in which a group of people may be able to collectively influence the outcome of other people's behaviors.

Leskowitz is pushing the leading edge of consciousness research in this book. Some might say he is way out beyond the leading edge or has possibly fallen over the edge into a virtual abyss of weird science they believe exists only in the fantasies of gullible believers in non-existent, pseudo-science. (I am certain I understate here the criticisms of skeptics and disbelievers in intuitive, psychic abilities.)

Leskowitz is tremendously enthusiastic about the Red Sox. His starting point is with their World Series victory in 2004, their first win in 86 years. He considers a range of factors that appear to have contributed to their success, starting with some of the usually accepted ‘team spirit’ types of explanations – including "The team’s sense of humor, their focus on the present moment, their affection for one another, and their ability to change the way they think about important events." (p. 12)  "Alongside humor, meditation and cognitive restructuring, the Sox used one other proven stress-buster: unconditional love." (p. 18) Leskowitz also details how these factors changed over the years following their unexpected success.

Leskowitz goes well beyond these conventional explanations, and here lies the wonderful contribution of this book. We are given a thorough discussion of holistic medicine, which addresses body, thoughts, emotions, relationships, subtle energies within and between people, and spirit. These detailed explanations provide a basis for understanding how a baseball team – as an example of any individual or group of people – can create its own reality.

In the major portion of this book, Leskowitz shares a diary of his path of working towards creating a film about the Sox’s success. I am certain that most baseball fans will greatly enjoy these details of interviewing Sox team members, seeking media and financial support, and exploring computerized measurements of baseball spectators’ levels of enthusiasm.

He then proposes and provides supports for his thesis that the enthusiasm of the Sox fans may have created an actual energy that boosted their success. This is a contribution to the study of collective consciousness in several ways. It suggests that groups of people, focusing their intentions together, may be able to alter the outcomes of other people's behaviors.

Leskowitz performed several experiments:

Our Joy of Sox fan mojo test. In March 2009, our team of 1100 website visitors (that was the total before we went viral) started a weekly baseball intentionality project. We invited fans to spend 5 minutes every week, just before the start of the regular Friday night game, sending positive intentions to the Boston Red Sox.

We tracked the results of those Friday night game during the 2009 and early 2010 season, and played a closer look at the team’s performance during the first inning of those games, to see what patterns emerged. (p. 101)

I won't spoil the ending by sharing the results. Those interested in the outcome of this study will have to read this book to see how this turned out.

I must admit I am personally unhappy with recommendations for using outcome-driven intent on one group of people (in this case the Sox) – particularly when this is at the expense of other groups of people (the opposing teams). Leskowitz does address this issue:

There’s a built-in challenge to this sports experiment: the best technique to elicit powerful heart energy (and thus enhance the player’s performance) requires that the intender give up thoughts of victory. The act of hoping that one team wins at the expense of another sets up an “Us vs. Them” vibe that actually dissipates the deep compassion that is needed to generate a strong energy field. This paradox actually requires rooters to evolve spiritually – to overcome their need to win by making victory a preference rather than a requirement, and by getting into a mode of goodwill rather than victor/victim. (p. 101)

I can only hope that most people invited to exert the influence of their intent for the victory of one team would be able to maintain the goodwill that Leskowitz suggests is appropriate in such endeavors, but I rather doubt this is possible for most sports enthusiasts to do.

A second series of experiments involved the use of a Random Number Generators (RNG). RNGs are electronic devices that randomly generate ones and zeros, many times a second. In the normal course of events, an RNG will produce 50% ones and 50% zeros, as it is designed to do. However, when RNGs are monitored over long periods of time, it has been noted that they deviate from their random distribution of numbers when there are events of major interest to large numbers of people around the world. Events that have been noted to cause such effects include a visit of a Pope to a foreign country and the OJ Simpson trial. These results have been reported simultaneously with RNGs observed in diverse locations around the world.

Heretofore, the RNG studies have focused on events involving the interest of many millions of people. Recently, a new variety of RNG has been developed that appears to be sensitive to events of more local interest, involving only thousands of people.

Leskowitz explored whether times of excitement in the Sox ballpark might correlate with deviations in one of these new RNG devices that he set up in the ballpark. He found that

Six of the seven highest peaks (or lowest valleys) occurred during emotionally key moments of the game. The odds against these correlations happening just by chance are nearly 10,000 to one.

The Wave, Big Papi at the bat, a hearty “Youk!” cheer, the last of the 9th, and most strikingly, the daily “Sweet Caroline” singalong – these events were the backdrop when the computer registered most strongly. Somehow or other, the focused attention of the 35,000 fans in attendence caused the machine to respond. It’s eerie because the computer wasn’t connected to anything – there was no microphone or electrodes or sensors. It just kept on spitting our its string of random number, and was somehow influence by the environment. (p. 197)

While this is just a pilot study, it suggests that further, controlled studies are warranted.

Leskowitz shares notes on several more explorations with group intent, such as "… using the power of positive intentionality to help restore the earth’s ecosystem to a thriving stare of health and vitality. Albuquerque psychiatrist Scott Walker has developed a multipronged program called “Thriving Earth” that includes this distant intentionality effort, called Eco-Prayer: http://www.eco-prayer.org/.)"  Another "…group is studying the effect of thoughts on lake water pollution, using shamanic techniques to cooperate with so-called nature spirits. Sandra Ingeman leads this effort, and their website is at www.ShamanicVisions.com/Ingerman (click on “Human web of light”)." (p. 258-9)

Leskowitz's explorations continue, with interesting results when the focus of his collaborating fans was shifted to explore their collective influence on individual players in 2010. His research gives us hope that good intentions might yet prevail on our planet.

So no matter how you slice it – in health, in sports, in families and in politics – the more you can stay in your own alignment, the more you can influence others. Positive emotions are contagious, and they are the emotions that are most powerful at triggering manifestation and creating the experiences you dream of.  (p. 286-7)
 
However, there is no guaranteeing that the negative intentions of those motivated by selfish interests will not prevail… So please, dear reader, add your positive intentions for the healing of our planet to the collective consciousness!

(Book reviews by Daniel Benor, MD, Editor in Chief)