The "observer effect" of quantum mechanics that you are referring to is related to one of the observational principles that are relied on that you can determine the speed of a particle but not it's position, or else you can determine the position of a particle, but not it's speed. The act of observing, or measuring materially affects what is being observed or measured because the observational or measuring techniques are not just like a boy watching a bird from a distance. they actually have an impact on what is being observed or measured.

I see nothing spiritual in this at all. Although we as yet do not completely understand the reason for this; it seems that observation of a particule removes something from the particule fixing its outcome, The same thing occurs when you obserse the direction of the pin of two identical particles.