Zero Sunspots: Global Consciousness, Solar Activity and 2012

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 (see: ). 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 stimula 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 environmet. 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 occuring.

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 occuring. What's more likely, as changes in global consciousness produce
greater planetary cooperation and harmony, is that sunspot cylce 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.

Michael E. Salla, Ph.D

Kona, Hawaii
09/10/08
www.Exopolitics.Org