55 pages • 1 hour read
Joe DispenzaBecoming Supernatural: How Common People are Doing the Uncommon
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Quantum Physics and Consciousness
The quantum realm is central to Dispenza’s work because “becoming supernatural” involves learning to perceive frequencies and information outside of the physical senses and to affect change beyond conventional physical capabilities. Quantum physics is the study of these invisible frequencies, and Becoming Supernatural demonstrates how understanding this field can lead to radical changes in the physical body and external environment.
The quantum field (or unified field) is, as Dispenza explains, a realm of infinite possibility and non-linear time, made up of energy that cannot be felt or experienced with the physical senses. Though humans cannot perceive it, science has nonetheless been able to confirm its existence by studying the subatomic world—more specifically, the properties and behavior of electrons. Dispenza provides an updated model of the atom to illustrate this view of matter and energy; electrons exist in an invisible field surrounding the nucleus of an atom. An atom, and by extension everything in the universe, is predominantly “empty space” or, more accurately, energy/frequency. Dispenza also points to the example of the visible light spectrum to demonstrate how limited humans are in the frequencies they can perceive; this challenges the reader to expand their perception of reality to embrace the possibility that there are realms and phenomena that exist outside of human understanding, but exert influence nonetheless.
Dispenza posits that humans can access the quantum field with their minds through meditation and mindfulness practices. With repetition, intention, and elevated emotions, an individual can transcend their physical limitations, becoming pure consciousness, which will allow them to match the frequency of anything they want to create in their future. He provides a plethora of examples of people doing this successfully through the case study chapters and even cites his own experiences accessing the quantum realm. As shown through the many examples, the quantum field is where individuals can access infinite possibilities that allow them to not only manifest change in their outer reality—such as improved health, relationships, financial abundance, or other external desires—but also grant them a deeper understanding of the nature of reality or of themselves. Dispenza and the others who provide testimonies describe these experiences in the quantum as profound internal experiences that feel as vivid as real life and contain vibrant, complex imagery and heightened positive emotions, such as feelings of ecstasy, wholeness, or connectedness.
Dispenza also prompts the reader to consider what would happen if everyone could access this field and, as a result, achieve these higher states of consciousness and oneness with each other and the planet. This, he asserts, is the mission of this work—helping to elevate the collective consciousness and cause a species-wide evolution into more compassion and connectedness.
The Power of the Mind Over the Body
Central to Becoming Supernatural is the idea that the mind has a profound influence on bodily functions; Dispenza posits that conscious intention can catalyze remarkable physiological healing and transformation. Throughout the book, Dispenza provides both scientific and anecdotal evidence illustrating how individuals can unconsciously wreak havoc on their own physiology through negative thoughts, beliefs, and emotions or, conversely, promote healing by consciously re-framing these patterns into positive ones.
Dispenza first explains how the mind’s power over the body can affect an individual in negative, destructive ways. The anecdote about Anna is the first of many examples of this; in Chapter 1, Dispenza details how her husband’s death by suicide led her to spiral into not only mental distress but also severe physical health complications such as neuritis and esophageal cancer. He then explains in biological terms exactly how this happens; emotions are chemicals that are released as a result of certain experiences, and these chemicals can influence the expression of certain genes and affect the body’s processes. When these emotions are negative, they can downregulate healthy genes and cause stress in the body. The thinking-feeling feedback loop ingrains certain ways of being into the body, and the body can become addicted to familiar chemicals of stress hormones. People live “unconsciously” and, as a result, condition their bodies to live in stress. The constant invasion of stress hormones weakens the immune system, causing disease. Thus, as early as the first chapter, Dispenza presents a powerful case for the mind’s profound influence over the body. Examples of cases like Anna’s thus demonstrate how an individual under chronic stress manifests, or at the very least exacerbates, their own suffering and pain through their thought patterns. Anna’s subsequent triumph over her negative thought patterns, however, demonstrates the potential humans have to rewire their thinking to enact remarkable changes in their health. Becoming Supernatural is full of anecdotal evidence that shows how people rewire their unconscious, limiting programming.
Dispenza also presents empirical studies showing the mind’s influence over the body. A familiar example of this is the placebo effect, or the idea that a person’s pain or symptoms can be alleviated simply due to their belief in a treatment’s effectiveness, even if no real treatment was administered. Joe Dispenza presents a similar and equally powerful example: mental rehearsal, which is essentially practicing a task cognitively without physical movement. The brain cannot distinguish between a real experience and an imagined one, and thus both the brain and body undergo physical changes as a result of imagined practice, as evidenced by several empirical studies.
Dispenza notes that it is common for humans to live under chronic stress, and this explains why so many people experience physical and mental health complications. However, as the book asserts, harnessing the power of the mind through meditation allows people to exercise conscious control over formerly unconscious programming and thought patterns. Exercising this control and habitually generating positive emotions, Dispenza posits, allows an individual to tap into the body’s self-healing capabilities.
The Importance of Meditation and Mindfulness
In Becoming Supernatural, Joe Dispenza presents meditation as the primary tool for transformative change in mind, body, and spirit by exploring its empirically and anecdotally tested benefits and providing practical guidance for readers to implement in their own lives. Dispenza makes a distinction between matter and energy and says that most people identify themselves as mostly matter, a limiting view that leaves people “enslaved” to the material world. Thus, the focus of a meditation practice involves believing oneself to be beyond matter.
Dispenza spends much of the book exploring meditation’s purpose and function, grounding it in scientific study and neuroscientific principles. Gathering data from brain scans conducted on participants of his meditation workshops allows him and his team of researchers to empirically demonstrate meditation’s benefits. These data show that meditation causes the brain to function in a more coherent, orderly fashion, which enhances mental processing and decision-making. Additionally, meditation involves disconnecting from one’s conditioned habits and thought patterns, producing elevated emotions. These elevated emotions send chemical signals to the body, reducing stress hormones, strengthening the immune system, and upregulating the expression of healthy genes. Thus, Dispenza argues, being mindful is vital for maintaining optimal health and orderly functioning in the body.
Beyond the physical body, however, Dispenza also champions meditation for its spiritual benefits and its ability to connect people to a space of limitless possibility—the quantum field. He explores this in detail in Chapter 11, where he goes into depth about going beyond physical attachments in the material world in order to access “the unknown.” More specifically, it involves transcending one’s physical body, personality, habits, possessions, relationships, and location in time and space, becoming instead pure consciousness. Once this state of pure consciousness is reached, Dispenza posits, the individual is connected to the higher intelligence of the quantum field and can create or manifest infinite possibilities. Bringing one’s energy away from past hurts or future worries frees up energy to create new opportunities in the present—thus, central to any meditation practice is the ability to ground oneself in the eternal present moment.
Becoming Supernatural is, first and foremost, a guide and roadmap that aims to help people produce these mystical, transcendent experiences in their own lives. Thus, Dispenza presents several tools and practices for readers to try on their own so they can experience the effects and positive benefits of meditation and mindfulness. Most chapters conclude with a meditation practice, with specific steps and instructions for the readers to follow. These practices build on one another, increasing in complexity and drawing on the new information presented over the course of the book’s 14 chapters. Dispenza also directs the reader toward his other online resources, which include guided meditations. These tools, techniques, and resources reflect the book’s emphasis on practical application and reinforce Dispenza’s prioritization of mindfulness.
