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The
rational spiritually-minded community cheered the
appearance of Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics
Of course
any attempt to find harmony between the scientific world view and the
mystic's vision will be incomplete unless we adjust the scientific world
view through an interface with the many realities it fails to account
for (subtle bodies, consciousness, etc.). Taking that liberty, as Bohm
has, Richard L. Thompson, Dr. of Mathematics and author of the book Mechanistic
and Non-mechanistic Science, Thompson advocates
the philosophy of achintya bhedabheda, Simply stated
acintya bedhabedha Thompson is
a practicing scientist who has been pursuing transcendental disciplines
for the last thirteen years. This kind of combination is rare. It is hard
to find someone who is thoroughly familiar with science as well as with
spirituality. In order to appreciate his theory of creation by sound it
will be helpful to first briefly explain Bohm's theory of the implicate
order and then proceed to further elaborate on the philosophy of acintya
bedhabedha THE
IMPLICATE ORDER
Bohm uses the example of the hologram to help explain his theory. A hologram is a photographic plate on which information is recorded as a series of density variations. Because holography is a method of lensless photography, the photographic plate appears as a meaningless pattern of swirls. When a coherent beam of light -- typically the laser -- interacts with the plate, the resultant emerging light is highly ordered and is perceived as an image in three dimensions. The image has depth and solidity, and by looking at it from different angles, one will see different sides of the image. Any part of the hologram will reproduce the whole image (although with less resolution). Bohm would say that the three-dimensional form of the image is enfolded or stored in the pattern of density variations on the hologram. A further understanding of the nature of Bohm's implicate order is somewhat more difficult to grasp. In the transition from the classical description of physical objects to a quantum mechanical description, one is forced to use mutually incompatible descriptions. That is, to understand the behavior of electrons, it is necessary to describe them as point-like particles and extended waves. This concept of complementarity, devised in the 1920's by the physicist Niels Bohr, leads naturally to the thought that electrons, or their ultimate substrate, may not actually be fully describable in mathematical terms. Thus the ultimate physical reality may be an undefinable "something" which is only partially describable but not fully, because some of the partial descriptions will inevitably contradict each other. This is Bohm's idea regarding the nature of his implicate order. Although Bohm accepts the reality of a whole containing distinguishable parts, he maintains that ultimately, reality at its most fundamental level is devoid of variety or individuality. Bohm believes that individuality is a temporal or illusory state of perception. According to his theory, although the parts appear to be distinct from the whole, in fact, because they "enfold" or include the whole, they are identical with the whole. The intuitive basis behind this idea of wholeness is that when information is enfolded into a physical system, it tends to become distributed more or less uniformly throughout the system. The hologram provides an easily understandable example. If portions of a hologram are blocked off, the resultant image remains basically the same. This, perhaps metaphorically, helps to illustrate the concept that the whole is present in each of its parts. Consider then a continuum in which all patterns ever manifested in any part of the continuum are represented equally in all parts. Loosely speaking, then one could say that the whole of the continuum in both space and time is present in any small part of the continuum. If we invoke the precedent of quantum mechanical indefinability, we could leap to the idea of a unified entity encompassing all space and time in which each part contains the whole and thus is identical to it. Because wholes are made up of parts, such an entity could not be fully described mathematically, although mathematical descriptions could be applied to the parts. THOMPSON'S
OBSERVATIONS Bohm's theory is sorely in need of a logical source of compassion which provides inspiration enabling finite beings to know the infinte. Ironically while Bohm emphatically states that it is not possible for unaided human thought to rise above the realm of manifest matter (explicate order) he proceeds to carry on a lengthy discussion about the unmanifest (implicate order). Although he speaks of compassion it is only in a vague reference to an abstract attribute. The logical necessity for an entity possesed of compassion is avoided by Bohm (although he almost admits the need). He retreats from this idea because the standard notions of a personal God are dualistic and thus undermine the sense that reality at the most fundamental plane is unified. Bohm's idea that the parts of the implicate order actually include the whole is not fully supported by his physical examples alone. Indeed this is impossible to demonstrate mathematically. The part of the hologram is not fully representative of the whole. The part suffers from lack of resolution. It is qualitatively one but quantitatively different. Bohm's account for the corruption in human society is also a short coming in an otherwise profound theory. The theory alleges that evil arises from the explicate order -- which is a contradiction of the basis of the theory which states that everything in the explicate order unfolds from the implicate order. This means that evil and human society at large or something at least resembling it must be originally present in the implicate order. But what would lead us to believe that an undifferentiated entity would store anything even remotely resembling human society? Or how could there be evil in or beyond the implicate order which is the source of love and compassion? Bohm states
that the totality of all things is timeless and unitary and therefore
incapable of being changed. Later on he proposes that through collective
human endeavor the state of arrairs can be changed. This is similar to
the contradiction of advaita vedanta These are
some of the scientific and philosophical problems with the theory of the
implicate order pointed out by Thompson. They are resolved by Thompson
by replacing advaita vedanta ACHINTYA
BHEDABHEDA The word achintya Achintya,
It may be
helpful to draw upon a reference from Vedic literature. Actually, the
example of the hologram is similar to an explanation of the basis of reality
recorded in the Brahma Samhita.
In the material
conception of form, the whole can be reduced to a mere juxtaposition of
the parts. This makes the form secondary. In this verse the material conception
of form is transcended. The supreme entity is fully present in all of
the parts which make up the total reality and thus the supreme is one
unified principle underlying all variegated manifestations. Yet He is
personal and in this feature different from his parts or energies at the
same time. The Brahma Samhita In the Bhagavad
Gita By
Me in My unmanifested form this entire universe is Although this
is inconceivable -- achintya Just as there is neither absolute oneness nor absolute difference in the material example of fire and burning power, there is neither absolute oneness nor absolute difference between Godhead and His energies. Godhead consists of both the energetic and the energy, which are one and different. Godhead is also necessarily complete without His various emanations. This is absolute completeness. No matter how much energy He distributes, He remains the complete balance. In this theory the personal form of God exists beyond material time in a trans-temporal state, There eternality and the passage of time are harmonized by the same principle of simultaneous oneness and variegatedness that applies to transcendental form. Thus within Godhead there may very well be something that resembles human society which could unfold as the explicate order.
A personal, "human-like" Godhead replete with abode and paraphernalia is a perennial notion. In this conception the explicate order becomes in effect a perverted reflection of the ultimate reality existing in the transcendental realm. The reflection of that realm, appearing as the explicate order, amounts to the kingdom of God without God. It would be without God inasmuch as God, being the center of the ultimate reality, when expressed in reflected form no longer appears as the center. This produces illusion and the necessity for corruption. The basis of corruption is the misplaced sense of proprietorship resulting in the utterly false notions of "I" and "mine. According
to achintya bhedabheda, Living in illusion, the atomic soul sees himself as separate from the Godhead. As a result of imperfect sense perception he is caused to make false distinctions such as good and bad, happiness and distress. The minute self can also live in an enlightened state in complete harmony with the Godhead by the latter's grace -- which is attracted by sincere petition or devotion. The very nature of devotion is that it is of another world, and for it to be devotion in the full sense, it must be engaged in for its own sake and nothing else. This act of devotion is the purified function of the inherent serving tendency of the self. It makes possible a communion with Godhead. In this communion the self becomes one in purpose with the one reality and eternally serves that reality with no sense of any separateness from Godhead. If we accept this theory then there is scope for action from within the explicate order, such as prayer or meditation, to have influence upon the whole. At least it would appear so, inasmuch as, in reality, the inspiration for such action has its origin in Godhead. Of course this idea is also found in varying degrees in many perennial theistic philosophies. It is perhaps most thoroughly dealt with, however, in the doctrine of achintya bhedabheda. Although it
is true that the human mind cannot possibly demonstrate the truth of this
conception, this does not provide sufficient justification for rejecting
the notion in favor of something more abstract, such as non-dualism. The
fact is that any conception of the Godhead that is generated from the
finite mind is subject to the same criticism. If we are limited to our
mundane mind and senses for acquiring transcendental knowledge, then we
may as well forego any speculation about transcendence and turn our attention
exclusively to the manifest mundane world. The achintya bhedabheda
Finally it
must be emphasized that both the doctrines of non-dualism and achintya
bhedabheda
CREATION THROUGH SOUND
Thompson uses
the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita He states
that, "According to the Srimad Bhagavatam, Keeping in mind that creation is a very complex affair, let's look at the final stages of creation in which organized forms are generated and controlled in a setting made up of the physical elements as we know them. According to the Vedic paradigm, at this stage, transcendental sound is introduced into the material continuum on the most subtle level. As a result, grosser elements are agitated, and finally organized structures such as the bodies of living organisms are produced.
The explanation of this phenomenon is that the light on its first pass through the frosted pane is distorted in a complicated way by irregularities in the glass. The phase conjugate mirror reverses the distorted beam, and as it passes back through the glass it precisely retraces its steps and thus returns to its original undistorted form. The beam reflected from the phase conjugate mirror has the curious property that it encodes information for the original image in a distorted, unrecognizable form, and as time passes, the distortion is reduced and the information contained by the beam becomes clearly manifest. Normally, we expect to see just the opposite -- a pattern containing meaningful information will gradually degrade until the information is irretrievably lost. Thompson further
elucidates the connection between the material and transcendental levels
of existence with an example similar to that of optical phase conjugation.
Suppose we have an arrangement in which pictures are being transmitted
through a sheet of frosted glass. On one side of the glass we would see
a series of images but we would not be able to determine the source of
the images on the other side of the opaque glass. But in thinking about
it, one would expect that the light coming through the frosted glass would
become distorted. The fact that it does not seems to indicate that there
is some sort of intelligence which is organizing or ordering the transmitted
images. This is a simplified example of optical phase conjugation. Similarly,
the order and complexity we find in matter must have intelligence behind
it, although we at present cannot directly see that intelligence. The
Vedic conception states that a veil of illusion called maya As Thompson progresses in the formulation of his Vedic paradigm, a number of questions arise. How are the postulated organized vibrations introduced into the known physical continuum? How can some outside influence be accommodated? This would seem to involve violations of certain basic laws of physics such as conservation of energy, the second law of thermodynamics, and statistical laws of quantum mechanics. In response
to these objections, Thompson postulates a model involving levels of physical
reality more subtle than quantum fields. "One can readily imagine
a hierarchy of subtler and subtler levels culminating in an ultimate substrate
which is transcendental and not amenable to mathematical description.
Organized wave patterns could propagate through this hierarchy from the
transcendental level to the level of gross matter. In such models the
quantum fields will be reducible to these subtler levels, and phenomena
on these levels will have effects on the level of the quantum fields."
In the transition from Newtonian physics to quantum mechanics and further
to quantum field theory, the conceptual framework diverges from the domain
of familiar mechanical imagery. Thompson suggests that "The degree
of subtlety of a level of reality corresponds to the degree of novelty
and unfamiliarity of the concepts needed to adequately comprehend it.
On the subtlest (or transcendental) level, the materially inconceivable
principle of achintya bheda bheda tattva
The introduction of wave patterns into the gross material realm from an outside independent source should produce detectable violations of the conservation laws of physics. It would not be surprising to find violations of known laws if such subtler levels of material energy do exist. Indeed, the existence of the neutrino was postulated by Enrico Fermi in the 1930's because of an apparent violation of the principle of conservation of momentum in the radioactive decay of certain atomic nuclei. The discovery of the neutrino showed the existence of a subtle level which was previously unknown. It is therefore entirely reasonable to speak of the existence of more subtle levels which are as yet undiscovered. Also, in his forthcoming book, Thompson shows that models which receive influences from more subtle levels without undergoing any detectable change in momentum or energy may be constructed. Thompson suggests, "Let us suppose for the moment that organized wave patterns are continually being injected into the known physical continuum perhaps from subtler levels of physical reality. Such patterns will appear to be random, especially if they encode information for many different macroscopic forms and sequences of events. For this reason they will be very difficult to distinguish from purely random patterns by experimental observation."
Because the original source of these patterns is the inaccessible transcendental level, it is not possible to produce them at will. A thorough investigation of this phenomenon would necessarily depend on the analysis of observed spontaneous events. Thompson believes that this type of study might be fruitful in the field of cognitive science. "According to the Vedic paradigm, the conscious self is transcendental and has the same qualitative nature as the Godhead. Thus the link between conscious will and the initiation of physical action by the brain should also entail the transmission of patterns of information from transcendental to gross physical levels of reality." The concept of the unfolding of information is also useful in the field of natural history. The predominating scientific viewpoint is that the origin of living species can be explained by Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection and random variation. Included in the group of those who have always dissented from this view is Alfred Russell Wallace, the co-inventor of Darwin's theory. Wallace felt that certain biological phenomenon, such as the brain, could not be accounted for properly without the action of some higher intelligence. Similarly, Bohm feels that "Natural selection is not the whole story, but rather that evolution is a sign of the creative intelligence of matter." Thompson has pointed out that "Bohm regards this intelligence as emanating either from his implicate order or from beyond." The Vedic paradigm proposes that the supreme intelligent being can create or modify the forms of living beings by the transmission of organized wave patterns into the physical realm. Of course both this theory of creation by sound and the Darwinian theory of evolution are very difficult to verify. Thompson states, "The theory of creation by sound vibration involves transcendental levels of reality not accessible to the mundane senses, and thus in one sense it is more unverifiable than the purely physical Darwinian theory. However, if a purely physical theory turns out to be empirically unverifiable, then there is nothing further one can do to be sure about it. In contrast, a theory that posits a supreme intelligent being opens up the possibility that further knowledge may be gained through internal and external revelation brought about by the will of that being." This entire approach is in line with the oft-mentioned need for a new paradigm, a new world view which is said to be in the making. Although the mechanistic world view founded by Descartes, Galileo, Newton, and Bacon has dominated thought since the seventeenth century -- now, as we approach the twenty-first century, the severe limitations of this view have become apparent. The mechanistic approach must be replaced with a holistic approach. Rather than torturing nature for her secrets, Thompson's idea calls for a reverence for nature and a humble appeal to Godhead for divine service. Finally, in Thompson's own words, "This approach to knowledge and to life also constitutes one of the great perennial philosophies of mankind, but it has tended to be eclipsed in this age of scientific empiricism. To obtain the fruits of this path to knowledge, one must be willing to follow it, and one will be inclined to do this only if one thinks the world view on which it is based might possibly be true. Establishing this possibility constitutes the ultimate justification for constructing theories such as the one considered here: linking physics and metaphysics." 1) The
Holographic Paradigm
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