~ ∞ ~ 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.

Amazon Associate #ad links to book recommendations:

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.”

___
~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

---

Get the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within – Discover the Keys to Happiness, Inner Peace & Harmony

---

[ Click » here « to read the next part: Crisis at the Edge of Physics, Science & Cosmology ]

~ ∞ ~ Living Quantum World: A New Synthesis of Wisdom - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~

---

---

In the previous sections, we explored not only the core of our being, but also the essence of reality. In our discussion, we considered the relationship of our experience to reality, how our experience of life is filtered through our senses, how our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and intentions affect and shape our reality. The discussion in this section continues the trend by expanding our exploration to cover science of reality, as it were. As such, it is a natural continuation of the previous sections and chapters. In this section, we will further our understanding of life and our experience of it, by expanding our horizon even further – it is dedicated to the Mysteries of the Quantum World, as the title suggests. The purpose of this section is not by any means to give an all-encompassing overview of the subject, neither is it to give a lecture of some kind, nor is it to focus on physics, math and formulas – rather, the purpose of this section is to expand one’s own thinking; to open up new perspectives and ways of seeing.

By now, at this point in the book, it must have become obviously clear that there is an overarching theme throughout this book, namely Interconnectedness of Everything. This section is no exception as it continues to highlight the importance of this Truth. That said, there is one thing to keep in mind before we dive in: Quantum Mechanics is by no means the end-all-be-all way to understand the deeper mysteries of Life, neither is it some magical solution that will fix all of our problems, but it is a very useful tool that can most certainly provide a wonderful bridge to what is yet to be realized, acknowledged, understood, accepted and appreciated by humanity as a whole.

All things Quantum is just the beginning in a long journey of discovery. As is the case with so many other things, in due time, and in due course, Quantum Physics will have a paradigm shift of its own, so that we will one day redefine, in ways not yet imaginable, reality. In other words, as it has become apparent from the previous sections, there is more to life and reality than meets the eye – a spiritual dimension or component, if you will. And so you see, without integrating this component as part of our worldview, we will always fall short in our attempts to understand Life. To evolve and develop further – as individuals and as a species, we need a synthesis of science and spirituality, a combination of both – modern and ancient wisdom – see?

Amazon Associate #ad links to book recommendations:

Now, let us begin with the following: we as the collective human species have come far on our journey to understand our relationship with the world and the larger universe, our place in the world that conforms to the reality of Creation and of our place within it. Our modern-day understanding about the nature of reality has improved profoundly thanks to Quantum Physics and Quantum Mechanics; the latter being a subset of physics that does its best to explain the behaviors of matter and light on the molecular, atomic and subatomic scales. What’s interesting is that Quantum Mechanics indicates a fundamental discontinuity in the nature of all phenomena, yet we perceive a seamlessly coherent world around us.

This macroscopic integration of a seamless reality from which we derive the characteristics of space and time leads us to believe that they are somehow independent entities in themselves, which brings us to an important point: we are so conditioned to believe that space and time are a priori determining conditions of Creation that we easily forget, or better yet, willingly and willfully ignore the fact that there may be some other factors in play; factors that are found deep beneath the surface. You see, if we look deeper, we can find that instead of a lonely void with isolated particles moving through it – space appears to be filled with connections and interconnected fields; these quantum fields are energy, manifesting into form when they intersect. This is why ideas, concepts and metaphors transform into a web of information and weaving, or to the world of dreams and infinite possibility.

From this, it becomes clear that the Quantum World opens up a totally new level to our understanding of the world. The understanding from the Quantum World challenges our entrenched beliefs about the nature of reality, and thus it goes without saying that this new paradigm shifting synthesis of knowledge will usher in a whole new era for humanity. And so it goes that eventually, we will face the inevitable – we need to modify the deeply entrenched belief that body and mind; spirit and nature; mind and matter – are separate and distinct. This will change the way we see and experience reality, the way we live and act, which goes on to say that it is inevitable for us to develop a holistic view of life. It will open up new ways of thinking and being – resulting in sustainable living, prosperity and blossoming humanity as a whole – see?

Amazon Associate #ad links to book recommendations:

Now, if we take a brief moment to consider the differences between the classical view of the world (“legacy physics”) and the new paradigm shifting view (Quantum World) – one may be better equipped to understand everything that was discussed in earlier sections – PROLOGUE, INFINITE, TRANSFORMATION, LIFE, CONSCIOUSNESS, AWARENESS – respectively. The basic premise of classical physics is that the world is material – made from the solid basic building blocks called particles. This material world is based in time & space, and is regarded as being highly predictable. This type of classical or “legacy” physics assumes that there exists an external reality independent of our perception of it; and yet quite interestingly, when the science goes down to the very core of even the most solid-looking object – separateness dissolves, and all that remains are a set of relationships, revealing a deeper level of reality – Interconnectedness of All Things.

This means that everything connects to everything else and nothing is separate from the whole. The interesting part is that the subatomic particles themselves come into form and are observed only as they are in relationship with something else; particles come into being through the interactions with other forms of energy. These unseen connections are fundamental ingredient of all Creation – see? Interconnectedness of Everything is a key factor in the Quantum World – relationships are everything. There are no familiar ways to comprehend the levels of interconnectedness within the Quantum World – so the best way to get a glimpse of it is to think in terms of infinitely repeating self-similar patterns known as fractals. A fractal is a natural phenomenon or a mathematical set that exhibits a repeating pattern – a pattern that displays at every scale.

Another way is to think in terms of an invisible interconnected network, or mycelial network of sorts. You see, mycelium of belowground fungi connect plants and trees together and have even been shown to communicate with each other*1, which makes it “Earth’s Natural Internet,” doesn’t it? Besides communicating, through this interconnected network, mycelium can transport nutrients between different plants or trees. In much the same way as the mycelial network connects plants and trees together, so can the Quantum World be imagined to work as well – connecting the seen and the unseen, the outer and the inner, uniting the small and large-scale happenings seamlessly together – making instantaneous communication possible. If we combine this idea with fractals and holograms (Holographic Fractal Nature of Reality), we would get something as amazing as the “Holofractographic Mycelial Quantum Network” – a vast microscopic web spanning across the multiverse, an intergalactic, interdimensional ecosystem, or an infinite number of roads leading everywhere.

_______
*1 BBC (2014-11-11): Plants talk to each other using an internet of fungus.

~ ∞ Entanglement ∞ ~

In whatever way this communication in the Quantum World happens, it surely is both more complex than we can imagine, and yet more simple than we think. To further understand this, let us introduce a term that frequently appears in discussions of this kind.

In the Quantum World, entanglement is a phenomenon in which two particles can communicate instantaneously to one another – this enables them to behave like one object even though they are physically apart; something is clearly connecting them faster than the speed of light.

The integral part of entanglement is instant communication – meaning that connectivity is “outside” time and space. The key principle of entanglement is correlation; this means that throughout the universe subatomic particles act as they are connected to each other – meaning that what we do to one particle at one location, happens for another at different location – see?

A musical style called Jazz conveys perfectly the idea of interrelated connections within the quantum canvas of Creation. Jazz musicians are sensing the nature of the Quantum World – only requirement is to be present in the moment and to be willing to surrender to the flow of inspiration through improvisation. In Jazz, the players have a shared idea of what they might play; they agree on the melody, tempo and key, but the music itself rely heavily on improvisation. The players listen carefully, communicate constantly, and suddenly there is music with the possibilities beyond anything imagined. The music itself comes from the interconnected whole – the unified field of information in which patterns are contained within patterns. And so you see, every player have accessed this field among themselves, which goes on to say that this type of music is undivided wholeness in flowing movement, or a relationship that transcends the sense of separateness – fascinating, isn’t it?

___
~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~

---

Get the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within – Discover the Keys to Happiness, Inner Peace & Harmony

---

[ Click » here « to read the next part: Problems of Understanding the Quantum World ]

~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within: Quantum Nonlocality ~ ∞ ~

Awaken the Living Awareness Within Glossary

Nonlocal events are unmediated, and thus they require no energetic signal to “carry” them; they are unmitigated, so they don’t become weaker with increasing distance. Nonlocal phenomena are omnipresent, so they are everywhere at once. This simply means that there’s no necessity for them to go anywhere, because they are already there. This makes nonlocal events immediate, so they require no travel time. Nonlocal events are infinite in time, present at all moments – past, present, and future at once, ultimately meaning that they are eternal.

Click » here « to read the full Infinite Quantum Zen Glossary.

Amazon Associate #ad links to book recommendations:

Quantum Quote of the Day from the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within, in the section Quantum:

The word “existence” comes from the Latin word ‘exsistere,’ meaning “to appear”, “to arise”, “to become”, or “to be”, but literally, it means “to stand out.” So when something is made to appear, or to become visible to the human senses — which can only perceive a very narrow spectrum of light, we are saying that something exists; clearly, this doesn’t mean that ‘something’ isn’t existing if we’re not able to ‘tune-in’ to the vibrational level of it. What it means, though, is that we have collectively agreed upon that we use certain words to explain something that we are able to perceive with our physical senses, or detect through the microscopes and particle accelerators, or through other scientific gadgets and gizmos. And, indeed, if one looks deeper, utilizing the very tools provided by the science itself, namely Quantum Mechanics, it’s just as plausible to argue that consciousness exists before the formation of the brain, and therefore consciousness can exist after the death of the brain. This, then, suggests that there is not only existence, but also pre-existence, as well as post-existence (afterlife).

~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within: Quantum Mechanics ~ ∞ ~

Awaken the Living Awareness Within Glossary

Quantum Mechanics – the science of the very small. It describes how fundamental particles can be in one or several places at once, can pass through impenetrable barriers or possess instantaneous connections that are maintained over vast distances.

Quantum Mechanics (sometimes referred also to as Quantum Physics, or more in general as Quantum World) is a subset of physics that does its best to explain the behaviors of matter and light on the molecular, atomic and subatomic scales. Classical physics views the World as solid, separated from us, based in time and space, and being highly predictable, whereas Quantum Physics tells us that the particles themselves exist in many different states simultaneously, and therefore we don’t know which states to observe – Quantum Reality boils down to randomness of probability. See also Quantum Entanglement.

Click » here « to read the full Infinite Quantum Zen Glossary.

Amazon Associate #ad links to book recommendations:

Quantum Quote of the Day from the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within, in the section Quantum:

Another way is to think in terms of an invisible interconnected network, or mycelial network of sorts. You see, mycelium of belowground fungi connect plants and trees together and have even been shown to communicate with each other, which makes it “Earth’s Natural Internet,” doesn’t it? Besides communicating, through this interconnected network, mycelium can transport nutrients between different plants or trees. In much the same way as the mycelial network connects plants and trees together, so can the Quantum World be imagined to work as well — connecting the seen and the unseen, the outer and the inner, uniting the small and large-scale happenings seamlessly together — making instantaneous communication possible. If we combine this idea with fractals and holograms (Holographic Fractal Nature of Reality), we would get something as amazing as the “Holofractographic Mycelial Quantum Network” — a vast microscopic web spanning across the multiverse, an intergalactic, interdimensional ecosystem, or an infinite number of roads leading everywhere.

~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within: Quantum World ~ ∞ ~

Awaken the Living Awareness Within Glossary

Quantum World in a nutshell: it opens up a totally new level to our understanding of the world – instead of a lonely void with isolated particles moving through it, space appears to be filled with connections and interconnected fields; these quantum fields are energy, manifesting into form when they intersect – this is why ideas, concepts, and metaphors transform into a web of information and weaving, or to the world of dreams and infinite possibility. See also Quantum Mechanics, and Quantum Entanglement.

Click » here « to read the full Infinite Quantum Zen Glossary.

Amazon Associate #ad links to book recommendations:

Quantum Quote of the Day from the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within, in the section Quantum:

More to the point of this chapter: Quantum Nonlocality comes into play when we are talking about the idea of Quantum Entanglement, which is a state in which two particles act together in an entangled system. This means that they behave like one object even though they are physically apart. Throughout the universe subatomic particles act as they are connected to each other — meaning that what we do to one particle at one location, happens for another particle at the different location. The interesting part is that this phenomena is not limited only to particles. You see, in its broadest sense, this phenomena covers not only such immaterial things as thoughts, intentions, feelings and emotions, but also consciousness, awareness, Soul, and Spirit.

~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within: Quantum Entanglement ~ ∞ ~

Awaken the Living Awareness Within Glossary

Entanglement is a phenomenon in which two particles can communicate instantaneously to one another – this enables them to behave like one object, even though they are physically apart; something is connecting them faster than the speed of light. The integral part of entanglement is instant communication, meaning that connectivity is “outside” of time and space. The key principle of entanglement is correlation; throughout the Universe, subatomic particles act as they are connected to each other – meaning that what we do to one particle at one location, happens for another at different location.

Click » here « to read the full Infinite Quantum Zen Glossary.

Amazon Associate #ad links to book recommendations:

Quantum Quote of the Day from the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within, in the section Quantum:

As opposed to scientific approach, we have the spiritual worldview, from where we can find almost overly simplified approach to Quantum World. For all intents and purposes, this is only a good thing, because all of the equations, formulas, and other confusing “mind stuff” is taken away — leaving us with the pure amazingness of it all; applying the Occam’s razor, if you will. When things are simplified, everything is seen in more clarity. There are a lot of good things about this worldview — this is because the approach is so much different — almost opposite to the scientific one. The difference is pretty clear: the scientifically oriented people often see only theories and mathematical formulas, whereas the spiritually oriented people see infinite possibilities for real, tangible and practical usage. Spiritual worldview introduces us the missing (ignored) part of the equation — that of consciousness and its inherent awareness.

~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within: Quantum Coherence ~ ∞ ~

Awaken the Living Awareness Within Glossary

Quantum Coherence and Quantum Entanglement are two landmark features of Quantum Physics – they are two sides of the same coin, meaning that coherence and entanglement are operationally equivalent but conceptually different; coherence can be present in single quantum systems, where entanglement is not so well-defined – both are rooted in the superposition principle, which plays an essential role in Quantum Technologies. such as Quantum Teleportation, Quantum Cryptography, and Super Dense Coding.

Quantum Coherence lies at the heart of Quantum Computing, in which a Quantum Bit (Qubit) is in a superposition of the “0” and “1” states, resulting in a speed-up over various classical algorithms; when such a state experiences decoherence, however, all of its quantumness is typically lost and the advantage vanishes.

Click » here « to read the full Infinite Quantum Zen Glossary.

Amazon Associate #ad links to book recommendations:

Quantum Quote of the Day from the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within, in the section Quantum:

A piece of holographic film and the image it generates is a wonderful example of an implicate and explicate order. The film is an implicate order because the image encoded within its interference patterns is a hidden totality enfolded throughout the whole. The hologram projected from the film is an explicate order, because it represents the unfolded and perceptible version of the image. Every part of a piece of a holographic film contains all of the information possessed by the whole — this means that the information is distributed nonlocally, and explains why reality becomes nonlocal at the subquantum level. When the whole is in the part, it simply means that the whole Creation is in every part of it, which goes on to say that everything in the whole existence is stored within every cell and every particle — meaning that you, I, and everyone else are the universe — Living Life itself. So in this sense, multitudes of universes literally exists within our very own cells, and we exist within every cell and every universe at once — simultaneously.

~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within: Quantum Bit (Qubit) ~ ∞ ~

Awaken the Living Awareness Within Glossary

Quantum Bit (Qubit) is used in Quantum Computing – it utilizes the Quantum Mechanical principles that are derived from the Quantum Physics. Qubits are more versatile than standard bits, because they can exist in three states instead of just two. Qubit allows us to put bits of infromation into their 0 and 1 state at the same time.

Click » here « to read the full Infinite Quantum Zen Glossary.

Amazon Associate #ad links to book recommendations:

Quantum Quote of the Day from the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within, in the section Quantum:

"One of the most glaring examples of the intersection of the worlds of the Quantum and Zen is to be found in the principle of wave-particle duality, which holds that elementary particles can exhibit the characteristics of both particles and waves, yet can be wholly reduced to neither. Quantum Mechanics recognizes the duality of matter by showing that nature on the smallest subatomic level behaves as both a particle and a wave. A photon, for example, can be a particle, or it can be a wave — or it can be both at the same time. Thus, one can say that Quantum Mechanics reveals the basic unity of the universe. You see, in Quantum Mechanics, subatomic particles exist in probability waves, and are only defined when something conscious observes them — otherwise they are everywhere and nowhere. And here we can find an amazing parallel: in the Zen way of thinking, opposites can exist simultaneously; contradictory things can exist at the same time."