by Michael E. Salla, Ph.D
Kona, Hawaii
September/10/2008
from Exopolitics Website

For the first time since June 1913, there has been no sunspot activity for a whole month.

The zero sunspot activity for August 2008 was preceded by an average of only three sunspots for the first seven months of the year. This low solar activity contrasts with the average of a hundred or so sunspots per month when the sun enters its more active phases.

Mitch Battros and other solar researchers have been arguing that we are witnessing the calm before the storm of what will be the most powerful solar cycle on record.

In particular, Battros claims that Solar Cycle 24 will cause widespread Earth Changes and human disruption at an unprecedented scale that coincides with the end of the Mayan Calendar in 2012.

What Battros and other like minded researchers fail to account for in their analyses of solar activity and its impact on Earth is the role of global consciousness. The zero sunspot count for August may therefore not be a cause for concern, but a sign that changes in global consciousness are influencing solar activity in a positive way.

Before examining the idea that low sunspot activity up to this time is the proverbial calm before the storm, it's worth briefly commenting on an alternative explanation.

There is widespread scientific agreement that sunspot activity is one of the primary factors driving earth's weather patterns. The low sunspot activity in the first half of 2008 has therefore led to some scientific speculation that we are on the verge of a mini ice age called a Maunder Minimum. The Maunder Minimum was the period between 1645 and 1715 when there was relatively little sun spot activity.

During one thirty year period, only about 50 sunspots appeared as opposed to the typical 40,000-50,000 sunspots.

This resulted in a "Little Ice Age" that devastated food crops in Northern Europe, North America and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. This may happen again according to two scientists, William Livingston and Matthew Penn, from the National Solar Observatory (NSO), who claim that sunspots are likely to disappear altogether in the next ten years. They submitted a paper with their surprising arguments in 2005 to the journal Science, but it was declined on the grounds of being too controversial.

At a solar scientific conference at Montana State University in June 2008, Saku Tsuneta with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, said of the sun's solar activity:

"It continues to be dead... That's a small concern, a very small concern."

Alternatively, other solar researchers claim we are witnessing the calm before the storm of what is predicted to be the most powerful solar cycle on record.

In 2006 a team of solar scientists led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) announced that the,

"next sunspot cycle [#24] will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one."

This has given credence to claims by Mitch Battros that we are about to experience the most turbulent and intense period of solar activity on record which will trigger enormous Earth Changes and human disruption.
 

Sunspot Activity, Earth Changes and Human Disruption

Battros uses the following equation to summarize his reasoning:

"Sunspots => Solar Flares (charged particles) => Magnetic Field Shift => Shifting Ocean and Jet Stream Currents => Extreme Weather and Human Disruption."

Basically, he argues that sunspots trigger solar events such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that have an effect on the Earth's magnetosphere. CME's deliver vast amounts of electromagnetic energy that can have a great impact the Earth's atmosphere, oceans and mantle.

The result for high sunspot activity and CMEs directed at the Earth are major weather disturbances such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.; damage to electrical systems and disruption of human physiology.

In his popular book, Solar Rain, Battros believes that the Mayans understood solar cycles and indeed predicted a highly active cycle to coincide with the end of the Mayan Calendar in 2012. This has contributed to a groundswell of popular support for the idea that 2012 marks a transition period in human history marked by intense solar activity and catastrophic Earth Changes.

2012 occurs around the peak of the Solar Cycle 24 which some claim began in July 2007 while others claim January 2008.

Remarking on the low sunspot count for the first half of 2008, Battros saw the calm as signaling a pressure build up similar to powerful earthquakes.

In one of his regular Earth Changes reports, he writes:

"Just as with all too quiet periods of earthquake activity, watch for Solar Cycle 24 to begin its ramping up starting next year, and if current scientific and ancient text predictions are correct, we had all better watch closely and remain "aware and prepare" for the storm many will not have expected."

Battros agrees that sunspot activity impacts on human physiology and consciousness, and makes this one of the main planks of his basic equation:

"Sunspots => Solar Flares (charged particles) => Magnetic Field Shift => Shifting Ocean and Jet Stream Currents => Extreme Weather and Human Disruption."

As far as human disruption is concerned, Battros writes:

I have begun to note it is not just the "external" (earth changes) which is shifting, but humans as well. Remember: we too have magnetic fields which surround each of us. I think it is not unrealistic to conjecture what is happening "externally" is also happening "internally".

 

I believe current science will acknowledge this notion, showing the Sun's "charged particles" and its influence on Earth's magnetic field is the impetus of change. In-like, this same causal effect occurs with human magnetic fields ushering in a change or "transition".

Battros argues that human disruption caused by solar activity ranges from a benign effect for some to a malignant effect for others.

Increased solar activity has the effect of either bringing out the best or worst in human behavior. So according to Battros, when we observe extremes in collective human behavior, we would do well to investigate solar activity as a causal agent.

This has led to Battros and others making a strong correlation between Mayan prophecies of extreme human behaviors associated with the end of the Mayan Calendar in 2012, with the upcoming solar maximum associated with Cycle 24.

What Battros and other solar researchers fail to consider, however, is the possibility that changes in human physiology and consciousness can directly influence sun spot activity!

Currently, his core equation is dominated by sun spot activity that ultimately influences human physiology and consciousness in a radial outward movement of solar activity from the sun. In contrast, there may be a yet unknown feedback loop whereby changes in human consciousness on Earth influence solar activity on the sun!

That means that the zero sunspot count for August and low average sunspot count for the first half of 2008 may not be signaling either a new "Little Ice Age" or pressure build up that is driven by the sun's own behavior.

The low sunspot activity may be caused by positive changes in humanity's global consciousness.
 

Changes in Global Consciousness

The best source for understanding the concept of 'global consciousness' and how it affects the evolution of life on Earth is Tielhard de Chardin and his concept of the 'noosphere'.

The noosphere was an evolving composite of humanity's thoughts, feelings and social relationships that evolved steadily upward towards a fuller manifestation of human potential. The concept of a global consciousness is physically represented through the communications infrastructure of the internet. The internet probably more than anything else physically symbolizes the noosphere or 'global consciousness' that Chardin was arguing to be a critical factor in the evolution of humanity.

This takes me to the question of how 'global consciousness' may be the missing variable that Mitch Battros and other solar researchers fail to account for in interpreting recent low sunspot activity. It can be proposed that global consciousness has somehow sufficiently impacted on the sun in some unknown feedback loop in a way that has caused zero sunspots for August 2008, and low sunspot activity for the first half of 2008.

If global consciousness is impacting on sunspot activity, then this may diminish, retard or even negate the massive Earth Changes that predicted by Battros and other solar researchers

It has been shown by a research project at Princeton University that major global events impact on the 'collective consciousness' or noosphere. Key events such as the deaths of Princes Dianna and Mother Theresa, the 911 attack, major earthquakes and other significant international events have a measurable impact on global consciousness.

So if external events register or impact on global consciousness,

• Can it work the other way?

• In other words, can global consciousness impact on external events in a way that significantly alters these?

The idea that consciousness can alter physical reality is found in various mystical traditions such as the Hermetic principles that were practiced by the ancient Greeks. This idea was popularized for students of quantum physics by Fritjoff Capra who wrote the Tao of Physics in 1974.

Essentially, quantum physicists were discovering that the observer of sub-atomic behaviors was a factor in understanding the behavior of these particles. This realization opened the door to the idea that consciousness impacts on the observed behavior of sub-atomic particles.

Going from the sub-atomic to the cellular level, biologist Dr Bruce Lipton found a direct causal relationship between changes in individual consciousness and the health of cells. In his best selling book, The Biology of Belief (2005), Lipton describes how cells are like tiny television receivers waiting for environmental stimuli to program them. Among the key environmental programmers for our cells is our consciousness which relays, through feelings and thoughts, how the cells are to behave.

Lipton's views have gained strong support among alternative health practitioners researching the mind-body connection.

Other researchers such as Greg Bradden have argued that human consciousness can indeed impact on the larger environment. In his book, The Divine Matrix (2008), Bradden argues that a vast quantum energy field exists in the universe. Using a range of scientific sources, he concludes that the "Divine Matrix" is responsive to all life in the universe.

This creates a complex feedback loop wherein individuals and the universe are interconnected, and can influence one another. What one thinks and feels at an individual level can and does influence larger external events. Bradden's work firmly suggests that larger galactic phenomena such as solar activity can be influenced by individual and group thoughts. In short, global consciousness can influence sunspot activity.

Another researcher who has extensively reviewed a range of scientific sources, Lyn McTaggart, has also claimed that a universal quantum energy field exists which individuals can influence through consciousness.

In her book, The Intention Experiment (2008), she claims that through positive intention, groups of individuals can influence their environments and change their lives. She has conducted a series of intention experiments that help verify that positive intention of groups of individuals focusing their thoughts on particular outcomes, can dramatically influence events around the globe.

Again, her research leads firmly to the conclusion that a complex feedback loop exists between solar events and global consciousness.

So going from sub-atomic particles and molecular particles to global events, it can be concluded that there is much scientific research firmly pointing to human consciousness as a significant factor in influencing the external environment. So when it comes to sunspot activity, global consciousness is a factor to be considered.

So this leads to the question, if global consciousness can influence sunspot activity, why the zero sunspot count for August 2008?
 

Did a Change in Global Consciousness cause the Zero Sunspot Activity for August 2008?

The idea that global consciousness can change and evolve is not new since this is something that Tielhard de Chardin proposed, and eventually got him into trouble with Catholic Church authorities.

So if there has recently been some dramatic shifts in global consciousness, what might be driving this?

One answer provided by Mitch Battros is that global consciousness is being influenced by solar activity. Consequently, the highly active 23 solar cycle that end in July 2007, may have played a major role in the evolution of human consciousness.

Solar Cycle 23 may have caused a rise in global consciousness by virtue of the fact that millions of individuals may have found themselves operating at a higher capacity. The net effect of heightened sunspot activity on human consciousness may have been a rise in global consciousness.

Another argument is that many have argued that the Earth and our solar system has entered a new region of the galaxy which makes possible a more evolved form of global consciousness. This has been referred to as the 'photon belt' and it has been argued to be a region that impacts on the frequencies of the Earth, the Sun and other planets in our solar system.

Other theorists have argued that the plane of our solar system has come into alignment with the galactic core of the Milky Way thereby impacting on global consciousness. All these may be factors driving changes in global consciousness, but the instrumental factor has been the growth in instantaneous global communications.

The best evidence of a dramatic shift in global consciousness is the development of the internet and the global communications and cyber-communities this has spawned.

The growth of internet social networks and discussion groups, has enabled individuals from around the planet to network with one other, establish new relationships, and create new identities that break down more local or national identities. More significantly, the internet has made it possible for communities to share information and take action to deal with global problems as they arose.

The internet has been a dramatic technological development that has made possible rapid changes in global consciousness. This change is unrivalled in human history and perhaps only the establishment of the printing press in the 15th century comes close to what is currently occurring.

So if it is accepted that global consciousness has shifted in ways that reflect a more integrated global community made possible by the communications infrastructure of the internet and cyber-communications, can this impact on sunspot activity? Put otherwise, does a more unified global humanity impact on the behavior of the sun?

This is a difficult question to answer, but it nevertheless points to the idea that changes in global consciousness are an important variable to take into account in analyzing the sun's behavior.

This is a variable that Mitch Battros and other solar researchers ignore in their highly deterministic accounts of sunspot activity influencing events on Earth.
 

Conclusion

It is highly likely that the zero sunspot activity for August 2008 and earlier low sunspot activity in 2008 is due to changes in global consciousness brought about by the harmonizing of human interests and activities through the internet.

As humanity continues to take large steps forward in promoting planetary harmony through the global cooperation and unity made possible by instantaneous global communications, the impact will be evident in solar activity.

So the Battros equation needs to consider that human consciousness is a causal agent rather than solely an effect of solar activity. His equation needs to incorporate the following direct causal relationship:

"Sunspots <=> Changes in Human Consciousness."

This means that Battros' and others predictions of highly destructive Earth changes resulting from a super active sunspot Cycle 24 will not emerge given the low sunspot count currently occurring.

What's more likely, as changes in global consciousness produce greater planetary cooperation and harmony, is that sunspot cycle 24 will be unremarkable. Neither a super active Cycle 24 causing massive Earth Changes, nor another Little Ice Age signifying extreme winter conditions.

The Zero sunspot count for August 2008 is therefore not a cause for concern, but something to be celebrated.