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Dispatches from Richard Boylan
Connections to the Universe Discovered
From: "Richard J. Boylan, Ph.D."
Subject: Connections to the Universe Discovered
Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 10:28:48 -0700
> RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN QUANTUM PHYSICS HAVE PROFOUND IMPLICATIONS
FOR OUR > UNDERSTANDING OF CONSCIOUSNESS: > >
In 1982 a remarkable event took place. At the University of Paris a >
research team led by physicist Alain Aspect performed what may turn
out to > be one of the most important experiments of the 20th century.
Aspect and > his team discovered that under certain circumstances
subatomic particles > such as electrons are able to instantaneously
communicate with each other > regardless of the distance separating
them. It doesn't matter whether they > are 10 feet or 10 billion miles
apart. Somehow each particle always seems > to know what the other is
doing. This meant that either Einstein's ban > againist
faster-than-light communication was being violated or the two >
sub-atomic particles were nonlocally connected.
> Because most physicists are opposed to the idea of faster-than-light
> processes into physics, Aspect's experiment is generally viewed as a
virtual > proof that the > connection between sub-atomic particles is
"nonlocal". > > University of London physicist (Late ) David Bohm, for
example, believed > Aspect's findings imply that objective reality
does not exist,
> that despite its apparent solidity the universe is at heart a
phantasm, a > gigantic and > splendidly detailed hologram. To
understand why Bohm made that startling > assertion, one must first
understand a little about holograms. A hologram > is a three-
dimensional photograph made with the aid of a laser. To make a >
hologram, the object to be photographed is first bathed in the light
of a > laser beam. Then a second laser beam is bounced off the
reflected light of > the first and the resulting interference pattern
(the area where the two > laser beams commingle) is captured on film.
When the film is developed, it > looks like a meaningless swirl of
light and dark lines. But as soon as the > developed film is
illuminated by another laser beam, a three-dimensional > image of the
original object appears. > > The three-dimensionality of such images
is not the only remarkable > characteristic of holograms. If a
hologram of a rose is cut in half and > then illuminated by a laser,
each half will still be found to contain the > entire image of the
rose. Indeed, even if the halves are divided again, > each snippet of
film will always be found to contain a smaller but intact > version of
the original image. Unlike normal photographs, every part of a >
hologram contains all the information possessed by the whole. The
"whole > in every part" nature of a hologram provides us with an
entirely new way of > understanding organization and order. For most
of its history, Western > science has labored under the bias that the
best way to understand a > physical phenomenon, whether a frog or an
atom, is to dissect it and study > its respective parts. A hologram
teaches us that some things in the > universe may not lend themselves
to this approach. If we try to take apart > something constructed
holographically, we will not get the pieces of which > it is made, we
will only get smaller wholes. > > This insight suggested to Bohm
another way of understanding Aspect's > discovery. Bohm believed the
reason subatomic particles are able to remain > in contact with one
another regardless of the distance separating them is > not because
they are sending some sort of mysterious signal back and forth,
> but because their separateness is an illusion. He argued that at
some > deeper level of reality such particles are not individual
entities, but are > actually extensions of the same fundamental
something.
> To enable people to better visualize what he means, Bohm offered the
> following illustration. Imagine an aquarium containing a fish.
Imagine also > that you are unable to > see the aquarium directly and
your knowledge about it and what it contains > comes from two
television cameras, one directed at the aquarium's front and > the
other directed at its side. As you stare at the two television >
monitors, you might assume that the fish on each of the screens are >
separate entities. After all, because the cameras are set at different
> angles, each of the images will be slightly different. But as you
continue > to watch the two fish, you will eventually become aware
that there is a > certain relationship between them. When one turns,
the other also makes a > slightly different but corresponding turn;
when one faces the front, the > other always faces toward the side. If
you remain unaware of the full scope > of the situation, you might
even conclude that the fish must be > instantaneously communicating
with one another, but this is clearly not the > case. > > This,
according to Bohm, was precisely what was going on between the >
subatomic particles in Aspect's experiment. According to Bohm, the
apparent > "nonlocal" connection between subatomic particles was
really telling > us that there is a deeper level of reality we are not
privy to, a more > complex dimension beyond our own that is analogous
to the aquarium. And, he > adds, we view objects such as subatomic
particles as separate from one > another because we are seeing only a
portion of their reality. Such > particles are not separate "parts",
but facets of a deeper and more > underlying unity that is ultimately
as holographic and indivisible as the > previously mentioned rose. And
since everything in physical reality is > comprised of these
"eidolons", the universe is itself a projection, a > hologram. In
addition to its phantomlike nature, such a universe would > possess
other rather startling features. > > If the apparent separateness of
subatomic particles is illusory, it means > that at a deeper level of
reality all things in the universe are infinitely > interconnected.
The electrons in a carbon atom in the human brain are > connected to
the subatomic particles that comprise every salmon that swims, > every
heart that beats, and every star that shimmers in the sky. Everything
> interpenetrates everything, and although human nature may seek to >
categorize and pigeonhole and subdivide, the various phenomena of the
> universe, all apportionments are of necessity artificial and all of
nature > is ultimately a seamless web. In a holographic universe, even
time and > space could no longer be viewed as fundamentals. Because
concepts such as > location break down in a universe in which nothing
is truly separate from > anything else, time and three-dimensional
space, like the images of the > fish on the TV monitors, would also
have to be viewed as projections of > this deeper order. > > At its
deeper level reality is a sort of superhologram in which the past, >
present, and the future all exist simultaneously. This suggests that
given > the proper tools it might even be possible to someday reach
into the > superholographic level of reality and pluck out scenes from
the > long-forgotten past. What else the superhologram contains is an
open-ended > question. Allowing, for the sake of argument, that the
superhologram is at > the very least it contains every subatomic
particle that has been or will > be-- every configuration of matter
and energy that is possible, from > snowflakes to quasars, from blue
whales to gamma rays. It must be seen as a > sort of cosmic storehouse
of "All That Is." > > Although Bohm conceded that we have no way of
knowing what else might lie > hidden in the superhologram, he did
venture to say that we have no reason > to assume it does not contain
more. Or as he put it, perhaps the > superholographic level of reality
is a "mere stage" beyond which lies "an > infinity of further
development". > > Because the term hologram usually refers to an image
that is static and > does not convey the dynamic and ever active
nature of our universe, Bohm > prefered to describe the universe not
as a hologram, but as a > "holomovement". The existence of a deeper
and holgraphically organised > order also explains why reality becomes
non-local at the subquantum level. > When something is organised
holographically, all semblance of location > breaks down. Saying that
every part of a piece of a holograpic film > contains all the
information possessed by the whole is really just another > of >
saying that the information is distributed non-locally. Hence, if the
> universe is > organised according to holographic principles, it too,
would be expected to > have non-local properties. Every particle that
exists in the Universe, > contains > the image of the whole which is
characteristic of a hologram. If this is a > True, then all of
manifested life emanates from a single source of > causation that
would include all particles existing in the Universe. It > means that
everything from sub atomic particles to giant galaxies > and
everything in between contains information of the whole. > > Working
independently in the field of brain research, Stanford >
neurophysiologist Karl Pribram has also become persuaded of the
holographic > nature of reality. Pribram was drawn to the holographic
model by the > puzzle of how and where memories are stored in the
brain. For decades > numerous studies have shown that rather than
being confined to a specific > location, memories are dispersed
throughout the brain. In a series of > landmark experiments in the
1920s, brain scientist Karl Lashley found that > no matter what
portion of a rat's brain he removed he was unable to > eradicate its
memory of how to perform complex tasks it had learned prior > to
surgery. The only problem was that no one was able to come up with a >
mechanism that might explain this curious "whole in every part" nature
of > memory storage. > > Then in the 1960s Pribram encountered the
concept of holography and > realized he had found the explanation
brain scientists had been looking > for. Pribram believes memories are
encoded not in neurons, or small > groupings of neurons, but in
patterns of nerve impulses that crisscross the > entire brain in the
same way that patterns of laser light interference > crisscross the
entire area of a piece of film containing a holographic > image. In
other words, Pribram believes the brain is itself a hologram. >
Pribram's theory also explains how the human brain can store so many >
memories in so little space. It has been estimated that the human
brain has > the capacity to memorize something on the order of 10
billion bits of > information during the average human lifetime (or
roughly the same amount > of information contained in five sets of the
Encyclopedia Britannica). > > Similarly, it has been discovered that
in addition to their other > capabilities, holograms possess an
astounding capacity for information > storage simply by changing the
angle at which the two lasers strike a > piece of photographic film,
it is possible to record many different images > on the same surface.
It has been demonstrated that one cubic centimeter of > film can hold
as many as 10 billion bits of information. Our uncanny > ability to
quickly retrieve whatever information we need from the enormous >
store of our memories becomes more understandable if the brain
functions > according to holographic principles. If a friend asks you
to tell him what > comes to mind when he says the word "zebra", you do
not have to clumsily > sort back through some gigantic and cerebral
alphabetic file to arrive at > an answer. Instead, associations like
"striped", "horselike", and "animal > native to Africa" all pop into
your head instantly. Indeed, one of the > most amazing things about
the human thinking process is that every piece of > information seems
instantly cross- correlated with every other piece of > information;
another feature intrinsic to the hologram. Because every > portion of
a hologram is infinitely interconnected with ever other portion, > it
is perhaps nature's supreme example of a cross-correlated system. > >
The storage of memory is not the only neurophysiological puzzle that >
becomes more tractable in light of Pribram's holographic model of the
> brain. Another is how the brain is able to translate the avalanche
of > frequencies it receives via the senses (light frequencies, sound
> frequencies, and so on) into the concrete world of our perceptions.
> Encoding and decoding frequencies is precisely what a hologram does
best. > Just as a hologram functions as a sort of lens, a translating
device able > t= o convert an apparently meaningless blur of
frequencies into a coherent > image, Pribram believes the brain also
comprises a lens and uses > holographic principles to mathematically
convert the frequencies it > receives through the senses into the
inner world of our perceptions. > > An impressive body of evidence
suggests that the brain uses holographic > principles to perform its
operations. Pribram's theory, in fact, has gained > increasing support
among neurophysiologists. Argentinian-Italian > researcher Hugo
Zucarelli recently extended the holographic model into the > world of
acoustic phenomena. Puzzled by the fact that humans can locate the >
source of sounds without moving their heads, even if they only possess
> hearing in one ear, Zucarelli discovered that holographic principles
can > explain this ability. > > It has been found that each of our
senses is sensitive to a much broader > range of frequencies than was
previously suspected. Researchers have > discovered, for instance,
that our visual systems are sensitive to sound > frequencies, that our
sense of smell is in part dependent on what are now > called "osmic
frequencies", and that even the cells in our bodies are > sensitive to
a broad range of frequencies. Such findings suggest that it is > only
in the holographic domain of consciousness that such frequencies are >
sorted out and divided up into conventional perceptions. But the most
> mind-boggling aspect of Pribram's holographic model of the brain is
what > happens when it is put together with Bohm's theory. For if the
concreteness > of the world is but a secondary reality and what is
"there" is actually a > holographic blur of frequencies, and if the
brain is also a hologram and > only selects some of the frequencies
out of this blur and mathematically > transforms them into sensory
perceptions, what becomes of objective > reality? Put quite simply, it
ceases to exist. > > As the religions of the East have long upheld,
the material world is an > illusion, and although we may think we are
physical beings moving through a > physical world, this too is an
illusion. We are really "receivers"floating > through a kaleidoscopic
sea of frequency, and what we extract from this sea > and transmogrify
into physical reality is but one channel from many > extracted out of
the superhologram. This striking new picture of reality, > the
synthesis of Bohm and Pribram's views, has come to be called the >
holographic paradigm, and although many scientists have greeted it
with > skepticism, it has galvanized others. A small but growing group
of > researchers believe it may be the most accurate model of reality
science > has arrived at thus far. > > In a universe in which
individual brains are actually indivisible portions > of the greater
hologram and everything is infinitely interconnected, > "altered state
of consciouness experiences" may merely be the accessing > of the
holographic level. If the mind is actually part of a continuum, a >
labyrinth that is connected not only to every other mind that exists
or has > existed, but to every atom, organism, and region in the
vastness of space > and time itself, the fact that it is able to
occasionally make forays into > the labyrinth and have transpersonal
experiences no longer seems so > strange. > > The holographic paradigm
also has implications for so-called hard sciences > like biology.
Keith Floyd, a psychologist at Virginia Intermont College, > has
pointed out that if the concreteness of reality is but a holographic >
illusion, it would no longer be true to say the brain produces >
consciousness. Rather, it is consciousness that creates the appearance
of > the brain as well as the body and everything else around us we
interpret as > physical. Such a turnabout in the way we view
biological structures has > caused researchers to point out that
medicine and our understanding of the > healing process could also be
transformed by the holographic paradigm. If > the apparent physical
structure of the body is but a holographic projection > of
consciousness, it becomes clear that each of us is much more
responsible > for our health than current medical wisdom allows. What
we now view as > miraculous remissions of disease may actually be due
to changes in > consciousness which in turn effect changes in the
hologram of the body. > Similarly, controversial new healing
techniques such as visualization may > work so well because in the
holographic domain of thought images are > ultimately as real as
"reality". Even visions and experiences involving > "non-ordinary"
reality become explainable under the holographic paradigm. > In his
book "Gifts of Unknown Things," biologist Lyall Watson describes his >
encounter with an Indonesian shaman woman who, by performing a ritual
> dance, was able to make an entire grove of trees instantly vanish
into thin > air. Watson relates that as he an= d another astonished
onlooker continued > to watch the woman, she caused the trees to
reappear, then "click" off > again and on again several times in
succession. > > Although current scientific understanding is incapable
of explaining such > events, experiences like this become more tenable
if "hard" reality is only > a holographic projection. Perhaps we agree
on what is "there" or "not > there" because what we call consensus
reality is formulated and ratified at > the level of the human
unconscious at which all minds are infinitely > interconnected. If
this is true, it is the most profound implication of the > holographic
paradigm of all, for it means that experiences such as Watson's > are
not commonplace only because we have not programmed our minds with the
> beliefs that would make them so. In a holographic universe there are
no > limits to the extent to which we can alter the fabric of reality.
What we > perceive as reality is only a canvas waiting for us to draw
upon it any > picture we want. Anything is possible, from bending
spoons with the power > of the mind to the phantasmagoric events
experienced by Castaneda during > his encounters with the Yaqui brujo
don Juan, no more or less miraculous > than our ability to compute the
reality we want when we are in our dreams. > > Indeed, even our most
fundamental notions about reality become suspect, for > in a
holographic universe, as Pribram has pointed out, even random events >
would have to be seen as based on holographic principles and therefore
determined
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Created: Sun May 16 13:38:16 EDT 1999