eco.logic.soul

Posts Tagged ‘science’

Science and spirituality are perceived by many people to be completely separate from each other and at times even at odds with each other. The perception is of science as using logic and reason to explore and define in a theoretical framework the workings of the universe, and spirituality as the journey of the heart and soul towards a greater understanding of the universe and our purpose in it.
Traditionally, life’s biggest questions such as: ‘who am I?’ and ‘why am I here?’ have been answered by religion in the context of God’s plan or the path to enlightenment. Also, explanation of the spiritual dimension of life has by tradition been confined to the structures of religious interpretations of sacred spiritual texts and the teachings of spiritual masters. However, during the past century a fascinating thing has been happening. Science, by means of quantum theory has made way for the discovery of truths about the universe and the nature of reality that have previously only been able to be described in a spiritual context.

Until quantum physics came about in the beginning of the twentieth century, the differences between science and spirituality appeared greater than they ever had before (McFarlane, 2002, p. 157). With the prevailing Newtonian view of matter and energy being separate elements in reality, there was essentially no room to explain the spiritual aspects of life, and thus was left to the domain of religion. In addition, the incompatible views of evolution and creationism created an even bigger division between science and religion. Even to this day the issue of evolution versus creationism – or what is frequently referred to as intelligent design – remains a divisive factor in efforts to bring the two ways of knowing into accordance with each other. Though divisiveness is still at work, the duality of science and spirituality is becoming increasingly illusory. Albert Einstein, who is regarded as the greatest scientist of the twentieth century and whose contributions to the field physics provided the groundwork for quantum theory understood the connection between science and spirituality. He wrote, “All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man’s life, lifting it from the sphere of merely physical existence and leading the individual toward freedom” (as cited in McFarlane, 2002, p. 157). It can be assumed that Einstein is metaphorically telling us that the tree is essentially the divine intelligence of the universe and the branches are each pathways to knowing the true nature of reality. Einstein’s insight into the connection between science and spirituality could very well be considered a manifestation of his work in the world of physics.

There are many parallels that exist between the scientific and spiritual realms. Influential people in both areas of study are known to have believed in very similar ideas about how science and spirit are in fact compatible. For instance, Sri Aurobindo – Yoga Master, spiritual teacher and political activist – was particularly interested in the integration of Spirit and Matter through the practice of Yoga. He is quoted as stating that “science at its limits, even physical science, is compelled to perceive in the end the infinite, the universal, the spirit, the divine intelligence and will in the material universe” as cited in McFarlane, 2002, p. 160). In parallel to Aurobindo’s statement, Hermann Weyl, a mathematician and contributor to the field of quantum mechanics is quoted as saying, “many people think that modern science is far removed from God. I find, on the contrary, that…in our knowledge of physical nature we have penetrated so far that we can obtain a vision of the flawless harmony which is in conformity with sublime reason” (as cited in McFarlane, 2002, p. 160).Though both these men came from what could be considered two completely separate backgrounds, they both saw the connection between science and spirituality as obvious and indisputable. It is interesting to note that both of these men were born and passed away within ten years of each other.

Probably one of the most profound examples of how science and spirituality are related is in the quantum theory of the universe as a hologram. This theory began when physicist Neils Bohr made the observation that an electron and positron as the antiparticle to the electron “will eventually annihilate each other and decay into two quanta of light or ‘photons’ traveling in opposite directions” (Talbot, 1992, p. 36). He also observed that as these two photons continue to move away from each other they will both still possess the exact same angles of polarization no matter how far apart they are. The fact that the seemingly two separate photon particles could possess the exact same features at vast distances from one another meant that they must be communicating with each other. This feat would be impossible according to Einstein’s theory of relativity regarding the speed of light. Niels Bohr suggested an alternative explanation to this paradox by speculating that the particles were not individual things but “part of an indivisible system” (Talbot, 1992, p.37).

Bohr’s method of describing the quantum world was widely accepted and even considered by some to be a complete theory. However, David Bohm, a protégé of Einstein’s and one of the worlds most respected quantum physicists, was not satisfied with this conclusion. Bohm strived to find a different approach to quantum physics which he called the quantum potential. The theme that he worked around was the importance of wholeness as implied by Bohr’s theory of an indivisible system. Through the idea of wholeness he was also able to derive the nonlocality aspect of the subquantum level, or otherwise, that at the subquantum level “all points in space become equal to all other points in space” (Talbot, 1992, p. 41). Another way of putting this is that all things in the universe are interconnected.

Bohm’s ambition of refining his theory of the quantum potential eventually led him to reflect upon the hologram. A hologram is created when a laser beam is split and the first beam from the split beam is projected upon an image of something to be photographed and reflected back and with mirrors and allowed to collide with the second beam. This results in an interference pattern that looks like numerous concentric rings overlapping each other which is then captured onto film. Finally, when another laser beam or a bright light is shone on the film, a three-dimensional image of the same object which was originally photographed is projected (Talbot, 1992, pp. 14-15). Another characteristic of a hologram that is important to note is that if the film containing the recorded holographic interference pattern is sliced in even the tiniest pieces, every piece of the film can still be used in conjunction with a laser beam to project the same three-dimensional image that was originally photographed. This amazing phenomenon is what shed light for Bohm on the potentiality of holographic properties being the nature of the quantum world.

After Bohm had reflected upon the hologram and its implications in the quantum world, he immediately found himself making connections to all the insights he had had relating to the quantum world and the universe as a whole. It made perfect sense how the two photons could seemingly stay in contact with one another regardless of the distance between them because their separateness was an illusion. He soon became convinced that the universe itself was a giant hologram. After all, if the entire universe was made up of the same particles that displayed holographic properties, then the by definition the universe must be a hologram as well (Talbot, 1992, p. 46).

Around the same time period that Bohm gained the insight of the model of the universe as a hologram, a neurophysiologist named Karl Pribram was making the same astounding connections with a hologram but with regards to the brain and how memories are stored. Pribram came across the concept of holography and immediately felt that he had found the missing piece to the puzzle that years of brain and memory research had been missing. Past research on the brain discovered memories are not stored in any specific location but instead dispersed throughout the brain. There had never been a mechanism to explain this phenomenon until Pribram made the connection to the hologram. This insight led Pribram to believe that the brain is itself a hologram (Talbot, 1992, pp. 11-15).
Pribram’s work was done independently from Bohm’s, yet they both arrived at similar conclusions. When put together, Pribram and Bohm’s theories about the holographic nature of the universe and the brain lead one to the conclusion that objective reality isn’t real. Think about it – if the brain and the universe are both holograms, then how does what we perceive to experience and understand about reality really exist if what is the external world out ‘there’ and our internal world (where our brains are what allow us to experience and process our perceptions of reality) is a projection. We are no longer what our egos relate to as ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘my’. We are now an interconnected part of the whole of consciousness and the universe.

The conclusions about the nature of reality that emerge from the idea that the universe is a hologram are exactly what Eastern mystic traditions have been teaching about the nature of reality for centuries (McFarlane, 2002, p.115). For instance, in Hinduism it is taught that the material world or Maya is an illusion (wikipedia, para. 1). This belief fits hand in had with the concept of the holographic universe. Another interesting point is that in Sikhism, the belief in Maya as the world as we perceive it is no more real than dreaming (wikipedia, para. 2).

The idea that what we think of as real life and dreaming could be interchangeable or indistinguishable from each other opens us up to a whole new realm of potential connections into the spiritual and paranormal realms. For instance, many people that have had near death experiences have described their experiences as being very similar to lucid dreaming. Common descriptions of near death experiences include passing through a tunnel, approaching a bright light toward the gates of heaven, being counseled by angels, seeing family members that had previously passed away, and other spiritually meaningful descriptions of the afterlife. Others report experiences that describe their bodies composed of tubes of light, or not even having a body until they begin thinking, or that they were simply a cloud of colors, a mist, an energy pattern, or an energy field (Talbot, 1992, p. 247). This last description fits model of a hologram perfectly. It is as if the person who is experiencing consciousness in the afterlife can see reality for what it really is.
Another concept that quantum physics brings to light and connects with spirituality is that of wholeness. Bohm was fascinated with this perception of the quantum world and it led him to the holographic model of the universe which could be considered to be one of the most complete understandings of the nature of reality that we know of today. Similarly, the ego’s search for wholeness repeatedly leads people into the arms of religion or towards other methods of exploring their spiritual nature. The ego’s desire to be whole is also conflicted with its desire to be separate from others and from the external world. This description of the ego’s paradoxical existence is parallel to what we perceive reality to be and what it really is when quantum physics and the holographic model of the universe come into the picture.

Also in relation to the ego’s desire to become whole is the process of Spiritual Awakening which is actually the process of dissolving the ego. Meher Baba, a spiritual teacher who is also considered to be an Avatar by many of his followers, refers to this process as unwinding, which follows the winding phase of the soul’s journey towards oneness with the divine consciousness. The entire process includes the winding of the ego throughout multiple reincarnations where our ego collects sanskaras, or imprints of experiences in each lifetime. The unwinding phase is when the sanskaras are relived, processed, and dissolved throughout multiple reincarnations until the ego consciousness is no longer separate from the divine consciousness and becomes one with the divine (class notes, 2006).
It makes perfect sense how the ego’s paradoxical existence as seeming to always be in conflict with itself about its desires to be both whole and separate relates to the paradoxical existence of the perceived real world and the “real” real world. Our perception of the real world is only true to us because our ego makes it true, thus validating the ego’s desire to be separate from all else. Yet, the ego’s desire to move toward wholeness is never fully satisfied because it is difficult for the ego to comprehend and accept that it is not an ‘I’, an individual. Just like it is difficult for us to comprehend and accept that our perception of reality is an illusion. Much to our benefit, quantum physics – though still difficult to wrap your head around at times – is proving these very difficult puzzles of the universe, consciousness, and spirituality all at the same time.

Another example of where science and spirituality meet is with the transcendental meditation experiment that took place in Washington DC for 8 weeks in the summer of 1993. During this experiment, 4000 practitioners of transcendental mediation from 81 different countries were housed in hotels and college dormitories throughout DC and the University of Maryland. Before the experiment took place, it was projected that violent crime rates in DC would drop by over 20 percent over the course the meditation experiment. In fact, the violent crime rate did go down by 23 percent (Busch, 1999, para 1-4). Transcendental meditation allows the mind to transcend into a completely silent state where consciousness has order, balance, and harmony (Busch, 1999, para. 16-17). Scientists have learned that we can tap in to the already present electromagnetic fields that televisions, radio towers, and cellular towers use to transmit electronic waves. Just like this technological advancement that was unheard of 100 years ago, it is believed that the transcendental mediation practitioners themselves are able to tap into the field of consciousness and are able to transmit the peaceful state that they are in out to the surrounding area (Busch, 1999, para. 18-20). This experiment is science proving the existence of the underlying spiritual nature of reality.

Another fascinating example of spirit and science coming together is with Dr. Masaru Emoto’s water crystal experiments. Dr. Emoto took many photographs of the crystals formulated by freezing the water from various sources to see if there were any differences in the way the crystals looked. He found, for instance, that the crystals that formed in certain tap water were somewhat deformed looking versus the beautiful crystals formed with distilled bottled water (Emoto, 2005, p. 1-14). He also took pictures of water after being exposed to different Hado which is defined as the intrinsic vibrational pattern at the atomic level in all matter; the smallest unit of energy; its basis is the energy of human consciousness (hado.net, para. 3). Dr. Emoto used written or spoken word as well as music to produce a negative of positive Hado influence on the water. The negative words and music with loud screaming produced water crystals that were similarly disfigured. The positive words such as love, grace, and beauty as well as symphony music produced beautiful crystals (Emoto, 2005, p. 1-14). This experiment shows just how powerful our consciousness is to be able to create a change in water just by the words one writes or says, or the music one composes. It also shows how the power of prayer can work for those that use prayer for healing purposes or to be closer to God.

Another example that relates to the power of consciousness is with the famous double-slit experiment. The basis of this experiment and several variations of it is the observation that light waves that pass through the slits and hit a screen placed beyond the slits will produce an interference pattern, or lighter and darker stripes that appear where the light waves interfere with each other as the light pours in from both slits. The interference pattern in the double-slit experiment is similar to the concept of the holographic interference pattern. The best way to understand this concept is to think of the waves in water that two pebbles make that have been dropped into a body of water somewhat close to each other. The waves will interfere with each other creating peaks and valleys where the waves combine or cancel out each other. The same is observed with light waves because the light waves will bounce off each other as they travel through the slits hence creating the same peaks and valleys in the form of light and dark stripes. Also, when little pellets are shot at the screen through the slits, one observes pellets on the screen in the shape of the two slits. What is amazing about this experiment is when it is done using electron particles or matter – not energy like the light waves. You would think that by electrons being matter they would behave exactly like the pellets. Instead, the electrons behave like the waves do – no matter if the electrons are fired at the screen very fast or only one at a time. This is totally unexpected and even unnatural behavior for matter because for the particles to create interference patterns on the screen, the single particle would have to have passed through both slits at the same time in order to have interfered with its self to cause the interference. What’s more is that when one tries to observe the behavior of the particle by putting a camera right after it would have passed through the slits to see if it does somehow pass through both slits, the interference patterns on the screen do not appear and only two stripes are visible. The very act of observing the particle’s behavior causes the particle to commit to passing through only one of the slits (Greene, 2004, pp. 86-92).
What this amazing experiment implies is that even at the most infinitesimal level of the universe, consciousness seems to exist. It can also imply that being human and having an ego causes the particle to behave in only one of the possible ways that it could behave because that is how our egos create our reality. Both are amazing possibilities and both point to how we are indivisibly connected to everything else because of consciousness.

What is brought together in all of the preceding examples is threefold: consciousness creates reality, reality is an illusion, and consciousness is the true nature of reality.

Science and spirituality have come from two separate paths and have met each other in what seems to me, the most appropriate place. Science has shown us how the absolute smallest bits of matter and energy invisible to the naked eye behave in ways that lead us to understand things that have previously only been understood or explained in a spiritual context. What spirit has told us in our hearts to be true, and what we have believed in faith, science has now opened its eyes and seen the truth for its self. What spiritual leaders have known with their hearts for thousands of years, the masses will be convinced of through the filter of their minds. Consciousness will always lead us to the truth.

Quotes from What the Bleep Do We Know?!?!

“The idea that God is separate from us and that we are at his mercy is in alignment with the idea that we are separate from the world around us. ”
“The deepest truth uncovered by science and by philosophy is the fundamental truth of unity. At the deepest subnuclear level of reality you and I are literally one.”
“There is no god condemning people, every one is gods. God is a placeholder name for those parts of our experience of the world that are somehow transcending, somehow sublime.”

References

Busch, J. (1999). Meditation Experiment Arrests Crime. Retrieved March 7, 2006 from http://www.alltm.org/pages/crime-arrested.html
Emoto, M. (2005). The true power of water: healing and discovering ourselves. Hilsboro, Oregon: Beyond Words Publishing, Inc.
Emoto, M. (n.d.) Introduction to the world of Hado. Retrieved March 7, 2006 from http://www.hado.net/hado_introduction.html
Greene, B. (2004). The fabric of the cosmos: space, time, and the texture of reality. New York: Vintage Books.
McFarlane, T. (2002). Einstein and Buddha: the parallel sayings. Berkeley, Ca: Ulysses Press.
Talbot, M. (1992). The holographic universe. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Maya (Hinduism). Retrieved March 7, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_%28Hinduism%29