Asklepia Foundation
"Journey to the Healing Heart of Your Dreams"
AMPHORA 2001
Online Newsletter
Vol. 1; No. 2
THE QUANTUM BODY-MINDby Graywolf Swinney and Iona Miller
Asklepia Foundation, c2000ABSTRACT: Where does a thought or an emotion come from? How is it formed? Sometimes thoughts are suggested by previous thoughts; they are part of a serial flow, one following the previous one. Sometimes they arise out of nothing, and sometimes we find ourselves seeing things differently and thinking about them differently than ever before--a burst of creativity. How does this happen? This could be a description of spontaneous emergence through complex dynamic processes at the quantum level. The quantum body-mind exists on the creative edge of spacetime reality. It is a self-organizing, emergent force of consciousness which arises from the formless level of reality in which there is no distinction between matter and energy. This quantum zone is where something is created from nothing or the sum of all possibilities. The primordial consciousness field patterns and conditions our primal existential self.
Chaos is the transformative process by which outmoded structures dissolve and new ones create themselves. The quantum mind-body floats on an ocean of undifferentiated potential or chaotic consciousness. It draws on the emerging waves to form our personal reality. Our ordinary reality forms just this side of the Unbound Self--our state of Godness. Consciousness does exist and operate at the quantum level of reality and affects the nature or course of reality just as our thoughts and other consciousness activities do at the macro levels of reality. Individual consciousness may be abstracted from an underlying pool of consciousness, in the same way as the observed quantum wave packet is collapsed from an overall wave function. A basic unit of consciousness is described as a "conscioutron," which is neither a wave nor a particle of consciousness but is the potential for both. Conscioutrons are fundamental units of consciousness energy-matter arising from the consciousness field. They are the basis of all our sensations, thoughts, emotions, and conscious awareness. Out of infinite possibility, out of the constant flux of infinite possibilities, a quantum shift can create a different reality, a healing shift, a creative restructuring of the whole person.
KEYWORDS: consciousness, quantum physics, biophysics, chaos theory, complex dynamic systems, psychotherapy, healing, spirituality, self-organization, dreams, REM, shamanic psychotherapy, transpersonal psychology, Graywolf Swinney, Asklepia Foundation, David Bohm, quantum mechanics, Zero-Point Field (ZPF), shamanic consciousness journeys, new physics
Physicist H.P. Stapp states that, "The recent resurgence of interest in the foundations of quantum theory has led increasingly to a focus on the role of consciousness in the unfolding of physical reality. It has become clear that the revolution in our conception of matter wrought by quantum theory has completely altered the complexion of the relationship between mind and matter."
Quantum physics describes a fundamental or primal level or zone of reality formation. It is the level of reality in which there is no distinction between matter and energy. It is the level at which this matter-energy stuff arises (is created) from an infinite field of possibilities. If these are the fundamental dynamics from which the universe is being created, then these dynamics must also exist and express within each of us and must also be the basis of each of us. We will coin the phrase "the quantum body-mind," to use when referring to this level of the self.
The quantum body-mind exists on this creating edge of space-time reality. On one side of this zone or level lies a vast complexity of formlessness, or unrealized infinite potential, the complex forces and dynamics that underlie the creation of reality. It is the implicate order defined by physicist David Bohm. On the other side of it are the structures that we perceive as our personal reality, the experiences and forms of self and environment that structure the existential perceptions that are our experience of self, environment and the relationship between the two. This quantum zone is where something is created from nothing or the sum of all possibilities. It is where the processes of the Creator work in each of us to produce an experience of reality and personal evolution. (See Figure 1).
Structure and formlessness embrace on this line and dance to the rhythms of creative processes. On the one hand the dance solidifies the patterns that are experienced as our primal existential Self. On the other hand the old structures and rhythms or patterns that need transformation dissolve in this dance to ever evolve into new expressions of physical and mental self. In the most fundamental sense, it is the eternal evolutionary dance of the Hindu God, Shiva. The old and outmoded structures dissolve--die--and new ones create themselves. It is here that space-time reality starts and evolution is the everlasting, ever-present and ongoing process of reality.
It is at this level where the conception of a thought and the birth of a cell are just different presentations of the same dynamic consciousness processes. Both cell and thought emerge from the same underlying stuff that expresses itself as either matter or energy. At this level of quantum reality, the undifferentiated stuff has the potential to be both, and perhaps even more than that. The quantum mind-body floats in this ocean of undifferentiated or chaotic consciousness. It draw on the emerging waves to form our personal reality. It is just this side of the unbound self or our state of Godness.
The consciousness dynamics of the quantum body-mind, or what we label "quantum consciousness" is different than the "chaotic consciousness" identified in other writings, (Swinney, 1999). To understand this difference we must first explore the nature of consciousness.
Figure 1: Quantum Continuum
We propose the hypothesis that Consciousness, too, operates at the quantum level. It exists as energy-matter, and at its most basic or primal level is a field. Field processes can be described either in terms of fields or particles. We further presume that the natural processes describing field phenomena in general (such as electric or magnetic fields) as they manifest and operate in the reality of the space-time continuum also apply to consciousness field as it too emerges into space and time. In fact, we speculate that consciousness field may actually be the unified field or the basis of all fields that Einstein was seeking throughout the last half of his life.
The Case for Consciousness Field:
We suggest that a consciousness field exists because there are certain observable and well-documented phenomena that are best or most simply and elegantly explained by the existence of a consciousness field. We know that fields exist in general because they interact with and affect matter and energy, through such means as polarization. In fact, all fundamental fields known to physics correspond to specific vacuum polarization-states. It seems likely that cosmos and consciousness are interconnected by a continuous information-conserving and transmitting field, as suggested by Bohm's implicate order. This flow is what determines the geometrical structure of space-time.
These observable effects are what imply the existence of a field. For example, when we pass a wire close by a magnet (and through its field), this induces the flow of electricity in the wire. This implies the existence of a magnetic field producing an observable and measurable space-time phenomenon in the form of an electric current.
These phenomena are best described and understood by quantum physics, the physics that describes the reality of microcosmic events. However, as with electricity, their effects are also observable in the macro world of human experiences. One of many examples of this with respect to consciousness is the experience of synchronicity.
As the term, coined by Jung, is currently used synchronicity occurs when events mysteriously line up to create an effect on matter or influence events' outcomes or directions. There is a meaningful coincidence at the level of both psyche and matter simultaneously. For example, I need to find an obscure reference and am not sure where to start looking, or where I had first encountered it. I unexpectedly receive a phone call from an old friend who hasn't contacted me for several years. In our conversation recalling old times together, without prior reference to it, he casually mentions the missing data and its source. Often we are thinking of a friend, and as we go to pick up the phone to call, it rings and they are on the line.
Synchronicity or psi? Spontaneous healing, a mind-body phenomenon, is another example. All things are simply connected, through a fundamental pattern: the information-conserving and transmitting universal holofield.
Although classical science has tended to explain these types of events away as coincidence or accidental chronistic alignments, we tend to think that Einstein's contention that "God would not play dice with the universe," is more likely true. There seem to be, in our experience, just too many such synchronicities that occur to seriously consider statistical chance as the only or even the best explanation for them.
Quantum Theory itself suggests that consciousness exists at the levels of quantum reality, and in fact may ultimately be responsible for quantum level events. "How," the physicists ask, "does an electron know what its pair partner is doing unless they are connected or conscious of one another?" This refers to the theory that for every electron with a positive spin, there is another electron, its pair partner, with a negative spin.
Physicists have demonstrated this experimentally. By changing the spin on one electron they are able to measure the complimentary change in the spin on its pair partner even though the two electrons are separated in space. Another example is the double slit experiment. An electron arriving at one slit and passing through it must have consciousness about another electron arriving at the other slit in order to produce the observed interference pattern beyond the slits.
The simplest and most direct answer to these questions suggests that the electrons are exchanging information and each is "conscious" of the dynamics of the other. This consciousness or connection suggests among other things that a consciousness field is operating on or influencing events in the universe just as do magnetic and gravity fields. Non-locality is one way that this characteristic is often labeled in quantum physics, but this label does not exclude consciousness field -- it elaborates it and can help us define it. Inherent in this is the notion that consciousness, in the broadest sense, may in part be information or awareness about the state of beingness has of itself, and the rest of the universe. That is certainly one way we can define human consciousness: the awareness of self and the environment.
Another example of consciousness field operating is the phenomenon of entrainment. As it operates in either non-living or living systems, it has never really been explained by classical physics. Both types of system display the ability to become synchronous with other similar systems when their frequencies are close to one another.
Some examples of entrainment we experience are observing two swinging pendulums slightly out of phase come into phase on their own with no known external connection or mechanism operating. Electronic circuits do the same (the automatic fine-tuning feature of FM radios), or women's menses becoming synchronous when living closely together or in close relationships. When each system is in proximity to another similarly periodic system, they soon match up. We believe this too suggests the existence of a consciousness field operating in and affecting the material universe at the fundamental level of information.
This notion of consciousness field can also explain widely reported ESP phenomena such as remote viewing, which classical science cannot. In fact, it generally ignores such phenomena because it has rejected and excluded consciousness from all its considerations and models. Henry P. Stapp (1995), a theoretical physicst, states it well. He notes that, "Classical mechanics arose from the banishment of consciousness to find that the readmission of consciousness requires going beyond that theory."
We also suggest that it is far simpler to go beyond the limits of classical science in these instances and to posit the existence of a consciousness field to explain the aforementioned, and many other similar phenomena. It is much more elegant to do so than to embrace the many convoluted contentions of chance, coincidence, fraud or other non-answers and denials usually offered by classical science when it considers such phenomena.
The point here is that consciousness does exist and operates at the quantum level of reality, and it does seem to affect the nature or course of reality through minor perturbations in the flow of microevents, just as our thoughts and other consciousness activities do at the macro levels of reality.
The Nature of Quantum Reality: Consciousness Field and the "Conscioutron"
One can conceive of fields as potential energy-matter existing on the edges of space and time. In this quasi field phase, neither matter nor energy yet exists. A field is potential for such. A magnetic field has no substance. It is only potential matter or energy. When influenced by a magnetic field, electrons (quanta of electricity) are influenced to flow through a conductor as an electric current. This current is an event and measurable in the reality we sense and perceive and it is what tells us that the electro-magnetic field exists.
The electron is the basic unit of energy-particle or the quantum that is created from the field. It is the primal or initial way that the underlying field manifests into the space-time universe. Similarly a photon is a quantum of light and graviton is a quantum of gravity. Light expresses itself as energy or wave patterns, or in its solid form, as photons of matter.
Physicist and author Fritjof Capra (1981) states that, "independent of my mind, my conscious decisions about how to observe say an electron will determine the electron's properties. If I ask it a particle question, it will give me a particle answer, if I ask it a wave question it will give me a wave answer. The electron does not have objective properties." Which aspect is manifested depends on the observer and what is being studied. These types of dynamics are what define the level of quantum reality and its inherent anti-intuitive strangeness, which doesn't conform to the observable mechanics of ordinary experience.
The same process goes on in the body-mind at subtle levels. Deepak Chopra (1989) points out that, "Thanks to messenger molecules, events that seem totally unconnected--such as a thought and a bodily reaction--are now seen to be consistent. The neuro-peptide isn't a thought, but it moves with thought, serving as a point of transformation. The quantum does exactly the same thing, except that the body in question is the universe, or nature as a whole."
Thus, thoughts are somehow connected to hidden processes that transform nonmatter into matter, by going directly to the source of the body-mind's existence in space-time. A journey into this mysterious zone can have amazingly positive results; the transformation must occur here or the rest of the cascading events will not happen. What makes DNA mysterious, according to Chopra "is that it lives right at the point of transformation, just like the quantum. Its whole life is spent creating more life...constantly transferring messages from the quantum world to ours."
Matter and energy come out of the primordial state as a "singularity," the compression of all the expanded dimensions of the universe. When a mental event needs to find a physical counterpart, it works through the quantum mechanical human body, molecules that are "smart" instead of inert. We again invoke physicist David Bohm's (1980) notion of an "invisible field" that holds all of reality together, a field that inherently possesses the property of knowing what is happening everywhere at once.
Like the thought and the neuro-peptide, light cannot be a wave and a photon at the same time; it is either one or the other. Light is one small band in the electromagnetic spectrum. The amount of electromagnetic energy that makes up a particle of matter is described by Einstein's famous equation that Energy equals mass times the speed of Light, squared. But this quantitative equation only tells us the amount of energy associated with the particle. It does not, however, describe how the energy and matter coexist and manifest as reality.
Bohm's theory is that the waves of energy created or emerging from the infinite potential or implicate order form an interference pattern or hologram that we perceive as the solid universe. This holonomic theory provides the basis for all the material phenomena in the universe, with solidity, substance and motion being added by interactions of electromagnetic, gravity, and time fields, (Swinney, 1999).
Similarly we suggest that consciousness field exists as a potential throughout all the space-time universe and operates by the same principles. The basic quanta of consciousness might be called a "conscioutron," which is neither a wave nor a particle but is the potential for both. Both our physical substance and our psyche's energy are continually forming at this level. The realms of mind and matter are complementary aspects of the same transcendental reality.
This transcendental realm is the subquantum virtuality of the vacuum potential (Zero-Point Field, ZPF), a field which has the properties of a superfluid. Objects move through this fluid without encountering resistance as in ordinary flow-states. The quantum vacuum is a universal torsion wave carrying medium. All objects, from quanta to galaxies, create vortices in the vacuum. The vortices created by particles and other material objects are information carriers, linking physical events quasi-instantaneously.
Since not just physical objects, but also the neurons of our brains create and receive torsion-waves, not only particles are "informed" of each other's presence (as in the EPR experiments), also humans can be so informed and integrated in the cosmic Whole, or universal holofield. Our brain is a vacuum-based "torsion-field transceiver," (Laszlo, 1996). This suggests a physical explanation not only of quantum non-locality, but also of synchronicity, telepathy, remote viewing and other psi effects.
The quantum body-mind is the level of our organism in which conscioutrons operate. Just as electrons are the smallest energy-particle of electricity, conscioutrons are the fundamental units of consciousness energy-matter rising from consciousness field. How many conscioutrons it takes to make up, say a protein, a thought, an emotion or a sensation is open to speculation.
The flow of conscioutrons is the basis of all consciousness just as the flow of electrons is the basis of electricity. Conscioutrons are the basis of all of our sensations, thoughts, emotions, and conscious awareness. Electricity is most readily detected when it flows as a current and it is when it is flowing that it directly influences or effects the material world. In an analogous manner consciousness flow is the way consciousness field affects the material world and is what we usually refer to as being conscious.
We can conceive of consciousness field as being a primal sea of chaotic or undifferentiated consciousness. Emerging from this sea of consciousness are conscioutrons which define the quantum level of consciousness or quantum consciousness. Thus, quantum consciousness operates by the same principles that define the quantum level of reality. There are many texts and popular books defining the dynamics and principles that operate in and define this quantum level of reality (see References).
The quantum view is a surrealistic view of reality, one which is not based on some fundamental particle or building block. Instead substance arises out of apparent nothingness, or disappears into nothingness to perhaps reappear in some other location or form. Here, between space-time, and the oceans of chaos and infinite possibility, wave fronts or energy clouds appear that have not yet committed to being matter or energy. They are somehow both and yet neither.
When we observe something in this primordial "soup" it seems to assume either matter or wave configuration but unobserved remains uncommitted energy-matter virtuality, known as quanta. One physicist, Nick Herbert, comments about this and the quantum reality that he sometimes imagines is behind his back as "a radically ambiguous and ceaselessly flowing quantum soup." When he turns around and tries to see it, his glance instantly freezes it, and turns it back into ordinary reality.
In this quantum reality, time itself is far more than the inevitable linear ticking of a clock. Particles can travel backwards or forward through time (precursor or "pilot" waves). They appear out of seeming nothingness, moving through time and disappearing into the past or the future. Here, it is not possible to merely observe an event; the act of observation itself actually shapes or influences the event. It is also a reality of uncertainty, where you can't really pin anything down.
The more one focuses on and learns about one aspect of an event, the less one can know about the rest of it. This is known as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. We cannot measure an electron's position in space and its speed or dynamics simultaneously. The more we know about its velocity, the less certain we are about where it is.
Reality is in constant flux arising momentarily out of the infinite possibility, and in the next moment, too short to even be time, a quantum shift can create a different reality. An electron cloud shifts from one energy state (orbit) to another, and the atom becomes more, or less reactive. All reality is changed.
The Quantum Mind
This is also true of what creates body-mind and the level of the quantum body-mind also operates in this fashion. In other words, each of us is a part of reality and is formed at the quantum level by the same principles that form the rest of reality. Nature is our healer, because we are Nature.
It is this flow that defines or operates in the quantum mind. We can change like quicksilver, transforming or healing spontaneously, because the flowing quality of life is natural to us. The material body is a river of atoms, the mind is a river of thought, and what holds them together is a river of intelligence--what has been referred to as the stream of consciousness--consciousness which informs the entire holomovement. We are all navigators in the stream of consciousness.
If there is not a flow, if all the conscioutrons are tied up in rigid structures, we are disconnected from the flow of universal evolution and thus in a state of stress or disease. The disease may present itself as mental or physical dissonance, or symptoms, whose forms repeat at all levels of organization. This notion of the fractal reiteration or repetition of structures is an important aspect of Chaosophy, this definition of disease and health.
We consider disease as stagnation and the stress caused by a structure's opposition to free consciousness flow and evolution--a stuckness. Health is the flow and evolution of both our physical structure and mentality.
An excellent analogy is that of a river. The rocks or obstructions in the river are what creates the rapids. The bigger the rocks and the faster the flow, the more dangerous are the rapids. Similarly, we are constantly creating self at the quantum level, drawing on the consciousness potential to create the flow and substance of our body and mind. This potential exists as a field dispersed throughout and indeed underlying all of known space and time. The rocks are analogous to fixed and highly structured consciousness patterns or dynamics. The bigger the fixations and the faster the flow, the more dangerous the disease.
Continuing with the water analogy, picture an ocean of water. It is analogous to the field underlying reality. As the sun evaporates or draws water from the ocean, it becomes humidity in the air. As the winds blow and encounters with geographical features move the humid air about, raising it, cooling it, etc., the water vapor takes the forms of clouds, then rain and finally becomes the lakes and rivers that flow back into the ocean, and in doing so shape the geography or topography. This cycle ultimately shapes all the landmasses of the planet.
In the context of this analogy, we, our personal experience of self and reality, are analogous to the river. Quantum reality is represented by the evaporation into the air of the ocean water. It is neither water (matter) nor vapor (energy), but has the potential to be either. It is uncommitted. As this moist air flows in the winds, it encounters a land mass and the flow is altered. It rises and cools, and in doing so very tiny particles of water form suspended in the air mass and become clouds and mists.
These micro particles of water (mists or clouds) eventually join or unite into globules or drops of water from the turbulence (non linear or chaotic dynamics) in the moving air. At the quantum level, physicists claim that an electron is more like a cloud distribution about a nucleus, rather than being a discrete particle. The drops eventually condense, as rain, fall to the ground where they continue to unite and flow until they become streams and eventually rivers. The shape of the river is determined in part by the existing terrain, but at the same time it is also modifying the terrain, shaping the river valleys and dissolving even the greatest of mountains.
Analogously, we are constantly drawing consciousness out of its field form (ocean). At the quantum level conscioutrons are formed, the smallest dynamic structures or patterns of consciousness. As this encounters our organism (landmass) these conscioutrons blend, mix and unite to produce the substance of our body (the cells, bones, and tissue) and mind (thoughts, emotions, etc.).
As with the rain, the drops unite and become water flowing eventually as a river shaped by and shaping the terrain through which it flows. So too the pattern of the consciousness flow is determined by the existing energy and matter structures in our organism and creates our conscious flow through life. It is our personal river of life and a well-used metaphor.
The quantum level is equivalent to the water evaporating from the ocean and becoming a quasi-liquid. So too we draw on, or perhaps more accurately consciousness is drawn from the field level as water evaporates from the ocean. Even the particles of our existence "evaporate" into existence from the ocean of pure potential. It can become the substance of our body (the water of the river) or the energy of our mind that flows and is both shaped by and shapes our experiences of life reality. It shapes our perceptions and existential self-image.
The point we are making is that at the level of the quantum mind our self is formed both physically and mentally in one seamless movement. It is at this level that the characteristics that define us, including our diseases are dynamic patterns or clouds of consciousness quanta (conscioutrons) that arise out of potential, and it is from here that the most profound changes to both mind and body must originate. We allege that CRP consciousness Journeys perturb this system to facilitate spontaneous psychophysical healing. It is more than mere coincidence that we heal when we focus our attention deeply within, reconnect with our primordial Source, and allow that cosmic creativity to restructure us and emerge in a new, rejuvenated form.
We know about the quantum reality through inference and experimentation, and we can also experiment on ourselves by looking within. We suggest that similarly the quantum mind is not directly experienced except through its influences. We can facilitate our healing by intentionally entering the flow through the Journey process.
For example, where does a thought or an emotion come from; how is it formed? Sometimes thoughts are suggested by previous thoughts; they are part of a serial flow, one following the previous one. Sometimes they arise out of nothing, and we find ourselves seeing things or ourselves differently than ever before. We call this spontaneous emergence creativity, but how does this happen? This could be described as how things operate at the quantum level which is governed by spontaneous self-organizing emergent processes. When this process is unblocked we experience psychophysical well-being or health; when blocked we experience dis-ease. Conversely, dissolving the old, outworn structures, forms, or patterns leads to spontaneous healing.
At the very least, this is the mechanism sought after in the psychotherapy professions. How do we effect fundamental changes in the functioning of the mind? We also suggest that it will soon be the overriding question in physical healing as well. Does a drug or a pharmaceutical change the mind or even the general physiology at this level? Usually not. For example, psychotropic drugs take over for the body and eventually further decrease its ability to produce it's own healing or feel-good chemistry. In what way does the administration of a medicine bring about a change at this more fundamental level? Most often the medicine is also poisonous at some level. The cure can be worse than the disease, though its negative effect may be delayed in time. Indeed, how does it cure at all; or is such healing an endless chasing of the end of a rainbow?
References
Bohm, David (1980); Wholeness and the Implicate Order; New York: Ark Paperbacks.
Capra, Fritjof (1981); The Turning Point, New York: Bantam Books.
Chopra, Deepak ((1989); Quantum Healing; New York: Bantam Books.
Laszlo, Ervin (1996); "Subtle Connections: Psi, Grof, Jung, and the Quantum Vacuum,"
http://www.goertzel.org/dynapsychStapp, H.P. (1995); "Why Classical Mechanics Cannot Naturally Accommodate Consciousness, but Quantum Mechanics Can," PSYCHE 2 (5) May 1995.
"Journey to the Healing Heart of Your Dreams." Asklepia Foundation offers counseling and Journeys for individuals (couples and groups), retreats, whitewater adventures, campouts, and trainings in dreamhealing (CRP); life coaching for peak performance. Our writers and speakers are available for interviews and bookings. Ask about joining the Chaosophical Society, our spiritual group open to everyone. Learn more about Asklepian dreamhealing, chaos and psychology, and healing at our site:
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