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Existence, space, nonlocality, time, self, God, cause, free will?????
We don't know, we can't know, and that's all there is to know! - or is it? IN THIS SECTION(click on heading to bookmarked paragraphs)
1. A TIME OF A MAJOR PARADIGM SHIFT? (Note mainstream comment :- Physics World, Nov. 1998, p 3) There is much interest these days in expanding the 'scientific paradigm', but a tendency among metaphysicians to grossly underestimate in the effort required to do so! Anyone looking for a good starting point in the exploration of the boundary between science and metaphysics might like to look at two books by Willis Harman, the late President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in the USA, who comes from a scientific background:- The Scientific exploration of Consciousness, 1994, A Re-examination of the Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science, 1991. Obtainable from:- Institute of Noetic Sciences, 475 Gate Five Rd., Suite 300, Sausalito, California 94065, U.S.A. In the UK the Scientific and Medical Network has similar interests:- (top) 2. THE DIFFICULTY WITH METAPHYSICS Having spent the last few years delving into this area I have found it be truly boggy ground, sorely in need of a well organised infrastructure, but here are some impressions!
Metaphysics has a strong intrinsic appeal to many, because of the profound and absorbing questions that it addresses, but I suspect that newcomers to the subject will, like me, soon find that there are in existence far too many competing and incompatible models representing the nature of reality. There is no co-ordinating body. Specialists advocating these many different models need to work together in a determined effort to converge them, at least in some measure. Failing that, the same enigmas that face metaphysics now, are likely persist for yet another millennium (or two!). Bland acceptance of the incompatibility of models, accompanied by such statements as 'the models don't matter as long as they work' is an affront to posterity!
The scientific approach is to find ways to test models, or to put problems to one side until validation exercises are feasible and real progress can be made. Among metaphysicians I sense strong motivation but they appear to lack a unity of purpose, such as is evident in the scientific community. There is clear need for stronger interaction, possibly with the establishment of working parties which aim to iron out specific differences between models and belief systems. Because of the profound nature of metaphysical questions, such working parties may well fail in the attempt, but they should nevertheless be able to make useful contributions. Attempts to reconciliation should result firstly in a clarification of the differences, and secondly in pinpointing what would be required to reconcile them. There needs to be a greater drive towards a unity, and less of a determination to build and maintain autonomous philosophies and belief systems. Succinct summaries of the various differences will help non-specialists to get a proper perspective on the issues in a reasonable time scale. They need to be expressed in terms that appeal generally to the enquiring population. Such summaries are much needed but either they are not available or I have been unable to find them. They would place enquiring people in a better position to set their objectives and develop their own views. They would release them from wading though vast amounts of literature. The resultant time-saving would benefit the present and future generations, by giving them a better base from which to start exploring and perhaps eventually even to develop their own attacks on the great mysteries. In frenetic modern life, time is at a premium, and it is incumbent on specialists an all walks of life to state what are the important implications of their fields, and in terms which can be generally and quickly understood.
The arts give scope for subjective expression. The understanding of fundamental reality does not. The search should not cease until a unity is found!
Having formulated and agreed upon the key metaphysical questions, it should be possible for specialists to judge when it is appropriate to allocate time for tackling particular issues. The time needs to be right if useful progress is to be made. To draw an analogy, it would have been futile for pioneers of the telephone to try to build a version of the Internet. They could have dreamt of it of course.
Many individual belief systems provide statements of their relevance to the individual and to society at large, but such statements appear to be lacking for the subject of metaphysics as a whole. The fragmentation of metaphysics makes it a particularly time-consuming subject to enter and this makes it virtually inaccessible to the many people who's free time is so restricted by the demands of modern life. This factor must result in a very limited public awareness of the subject. The pace of life appears to be increasing, and there seems little prospect that time will be at less of a premium.in the future. Complacency about this fragmentation probably damages belief that metaphysics, as a general subject, is a worthwhile field to pursue. This criticism, drawn from personal experience, is meant to be constructive, for surely society would benefit by being more aware of the profound metaphysical questions; how how far we have reached in understanding them; and what are the implications. Decisions on lifestyles should surely depend on our perceptions of the reality in which we live. The onus must be on specialists to co-ordinate their efforts, and to simplify the path to greater metaphysical awareness for the individual. ."IN NATURE’S INFINITE BOOK OF SECRECY JUST A LITTLE CAN I LEARN!" 3. CONSCIOUSNESS What an enigmatic and challenging subject! Explaining consciousness, or the nature of subjective experiences is attracting many powerful brains, including Nobel Laureates in science. The volume of information being published on the subject is truly daunting. (just try entering consciousness as a keyword in a search engine on the Internet!) Information overload is certainly a hazard in this area, although consciousness is not unique in that respect! The Journal of Consciousness Studies keeps readers in touch with current thinking, but it has a strong philosophical bias. See the abstracts of papers at the third Tucson conference for the latest material. This biennial meeting is now firmly established and attracts top names in the field. For those interested in the possible relationship between quantum mechanics and the mind there are currently excellent discussions being conducted on a listserver.For information on subscription options, send a "QUERY QUANTUM-MIND" command to:- LISTSERV@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU. The discussions are archived and search facilities are provided.
Click on the image for further discussion of consciousness, and hyperlinks to specialist sites.
(top) 4. ALTERNATIVE SCIENCE AND THE PARANORMAL "Experimental parapsychology has provided tantalising glimpses of a greater reality?" Will the paranormal of today remain paranormal, or will it become part of the mainstream science of tomorrow? There are some excellent introductions to the paranormal on the World Wide Web, and I include some URL’s below. These sites are selected because are produced by responsible scientists who have in already made acknowledged mainstream contributions. Nevertheless they are motivated to take a serious look at the challenges that paranormal anomalies pose. The URL’s lead to a variety of research investigations being conducted in different parts the world. (Note Dean Radin's excellent survey of practical investigations in his book:- "The Conscious Universe", Harper Edge, 1997) Useful introductory books on the subject are:- An Introduction to Parapsychology, by H. J. Irwin ISBN 0-89950-396-9 The reality of the Paranormal, by Arthur Ellison, (Retired Electrical Engineering Professor) ISBN 0-245-54474-7 A sense of Something Strange Archie Roy, (Professor of Astronomy) ISBN 1-872536-06-9 (top) 5. THE SPIRITUAL A distinction needs to be made between the spiritual and the paranormal even though they seem to operate together at times (e.g. miracles ). Paranormal events do not always appear to have spiritual significance (e.g. poltergeists). Mystical experiences are not necessarily accompanied by paranormal physical events. (e.g.visions) Despite the vast amount of literature available on the topic of spirituality, I have been surprised to how few references I can find to objective investigations into the nature of spirituality. Is it too difficult to define objective investigations? Is it considered too presumptuous to subject spirituality to rational analysis by those with humility and reverence for the spiritual world? Have I simply not found the right URL’s ? There are of course countless sites on the Web relating to other aspects of spirituality which can be readily be found using the popular search engines. I list only two sites: I've found that some sites on spirituality seem to have have a disconcerting habit of moving without leaving a forwarding address but SpiritWeb has a very extensive list of sites. For a fairly 'hard' approach with a particular interest in synthesising science and religion visit the Templeton Foundation:- "John M. Templeton is the legendary international financier who created the Templeton mutual fund empire and who more recently has devoted himself to the advancement of one of humanity's most important disciplines -- spirituality."
For a more 'esoteric' approach and a broader outlook visit SpiritWeb:- "A dedicated spiritual world-wide-web site which comprehends spirituality in a modern context in review of ancient teachings and religious belief-systems. The site is independent of any kind of specific religious belief-system or movement, but tries to give an overview of manifold forms of spirituality". (top) 6. DIMENSIONS As a scientist I see no reason why physical reality should consist of only four dimensions: three of space and one of time. Note the excellent account of supersting theory by Brian Greene; The Elegant Universe; W. .W. Norton & Co.; 1999. Furthermore I see no reason to assume that reality consists of only 'physical' dimensions. Following on from that, I see no reason why consciousness should not exist as something separate from matter. The physical universe is way beyond our perception, particularly at the extremes of scale, and there seems no reason to assume that reality consists of a physical framework only. Dimensions of the physical world are discussed in the readable book:- Hyperspace, Prof. Michio Kaku, OUP, 1995, ISBN 0-19-286189-1
See also Max Tegmark's site at Princeton University, which includes an expanded version of his paper on the 'theory of everything' published in the New Scientist, and Matti Pitkanen's site, which summarises his development of a theory of reality over many years:- 7. REALITY MODEL Throwing caution to the winds and offering my concept for discussion! (Go on then, e-mail me and tear it to pieces! :-) ) As stated above, theories of particle and cosmological physicists involve more than the four dimensions of spacetime. the number is uncertain as a generally agreed model has yet to be developed. In my concept, the word "dimension" could be extended refer to things which are beyond the scope of current physical science. Emotions are experienced at different intensities, so it should be possible to assign "dimensions" to them.
We can distinguish between more than a million colours, yet all these colours can be described in terms of the intensities of three primaries. In a parallel way I think it possible that emotions could be described in terms of a few primaries. I am using the visual analogy purely to illustrate how a vast range of subtle qualities can arise from just a few primaries. The analogy should not be taken too far, because the three colour primaries result from physical processes in the eye, whereas I am suggesting that there are primary properties of reality itself. The definition of colour in terms of spectral content is one thing. The definition of colour in terms of experience, e.g. the emotions that abstract paintings can evoke is quite another.
I venture a few thoughts on the subject illustrating them using conceptual diagrams. In no way are they intended to compete with concepts by such masters of the field as those cited above but they are intended to be a relatively simple starting point for discussions leading to the big questions. Conceptual diagrams of reality model I resonate too with Alan Williams' concept, expressed in more detail and reproduced with his permission:- 8. A PRACTICAL LOOK AT TELEPATHY AND REMOTE VIEWING Here's a novel investigation for a retired industrial physicist, but it is perhaps incumbent on would-be explorers on metaphysics try to gain first-hand experience!
Two years ago I attempted transatlantic telepathic communication with metaphysician, Dr. Helen Stewart who has a PhD in psychology, and who claims to have possessed psychic abilities since childhood. I suspect this is an very unusual pairing of qualifications. Contact resulted from participation in a discussion group on CompuServe. We reasoned that if mind is nonlocal, and subtle nonlocal connections can occur between minds, then spatial separation should be unimportant. Helen lives in the USA and I'm in the UK so we decided to put conjecture to the test and to conduct some experiments across the Atlantic. They were meant to satisfy our own curiosities. We were aware that they would not produce solid scientific evidence, but despite that, our observations were carefully timed and recorded. Anyone seeking objective evidence for telepathy may like to refer to research investigations such as those conducted at Edinburgh University. We aimed to gain first-hand experience to satisfy natural curiosity, and took a different approach to academic establishments researching the subject. For one thing, we suspected that strict observance of scientific protocols used by these establishments might well be a distraction, and act as an inhibiting factor to telepathy. A relaxed frame of mind seems to be important, and at pre-determined, precise time intervals we relaxed in a quiet environment and maintained complete freedom of choice about which objects (or emotions) to focus on during these time intervals. We made choices impulsively, and did not draw random samples from a small set of photographs for example. To read about academic studies of telepathy visit:- A report of a recent objective study of telepathy with numerous participants was published by:- Dalkest & Westerland; Journal of Scientific Exploration; Vol. 12; No 4; 1998 pp 583-605 The Society of Scientific Exploration publishing the Journal has a Web site:- Our investigations appeared to confirm that telepathic communication can occur, but only spasmodically and when it does, the transfer of information is very degraded. Moreover, it seemed that sometimes subconscious observations were was picked up rather than observations which were the focus of the 'sender's' attention. For example looking at a field of sheep, the description given by the recipient appeared to fit the row of houses immediately behind the field! For us, visual communication (clairvoyance) seemed to occur much more readily than communication of emotion (clairsentience ) or of sounds (clairaudience).
Don’t take my word for it. If the subject interest you, arrange your own investigations, but don't expect to put the telephone companies out of business: the information flow appears to be very degraded! If you are going to play the game be more relaxed about cause and effect, so paramount to science. I would look forward exchanging accounts with other investigators. We kept detailed computer records, including accurate dates and times. We have also ran a series of investigations of remote viewing although I would comment that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish remote viewing from telepathy. We produced reports of our findings for interested friends, but made no attempt to publish them. With curiosity satisfied to some extent we are no longer active. Neither the investigations nor our abilities seemed progress beyond a point, although I would stress that from time to time there were surprising and unexpected observations. There would be little point attempting to conduct a series of objective investigations when well equipped university departments are already engaged in substantial studies. 9. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE In the telepathy studies, we used a set procedure that was suggested by Prof. Peter Stewart, a qualified physicist who has been researching telepathy for some years. He is hoping that others will investigate telepathy using this set procedure. It is useful for those who are unsure (as I was) of how to attempt telepathic communication in the first place. Also if a set procedure is used a number of benefits follow: For example, if independent teams conduct investigations of telepathic communication, and subsequently pool their observations, it would be simpler to compare and analyse them, and to form an overall picture. Also conclusions drawn from observations by a number of different teams will be less subjective would probably earn more attention from others. Written descriptions of the set procedures, and of our observations are available for anyone who is genuinely interested. One problem was to decide whether to have experiments witnessed. Observations recorded by independent witnesses would be more convincing to others, (witnesses were used in major trials of remote viewing in the USA, see below) but witnesses may be a distraction and adversely affect the success rate, that seems at its highest for a mind that is quiet and undisturbed. (top) 10. REMOTE VIEWING Attempts at remote viewing can be equally fascinating. It requires more time and dedication than we provided in order to it in order to become proficient, and it probably also requires innate ability, but in that respect playing a piano is no different. Many people can play a piano for their own amusement. See papers by experts in remote viewing on Lyn Buchanan's and on Palyne Gaenir's home pages (top) 11. CHANNELLED MATERIAL One wide-ranging examination of the nature of reality and of the varieties of human experience is contained in the seven books of 'channelled' material by Jane Roberts. Her 'discarnate source' was named ‘Seth’. I was introduced to this material after retirement. As an industrial scientist I had not anticipated reading such books but once sampled, I was drawn into them. One may need to make allowances for difficulties with a very unusual type of 'communication' and with limits to the uses of metaphors. I come to no conclusion about the validity of the material, but that's not the point! I found the novel concepts a valuable aid to my thinking process because they dealt with important questions, they were provocative and they were not easy to dismiss. Such material seems to me to be a good example of what metaphysics should be about: that is, it challenges the mainstream to examine alternative models from a new perspective. I would welcome comments from others who have read the books. Mainstream scientists are understandably reluctant to allocate time to such material but the physicist Norman Friedman is an exception See his a book :- ‘Bridging Science and Spirit’, Living Lake Books, 1994, in which he found much common ground between the Perennial Philosophy, the concepts of David Bohm the quantum physicist, and the Seth material. Information about the Seth material may be found via the Seth Network International For a categorised lists of Seth quotes and details of a mailing list contact:- |
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