I have written around a dozen articles about quantum physics (also called quantum mechanics), for its bizarre or nonlogical world has always fascinated and intrigued me. But I am no scientist, and therefore my discussion of this science is from a layman’s point of view.

Quantum physics is concerned with the study of the smallest or microscopic particles of matter, their nature, behavior, characteristics and measurement. It asks such questions as, ”What is the smallest constituent of matter?” If the atom is not the smallest particle of matter, as the ancient Greeks proposed, then what is?

To answer this question, scientists devised simple but ingenious experiments and repeated them a thousand or more times to be sure. What they discovered completely baffled them, because the nature and behavior of these particles completely defy the long-accepted laws of Newtonian classical physics and common sense.

For example, they discovered, to their great astonishment and disbelief, that the ultimate or smallest particle of matter consists of 99.99 percent empty space. In other words, matter is composed of almost nothing.

They also found that subatomic or quantum particles of matter can behave both as particles and waves, that can be in two places at the same time, and can disappear in one orbit and appear simultaneously in another, much like what happens in teleportation. They can change while being observed and, most unacceptable of all, can travel faster than light, in defiance of Albert Einstein’s sacred theory of relativity.

‘Spooky’

And so, these research scientists probed further into the nature of these subatomic or quantum particles of matter. They were shocked to find out that they can manipulate or at least determine the movement of a distant particle by manipulating another particle that is entangled with it, no matter how far it is located.

Einstein could not accept the theories of this new science of quantum physics, and called such a theory of entangled particles ‘’spooky action at a distance.’’

Another theory of quantum physics that Einstein could not accept is that a subatomic particle of matter does not exist until you observe or measure it. In other words, observation changes or influences the thing observed. Einstein objected to this and felt the theory of quantum physics was all wrong, or at least inadequate.

He was quoted as saying, ‘’I’d like to think that the moon is still there, whether I look at it or not.’’

To the masters of Eastern mysticism and even to parapsychologists and psychics, these findings of quantum physicists are not bizarre or weird at all. I, for example, have found the theories of quantum physics to be compatible with mystical phenomena and with the experience of psychics and clairvoyants.

This is by no means a new idea. According to Arthur Koestler, in his pioneering book “The Roots of Coincidence (an Excursion into Parapsychology),” published in 1972: ‘’The most recent attempts to provide a link between the psi function of quantum mechanics and the psi Phenomena of Parapsychology were made by the physiologist, Sir John Eccles, and the mathematician, Adrian Dobbs.’’

Paranormal phenomena

The great majority of quantum physicists understandably do not agree with such attempts to compare the nature of subatomic particles of matter with mystical and paranormal phenomena, but it cannot be completely ignored. Eastern mystics, shamans, Indian yogis and advanced psychics know that the following phenomena happen in real life:

• Teleportation—a person can disappear from one place and appear simultaneously in another place, just like a subatomic particle does.

• Bilocation—a person can be in two places at the same time.

• Telekinesis (or psychokinesis)—an object can be affected or influenced by the mind of an observer. For example, the world-famous Israeli psychic Uri Geller can bend metallic spoons and make radish seeds sprout through mind power alone.

Physicist William Tiller of Stanford University has proven in his experiments that intention can change the alkalinity or acidity of water, no matter how far it is located.

Engineers Robert Jahn and Brenda Dunne have proven statistically that some persons can influence the fall of the dice in a roulette machine by thinking about it or by mental power alone.

• Materialization—an object can appear physically out of nowhere by sheer mental power alone.

In quantum physics, a subatomic particle can travel faster than light in defiance of Einstein’s theory.

Eastern mystics believe that time is not sequential. It is not made up of past, present and future. Instead, all these three exist simultaneously. Therefore, we can exist on several planes or dimensions at the same time. This is similar to the parallel universe or many worlds theory of quantum physics.

In quantum physics, it seems that objects do not exist until one observes or measures it. The Buddhists, however, have long held that this world is our mental creation. Everything else is “Maya” or illusion.

As the great Danish physicist and Nobel Prize recipient Niels Bohr said, “Those who are not shocked by quantum physics have not understood it yet.” He also said, “Everything we call real is made up of things that cannot be regarded as real.”

Doesn’t this sound like a mystic talking? INQ

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