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Quantum mysticism
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Quantum mysticism is a set of metaphysical beliefs and associated practices that seek to
relate consciousness, intelligence, or mystical world-views to the ideas of quantum mechanics
and its interpretations.
[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Quantum mysticism is considered pseudoscience.
[7][8][9]
Contents [hide]
1 Origin of the term
1.1 "Quantum flapdoodle"
2 History
3 See also
4 Notes
5 Further reading
Origin of the term [edit]
The term originally emerged from the founders of quantum theory in the early twentieth century
as they debated the interpretations and implications of their nascent theories, which would later
evolve into quantum mechanics, and later after World War II, with publications such as
Schrdinger's and Eugene Wigner's 1961 paper.
[2][10]
The essential qualities of early quantum
theory, and the ontological questions that emerged from it, made it difficult to distinguish
between philosophical and scientific discussion as quantum theory developed into a strong
scientific theory.
[citation needed]
Some of the leading quantum physicists gave mystical
interpretations to their findings. In his book "My view of the world", Schrdinger outlined his
mystical and metaphysical view as derived from Hindu Vedanta philosophy.
David Bohm was deeply influenced by J iddu Krishnamurti, crediting him as a source for
understanding the worldview he proposed in his interpretation of Quantum Mechanics that he
put forth in Wholeness and the Implicate Order (his first footnote
[11]
credited Krishnamurti's
book Freedom from the Known
[12]
- a treatise putting forth a distilled rendition of apophatic
mysticism), and had a series of in depth dialogues with him that were published in the book The
Ending of Time.
[13]
In On Creativity, he wrote of Krishnamurti, "I got to know Krishnamurti in the
early sixties. I became interested around that time in understanding the whole thing more
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mysticism
Quantum mysticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mysticism[06/01/2014 1:32:58 AM]
deeply. I felt that he was suggesting that it is possible for a human being to have some kind of
contact with this whole [that Bohm postulated in his work]. I don't think he would want to use the
word 'God' because of its limited associations."
[14]
The Harvard historian J uan Miguel Marin
noted also the "lucid mysticism, a synthesis between rationality and religion" favored by
Wolfgang Pauli, that Pauli "speculated that quantum theory could unify the
psychological/scientific and philosophical/mystical approaches to consciousness". He further
noted:
Among contemporary quantum field theories, the important gauge theories are
indebted to the work of [Hermann] Weyl and Pauli. Yet many physicists today
would be shocked if they learned how Weyl and Pauli understood the concept
field when they wrote their classic articles. They were both immersed in
mysticism, searching for a way to unify mind and physics. Weyl published a lecture
where he concluded by favoring the Christian-mathematical mysticism of Nicholas
of Cusa. Moreover, Pauli's published article on Kepler presents him as part of the
Western mystical tradition ... For those who do not favor the Copenhagen
interpretation and prefer the alternative proposed by David Bohm, I would suggest
reading Bohm's many published dialogues on the topic of Eastern mysticism ...
Eddington and Schrdinger, like many today, joined forces to find a quantum
gravity theory. Did their shared mysticism have a role to play in whatever insights
they gained or mistakes they made? I do not know, but I think it's important to find
out.
[15]
J uan Miguel Marin, "'Mysticism' in Quantum Mechanics: The Forgotten
Controversy" in European Journal of Physics 30 (2009), as quoted by Lisa
Zyga in "Quantum Mysticism: Gone but Not Forgotten"
Marin noted that Albert Einstein, though he claimed belief in Spinoza's God
[16]
remained
opposed to some of the novel mystical formulations of Pauli and his colleagues. Wolfgang Pauli
was strongly against pseudoscience, severely criticizing unfalsifiable theories, coining, when
referring to them, the phrase "not even wrong". Nevertheless, his findings in quantum physics
led, in his view
[citation needed]
, to mystical interpretations.
According to Marin, the opposition to mystical interpretations of quantum mechanics that
Einstein and others had stemmed from their adherence to the philosophical school of realism.
Yet in the 2007 Nature paper An experimental test of non-local realism, Anton Zeilinger and his
colleagues wrote that,
Most working scientists hold fast to the concept of realisma viewpoint according
to which an external reality exists independent of observation. But quantum
physics has shattered some of our cornerstone beliefs. According to Bells
theorem, any theory that is based on the joint assumption of realism and locality
(meaning that local events cannot be affected by actions in space-like separated
regions) is at variance with certain quantum predictions. Experiments with
entangled pairs of particles have amply confirmed these quantum predictions, thus
rendering local realistic theories untenable. Maintaining realism as a fundamental
concept would therefore necessitate the introduction of spooky actions that defy
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locality. Here we show by both theory and experiment that a broad and rather
reasonable class of such non-local realistic theories is incompatible with
experimentally observable quantum correlations. In the experiment, we measure
previously untested correlations between two entangled photons, and show that
these correlations violate an inequality proposed by Leggett for non-local realistic
theories. Our result suggests that giving up the concept of locality is not sufficient
to be consistent with quantum experiments, unless certain intuitive features of
realism are abandoned.
[17]
Professors Richard Conn Henry and Stephen R. Palmquist, commenting on that paper, stated:
"Now we are beginning to see that quantum mechanics might actually exclude any possibility of
mind-independent reality and already does exclude any reality that resembles our usual
concept of such (Aspect: 'it implies renouncing the kind of realism I would have liked')." They
concluded their commentary by adding that in their view, because of these findings, "a theistic
view of our existence becomes the only rational alternative to solipsism."
[18]
Nonlocality is a
concept in physics, previously known as action at a distance.
" Quantum flapdoodle" [edit]
"Quantum flapdoodle" is a term reportedly coined by Murray Gell-Mann to describe "stringing
together a series of terms and phrases from quantum physics and asserting that they explain
something in our daily experience". The term has been used by skeptics to describe quantum
mysticism as espoused by people such as Deepak Chopra.
[19]
History [edit]
In the 1920s, with the inception of early quantum theory, Wolfgang Pauli
[20]
took an active
interest in quantum mysticism.
[citation needed]
Physicist Roger Penrose wrote in the Shadows of the Mind that consciousness may be a
quantum phenomenon. The idea was cuttingly criticised by Stephen Hawking; a summary of his
criticisms was added to Penrose's book.
[citation needed]
Penrose posited that quantum forces
affected neural processing via microtubules in his Orchestrated objective reduction model that
he developed in collaboration with the anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff.
A renewed interest in mystical interpretations and the psychological aspects of the new physics
arose in the 1970s with physicists such as Fritjof Capra, whose popularly successful book The
Tao of Physics explored parallels between quantum physics and principles of Eastern
mysticism. The 1980 book Wholeness and the Implicate Order by David Bohm portrays reality
as a unity which can be understood in terms of implicate and explicate orders. Steven
Weinberg disagreed with Bohm, due to the many "erroneous claims" about physics and
quantum theory, in the "science wars".
[citation needed]
Another well-known contribution was
Quantum Reality by physicist Nick Herbert (1985) which dealt mainly with possible
interpretations of quantum theory.
The 1979 book The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav (self-confessedly "not a physicist")
again included parallels between Eastern mysticism and modern physics. Michael Talbot's The
Holographic Universe developed the ideas of David Bohm in relation to the recent Aspect
Quantum mysticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mysticism[06/01/2014 1:32:58 AM]
experiment. In 1990, Robert Anton Wilson wrote a book called Quantum Psychology which
explains Timothy Leary's Eight Circuit Model of Consciousness in terms of quantum
mysticism.
[21]
Deepak Chopra's 1988 book Quantum Healing explained a theory of psychosomatic healing
using quantum concepts and his Ageless Body, Timeless Mind (1993, a New York Times
Bestseller that sold over two million copies worldwide) discusses specific claims of healing,
reversal of the aging process and immortality, adopting a "quantum worldview" and prescribing
specific practices. In 1998, Chopra was awarded the parody Ig Nobel Prize, in the physics
category, for "his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of economic happiness".
[22]
In his The scientist's Conversations with the Teacher, Alexander Zelitchenko introduced the
notion of what he called "a subtle matter" and speculated about how the physics of subtle
matter may be understood in connection with de Broglie waves.
[23]
The 2004 film What the Bleep Do We Know!? dealt with a range of New Age ideas in relation to
physics. It was produced by the Ramtha School of Enlightenment, founded by J .Z. Knight, who
said that her teachings were based on a discourse with a 35,000-year-old disembodied entity
named Ramtha. It made controversial use of some aspects of quantum mechanicsincluding
the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the observer effectas well as biology and
medicine.
[24]
Numerous critics dismissed the film as pseudoscience.
[25][26]
William Tiller, a
scientist interviewed in the film, wrote a reserved defense of it.
[27]
See also [edit]
Buddhism and science
Fundamental Physics Group
Interpretation of quantum mechanics
Metaphysics
Quantum evolution (alternative)
Quantum immortality
Quantum pseudo-telepathy
Parapsychology
Psi (parapsychology)
Schrdinger's cat in popular culture
Stuart Wilde
Subhash Kak
Notes [edit]
1. ^ Athearn, D. (1994). Scientific Nihilism:
On the Loss and Recovery of Physical
Explanation (S U N Y Series in
Philosophy). Albany, New York: State
University Of New York Press.
2. ^
a

b
Edis, T. (2005). Science and
Nonbelief (Greenwood Guides to Science
and Religion). New York: Greenwood
Press.
3. ^ Stenger, V. J . (2003). Has Science
Found God? The Latest Results in the
Search for Purpose in the Universe.
Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
15. ^ Zyga, Lisa. "Quantum Mysticism: Gone
but Not Forgotten" . Phys.org.
16. ^ http://www.spaceandmotion.com/albert-
einstein-god-religion-theology.htm ,
quoting Victor J . Stenger, Has Science
Found God?, 2001, chapter 3; "I believe in
Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the
orderly harmony of what exists, not in a
God who concerns himself with the fates
and actions of human beings". (Einstein,
letter to Rabbi Herbert Goldstein)
17. ^
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/
Quantum mysticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mysticism[06/01/2014 1:32:58 AM]
[hide]
4. ^ Edis, T. (2002). The Ghost in the
Universe: God in Light of Modern Science.
Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
5. ^ Crease, R. P. (1993). The Play of Nature
(Indiana Series in the Philosophy of
Technology). Bloomington: Indiana
University Press.
6. ^ Seager, W. (1999). Theories of
Consciousness: An Introduction
(Philosophical Issues in Science). New
York: Routledge.
7. ^ Pagels, H. R. (1982). The Cosmic Code:
Quantum Physics As the Language of
Nature. New York: Simon & Schuster.
8. ^ Nanda, M. (2003). Prophets Facing
Backward: Postmodern Critiques of
Science and Hindu Nationalism in India.
New J ersey: Rutgers University Press.
9. ^ Scott, A. C. (2007). The Nonlinear
Universe: Chaos, Emergence, Life (The
Frontiers Collection). New York: Springer.
10. ^ Niels Bohr, "Discussion with Einstein," In
P. A. Schilpp, ed., Albert Einstein:
Philosopher-Scientist, p. 235.
11. ^ [1]
12. ^ Freedom From the Known - J iddu
Krishnamurti
13. ^ The Ending of Time - J iddu Krishnamurti
14. ^ On Creativity. Bohm, David and Lee
Nichol. Psychology Press, 1998. p. 77 [2]
18. ^ Alain Aspect and Anton Zeilinger on
Unreality
19. ^ Shermer, Michael (December 20, 2004).
"Quantum Quackery" . Scientific
American. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
20. ^ "I confess, that very different from you, I
do find sometimes scientific inspiration in
mysticism ... but this is counterbalanced by
an immediate sense for mathematics."
W. Pauli, from [3]
21. ^ Wilson, Robert Anton - Quantum
Psychology 1990
22. ^ The 1998 Ig Nobel Prize Winners
23. ^ Alexander Zelitchenko (2001). The
scientist's Conversations with the Teacher,
San J ose, Writers Club Press ISBN
0595194125
24. ^ What the Bleep are they On About?!
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
25. ^ Wilson, Elizabeth (2005-01-13). "What
the Bleep Do We Know?!" . American
Chemical Society. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
26. ^ "The minds boggle". The Guardian
Unlimited
27. ^ "What the Bleep Do We Know; A
Personal Perspective ", Vision-In- Action
(VIA) Magazine, 2 (4) (2004)
Further reading [edit]
This section has multiple issues. Please help
improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
This section is in a list format that may be better
presented using prose. (October 2009)
This section contains embedded lists that may be
poorly defined, unverified or indiscriminate.
(October 2009)
Publications relating to quantum mysticism
Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics
and Eastern Mysticism, Shamballa, 1975
Deepak Chopra, Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine ISBN 0-
553-34869-8
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Rolf Froboese, The Secret Physics of Coincidence: Quantum phenomena and fate - Can
quantum physics explain paranormal phenomena? ISBN 978-3-84823-445-5
Patrick Grim, Philosophy of science and the occult ISBN 978-0-7914-0204-7
Lawrence LeShan, The Medium, the Mystic, and the Physicist: Toward a General Theory of
the Paranormal, 2003, Helios Press, ISBN 978-1-58115-273-9
J ack Sarfatti, 1975, Space-Time and Beyond, with Fred Alan Wolf and Bob Toben, E. P.
Dutton. ISBN 0-525-47399-8
Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe ISBN 0-06-092258-3
Michael Talbot, Mysticism And The New Physics ISBN 0-14-019328-6
Michael Talbot, Beyond The Quantum ISBN 0-553-34480-3
Evan Harris Walker, The Physics of Consciousness: The Quantum Mind and the Meaning of
Life ISBN 0-7382-0436-6
Ken Wilber, Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Great Physicists (editor),
1984, rev. ed. 2001: ISBN 1-57062-768-1
Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, 1980, ISBN 0-553-26382-X-
Alexander Zelitchenko, The scientist's Conversations with the Teacher. Science and
Esoterics. Conversation No.9. Resolving the scientist's Doubts, Which Resulted in a Scetch
of The Physics of Subtle Matter, 2001, ISBN 0-595-19412-5
Criticism of quantum mysticism
Richard H. J ones, Science and Mysticism: A Comparative Study of Western Natural
Science, Theravada Buddhism, and Advaita Vedanta (Bucknell University Press, 1986),
ISBN 978-0-8387-5093-3 (Paperback ed., 2008 ISBN 978-1-4392-0304-0), criticism from
both the scientific and mystical points of view
Richard H. J ones, Piercing the Veil: Comparing Science and Mysticism as Ways of Knowing
Reality (J ackson Square Books, 2010), ISBN 978-1-4392-6682-3
Michael Shermer, "Quantum Quackery", Scientific American, J anuary 2005 [4]
Victor J . Stenger, The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and
Cosmology, (Prometheus Books, 1995), ISBN 1-57392-022-3, an anti-mystical point-of-view
Victor J . Stenger, "Quantum quackery ", Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 21. No. 1,
J anuary/February 1997, p. 37ff, criticism of the book "The Self-Aware Universe"
Categories: Pseudoscience Quantum mysticism