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▲物理實驗表明：宇宙隻是一個幻象，一個巨大而細節豐富的全像攝影相片。
▲整個宇宙基本上是人類意識的投影，一個全像式的幻象。
▲一個事物都溝通貫穿著一切事物，一切事物都交互貫穿於一個事物（佛教所謂一即一切，一切即一）。
▲現實的一切都可視為一種隱喻，因為連最偶然的事件都隱藏著因果的平衡和必然。
驚人的發現
一九八二年，巴黎大學由物理學家AlainAspect所領導的一個研究組織，進行了一項也許會成為二十世紀最重要的實驗。有些人相信，他們的發現可能會 改變科學的麵貌。 Aspect和他的小組發現，在特定的情況下，次原子的粒子們，例如電子，同時向相反方向發射後，在運動時能夠彼此互通信息。不管彼此 之間的距離多麽遙遠，不管它們是相隔十尺或十萬萬裏遠，它們似乎總是知道相對一方的運動方式，在一方被影響而改變方向時，雙方會同時改變方向。這個現象的問題是， 它違反了愛因斯坦的理論：沒有任何通訊能夠超過光速。由於超過了光速就等於是能夠打破時間的界線，這個駭人的可能性使一些物理學家試圖用複雜的方式解釋 Aspect的發現。但是它也激發了一些更有革命性的解釋。例如，倫敦大學的物理學家DavidBohm相信Aspect的發現是意味著客觀現實並不存 在，盡管宇宙看起來具體而堅實，其實宇宙隻是一個幻象，一個巨大而細節豐富的全像攝影相片（Hologram）。
全息攝影
要了解為什麽Bohm會做出如此大膽的結論，我們必須首先了解什麽是全像（全息）攝影相片。全像攝影相片是靠激光（雷射）做出的一種三度空間立體攝影相 片。要製作一張全像攝影相片，物體首先必須用一道激光束照射，然後第二道激光束與第一道光束的反射產生繞射的圖案（兩道光束交集的地區），被記錄於底片 上。底片洗出後，看起來像是無意義的光圈與條紋組合。但是當底片被另一道激光束照射時，一個三度空間的立體影像就會出現在底片中（這不同於一般印刷式的所 謂全像相片，隻有狹窄的角度可見立體影像。真正的全像攝影相片沒有角度限製，而且必須用雷射才可見影像）。
影像的立體不是全像攝影唯一特殊之處。如果一朵玫瑰的全像相片被割成兩半，然後用雷射照射，會發現每一半都有整個玫瑰的影像。事實上，即使把這一半再分為 兩半，然後再分下去，每一小塊底片中都會包含著一個完整的原來影像。不像普通的相片，全像相片的每一小部份都包含著整體的資料。
全像相片的這種「整體包含於局部」的性質給予我們一個全新的方式來了解組織與秩序。西方科學的曆史多半是基於一種偏見，認為要了解任何事物現象，不管是一 隻青蛙或一陣風暴，最好的方式是分解事物，來研究事物的部份。但全像攝影告訴我們，宇宙中可能有事物不會配合這項假設。如果我們試著把某種全像攝影式結構 組成的事物分解開來，我們不會得到部份，反而會得到較小的整體。
這項理論使Bohm建立了另一種用來了解Aspect發現的立場和解釋。Bohm相信次原子的粒子能夠彼此保持聯係，而不管它們之間的距離多遠，不是因為 它們之間來回發射著某種神秘的信號，而是因為它們的分離是一種幻象。他說在現實的某種較深的層次中，如此的粒子不是分離的個體，而是某種更基本相同來源的 實際延伸。
為了使人們更容易理解他的假設，Bohm提供了以下的描述：想象一個水箱，裏麵有一條魚。也想象你無法直接看到這個水箱，你對它的了解是來自於兩台電視攝 影機，一台位於水箱的正前方，另一台位於側麵。當你看著兩台電視監視器時，你可能會認為在兩個螢光幕上的魚是分離的個體。畢竟，由於攝影機是在不同的角 度，所得到的影像也會稍有不同。但是當你繼續注視這兩條魚時，你會覺察到兩者之間有特定的關係。當一條魚轉身時，另一條也會做出方向不同，但動作一致的轉 身；當一條麵對前方時，另一條會總是麵對側方。如果你沒有覺察到整個情況，你可能會做出結論，認為這兩條魚一定是在互相心電感應。但這並非事實。Bohm 說，這正是在Aspect實驗中的次原子粒子的實際情況。
Bohm認為，次原子粒子之間的超光速連接現象其實是在告訴我們，現實有更多更深的層次是我們沒有覺察到的，一種超過我們空間的更複雜空間，就像那水族 箱。而且，我們會把次原子粒子看成分離的個體，是因為我們隻看到它們部份的現實。如此的粒子不是分離的「部份」，而是一種更深沉與更基本整體的片麵，這種 整體具有全像攝影的結構，就像先前所提到的玫瑰一樣無法分割。而且由於現實中的一切都是由這些幻影粒子所組成，於是整個宇宙實際上是一個投影，一個全像式 的幻象。（即佛教所說的緣起性空，萬法唯識，心外無法，一多相即。）
超級全像式的宇宙
除了這種幻象性之外，宇宙也包含著其它更為驚人的特性。如果次原子粒子的表麵分離是一種幻象，這表示在現實的更深層次，宇宙中的一切都是相互包含、密切關 連的。比如說，在人腦中的一個碳原子中的一個電子，是連接到太陽表麵的一個氫原子中的一個質子，而它們又連接到所有在水中遊泳的鮭魚，所有跳動的心髒，及 天上所有星辰的次原子粒子。每個事物都溝通貫穿著一切事物，一切事物都交互貫穿於一個事物（佛教所謂一即一切，一切即一）而雖然人類的本性是去分類處理宇 宙中的種種現象，一切的分類都是必要的假像，而一切的終極本質是一個無破綻的巨網。
在一個全像式的宇宙中，甚至連時間與空間都不再是基本不變的。因為在一個沒有分離性的宇宙中，位置的觀念會瓦解，時間與三度空間就像電視監視器中的魚，隻 是一種更深秩序的投影。這種更深的現實是一種超級的全像式幻象，過去、現在、未來都共同存在於當下一念。這意味著，隻要有適當的工具，就有可能進入這種超 級全像式的現實層次中（時光旅行），取出遙遠過去和未來的影像（其實每個人都有這種回溯過去和預測未來的功能）。
這種超級全像式的宇宙還包含了什麽，永遠是一個開放而無解答的問題。 為了方便討論，假設這種超級全像式的結構是宇宙一切事物的根源，至少它包括了過去和未來所有存在的次原子粒子—一切事物和能量的所有可能組合——從雪花到 誇粒子，從藍鯨到伽瑪射線。它可被視為一種宇宙性的儲藏庫，包括了所有存在過的一切。雖然Bohm承認我們不可能知道在這超級的全像結構中還隱藏了什麽， 但肯定包括著更多。如他所言，也許這種超級全像式結構的現實層次隻是一道階梯，在它之上還有「無限多的發展」。
頭腦是全像攝影機 Bohm不是唯一發現宇宙是一個全像攝影式幻象的研究者。在腦部研究的領域中，史坦福大學的腦神經學家KarlPribram也完全相信現實的全像式本質。
Pribram研究腦部是如何儲存記憶，因而被全像式結構模型所吸引。近幾十年來，許多研究顯示，記憶的儲存不是單獨地限於特定的區域，而是分散於 整個腦部。在一九二零年代的一連串曆史性的實驗中，腦部科學家KarlLashley發現，不管老鼠腦部的什麽部位被割除，都不會影響它的記憶，仍舊能表 現手術前所學到的複雜技能。唯一的問題是當時沒有人能提出一套理論來解釋這種奇怪的「整體存在於每一部份」的記憶儲存本質。
到了一九六零年代，Pribram接觸到全像攝影的觀念，才發現了腦神經科學家一直在尋找的解釋。Pribram相信記憶不是記錄在腦神經細胞中，或一群 細胞中，而是以神經脈衝的圖案橫跨整個腦部，就像雷射繞射的圖案遍布整個全像攝影的底片上。換句話說，Pribram相信頭腦本身就是一個全像攝影機。
Pribram的理論也解釋了人類頭腦如何能在那麽小的空間中儲藏那麽多的記憶。曾經有人估計人類頭腦在人的一生中能夠記憶約一百億位（bits)的 資料（大約是五套大英百科全書）。相似的，除了其它功能之外，全像攝影也具有驚人的資料儲存容量—隻要改變兩道雷射照射底片的角度，就可以在同一張底片上 記錄許多不同的影像。有人示範過，在一公分立方的方塊底片上可以儲存一百億位的資料。 如果腦部是根據全像攝影的原理來操作，我們就比較容易了解我們那特 殊的能力，能迅速從我們那龐大的記憶倉庫中取出所需的任何資料。如果一個朋友要你告訴他，當他說「斑馬」這個字時，你會想到什麽。你不需要笨拙地搜尋某種 巨大的腦部字母檔案才能得到一個答案。相反地，一些聯想，如「條紋」，「馬」，和「非洲野生動物」等會立刻跳入你的腦中。的確，人類思考過程的一項最驚人 的特征是，每一件數據都似乎與其它所有資料相互連接。——這也是全像攝影幻象的另一項基本特性。因為全像攝影幻象的每一部份都與其它部份交互關連著，這也 許是大自然交互關連係統的最終極例子。
世界不過是全息相片
在Pribram的全像式腦部模型的啟發下，記憶的儲存不隻是腦部科學唯一稍獲解答的謎。另一項謎題是腦部如何翻譯它從感官所得到的大量波動（光波，聲 波，等等），使之成為我們知覺的具體世界。記錄與解讀波動正是全像攝影最擅長的。正如全像攝影像是某種鏡頭，某種傳譯的工具，能把顯然無意義的波動圖案轉 變為連貫的影像，Pribram相信腦部也有一個鏡頭，使用全像式原理來數據式地把經由感官收到的波動轉變為我們內在知覺的世界。
有大量的證據顯示，腦部是使用全像式原理來進行操作。磁療事 實上，Pribram的理論得到了越來越多腦神經學家的支持。阿根廷籍的意大利腦神經研究者HugoZucarelli最近把全像式模型應用到聽覺的世界 中。他迷惑於人腦在即使隻有一隻耳朵有聽覺的情況下，也能夠不用轉頭就偵測出聲音的來源方向。Zucarelli發現全像式原理可以解釋這種能力。 Zucarelli也發展出全像式音響的科技，一種錄音的技術，能夠幾乎真實無誤地重新複製出聲音現象。 Pribram相信我們的腦部根據外在波動 的輸入，以數學方式建立出「堅硬」的現實。這種想法也得到許多實驗上的支持。實驗發現，我們感官對於波動的敏感度要比我們先前所認為的遠為強烈。例如，研 究者發現我們的視覺對聲波也很敏感，我們的嗅覺是與我們現在稱為oamic的波動有關，而甚至我們體內的細胞也對很廣大範圍的波動敏感。如此的發現使我們 推論，隻有在全像式的知覺領域中，這種波動才能被整理歸類為正常的知覺。 物質世界是大幻象 但是當Pribram的全像式腦部模型與Bohm的理論 放在一起時，才顯現其最令人匪夷所思的地方。因為如果這個世界的堅固隻是一種次要的現實，而真正「存在」的是一團全像攝影式的波動，而如果頭腦也具有全像 式結構，隻從這團波動中取出部份的波動，數學式地轉換成感官知覺，那麽客觀現實是什麽呢？簡單地說，客觀現實就停止了存在。雖然我們也許以為我們是實質的生物，活在一個實質的世界中，這也是一個幻象。我們其實是漂浮在一個充滿波動的大海中的「接收 者」，我們從這個大海中抽取出來，並轉變成實質世界的波動，隻是這個超級全像式幻象的許多波動之一。 這種對於現實的驚人新觀點，Bohm與 Pribram的合成理論，被稱為全像式模型理論（holographicparadigm)。雖然一些科學家持懷疑態度，但這個理論風靡了世界。一群人 數逐漸增加的研究者相信，這也許是科學到目前為止，關於現實最準確的模型。更有甚者，有些人相信它可以解釋許多科學以前未能解釋的神秘現象，甚至使超自然 也成為自然的一部份。 許多研究者，包括Bohm與Pribram，注意到許多超心理學的現象在全像式模型理論下變得較為容易了解。在這個宇宙中， 個別的頭腦實際上是一個大全像結構的個別部份，而一切都是相互連結的，心電感應其實就是進入了全像式的層次。如果一個分別的個體A的意念能夠傳送到個體B 的腦中，如果這兩個分離的個體原來已經是連接的，這種現象就很容易了解。同樣的，以精神力量來移動遠處事物的能力（psychokinesis)也變得比 較不神秘，因為在一個具有無限連接的宇宙中，個體與被移動的物體已經是一體的。
Bohm與Prigram也指出，許多宗教或神秘經驗，如與宇宙合一的超越體驗，或許也是因為進入了全像式領域之中。如他們所言，也許過去許多偉大的神秘體驗者所談論的一種“宇宙一體”的感覺，隻是因為他們知道如何進入他們心靈中一切真正與宇宙合一的那部份。
全 像式模型理論也受到其它科學領域的慎重注意。StanialavGrof，馬裏蘭心理研究中心的主任及霍普金斯大學醫學院心理學係助理教授，相信全像式模 型理論可以解釋心理學上許多的不解之謎。Grof特別感覺到，全像式模型理論提供了一套模型來了解許多人在知覺轉換狀態（alteredstates of consciousness)中會經驗到的怪異現象。 在一九六零年代，Grof研究使用LSD（一種迷幻藥）做為心理治療工具的利弊。他有一名女 性病人，回溯她曾經是一條史前時代的雌性爬蟲。在她的迷幻狀態中，她不僅提供了極豐富的詳細描述，說明了她被困在這種爬蟲身體中的感覺，同時描述了在雄性 爬蟲身上最具有吸引力的部位是頭兩側的一塊彩色鱗片區域。使Grof驚訝的是雖然那名女人事前沒有對這種爬蟲的知識，之後他從一位動物學家處得到證實，爬 蟲頭部的彩色部位在性的**上扮演重要角色。
那位女人的經驗並不獨特。在他的研究過程中，Grof遇到的病人們回溯並代表了幾乎在進化史上的所有生物（這個研究發現影響了電影《替換狀態》 （AlteredStates)中的人退化為猿猴的情節）。還有，他發現如此的經驗時常包含了隱晦的動物學細節，而後來證實是正確的。
退化回動物並不是Grof研究中唯一令人迷惑的心理現象。他也有病人回溯進入了某種集體的或族群的潛意識中。沒有接受多少教育的人突然能詳細地描 述波斯祅教和印度教的儀式。在其它的經驗中，有人能給予令人信服的靈魂出體報告，或預見未來，或倒退回以前的回憶。
在後來的研究中，Grof發 現，即使在沒有使用迷幻藥物的治療會談中，相同的現象也會發生。因為在如此經驗中的相同要素是，個體的意識升華超越了平常自我的界限，或時空的限 製，Grof稱此現象為「超個人經驗」（transpersonalexperiences)。在六十年代晚期，他創立了心理學的一支，稱為「超個人心理 學」（transpersonalpsychology)，專注於此類的研究。
全像式模型理論的應用
雖然Grof新創立的超個人心理學得到了專業學者的支持，成為受人尊敬的心理學流派，但是這幾十年來Grof和他的同僚都無法提供一個理論體係來解釋他們 所看到的奇異心理現象。但是全像式模型理論的出現改變了情況。如Grof最近所言，如果心靈的確是一個整體的一部份，這個整體像一個巨大的迷宮，不僅連接 一切心靈，包括過去、現在、未來，同時也連接一切原子，一切生物，及時間與空間本身的無限，那麽心靈偶爾會涉足於這個迷宮中，產生超個人的經驗，就似乎不 足為奇了。
全像式模型理論也可以應用到所謂的基礎科學，如生物學。維琴尼亞州Intermont大學的心理學家KeithFloyd指出，如果現實世界隻是一個全像 式的幻象，那就不能再說腦部產生意識，而是意識創造了腦部和身體，以及環繞著我們四周的一切，被我們當成實有的世界，都是意識所創造的。
如此對世界和生物結構的觀點逆轉，使研究者發現醫學及我們對於醫療程序的了解也可被全像式模型理論所改變。如果身體的實質結構隻不過是意識的全像式投射， 那麽，我們每個人對於自身健康的責任就要大大超過目前醫學知識所容許的。現在我們視之為奇跡般的疾病康複，就可以得到解釋：由於意識的改變，而影響了全像 式身體的改變。同樣的，一些令人爭議的新醫療技術，如意念的想象，之所以會如此有效，是因為在全像式的領域中，意念的影像是與「現 實」一樣的真實而有效。
的確，甚至連我們對現實最基本的看法都成為可疑的，因為在一個全像式的宇宙中，如Pribram指出，甚至連隨機偶發的事件都可視為是根據全像式原理，預 先經過安排的。世界上沒有偶然和巧合，同步的或有意義的巧合都不是意外，而現實的一切都可視為一種隱喻，因為連最 偶然的事件都隱藏著因果的平衡和必然。
不管Bohm和Pribram的全像式模型理論會不會被科學界接受，但是可以確定的是，它已經對許多科學家的思維產生了深刻影響。就算將來可能發現全像式 模型理論並不足以解釋次原子粒子之間的瞬間通訊現象，至少，如倫敦Birbeck大學的物理學家BasilHiley所言，Aspect的發現啟示我們 “必須準備對現實采取革命性的新觀點”。
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
Listen to Part 5 »Radio Broadcast will open in a new window. If this doesn’t happen, please disable popup blockers.
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.
For a FREE 1-Year Subscription, click here.
**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
