The Canvas On Which We Are All Painted

August 27, 2009 at 9:37 pm (Musings)
Tags: Blogger, Conciousness, Creation, Faith, God, Life lessons, new blog, Planck, Quantum, Quantum Mechanics, The Secret, Thought

I have been carrying this around for quite some time and feel that I must finally let it go.  I feel liberated to be posting this and I sincerely hope that you find it stimulating and challenging.  One thing I would ask you to do is some of your own research before arriving at a conclusion of your own.  I can say that I have done significant reading and exploring of this topic before I arrived at the hypothesis that follows and there are plenty of web resources available to help. 

Many have never heard of the Planck scale of existence.  At this level of reality there is no matter, there are no molecules or atoms or even subatomic particles (such as quarks or electrons), there is only potential matter, molecules, atoms and subatomic particles.  What does this mean?  That is a question that must be answered before we can continue.

It is widely accepted that there are multiple levels of true reality coexisting in the physical universe we inhabit.  There is the macro reality that we observe and comprehend in our daily lives.  This is the reality that we intuitively accept and can observe and interact with unaided by any tools or machines.  This is the reality that contains us, our homes, our cars, buildings, beer, pizza etc. 

Below this reality there is a molecular reality.  Any of the observable examples listed above could also be described in terms of their molecules.  If for instance we examine ourselves, we could be described as a complex collection of organic molecules.  Though this is not something that we can observe it is just as relevant and real as saying that we are people or human beings. 

Down again and we enter the atomic reality.  In this scale we are but a mass of electrically bonded atoms, tiny packets of matter interacting through electroweak forces that we can not consciously observe nor comprehend without the use of extremely sophisticated instruments.  Yet, this scale is just as real as the macro scale. 

Beyond the atomic level we get down to the scale of the smallest particles of matter, the fundamental particles where we are indistinguishable from our car, our house or any other material substance.  The entire universe is just a vast ocean of these particles with some observable clumping (which manifests as the things we observe at our level like stars, planets, people, cars etc).  Again, though this concept is alien to most of us it is none the less just as real as the shirt on your back or the beer in your hand (a glass of wine if you are my wife).  At this level of reality we lose all connection to intuition about how things should work and why they exist at all until we descend yet another level further down.

 At the very bottom of existence, in the deepest reaches of reality there lies pure potential.  This is the Planck scale, so named for the Dr, Ernst Planck who discovered that the universe is not infinitely sub-dividable.  That there are minimum sized packets of energy that give rise to the fundamental particles such as quarks, muons and gluons.   At the Planck scale atoms are immensely huge.

The inevitable question becomes, if there is nothing but potential at the Planck scale of reality then what ultimately decides what matter coalesces in to particles, atoms, then molecules and eventually us.  There does appear to be an answer to this question but before we can explore it we need to understand another bizarre, counter-intuitive nuance of the observable universe. 

Many will remember from their school days that electromagnetism (all forms of light included) are waves that travel through the universe at the speed of light and whose attributes are defined largely by the wave lengths.  This is a concept that has graduated in decades of late to an intuitive truth since our civilization is saturated with television, cellular phones, wireless internet etc.  These conveniences are simply the use of electromagnetic waves to carry information from a source to a receiver. 

What is far less intuitive is that not only are electromagnetic transmissions wave in form but so is matter.  Yes, the hard stuff of matter that we know to exist since we are made of it is not only comprised fundamentally of particles but also of matter waves with no single, definite location in space.  In order to truly appreciate this we need to review an experiment commonly known to physicists and science buffs (but has rarely been exposed to the lay person) as the Double Slit Experiment. 

The Double Slit Experiment demonstrates the inseparability of the wave and particle natures of light and other quantum particles such as electrons which are the smallest pieces of matter. 

Originally conducted by Thomas Young in a paper entitled “Experiments and Calculations Relative to Physical Optics,” published in 1803 and replicated innumerable times since the Double Slit experiment has definitively proven that matter typically conceptualized as particulate is also simultaneously a wave in form (or mathematically a wave function).

The most baffling part of this experiment comes when only one “particle” at a time is utilized.  In an effort to spare you a long winded explanation I have chosen to rely on video.

Please take a few minutes to watch this excerpt (without it the rest of this post will not make nearly as much sense) from a mind blowing documentary titled “What the Bleep Do We Know”, a must watch if this post at all peeks your interest; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc

If you are at all like me you are reeling from the implications of this.  If matter is only particles in form when observed then how do we explain all of the matter we observe in our daily experience?  It could be argued that matter only requires the presence of consciousness to maintain its form independent of the nature of that consciousness.  This would mean that any conscious living organism could qualify as an observer, which may in turn explain the existence of much of the matter in our present environment. 

This explanation breaks down, however, when we shift focus from our immediate surroundings and contemplate the most remote objects in the universe.  To say that any living organism observed the quasars from 500 million years after the big bang is folly.  Any observation made of these objects is being done in the relative present (even if you consider the oldest conscious creatures from Earth’s history) since the light from these objects left them nearly 13 billion years ago. 

We are faced with an inescapable problem.  Given the vast complexity of the material universe, which requires the collapse of unimaginably vast and distant wave forms, what level of consciousness would be required to hold the universe in its current form?  

Let us now examine the potential influence that the human mind can have on matter.  Dr. Masaru Emoto’s work with water crystals is perhaps the most scientifically verifiable research done on this topic.  In his book, “Messages from Water”, Dr. Emoto chronicles the experiments his team performed where they affected the structure of frozen water crystals through human thought alone.  (http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Messages-Water-Masaru-Emoto/dp/0743289803/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251420857&sr=1-1) 

The experiment was elegantly simple.  They took a measured sample quantity of water that represents a single drop and froze it in a deep freeze to 30 degrees below zero degrees Fahrenheit.  Once thoroughly frozen they photographed it using a high powered microscope camera.  

The team then brought in a group of expert transcendental meditation practitioners who focused specific emotional thoughts on another sample of the water.  In one such experiment the meditation practitioners focused thoughts of love on the water.  

When the meditation was over the scientist’s repeated the freezing and re-photographed the crystal using the same camera and were delighted to find that the crystalline structure of the water was different. Not just different like two snowflakes are unique but drastically different in form and aesthetics.   Instead of the simple structure of the unaffected frozen droplet, the crystal was now an elaborate and beautiful snowflake formation.  When the experiment was repeated with the thought of hate the crystal changed to an asymmetrical blob with little or no aesthetic beauty.  

The two images on the left are from the same sample of water as are the two images on the right.

 

The implications of this experiment were clear, human consciousness affects the state of the material universe.  While there is ofcourse harsh criticism of Dr. Emoto’s work no one has been able to disprove it.

Though this article is not going to explore the other more specific implication of thought affecting water and the human composition being 90% water, or how the power of intention in other areas may affect our lives, it is interesting that there might actually be a provable physical connection between positive thinking and human wellness. 

So if a team of expert, life-long practitioners of transcendental mediation can affect the crystalline structure of a single drop of frozen water, what type of consciousness is required to collapse the wave functions of all of the matter in the universe?  

We are left with only two alternative answers.  First that there have been conscious creatures permeating the universe since the big bang whom have maintained an observable proximity to all matter in order to maintain the particulate form.  Aside from intuitive resistance to this scenario there is a scientific argument to be made.  Biological life is derived from organic material, namely organic elements such as carbon.  These elements did not exist in the original generation of stars and galaxies that emerged after the big bang since they are actually “cooked” inside the ovens of burning stars. 

Only after a star has run out of nuclear fuel, which averages about five billion years, and exploded in a super nova are these organic elements released in to the universe to seed new star systems.  And only after those star systems form to include planets where sufficient organic elements are present can life even hope to exist. 

This creates an impossible scenario when considering the possibility that some organic life form observed the earliest, first generation, galaxies. 

The second choice is that there is some form of consciousness that permeates every facet of the universe and by its very nature holds matter together through its observation.  Given the vast scope of the known universe this mind would have to represent an equally grand scale to achieve the ubiquitous coverage required. 

If as we learned earlier, disciplined, trained human beings can use their conscious minds to alter the presentation of water crystals, what would a consciousness such as this be capable of, is it perhaps the creation of the universe itself? 

Imagine at the Planck scale that all potential matter emerges from the ocean of vibrating energy through the conscience thought of this super intellect.  That the forms that emerge are actually all seamlessly intertwined because they are all fundamentally the same pool of energy shaped to appear as disparate objects on the macro level where we dwell consciously. 

This would imply that we are all extended parts of this fundamental energy that is the core reality of existence.  That this grand consciousness has shaped us in to the forms we take and infused us with its consciousness.  This infusion is evidenced by the earlier example of human minds affecting the physical properties of material in the macro reality.  This ability is likely a trace remnant of the consciousness that created us, and in fact actively observes us, which is to say binds the universe together through its personal power of observation. 

This model is much like a human experience we can all relate to.  It is very similar to what we call imagination.  We conjure people, places, emotions and situations out of nothing in our minds or in our consciousness.  This power of the mind to affect reality when compounded to infinity could easily create things like universes and people.  We are simply the dreams and artistic imaginings of the creator and the Planck scale is the canvas on which we are all painted. 

Now please do not infer from this that I endorse an impersonal, esoteric view of the creator.  In this thought experiment I am simply making a case for the existence of a super conscience with the faculties to create reality with the same ease that we think excitedly about our next meal or our next meeting with a loved one. 

In summary if matter exists only as a probability arising from the fundamental energy field known to us as the Planck scale under the observation of consciousness then all physical reality exists only because it is being observed.  And because original matter that pre-existed any organic material is still observable by the light it emitted billions of years ago we know that the matter we experience in our lives does not exist through the observation of living things. 

These two inescapable realities force the conclusion that if the observation of living things is not collapsing the matter wave forms to hold matter together then some consciousness outside of the universe must instead be the observer.  Additionally, because of the proven miniscule influence of human consciousness on the material world this outside observer must have an unimaginably vast intellect and consciousness, such that it could actually have created the fundamental tools of material creation in such a way that the Planck scale is actually a vast receiver tuned to the mind of God.  This receiver simply translates the thoughts, desires and imaginings of the Creator in to what we observe as the glorious, terrifying and wonderful universe in which we exist. 

It is time to abandon our petty differences and accept the fact that we are all part of one energy derived from God for His own enjoyment.  If you consider this for a moment is it really hard to believe that He could manifest himself in to a physical form and move among us?  That His “spirit” could be infused in to all of us at His whim?  That through His “incarnation” in to a matter form and His performance of a set of actions could create a ripple effect through the fundamental energy underlying reality that would create a new version of humans that brings us back in to alignment with His energy? 

This model of existence provides an elegance so simple and yet profound as to explain and overcome all objections to the influence, involvement and observation of a loving God.  Love is simply the reality that we are animated by His thoughts and His energy.  Now imagine if He was willing to let you detach from Him and His energy by your own choice (free will).  

What would be the inevitable outcome for a being that voluntarily separates itself from the foundational energy that gives it form and existence in the first place?  Imagine also how that entity would find its way back.  Can you consciously affect the underlying energy of the universe?  Of course you can’t and neither can those who pull away from find their way back.  This is hell. 

I find immense comfort in the support of faith through the core logic of existence.  I believe that we have moved, as a civilization, past any hope of arguing against the existence of God.  Now we are left to argue the nature of God and what our relationship with the Creator should be.  

I, however, will leave that dissertation to another. 

I encourage strongly study and contemplation.  A couple of resources I would recommend are (some already mentioned): 

“What the Bleep Do We Know”, http://www.amazon.com/What-Bleep-QUANTUM-Three-Disc-Special/dp/B000FKO3JO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1251421861&sr=8-2 

“I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist”,   http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Have-Enough-Faith-Atheist/dp/1581345615/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251421908&sr=8-1 

“The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality”, http://www.amazon.com/Fabric-Cosmos-Space-Texture-Reality/dp/0375727205/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251421967&sr=1-3