SageTree

So in light of talking about how science and spirituality/metaphilosphy I found a little article about a man who is studying them both.

I chose this article not for its overwhelming depth but for the simplicity of understanding Buddhist and Quantum theory.

Introduction

An overview of the current debate concerning the relationship between the intellectual arenas of the nature of religious reality, including Western theology, and the scientific worldview; in particular the polarisation between the viewpoints of extreme materialism and dogmatic theism are examined. Recent attempts to bridge the gap between theology and science are examined and shown to be inadequate. In contrast to the seemingly unbridgeable gap between theology and modern physics, the essentially empirically oriented perspectives of the Chittamatra (Mind-Only) and Madhyamaka (Middle-Way) Buddhist philosophies are presented.

Initial evidence for a deep connection between these worldviews and the evidence of modern quantum physics is offered. In particular the quantum evidence that consciousness comprises the nature of the quantum realm is viewed in the light of the similar Mind-Only (Chittamatra-Yogacara) assertion:

Nothing, such as atoms and so on, exist externally,

As anything other than cognition.

This is clearly echoed by many assertions within quantum physics such as the following by one of the founding fathers of quantum theory, Erwin Schrödinger:

Mind has erected the objective outside world … out of its own stuff.

An initial survey of such remarkable correspondences is presented.

The quantum view that the universe creates itself through the agency of the perceptions of all sentient beings, which derives from the vision of the significant twentieth century physicist John Archibald Wheeler, and is exactly paralleled by the Yogacara Mind-Only perspective, is outlined, and the supporting views of other significant physicist cited. This Mind-Only self-creating view of the universe is contrasted with the currently more prevalent materialist viewpoint; and the logical incoherence of the materialist perspective is intimated.

At the same time as the unsatisfactory nature of the materialist view of reality is indicated the equally logically unacceptable theological view of the necessity of an independent creator God is also outlined. The fact that both unacceptable viewpoints derive from equally dogmatic approaches to the understanding of conceptual systems is suggested and argued for. The fact that the Buddhist Mind-Only and Middle-Way correspond exactly to the evidence of quantum theory, without drawing further metaphysical conclusions which go beyond the evidence is clearly shown. The resulting quantum Mind-Only metaphysical model of a self-creating universe, which effectively acts through the agencies of the perceptual activities of participating sentient beings, is finally presented; and the religious implications of this metaphysical viewpoint, that all sentient beings are individual sentient beings are responsible for the nature of the future universe, indicated.

Quantum Material Vanishing Act

A historical exposition of the quantum revolution in physics which led to the necessary abandonment of the concept of an ‘independent’ external material world; the perspective emphasizes the fact that a correct understanding of quantum theory requires an acceptance of the fact that the ‘stuff’ called ‘matter’, which was once thought to exist as the foundation of reality independently of the human mind, does not exist in this manner. The presentation involves a gentle, non-technical account of the historical development of quantum theory, emphasizing the increasingly disbelieving reactions of the physicists concerned. The fact that these physicists were ‘forced against their own wishes’, as Professor Roger Penrose describes the situation, to accept the experimental evidence and the ensuing theoretical developments is highlighted.

This leads to an initial presentation of the central Buddhist concept of ‘emptiness’, the concept that all the phenomena lack any self-sufficient and independent inner core of reality. The notion of emptiness is introduced from two perspectives. Firstly, the fact that all experiences indicating the assumed existence of an external world are the result of the famous quantum ‘collapse of the wavefunction’, and is therefore dependent in some fashion upon the observer, shows that the Buddhist Mind-Only (Chittamatra) assertions regarding the primacy of consciousness within the functioning of
reality are completely correct.

Secondly, the fact that increasingly subtle and precise experiments at the quantum level indicate that certain characteristics of quantum phenomena are not ‘inherently’ existent aspects of the phenomena themselves, electron spin for instance, clearly shows that the assertion by the Buddhist Madhyamaka, or Middle Way, philosophical analysis that:

Phenomena are empty of a certain mode of existence called ‘inherent existence’, ‘objective existence’, or ‘natural existence’

From this basis the fundamental Buddhist idea of the two truths, or ‘realties’, is explained. These are the conventional reality of appearances and the ultimate realm of reality which of the nature of consciousness and is given the metaphysical label ‘emptiness’, a realm of non-dual potentiality for experience. This metaphysical division is related to the levels of the quantum realm and the realm of the experience of everyday entities.

The chapter closes with a consideration of the extremes of, firstly, new age appropriations of the new quantum worldview such as the film What the Bleep Do We Know, which have drawn considerable criticism because of their both their over-simplified and over-sensationalised presentation of the ‘quantum mystical’ viewpoint that mind creates matter and much more. Secondly, more sober accounts and evaluations of the terrain such as the physicists Rosenblum and Kuttner in their book who, although distancing themselves from more exuberant, and therefore thought by many to be dubious, expositions, still find that the evidence now clearly indicates that consciousness and the quantum realm must be entangled in some way.





Illusion of Reality



This chapter presents an in depth investigation into the nature of the illusion of reality uncovered by quantum theory and Buddhist philosophy.



This chapter begins with an in depth but non mathematical explanation of the quantum wavefunction; the mathematical entity describing the potentialities for experience which ‘exist’ independently of observation. The manner in which consciousness interacts with the wavefunction is described; one of these potentialities appears to actualize when observed by consciousness. The fact that ‘material’ entities which appear to exist independently of the minds of sentient beings is clarified. The respective physics and Buddhist divisions into quantum - macroscopic and ultimate –conventional/seeming are elucidated from the perspective of the functioning of the wavefunction in interaction with consciousness, in both cases the dividing line seems to reside in the phenomenon of consciousness.

Quantum physicist David Bohm’s notion of the holographic implicate order, which he derived from his philosophical reflection upon the nature of the wavefunction, and the Buddhist concept of the dharmadhatu, the ultimate expanse of phenomena are presented and contrasted, brining out a remarkable similarity. Bohm’s consideration of Descartes’ delineation of the natures of consciousness and matter is considered in the light of the Chittamatra-Yogacara (Mind-Only [iii] ) demonstration that reality can only be of the nature of consciousness.

The significant quantum physicist Henry Stapp’s demonstration that quantum physics clearly indicates that reality can only be the nature of consciousness which, prior to observation, is a field of potentiality embodied in the wavefunction is presented. Stapp’s view that the experienced world results from an interaction of subjective and objective wavefunctions is overviewed. The ideas of the quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli and analytic psychologist C. J Jung regarding the common source of the experiential realms of consciousness and matter are also reviewed in this context.


This chapter clearly shows the necessity of considering the appearance of the material world and the individuated subjective experiential realm of consciousness as deriving from a deeper ‘implicate’ realm of consciousness. The quantum split between the micro, quantum, realm and the everyday realm of macroscopic experience and the Madhyamaka ‘two truths’ of reality are presented from this perspective.

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SageTree

Matter of Mind-Only

An in depth analysis of the idea that reality is the nature of consciousness and the fact that what was considered to be ‘classical’ matter, the stuff assumed to exist independently of the mind by Descartes, in fact is an illusion. The chapter begins with a consideration of the irrefutability of the idealist view of the nature of reality presented by the sixteenth century English philosopher Bishop Berkley. Modern materialist arguments presented by philosophers such as Dan Dennett are clearly shown, both by quantum physics and philosophy, to be fallacious.

The modern Western prejudice for a materialist viewpoint is considered with regard to the modern academic discipline of consciousness studies. A survey of the logical incoherence of modern western academic approaches to consciousness, some of them proposed by recent best selling authors : Dennett, Dawkins, Hofstadter, Ramachandran, Chalmers, Churchland, Greenfield etc. is carried out This chapter demonstrates the lack of tenability of the materialist perspective – the idea that consciousness ‘emerges’ from non-conscious ‘matter’. The chapter employs, primarily, the Mind-Only demonstration of the impossibility of this notion. Logical demonstrations that consciousness is the ultimate constituent of reality are employed. These involve the logical requirement that two ultimate entities that are inherently opposite and antithetical, such as matter and consciousness, cannot be connected. These reasonings are employed together with the clear evidence of quantum physics.

The chapter presents the idea, presented first by the quantum physicist Nick Herbert, that consciousness, a direct experience, can be considered to be the subjective manifestation of the wave function. The experience of the material world is the illusion generated necessarily by the creation of the illusion of the subjective-objective division within experience. The relationship between this view and Bishop Berkley’s Idealism is explored and the vindication of a thoroughgoing idealism by quantum physics is demonstrated; Plank’s assertion that ‘This Mind is the Matrix of all matter’ is shown to be unavoidable.

The views of Roger Penrose, Stuart Hameroff, the Dalai Lama, Paul Davies are examined in this connection. The crucial viewpoint of Henry Stapp and the Yogacara analysis of the functioning of consciousness at the ground quantum level are investigated in greater detail. This leads to the viewpoint that the illusion of reality arises from the basis of an extraordinary resonant interaction taking place at the quantum level. Schrödinger’s view of the primacy of resonance at the quantum level is important in this context.

The materialist Paul Churchland’s suggestion that precise introspection should directly reveal hidden ‘brain processes’ is turned back on him by
showing that this introspective discipline already exists. It is Buddhist meditation – the exploration of the nature of consciousness through precise introspective insight techniques. Meditation is considered from the point of view of an inward direct exploration of consciousness, and therefore reality. Buddhist meditation is shown to fulfil Nick Herbert’s proposed program for a science of the investigation of consciousness at the quantum level.

The final phase of this chapter presents a rigorous demonstration that the Mind-Only (Chittamatra) metaphysical analysis of the structure of the process of reality in terms of the three natures – imputational nature, other powered nature and thoroughly established - nature corresponds precisely to the perceptual-metaphysical structure of reality implied by quantum physics.

Origonal site reference
His Blog

In Kind,
Sage

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Psilocychosis

Intriguing. Where did you find this sage?

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Life gave me lemons, I didn't make no lemonade, threw the fuckin' lemons back and busted out the Cabernet

SageTree

^ See the link called origonal site.

I just did alot of reading last nite and found this article. Thought it was a good way to talk about emptiness in a pertinent way, as I have been looking for a way to talk about it for some time.

Enjoy

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