Quantum Theory: Spiritual Panacea, or Red Herring?

By Ian Lawton
Source: IanLawton.com

For many years I have endorsed the idea that modern science is at the forefront of introducing a new metaphysical worldview. And while I do not now reject this idea completely, recent investigation has led me to the conclusion that my own use of elements of both quantum and string theory to support a Rational Spiritual worldview requires significant amendment. Nor am I convinced that the recent exposure that quantum theory has had via films such as "What the Bleep do we Know?", involving distinguished contributors such as Fred Alan Wolf and Amit Goswami, has helped to clear up certain areas of confusion - however much, in one sense, I am delighted by the effect they have had in galvanising a more spiritual worldview.

In order to explain some of these reservations, we need to recap a little. Basic quantum theory resolved the paradox that particles such as electrons seem to have the characteristics of both particles and waves. More specifically, it proposed that they are ‘probability waves’ that only become particle-like - that is, for example, take on a specific position - when they are observed. However there are a number of supposed implications of this that are not as concrete as I and others have tended to make out. We will examine each in turn.

Is the Physical World only an Illusion?

The attractiveness of this proposition is two-fold. On the one hand it reinforces the idea that we can 'create our own reality', and on the other it appears to confirm ancient esoteric notions of maya. And, in some respects at least, it is true. For example, atoms and their nuclei are made up almost entirely of the vacuum that exists between the various particles. So objects that appear to be largely physical are in fact made up almost entirely of empty space. However, it is not accurate to claim that the particles themselves are 'only energy'. Of course, at one level everything is just energy, but we should not be sloppy about how we define this. Even under the most far-reaching interpretations of quantum theory, by the time we observe an object we are causing it to manifest only one particular set of quantum probabilities, and therefore it is made up of particles and not unmanifested probability waves.

But can we somehow alter our consciousness to allow other probabilities to manifest? And, to the extent that we can, does this involve quantum theory or something else?

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