Quantum Mechanics & Non-Duality

Seeing that Quantum Mechanics reveals the "World" to be Consciousness can be a lead in to Non-Duality.  Though few began their realization of Non-Duality that way,  & though few who study Quantum Mechanics make that leap, it is a way it can work for some.  Similar reasoning ability can be harnessed for both, though not even all “Conquerors” [a Buddhist term] emphasize that style of reasoning ability.  What counts is Self-Realization as Existence-Consciousness-Happiness, also Love & Bliss which is Brahman, Buddha-Mind, Consciousness. Self-Inquiry may be the most direct extinction of false Ego in an unreal Waking State world.

Flexing BICEP

In an earlier Hogwash Blog we accused Victor Stenger of arguing for the Scientific Realist inventing 10⁵⁰⁰ unreachable universes, bolstered by Stenger, Max Tegmark, & others with tenuous arguments about CMB Anisotropy. Having there criticized this as "special pleading in Atheist argument against Theists", we pause to look at that "tenuous" argument criticism, specifically on the part of Stenger.

Victor, recently deceased as it happens [& thus with a new perspective on his atheistic Scientific Realism], put forth 2-sided "evidence" supporting the Multi-verse based on Cosmic Microwave Background [CMB] Anisotropy [not isotropic which means "equivalent in each direction" though not necessarily uniform or homogeneous, so that raisin pudding, well stirred can be isotropic even if not homogeneous like custard]. Stenger’s wildly speculative explanation was that the small CMB anisotropy reflected a “bumping together of 2 Bubble Universes" within a Multi-verse. 

At best this speaks not at all to the 10⁵⁰⁰ number of unreachable universes, but only one.  Yet such is still an unreachable universe so the wild "bump" speculation cannot be researched.  Science used to be solely the opponent of wild speculation & still ism selectively, including when spiritual insights are involved.  But under the current tyranny of Scientific Realism, self-serving untestable wild speculation is embraced so long as "robust mathematics" can be devised to support that speculation. But "anything" can cause slight Anisotropy, so as is often the case, the conclusion is greatly "under-determined".  Even Stenger brushed past that conjecture quickly. After doting on it just long enough to lend a sense of "multiple arguments" when he really hand only one technical "leg" to stand, but still a wobbly support in itself.  Even speaking of a "leg" might be the wrong extremity when we notice that Stenger primarily flexes his BICEP in this thesis.

BICEP is  an acronym for a 1, 2, 3 stage of development high-orbit telescope-sensing lab [not visual] project, chilled close to Absolute Zero for sensitivity.  Scientific Realist interpretations of CMB Anisotropy served a premature pronouncement of a first Gravity Wave detection in some BICEP2 data. Corresponding to Photons, which theoretically are virtual  Electro-Magnetic Force carriers & real Perceptions as Light-waves, so too Gravitons are virtual Gravity Force carriers, theoretically. No ultra-weak real Perceptions, Gravity-waves had yet been detected.  Besides being weak, these would be faster-than-light in a Universe undergoing Inflation.

Some of the Uncertainties are depicted on the graphs below, along with sketchy Gravity Wave model-inspired curves to partially fit the data. 

 

 Data from a number of projects compared, with 2 related ones being modeled to theoretical curves; note the vertical bars there & horizontal lines above represented data uncertainty, sometimes so large that curve fitting can be "under-determined" – other curves & models could be alternatively supported Vertical uncertainty ranges are all the greater in the chart below:

The data-fit is controversial so that later studies indicated that certain interstellar dust, rather than hitherto never-seen Gravity Waves would better fit the data.  Subsequent studies, however, with "97.2% confidence ruled out dust & other contaminants as the source of B-modes" in the BICEP2 data.  They did not derive from Gravity Waves either, but from "Gravitational Lensing" of the CMB by "intervening structures."

gravitational lensing fit to the important data

Even if spot-on, the claimed Gravity Wave detection would only partially support Inflationary Theory, which only very slightly supports a Multi-verse.  Even at that, the 10⁵⁰⁰ unreachable universes are not thus indicated, so that Random Chance Anthropic Principles are not in the least made more plausible.

Hogwash:

Andre Linde & others who postulated the nucleation of  “Bubble” universes (like our own) into a Multi-verse, based on Inflationary Theory, estimated some 10⁵⁰⁰ such universes to make plausible our extremely Fine Tuned Universe by Random Chance.

Atheism apologist Victor Stenger, in "The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning" & other books claims that such was as if an unintended "mandate" from the results of research & not a concocted refutation of the more spiritual Anthropic Principle. Hogwash !

While many points of his entire thesis could be logically knocked down, just as one small example, consider his complaint about the use, by Anthropic Principles, of "less fundamental" constants such as Planck’s constant:  h  = 6.626 069 57 (29) x 10^–34 J s, the vacuum Speed of Light:  c   =  299, 792, 458  m/s,  &  the Gravitational constant: 

G  =  6.673 84(80) x 10^–11  N m²/kg².

For the sake of elegance & simplicity for "insiders", Physicists are wont to define "natural" dimensionless units by setting  4 π G  =  1  =  c  =  h, which is to say put other constants "in terms of" G, c, h.  This serves "insiders" while obscuring details for those more amateur.  In any case, such is just a device of convenience & does not "sanctify" that dimensionless format.  Some focus on G, c, h in Metric Units for Anthropic Principle arguments because they are more concrete for the unprofessional reader than say, the Fine Structure Constant.  Stenger, however, disqualifies them as "arbitrary" because, unlike dimensionless units, their numerical value depend on the particular units chosen. Well of course !  But given those particular units chosen, the still indicate ratios & other relationships between physical realties in the Universe. Definitions like 4 π G  =  1  =  c  =  h  are also arbitrary, other choices could have bee made. To knock down the Metric Units is foolish or disingenuous, take your pick Victor.  Inventing 10⁵⁰⁰ unreachable universes, bolstered by tenuous arguments about CMB anisotropy, just as special pleading in your Atheist argument against Theists, my God Victor !

To so justify Anthropic Chance begins to compare to all the particles in the Universe, requiring 1 with 80 zeroes, 10⁸⁰ as compared to Universe size to Electron size ratio –  with 40 zeroes, 10⁴⁰. Add 6 zeroes to 86 & we have the particles in a million Universes 10⁸⁶. We can’t imagine 100 zeroes, a Googol, 10¹⁰⁰. How about 200 zeroes, 10²⁰⁰ ?  What about 500 zeroes, 10⁵⁰⁰ not of particles now, but of same-size Universes ?  That’s the number in the Multi-verse, with just 1, ours, working out.

We side with neither Atheist nor the Creator God of the Theist, but award way more points to the Theist. One Absolute Divine Consciousness has no Universe(s), though one or more may appear in the Waking State, but 10⁵⁰⁰ ???

Perception in terms of Buddhist Skandhas – an interpretation:

Perception analyzed with Qualified Non-Duality QND could be framed in terms of one interpretation of the Buddhist Skandhas which are traditionally discussed variously in other ways than what follows. The same holds for Dependent Origination which here is simplistically taken to mean: if A requires B for its existence, & B requires A, then by “dependent origination” neither independently or truly exists.
Letting Vision stand in for all the other Senses, with the understanding that the following can be applied to all of them, consider an Object of Visual Perception. That sense mechanism can never contact or verify the Object directly, being initially mediated by the Visual Form of the Object. Furthermore, what would be such a Form without an Object to which it applies, & what could be a Visual Object without the Form. Object & Form here are mutually-defining in the manner of Dependent Origination & thus neither is real in itself.

The Form in turn is detailed by the Perception signals, here light waves, Within Signal we include the entire chain of Neurophysiology to the mysterious point where constitutes primitive Thought & call it all the Perception. Perception & Form also exhibit Dependent Origination with neither independently real.
Interior to perceptual Neurophysiology, at early mental lever, Conceptual category is superimposed as in “this is a chair” – a radical editorial interpretation specific to the Perceiver. Like a biological Genus this generalization identifies the Perception as that of an Object generically identified as “chair” for instance. Concept & Perception exhibit Dependent Origination with neither independently real.
Like a biological species perceptual Discrimination mentally specifies “a red easy chair” for instance. This specification pinpoints somewhat within the Conceptual category, another subjective editorial interpretation. Discrimination & Concept exhibit Dependent Origination with neither independently real.
Finally Sense Thought Cognition registers, associates, & process the specified generalization but Cognition & Discrimination exhibit Dependent Origination with neither independently real. These 5 “skandhas”: Form, Perception, Concept, Discrimination, & Cognition have mediated Visual Perception of the Visual Object with Dependent Origination at the front end as well, between Form & Object. So too at the inner Subject, Dependent Origination applies to the Subject & the Cognition.
Thus 5 “skandhas” or steps in Visual Perception serially link Object & Subject by Dependent Origination with neither independently real. Consciousness illumines all that as an ephemeral reflection without establishing reality to any of it (UQND), or from another view (QND), without separation from any of it. In accord with UQND, Un-Qualified Non-Duality, pure, nondual Consciousness alone exists.

Virtual Reality VR:

A couple of very smart characters, among many, suggest we consider the lesson of VR Virtual Reality.  Cognitive Science Philosopher David Chalmers chimed in early on the past bandwagon of pointing to The Matrix movie as a profound parable, one far more popular than the earlier version that the cinema had emulated, Descartes malin genie the evil genie (or genius) entrapping the Brain in a Vat. Harder to label is the other genie, I mean genius, Nick Bostrom, nominally a philosopher, who offers Bayesian "proof" for the following proposition.

If we do not destroy our technological civilization by prompting further Climate disaster, or by war or political collapse, over-population, & so on; & if no Armageddon–like meteoric disaster, etc. does the deed, if none of these occur then Ray Kurzweil's elitist techno-utopia will surely come to pass. However many starve & rot with disease & violence, if some insular elite defend islands of exponentially advancing Computer technology, while escaping their own Nano-technology, Bio-technology, etc. then they will eventually program innumerable The Matrix level VR's Virtual Realities. Among those will likely be some "period pieces" as depicted in the movie, capturing a past version of Earth's civilization, such as the one we now find ourselves in. The most advanced VR's could pass for our own world & no one could tell the difference. So much for the like–like comparison between our world & all these many particular VR's among a far greater number of other kinds of VR. Bostrom calls those particular ones "ancestor" VR's because they emulate the experience of the relatively few people (~ half dozen Billions) in our world. We are those relatively "few" "ancestors". Here comes the kicker.

 

 

selection from Sri Ramana Maharshi

Those inexpensive (by futuristic technology standards) Virtual Reality programs will be so very numerous that for each of us now, that there might be, who knows, a Trillion more VR individuals will take the place of each of us, distributed over the man VR programs. Here Bayesian "logic" kicks in & flatly declares, that by those "odds" (lets say a Trillion to 1) we most certainly live in one of those Future VR's right now, each of us as most likely being VR characters, or avatars if you will.

Now given Bostrom's claim that we probably live in & as VR right now, unless we soon destroy our civilization or experience other disastrous collapse that will have prevented that technology (we rarely get to use the future perfect tense "will have"), we turn back to David Chalmers. Putting aside the destruction scenarios, Chalmers, like many other Cognitive Science Philosophers assure us that we could never tell the difference in VR.

Our point here is that we are as good as being VR anyway, because how could we ever know? In fact our individual Waking State lives (Dream State ones are otherwise) actually are as good as VR in absolute Consciousness, no more real than that. Awakening to Identity with pure Consciousness, we are Liberated from the succession of Waking State dream-lives (& Dream State lives as well). Sound like fun? But actually all the real fun, Happiness & Love are already firmly planted in that Consciousness Reality, as is our Being & Identity already.

 selection from Sri Ramana Maharshi

Dimension Games:

Brian Greene's garden hose analogy for "campactified" String Theory dimensions represents one of the recent versions of the contemplation below; Edwin Abbott's Flatland included an older one. However ancient, the exercise remains worthwhile.

If our "robust" reality were compared to a 1-D world, infinitely dense with points, all that would appear as nothing to 2-D viewer in a 2-D realm that contained our 1-D linear world. Viewing our 1-D Line broadside, the 2-D viewer cannot make out the infinitesimally thin Line with zero thickness in his 2-D world. Should he take the Time-dimension out of our 1-D Space-Time continuum, the 2-D view would try to examine a cross-section, a completely invisible 0-D Point bereft of both thickness or 2-D Area, & also bereft of even any 1-D Length.

That 2-D viewer, proud of the Area of his world might be shocked to hear from a 3-D viewer examining his world on edge & finding it to be a simple 1-D Line of no Area & certainly no Volume. The 2-D Space-Time continuum at any moment is a 1-D cross-section of the same sort, with no Area or Volume.

To capture some sense of a 4-D viewer's experience, we might imagine that the 3-D World he views is some kind of Cube, like the planet Bizarro Superman came from. We can finish it at these dimensions, even though extending the speculation into higher compactified or other higher dimensions would be obvious enough. In passing we could note how we have analogized the way an M-brane "views" a String, or how higher-D p-branes "view" those. 

But anyway, the 4-D viewer addressing the Bizarro World Cube might redirect the cubistic 3-D viewer from his Solid Volume to the volume-less Area of a single Surface. Appreciating that Surface, the 4-D viewer further humiliates his listener with consideration of the infinitesimally thin & sharp zero-Area of a single 1-D cubic Edge. Alas, diminished further is the focus down to a 0-D corner. Negligible are these Forms revealed to be, from a perspective of 3-D Space, never mind 4-D Space-Time. Every Moment of Time in 4-D Space-Time captures a 3-D World cross-section of no 4-D Volume, no "substance", no reality so-to-speak.

Likewise, our own physical Forms & Mental Images are like surfaces & edges of no extent in the infinite-D Space of absolute Consciousness. So much less significant are the "corners", the 0-D individual Ego's crying out for recognition in empty space. Consciousness embraces all & yet all things & individuals are as nothing in the infinite dimensions of Consciousness. Fortunately, we are not things, nor are we individuals. "Each" of can know irrefutably that he/she is actually Consciousness itself.

 

 selection from Sri Ramana Maharshi

#1) What If ?
What if, for the sake of discussion, for the sake of argument, we start from some extreme position, & follow it to some resulting "down–stream" conclusions, just to see where it gets us ? I can't promise that we stick to any given criteria of strict Logic or Proof, but perhaps some "ring" of truth remains after the speculative exercise. The other promise might have to be relinquished, for instance, if the validity of that same Logic or Proof only "existed" at a far lesser "down–stream" level in the chain of speculation. To anchor these abstract ground-rules a bit, let's begin with our Protagonist deeply asleep. A very Wise One that he knows shakes his shoulder, awakens him rapidly, asks quickly:
          Do you exist ?
The former sleeper responds right away or later relates the immediate response in his Mind:
          Yes, certainly I exist ! I just know that's true, spontaneously & undoubtedly.
The Wise questioner counters with an observation & a 2^nd confirming question:
          Oh I see, you "know" you exist like that. So can I agree that you "exist" & that you also "know" – at least that much.
Nodding his head in assent, the freshly awakened asks once for clarification & then listens for a while.
            Granted what you say, what is the significance ?
Asking the awakened to suspend judgment for bit, much as expressed at our beginning, the Wise One ventures on with is own "What if ?" scenario, with minimal detailed explanation or proof, getting no further argument or interrupting question from the listener. He speculates as follows, or with words to that effect.
That "inner place" in which you felt that certainty of your Existence, & also that certainty of your knowing so, your Consciousness, is actually the same "place". Moreover that "place" is not a place, having size or shape, has no location in Space, or in Time for that matter. The very same "place" where you are certain of your Consciousness is actually your Consciousness itself. As also the very same "place" where you are certain of your Existence, it truly is your Existence, it is what you are, your Self.

And not only your Self, but the same is my Self, & the Self of everyone & all that exist, have ever existed, or will ever exist. That singular Existence or Being is the literal Truth proclaimed by Parmenides & Shankara, by Huang Po, Meister Eckhart, Ib'n al Arabi, Brahmagna Ma, & Ananda Ma. The point being that no culture, gender, creed, or period of history has unique claim to this recognition, this Knowledge known as the Perennial Philosophy.

Further observations include the fact that very same not-a-place "place" or Brahman or the Self is also experienced routinely as the Source of Happiness, Love, Bliss, Joy, Peace, Satisfaction, Freedom & the like. These are all one with Consciousness & Being, though Happiness in full is more often the complete "reference value" we all intuit, perfect Happiness, the goal, whether we currently believe it to be attained or not. That Source of Happiness is the same "place" where true Happiness (not mere pleasure or triumph) is actually felt, routinely. Even the sense of its lack could be said to be felt there along with all negative emotions that seem so [negative] by coloration with conceptual self-delusion.
Nodding his head again in awe more than yet assent, the freshly awakened asks once again in the same words:
          Granted what you say, what is the significance ?
Much can has been said & written about all the ramification & also restoring true Self-Identity through the meditation of inward Self-Inquiry. Any sincere seeker can find all that, especially now with the Internet to get started with. Given some sifting through apparently conflicting alternatives (& some are conflicting) & perhaps a few false turns, the one who truly desires Freedom (Liberation from ignorance) will have it.
This much can be said in closing for now. That begins above as a "What if ?" certainly is found to be factual, though this cannot be proven or even fruitfully argued from "this side" of the issue. Experimentally proceeding in a neutral, judgment-suspended "What if ?" approach, the following could be said to be the significance you ask about.

You & I & all are that same Self, though we may seem to be "caught" in a Waking Dream world of Time & Space (at night, other dream words supervene, while in deep sleep, none at all). While seeming so "caught", we best pursue Self-Inquiry, with authentic texts that support that & qualified live guidance when possible. Other wise we progressively shine in our World (even if obscurely) fulfill responsibilities, relationships, work, etc. in Peace. Any help offered to what can appear as a stricken World & inevitable death in that World, comes from the inner basis, & less-so, the practical basis just described. This quest of Enlightenment, Liberation, is the most satisfying & significant venture possible.

 selection from Sri Ramana Maharshi

#2) How can an absolute Non-dualist appreciate Science ?
In simplest terms (the tone of this post throughout) Absolute Non-duality denies that there is a RWOT Real World Out There. Yet even the Illusion, a projection of Mind, is a an ephemeral reflection on the one Consciousness. In the seeming Waking State (while not in Dream or Deep Sleep) Science can be said to be a "high" view, an insightful perspective on the Illusion (the Universe) from within that Illusion. If there is no World for Science to actually speak to, Science does in relative (non-absolute) terms speak to the Mind itself. Science models much of the Mind in a fairly clear manner. Depths of Mathematical Physics are awesome (but beyond our scope here), diving into Fractals can be beautiful, & so on, all through Neurology, crystal structure, what have you. But here, with no need for illustration, because the reader can so easily visualize her own, we conclude with a truly elementary example that is yet a platform for much insight. The following could even play some small part in self-examination that paves the way toward Liberation. We glance briefly at what makes middle school math interesting.

Rene Descartes on holiday in the mountains of Bohemia was lazy late in bed on a morning when his daydreaming bore fruit. Tracing a fly walking across a structured Inn ceiling, he found himself track the fly's meandering with what he later called the 2-D Coordinate system patterned on the ceiling. Rene himself had been groping for such a device in recent study of quadratic curves in Conic Sections, math he'd credit Greeks of an earlier millennium. Ancient fishermen had tide knots in anchor ropes & later in nets. Egyptian architects borrowed the net & rope-ruler schemes for pyramid construction. Greeks had further pioneered the geodesy of Latitude & Longitude. Arab philosophers & artists preserved these Greek & Egyptian "technologies" during Europe's Dark Ages & these ideas entered Andalusian Spain during their occupation. The same prompted perspective drawing & architecture so fundamental to the Renaissance, but only Descartes organized 2-D "graphs" soon after that Bohemian holiday morning. What does  urban legend say about the Universe projected by Mind & Mind itself?

The middle schooler might easily overlook the organized 2-D Space on her graph but in many way this model evolved into the computer screen, & along the way a common sense of the 2-D "screen of the visual Mind."  The similar 3-D "theater of the Mind" is a close relative to our sense, & Newton's sense of Space itself. The older knotted rope might similarly be found tracing back from the sequence of Thought & the flow of Time, sound, & so on.

Overlooking the widespread concept of the Coordinate Space in all its forms might have bee harmless for the middle schooler but the underpins the Structural Realists adamant committed to a "real" Space or Space-Time. What could trip up the middle schooler eventually, however, would be to overlook the essential reference role of the Graph's Origin, point (0, 0) in 2-D. In the 3-D World of Space, the same is called Here. Along the 1-D Space of Time, the Origin is called Now. In the Space of Mind, the constellation of Thoughts are similarly all measure or referenced to the Origin call Me, or the Ego–"I". This is not the grand Brahman–Self "I"–less "I", the True Self. That Origin of Mind is the Ego, the imaginary obstacle to Enlightenment, gives every thought the meaning & seeming "reality" each has.

region in 3-D Space shifted to put Origin in its Center – could be a Mini-Container-Space in itself, & Macro-Origin for a Vicinity

To run around with those Thoughts & run around in the World they create is the opposite of Enlightenment. Appearing to function in a World is fine, but Freedom requires recognition of that Ego-Origin, its falseness, its seem "place" or arising in Consciousness & final identification with that Nondual Consciousness.

Non-dualist appreciating Science (short epilogue):

Simple points appended to mention of Cartesian Coordinate Space as a model for:

1) Mind – where thoughts are the points & the Ego-"I" Me is there reference Origin (0, 0) etc.

Mind Space seems:      
1-D for the sequence of thought

2-D for the visual screen of the Mind

3-D for the theater of the Mind

4-D for lifetime identity Personality, born, growing, dying in Waking State Time

2) Time – the 1-D Space of Time itself overlaps somewhat with the Mind's 1-D for the sequence of thought, with Moments for the points on the Timeline & Now for the Origin (0).

3) Space – physical, is 3-D with Here as the Origin, or as 4-D Space-Time with Here & Now at (0,0,0,0). 

4) World – fills Space with objects, etc. as points with an extended as the Body. While Hearing naturally parallels Time in Sound & Music, all being mostly 1-D, Vision naturally scans 3-D Space. These sense perceptions along with Tactile, etc. senses concretize a World. While the Body is an extended or Macro-Origin reference Origin for the coordinate space of the World, that same Body can be a Mini-Space in itself, with it own smaller Macro-Origin as perhaps the Brain. The Body-skin marks the inside–outside boundary in the World.

Similar Macro-Origins / Mini-Coordinate Space concepts could be inserted around each of the other Origins mentioned above, thus also defining inside–outside boundaries. For Time, this could be My Lifetime. For Space it might be my Vicinity, a changing reference by which locations or positions in Space are is variously appraised. Around the core Ego Origin of Mind, some extended Personality could be imagined to separate thoughts in some inside–outside way:

The point of these simplistic models is to suggest that Mind, Time, Space, & the World are not objective "givens" of fixed qualities. Different people experience these differently, & each of us does also at different times. However modeled, or not, these are mental projections, not fixed realities. The Coordinate Space models suggest that the same old "space with a center" Idea is repeated over & over again for Mind, Time, Space, & the World. More importantly, these represent the net of Illusion that distracts us from recognition of the core Identity, the Nondual Brahman, the Self of absolute Existence, pure nondual Consciousness, & complete Happiness, Love, Bliss, Peace, & Liberation.

Self-Inquiry traces back along short or long routes from any of the above, especially from Thoughts, questing "Whose thought?"  "Mine."  "Who am I ?"  "Whence am I ?" which is to say finding the "place" in Consciousness  where the Ego-"I" seems to arise. Find it to never arise there, remain as that Consciousness, the Non–Dual Self.