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▲物理实验表明：宇宙只是一个幻象，一个巨大而细节丰富的全像摄影相片。
▲整个宇宙基本上是人类意识的投影，一个全像式的幻象。
▲一个事物都沟通贯穿着一切事物，一切事物都交互贯穿于一个事物（佛教所谓一即一切，一切即一）。
▲现实的一切都可视为一种隐喻，因为连最偶然的事件都隐藏着因果的平衡和必然。
惊人的发现
一九八二年，巴黎大学由物理学家AlainAspect所领导的一个研究组织，进行了一项也许会成为二十世纪最重要的实验。有些人相信，他们的发现可能会 改变科学的面貌。 Aspect和他的小组发现，在特定的情况下，次原子的粒子们，例如电子，同时向相反方向发射后，在运动时能够彼此互通信息。不管彼此 之间的距离多么遥远，不管它们是相隔十尺或十万万里远，它们似乎总是知道相对一方的运动方式，在一方被影响而改变方向时，双方会同时改变方向。这个现象的问题是， 它违反了爱因斯坦的理论：没有任何通讯能够超过光速。由于超过了光速就等于是能够打破时间的界线，这个骇人的可能性使一些物理学家试图用复杂的方式解释 Aspect的发现。但是它也激发了一些更有革命性的解释。例如，伦敦大学的物理学家DavidBohm相信Aspect的发现是意味着客观现实并不存 在，尽管宇宙看起来具体而坚实，其实宇宙只是一个幻象，一个巨大而细节丰富的全像摄影相片（Hologram）。
全息摄影
要了解为什么Bohm会做出如此大胆的结论，我们必须首先了解什么是全像（全息）摄影相片。全像摄影相片是靠激光（雷射）做出的一种三度空间立体摄影相 片。要制作一张全像摄影相片，物体首先必须用一道激光束照射，然后第二道激光束与第一道光束的反射产生绕射的图案（两道光束交集的地区），被记录于底片 上。底片洗出后，看起来像是无意义的光圈与条纹组合。但是当底片被另一道激光束照射时，一个三度空间的立体影像就会出现在底片中（这不同于一般印刷式的所 谓全像相片，只有狭窄的角度可见立体影像。真正的全像摄影相片没有角度限制，而且必须用雷射才可见影像）。
影像的立体不是全像摄影唯一特殊之处。如果一朵玫瑰的全像相片被割成两半，然后用雷射照射，会发现每一半都有整个玫瑰的影像。事实上，即使把这一半再分为 两半，然后再分下去，每一小块底片中都会包含着一个完整的原来影像。不像普通的相片，全像相片的每一小部份都包含着整体的资料。
全像相片的这种「整体包含于局部」的性质给予我们一个全新的方式来了解组织与秩序。西方科学的历史多半是基于一种偏见，认为要了解任何事物现象，不管是一 只青蛙或一阵风暴，最好的方式是分解事物，来研究事物的部份。但全像摄影告诉我们，宇宙中可能有事物不会配合这项假设。如果我们试着把某种全像摄影式结构 组成的事物分解开来，我们不会得到部份，反而会得到较小的整体。
这项理论使Bohm建立了另一种用来了解Aspect发现的立场和解释。Bohm相信次原子的粒子能够彼此保持联系，而不管它们之间的距离多远，不是因为 它们之间来回发射着某种神秘的信号，而是因为它们的分离是一种幻象。他说在现实的某种较深的层次中，如此的粒子不是分离的个体，而是某种更基本相同来源的 实际延伸。
为了使人们更容易理解他的假设，Bohm提供了以下的描述：想象一个水箱，里面有一条鱼。也想象你无法直接看到这个水箱，你对它的了解是来自于两台电视摄 影机，一台位于水箱的正前方，另一台位于侧面。当你看着两台电视监视器时，你可能会认为在两个萤光幕上的鱼是分离的个体。毕竟，由于摄影机是在不同的角 度，所得到的影像也会稍有不同。但是当你继续注视这两条鱼时，你会觉察到两者之间有特定的关系。当一条鱼转身时，另一条也会做出方向不同，但动作一致的转 身；当一条面对前方时，另一条会总是面对侧方。如果你没有觉察到整个情况，你可能会做出结论，认为这两条鱼一定是在互相心电感应。但这并非事实。Bohm 说，这正是在Aspect实验中的次原子粒子的实际情况。
Bohm认为，次原子粒子之间的超光速连接现象其实是在告诉我们，现实有更多更深的层次是我们没有觉察到的，一种超过我们空间的更复杂空间，就像那水族 箱。而且，我们会把次原子粒子看成分离的个体，是因为我们只看到它们部份的现实。如此的粒子不是分离的「部份」，而是一种更深沉与更基本整体的片面，这种 整体具有全像摄影的结构，就像先前所提到的玫瑰一样无法分割。而且由于现实中的一切都是由这些幻影粒子所组成，于是整个宇宙实际上是一个投影，一个全像式 的幻象。（即佛教所说的缘起性空，万法唯识，心外无法，一多相即。）
超级全像式的宇宙
除了这种幻象性之外，宇宙也包含着其它更为惊人的特性。如果次原子粒子的表面分离是一种幻象，这表示在现实的更深层次，宇宙中的一切都是相互包含、密切关 连的。比如说，在人脑中的一个碳原子中的一个电子，是连接到太阳表面的一个氢原子中的一个质子，而它们又连接到所有在水中游泳的鲑鱼，所有跳动的心脏，及 天上所有星辰的次原子粒子。每个事物都沟通贯穿着一切事物，一切事物都交互贯穿于一个事物（佛教所谓一即一切，一切即一）而虽然人类的本性是去分类处理宇 宙中的种种现象，一切的分类都是必要的假像，而一切的终极本质是一个无破绽的巨网。
在一个全像式的宇宙中，甚至连时间与空间都不再是基本不变的。因为在一个没有分离性的宇宙中，位置的观念会瓦解，时间与三度空间就像电视监视器中的鱼，只 是一种更深秩序的投影。这种更深的现实是一种超级的全像式幻象，过去、现在、未来都共同存在于当下一念。这意味着，只要有适当的工具，就有可能进入这种超 级全像式的现实层次中（时光旅行），取出遥远过去和未来的影像（其实每个人都有这种回溯过去和预测未来的功能）。
这种超级全像式的宇宙还包含了什么，永远是一个开放而无解答的问题。 为了方便讨论，假设这种超级全像式的结构是宇宙一切事物的根源，至少它包括了过去和未来所有存在的次原子粒子—一切事物和能量的所有可能组合——从雪花到 夸粒子，从蓝鲸到伽玛射线。它可被视为一种宇宙性的储藏库，包括了所有存在过的一切。虽然Bohm承认我们不可能知道在这超级的全像结构中还隐藏了什么， 但肯定包括着更多。如他所言，也许这种超级全像式结构的现实层次只是一道阶梯，在它之上还有「无限多的发展」。
头脑是全像摄影机 Bohm不是唯一发现宇宙是一个全像摄影式幻象的研究者。在脑部研究的领域中，史坦福大学的脑神经学家KarlPribram也完全相信现实的全像式本质。
Pribram研究脑部是如何储存记忆，因而被全像式结构模型所吸引。近几十年来，许多研究显示，记忆的储存不是单独地限于特定的区域，而是分散于 整个脑部。在一九二零年代的一连串历史性的实验中，脑部科学家KarlLashley发现，不管老鼠脑部的什么部位被割除，都不会影响它的记忆，仍旧能表 现手术前所学到的复杂技能。唯一的问题是当时没有人能提出一套理论来解释这种奇怪的「整体存在于每一部份」的记忆储存本质。
到了一九六零年代，Pribram接触到全像摄影的观念，才发现了脑神经科学家一直在寻找的解释。Pribram相信记忆不是记录在脑神经细胞中，或一群 细胞中，而是以神经脉冲的图案横跨整个脑部，就像雷射绕射的图案遍布整个全像摄影的底片上。换句话说，Pribram相信头脑本身就是一个全像摄影机。
Pribram的理论也解释了人类头脑如何能在那么小的空间中储藏那么多的记忆。曾经有人估计人类头脑在人的一生中能够记忆约一百亿位（bits)的 资料（大约是五套大英百科全书）。相似的，除了其它功能之外，全像摄影也具有惊人的资料储存容量—只要改变两道雷射照射底片的角度，就可以在同一张底片上 记录许多不同的影像。有人示范过，在一公分立方的方块底片上可以储存一百亿位的资料。 如果脑部是根据全像摄影的原理来操作，我们就比较容易了解我们那特 殊的能力，能迅速从我们那庞大的记忆仓库中取出所需的任何资料。如果一个朋友要你告诉他，当他说「斑马」这个字时，你会想到什么。你不需要笨拙地搜寻某种 巨大的脑部字母档案才能得到一个答案。相反地，一些联想，如「条纹」，「马」，和「非洲野生动物」等会立刻跳入你的脑中。的确，人类思考过程的一项最惊人 的特征是，每一件数据都似乎与其它所有资料相互连接。——这也是全像摄影幻象的另一项基本特性。因为全像摄影幻象的每一部份都与其它部份交互关连着，这也 许是大自然交互关连系统的最终极例子。
世界不过是全息相片
在Pribram的全像式脑部模型的启发下，记忆的储存不只是脑部科学唯一稍获解答的谜。另一项谜题是脑部如何翻译它从感官所得到的大量波动（光波，声 波，等等），使之成为我们知觉的具体世界。记录与解读波动正是全像摄影最擅长的。正如全像摄影像是某种镜头，某种传译的工具，能把显然无意义的波动图案转 变为连贯的影像，Pribram相信脑部也有一个镜头，使用全像式原理来数据式地把经由感官收到的波动转变为我们内在知觉的世界。
有大量的证据显示，脑部是使用全像式原理来进行操作。磁疗事 实上，Pribram的理论得到了越来越多脑神经学家的支持。阿根廷籍的意大利脑神经研究者HugoZucarelli最近把全像式模型应用到听觉的世界 中。他迷惑于人脑在即使只有一只耳朵有听觉的情况下，也能够不用转头就侦测出声音的来源方向。Zucarelli发现全像式原理可以解释这种能力。 Zucarelli也发展出全像式音响的科技，一种录音的技术，能够几乎真实无误地重新复制出声音现象。 Pribram相信我们的脑部根据外在波动 的输入，以数学方式建立出「坚硬」的现实。这种想法也得到许多实验上的支持。实验发现，我们感官对于波动的敏感度要比我们先前所认为的远为强烈。例如，研 究者发现我们的视觉对声波也很敏感，我们的嗅觉是与我们现在称为oamic的波动有关，而甚至我们体内的细胞也对很广大范围的波动敏感。如此的发现使我们 推论，只有在全像式的知觉领域中，这种波动才能被整理归类为正常的知觉。 物质世界是大幻象 但是当Pribram的全像式脑部模型与Bohm的理论 放在一起时，才显现其最令人匪夷所思的地方。因为如果这个世界的坚固只是一种次要的现实，而真正「存在」的是一团全像摄影式的波动，而如果头脑也具有全像 式结构，只从这团波动中取出部份的波动，数学式地转换成感官知觉，那么客观现实是什么呢？简单地说，客观现实就停止了存在。虽然我们也许以为我们是实质的生物，活在一个实质的世界中，这也是一个幻象。我们其实是漂浮在一个充满波动的大海中的「接收 者」，我们从这个大海中抽取出来，并转变成实质世界的波动，只是这个超级全像式幻象的许多波动之一。 这种对于现实的惊人新观点，Bohm与 Pribram的合成理论，被称为全像式模型理论（holographicparadigm)。虽然一些科学家持怀疑态度，但这个理论风靡了世界。一群人 数逐渐增加的研究者相信，这也许是科学到目前为止，关于现实最准确的模型。更有甚者，有些人相信它可以解释许多科学以前未能解释的神秘现象，甚至使超自然 也成为自然的一部份。 许多研究者，包括Bohm与Pribram，注意到许多超心理学的现象在全像式模型理论下变得较为容易了解。在这个宇宙中， 个别的头脑实际上是一个大全像结构的个别部份，而一切都是相互连结的，心电感应其实就是进入了全像式的层次。如果一个分别的个体A的意念能够传送到个体B 的脑中，如果这两个分离的个体原来已经是连接的，这种现象就很容易了解。同样的，以精神力量来移动远处事物的能力（psychokinesis)也变得比 较不神秘，因为在一个具有无限连接的宇宙中，个体与被移动的物体已经是一体的。
Bohm与Prigram也指出，许多宗教或神秘经验，如与宇宙合一的超越体验，或许也是因为进入了全像式领域之中。如他们所言，也许过去许多伟大的神秘体验者所谈论的一种“宇宙一体”的感觉，只是因为他们知道如何进入他们心灵中一切真正与宇宙合一的那部份。
全 像式模型理论也受到其它科学领域的慎重注意。StanialavGrof，马里兰心理研究中心的主任及霍普金斯大学医学院心理学系助理教授，相信全像式模 型理论可以解释心理学上许多的不解之谜。Grof特别感觉到，全像式模型理论提供了一套模型来了解许多人在知觉转换状态（alteredstates of consciousness)中会经验到的怪异现象。 在一九六零年代，Grof研究使用LSD（一种迷幻药）做为心理治疗工具的利弊。他有一名女 性病人，回溯她曾经是一条史前时代的雌性爬虫。在她的迷幻状态中，她不仅提供了极丰富的详细描述，说明了她被困在这种爬虫身体中的感觉，同时描述了在雄性 爬虫身上最具有吸引力的部位是头两侧的一块彩色鳞片区域。使Grof惊讶的是虽然那名女人事前没有对这种爬虫的知识，之后他从一位动物学家处得到证实，爬 虫头部的彩色部位在性的**上扮演重要角色。
那位女人的经验并不独特。在他的研究过程中，Grof遇到的病人们回溯并代表了几乎在进化史上的所有生物（这个研究发现影响了电影《替换状态》 （AlteredStates)中的人退化为猿猴的情节）。还有，他发现如此的经验时常包含了隐晦的动物学细节，而后来证实是正确的。
退化回动物并不是Grof研究中唯一令人迷惑的心理现象。他也有病人回溯进入了某种集体的或族群的潜意识中。没有接受多少教育的人突然能详细地描 述波斯祅教和印度教的仪式。在其它的经验中，有人能给予令人信服的灵魂出体报告，或预见未来，或倒退回以前的回忆。
在后来的研究中，Grof发 现，即使在没有使用迷幻药物的治疗会谈中，相同的现象也会发生。因为在如此经验中的相同要素是，个体的意识升华超越了平常自我的界限，或时空的限 制，Grof称此现象为「超个人经验」（transpersonalexperiences)。在六十年代晚期，他创立了心理学的一支，称为「超个人心理 学」（transpersonalpsychology)，专注于此类的研究。
全像式模型理论的应用
虽然Grof新创立的超个人心理学得到了专业学者的支持，成为受人尊敬的心理学流派，但是这几十年来Grof和他的同僚都无法提供一个理论体系来解释他们 所看到的奇异心理现象。但是全像式模型理论的出现改变了情况。如Grof最近所言，如果心灵的确是一个整体的一部份，这个整体像一个巨大的迷宫，不仅连接 一切心灵，包括过去、现在、未来，同时也连接一切原子，一切生物，及时间与空间本身的无限，那么心灵偶尔会涉足于这个迷宫中，产生超个人的经验，就似乎不 足为奇了。
全像式模型理论也可以应用到所谓的基础科学，如生物学。维琴尼亚州Intermont大学的心理学家KeithFloyd指出，如果现实世界只是一个全像 式的幻象，那就不能再说脑部产生意识，而是意识创造了脑部和身体，以及环绕着我们四周的一切，被我们当成实有的世界，都是意识所创造的。
如此对世界和生物结构的观点逆转，使研究者发现医学及我们对于医疗程序的了解也可被全像式模型理论所改变。如果身体的实质结构只不过是意识的全像式投射， 那么，我们每个人对于自身健康的责任就要大大超过目前医学知识所容许的。现在我们视之为奇迹般的疾病康复，就可以得到解释：由于意识的改变，而影响了全像 式身体的改变。同样的，一些令人争议的新医疗技术，如意念的想象，之所以会如此有效，是因为在全像式的领域中，意念的影像是与「现 实」一样的真实而有效。
的确，甚至连我们对现实最基本的看法都成为可疑的，因为在一个全像式的宇宙中，如Pribram指出，甚至连随机偶发的事件都可视为是根据全像式原理，预 先经过安排的。世界上没有偶然和巧合，同步的或有意义的巧合都不是意外，而现实的一切都可视为一种隐喻，因为连最 偶然的事件都隐藏着因果的平衡和必然。
不管Bohm和Pribram的全像式模型理论会不会被科学界接受，但是可以确定的是，它已经对许多科学家的思维产生了深刻影响。就算将来可能发现全像式 模型理论并不足以解释次原子粒子之间的瞬间通讯现象，至少，如伦敦Birbeck大学的物理学家BasilHiley所言，Aspect的发现启示我们 “必须准备对现实采取革命性的新观点”。
Is Our Reality Virtual?The Ultimate Computer Gameby Chuck Missler |
An increasingly popular genre of entertainment - in both books and movies - is a form of science fiction that deals with one of the frontiers of the computer industry: virtual reality.
Playing off of the explorations being pursued at MIT's Media Laboratory, a popular excursion in current entertainment is to stipulate advances in technology - in both software and hardware - being applied to a "super computer game" in which an entire simulated world is created, with virtual people living virtual lives, etc.
(The Matrix and the far more provocative The Thirteenth Floor are current examples.)
The typical plot line involves experimenters transitioning to actually participate, for a time, in a simulated virtual world. Consciousness is recognized as simply a software aspect, not hardware.
Plot twists occur when the experimenters discover that their own "real" world is also someone else's simulation, and they, too, are virtual beings in a virtual world, etc. In The Thirteenth Floor, this even extends to a surprising additional level that challenges our conceptions of past, present, and future.
But What About Us?
Clever entertainment, but with a deeply provocative and disturbing suggestion: Is our own "reality" virtual? One implication of these conjectures is the insight that both our own behavior and even our "physical reality" can be viewed as simply software, a super-program running within a highly advanced environment.1 We know today that our physical world is, in a very real sense, a digital "simulation."
(Perhaps our earth is round to prevent our discovering a boundary condition restricting our own simulation limits?)
The field of biology has now discovered it is restricted by the boundary conditions of the information sciences. Its historical love affair with Darwinism is now being shattered by advances in microbiology, highlighted by the disturbing revelations of Michael Denton, Philip Johnson, and Michael Behe, et al., revealing biology's apparent immunity to truth and reason.2
But now the field of physics, too, is in turmoil. Quantum physics has resulted in the abandonment of causality, the cornerstone of empirical science. And whether we address the units of length, mass, or time, we discover that they are composed of indivisible units that ultimately cannot be divided without losing their "locality."3
The more one knows about particle physics and quantum mechanics, the more provocative these "science fiction" episodes become. Indeed, it was Dr. Albert Einstein that admitted,
People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between the past, present, and the future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
And as physics goes, so too the entire field of cosmology. I believe it was Paul Davies who observed,
It is as if our entire universe is nothing more than a thought in the Mind of God.
The current genre of virtual reality films, while still retaining many of the moral deficiencies that have come to characterize the products of our entertainment industry, can still be provocative and useful in conceptualizing our present situation: we find ourselves in what can be accurately described as a digital simulation.
And transitions in and out of our space-time - from one "hyperspace" to another - is a potential rationalization of the more disturbing UFO reports and other apparent visits from dimensionalities other than our own.
It is also a way of conceptualizing the strangest transition of all: the harpazo, the "Great Snatch," which Paul alludes to in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-53.
(A "twinkling of an eye" is not to be confused with a blink; at the speed of light passing through the retina, it is about 10-43 seconds - the very digital boundary of time itself.)
The Ultimate Love Story
The very nature of our time dimension is but a small island in the sea of eternity. It is an experiment of sorts, designed to demonstrate Infinite Love: allowing man, endowed with autonomous free will, to get himself into a predicament from which he is powerless to extricate himself; and, from which only the death of the Designer Himself could suffice. Indeed, it is a love story, written in blood on a wooden cross erected in Judea almost two millennia ago...
The Ultimate Resolution
We have just enjoyed a season celebrating "giving." But a more profound aspect than "giving" is receiving: receiving the Ultimate Gift within our reality; the very gift that guarantees our successful transition to that ultimate reality, the perpetual and comprehensive fellowship with our Designer.
Have you discovered that Ultimate Gift? If you haven't yet, the most exciting adventure imaginable lies just ahead.
If you have received that Ultimate Gift, what have you done with it?
* * *
**NOTES**
- A radical molecule-sized computer switch has just been announced at the International Electronic Device Meeting in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 6. It was reported in the Nov. 19, 1999 issue of Science, "Large On-Off Ratios and Negative Differential Resistance in a Molecular Electronic Device," by graduate student Jia Chen and professor Mark Reed of Yale University, and graduate student Adam Rawlett and James Tour, the Chao Professor of Chemistry of Rice University.
- Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Adler & Adler, Bethesda MD, 1985; Philip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove IL, 1991; also, Reason in the Balance, InterVarsity Press, 1995; Michael J. Behe, Darwin's Black Box, Simon & Schuster, New York NY, 1996.
- For an exploration of the Biblical implications of quantum
physics, see our Briefing Package, Beyond Perception, on page 37 of this
issue; also, Chapter 23, "Our Digital Universe," in the section on
"Metacodes" in our book, Cosmic Codes - Hidden Messages From the Edge of Eternity, Koinonia House, 1999, pages 333-346.
What Is Truth?
by Chuck MisslerThis is the classic question that Pilate posed rhetorically ...and rather cynically. And the very existence of truth is continuing to be trampled by pompous professors, prostituted politicians, and arrogant attorneys. Now with the blockbuster movie, The Da Vinci Code, promoting blasphemous heresies about the embodiment of Truth itself, we can’t escape this skillfully coordinated attack against those who take truth seriously. Yet, the pursuit of truth is our most critical of endeavors and upon which our eternal destiny rests.
Epistemology is the study of knowledge, its scope and limits. And yet this most basic of studies is rarely dealt with today. How do we really ''know''? How do we determine what is really true, rather than that which is just traditionally accepted? What are our tools for validation?
As we began in the very limited universe of our playpen, our primary reliance on learning techniques was empirical: trial and error. As our universe gradually expanded to include our room, our home, our school, and our community, our primary epistemological tools increasingly relied on external guidance, qualified and validated by means of our internal processing. (See chart, right.) As our universe of interest expands from our community to the world, and ultimately to the cosmos itself, our tools increasingly rely on external guidance rather than trial and error! Qualifying our sources of information becomes increasingly critical. Yet, what tools can we use to qualify our sources of information?
The Boundaries of Our Reality
In inventorying our available epistemological tools, we must first understand the boundaries of our reality. One of the startling discoveries of 20th century science is that our universe is finite. It has limits in regards to both the macrocosm - there is a limit to ''largeness'' - and the microcosm - there is a limit to ''smallness''! It is astonishing to realize that we actually live within a digital simulation of reality. In the macrocosm, we now know that the universe is finite, having begun at a ''singularity,'' and will ultimately suffer a thermodynamic ''heat death'' when it finally exhausts the available energy.
What is perhaps the most surprising is the discovery that, in the microcosm, everything - length, mass, even time itself - is made up of indivisible units - called ''quanta.'' When subatomic particles are ''divided'' they lose ''locality.'' The property of ''non locality'' is one of the deepest mysteries of quantum physics, and it shatters all of our previous notions of ''reality.'' A recent issue of Scientific American suggested that what we perceive as physical reality now appears to be a mere shadow of a larger reality.1
To begin to understand our boundaries, we would need to probe the perceptions of both the macrocosm and the microcosm and apply the tools of hypothesis testing to validate our assumptions. This, too, might prove an exercise in futility were it not for a distinct, and self-validating, message from outside those very boundaries!
While most of us think of our space as three-dimensional, we now know, thanks to Dr. Einstein, that we actually live in four: time itself is a physical property of our ''space.'' (The Apostle Paul also indicated this four-dimensional reality in his letter to the Ephesians.2)
Scientists currently believe we live in ten dimensions. (Something that Nachmonides, a 13th century Hebrew sage, concluded in his commentary on the Book of Genesis!) It is toward this hyperspace (a space of more than 3-dimensions) that our conceptions of the real ''reality'' must reach to have any validity. Fortunately, we have in our possession a verifiable message of hyper-dimensional origin that will be the subject of the next article in this series.
See this month’s featured briefing package, What is Truth?, for a more detailed discussion. It is available on audio tape cassette, audio CD, DVD and downloadable MP3.
**FOR A MORE IN-DEPTH STUDY**
What Is Truth? - DVD - Chuck Missler Join Chuck Missler as he examines the boundaries of our reality, explores ways to qualify sources of information, offers advice on testing hypothesis, and reveals the source of Ultimate Truth.
**NOTES**
- ''The Inconstancy of Constants,'' Scientific American, June 2005, p. 57-63.
- Ephesians 3:18.
Quantum Physics: The Boundaries of Reality - Chuck Missler
Beyond Perception - Particle Physics And The Boundaries of Reality
- Hebrew Cabalists theorized 800 years ago that God established the universe with 10 dimensions.
- Why do scientists now also believe we live in a 10-dimensional universe?
- Has physics finally reached the very boundaries of reality?
Particle Physics And The Boundaries of Reality
Beyond Perception
66/40 Radio Broadcast
- Hebrew Cabalists theorized 800 years ago that God established the universe with 10 dimensions.
- Why do scientists now also believe we live in a 10-dimensional universe?
- Has physics finally reached the very boundaries of reality?
Discoveries in Quantum Physics
Listen to Part 1 »Our 10 Dimensional Universe
Listen to Part 2 »Hyperspaces
Listen to Part 3 »Physicists Explain the Nature of Reality
Listen to Part 4 »Biblical Implications of the Nature of Reality
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Quantum Physics:
The Boundaries of Reality
by Chuck Missler
RESOURCES
The startling discovery of modern science is that our physical universe is actually finite. Scientists now acknowledge that the universe had a beginning. They call the singularity from which it all began the "Big Bang."
While the details among the many variants of these theories remain quite controversial, the fact that there was a definite beginning has gained widespread agreement.1 This is, of course, what the Bible has maintained throughout its 66 books.
From thermodynamic considerations, it also appears that all processes in the universe inevitably contribute the losses from their inefficiencies to the ambient temperature, and thus the universe ultimately will attain a uniform temperature in which no work - all of which ultimately derives from temperature differences - will be able to be accomplished. Scientists call this ultimate physical destiny the "heat death."
Mankind, therefore, finds itself caught in the finite interval between the singularity that began it all and a finite termination. The mathematical concept of infinity - in any spatial direction or in terms of time - seems astonishingly absent in the physical macrocosm, the domain of the astronomers and cosmologists.
In the microcosmic domain, there also appears to be an even more astonishing boundary to smallness. If we take a segment of length, we can divide it in half. We can take one of the remaining halves, and we can divide it in half again. We naturally assume that this can go on forever. We assume that no matter how small a length we end up dealing with, we can always - at least conceptually - divide any remainder in half. It turns out that this is not true. There is a length known as the Planck length, 10-33 centimeters, that is indivisible.
The same thing is true of mass, energy, and even time. There is a unit of time which cannot be subdivided: 10-43 seconds. It is in this strange world of subatomic behavior that scientists have now encountered the very boundaries of physical reality, as we experience it. The study of these subatomic components is called quantum mechanics, or quantum physics.
The startling discovery made by the quantum physicists is that if you break matter into smaller and smaller pieces you eventually reach a point where those pieces - electrons, protons, et al. - no longer possess the traits of objects. Although they can sometimes behave as if they were a compact little particle, physicists have found that they literally possess no dimension.
Another disturbing discovery of the physicists is that a subatomic particle, such as an electron, can manifest itself as either a particle or a wave.
If you shoot an electron at a television screen that has been turned off, a tiny point of light will appear when it strikes the phosphorescent chemicals that coat the glass. The single point of impact which the electron leaves on the screen clearly reveals the particle-like side of its nature.
But that is not the only form the electron can assume. It can also dissolve into a blurry cloud of energy and behave as if it were a wave spread out over space. When an electron manifests itself as a wave, it can do things no particle can. If it is fired at a barrier in which two slits have been cut, it can go through both slits simultaneously. When wavelike electrons collide with each other they even create interference patterns.
It is interesting that in 1906, J. J. Thomson received the Nobel Prize for proving that electrons are particles. In 1937 he saw his son awarded the Nobel Prize for proving that electrons were waves. Both father and son were correct. From then on, the evidence for the wave/particle duality has become overwhelming.
This chameleon-like ability is common to all subatomic particles. Called quanta, they can manifest themselves either as a particle or a wave. What makes them even more astonishing is that there is compelling evidence that the only time quanta ever manifest themselves as particles is when we are looking at them.
The Danish physicist Niels Bohr pointed out that if subatomic particles only come into existence in the presence of an observer, then it is also meaningless to speak of a particle's properties and characteristics as existing before they are observed.
But if the act of observation actually helped create such properties, what does that imply about the future of science?
Anyone who isn't shocked by quantum physics has not understood it. Niels BohrIt gets worse. Some subatomic processes result in the creation of a pair of particles with identical or closely related properties. Quantum physics predicts that attempts to measure complementary characteristics on the pair - even when traveling in opposite directions - would always be frustrated. Such strange behavior would imply that the particles would have to be interconnected in some way so as to be instantaneously in communication with each other.
One physicist who was deeply troubled by Bohr's assertions was Dr. Albert Einstein. Despite the role Einstein had played in the founding of quantum theory, he was not pleased with the course the fledgling science had taken.
In 1935 Einstein and his colleagues Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen published their now-famous paper, "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?"2
The problem, according to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, is that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. The instantaneous communication implied by the view of quantum physics would be tantamount to breaking the time barrier and would open the door to all kinds of unacceptable paradoxes.
Einstein and his colleagues were convinced that no "reasonable definition" of reality would permit such faster-than-light interconnections to exist, and therefore Bohr had to be wrong. Their argument is now known as the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, or EPR paradox for short.
Bohr remained unperturbed by Einstein's argument. Rather than believing that some kind of faster-than-light communication was taking place, he offered another explanation:
If subatomic particles do not exist until they are observed, then one could no longer think of them as independent "things." Thus Einstein was basing his argument on an error when he viewed twin particles as separate. They were part of an indivisible system, and it was meaningless to think of them otherwise.
In time, most physicists sided with Bohr and became content that his interpretation was correct. One factor that contributed to Bohr's following was that quantum physics had proved so spectacularly successful in predicting phenomena, few physicists were willing to even consider the possibility that it might be faulty in some way. The entire industries of lasers, microelectronics, and computers have emerged on the reliability of the predictions of quantum physics.
The popular Cal Tech physicist Richard Feynman has summed up this paradoxical situation well:
I think it is safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics... In fact, it is often stated that of all the theories proposed in this century, the silliest is quantum theory. Some say that the only thing that quantum theory has going for it, in fact, is that it is unquestionably correct.When Einstein and his colleagues first made their proposal, technical reasons prevented any empirical experiments actually being performed. The broader philosophical implications were, ironically, ignored and swept under the carpet.
Hyperspaces
The ancient Hebrew scholar Nachmonides, writing in the 12th century, concluded from his studies of the text of Genesis that the universe has ten dimensions: that four are knowable and six are beyond our knowing.
Particle physicists today have also concluded that we live in ten dimensions. Three spatial dimensions and time are directly discernible and measurable. The remaining six are "curled" in less than the Planck length (10-33 centimeters) and thus are only inferable by indirect means.3
(Some physicists believe that there may be as many as 26 dimensions.4 Ten and twenty-six emerge from the mathematics associated with superstring theory, a current candidate in the pursuit of a theory to totally integrate all known forces in the universe.)
Fracture in Genesis 3?
There is a provocative conjecture that these ten (or more) dimensions were originally integrated, but suffered a fracture as a result of the events summarized in Genesis Chapter 3. The resulting upheaval separated them into the "physical" and "spiritual" worlds.
There appears to be some Scriptural basis for an original close coupling between the spiritual and physical world. The highly venerated Onkelos translation of Genesis 1:31 emphasizes that "...it was a unified order."
The suggestion is that the current physics, including the entropy laws, ("the bondage of decay") were a result of the fall.5
The entropy laws reveal a universe that is "winding down." It had to have been initially "wound up." This windup - the reduction of entropy, or the infusion of order (information) - is described in Genesis 1 in a series of six stages. The terms used in this progressive reduction of entropy (disorder) are, erev and boker, which ultimately led to their being translated "evening" and "morning."
Erev and Boker
Erev is dark, obscure randomness; it is maximum entropy. As darkness envelopes our horizon, we lose the ability to discern order or patterns. The darkness is "without form and void."
From this term we derive the current sememe for "evening," when the encroaching darkness begins to deny us the ability to discern forms,shapes, and identities.
Boker is the advent of light, where things begin to become discernible and visible; order begins to appear.
This relief of obscurity, and the attendant ability to begin to discern forms, shapes, and identities has become associated with dawn or "morning," as the early twilight begins to reveal order and design. Evening and mornings constituted the principal stages of creation. Six "evenings" and "mornings" became the "days" constituting the creation "week." However, what we know about the physical universe is only from observing the universe after the upheavals of Genesis 3.
This article was originally published in the
July 1998 Personal Update NewsJournal.
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**NOTES**
- For a more complete discussion, see The Creator Beyond Time and Space, by Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman.
- Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen, "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?" Physical Review, 47 (1935), p.777.
- Michio Kaku, Hyperspace, Oxford University Press, New York, 1994.
- Strangely, 26 is the gematria of the tetragamaton, YHWH.
- Hebrews 11:3; Romans 8:19-23; Psalm 102:25-27; Proverbs 16:33; Ephesians 1:11; Hebrews 1:2-3; Colossians 1:16,17.
**ADDITIONAL RELATED RESOURCES**
The Creator Beyond Time and Space Series - Audio CD with Mp3 - Chuck Missler and Dr. Mark Eastman Includes: The Creator Beyond Time and Space, The Bible: An Extraterrestrial Message, Immanuel: The Deity of Messiah and The Divine Watchmaker
The Creator Beyond Time and Space Series on CD-ROM - Chuck Missler and Dr. Mark Eastman Includes: The Creator Beyond Time and Space, The Bible: An Extraterrestrial Message, Immanuel: The Deity of Messiah and The Divine Watchmaker
