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Donivan Bessinger, MD
(unpublished)
The
discoveries by quantum physics in the twentieth century have deeply challenged our
notions about the cosmos, so much so that the mechanistic worldview is now
exposed (in the expressive words of Willis Harmon) as Aa dying orthodoxy.@
1
However, the implications of this scientific and philosophical
revolution have hardly at all been assimilated into biology and medicine.
We
have reached a point at which our prevailing medical thinking is disconnected
from what is known about the nonlocal reality of the physical world. For a profession which bases itself on
evidence of physical reality, such a disconnect is a disruption, a wound in its
body of knowledge which calls for healing if the profession is itself to be
healthy. It seems natural to think of this process of re-examining our
relationship to reality as healing thought, in which we heal our
thinking so as to think more comprehensively about healing.
The
recent studies showing that prayer can favorably influence at a distance the
probabilities of healthcare outcomes
2-5 do not fit within the
frame of our present biomolecular medical model. Such data require us to
rethink how mental techniques fit within modern medical practice. Even more
importantly, they force us into a search for a new structure of thought within
which these and other unexpected Aanomalous@ results can be examined, discussed, and tentatively
understood.
Quantum
physics has discovered a nonlocal realm, 6, 7 which lies
within (and Abeyond@ and Aunder@) the familiar
relativistic spacetime physical realm. In other words, effects have been
observed which lie outside the causal reach of speed-of-light forces. What kind of cosmos would it take to allow
nonlocal results, not only at the quantum level, but also in the complex levels
of the stressed human organism? What do the new quantum concepts mean for
medicine? The answers will have
profound influence on our entire approach to healing, for they address our most
basic notions of individuality and of the relationships among all things at all
levels. They would redefine our concepts about the connectedness of objects,
and the notion of objectivity itself.
For
several decades now, physics has been occupied with a search for Aa theory of everything.@ In physical terms that means unifying relativistic effects and quantum
mechanics (Aquantum gravity@).
Since modern medicine is deeply grounded in the idea that physical reality is
primary in healing, any change in foundational ideas about the physical world
has immediate implication for theories of medical practice.
But
the problem is larger than that. Since medicine deals with human experience,
we must also harmonize theories of both physics and psyche. The prevailing view
has been that consciousness is a mechanistic Aepiphenomenon,@ emerging from the physical organization of the brain
at a certain level of complexity. However, the new physical knowledge exposes a
profound paradox : (1) If consciousness
is a physical phenomenon, it must have the quality and character of physical
reality ; (2) physical reality has been
shown to be nonlocal ; (3) therefore
consciousness cannot be merely a mechanistic (local) epiphenomenon.
Physics
has found that a unification theory is more intractable than first hoped, and
the prospect of a unifying theory of physics and psyche must be even more
so. Yet emerging clinical evidence
keeps driving the process, and Aevidence-based
medicine@ must honor all evidence, even that which does not
conveniently fit our current ideas.
This essay (outlining a more complete presentation,8 forthcoming), attempts to survey the ground
on which the new medical edifice is being built. Of course, this is a highly
speculative and intuitive view, which must be evaluated and refined over time.
Ironically, it is based on a re-examination of time itself.
Nonlocal
reality can be represented as being Amindlike@ in several senses :
(1) it exists beyond the realm of matter and mass ; (2) it is unrestrained in its scope of
operation by time-distance relationships; (3) it is an infinite connecting principle
which encompasses all that is ;
(4) it is the realm of the
effective Aobserver@
who on the whole-cosmos level resolves quantum probabilities into actualities ;
and (5) it is the reality base from which individual consciousness (and
everything else) emerges. Elsewhere I
have called this realm a nuocontinuum, 9 but here let us call it nuospace for
short.
During
the discussion of these ideas, it will be helpful to keep in mind the vast
scale of the cosmos, in terms of orders of magnitude (powers of ten): The cosmos, 1029 meters ( ~ 15
billion light years); human
height, 100 m (~ 1.8
m); erythrocyte 10-6 m, (7
microns); nanometer technology, 10-9
m; proton, 10-15 m; quark 10-17
m. Below this level of quantum effects
there is a very large gap of twenty orders of magnitude, down to the smallest
theoretically permissible size, the Planck length, 10-37 m.
There
is more room on the scale of magnitude lying below human size than beyond it. In
the vast unknown of the domain between quark size and the Planck length, there
is more room for organizational detail than between the quark and human scales,
or about as much as between the scale of a small human cell and that of the
observable cosmos. The Asubquantum@
Planck-to-quark scale is still within the spacetime realm, though from our
perspective, relativistic effects in the near-Planck region are increasingly
bizarre. At Planck scale, relativistic effects must cease ; beyond it lies
nonlocality, in which space and time are not definable.
Nuospace
is construed as the sub-Planck realm which contains the potentialities
(Heisenberg=s potentia 10 ) and probabilities
(Schrödinger equation 11 ) which govern the outcome of quantum
events, and of all clusters of quantum events, and thus all physical
relationships. However, there is a
lingering mystery: In the physics
laboratory, a particular act of consciousness (an observation or Ameasurement@)
is said to Areduce the wave function@ to turn the probabilities of the equation into a physical actuality.
But how do we explain that Ain the wild,@ that is, in the cosmos before anybody was
looking? In our quest for a descriptive
model we are confronted with several other key questions as well: (1) How is nonlocality coupled to local
physical events? (2) What accounts for
a speed limit for light? (3) What
accounts for dimensionality? (4) What
accounts for the one-way Aarrow of time@?
The
search for a unified physical theory has led to a continuing proliferation of
proposed particles, such as a Higgs boson. 12 Much more promising has been string theory,
which posits the most fundamental Athing@ as very small strings of diameters on the
order of magnitude of the Planck length. That is well beyond the reach of
experimental confirmation, unless they are extended enough to be detected at
the level of quantum effects.
Smolin,
13 whose research approach is loop
quantum gravity, recently summarized loop theory, string theory (and its
companion M-theory), and quantum black hole thermodynamics (which points to a
holographic principle). If the loops
(at the Planck length) are taken to be the fundamental physical object, and
thus constituents of strings, Smolin predicts that all of the three approaches
can be harmonized into a Afinal theory.@
That final theory would include a space structured in discrete Planck-scale
units, which is nonlocal and relational, and which is best understood in terms
of process rather than mechanistic Astates.@
Various physicists have suggested that the sought-for
theory is likely to be simple but decidedly unconventional. Smolin 14 has
also suggested that the unification likely will require a new understanding of
time, and must account for extraordinary organic complexity, in addition to its
unification of quantum theory and relativity. However, we must add that a truly
final theory must also unify physics with psyche, since both domains
relate to nonlocal reality. 9
The
theories just mentioned have focused on finding the most fundamental discrete
features of empty space. However, they
do not clarify the nature of time, which increasingly is seen as a fundamental
problem.15, 16 Further, the
complexity of their mathematics puts such solutions out of the reach of an
ordinary intuitive understanding of cosmos. Even if (when) confirmed, it now
seems that any final theory of space will require some sort of metaphorical
interpretation, if it is to become a Aworking
theory@ in healthcare practice.
There
seems to be a philosophical way around this dilemma. Focusing on the tiniest features of time, rather than of space,
allows creating an intuitive theory by which we can visualize relationships
between physics and psyche in healthcare practice, pending a Afinal@ physical
theory.
Time
measurement in the local domain is relativistic; we might refer to that as
Einsteinian time, or "E‑time."
But, according to one's state of consciousness, perception of time passing
is strikingly variable. In deference to Whitehead=s reference 17 to
discrete occasions of experience, let us designate that as psychological time,
or "W‑time."
Time's
arrow for both E‑time and W‑time is reversible. But events in
cosmos are never seen to reverse or Aun-do@ themselves, so some new conception of time (or new
relativization of time) must be forthcoming.
How do we conceptualize a one-way cosmic time which is consistent both
with relativistic E-time and with quantum duality and uncertainty? To do so, we must discard the idea of a
fundamental, absolute space and time. 16 We will define a dimension as simply a degree of freedom, i.e. as
a Alicense@ or
potential granted by the operations of nuospace to move in relationship to other
entities, or to have an effect.
The
smallest interval imaginable in current physical theory is the Planck time, a
natural unit defined by the speed of light, but it is unimaginably
infinitesimal: 10-43
seconds. The key to our synthesis is to
imagine that the whole-cosmos Energy is pulsed. That is, Energy is distributed
across the cosmos in infinitesimal Planck-time ticks (one can hardly avoid
calling them plicks), and thereby re-converted to mass and momentum according
to the probability-vectors of Schrödinger=s
(time-independent) equation. The new condition re-seeds the equation for the
next plick, and each iteration of the process creates a new degree of
freedom. Creating cosmos would be
something like a digital video process, with an infinitely high sampling rate
(nonlocally across cosmos) providing the highest conceivable Aimage@ resolution,
namely, Apixels@ of Planck
scale units.
Nuospace
is imagined to be a growing (abstract, conceptual, “mental”) Hilbert space (an
infinitely dimensioned mathematical structure 18 ), in which each
new state enfolds the history of its predecessor state, yielding an
"implicate order" (cf. Bohm 19 and Bohm and Hiley.
20 ) The momentum and all other
historical characteristics of any quantum object would be represented in the
multi-dimensional wholeness of the current state of cosmos.
This
“ticking” of whole-cosmos Energy would represent a synchronization pulse
between nonlocality and locality, but cosmos offers no external reference
against which such a mechanism could yield a timing. One can never know what time it is in nuospace. The
"P-clock" is not really a clock, but the pulsing of nonlocality would
represent the critical interaction between nuospace (the realm of the quantum
world's potentia) and the physical actuality realized through quantum‑level
process.
Timing
(E-time) becomes apparent only as motion is tracked within spacetime, from
plick to plick. There would be a speed
limit for physical objects (photons), since nothing may move faster than the P‑clock.
We could state that another way: Physical characteristics do not exist beyond
the Planck limit. A speed limit of
light is inherent in that process. The
Planck interval would be the fundamental parameter, from which all other
physical parameters derive.
In
such a pulsed-nonlocality cosmos, the interval between the plicks, being
nonlocal, would be undefinable and imperceptible. The state expressed at each
dimensional increment would include the characteristics of all interference
waves at all harmonics among all clusters of quantum objects. Since the probability wave function of local‑level
interactions would be renormalized to nonlocality (zero point field) at each
plick, nuospace would in effect be the observer who reduces its own wave
function. This is consistent with
Zurek's work on quantum decoherence by the environment. 21, 22
The
probability would become extremely high that an atom would continue in
existence as an element of the same type.
If it were an unstable element, it would decay in a probabilistic
way. For an object consisting of many
atoms/molecules, the probabilities that it would tend to retain its present
state of motion would be so high as to give rise to a "law" of
inertia.
For
a complex system, especially a life system, the P‑clock process would
result in a growing (large scale) probability of expressing some new degree of
freedom as a new characteristic. We
could think of that as an "impetus" which could be expressible as a probabilistic
state vector. The inherent
probabilities also favor its returning (smaller scale) toward its stable
historical condition after perturbation.
There would always be tension between emergence and equilibrium
(physiological homeostasis), as we observe. Something similar would be seen at
the cosmological level, in the tension between expansion and gravity, but
discussion of that requires more space than is allotted here.
Such
a schema, taken as a theory of the current cosmos, would be rather
startling. Cosmos would be
"neorealist" in the sense that it is "really there" even in
the absence of a human or other sentient observer to collapse the (probability)
wave function. But human consciousness,
expressing its own degrees of freedom in various ways, would be one aspect of
the state of cosmos being integrated at each plick. It would thus be interactive with cosmos with a potential to
affect nonlocally, in subtle but unconventional ways, the probabilities
governing local states.
It has
been proposed that individual consciousness is achieved by quantum-level
interactions within the brain, through the neuronal microtubules, 23, 24
or through boson condensates in brain water. 25, 26 The new view offers the possibility of
understanding consciousness as a diffuse sensing by quantum mind of cosmic
integration within nonlocality, providing a screen on which local content is
projected by the multi-level processes
of ordinary neurological scale. In any
case, the P‑time idea would have a number of interesting implications for
consciousness studies, as well as medical practice and other fields.
Nonlocality
confronts medicine with critical reality issues, as we search for an understanding of consciousness, including
medical experience. One might hope that discussing such ideas will help
science-based medical practice re-establish a relationship with its ground of
being, however we name it or construe it in our many cultural traditions. Doing so requires extending our frame of
reference beyond the local domain, to encompass the richness of the ground of
being in the nonlocal mix of energy and potentia in the nuospace,
interactive with the physical and psychic states of being in each moment.
Regardless
of whether the pulsed-nonlocality idea is accepted, it is inevitable that
other, already well-established concepts from quantum physics will have a major
impact on the philosophic milieu of healing practice. Let us very briefly list
some of them:
Reality
/ Physicality: From the mechanistic point of view, reality
equates with the physical world of discrete historical space-time events.
Nonlocality establishes that there is another aspect to reality, with
characteristics which heretofore have been ascribed to the realm of the
spiritual (Asupernatural@)
or mental. Science must now accept this
non-physical realm as real, because it has been shown by experiment to have
effects within the physical world.
Causality
/ Probability: In the mechanistic view, all causation is linear,
as though any effect is accomplished through discrete links in a chain of
actions. In the face of variability of clinical outcomes, we assume that the
direct deterministic chain was obscured by the complexity of the situation,
which harbors Ahidden variables.@ Quantum mechanics, however, forces an
entirely different view. At the most
basic level of the currently known forms of matter, all physical events occur
probabilistically, and must be analyzed using complex vectors.
Probabilistic
uncertainty is a basic feature of cosmos, and is not consistent with a
mechanistic- deterministic worldview.
The physician who realizes that Ainterventions@ do not directly control outcomes, but only influence
them probabilistically, is better positioned to evaluate all factors bearing on
a clinical situation, in an attitude of humility.
Complementarity/Superposition: The Atruth@ of the nature
of a quantum object cannot be known exactly; sometimes it acts like a particle,
sometimes like a wave, depending on the nature of the observation (experiment)
chosen by consciousness. The truth of the situation is suspended paradoxically
between two conflicting concepts.
The
same can be said in many other arenas of observation. Nadeau and Kafatos
27 have pointed to a number of other complementarities encountered
in physics and mathematics, such as time/space, matter/energy, field/object,
part/whole, zero/infinity, and real/imaginary numbers, which led physicist
Niels Bohr to speak of complementarity as the Alogic of nature.@ The apparent
micro/macro discrepancy in modes of observation between quantum events and the
larger-scale events of classical
physics is itself a major complementarity which has made it difficult to see
the universe as a whole as a quantum object.
The
complementarity principle bears noting in clinical practice, for no single
clinical observation or diagnosis can provide a complete description of a
patient=s state of being. From the nonlocal perspective of
nuospace, in the complexity of the human organism a vast number of states at
all levels of description are superposed and integrated into levels of function
which often compensate to remarkable degrees for various debilitating
conditions.
Healing
thought is itself a
complementarity which refers both to linear and non-linear processing of
received information, about healing specifically and about the universe of
knowledge. Healing thought is a participation in the nonlocal Alogic of nature,@ by
which all complementarities are resolved into the actuality of the cosmos as a
whole. Nonlocality is equivalent to infinite relationality, and is the
whole-cosmos connecting principle.
Acknowledging
this nonlocal, trans-physical aspect of reality opens for modern healing
practice a vast new realm of opportunity for investigation and innovation of
healing actions, especially in the field of medical spirituality 28
and perhaps eventually in medical physics.
Even more promising is the prospect that, in such a practice milieu,
we could move more rapidly beyond an immediate focus on method, to a truly
unitive vision of life and healing for the benefit of all B practitioner, patient, and planet.
1.
Harmon W et al. New Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science.
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2.
Byrd RC. Positive therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer in a coronary care
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11.
Schrödinger’s “time independent” equation analyzes quantum events in terms of a
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Heisenberg’s S-matrix approach.
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God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question? New
York, Bantam Doubleday/Delta, 1994
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Smolin L. Three Roads to Quantum Gravity. New York: Basic Books, 2001
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Smolin L. The Life of the Cosmos. New York: Oxford University Press,
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Bohm D. Wholeness and the Implicate Order. New York: Arc/Routledge &
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