Consciousness provides Continuity in Creation
Our experience of physical reality contains a lot of continuity. For example, the roads we drive on appear mostly continuous. The surfaces of a table or of the walls in a house and so on appear continuous. Our experience of time is largely continuous. When we watch television or a film in a cinema the action appears continuous.
However, when we look more deeply into any of these, we find progressively more discontinuity. There are hidden processes at work in finer levels of detail and structure that have major impact on the physical manifestation. These arise at such as cellular, molecular and atomic levels. Ultimately, they arise at the very fine quantum level, where physical reality is fundamentally granular.
Our consciousness bridges the gaps to provide continuity in our perception of and experience in physical creation. For example, a film comprises a large sequence of individual frames. When these are shown at speed, we don’t see the frames, but integrate the content between frames, to provide a continuous and smooth experience of action.
Physical Reality is Granular (not Continuous)
In our normal perception it would appear that we can sub-divide physical objects and qualities in infinitely fine detail. However, this isn’t the case. As we penetrate into ever finer levels of physical matter, we come to an ultimate state of defined units of matter, known as particles.
Also, in exploring physical quantities, like energy, momentum and so on, at a microscopic scale we find that these only manifest in defined units, known as quanta. These units present in a limited number of well-defined states. Energy, for example, only presents in fixed units or quanta related to frequency and not in arbitrary nor variable quantities. Also, for example, the spin axis of fundamental particles only arises in two states, known as pointing ‘up’ or ‘down’. These are parallel. They don’t spin in arbitrary directions nor any other directions.
The study of these quanta or fundamental units of physical reality is known as quantum physics. It reveals some unexpected and even paradoxical behaviour in the foundations of our physical world.
Physical reality is granular at a fundamental level.
We Perceive Creation Objectively by Interacting with It
Physical reality is a field of deep separation. We perceive most objects as separate from us. We engage with creation as something outside ourselves and most of creation engages with us on a similar basis. This is the objective approach to reality.
We engage with creation at this level by interacting with it. The primary doorways of physical perception are through our senses. Our eyes, for example, use light as a medium of engagement. Light strikes an object, interacting with it to generate a reflection that reaches our eyes. Here there is another interaction as the light generates nerve activity in the retinas, sending signals to the brain. The brain processes the signals to generate information that our consciousness perceives. There is a chain of interaction involved.
Likewise with other senses. Hearing involves audio vibrations and the processing of these. Taste entails chemical interactions, and so on.
We only know in objective reality what is revealed in physical interactions and inferences drawn from these. For example, we only ‘see’ microscopic particles when they interact with a medium, e.g. to leave traces in a cloud chamber. Or when particles are collided in a particle accelerator, to produce energetic beams that can be detected in electronic sensors.
So, our objective knowledge is limited to what information is released in interactions. Is this the whole story? Do particles, for example, reveal themselves entirely in interactions?
For analogy, we can ask this question for more complex entities, like people. Do people reveal themselves fully in interactions, such as conversations or communications? A certain amount of information is revealed – the more interaction the more information. But we cannot say we know a person completely in all their depth and history just from interaction. This introduces the distinction between Outer and Inner reality. What is projected in interaction comes available in Outer reality. But the dynamics feeding into the interaction that are retained are not so visible to objective perception.
Analogously, we cannot be certain that we know everything about microscopic ‘events’, like particles, from their physical interactions. It may even be more useful to regard these ‘events’ primarily as interactions that ‘present’ as physical particles. Is it possible to actually ‘see’ a real electron, for example?
Hidden variables or influences are precluded by physical science. But this is within the realm of physical reality. Stepping back to take a larger perspective on creation with multiple levels of reality changes the scene quite radically. More refined and subtle layers in creation merging towards pure consciousness in Source provide a much larger arena of possibility. What are particles and microscopic influences doing in such realms? What are the precursor dynamics to physical manifestation? This is the doorway to creation.
Wave – Particle Duality
Quantum physics indicates that macroscopic entities have a dual nature. They present as both waves and particles. These two behaviours are radically different.
Waves oscillate and are more diffuse or spread out in space. Their energy associates more with their frequency of oscillation. When waves are in proximity, they generate interference patterns. Particles are highly localised in space. They generally have mass, and a lot of their energy is associated with this mass. There are some massless particles, e.g. photons of light. But these travel at the speed of light and have a significantly different nature.
When macroscopic entities are examined using wave detection methods, they reveal their wave nature. When examined in terms of particles, they behave as particles. Both modes of behaviour are present, and neither can be excluded. Combining such different modes of behaviour in a Wave – Particle Duality appears paradoxical.
It is difficult to make sense of this in conventional terms. It suggests that we are dealing with different phases in ongoing cycles of creation.
Particles are dynamic rather than static, monolithic entities. They are moving conventionally in space and time. But indications are that they are also moving through different levels in creation.
We have gradations in levels within creation, from the pure unified consciousness of Source, through layers of progressive separation, projection, individuation, localisation and densification, in material physical reality. The ‘higher’ levels of pure light and energy associate with waves and frequency. The denser ‘lower’ levels associate more with particles and matter. These layers are illustrated approximately by the blue and brown layers in the attached diagram.
Consciousness is continuously projecting into and integrating out of creation in nested cycles of varying time duration. These vary from great cosmic events down to microscopic particles. So, particles will traverse the full range of levels in creation, from pure consciousness, through more refined integrated states, to the intense separation, localisation, density and mass of physical matter. This cycle is illustrated approximately by the arrows in the diagram. The behaviour we ‘see’ depends on which phase of the cycle we examine, wave or particle.
Creation is fundamentally fractal in nature. Primary themes and structures are repeated and embedded at every level, from macro to micro scales. So, non-localised wave behaviour still manifests in denser physical reality.
Fundamental particles aren’t necessarily balls or blobs of substance as such. They are primarily defined by interactions. We only know them from interactions with them. They can be just points of interaction. There can also be deeper involvement with such as standing waves, vortices and so on.
Quantum Entanglement
Quantum Entanglement is a feature of microscopic reality. This appears quite paradoxical in conventional terms. But it reveals important insight to the nature of reality at these fundamental levels.
Fundamental particles can manifest in a number of distinct states. Prior to interaction, a particle exists potentially in all of these states. It is in a Superposition of these states, i.e. all the states are superposed. But it can only manifest one of these states in an interaction, for example, when physically measured. Which state it presents is nominally random.
This concept of Superposition is important. It indicates that a variety or family of different states can co-exist. In other words, there is a level of co-existence in creation.
When two particles interact or develop relationship, their quantum states become entangled, in Quantum Entanglement. This means that the states they present are coordinated. When one particle manifests a state, its partner presents a compatible state, i.e. it is no longer random. This ‘co-ordination’ arises regardless of how far apart the particles are. It particular it arises, where communication between the particles is conventionally impossible. This is paradoxical.
This suggests that there is more going on here than ‘meets the eye’. In particular, it suggests that co-ordination is arising not at the physical level, but at deeper more subtle levels within creation.
This is illustrated in the attached diagram. Two entangled particles are illustrated, with their arrowed creation cycles, in the triangular projections at the bottom of the diagram. These particles can be arbitrarily separated in physical reality, to the extent that physical communication isn’t possible. Their creation cycles are projecting from deeper, more subtle levels in creation, where there is much less separation. So, it is possible that coordination, illustrated by the yellow arrow near the top, occurs at this level and is being projected to the physical particles.
Particles are constantly interacting in the physical realm. So, a particle can become entangled with many other particles. This means that such entanglement is widespread. It also implies that there are levels of ‘entanglement’ within creation, i.e. levels of less separation and progressive integration. These hold significance for what arises in physical reality.
Schrodinger’s Cat has a say in its Fate
The paradoxical nature of Quantum Superposition is also illustrated in the famous Schrodinger Cat thought experiment. This experiment considers a cat locked in a box with a quantum process. This quantum process has two possible states and is capable of triggering a physical device. One of these states causes the release of a poison to kill the cat. The other state has no such effect and the cat lives. The two quantum states are in a superposition with each outcome being equally likely.
An observer outside the box is trying to assess the condition of the cat. Quantum reality only tells the observer that both states coexist in superposition. Yet when the observer opens the box, he / she will only find one of the states. The cat is either alive or dead. This raises the question. How did the superposition resolve into one specific state? How does the wave function that describes the coherence of superposition ‘collapse’, into the physical reality we actually perceive?
Again, this illustrates that there is a more subtle and fundamental level in creation. There is a field of potentiality, where all possibilities co-exist in potential form. This precedes and underlies the field of manifestation in objective reality, we normally experience as the physical world.
Consciousness plays a role in this creation. The consciousness of the observer plays an obvious role, in interacting with the situation to determine the outcome. But consciousness is also involved more directly in the experiment itself. All of creation involves progressive projection into separation, into polarity, into difference, into specific outcomes. This projection is discussed more fully in the following chapter on Creation Mechanics. There is a process of polarity phasing that entails not only a projection from unity into polarity, but also a balancing resolution of polarity back into unity, in a cyclic manner.
This projection plays a key role in creation. It effectively collapses the wave function, to project specific outcomes. Ultimately, it is driven by consciousness. But it’s also influenced significantly by the consequences or history of past projections in the situation. There is a cyclic interaction between consciousness, history stored as information and the environment of the situation, that is dynamically projecting and updating outcomes.
The nearest analogy is probably a digital computer. Here there is a cyclic process, where instructions stored as software interact with data from memory, to modify the data and return the result, as new data to memory. This produces specific outcomes. The software instructions ultimately come from the consciousness of a programmer.
The cat is also entrained in the quantum reality that underlies the situation. All life derives from consciousness. The cat carries a degree of consciousness associated with its aliveness. This consciousness is also present to the situation. The consciousness of the observer can be present to a degree also, in terms of expectations. But the cat has the biggest stake in the outcome and its influence can be dominant. In a very sensitive and finely balanced quantum process the cat’s conscious presence can influence the projected outcome. Its fate and destiny derived from its history can feed into the process, to influence an appropriate outcome.
Meanwhile the observer’s perception is in its own superposition until it inspects the situation. Its consciousness is still at the level of superposition until it interacts with the cat, to see if it’s alive. The observer’s superposition then resolves into the actual outcome.
The primary issue is the quantum superposition at the heart of the experiment and the conscious influences around this, driving projection into objective physical reality. The observer’s perceptual superposition, interaction and measurement are a reaction to the situation. As such, they are secondary.
There is no need to invoke such as the many worlds interpretation of the objective manifestation of quantum processes. Polarity phasing or projection, ultimately derived from consciousness, is a powerful process. It does manifest different realities. But these realities are also being resolved back into wholeness on a cyclic basis, to preserve a balance in creation. So there isn’t a build-up of bourgeoning realities / worlds in natural creation.
Uncertainty
Another feature of quantum reality is that our knowledge at this level is fundamentally limited by Uncertainty. The Principle of Uncertainty states that we cannot know the exact values of pairs of certain physical parameters, simultaneously. The more we know about one, the less we know about the other.
For example, we cannot know the exact position and speed (momentum) of a particle simultaneously. Likewise, we cannot know the exact time and energy of a particle simultaneously. At a specific instant in time we cannot know a particle’s energy exactly and, if we know its energy, we cannot tie this down to a specific moment in time. There will always be some uncertainty at this level. Likewise with certain other pairs of physical parameters.
This Uncertainty in present physical quantities means that we cannot predict the future behaviour of particles exactly. For example, to predict the future location of a particle we need to know its present position and velocity accurately. Inherent Uncertainty prohibits this. Uncertainty propagates into the future. While Uncertainty limits our knowledge of individual particles, the behaviour of collections of particles or of multiple measurements will approximate to a pattern defined by probability.
Uncertainty is inherent in the nature of physical reality at the microscopic or quantum level. It arises in part from the inherent wave nature of all fundamental particles.
This Uncertainty feature resembles the issue of Wave – Particle Duality. It is likely related to different stages in Creation Cycles, projecting from more integrated levels in creation to highly localised particles, in physical reality. We can be looking at different phases in these cycles and at differences in how influences manifest at each level.
Quantum Probability implies that related Dynamics reside in another Realm
“God does not play dice with the universe” – Albert Einstein.
Particles can manifest a number of different states. Which particular state they manifest is conventionally regarded as random. As such it is governed by probability.
When a property, for example, location, is observed or measured for a particle, it will provide a specific result. But that specific result does not provide an exactly predictable location for the particle in the future. It only allows probable future locations to be determined. It won’t define a specific location for a single particle. But if groups of similar particles are measured, the collection will align with the probability patterns. There will be more particles in the more probable locations and less for lower probabilities.
There is a high degree of order in creation, despite the randomness inherent in the foundational levels of physical reality. If we look at something solid, like a rock for example, it has a solidity and presence that is relatively stable over time. It appears dense and substantial. However, if we examine it in progressively finer detail, we find that it is composed of – grains, molecules, atoms, atomic particles and ultimately fundamental particles. At sub-atomic levels, the rock is mostly space and a dynamic array of fundamental particles. How do these particles, despite their inherent dynamism and randomness, manifest so much order at macro levels in creation and preserve its relative stability over time?
A rock is a relatively simple object. How much more order, complexity and structure is there in such as a mountain, a planet, a solar system and so on? Organic structures like trees, flowers, animals, human bodies and so on, carry additional orders of sophistication, subtlety and refinement. What is it in creation that engenders beauty, inspires awe & wonder and so enriches life?
Probability indicates that order is not completely defined at this fundamental quantum level. “Laws of Nature” of course operate to apply and maintain order within creation. However, these are still only tools of an ordering Principle. Where do the Laws of Nature come from? What engenders this specific order? Where does Nature itself come from?
Furthermore, there is a significant degree of variability and diversity in creation. For example, hardly any two flowers or even people are identical. Each tends to have a unique character, within the similarities of structure. It’s this diversity that makes life interesting. Laws promote similarity. But there is a significant degree of ‘openness’ manifest in the prevalence of diversity. In other words Laws don’t explain everything.
While order and structure cannot be defined completely in conventional physical terms, this does not mean that it can never be defined. Invoking randomness is an attempt to bridge a gap in what can be known at this stage. Creation cycles, bridging connection to more subtle & formative levels in creation, can provide a more comprehensive rationale.
There are different scales of structure in creation, from the quantum, through atomic, human, planetary, galactic and universal levels. Each level has its characteristic order. The one element that pervades all levels in creation, from the transcendent Source level down to physical reality, and all scales of structure in each level, is – Consciousness. This has the capacity to be both an ordering and an enlivening Principle throughout creation. It can carry order from deeper levels and project it throughout creation.
Infinities indicate Movement between Levels within Creation
Infinities arise frequently in creation. We are surrounded by them, both the infinitely large (symbolised numerically by ∞) and the infinitely small, represented by 0. They are somewhat remote or unattainable, in the sense that we cannot reach them at their own level. But we deal with them quite effectively in practice. We effectively transcend them by moving to a different level.
Take a point, as in the attached diagram. It is dimensionless. Take another point and draw a line between them. How many points are on this line? It contains an infinitely large number of infinitely small points. In corresponding numerical terms, how many numbers are there between the 1 & 2 marks on a ruler, or between 0 & 1? There is an infinitely large collection of numbers between any two defined numbers.
Step up another dimension to a square. How many lines are in the square? There is an infinitely large number of infinitely thin lines in any defined area. Take a cube – how many squares are there in this cube? It contains an infinite number of infinitely thin squares. So, in something as simple as a sugar cube, we have at least three orders of infinity. This applies to everything.
Infinite extremes, both large and small, are closely related and complement each other, as we have seen in the examples above. As we create an infinitely large number of things, they become infinitely small in relation to each other. For example, division of unity creates multiplication of diversity, to infinity in the extreme in both cases, small and large. They are two sides of the same coin.
As we approach the infinitely large or small, e.g. through numbers, we don’t reach them at that level. We need to jump a level. For example, take the case of the points in a line section. The points themselves are finite and quantifiable (as numbers). If we move up a level (or dimension) to a line, the line is infinite in relation to the points, but can be quite finite and tangible at its own level. The points ‘see’ infinity at the level of the line. Likewise with an area, lines can see infinity in relation to the area (another dimension up), and so on up the scale.
Dealing with infinities is routine in life and creation. There are very powerful, coherent and meaningful techniques for handling them in Mathematics (in the field of differential calculus). Infinities are inherent in physical processes and quantities. Take the relationship between distance and speed, for example. Speed is the rate of change of distance over time. To measure it we divide the distance travelled by the duration of the corresponding time interval. This gives us the average speed over the time interval. But it is usually the instantaneous speed at points in time that we’re interested in. In this case the interval is 0. Dividing by 0 brings us into the realm of infinity. Is it meaningful to talk about such quantities?
Yes, it is! We’re dealing with the same issue as going from the infinite points in a line section to a well-defined line. Even though related by infinities, points and lines are entirely meaningful and tangible in their own terms. Speed likewise is a physical quantity that is meaningful and definable at any point in time and continuously over time. Similarly, acceleration is the rate of change of speed over time. This too is meaningful in its own terms, even though it’s related to speed through infinities. The same issue arises whenever we talk about any rates of change, for example, population growth, economic activity and so on. Effectively, we are jumping between levels, in going between such quantities.
These levels correspond with dimensions, in terms of general creation structure. So, infinities in quantum physics, and renormalisation to manage them, can be indicators of movement between levels or dimensions in creation.
We tend to relate finite numbers to things, in terms of counts of objects, measurements and so on. Zero is very important as an absence of things. Existence is a foundational reality that transcends things. It exists independently of ‘things’. But ‘things’ derive their reality (presence, purpose, meaning and so on) from this foundational level of Existence. This quality of transcendence is key to understanding both zero and infinity.
We can see here how the infinite vastness of space can become much more manageable at the next level up. This has practical application, in that we can leapfrog the vast distances of space, by going to a higher dimension and coming back down again in another location. This is like an aircraft travelling through the air between locations.
It also illustrates how wholeness can create infinities in going down through levels. It can create infinite space for separation, diversity and so on down the levels or dimensions in creation. Likewise, these vast scales of separation and diversity can be transcended progressively going back up the dimensions.
Finally, it shows that what we ‘see’ is very dependent on where we are looking from. Our reality is conditioned by perception. We tend to look at the surface of what’s around us, such as a sugar cube. We don’t see all that lies within. We don’t see the depths and the multiple levels and realities they embrace. Change our perception and we see a different reality.