JAN 1, 2015      

If you'd like to access past newsletters containing articles on the Big Shift, as well as articles on the Physics of Mysticism, Magic, the Power of Mantra and other topics, please visit the 'newsletter' page of my website: 

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THE PARALLELS BETWEEN

MYSTICISM AND PHYSICS

"For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion, even if a stubborn one."

Albert Einstein

Part 5 

CONSCIOUSNESS AND REALITY

Modern physics seems to have separated into two branches. One branch, the bigger one, continues to search for the ultimate particle - the basic irreducible building blocks of the universe. The other branch of physics that includes Geoffrey Chew and David Bohm feels that it is somewhat futile to try to know reality by looking for the basic, irreducible elements of the universe. For them, no aspect of reality is fundamental to the whole. None of the characteristics of any particular part of the web can speak for the entire web. All the parts are interrelated and mutually dependent. The web of reality consists of a collection of relationships. There are no fundamental laws.

There is a strong implication that reality is dependent upon our collective consciousness. Physicist Eugene Wigner says, "It is not possible to formulate the laws of quantum theory in a fully consistent way without reference to consciousness." Fritjoff Capra says, "Physicists have come to see that all their theories of natural phenomena, including the 'laws' they describe, are creations of the human mind"

Gary Zucav says,"Reality' is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends upon what we look for. What we look for depends upon what we think. What we think depends upon what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality."

Statements like these bear an unmistakable resemblance to mystical thought, which contends that consciousness actually is reality. As Capra points out, if we have individual consciousness or intelligence and we are part of the whole, then the whole must also have intelligence. If this is so, then like consciousness, reality is subject to change, to growth. Science has always assumed a 'symmetry' of nature - that the laws of nature, whatever they are, have always been the same and will always be the same. Perhaps we can't make that assumption. Perhaps reality evolves as the collective intelligence evolves - the more we can see the edges of the universe, the more the universe expands.

The other branch of physics has decided to set these concerns aside and to continue to search for the basic, irreducible building blocks of the universe. This branch has given birth to string theory. something that we will look at more thoroughly in a future newsletter. It is interesting to note that many of the concepts of string theory also bear a strong resemblance to things that are said by mystics. Fundamental vibrating loops of energy; the idea that everything, every aspect of reality is a manifestation of a certain pattern of vibration; the idea of multiple dimensions; the concept of a 'multiverse'; these notions would all have a familiar ring to a mystic.

In the next newsletter we'll talk about the usefulness of science as a way to understand our reality.