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| ~ ∞ ~ Problems of Understanding the Quantum World - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~ |
Now, let us look more closely as to why it is challenging to understand all things quantum. The following overview outlines some of the aspects that we have overlooked, dismissed and ignored, and hence they are rarely even brought up in discussions. For the knowledgeable – to someone who has gained wider perspective, these aspects are obvious, but for someone who is deeply embedded, involved in, and influenced by the current scientific paradigm – not so much. You see, the continual exposure to something reduces our awareness of its presence, and so it goes that over time we become blind to the obvious; and for that reason, it is difficult for us to appreciate anything that goes against the norm, that is, logic and reason as we know and practice them today. That said, let us dive in.
When it comes to all things Quantum, metaphysical considerations are unavoidable and more important than most realize. In this respect, science could be the wisdom tradition par excellence of our modern age – but only after a paradigm shift. You see, if one is truly interested in comprehensive knowledge of the whole, it is necessary to burst open the bubble of every scientific dogma. The ever-emerging discoveries of quantum physics are thirsting for the next generation of daring thinkers to further unfold its deeper meaning. In this context, it is of paramount importance to highlight something that most fail to notice, or just simply don’t have the interest to delve into: the discoverers of quantum physics were deeply spiritual people; unlike many of today’s physicists, the founding fathers of quantum physics were passionately interested in the philosophical implications of their discoveries. This gets obviously clear when one takes the time and effort to actually read and study their thoughts and opinions about what they had discovered. A good place to start is, obviously, their own publications, but those who are not familiar with the subject matter, it can be said that what gets you really started is Fritjof Capra’s excellent 1975 book The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism.
For more than 100 years ago,
Max Planck introduced his quantum theory, which can be regarded as the starting point for the modern day Quantum Mechanics. Even though so many years have passed since then, we still seem to be running in circles trying to figure out even the very basics. One of the biggest problems in understanding the Quantum Mechanical principles of nature is most definitely the very fact that somehow we have learned to label everything that even remotely relates to the Quantum World as being “weird” or “strange.” This predisposition sets the tone by defining our expectations, which in turn creates even more limitations to our already narrow way of thinking, giving less leeway to creative and innovative approaches. In other words, instead of breaking out of the box that is limiting our thinking, with this predisposition we are creating evermore tighter box around us than we already are in. The name Quantum Mechanics itself reflects not only the mechanistic worldview but also the underlying beliefs and assumptions therein; this in turn sets limits to our thinking and serves to constrain our ideas and solutions, you see?
As I started to write this chapter, it soon became obvious that the best approach to convey the message of this chapter was through personal experience. There was a time on my path several years ago when I used to listen different variety of lectures and speeches from various people, not only in the scientific world, but also in spiritual world as well. I spent countless hours on studying how consciousness, awareness, presence, intention, and focused attention relates to the Quantum World and the Quantum Mechanical principles of reality. During this time period, I became very familiar with both schools of thought (scientific, spiritual). I came to realize that in the scientific worldview, there seemed to be a repetitive tendency for making Quantum Mechanics to look more difficult than it really is – almost as if there were a concentrated effort to do so. Whether this was (is) done in an unconscious level or not, doesn’t really matter as much as the very fact that there is an unbeneficial pattern, a vicious cycle that needs to be broken – shattered into pieces, reordered, reconfigured and restructured, you see?
While I was listening the “best of the best” in the fields of Quantum Physics, Quantum Mechanics, and even Quantum Computing – I got almost irritated of the way in which these people kept presenting their understanding of the subject. What stood out for me especially was the fact that almost all of these people kept repeating the words “weird”, “strange”, “spooky,” and so on. I couldn’t but wonder what could possibly be the reason behind this repetitive statement that has absolutely nothing to do with actuality. Then it occurred to me that maybe it is the collective human tendency to compensate and alleviate one’s own uncertainty by projecting it to a larger audience. And so it goes that this doubt and uncertainty has therefore driven this same ‘spooky program’ for more than 100 years now.
With this kind of behavior we are constantly setting limits to ourselves by forcing ourselves to believe that the Quantum World is weird, and therefore difficult to understand. What makes the situation even worse is the fact that we continue to teach this very same thing over and over to our children – this results in that this same limiting belief is passed down to another generation(s). The truth of the matter is that every generation seems to be more adapted to this limiting belief because they accept the consensus opinion as default without even questioning its validity. This results in that the ‘average Jane & Joe’ has a very difficult time to grasp even the very basics, not to say anything about the deeper implications.
After a while, I got the impression that even the most educated scientists of today seemed not to be able to fully understand what they themselves were actually saying and lecturing about, and what they were studying and teaching to others. The problem here is that the scientifically oriented people most often seem to believe that the only way to understand the nature of the universe is through deterministic facts and evidence, but the very nature of Quantum Mechanics is indeterministic. To be honest, those people who like to believe that the world and its events are always certain and therefore deterministic – are fooling themselves, big time. When we take a look at the events in our own lives, we all come to realize that life is indeterministic. Therefore, all people all around the world can agree that no event is certain and the entire outcome of anything is a probability.
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The aforementioned leads us to conclude that the worldview where nature and our own life are completely determined from the past to the future reflects the human need for certainty in an uncertain world. This brings us to one of the essential components of Quantum Mechanics, namely uncertainty principle, which is sometimes referred also to as Heisenberg’s indeterminancy principle; it states that precise, simultaneous measurement of some complementary variables – such as the position and momentum of a subatomic particle – is impossible. Contrary to the principles of classical physics, the simultaneous measurement of such variables is inescapably flawed. That is to say, the more precisely one is measured, the more flawed the measurement of the other will be. Werner Heisenberg explained his uncertainty principle in a 1927 paper as follows:
“The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa.”
Somewhere along the way in my explorations of the Quantum World, I came to the conclusion that it must be the mathematical side of things (mind oriented logical approach) that’s distracting people from the simplicity of the quantum principles; thus making them less attracted to the beauty of the creative infinite potential within the mechanics itself. As you read on, it gets more clear why this is so (mind oriented thinking vs. intuition). In the context of Quantum Mechanics, this battle between the mind and the intuition seem to boil down to the argument whether the
Schrödinger’s cat is dead or alive. This is to say that those individuals who perceive reality as only being solid, material and predictable – will always see the Schrödinger’s cat as being either dead or alive, and therefore they cannot grasp and accept the idea that the cat is actually both alive and dead at the same time (Quantum Superposition). This leads up to the judgement which denies the co-existent possibility, and therefore causes people to label everything quantum as being “weird.”
The problem originates from the way in which we acquire and process information, which goes on to say that in the world at large, the importance is often placed on the mind and the linear, rational thinking; this type of information gathering and processing is valued over the heart-based wisdom – it always builds up walls that narrow down our perception, and thus limit our understanding. In the modern world, our understanding comes largely from the mind oriented approach that always involves thinking instead of trusting our intuition. The basic problem with this kind of approach is the fact that the mind won’t ever be capable of understanding something that has been created “outside” of the human mind. This is to say that Living Life that’s made out of pure Living Awareness – Intelligence far more advanced than we currently know of – must be experienced directly for it to be known; this also means that in order to study Living Life, we would have to become conscious Co-Creators to fully know it. This implies understanding without using the thinking mind – Innerstanding, you see? At this point, in this context, it is good to remind ourselves of the truth that the human mind was originally created to handle and process worldly matters in physical reality – like figuring out how to use things as tools, not to exhaust ourselves with excess thinking – see?
In summary, it is important to remind ourselves of the following truth: because consciousness and its inherent awareness are the basis of all Living Life – there’s ultimately nothing to discover, but everything to be realized through our innate ability of being aware. It is evidently clear that if the scientists remain within the limited boundaries of their material worldview – they are going to continue running in circles. This goes on to say that in science everything meaningful has already been discovered, and there is nothing new to be found anymore – at least not in a traditional way; all that remains are more and more precise measurement; what makes the difference is how skillfully we learn to utilize everything we have already discovered. Hence, it goes without saying that once we reach a new way of thinking that will liberate our minds not only from dogma and bias, but also from ignorance and hubris, can we truly proclaim to do proper science. It would certainly help if the bubble of scientific dogma would burst open, and as a result, scientism would be dismantled altogether, would it not? To crystallize the message of this chapter, let us end with these words by Nikola Tesla:
“The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane; The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”
