Physics
is a science, and as such, it's answers will be ever-changing. We can find
eternal answers in spiritual teachings by enlightened men and women who
have understood the basic truths about the nature of reality. In other
words, we may think we finally know what's going on according to the latest
discoveries in science, yet each new discovery is just a step on a path of
ever-greater understanding. Wise spiritual teachers have long known that
reality shifts with our thoughts and feelings.
All matter has a quantum
nature
Quantum mechanics does not
merely apply to the realm of the very small. Physicists working on finding
the theory of everything (TOE) are currently working to unify quantum
physics with relativity... so that one theory can explain the physical
behavior of everything from the tiniest subatomic particles to the biggest
celestial bodies. As physicist David Greene writes from the perspective of
a physicist on the front-lines of the TOE quest in his book, The Elegant
Universe:
"The strategy of
beginning with a theoretical description that is classical
and then subsequently including the features of quantum mechanics has
been extremely fruitful for years. It underlies, for example, the standard
model of quantum physics. But it is possible, and there is growing evidence
that it is likely, that this method is too conservative for dealing with
theories
that are as far-reaching as string theory and M-theory. The reason is that
once we realize that the universe is governed by quantum mechanical
principles,
our theories really should be quantum mechanical from the start. We have
successfully gotten away with starting from a classical perspective until
now
because we have not been probing the universe at a deep enough level for
this
coarse approach to mislead us. But with the depth of string/M-theory, we
may
well have come to the end of the line for this battle-tested
strategy."
These physics pioneers on
the cutting edge of finding the TOE believe that our universe most likely
consists of many more than the three spatial dimensions we are familiar
with... and that many more dimensions lie hidden all around and inside us,
curled up.
Quantum behavior changes
our assumptions about reality
Our old assumptions about
the true nature of reality don't work in the realm of the very small
("quantum")... so that means they need to be replaced with better
assumptions. Experiments in quantum physics have proven that assumptions of
locality, causality, objectivity, and material monism (only matter matters)
are incorrect. Better assumptions at the quantum level are:
Non-locality
Probability
Interconnectivity
Mind and Matter are
inseparable
What
is really happening at
the quantum level?
There are four leading
quantum theories, all of which work equally well at predicting the behavior
of quantum particles. Whichever interpretation you prefer, remember that it
describes quantum particles as behaving non-locally according to
probabilities... and every time an observer makes any measurement, that
observation changes the world.
Copenhagen
Interpretation
The
Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics was first described and
presented by Niels Bohr in Italy in 1927. Bohr suggested that quantum
particles exist as waves which might be anywhere until the wave function is
collapsed. As long as nobody looks, each quantum particle is equally
distributed in a series of overlapping probability waves, in a
superposition of states.
Many Worlds
Interpretation
In the
1950's, Hugh Everett III proposed that every possibility inherent in each
wave function is real, and that ALL of them occur. Possibilities become
actualities with each measurement that is made, and infinite slightly
different realities come into existence as each quantum event is observed.
All possibilities are equally real.
Transactional
Interpretation
John
Cramer's transactional interpretation of quantum physics suggests that
"handshakes" take place between quantum particles in different
points in time and space. In Cramer's interpretation, a particle here and
now on Earth instantaneously communicates with particles light-years away
in time and space, as one particle sends an "offer" wave and
another responds with a "confirmation" wave.
Holographic
Interpretation
Physicist
David Bohm and neurophysiologist Karl Pribram proposed that the universe
may be like a giant hologram, containing both matter and consciousness as a
single field. This model suggests that the objective world "out
there" is a vast ocean of waves and frequencies which appears solid to
us only because our brains convert that enfolded hologram into an unfolded
sense of material we can perceive with our senses.
