"Consciousness is the organizing principle that is missing from present-day science" (Paul Davies).
"Consciousness is the final frontier of science" (Steven Rose).
"The entire universe is the expression of consciousness" (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi).
Consciousness as the Foundation of Science
Modern science has succeeded in "mastering" the physical world, the world of matter. But the world of mind and consciousness is still a profound mystery. Nick Herbert calls it "an intellectual black hole." There is no agreed-upon theory of mind and consciousness. Two theories mainly stand out: 1) Mind as an epiphenomenon of the brain; 2) Mind as the "software" of the brain hardware (the computer metaphor).
The new paradigm of science, inspired by quantum physics, is based on consciousness. It is science based on the primacy of consciousness, the so-called "science within consciousness," a term first used by the philosopher Willis Harman, considered one of the great visionaries of our time, and whose purpose is the integration of the intellectual and the spiritual. Harman was president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences [see Addendum].
The concept of "science within consciousness" was later developed extensively by Amit Goswami in his books [see Bibliography]. In fact, Goswami is considered the founder of this paradigm of science. According to Goswami:
Nothing exists outside of consciousness.
There is a deep level of reality that is holistic and non-local.
Mind can affect matter because they share the same essence: consciousness.
The consciousness of the subject manifests with choice. Choice is concomitant with conscious experience. "I choose, therefore I am."
The universe exists as infinite possibilities at the transcendental level, and manifests only when observed by conscious beings.
It is not a matter of incorporating consciousness into science, but of adopting it as the foundation of everything, the supreme organizing principle of reality to provide a solid and clear foundation for science.
Science deals with the superficial, with the external, with the laws of objective nature. Science was not supposed to have as its object of study the subjective, deep or inner world. But quantum physics has forced to change this attitude and to consider the consciousness, not as the object of scientific research, but as the foundation of everything, of the inner world and the outer world.
This paradigm is not really new. It goes back in the West to the works of Descartes, Kant, Leibniz, Berkeley, Schopenhauer and Bergson. And it coincides with ancient Eastern traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism), which postulate that the basis of existence is consciousness, the transcendental, not the material: consciousness conceives, manifests and governs the physical world; the universe is created by consciousness, made of consciousness and designed for consciousness. These Eastern traditions teach that the world we perceive is maya, illusion, and that true reality lies behind the material world.
The principles of "science within consciousness" are as follows:
Consciousness, and not matter, is the foundation of all that exists.
It is, therefore, a monistic, unifying, transcendent doctrine.
Consciousness is the only true reality. Matter, mind, life and evolution are manifestations of consciousness.
Consciousness is on a higher level than material, it transcends the physical world. What we perceive or consider as reality are only "shadows" of the true reality (as in Plato's famous allegory of the cave).
Scientists keep looking for consciousness in the brain, but they will never find it because it is on a higher level, although it uses the brain to manifest itself on the physical plane. According to former astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the brain not only does not create consciousness, but even limits it, conditions it.
Consciousness is also on a higher level than the mental. It is for this reason that we can neither conceptualize it nor define it. And it resolves the paradox: if consciousness is so fundamental, how come we don't know what it is? The answer is simple: defining consciousness would imply using the mind, the concepts, and therefore "downgrading" it. Nor can we "measure" it, quantify it, because it transcends mind and matter. We can, however, speak of the projection of consciousness at the mental level, which we can call "mental consciousness," which is based on conceptualizable characteristics or properties.
Consciousness has no attributes of any kind, neither spatial nor temporal nor material. This difficulty of defining consciousness is well expressed in the phrase "The Tao that can be expressed is not the true Tao". The Tao has no limitations and has no attributes, for if it had attributes it would be limited.
It resolves the classic mind-body dilemma by admitting that there is something that transcends mind and body: consciousness. Everything is manifested consciousness.
Descartes postulated the mind-body duality: res cogitans and res extensa, respectively. Physical objects have extension and location in space. Mental "objects" have no such physical attributes. In the concept of body, there is nothing that corresponds to mind, and there is nothing in the concept of mind that corresponds to body.
Consciousness is non-local. Everything is connected through consciousness. There is a non-local communication between all things, a communication that transcends space and time. Whether we are conscious or not, we are connected at the level of consciousness. Consciousness is always present and supports all the different manifested levels.
Consciousness is unity. It sees no differences, it sees everything as the same thing. There is no difference between subject and object. Consciousness is prior to experience. Consciousness is self-referent (it refers to itself) and self-sufficient (it depends on nothing but itself) and is irreducible to something even more basic. "Consciousness is one, there is nothing in second position" (Upanishads). There are no different types of consciousness. We all participate in the same consciousness. Consciousness is one and indivisible. In consciousness there is no separability.
Consciousness interconnects everything. Everything is interconnected through consciousness. The whole universe is interconnected through consciousness.
Consciousness connects the inner (mental) world and the outer (physical) world. Consciousness unites the polar opposites or duals.
There is a threefold structure: observer, observed and observation process. The process of observation, which unites the opposites (the observer and the observed), is carried out by the consciousness.
The mind is the possibility of meaning. Consciousness collapses the two waves of possibility to create an experience of meaning and at the same time create a memory of meaning, a representation. Meanings are patterns. A knowing is the mapping of a perception to a previously existing pattern.
What we experience is a synchronicity, a meeting point between mind and nature produced by consciousness. One of the infinite mental possibilities collapses simultaneously with the collapse of one of nature's possibilities.
The mind-nature meeting point is different for each living species. Bats, flies, birds, dogs, cats, etc. synchronize differently due to their different mental structure. The mind is like a filter, like glasses through which we contemplate reality.
Consciousness is possibility and freedom. Every action, every thought, every feeling, every attitude, every intention are collapses of possibilities. When consciousness chooses, a possibility collapses and the particular, the manifested, emerges. The consciousness collapses the possibility, converts the potential into the actual, without ceasing to be, at the same time, possibility. As we act in life, we are collapsing (manifesting) possibilities.
Mental activity is a creative process. Each creative act creates consciousness: it brings into existence something fundamentally new, a new emergent quality.
Consciousness is power. All power comes from consciousness.
In consciousness there is no time. Consciousness exists in no-time, in the "now", in every instant, at the meeting point between the past and the future.
Consciousness is the supreme simplicity. Therefore, the greater the simplicity of a general theory, the closer we come to consciousness.
Consciousness is the supreme creativity because it relates all things. All creativity comes from consciousness. Creativity is the discovery of something new in a new context or the discovery of a new meaning in an old context. Creativity is a discontinuous leap and is reflected when the right hemisphere takes over and perceives something as new. This happens all at once. It is like a quantum or discrete leap. Zen Buddhist koans are used precisely to trigger creative quantum leaps.
Consciousness is not the soul. The soul is a spark, a part of the Spirit of God. Consciousness is a faculty of the soul. Mind and brain are instruments of the soul, to manifest on the mental and physical planes, respectively. Therefore, the paradigm of consciousness brings science closer to spirituality.
We do not "have" consciousness; we are consciousness. It can be said that consciousness has us. Just as we say that we do not have a soul, but that we are a soul, which manifests in a body (and in the future could manifest in another body).
We have several bodies: physical, astral, causal, mental and etheric (or supramental), each corresponding to a level of reality. All are real and exist simultaneously. And we have these bodies so that the soul can manifest on these planes. These bodies have increasing degrees of freedom as one moves up the scale.
Bodies higher than the physical are non-local, are connected through consciousness and are indivisible. Matter, on the other hand, is local and divisible.
The etheric body is a more subtle body than the mental body, responsible for intuition, creativity and where the primary archetypes reside, which connect the unmanifest (soul) with the manifest world. It is the level closest to the soul.
Consciousness simultaneously collapses the possibilities in the different bodies to create the experience of each moment.
When several people communicate at the oral (physical) level, there is at the same time a deep level of communication based on non-local interactions at the level of the other bodies.
When we die, we only part with the physical body. The deceased survive with the rest of their bodies. Having more freedom, living in a non-local world, they can take, at will, many forms. Consciousness, not that it survives death; consciousness, as a faculty of the soul, always exists because it is timeless.
The universe is intentional. It has been created for the purpose of creating and harboring life and for consciousness to manifest.
The New Holistic Paradigm
We are witnessing a paradigm shift in all orders, mainly in science. The old paradigm (OP) of classical science is being replaced by a new paradigm (NP) of the new science based on quantum physics. The OP is associated with the mode of consciousness of the left hemisphere of the brain: reductionist, rational, analytical, sequential and discrete. The NP is associated with the mode of consciousness of the right hemisphere of the brain: holistic, intuitive, synthetic, parallel and continuous.
Since consciousness is something abstract, and science needs something more concrete, the two modes of consciousness are called upon to relate the universal to the particular:
The holistic mode corresponds to the deep level.
The reductionist mode corresponds to the superficial level, as a manifestation of the deep level.
Consciousness is the connection between the deep and the superficial, such that the superficial is a manifestation of the deep and evokes the deep. The deep is not expressible, only particular (superficial) manifestations of the deep are expressible.
Reality according to classical science
Conventional, classical or Newtonian science is based on the following principles:
Materialistic or physicalistic monism.
Matter is the basis of reality. Everything is matter. The only real thing is the material universe. All phenomena are ultimately reducible to physical phenomena. Reality is concrete, material.
Determinism.
The world is a machine that works deterministically, like a clock. It is a closed system, rigid and without degrees of freedom. In any system, given initial conditions (positions, velocities, etc.), the outcome is predetermined in its entirety. The effects are inevitable. The symbol of this paradigm is the circle and the number .
Reductionism.
The method of knowledge to be applied is the rational and analytical one, of decomposition of the whole into its constituent parts. Only if the parts are known can the whole be known. The whole is determined by the parts, the whole is equal to the sum of its parts.
Look for the building blocks of matter: molecules, atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks, etc. It is a downward and endless journey because matter does not really exist. Matter is something superficial, something apparent or maya, as it is qualified in the East.
Spatial locality.
Cause-effect relationships are local. Local communication takes place in a material form or by energy-carrying signals, the limit of which is governed by the speed of light. Causality is linear: cause always precedes effect. There is no simultaneous action and effect at a distance.
Temporal locality.
All motion or change occurs continuously, and always moving along the arrow of time.
Separability.
Although there may be local interactions, all material objects are separate and distinct from one another. Phenomena are disconnected and independent of each other. Knowledge is fragmented. The science taught in universities is a science fragmented into islands of knowledge with no relationships between them. There are different sciences, each with its specific domain.
Objectivity.
The material world is objective, independent of the observer. The real is what is observable, measurable, quantitative, experimentally repeatable and verifiable by any observer. The observer does not influence the observed. All the attributes of an object can be measured with the precision imposed or restricted by technology. To measure is to reveal a property that was in the system before the measurement was made. What is important is the experience of external reality. Subjective experiences are secondary. Science is superficial and profane.
Competence.
Everything is viewed as a game of tensions produced by competition.
No meaning.
There is no a priori purpose in the universe or in its evolution. In the world there are only forms or signs, without meaning. Formal, scientific laws can be discovered, which causally (superficially) relate some elements to others, but there is no associated (or deep) meaning.
Ascending causality.
There is a causal hierarchy of an ascending type, where the micro forms the macro: the physical determines the biological, and the biological determines the mental, the emotional, consciousness and even spirituality. Mind, consciousness and life are epiphenomena (emergent phenomena) of matter when it reaches a certain degree of complexity. Everything is based on the particular, looking for general laws that allow to understand and formalize particular phenomena.
An example of bottom-up causality is the Urey-Miller biogenesis experiment conducted in 1952: an attempt to create organic molecules in the laboratory from simple inorganic substances, simulating primordial chemical and environmental conditions on Earth. Another example is the attempt to create synthetic life by Craig Venter.
Complexity.
Everything is complex and difficult to know.
Linearity and perfection.
Linear scales are used to measure everything in nature, including the phenomenon of time. An attempt is made to model nature with perfect forms.
Principle of the excluded third.
Every statement is either true or false. A physical entity either has a property or it does not. There are dichotomies: everything has two poles.
No life after death.
Materialists believe only in matter. Therefore, they do not believe in a life after physical death. Nothing survives. With physical death everything ends.
The new conception of science
Quantum physics has changed our understanding of the universe. The new science arising from quantum physics is based on principles totally opposed to those of classical science:
Monism: consciousness.
Consciousness is the foundation of reality. Everything is consciousness. The only reality is consciousness. All phenomena are manifestations of consciousness.
At the deepest level of matter, matter is diluted, disappears and everything is energy (continuous vibration). Energy and matter are two poles of the same reality.
Indeterminism.
The world works in a non-deterministic way. It is open, flexible and with degrees of freedom. The symbol of the new paradigm is the spiral and the number Φ (the golden ratio), which appears in the processes of growth. Everything in nature evolves in a spiral.
Holism.
The method of knowledge to be applied is synthetic rather than analytical. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When we divide the whole, we lose something that was in the whole and is no longer present in its parts.
No spatial locality.
Spatial communications are instantaneous. They are not limited by the speed of light.
No temporal locality.
All motion or change occurs instantaneously. Cause and effect are confused.
No separability.
There is no separability. Everything is connected, nothing is isolated. There is only one science, the universal science, from which the particular sciences are derived.
Subjectivity.
The external world is dependent on the observer. The observer influences the observed. The new science is profound and sacred. It seeks the deep archetypes that manifest in the surface world. The observer and the observed are two aspects of the same phenomenon.
Cooperation.
Everything is seen as a play of cooperation and harmony, of interrelation between all things.
Meaning.
There is purpose in the universe and in its evolution. The ultimate meaning of everything, the root of all things, lies deep within, in the unified.
Descending causality.
There is a causal hierarchy of a descending type, going from the universal (consciousness) to the particular. Consciousness produces matter, mind and life. It seeks to understand and formalize all phenomena through universal concepts and laws.
Simplicity.
The essence of all things is simple.
Nonlinearity and fractality.
A non-linear, exponential or logarithmic type of scale is used. Fractals are used. In nature we do not find straight lines, nor perfect circles, but oval (elliptical) shapes, such as the trajectories of the planets around the sun. But above all there are fractal shapes, recursive patterns that refer to themselves. The golden ratio is fractal: it refers to itself.
Principle of the third included.
Objects can have at the same time two opposite or complementary properties. It is a harmonization of opposites. Dichotomies are replaced by higher level (or deeper) synthetic concepts. For example, spin, which can take two values (up and down). A quantum entity can be in two opposite states at the same time, superimposed. It is a new logic, quantum logic, the logic of the third included.
There is life after death.
There is life after death because consciousness is indestructible, being beyond space, time and matter.
Consciousness, the New Revolution in Physics
A new revolution is brewing in physics, beyond the quantum and relativistic physics revolutions of the 20th century. It is a profound and transcendental new physics based on the idea that the physical world is a manifestation of a metaphysical realm.
Physics studies physical "phenomena," the observable, the external, the perceptible, the superficial. But behind all phenomena lies the "noomenon," the deep cause. Therefore, to understand physics, one must go to the origin from which all phenomena arise. This is a universal strategy to achieve the unity of knowledge. One must understand the deep (or universal) in order to understand the superficial (or particular).
Scientism is the trap of objectivity, of the superficial. But the truth is actually hidden in the deep, where everything is connected. Science has proceeded in the opposite direction, exploring the outer world and ignoring the inner world.
In the deep everything is unified and is the common origin of all that exists. But we cannot access the deep from the superficial. We can only access the primary archetypes, the archetypes of consciousness, which connect the superficial and the deep.
The discoveries of modern physics have made it clear that, at the quantum level, the boundary between the physical and the mental is blurred:
At the microphysical level, the limitations of the physical world seem to disappear. Phenomena such as quantum entanglement, multi-location of a quantum entity and superposition of states defy our common sense based on known external physical reality.
At the macrophysical level there are also phenomena that seem to suggest that there are subtle entities that we cannot detect directly, but that we postulate by their effects: the gravitational ones that maintain the shape of galaxies (dark matter) and the expansion of the universe (dark energy). These subtle entities suggest the existence of a deeper level of reality.
All this is causing the scientific paradigm to be shifting toward a foundation beyond the physical: toward consciousness, which unites the physical and psychic worlds.
The search for a common grounding of the physical and the psychic was already raised by Jung and Pauli, who believed in the existence of a "neutral language" explaining internal and external phenomena, as they believed that both phenomena were manifestations of the same deep archetypes.
In classical Newtonian (surface) physics, objects are determined. In quantum physics, objects (quantum entities) are possibilities from which the consciousness chooses. When a person observes, his consciousness chooses one among the different quantum possibilities, the consciousness connects the opposites: the internal (mental) with the external (physical). The external (physical) possibility and the internal (mental) possibility are united by consciousness.
On the other hand, reality presents itself, at a deep level, as abstract, as mathematical-like abstractions. The current superstring theory of quantum physics is a purely abstract theory, suggesting that ontology is abstraction and that epistemology is also abstraction. String theory is an abstract theory, of abstract geometry. At a deep level, ontology and epistemology are the same thing. "Objective reality has evaporated and what we observe is not nature itself but nature exposed to our method of interrogation" (Heisenberg).
Addenda
Noetics
The word "Noetics" comes from the Greek word "nous" and refers to knowledge of an intuitive, deep and even mystical type. Noetics refers to higher, transcendent states of consciousness, of peak or numinous experiences, which occur suddenly. Edgar Mitchell co-founded in 1973, together with investor Paul N. Temple, the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), a center dedicated to scientifically investigate human consciousness and transcendent experiences of reality: alternative healings, paranormal phenomena, extrasensory perception, telepathy, Jungian synchronicity, survival of consciousness after death, etc. Mitchell, on his return trip from the Moon (Apollo 14 mission) had a mystical experience, of connection with the whole universe.
A key concept of Noetics is "intention". But what Noetics calls "intention," as thought directed toward a goal, is really visualization or imagination of something we wish to happen. Since imagination is a faculty of the soul, it has great power to realize itself, to manifest on the lower planes.
Parapsychologist Dean Radin has demonstrated the power of intention with several experiments involving the electronic generation of random numbers.
The semiophysics, by René Thom
René Thom, with his semiophysics or "physics of meaning," attempted to classify the variety of physical phenomena into a small number of archetypes or categories. He was looking for meaningful dynamic forms in all phenomena. He sought a philosophical science, a deeper and more intelligible science, as opposed to the superficial and pragmatic science, aimed only at prediction and control of nature.
To understand is to mentally represent archetypal mental mechanisms. To understand consists in going behind perceptible in order to apprehend the imperceptible.
Mathematics plays a crucial role in the process of understanding. Because of its abstraction, clarity and universality, mathematics constitutes the key element of interdisciplinarity.
There is no explanation without theory, and no theory without mathematics.
The distinction between pure and applied mathematics must be eliminated. All mathematics is manifestation of the same archetypes.
Deep ecology
It is a movement based on the idea that reality is beyond the scientific framework:
It is concerned with the metaphysics of nature. It is the model of the basic metaphysical structure of the world.
All things (be they elementary particles, organisms or galaxies) are interconnected and are constituted by their relationships with other things.
Intuition is the way to the perception of the unity of all creation.
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