Theos-Talk Archives (March 2006 Message tt00144)

Friends

Here, below, is a beautifully written essay by a leading scientist that 
confirms the prophesy of H. P. Blavatsky made in the last decade of the 19th 
century -- that the science of the 20th and 21st Century will eventually prove the 
theosophical metaphysics in the Secret Doctrine beyond a shadow of a doubt.   

At the time this essay was written, multidimensional Superstring/M theory, 
along with the ABC field theory that includes consciousness in their combined 
scientific synthesis of relativity and quantum physics, had not been considered. 
   

While these final "theories of everything" are not yet "proven" through the 
scientific method of experimentation and observation... Enough has been done 
along theoretical mathematical lines in the last few years to make it evident 
that such a proof will be forthcoming within the next few decades... If not 
sooner -- should scientists begin to accept as valid evidence the results of 
subjective experimentation and observation on an equal basis with their current 
objective means.

Until that proof comes, it behooves us all to be prepared for that time -- 
when every educated person will be able to comprehend the reality of the 
fundamental and immutable laws of karma (cause = effect) and reincarnation (I am 
myself, if not this body, forever) ...   And can realize what such laws imply in 
the governance of both their individual lives, along with the world itself, 
under the unassailable and peaceful concept of a true "Universal Brotherhood" of 
mankind without distinction of race, creed, sex, condition or organization.   
Thus, hopefully, ulimately achieving world peace and plenty through a perfect 
balance between independence and interdependence.   

Let's start nurturing our hope for that future -- when "Science, Religion and 
Philosophy" will be truly synthesized in the minds of all people, when all 
their organized religions will have to admit to an impersonal pantheism without 
changing their moral-ethical base, and when we theosophical, philosophical and 
scientific thinkers, with a common understanding of the true reality and 
unity of absolute space, consciousness, mind and matter, can become their teachers 
and guides... Without any personal consideration accruing to ourselves, other 
than the pure satisfaction of a job well done. </:-)>

Best wishes, 

Lenny, 
http://users.aol.com/uniwldarts/uniworld.artisans.guild/einstein.html

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http://www.physlink.com/Education/essay_laszlo.cfm

New Concepts of Matter, Life and Mind 

by Ervin Laszlo 
Author, Founder of Systems Philosophy 

In light of the current, revolutionary advances in the natural sciences and 
in the study of consciousness, the concepts of matter, life, and mind have 
under-gone major changes. This paper outlines some basic aspects of these changes, 
taking in turn the emerging concept of matter, of life, and of human mind and 
consciousness. 

The concept of matter 

The Western common sense view has held that there are only two kinds of 
things that truly exist in the world: matter and space. Matter occupies space and 
moves about in it and it is the primary reality. Space is a backdrop or 
container. Without furnished by material bodies, it does not enjoy reality in itself. 
This common sense concept goes back to the Greek materialists; it was the 
mainstay also of Newton's physics. It has been radically revised in Einstein's 
relativistic universe (where spacetime became an integrated four-dimensional 
manifold), and also in Bohr's and Heisenberg's quantum world. Now it may have to 
be rethought again. 

Advances in the new sciences suggest a further modification of this 
assumption about the nature of reality. In light of what scientists are beginning to 
glimpse regarding the nature of the quantum vacuum, the energy sea that 
underlies all of spacetime, it is no longer warranted to view matter as primary and 
space as secondary. It is to space or rather, to the cosmically extended 
'Dirac-sea' of the vacuum that we should grant primary reality. The things we know as 
matter (and that scientists know as mass, with its associated properties of 
inertia and gravitation) appear as the consequence of interactions in the depth 
of this universal field. In the emerging concept there is no 'absolute 
matter,' only an absolute matter generating energy field. 

The concept of life 

The subtle relationship between the material things we meet with in our 
experience and the energy field that underlies them in the depth of the universe 
also transforms our view of life. Interactions with the quantum vacuum may not 
be limited to micro-particles: they may also involve macroscale entities, such 
as living systems. Life appears to be a manifestation of the constant if 
subtle interaction of the wave-packets classically known as 'matter' with the 
underlying vacuum field. These assumptions change our most fundamental notions of 
life. The living world is not the harsh domain of classical Darwinism, where 
each struggles against all, with every species, every organism and every gene 
competing for advantage against every other. Organisms are not skin-enclosed 
selfish entities, and competition is never unfettered. Life evolves, as does the 
universe itself, in a 'sacred dance' with an underlying field. This makes 
living beings into elements in a vast network of intimate relations that embraces 
the entire biosphere itself an interconnected element within the wider 
connections that reach into the cosmos. 

The concept of mind 

In the on going co-evolution of matter with the vacuum's zero-point field, 
life emerges out of nonlife, and mind and consciousness emerge out of the higher 
domains of life. This evolutionary concept does not 'reduce' reality either 
to non-living matter (as materialism), or assimilate it to a nonmaterial mind 
(as idealism). Both are real but (unlike in dualism), neither is the original 
element in reality. Matter as well as mind evolved out of a common cosmic womb: 
the energy-field of the quantum vacuum. The interaction of our mind and 
consciousness with the quantum vacuum links us with other minds around us, as well 
as with the biosphere of the planet. It 'opens' our mind to society, nature, 
and the universe. This openness has been known to mystics and sensitives, 
prophets and meta-physicians through the ages. But it has been denied by modern 
scientists and by those who took modern science to be the only way of 
comprehending reality. Now, however, the recognition of openness is returning to the 
natural sciences. Traffic between our consciousness and the rest of the world may 
be constant and flowing in both directions. Everything that goes on in our 
mind could leave its wave traces in the quantum vacuum, and everything could be 
received by those who know how to 'tune in' to the subtle patterns that 
propagate there. This assumption is borne out by the empirical findings of 
psychiatrists such as Stanislav Grof. They confirm the insight of Vaclav Havel: it is as 
if something like an antenna were picking up signals from a transmitter that 
contains the experience of the entire human race. 

Societal implications 

That people in all parts of the world search for a deeper awareness of their 
own subconscious mind may not be accidental: at this critical juncture of our 
sociocultural evolution it may be part of the survival dynamics of the human 
species. A greater awareness that all that goes on in our mind is accessible to 
others, and that all that goes on in the mind of others is accessible to us, 
would prompt us to develop greater empathy and solidarity with each other. 
Such felt relations are vital not only for our personal growth and development; 
in our interdependent and crisis-prone world, they are vital also for our 
collective survival and development. 

Ervin Laszlo 


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