This article postulates the existence of a universal field of consciousness (taken for granted by ancient sages) which is an invisible source and control centre of all that is visible – in other words, the existence of a master mind beyond matter.
The discovery that consciousness predates matter is not new. Some of the greatest scientists of the past century have known or suspected that consciousness has to be primary. Max Planck won the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics as the father of quantum mechanics, and in 1931 Dr. Planck said, ”I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.” He said in 1944, “As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear-headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.”
Albert Einstein never was quite so blunt, but he had the same suspicions. For example, he said, “Our experience of separation may be an illusion of consciousness.” And he said, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” Physicist Sir James Jeans simply said, “The universe begins to look more like a great thought than a great machine.”
Ancient and now also modern belief is that empty space isn’t empty. The English word, “ether”, was used to refer to a medium through which light was believed to travel. This was a subject of controversy for a time, with an alternative view that space is void of any activity. Physicists are now convinced that space is full of activity in the form of invisible fluctuations in the quantum field. These so called “virtual fluctuations” account for matter and energy and also for distortions in time and space.
To account for the existence of matter and energy, as well as their appearance, disappearance and transformation, scientists posit a universal field that envelops all that exists. It is easy to see how solid objects can disappear. Matter is made of atoms which are invisible to naked eye. Further, atoms are energy – mere vibrations in the void. And still further, vibrations are temporary excitations in a field which itself doesn’t vibrate, but maintains a flat, constant “Zero Point”. This Zero Point exists here and now and provides the starting point for all that exists.
With matter and energy constantly emerging and vanishing into the void, the Zero Point serves as a switch between existence and nothingness – or from now here to nowhere. This also accounts for the fact that matter and energy cannot be destroyed, but can change forms at the sub-atomic level. For order to dominate, matter and energy have to appear and disappear. If they remained stable as matter appears to be, chaos would result – there would be no organization into forms and no universe would exist.
The fact that chaos does not prevail can be explained by the ancient concept of Akasha (Sanskrit word for space), believed in by the Vedic sages of India. They believed in consciousness as a universal principle. Only such a concept can account for the intricate organization of the universe and why the Big Bang fireball just didn’t blow itself apart and disintegrate. Combining the concepts of physicists and ancient sages, we can try to come to some understanding of this void or Zero Point. Physicists postulate that it is an all-inclusive “field of fields” that encompasses every unseen or virtual particle in the universe. It was found to have 1040 times more energy than the visible universe and be a seething exchange of energy in every conceivable quantum event. Thus the unseen becomes far more powerful than the seen.
Let’s consider how this field may act like a mind. Thinking, the basic mind operation, organizes reality to make sense. The field does it physically – arranging elements into complex and meaningful systems. Also, created forms are remembered and meshed with older systems. For example, life forms in the ecosystem relate to each other in amazing balance (barring human unskilfull intervention). While this basic pattern of constant balancing is simple, when trillions of energy exchanges are involved every second, it becomes mind-boggling.
The mind of the universe, the Zero Point, involves memory and instant communication between particles regardless of time, distance or speed of light. This has been proven by the fact that if two paired electrons separate and travel apart, they remain “connected” in that when one changes direction, the other one does too without any time lag. Self-awareness appears to also exist in the Zero Point in that DNA molecules “know” whether they are creating a dog, mouse, or human. However, since we too are included in the Zero Point Field, we aren’t in position to observe it, or prove that it has a mind, since we are not mindless. While physics may be hesitant to draw this conclusion, evidence points to a ubiquitous universal consciousness emanating from the Zero Point Field. This field of consciousness (Akasha) solves a lot of otherwise unexplainable problems and questions.
Akasha is necessary as a medium for invisible light and energy. There is a constant exchange of energy and vibrations. Every vibration is sending signals throughout the field and the field is sending signals back. There is a constant monitoring by coordinating every vibration that occurs in every visible and invisible domain. The Field organizes space, time, matter and energy.
This would confirm several key assertions in the ancient sacred text, Vedanta: The material world is projected from a nonmaterial source. The invisible world precedes the visible and contains seeds of time and space. Reality increases as we get closer to the source.
If this is the case, perhaps life and death can be viewed differently and with more confidence. Our life and thought didn’t come from the visible but the invisible. It got projected into the physical world from the source, the Zero Point Field, the root of consciousness. This model of the existence of all, including ourselves, provides a bridge between mind and matter.
Reference: Life after Death, the Burden of Proof, Deepak Chopra
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Photo Credit: Martin K., FreeImages.com
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