What makes quantum physics so fascinating and interesting for me is that it somehow explains in scientific terms how and why certain psychic and paranormal phenomena happen, and how consciousness or awareness affects physical reality.
But first, what is quantum physics or quantum mechanics? This is not easy for us laymen to understand, but let’s try.
Quantum mechanics is “a fundamental theory in physics which describes nature at the smallest scales of energy levels” or in the smallest subatomic particles of matter at the microlevel.
Put another way, quantum physics studies the smallest particles of matter that cannot be seen, whereas classical physics studies the behavior of bigger particles of matter which can be seen.
Quantum physics gradually arose to explain observations which could not be reconciled with classical Newtonian physics, which has dominated scientific thinking for the last 400 years.
Quantum physics and the theories behind it did not come about suddenly, like the legendary apple falling on Newton’s head, which gave rise to his theory of gravity.
It took more than a hundred years after British mathematician Thomas Young performed his now classic “double slit” experiment with light in 1801, which forever changed scientists’ notion about the nature or characteristics of matter.
In quantum physics, the concepts of Eastern mysticism, Western science and consciousness tend to converge. It challenges the dominant paradigm of scientific materialism.
Bizarre
What are some of the bizarre findings of quantum physics which contradict classical Newtonian physics?
Classical physics says there is an objective reality separate from us. Quantum physics says this is not true. You cannot observe a material object without changing or affecting it.
Classical physics says that the world is deterministic and mechanistic, that we can know everything about the object with certainty. The new physics says, at the quantum level we can never determine or predict accurately both the object’s velocity and its position simultaneously.
Classical physics says everything is made up of matter, quantum physics says, on the other hand, that 99.9 percent of matter is made up of nothing. The ultimate stuff of the universe, according to British physicist Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, “is mind stuff.”
Classical physics says that consciousness is a creation of matter. Quantum physics disagrees and points out that it could be the other way around, that is, consciousness creates the material universe.
In his hugely informative and entertaining book, “The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics,” Gary Zukav pointed out: “The conceptual framework of quantum mechanics, supported by massive volumes of experimental data, forces contemporary physicists to express themselves in a measure that sounds, even to the uninitiated, like the language of mystics.”
The incredible and bizarre findings of quantum physics about the properties and behavior of subatomic particles of matter enable us to explain in very scientific terms such formerly unexplainable things as consciousness, psychic and paranormal phenomena.
Multiverse
Another fascinating and controversial idea that has recently emerged in quantum physics is the theory of “parallel universe” or the “many worlds” theory, sometimes called the multiverse.
This theory states that we exist in multiple levels of reality or universe, the physical being only one of them.
The many worlds theory implies that all possible alternate histories and futures are real, each representing an actual world or universe.
The hypothesis states there is a very large, perhaps infinite, number of universes and everything that could possibly have happened in one part but did not—has occurred in some other universe or universes.
The many worlds theory views reality as a many-branched tree where every possible quantum outcome is realized.
This seems to be no different from the Eastern esoteric philosophy, which states that there are seven dimensions or planes of existence and each plane is composed of seven subplanes. What may not happen in one plane, for example, in the physical plane, may happen in some other dimensions.
This reminds me of the famous dream of the great Chinese Taoist philosopher, Chuangtse. One day, Chuangtse dreams he is a butterfly, happily flying from flower to flower, unaware that he is Chuangtse.
He wakes up and realizes that it was him, Chuangtse, dreaming he was a butterfly. Then he thinks for a moment and says, “Wait a minute! Is it not possible that I am a butterfly dreaming that I am Chuangtse?”
Figure that out!
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