Quantum Revelations

Excerpted from The Scientific Illusion and the Relativity of Beliefs By Anthony Forwood Copyright (c) 2011 All rights reserved.

The World of Quanta

Quantum physics is the scientific field of knowledge that deals with what are considered to be the most fundamental building blocks of matter, and the physical laws that govern them. Collectively, these primary units of matter are referred to as quanta, and singularly as a quantum. A quantum particle is generally defined as a unit of energy that is of a specific and irreducible size. According to the theoretical framework accepted by todays scientific establishment, these quanta are considered the smallest possible constituent parts of all physical things within our universe. This is because the mathematical formulas that are used to define the world of microcosmic reality dictate that anything smaller than a quantum particle isnt able to exist within the four dimensions of spacetime. Below this microcosmic scale of matter the laws of nature as we know them are said to no longer be sustainable. According to the accepted scientific framework, all physical things in our universe are made up of these minimal units of quanta, organized into specific arrangements that build up in layered scales of ever more complex structural forms such as atoms and molecules, plants and animals, planets and stars. It is important to understand that all of matter everything that is at all physical in nature acquires its physical substance through nothing more than fluctuating patterns of energy, ordered expressions of movement. This means that the physical substance of reality that we perceive is really nothing more than rhythmical, energetic motion in complex weaves and patterns. These energy patterns, at least as far as science can tell us, begin at the imperceptible scale of quantum particles, and through their interactions with one another, build up into larger and progressively more solid structures that become physically perceptible at higher scales. However, if this energetic motion should cease, there would be nothing. The physical universe would simply disappear. These patterns of energetic motion form the protons and neutrons that make up an atoms nucleus, which in turn form the hundred or so types of atoms that we know of, which in turn can form into an innumerable variety of molecules. These molecules can combine to form even larger objects that were able to sense and experience more directly, such as rocks, trees, the air we breath, even our own human bodies, as well as the planet we live on and all the stars and galaxies in the universe. Although many of the physical objects around us that were familiar with seem to be solid, at the finest microcosmic scale they are understood to be all made up of the very same basic substance indivisible quantum units of vibrating energy. What we commonly perceive to be the physical substance of matter can be more fundamentally conceived of as a dimensional matrix of varying energetic patterns dancing their rhythmic frequencies of movement.

MOLECULAR PARTICLES

ATOMIC PARTICLES

NUCLEAR PARTICLES

QUANTUM PARTICLES

SUB-QUANTUM ENERGY
Figure 1-1

At the microcosmic level of these quanta, the actions and interactions between them are apparently quite limited in their possible diversity of organization, but as they build into larger structures such as protons and neutrons, the possibility of arrangements begin to increase, and this allows a limited variety of atoms to form. In turn, these various types of atoms are able to combine into a substantially greater diversity of even larger forms, giving us an innumerable variety of molecules. These molecules in turn are able to combine in even greater and more complex varieties of structure, forming the plethora of physical things that make up our universe and which we sense and experience directly. In this way, the solidity of matter surfaces to our level of awareness, emerging through a series of leaps of order in scale of size and degree of complexity (Fig. 1-1). It has been more than a hundred years that these quanta have been determined to exist, when in 1900, Max Planck discovered that the energy of a photon comes in terms of a basic indivisible unit of energy. However, because of their extremely small scale of size and the resultant difficulty in being able to study them as individual units, very little has been learned about them since that time. In fact, scientists have never actually been able to isolate a single quantum particle, and can only study them through less direct means. Nevertheless, through their efforts a number of very remarkable discoveries have been made over the years that have been forcing

scientists to change the way in which they must understand the fundamentals of physical reality. Within the pages of this book will be described the general outlines for an alternative understanding of reality that offers an explanation for all known as well as yet unknown phenomena. In order to introduce this new understanding, we will begin by exploring certain aspects of the current scientific understanding of the physical universe at its most fundamental microcosmic levels. We will give consideration to the study of quantum mechanics and what this body of knowledge reveals about reality.1 We will look at five significant revelations that have been made in the field of quantum physics. Between the five of them, the reader will see that they offer a conceivable means for understanding reality in a way that can not only account for certain currently unexplainable phenomena, but which also reveals consciousness to be deeply intertwined throughout the fabric of reality.

Five Revelations
The first revelation of quantum mechanics that we will consider is that below the level of quantum particles, at a microcosmic scale of time and space that is less than that of Planck time (10-43 seconds) and Planck length (10-33 centimeters), the concepts of time and space are no longer in effect. At this sub-quantum level of reality, the energy that emerges into the simplest material forms of quanta is itself just a jittery, frothing sea of uncertainty. The dualistic opposites of our normal world, such as left and right, up and down, near and far, here and there, inside and outside, before and after, etc., do not apply. There is no sense of causality or order as we understand them on the larger scales we are more familiar with. Quantum particles pop in and out of existence in a seemingly chaotic and unpredictable manner, sometimes emerging long enough to interweave themselves into configurations that will exist for a while, but which eventually disintegrate back into a haze of uncertainty again. Further, this frothing quantum sea of energy exists at every conceivable point in space, filling even the microcosmically huge distances between an atoms tiny nucleus and the electrons that inhabit orbits at its outer perimeters. This subquantum energy exists everywhere throughout the conceivable limits of space, being present at all points throughout. It is this underlying energetic field from which matter emerges in its physical, particulate form. This underlying sea of ever emerging and vanishing quanta is commonly referred to as the quantum field or zero-point field. In this text, we will occasionally need to make the distinction between the underlying energy itself and the quantum units that arise out of it to form particles. For this reason the term sub-quantum will be used to refer to the underlying energy itself, rather than to the quanta that form out of it. This is simply to help the reader clearly understand what is being discussed. The second revelation of quantum mechanics is based on what is known as Bells Theorem, and is commonly referred to as quantum entanglement. This revelation dictates that two or more particles, once they become correlated through an interaction, will thereafter remain correlated no matter how far apart they become
1

There are, of course, other discoveries that have been made from the study of quantum mechanics, but they are not included here since they are not absolutely necessary to our discussion, and to include them would only overburden the reader unnecessarily with complicated information.

from one another in space. They seem to be integrated in a way that makes the spontaneous and immediate exchange of information between them possible, even if they happen to be at opposite ends of the universe. A change in any of the properties of one entangled particle will automatically and instantaneously cause a change in the corresponding property of all those particles entangled with it. Instantaneous long distance connections between physical objects are therefore not limited by spatial distance at the quantum level, and the interactions of subatomic particles that are continually occurring means that things are much more connected than they might seem at the human level of everyday perception. The third important revelation gained from the study of quantum mechanics is that of wave/particle duality, which means that every quantum of energy, such as a photon or electron, has both a wave aspect and a particle aspect, rather than just a particle aspect (as was once commonly thought). Although scientists had always assumed matter to be purely particulate in form, the study of quantum mechanics eventually revealed that there is also a wave aspect to matter, and quanta can exist in one or the other state. Further research has revealed that the wave aspect of matter exists even when its corresponding particle aspect does not. A quantum of energy therefore exists primarily as a wave, but in certain instances most specifically when it is being observed or measured a quantum wave collapse occurs, and its particulate form springs into existence. In its wave state, it can be considered as existing only as a potential particle, and as such has no definite location, being in all possible spatial locations at once. This potential, allencompassing yet undefined location is referred to as the particles superposition. In quantum physics, this wave state is referred to as a probability wave, because until it temporarily collapses into a distinct and solid particle, the location in which that particle will be located can only be defined as a statistical probability. It cannot be predicted with absolute certainty. This is an effect of what is known in quantum physics as the Uncertainty Principle. This principle is based on the fact that predictions about the outcomes of quantum effects can only be statistical in nature and therefore cannot be determined with any great precision these outcomes can only ever be determined as probabilities, not absolutes. Although all possible spatial locations are covered by the wave in its superposition, certain locations will have a higher degree of probability than others of being the eventual physical location. Some of these probabilities will be very high and some of these probabilities will be very low. From the standpoint of the mathematical formulas that physicists rely upon to plot out the structure of reality, the determination of where a particle will finally be located rests on the complex interactions of so many variables that it can only ever be calculated to a certain degree of probability. However, we do not have to worry about mathematical formulas in order to understand that the underlying wave state of a quantum of energy is always permeating every point of space to one degree or another. When it collapses into its particle state, that quantum of energy can be thought to instantaneously condense into a single location to become a particle. The energy used by the particle, however, is essentially still connected to the entirety of its underlying sub-quantum source through its wave state. This is important in understanding the mechanics of quantum entanglement between particles, as outlined above. The fourth revelation that quantum mechanics has given us can be referred to as the observer effect, which has been indisputably shown that the observer (or the act of

taking a measurement) has a definite effect on what is observed. This is tied in with wave/particle duality, in that the observer causes the wave to collapse into a particle at one of its probable locations. This will obviously be of extreme importance in formulating a more accurate scientific model of reality than we currently have, because not only does it indicate that things are only definite when their observation forces the probabilities into one specific outcome, but it also indicates the more profound realization that mind affects matter. This revelation will likewise be important to keep in mind as our discussion progresses throughout this book. The fifth and final revelation of quantum mechanics that is of importance to our discussion is that during the observation or measurement of a quantum particle, it is impossible to acquire information on more than one of its properties during that observation. This is another effect of the Uncertainty Principle. An example of this revelation is that it is not possible to measure both the momentum and the location of a particle with any degree of accuracy. It is possible to measure any one property, but to do so causes an immediate change in that particle, making all other properties uncertain. If we were to measure its momentum, for instance, this causes a change in its location in space. All five of these revelations, which have been established through empirically controlled laboratory experiments, have each been accepted by the scientific community as indisputable characteristics of physical reality at the quantum scale of matter. Between these revelations, we can see that beneath the perceptible surface of things, the deeper levels of physical reality are very much different from what we could ever have expected them to be. The rules of order that we understand and have relied on to predict and describe the physical events that occur at the perceptible scales of our everyday world do not apply at the quantum level, and a separate framework of understanding has slowly and tediously been forming, which scientists hope will eventually provide a complete and accurate description of events at this microcosmic scale. However, the very fact that two separate rules of order are required to define and describe these different scales of physicality suggests that the scientific framework is not whole, but is rather a patchwork of understandings that do not mesh as neatly as they should. We should therefore give further consideration to these quantum revelations in order to better comprehend their significance in our ability to discern a deeper reality. A more encompassing description of reality will become further clarified as we discuss other relevant subjects in later chapters, but for the time being it is important to consider these five revelations further in order to gain a firm understanding of how things appear to be at the quantum level.

The Quantum Field and Entanglement

From our description of the underlying quantum field of energy that permeates all points in space, with its lack of separated properties, we can begin to formulate an understanding of how the entanglement of quantum particles can be possible. Since the concepts of here and there have no significant meaning at this basic level of reality, there can be no spatial differentiations as far as energy is concerned, at least in its irreducible sub-quantum state. In the same respect, with no meaningful significance of the concepts of now and then, temporal limitations also disappear

and the instantaneous exchange of information between points in time also become conceivable. Although this may be hard to understand in ordinary terms that we are familiar with, this difficulty is simply due to our human nature of wanting to see things in the reductionist terms of separateness. However, it should become more understandable as we progress in our discussion that the sub-quantum energy that underlies our physical reality is really an inseparable whole. It can only be temporarily shaped and reflected in the semblance of distinct and separate parts, but these are in actuality no more than illusory impressions created by our way of perceiving and understanding what we experience within certain rules of order that we have learned and adapted ourselves to through long experience. At the microcosmic scale, the frothing sea of energy that is continually emitting and absorbing patterns of activity is all there really is. There is absolutely no perceptible distinction of separation between the larger objects of our everyday size scales. What we perceive as the sense of time and space and the separateness and differentiation between things and moments is something that has emerged through the way we, as conscious beings, have come to perceive these expressions of energetic activity. At the sub-quantum level, below human conscious awareness, all possible events exist together as one with no time or space or any other differentiation between them. There is no distinction between points within this energetic field, and this allows a means for an entangled connection between the particles that form out of it. The information that defines particles, such as their spin, charge, mass, etc., might conceivably be inherent to the sub-quantum energy the particles are created out of, with the particles being just reflections of particular information expressed by that energy. Two entangled particles are simply expressing the same information from the same source that they both come from, and they do not necessarily possess that information within themselves. This idea is somewhat similar to how a computer can have information stored at a specific location in memory, where this information can be accessed by any number of different programs running at any one time, and yet the information is not itself a part of any particular program. If the information changes at the storage location, the change will be reflected in any programs that query it. In this analogy, the subquantum field is like a universal memory bank from which particles acquire the information that defines them. A computer program is likened to an observer, in that when it queries the memory bank, it is essentially making an observation. Entanglement can therefore be seen to be possible when the information shared between entangled particles is conceived to be inherent within the underlying subquantum energy that they are all formed out of, rather than as the properties of the particles themselves. The information is revealed to us in the perceived form of particles, but only through certain forms of expression of that underlying energy. These expressions simply reflect this information in a way that can be described as particulate forms. That particles have certain specific properties that we can measure and use to define them is merely due to our having learned to observe and define them in that way. That we expect all particles of one kind or another to reflect similar properties in order to comply with our understanding requires the necessity for some sort of unification between them, and their entanglement is a further expression of this unification. The wave aspect of matter, being less formative in its

defining qualities, can be conceived of as a state of energy that is preliminary to that of full particulate actualization, and does not reflect the properties inherent to particulate matter.

Entanglement and Wave/Particle Duality

To understand this better, we should consider the characteristic of wave/particle duality further. As we have already stated, the illusion of separateness that masks the underlying omnipresence of sub-quantum energy is caused by our own perceptions and how we distinguish order and meaning in the reality we experience. This dualistic and reductionist attitude in our learned mode of thinking and perceiving is continually applied as scientists delve further and further into the nature of matter, down to the extreme limits of measurability. The result of this has brought them to the understanding that the finest units of matter can themselves be perceived as having the dual nature of wave and particle. Realistically, however, all energy is but one indivisible substance, and reality cannot be fully and completely understood in its whole by dividing it into more and more components. To get over the seeming paradox of entanglement and the holistic connectivity of everything that does not otherwise fit with the way we are used to understanding things, we are forced to say that quanta exist as both waves and particles. It would be more accurate to say that the wave aspect represents the more primary form of reality, and the particle aspect is actually more of our own making than it is the nature of energy in its purest sense. The wave aspect can be considered as a state of energy that lies between the state of pure sub-quantum energy, where all potentials exist in unexpressed form, and the state of particles with more clearly defined characteristics in full expression and absoluteness. The wave state is still semi-merged with the quantum field, and its potential to actualize into a particle is eminent. Its distinctive vibrational pattern is already set to a certain degree, and when it collapses, this pattern fills out in definition, and this includes its essential properties. In this way, these properties can be set even when its particle state is absent. As we have said, the wave state is always in existence, permeating all of physical space in its superposition, and only at certain times does its complementary particle state arise. Since the wave state is always existing throughout space irrespective of the particles presence, the underlying omnipresence of the wave enables information about itself to be available at all spatial locations at all times. Furthermore, since every wave state permeates every other wave state, wave/particles are in a sense each forever merged with one another, and this makes entanglement between their seemingly separate particle states more conceivable. Wave/particle duality indicates that individual wave states, by being simultaneously everywhere at once, must share all potential locations at the same time through their superpositions, even when they are collapsed into their more physical form as particles. Not only does this provide an explanation for information transfer between entangled wave/particles irrespective of how far apart they might be physically, but such instantaneous information transfer through the mutual omnipresence of wave states would also account for such otherwise irreconcilable phenomena as telepathy and clairvoyance. It also offers an understanding of the nature of mind itself, contained within, yet seemingly isolated from, the physical nature of matter.

Wave/Particle Duality and the Observer Effect

This correlation of the physical world with mind brings us to the observer effect, which has been shown to cause the wave state to collapse into its complementary particle state. If a wave only collapses into a particle due to an observation or measurement, then we can understand that energy takes its particulate form only when being expressed as a separate and distinct entity, and it does this in a manner that conforms to an already established dualistic sense of order. The wave state of quanta has been concluded to exist because the particle state cannot by itself account for certain experimental observations, such as when a single photon simultaneously passes through two slits in a barrier, which a particle cannot do. Prior to experiments that revealed this effect, it was assumed that matter was purely particulate in form, and only after such experiments revealed a nonparticulate aspect has the wave state been considered to exist at all. It should be noted that scientists have always given the particle state a dominant role when it is more accurate to think of the wave state as being more dominant, existing even when its complementary particle does not. In our everyday world, of course, we do not see particles at all. What we see are the larger forms that are comprised of these smaller particles. As scientists look closer and closer at these otherwise ordinary forms, at a certain point they must do so indirectly, using techniques that only reveal hints of what reality is like at such microcosmic scales. It should be realized however that no particles as small as the quanta we are discussing have ever actually been viewed in their physical form. They have only ever been assumed to exist in physical form due to the indirect means we must use to study them and which can only reveal certain expressions of them. Most of what we can piece together about the structure of physical reality at the microcosmic level is derived through mathematical formulations of the limited data that we can glean indirectly. Our conception of particles is but a picture painted to represent quantum reality that incorporates what can be indirectly observed, and being only a representation, it might not include every property that might be a part of what is represented. There is obviously much more to reality that we are still unable to observe. The significance of the wave state of matter is only now coming to the attention of scientists, but this does not mean that it is secondary to the more familiar particle state. The wave state seems to be more primary than the temporary particle state. We must realize that it is our observations and what we think we will see or what we want to see that has a significant effect in what is seen. The observer causes events to unfold in physical form, drawing them out of the underlying potential energy that, in its purest sense, is of a wave nature. The particulate nature that we are more familiar with has been defined by the constraints of certain rules of order that scientists have established through observations and measurements, and use to explain reality. This definition has been based on solid particles that follow certain rules and has therefore come to be the common expectation and belief, but a truer reality is beginning to reveal itself as we come to analyze matter more closely, exposing certain misunderstandings in our currently established sense of order. When we understand that the wave state is present even when the particle state is not, and that the observer causes particles to form out of their underlying wave

states when attention is brought to bear upon them, we can begin to conceive how the physical world is drawn out of a quantum sea of potential energy. Essentially, matter comes into existence through a pattern of interacting waves that we compel to form through our attention to them.

The Observer and the Limits of Observation

The scale of observation required for studying the quantum world makes it extremely difficult to learn anything at all, and we are only ever able to acquire individual pieces of information at any one time. As we stated earlier, when one type of measurement is made on a particle, the act of measuring it causes an immediate change in the particle that makes all other information about it to become uncertain. This limitation is not so much because of the problems of size that are being dealt with, which make the isolation and observation of particles difficult, but is due more to the fact that uncertainties naturally abound at this level of reality. Almost everything about quantum mechanics is based on probabilities, rather than absolutes, and often the only means of acquiring any information at all is through statistical analysis of large groups of similar wave/particles. This inability to glean more than one piece of information about a single wave/particle at any one time is a very interesting revelation, because it indicates that as we reduce reality to its finest levels, we are also reducing it to its basic components of expression. It is worthwhile to point out here that these seemingly irreducible quanta of energy have a certain number of definite properties, such as mass, charge, spin, etc. Each of these is ultimately understood conceptually as expressions of information. At the finest level of measurability, then, we are reduced to dealing with pure information, rather than the energy it describes or the matter that is composed of that energy. This is important to understand, and we will be expanding on this idea in later chapters. It is important, however, to understand that as conscious observers we acquire information through a very narrow window of awareness, and only the accumulation of this information over many very short periods of observation (the very shortest measured by Planck time, or 10-43 seconds) allows us to perceive a larger, more information-rich structure that culminates in the flowing, interactively connected reality that surrounds us.

Particles and Energy

Lets consider some general premises that can be made regarding the energy and particles that make up our universe, to see what might be revealed. Premise 1) Quantum particles only arise during the brief moment of an observation or measurement. Premise 2) A quantum particle is comprised of a specific, measurable amount of energy. Premise 3) The total amount of energy in the physical universe remains constant over time (based on the laws of conservation). Premise 4) This energy permeates all of space for all time.

Premise 5) Particles arise as concentrated amounts of energy in this otherwise uniform and unvarying energy field. Using these premises, we can discern that the amount of energy needed to create a particle must be subtracted from the total amount of energy available, which causes the remainder to be thinned out by that amount for the duration of the particles manifestation. This means that the more particles there are co-existing at any one moment of time, and the higher the concentration of energy in those particles, the more thinly spread out the remaining energy will be. Particles therefore tend to become more distinct against the background sea of sub-quantum energy when they begin to take up within themselves the substance of that background. Because of this, the concentrated energy of particulate matter is reflected as substance against a seemingly empty vacuum of space.

A Wave/Particle Analogy
At this point we should consider how particles might be conceived to be entangled together. The two defining qualities of entangled particles are that they have at some point come into close proximity to each other and that they thereafter share information. We will use an analogy that can illustrate how information might be thought to be transferred via wave states by particles coming in close proximity, and how that information is thereafter shared between them. Imagine that you have a sheet of cellophane wrap, which represents the wave state of a wave/particle occupying its superposition. The surface of the sheet represents all possible points in space. The particle state, in turn, is represented by the cellophane when it is crumpled into a little ball. If you press your finger or some other pointed object into the spread out sheet of cellophane, it leaves a permanent impression. This impression can be thought of as representing the location where the wave/particle collapses in space and time, and this information becomes recorded in its wave state. The cellophane can be squeezed into a ball as though it had collapsed into a particle, and then spread back out into its wave state again, and the impression that was made will still be there. Now imagine that you have a second sheet of cellophane overlaying the first and it represents a second wave/particle in its identical superposition. Now when you make an impression, you make it in both sheets at once so that the impressions are identical in form and in location. When the two sheets are squeezed into separate balls and then spread out again, they still contain identical impressions, and these impressions match up perfectly when the sheets are again overlaid. The first impression you made in the first sheet is still there, but it does not affect the second sheet it simply represents a previous incarnation of the first particle. The second impression you made, however, being identical in both sheets, represents a correlation between the two that occurred at a specific point in space and time. It is a record of information about the two related wave/particles. To better understand our analogy, we need to understand that at first the probable locations where a wave/particle might collapse will be many, and these would be represented in the cellophane sheet as a number of small impressions, the depth of each depending on the strength or weight of its corresponding probability. A lower probability would create a shallower impression and a higher probability would create a deeper impression, and these can be imagined as appearing scattered around on

the sheet at their respective locations. As the actual location that the particle will appear becomes more and more distinct, all others become less distinct until that one final location becomes such a high probability that it reaches a threshold depth that causes the wave/particle to collapse (Figs. 1-2 and 1-3). Now consider the two cellophane sheets that represent the superpositions of two particles. The matching impressions that were made in them represent the locations in space where the particles finally collapse together, being equally located and equally deep. We can think of the depth of an impression as being a measure of how

Figure 1-2

Figure 1-3

probable a location is, and at a specific level of depth, it can go no deeper and the wave collapses into a particle. Seen in this way, we can say that there is a specific total amount of probability weight that is at first spread out to create a number of different probable locations (Fig. 1-2), and as the probabilities settle into one specific location the weights adjust, taking weight from the less probable locations and adding it to the most probable (Fig. 1-3). This means that there would be a limit to the total amount of combined weights. Consider for a moment what happens when two wave/particles become entangled by collapsing in close proximity to each other. Each of the probability weights of the wave/particles superposition comes to be amassed at about the same location. To more accurately describe what is going on, we can say that at the moment of their collapse, their probabilities of being at the same spacetime location have each become so high relative to any other probable locations that it causes them to collapse together and become entangled. The matching impressions in the cellophane sheets represent the matching spacetime locations of individual wave/particles where they have become entangled. This is a permanent record of their interaction and we can think of them as waves overlaying each other harmoniously from the moment they become entangled and forever after. The identical shape and location of the two impressions in the sheets can be thought of as what keeps them entangled. Since wave/particles always exist in their wave states, this harmonic relationship between them once they are entangled is always present, even during the extremely short instances when either one collapses into a particle again through an observation or measurement. In their respective wave states, they have a connection similar to the identical impressions made in our sheets of cellophane, and the impressions that are identical in form and location can be thought of as the means by which they know they are connected. The information they share is not contained in the identical impressions, but the impressions direct them to reflect the same information that is contained within the sub-quantum energy field they are both connected to.

As wave/particles come to be entangled with still other wave/particles, we can think of this as causing further permanent impressions in their wave states, and each impression will only line up with the corresponding entangled wave/particles. In this way, the wave states of all quanta which exist together as the underlying subquantum energy field can remain uniquely connected to those others that they have entangled with. This analogy is designed to help the reader in understanding how entangled wave/particles can be conceived to share information irrespective of their later positions in space. It does not, of course, fully illustrate the actual means by which entanglement occurs, but it should simplify the subject enough to give the reader a general idea of how the superpositions of wave/particles can conceivably take part in the entanglement process. Although sheets of cellophane are only able to give a twodimensional representation of a wave/particles superposition, in reality the superpositions encompass the three dimensions of space and probably the fourth dimension of time as well. This analogy cannot easily include a means for representing time, and so the later sharing of information between wave/particles has not been incorporated into it. A further analogy may therefore help the reader to conceive how wave/particles might remain connected over time.

A Spacetime Analogy
Lets consider the three dimensions of space for a moment, using another analogy. Think of space in terms of a matrix or grid that is divided into microcosmically small regions, with each region encompassing a unit of space that can be measured in terms a of Planck length (10-33 cm). In effect, these regions are the same size as quantum particles, which can fill only one of the regions at a time as they move in their trajectories through the matrix. Furthermore, each of these regions of space can only be occupied by one particle at any given time, but over time, of course, they might be occupied by any number of different particles (Fig,1-4). Now lets introduce the fourth dimension of time into this conceptual model, and measure its minimal individual moments in terms of Planck time (10-43 seconds). If we think of the matrix in figure 1-4 as representing all of space during one of these minimal moments in time, and chain such matrices together in a sequential line to represent progressive moments of time, we have a useful representation of fourdimensional spacetime. In figure 1-5, any one circle represents all of space during one moment of time, and these moments are shown strung out in a line to show the flow of time moving from left to right, moment by moment. The circles representing space can be compared somewhat to the sheets of cellophane we used in our previous analogy. In this conceptual spacetime model, each temporal moment for each spatial region within this fourdimensional matrix has its own unique representative spacetime location. The dark regions in this diagram represent a single particle as it would be seen to move through spacetime.
Figure 1-4

TIME

Figure 1-5

With a little thought, the reader should be able to grasp that each of these unique spacetime locations will either be occupied by a particle or it will not, and this state of affairs will never change. This means that our conceptual model allows for a permanent historical record of the physical appearances and disappearances of every quantum event that occurs in spacetime. Such a model describes reality in a way that allows for what is referred to in some Eastern philosophies as the Akashic record, which is said to contain all knowledge past, present, and future. If we consider sub-quantum energy as being the receptacle for such a permanent record, and remember that this energy exists without spatial and temporal limitations, and if we accept that its energetic substance is nothing more than information, we can begin to formulate an understanding of how information patterns can be expressed by that energy in a way that appears disconnected from the vantage point of higher levels of reality, such as when particles show entanglement between them. Although this will not be easy to explain in simple words, our progressive discussion through the next few chapters should make such a method more comprehensible to the reader.

Energy and Wave States

If we can conceive that the underlying energy that permeates all of space is the same energy that comprises wave/particles while they are in their wave states, then it should not be too difficult to understand that particles are expressions that arise out of this same source. This source can therefore be considered as a conglomerate of wave states for all potential wave/particles that might ever arise. Another way to say this is that there are no individual wave states that correspond to individual particle states. Rather, the sub-quantum energy that makes up the quantum field is the wave states of all potential particles. The wave states can be thought of as emerging out of the sub-quantum energy as they take on their group identity as photons or electrons or whatever, and these individual particles will manifest out of this when their potentials reach a critical point. This occurs when we observe closely enough to force such a physical expression to occur. The sub-quantum energy source that underlies the wave/particles of physical matter has a certain quality of non-differentiation between all conceivable points. Like water that is jostled so that ripples and splashes temporarily form on the surface, the energy that is taken up by quantum particles to form matter soon returns to this source when the particle disintegrates and is merged back into the quantum field. The sub-quantum energy temporarily reflects the particulate states that seem to emerge from it and quickly disintegrate back into it again. Seeing it in this way, we can conceive that the information that a particle expresses itself by its momentum,

spin, polarity, etc. is also a temporary reflection of the quantum field and is a quality of it, rather than a thing in itself. The information is inherent in the energy itself, and is reflected through the wave state, giving full expression only through the particle state.

Reality as Determined by the Observer

The underlying quantum field that permeates all of space suggests a direct correlation between its own omnipresence and that of the wave state of wave/particles. The effect of the observer in determining the final objective state of reality, as quantum mechanics reveals, allows a definite objective outcome to manifest as expected. In other words, the observer is taking part in continually creating physical reality. As we will see further on, we structure our reality by our beliefs and understandings, and these play a major role in determining the limitation of possible outcomes. It is important to understand that the observations and experiences we each have of the physical world take place in our minds only. Not only that, but what we perceive through our five senses as the physical world around us is not the full extent of that reality, nor do these limited senses of ours comprise our full attachment to that reality. There is a deeper level of reality that involves consciousness and which connects all things together, both mentally and physically. In each moment of normal waking consciousness, each of us causes a temporary manifestation of physical matter or at least the perception of physicality through the act of observation. External reality emerges into perceptual manifestation where and as far as our attention is focused upon it. It blurs and fades away where attention is not focused. Of course, this does not mean that the moon or anything else ceases to exist when we arent looking at it. The moon and everything else is more deeply rooted into reality than as a simple visual observation. It exists as more than just the reflection of light on our eyes when we look up at it. As we will see in later chapters, all things exist first on a mental level where they are given meaning, and only then can they gain enough potential to take greater form through the mental energy given to them. In this view, the moon exists first and foremost on a mental level, with all of its attributes, and is reflected as a physical form whenever the observer draws conscious attention to it, and to the degree that that attention is given. The more conscious attention given to something, the more substantial and distinct it becomes the reality of it increases further and further as waves of energy fall into a perceptual order we can understand. This is true whether we are focusing our attention on something physical or on something purely mental. During each moment of our attention, we receive information about whatever we are focused on. The more attention given to something, the more information we are able to accumulate to give it substance and distinction. When we are experiencing the physical world, we are receiving information about it through our senses that is handled by automated physical and mental processes that are completely unconscious to our awareness. Through these processes, this information is translated into a comprehensible continuity of objects and events that unfold before us in a meaningfully ordered way. As we gaze around, turning our

head to bring into view that which wasnt previously visible to our eyes, we inadvertently cause a cascade of new waves of energy to collapse into physical expressions as our focus of attention moves over the new objects coming into our view. As we look closer, taking in the finer details, we bring about more cascades of collapsing waves that fill in the finer details of our observation. As we look away from an object so that it disappears from our senses, it fades out of our immediate perceptual reality and goes back to its wave state once again. As we go about our usual daily affairs, wave states are continually collapsing around us as events unfold that link moment to moment and place to place in a sequentially consistent order that we experience as reality. These wave states become reflected as highly structured patterns of energy, and we experience these as the various physical expressions of matter. At its finest levels, what we perceive in our minds as physical reality can be said to be comprised of nothing more than individual bits of information that arise through the act of conscious awareness. On the outside in the physical world, things appear as solid substance, but on the inside in the mental world, everything is pure information. This information is structured into a physical sense of reality at least in part by our own evolved brain functions, in order to experience it in a refined format that is highly meaningful to our level of consciousness. So, from the point of conscious awareness, what we perceive as the physical world is really an interpretation and refinement of the billions of individual signals we receive each fraction of a second through our senses. These signals are in turn the result of our observations calling them into expression, and are expressed as information in the consciousness of the observer. It is as though we are constantly asking ourselves what happens next, and this results in continual cascades of expressions that our subconscious processes formulate into a meaningful picture that we perceive on the conscious level as the whole of ongoing reality. It needs to be understood that the five revelations of quantum mechanics that we have been discussing are merely descriptions of observed phenomena based on the purely mechanistic view of reality as defined by the scientific establishment. Any such framework will obviously have its limitations and can never be the last word on reality, since it can never be absolutely correct and accurate. These five revelations, however, are causing the more dogmatic members of the scientific community to struggle hard in attempting to stay within a purely mechanistic framework, and may or may not succeed in being able to continue for much longer to explain the fundamental substance of reality in such limiting terms. So far, the scientific establishment has kept consciousness completely out of its description of reality, and therefore has not been able to account for the paranormal aspects of reality that we are otherwise more or less familiar with. However, these five revelations of quantum mechanics, and the observer effect in particular, are now forcing the scientific community to acknowledge consciousness for its fundamental significance and the necessity to incorporate it into a more encompassing perspective that will be able to explain paranormal events as well. When we discuss psychism in a later chapter, we will consider the qualities of consciousness that are most conducive to such functioning, and from this we will be able to formulate an understanding of reality in which consciousness is more fundamental than matter.

Wave Potential and Manifestation

The wave state of a subatomic wave/particle is a state of potentiality. It exists, perhaps in archetypal form, but has no unique or definite place in spacetime, and so it exists as potential reality that is in all possible places at once. This potential can be conceived as fluctuating between a state of physical being and of non-physical being. As long as the attention of consciousness is not focused on it as an observed physical event, it remains only as non-physical being, like an unexpressed thought. When consciousness is directed at it, however, it becomes manifest into physicality. It is at the point where conscious awareness directs and focuses its attention that potentials become actualized and their uncertainties disappear. This does not necessarily mean that our minds will manifest whatever we imagine or desire, or that objects cease to exist when we arent paying attention to them. It does suggest, however, that consciousness creates the perception of physical reality. It also suggests that consciousness sustains the structure of matter. At a deeply subconscious level, conscious energy the life force itself can be thought to exist in all matter as it arises through the act of observation. The concept of consciousness permeating all matter is generally known as panpsychism, and the realization that physical reality is created by our observations lends weight to the truth of this concept. Particles arise out of their wave states because we look for them in their separateness from all other potentials. Before we look, they are in the wave state as part of the whole, which comprises all other potentials as well. When we look, the particles appear out of their wave states for a certain period of time. During this time, we see that they follow certain rules that govern their reactions to events. These rules, which we know as the laws of physics, can be conceived as being followed cooperatively by every concurrently existing wave/particle by an unconscious, automatically responding motivational force. There is no necessity for choice at this basic level of matter, and so they do not require a higher level of consciousness and instead operate through automated responses very similar to our own subconscious processes (We will discuss these processes of mind in a later chapter). It is quite conceivable then that the structure and actions of particles are sustained in this subconscious manner of automated response. The particle state ends when conscious awareness no longer sustains it through the attention of observation. The particle goes back to its wave state within the whole from which it came. As we have previously stated, wave states are not bounded by space and time. In this way, it is analogous to the realm of consciousness. We know that this wave state exists because we can experience its expression, and we can even direct it to some degree to create meaningful conceptual associations on the mental level. When we have a particular thought, for instance, we draw on certain potentials and give them more strength. We draw them into a subtle formative state for the brief moments we are able to sustain an idea or image in our minds before our thoughts go elsewhere. This mental realm is where information is the substance out of which are manifested concepts and ideas, rather than what we perceive as physical substance. It is through this mental realm of subjective existence that all physical reality must first arise in the process of its manifestation into a shared, objective reality. This mental realm involves more than just the aspect of awareness, which is the primary level of

consciousness. The mental realm is also where analysis takes place and meaning is defined, where order is conceived and applied, and where potentials are separated out of the whole to manifest into energetic wave forms as the expression of information which is interpreted by our minds as physical reality. When a wave collapses into its particulate form, it does so due to the interaction of the observer. We can therefore say that to observe something is to draw information from it. It makes sense then that the collapse from the wave state into the physical manifestation of the particle state is the drawing out of information by the observer from the underlying substance of all things, the all-encompassing wholeness of subquantum energy. Prior to observation, while a wave is still just one of a number of potentials, the information that will come to characterize its final particle state has not yet been fully established. Since information arises due to relationships between aspects of reality, and the wave is only a potential with only minimal specifics about it yet established, it therefore has little or no specific relationships to any particular observation or measurement, but is related to all things in an undifferentiated manner at the sub-quantum level. Attentive mental focus, or the conscious awareness of the observer, is rarely sustained for more than a fraction of a second at a time, and is constantly turning inwards, away from the external world as it analyzes the information it absorbs. Conscious attention is only ever sustained through directed willpower, and it is only during those short moments of actual outward attention that wave states collapse. As they do, they express information to the observer, and then return to their wave state while conscious attention turns inward to process that information. As this happens again and again in fractions of seconds, the information from each successive series of wave collapses gives a sense of fluid continuity to our sense of physical reality. In this way, information continually builds and sustains the structures that we perceive as solid matter. The uncertainties of specific particle properties balance out over the collapses of innumerable wave/particles and culminate in a specific, information filled reality that flows from moment to moment based on a mentally implicate sense of order.

Wave/Particle Identity
A number of questions arise at this point in our discussion. For instance, what gives a wave/particle its identity as a photon or electron or whatever other identity it might hold? Is a photon still a photon while in its wave state? Does it contain this defining information about itself prior to its collapse into an observable particle? Or is this information of a more fundamental order than that of the wave state? Since we cannot observe wave states directly, but only know of their existence through indirect means, then perhaps they have no independent identities between them at all. Perhaps photons or electrons arise only because we look for them in the context of a photon or an electron. This would mean that the observer interacts with wave states by allowing them to collapse within certain identifying parameters. This might be considered as mutual expression/reception, where the exchange of information between observer and observed takes place at the same time.2 If waves have no specific identity until they are caused to collapse into one or another type of particle, then this might suggest that a wave can become any type of particle at all, and that all of the properties of that particle are not completely set
2

In the context of duality, this might be considered as separation/integration.

until it actually collapses. In the most extreme sense, this suggests that an object that is made up of collapsed wave/particles could just as well be comprised of all electrons or all photons, but of course, this does not appear to be the case. The energy that comes out of the electrical wiring of your house never comes out as a stream of photons, for example, but only as the electricity that we know is comprised of electrons. So it would seem that at the point of collapse a wave must become a specific type of particle. This indicates that the information designating its particle type is already contained within the wave. This means that wave states exist at a level above pure sub-quantum energy, as though partially separated out of it into different expression types, such as between photon waves and electron waves, and these wave types are somehow able to divide further into their separate wave states with greater variations in their individual properties. The information that differentiates the underlying sub-quantum energy into primary wave types such as photons and electrons is therefore of a more fundamental order than the information that designates their individual property values when they collapse into particles. Since all particles are defined by similar properties, such as mass, charge, spin, etc., we can say that these commonly shared properties are of a more fundamental order than the particles that express them. Furthermore, the range of values for these properties for each different type of particle are fundamental to that particles expression. The difference between each individualized particle is reflected in the composite values of predefined properties that are more fundamental than the particles themselves. In this way, the information that differentiates their properties is layered and builds up in complexity into individualized particles from one level of expression to the next. Each level of individuation of material expression from sub-quantum energy, to wave types, to wave states, to particles, to larger physical objects is determined by the information involved at that level of definition. This information expresses certain rules of order that underlie our perception of reality. This description of individuated material forms emerging from an underlying source of a more fundamental nature, where each apparently separated and individual thing is but a reflective quality of this one unified source, is described in similar terms by David Bohm in his highly acclaimed book, Wholeness and the Implicate Order. In chapter seven, section four, Bohm suggests that non-causal connections between distant physical elements stem from such a higher dimensional order. These separate elements share a common ground in this higher order, and are not actually separate from it, but are instead abstractions of that higher dimensional order projecting into our three-dimensional world. Bohm uses the analogy of a fish tank, with one camera and monitor providing a view of the front of the tank while a second camera and monitor provide a view of the side of the tank. With both monitors positioned side by side, we have two seemingly individual and separate events occurring as the fish in the tank swim about. One monitor shows one perspective while the second monitor shows another completely different perspective. They seem to be of two separate events. However, the correspondingly instantaneous movements of the fish on both monitors reveal a noncausal connectivity between these two events. In Bohms view, these twodimensional perspectives of the fish shown on the monitors are actually abstractions of a deeper, three-dimensional order. In the same way, he explains, the connective aspect of entangled particles is not a reflection of any coordinated change of

properties contained within the particles themselves, but is merely the reflection of a single higher dimensional expression coming from a deeper source. We can understand from Bohms interpretation that physical properties are not inherent in matter itself, and material forms are not actually autonomous objects when we consider them at a more fundamental level of order. The properties that define and differentiate material forms, such as photons and electrons, are actually reflected projections arising from a deeper underlying source.

Physical Law and Order

In considering all of what we have discussed so far, we should not overlook another very important question that needs to be answered: Where does the order amongst the components of physical matter come from, and how is this order able to be sustained throughout space and time? This question has never been properly answered by science, and it has hardly been given any consideration at all. At the very best, this order within our universe is explained as having randomly arisen during the Big Bang event. There are no truly random events, however, and what we perceive as randomness is actually order of a more complex nature than we can currently comprehend. This is to say that the order that underlies our physical reality is not randomly derived, but rather is purposefully designed. This suggests that conscious will is involved in the most fundamental aspects of physical reality. Such a means of order seems to involve a preliminary form of entanglement that ties all things together. This is evident in the uniformity and absoluteness of the order that governs our universe. All points in spacetime are connected through the sharing of this underlying order. It is possible that entanglement can exist in a variety of ways, like layers of information that affect those particles that encompass the corresponding layer. For instance, a basic physical aspect is described as quantized energy. This basic physical aspect can take on a variety of other aspects that will define this quantized energy as photons, electrons, etc., which in turn build up into atoms, molecules, etc. When a property of one entangled particle is changed so that the corresponding property of its entangled partners is affected, it is really the information that they share that is affected, and this information is reflected through the particles, rather than being a part of them. Such an underlying organizational cooperation between all of the seemingly separate parts through a basic layer of entanglement is the simplest conceivable method that would guarantee that elementary particles always follow the same laws of nature. Within a mechanistic framework, only an underlying entanglement of the parts is able to account for this. The laws of nature actually reflect a pre-established order that gives rise to all physical manifestations and allows them to be sustained over time, and what is slowly being learned about quantum entanglement suggests that this is exactly the way things are. Science explains the beginning of our universe as forming out of a singularity in which all of physical reality began with its composite energies occupying the same non-dimensional point from which it has expanded to create spacetime as we know it. Within this original singularity, all would have been entangled together as one, not unlike potentials in their combined wave states with no observer to cause their collapse. The Big Bang that science describes was essentially the awakening of a primary observer into self-realization. This has been described along similar lines in

the most ancient of religious philosophies. While existing as a singularity, all separateness that we are familiar with was nonexistent and the information that expresses the separateness we know today was contained within the singularity as potential. We can imagine that this was the state of the conscious universe prior to awareness. When the Big Bang occurred, the information contained within the singularity began to be expressed as energy organized and separated into different configurations that settled into the early physical forms of matter. The first information to be separated out of the singularity would have been the initial defining rules of order that would come to underlie all further expressions. These rules would have been caused by a predominant form of expression of the energy within the singularity, much like an initial thought or idea from which follows a range of more complex ideas that arise from it and build into more complex expressions. This order that underlies physical processes is not explainable in terms of a Big Bang as anything more than random chance. Such an idea essentially reduces the meaning of everything to nothing. Obviously, this cannot be, however, and just our being here attests to this fact. In later chapters, we will consider the deeper intent behind our ability to experience reality, as well as the processes that are involved in experiencing that reality.

Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent

If, as we are proposing here, wave states exist as part of (or are more directly connected to) the underlying field of energy from which their particle states emerge, at a level where that energy is not hampered by the usual concepts of space or time, then while they are in these wave states all quanta of energy can be considered to be omnipresent. Also, with the ever-increasing body of scientific evidence showing that entanglement is a very real aspect of matter and may even be the reason why all wave/particles continue to operate within the same basic rules of order rather than to follow different rules over time or space, energy is also omniscient. Moreover, since the smallest divisible amount of energy contains potentially infinite power within itself, it can also be considered as omnipotent. Such a realization will undoubtedly lead us to perceiving a connection between the scientific description of reality and the spiritual descriptions of it in which the concept of God is said to be the underlying source of all creation. This connection is not a coincidence. The two descriptions are actually representations of the same thing, but taken from two different perspectives using two different conceptual frameworks of understanding. This is important to realize since such differing representations can lead to a broader understanding of the concepts that they both deal with in their own way. Neither representation needs to be considered as refuting the other. One may describe aspects of reality that the other does not incorporate, but the reality they describe is no less the same one. It is merely a matter of perspective. In science, the perspective is focused on the purely physical qualities, and in theology, it is focused on the purely spiritual qualities, but the qualities belong to the same underlying thing, and by considering these different perspectives, we might gain a greater overall understanding of that thing. As we delve further into our exploration of reality, the reader will come to better understand both how we take part in its creation and how we affect it as conscious observers. This understanding will also help to explain how psychic phenomena take place, and the reason for the current elusiveness of psi abilities will become clear in

time, making the blocks that hinder the natural development these abilities begin to fall away when the mechanics behind psychism come to be more fully realized. Acquiring the proper framework of understanding will be crucial to this effort. The reader should, at this point, have at least a general understanding that sensory observations are nothing more than a representation of reality and not reality itself. With such an understanding in mind, we can begin to see past the current limitations imposed by science and common belief, and be able to take advantage of the new insights to be gained.

A New Model
Until quite recently, the scientific model of reality has been one based on the purely mechanistic framework of Newtonian physics, in which matter was considered to be the fundamental substance of reality and consciousness was no more than an emergent property, arising by pure chance out of the otherwise lifeless, mechanical actions of physical forms existing above the molecular level. Although consciousness has not previously been considered at all relevant in the primary order of things, the discoveries that have been made regarding quantum mechanics will undoubtedly change all that. It now seems to be just a matter of time before new theories will be established that will be able to encompass the strange world of quanta within a workable framework that will not only account for the otherwise anomalous events that take place at the quantum level, but which will also necessarily include consciousness as a primary aspect of our reality, if not the primary aspect. Whatever picture of reality these new theories do turn out to describe, there is great likelihood that they will be able to explain all the varieties of paranormal phenomena that Newtonian physics is not able to account for, and which, for this reason, have been more or less ignored or discredited by otherwise reasonable scientific minds. Whatever the new model of reality is to be, it should be able to explain some or all of the otherwise anomalous phenomena that exist within the current framework without introducing any new anomalies into the fold as a consequence. As we have already said, one of the major problems with the currently accepted Newtonian framework is that it does not properly account for consciousness, or the many types of paranormal phenomena that seem to be effects of consciousness. Most, if not all, paranormal phenomena reveal a direct connection between consciousness and matter in one form or another, and even strongly suggest that consciousness is more fundamental to reality than matter. These phenomena include telepathy, clairvoyance, premonition, telekinesis, out-of-body experiences (OBEs), past life recall, levitation, materialization and dematerialization of physical objects, ghosts and apparitions, poltergeist activity, channeling, dowsing, faith healing, and many others. A large number of these phenomena have been established beyond any doubt as being real events, and have been replicated in the laboratory under conditions that meet stringent scientific protocols that eliminate any chance of fraud or misinterpretation of the results. A new model of reality may even give new credibility to such practices as astrology and numerology. These possibilities are not out of the question. The reader should be made aware at this point that any description of a thing is only a conceptual representation and can never be as well defined as that which it represents. In this respect, quantum mechanics offers a means of understanding the physical nature of reality as a conceptual representation, and nothing more. It provides us with a useful method for understanding aspects of reality that, like all of

the established physical sciences, is based on external physicality as it is perceived by the human mind to be in its function and form. It should be remembered, however, that our experience of physical reality as being external and physical is but an illusion of our perceptions, so to speak. Our perceptions are a small reflection of the outside world and not the totality of what is able to be observed. Although most of this reflection is crafted by the wiring of our brains, at the lowest structural level our brains themselves consist of these same interacting energy patterns, and something must guide them to continually and consistently follow the laws of nature that define their actions and hold them within the structural units of quanta, atoms, molecules, and such. Something similar to this physical force also guides the energy that generates the thoughts and actions we have as conscious beings. The underlying energy that operates the machinations of the brain is, of course, consciousness. It should be understood, of course, that in discussing quantum mechanics we are simply considering a currently accepted scientific framework that describes certain properties of reality that still require something more primary to exist beneath their physicality. This primary something is what sustains reality and holds it in order, and we are proposing here that this something is consciousness itself. In the next chapter, we will take a somewhat detailed look at the general mechanics of waves in order to gain an understanding of some of their basic characteristics. This will help in conceptualizing the structure of reality in its more familiar mechanistic form, which will prepare the reader for the chapters that follow it. By first discussing wave mechanics we will better understand how waves interact and how information can be created and transmitted within this mechanistic framework. This will give the reader a preliminary foundation for understanding how information is expressed in physical terms as we move towards formulating a consciousnessbased perspective of reality in which the basic creative substance is information.

A Review
We have seen in this chapter that the underlying quantum field that permeates all of space provides the material substance for all physical objects to take their form, and is the medium in which physical events occur. We can consider it as the ground-base or foundation of physical reality, the primary substance of the material universe. Through the properties of this fundamental substance, all points within it are linked together in such a way that offers the means for order and continuity in space and time. It also provides the means for the instantaneous transference of information between distant points and the ability for events to be affected from a distance. As we have seen, this is made possible through the shared superpositions that wave/particles exist in together. As wave states, they each exist in all possible locations at the same time, with their superpositions merged with each other. This wave/particle duality offers both physical and non-physical interaction of the aspects of reality that can be referred to respectively as matter and mind. Quantum mechanics reveals that it is mind, through the attention of the observer, which causes what is observed to manifest from probability into physical actuality. The uncertainty of small-scale events allows probabilities to balance out into specific large-scale events. We have also seen that these observations are limited, at the quantum scale, to acquiring only one bit of information at a time, and that all other information is affected by that observation, making it uncertain.