第 8 页

becoming reality as the shocking new data poured in, all of it supporting the basic ideology of Noetic

Science—the untapped potential of the human mind.

The overall thesis was simple: We have barely scratched the surface of our mental and spiritual capabilities.

Experiments at facilities like the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) in California and the Princeton

Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR) had categorically proven that human thought, if properly

focused, had the ability to affect and change physical mass. Their experiments were no “spoon-bending”

parlor tricks, but rather highly controlled inquiries that all produced the same extraordinary result: our

thoughts actually interacted with the physical world, whether or not we knew it, effecting change all the way

down to the subatomic realm.

Mind over matter.

In 2001, in the hours following the horrifying events of September 11, the field of Noetic Science made a

quantum leap forward. Four scientists discovered that as the frightened world came together and focused in

shared grief on this single tragedy, the outputs of thirty-seven different Random Event Generators around the

world suddenly became significantly less random. Somehow, the oneness of this shared experience, the

coalescing of millions of minds, had affected the randomizing function of these machines, organizing their

outputs and bringing order from chaos.

The shocking discovery, it seemed, paralleled the ancient spiritual belief in a “cosmic consciousness”—a vast

coalescing of human intention that was actually capable of interacting with physical matter. Recently, studies

in mass meditation and prayer had produced similar results in Random Event Generators, fueling the claim

that human consciousness, as Noetic author Lynne McTaggart described it, was a substance outside the

confines of the body . . . a highly ordered energy capable of changing the physical world. Katherine had been

fascinated by McTaggart’s book The Intention Experiment, and her global, Web-based study—

theintentionexperiment.com—aimed at discovering how human intention could affect the world. A handful

of other progressive texts had also piqued Katherine’s interest.

From this foundation, Katherine Solomon’s research had vaulted forward, proving that “focused thought”

could affect literally anything—the growth rate of plants, the direction that fish swam in a bowl, the manner

in which cells divided in a petri dish, the synchronization of separately automated systems, and the chemical

reactions in one’s own body. Even the crystalline structure of a newly forming solid was rendered mutable by

one’s mind; Katherine had created beautifully symmetrical ice crystals by sending loving thoughts to a glass

of water as it froze. Incredibly, the converse was also true: when she sent negative, polluting thoughts to the

water, the ice crystals froze in chaotic, fractured forms.

Human thought can literally transform the physical world.

As Katherine’s experiments grew bolder, her results became more astounding. Her work in this lab had

proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that “mind over matter” was not just some New Age self-help mantra.

The mind had the ability to alter the state of matter itself, and, more important, the mind had the power to

encourage the physical world to move in a specific direction.

We are the masters of our own universe.

At the subatomic level, Katherine had shown that particles themselves came in and out of existence based

solely on her intention to observe them. In a sense, her desire to see a particle . . . manifested that particle.

Heisenberg had hinted at this reality decades ago, and now it had be come a fundamental principle of Noetic

Science. In the words of Lynne McTaggart: “Living consciousness somehow is the influence that turns the

possibility of something into something real. The most essential ingredient in creating our universe is the

consciousness that observes it.”

The most astonishing aspect of Katherine’s work, however, had been the realization that the mind’s ability to

affect the physical world could be augmented through practice. Intention was a learned skill. Like

meditation, harnessing the true power of “thought” required practice. More important . . . some people were

born more skilled at it than others. And throughout history, there had been those few who had become true

masters.

This is the missing link between modern science and ancient mysticism.

Katherine had learned this from her brother, Peter, and now, as her thoughts turned back to him, she felt a

deepening concern. She walked to the lab’s research library and peered in. Empty.

The library was a small reading room—two Morris chairs, a wooden table, two floor lamps, and a wall of

mahogany bookshelves that held some five hundred books. Katherine and Peter had pooled their favorite

texts here, writings on everything from particle physics to ancient mysticism. Their collection had grown into

an eclectic fusion of new and old . . . of cutting-edge and historical. Most of Katherine’s books bore titles like

Quantum Consciousness, The New Physics, and Principles of Neural Science. Her brother’s bore older, more

esoteric titles like the Kybalion, the Zohar, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, and a translation of the Sumerian

tablets from the British Museum.

“The key to our scientific future,” her brother often said, “is hidden in our past.” A lifelong scholar of

history, science, and mysticism, Peter had been the first to encourage Katherine to boost her university

science education with an understanding of early Hermetic philosophy. She had been only nineteen years old

when Peter sparked her interest in the link between modern science and ancient mysticism.

“So tell me, Kate,” her brother had asked while she was home on vacation during her sophomore year at

Yale. “What are Elis reading these days in theoretical physics?”

Katherine had stood in her family’s book-filled library and recited her demanding reading list.

“Impressive,” her brother replied. “Einstein, Bohr, and Hawking are modern geniuses. But are you reading

anything older?”

Katherine scratched her head. “You mean like . . . Newton?”

He smiled. “Keep going.” At twenty-seven, Peter had already made a name for himself in the academic

world, and he and Katherine had grown to savor this kind of playful intellectual sparring.

Older than Newton? Katherine’s head now filled with distant names like Ptolemy, Pythagoras, and Hermes

Trismegistus. Nobody reads that stuff anymore.

Her brother ran a finger down the long shelf of cracked leather bindings and old dusty tomes. “The scientific

wisdom of the ancients was staggering . . . modern physics is only now beginning to comprehend it all.”

“Peter,” she said, “you already told me that the Egyptians understood levers and pulleys long before Newton,

and that the early alchemists did work on a par with modern chemistry, but so what? Today’s physics deals

with concepts that would have been unimaginable to the ancients.”

“Like what?”

“Well . . . like entanglement theory, for one!” Subatomic research had now proven categorically that all

matter was interconnected . . . entangled in a single unified mesh . . . a kind of universal oneness. “You’re

telling me the ancients sat around discussing entanglement theory?”

“Absolutely!” Peter said, pushing his long, dark bangs out of his eyes. “Entanglement was at the core of

primeval beliefs. Its names are as old as history itself . . . Dharmakaya, Tao, Brahman. In fact, man’s oldest

spiritual quest was to perceive his own entanglement, to sense his own interconnection with all things. He

has always wanted to become ‘one’ with the universe . . . to achieve the state of ‘at-one-ment.’ ” Her brother

raised his eyebrows. “To this day, Jews and Christians still strive for ‘atonement’ . . . although most of us

have forgotten it is actually ‘at-one-ment’ we’re seeking.”

Katherine sighed, having forgotten how hard it was to argue with a man so well versed in history. “Okay, but

you’re talking in generalities. I’m talking specific physics.”

“Then be specific.” His keen eyes challenged her now.

“Okay, how about something as simple as polarity—the positive/negative balance of the subatomic realm.

Obviously, the ancients didn’t underst—”

“Hold on!” Her brother pulled down a large dusty text, which he dropped loudly on the library table.

“Modern polarity is nothing but the ‘dual world’ described by Krishna here in the Bhagavad Gita over two

thousand years ago. A dozen other books in here, including the Kybalion, talk about binary systems and the

opposing forces in nature.”

Katherine was skeptical. “Okay, but if we talk about modern discoveries in subatomics—the Heisenberg

uncertainty principle, for example—”

“Then we must look here,” Peter said, striding down his long bookshelf and pulling out another text. “The

sacred Hindu Vendantic scriptures known as the Upanishads.” He dropped the tome heavily on the first.

“Heisenberg and Schr?dinger studied this text and credited it with helping them formulate some of their

theories.”

The showdown continued for several minutes, and the stack of dusty books on the desk grew taller and taller.

Finally Katherine threw up her hands in frustration. “Okay! You made your point, but I want to study

cutting-edge theoretical physics. The future of science! I really doubt Krishna or Vyasa had much to say

about superstring theory and multidimensional cosmological models.”

“You’re right. They didn’t.” Her brother paused, a smile crossing his lips. “If you’re talking superstring

theory . . .” He wandered over to the bookshelf yet again. “Then you’re talking this book here.” He heaved

out a colossal leather-bound book and dropped it with a crash onto the desk. “Thirteenth-century translation

of the original medieval Aramaic.”

“Superstring theory in the thirteenth century?!” Katherine wasn’t buying it. “Come on!”

Superstring theory was a brand-new cosmological model. Based on the most recent scientific observations, it

suggested the multidimensional universe was made up not of three . . . but rather of ten dimensions, which all

interacted like vibrating strings, similar to resonating violin strings.

Katherine waited as her brother heaved open the book, ran through the ornately printed table of contents, and

then flipped to a spot near the beginning of the book. “Read this.” He pointed to a faded page of text and

diagrams.

Dutifully, Katherine studied the page. The translation was old-fashioned and very hard to read, but to her

utter amazement, the text and drawings clearly outlined the exact same universe heralded by modern

superstring theory—a ten-dimensional universe of resonating strings. As she continued reading, she suddenly

gasped and recoiled. “My God, it even describes how six of the dimensions are entangled and act as one?!”

She took a frightened step backward. “What is this book?!”

Her brother grinned. “Something I’m hoping you’ll read one day.” He flipped back to the title page, where an

ornately printed plate bore three words.

The Complete Zohar.

Although Katherine had never read the Zohar, she knew it was the fundamental text of early Jewish

mysticism, once believed so potent that it was reserved only for the most erudite rabbis.

Katherine eyed the book. “You’re saying the early mystics knew their universe had ten dimensions?”

“Absolutely.” He motioned to the page’s illustration of ten intertwined circles called Sephiroth. “Obviously,

the nomenclature is esoteric, but the physics is very advanced.”

Katherine didn’t know how to respond. “But . . . then why don’t more people study this?”

Her brother smiled. “They will.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Katherine, we have been born into wonderful times. A change is coming. Human beings are poised on the

threshold of a new age when they will begin turning their eyes back to nature and to the old ways . . . back to

the ideas in books like the Zohar and other ancient texts from around the world. Powerful truth has its own

gravity and eventually pulls people back to it. There will come a day when modern science begins in earnest

to study the wisdom of the ancients . . . that will be the day that mankind begins to find answers to the big

questions that still elude him.”

That night, Katherine eagerly began reading her brother’s ancient texts and quickly came to understand that

he was right. The ancients possessed profound scientific wisdom. Today’s science was not so much making

“discoveries” as it was making “rediscoveries.” Mankind, it seemed, had once grasped the true nature of the

universe . . . but had let go . . . and forgotten.

Modern physics can help us remember! This quest had become Katherine’s mission in life—to use advanced

science to rediscover the lost wisdom of the ancients. It was more than academic thrill that kept her

motivated. Beneath it all was her conviction that the world needed this understanding . . . now more than

ever.

At the rear of the lab, Katherine saw her brother’s white lab coat hanging on its hook along with her own.

Reflexively, she pulled out her phone to check for messages. Nothing. A voice echoed again in her memory.

That which your brother believes is hidden in D.C. . . . it can be found. Sometimes a legend that endures for

centuries . . . endures for a reason.

“No,” Katherine said aloud. “It can’t possibly be real.”

Sometimes a legend was just that—a legend.

CHAPTER 16

Security chief Trent Anderson stormed back toward the Capitol Rotunda, fuming at the failure of his

security team. One of his men had just found a sling and an army-surplus jacket in an alcove near the east

portico.

The goddamn guy walked right out of here!

Anderson had already assigned teams to start scanning exterior video, but by the time they found anything,

this guy would be long gone.

Now, as Anderson entered the Rotunda to survey the damage, he saw that the situation had been contained as

well as could be expected. All four entrances to the Rotunda were closed with as inconspicuous a method of

crowd control as Security had at its disposal—a velvet swag, an apologetic guard, and a sign that read THIS

ROOM TEMPORARILY CLOSED FOR CLEANING. The dozen or so witnesses were all being herded

into a group on the eastern perimeter of the room, where the guards were collecting cell phones and cameras;