Quantum spirituality?

Isn’t it just time for a new piece. We’ve been busy doing so much constructive stuff, that there has hardly been any time to write about what touches us. Be it negative or positive. But, and here goes, the last couple of weeks we have had many an interaction with spiritual individuals and groups and something struck me hard enough to not be able not to write about it.

One meeting was about spiritual activism and the other on the future of consciousness. The first was about the contradictions between spirituality and activism, the second about how we can reach a higher consciousness as a species. Essentially they have the same goal; make the world a better place. They also share the borrowing of concepts from quantum mechanics.

Let’s take the spiritual activism first. I have no idea why the two should be mutually exclusive to begin with, but that is for another time. The meeting heavily leant on the “Zero Point Field” theory from quantum mechanics. Zero point energy is the amount of energy associated with the vacuum of empty space (I believe Einstein was one of the first to state this). It is the lowest point energy a system can have and can not be removed from the system. The Zero point field is roughly the electro magnetic energy field that is still there even at absolute zero (-256 C or 0 K). Now, I am not an expert, and certainly make no claim at understanding this or other QM concepts to any serious level, but when you start translating this concept into it being the field that connects us all and that we can all tap into, and that it has finally been proven scientifically, I start to wonder about your sanity. When you start telling me that it can be used to keep me young, sadly, all wonder is gone.

The message was: “Don’t think do!” Use the ZPF and we will change the world for the better! All kinds of unverifiable examples were given as examples of this happening already. The only verifiable one was an experiment in1956 were a group of seventy year olds was transported into the world of their childhood (language, dress code, housing, activities, etc.). All began showing symptoms of becoming more youthful, both mentally and physiologically. This off course was all due to these old folks being able to tap into the ZPF and reach back to the body and energy of their youth. People were lapping it up and I felt pretty alone. The fact that other people have looked at the results of this experiment, interpreted them differently, came up with other explanations, and that putting seventy year olds on a light fitness regime produces even better results, makes never no mind to the attentive audience. Skepticism is reserved for outsiders.

The second meeting was on the evolution of consciousness. Here ego was the big enemy, and for convenience sake not defined as a prerequisite for sanity, but as a monster that constantly threatens to gobble us up and keeps our consciousness from evolving into a higher state. When it came to consciousness, the uncertainty principle was brought to bear. Since the outcome of what will happen is uncertain, we as observers can influence this outcome through our higher consciousness. Look at us humans having been granted a consciousness that animals have to do without. I smell the beginnings of a hierarchy and a minority complex shielded by trying to prove our superiority. Any actual real world examples of the so-called higher consciousness couldn’t be given and those who tried were righteously smitten down for being wrong by definition. Mystification and vagueness are good places to hide! In the following discussion, the attendees trying to come up with what could be examples of higher consciousness are, according to the guide, proving they have no higher consciousness by the mere act of trying to prove it and can therefore be treated condescendingly. The latter off course is done fervently since the poor soul does not understand and needs to be forced, whoops guided towards a higher consciousness. Am I the only one who thinks pity is petty?

What was being referred to as scientific proof for a higher conscience was the uncertainty principle. In quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle (Heisenberg) is a mathematical limit on the accuracy with which it is possible to measure everything there is to know about a physical system and predict its future state(s). On a micro level, the more we know about a particle’s position, the less accurately we can say anything about its momentum and vice versa. So, what the esteemed spiritual guide was actually talking about was not the uncertainty principle, but the observer effect. Not only condescending, but wrong as well! The uncertainty principle is a result of wave-particle duality. Will what we measure act like a wave or a particle? We won’t know until after the observation. If the outcome of an event has not been observed, it exists in a state of superposition, which means it is still in all possible states at once. The most famous example is Schrödinger's cat, in which the cat is neither dead nor alive until observed. The effects of both these principles on the macroscopic world are negligible. I so hope I am not insulting real physicists by putting it this simple, I freely admit to not knowing any better.

Back to the meeting, it was stated that a higher consciousness can and will influence the outcome of the aforementioned superposition of the possible states of our society in a positive manner – as in the previous meeting there is this need for something better then a willingness to deal with what is. The easy way out, while pretending it is even harder then just dealing with what is. If you can’t impress them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit. What is consciousness? No consensus could be reached other then on “being aware”. If that is consciousness, what is a higher consciousness? Surprise, surprise, it was off course the ability to use our awareness to influence the outcome of events in our favor. The fun I would have if that were possible. A statement proven through the argumentum ad ignorantiam, since it is impossible to prove wrong, the fact that it can not be proven right makes never no mind, again. Where had I seen that before? It left me thinking though: “What if our Ego is such a smart monster, that it is capable of fooling us into aspiring to a fictitious higher consciousness and thereby getting its narcissist way?”

What struck me both times is that in searching for ‘deeper meaning’ in our lives, the complex and deeply philosophical QM theorems and concepts are flattened, simplified and translated to the point of loosing not only their context, but also their meaning. In looking for ‘deeper meaning’ the spiritual people I met are opportunists who use whatever is convenient and chuck out whatever they can not use, understand or explain. Yes, it is most probably out of fear and pain and is a completely, dare I say it, subconscious act, but that is no excuse to reduce these concepts to platitudes. I really do not understand QM to the level I would like to, for me all the more reason not to appropriate its concepts in the name of higher consciousness and spirituality. But hey, I am not enlightened anyway and am therefore to be pitied and looked down upon. Their consciousness is higher than mine! Funny isn’t it that all this talk about higher consciousness in the end comes down to feeling superior over others. History always repeats itself and god put fossils in the ground to fool Darwin.