QUANTUM MYSTICISM:

Transgressing the Boundaries; Quantum Levity

and Quantum Gravity on Quantum Mysticism
The Yogi and the Quantum by Robert Crease and
Charles Mann [1]
“Some physicists, including Schrodinger, felt that it
was possible and even imperative to develop an
intuitive comprehension of quantum mechanics…”
(introduction)
“Others, including Werner Heisenberg, argued that
quantum happenings were sufficiently alien from
those of our ordinary, macroscopic world, that the
human mind lacked the appropriate nonmathematical
concepts; the attempt to picture these quantum
events, they claimed, would in fact confuse and
mislead physicists.”
 The Yogi and the Quantum [2]

“For Bohr and others, the Copenhagen Interpretation

[“complimentary but exclusive”] was a kind of
philosophical key allowing them to feel comfortable
with the peculiarities of the subatomic realm.” (page
305, Philosophy of Science and the Occult)

“As Bohr said at Como, “[A]n independent reality in

the ordinary physical sense can neither be ascribed to
the phenomena nor to the agencies of observations.””
(page 305, quoting Neils Bohr)
 The Yogi and the Quantum [3]

“Unfortunately, when Bohr and his colleagues tried to

decide precisely what constitutes an observertheir
philosophical discussions were less rigorous than their
physics. The use of the term “observer” proved
treacherous, for it appeared to introduce subjectivity
into physics.” (p. 306)
“It was only a short step from this position to the
conclusion that the existence of the world depends on
consciousness– that, indeed, reality is our creation.”
 The Yogi and the Quantum [4]

Quantum mechanics opened a “Pandora’s box of foggy

speculation.” The ontological implications of the
Copenhagen Interpretation have inspired
commentaries by physicsists and philosophers, which
inspired the cranks, “who have taken quantum
mechanics out of the subatomic domain and endowed
it with wide and general meaning…” (from page 306)
 The Yogi and the Quantum [5]

Theologians in the 1930s, on God’s miracles

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, on the TM technique
Telepathy
Faster-than-light communication
the collective unconscious
Proof for the existence of God
QUANTUM MYSTICISM
The Yogi and the Quantum [6]
 The Yogi and the Quantum [7]

Neils Bohr’s coat-of-arms!

Heisenberg also drew the parallels, we are told by
Crease and Mann.
So did Oppenheimer.
Crease and Mann call Fritjof Capra the “founding
father of the modern movement,” due to his Tao of
Physics (1975). Capra was inspired to these
connections by a profound psychedelic revelation, and
later discussed it with Heisenberg (see Wikipedia
references in handout).
 The Yogi and the Quantum [8]

Gary Zukav’s The Dancing Wu Li Masters quantumly

lept even further than The Tao of Physics with claims
such as:
1. the implications of QM are ‘psychedelic;’
2. “Not only do we influence our reality, but to some
extent, we actually create it.” (Gary Zukav, from the
“Einstein Doesn’t Like It,” chapter from The Dancing
Wu Li Masters)
3. “According to quantum mechanics, there is no such
thing as objective reality.” (Zukav, ibid)
 The Yogi and the Quantum [9]

SHIRLEY MACLAINE, devotee of RAMTHA.

At this point I want to pause and mention that I am
open to the view of these far out kooks, not only are
they entitled to their non-empirical paradigm and
indulgence of irrationalism or romanticism, but we
cannot deny that quantum mechanics is being grossly
misrepresented by people attempting an intuitive
comprehension of concepts from quantum mechanics,
and trying to pass their possibly quite inappropriate
interpretations as the real thing, which it ain’t.
 The Yogi and the Quantum [10]

A Couple Exclamations!:

Popular misconceptions could be detrimental to how

money is allocated to the field!

The bias comes out: Crease and Mann refer to

“theological lunacy!”
 The Yogi and the Quantum [11]
Where the parallelism comes from:
-- “…common language (for example, English) statements on
the nature and implications of physics and mysticism that very
in technical content.” (Sal Restivo) Mere similarity.
-- Selectivity of supportive text: such as reading into the Bible
for myriad justifications.
-- Specific concepts have filtered into common language:
contamination.
-- the most perilous: translation. Translation from other
languages, especially mathematics.
“Restivo quotes one observer of Mahayana Buddhism to the
effect that its practitioners undergo intuitive experiences
“intrinsically beyond words and symbols.” (p. 309)
 The Yogi and the Quantum [12]

At this point in the paper, I have to explicitly object to a

couple points Crease and Mann make…
“Quantum mystics wind up distorting both science and
Eastern mysticism.” (p. 310)
Today’s “quantum zen” is probably just as ignorant as
was the “California zen” (I assume they mean Alan
Watts).
I definitely agree that there are religious motives behind
the New Age juxtaposition of science and spirituality, as
Crease and Mann point out (p. 311). And in agreement
with this paper’s thesis, it is unfortunate that the New
Agers have so misconceived science.
What the Bleep Do We Know? [1]
 What the Bleep [2]

What the Bleep got great reviews, mostly. More

significantly, it has been accepted by a wider audience
than the New Agers, and followed still by those who
conducted cursory research after viewing, and being
affected by this film. What is potentially damaging is
the spread of the incorrect views of quantum physics
and its interpretation.
 Ramtha and “What The Bleep”

It turns out that all but one of the people on “What the
Bleep” are devotees of the RamthaSchool of
Enlightenment, or have sold their ideas at the school.
The one expert who wasn’t affiliated with
Ramtha’sschool, Dr. David Alpert of Columbia
University, has gone on record repeatedly stating that
his views were misrepresented and that the views
expressed in the movie are not consistent with the
latest research.
 Marshall Spector’s
Mind, Matter, and Quantum Mechanics [1]

“…an attempt to throw cold water on the alleged

idealist implications of quantum mechanics.” (from
the end of the introductory section)
“…I want to say some things of a more general nature
about what would be required for there to be an
acceptable account of mind-matter interaction in
which quantum mechanics played a major role…”
(ibid)
 Spector [2]

Five relevant features of quantum physics:

1. Wave-particle duality
2. The statistical nature of the world
3. Essential incompleteness. No complete non-
probabilistic description of the world is possible, in
principle.
4. Nature is essentially “non-separable”
5. The observation of subatomic phenomena
determines it’s nature, to some extent.
 Spector [3]

 “The Role of Mind in the New Physics”:

 A. Does the wave-particle duality … have an implications for the
mind-matter distinction of metaphysics? “None whatsoever.”
 B. Does the statisticalnature of the world bear any implications for
the mind-matter distinction? Nope.
 C. Does the essential incompletenesshave such implications? (no
completely deterministic description of quantum mechanical events:
‘incomplete’; think ‘no-deterministic’) Nope.
 D. Non-separability? No.
 E. Observation? The same no, here’s why: observation, detection
and measurement are not to be understood as mental phenomena,
and these phenomena are not the mechanics.
 Spector [4]

“If my observations and arguments are correct, then

there is nothing about the new physicalaspects of
quantum mechanics… that has any implications for
the mind-matter distinction of the Western
metaphysical tradition since Descartes. If we accept a
mind-matter distinction, then quantum mechanics –
the new science of matter - has some evolutionary
things to say about the nature of matter. But it says
nothing about the relation between mind and matter,
and certainly nothing about the nature of mind.” (p.
344)
 Spector [5]

In Part 4, Concluding Observations, Marshall Spector

gives consideration to why there has been such
idealist interpretations of quantum mechanics.
“…if you want to find something badly enough, you
probably will.”
M. Spector’s hypothesis is that many of these idealist
thinkers have a predisposition to accept a Cartesian
mind-body dualism.
“Sometimes one finds mere idealist manifestos, as if
the view seems too obvious to require argument.”
(p. 345)
 Spector [6]
“How, ultimately, are we to adjudicate between the following
two methodological principles?:
“1. Reject a hypothesis that contradicts established theories, or
has been refuted by clear arguments.
“2. Pursue a [promising] hypothesis even if [for a while] one
has only analogies and weak arguments for maintaining it in
the face of [apparently] refuting evidence and arguments.
“If we favor the second principle, moreover, how are we to
understand the bracketed adjectives?
“I leave to the reader the pleasure of comparing the case of
Kelvin to the case at hand. But let me emphasize that those
whose views I have criticized will have to do more – if their
views are to be taken seriously, much less accepted – than
simply take comfort in this and similar anecdotes.” (p. 349)
 Works Cited
 “What the Bleep Does  Selections from “Philosophy
RamthaKnow” by Jennifer of Science and the Occult:
Saylor, found at Second Edition” edited by
http://home.midsouth.rr.com/marquisate/whatthebleep.htm
Patrick Grim: Capra’s “the
 William B. Lindley “Reality Unity of All Things” from
& Quantum Mysticism” “The Tao of Physics”,
http://banned- Zukav’s “Einstein Doesn’t
books.com/truth- Like It” from “The Dancing
seeker/1995archive/122_3/2 Wu Li Masters”, “The Yogi
0rea and the Quantum” by Prof.
Crease and Mann, and Prof.
Spector’s “Mind, Matter and
Quantum Mechanics”
 More Works Cited
 What the Bleep Do We
Know; Mark Vicente,
Betsy Chasse, William Arntz,
2005, 20th Century Fox,
Captured Light & Lord of the
Wind Films, Inc.
 K. Wilber, Quantum
Questions: Mystical
Writings of the World’s
Great Physicists; 1984,
2001, Shambhala
Publications, Inc., Boston,
Massachusetts
 G. Zukav, The Dancing Wu
Li Masters: An Overview of
the New Physics; 1979,
William Morrow &
Company, Inc., New York,
New York
 F. Capra, The Tao of
Physics: An Exploration of
the Parallels Between
Modern Physics and
Eastern Mysticism; 1975,
Shambhala Publications,
Inc., Boston, Massachusetts