QUANTUM.TXT 110896 REVOLUTION IN COMMON SENSE OR QUANTUM METAPHYSICS Copyright, 1991, Joachim E. Wolf All rights reserved. Reproduction is allowed and encouraged, but only not for profit, with the source identified. Please send your e-mail to the following address: jowolf@sprynet.com ___ ABSTRACT This paper postulates a multidimensional model of the universe, based on recent developments in physics and biology. We cannot see the multidimensional reality because our senses are limited to three dimensions, yet the higher-dimensional environment has a more substantial reality than our world. This is so because our three-dimensional world is only a subset of the multidimensional system. An interrelated set of holistic principles is developed. The multidimensional world is then explored with this holistic logic system. This leads to common-sense interpretations of quantum physics effects and provides plausible answers to many unresolved questions, such as the whole versus parts problem, mind-body interaction, the inner structure of the human psyche, the beginning of life, and the creative nature of evolution. Other logical conclusions lead naturally to key tenets of world religions. ___ TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1. INTRODUCTION . . . 1 2. LIMITATIONS OF COMMON SENSE. . 1 SPACE-TIME . . . 1 ENERGY-MASS . . . 3 WAVE-PARTICLE . . . 3 TWIN PARTICLES . . . 3 MIND-BODY . . . 4 THE THRESHOLD . . . 4 3. THE KEY CONCEPTS . . . 5 MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS . . 5 THE WHOLE AND ITS PARTS: THE HOLON 8 HOLON EXAMPLES . . . 11 4. THE HOLISTIC UNIVERSE . . 13 GROUP ENTITIES . . . 13 THE TOTAL SYSTEM . . 17 Multidimensional Pyramid 17 Multiple Holons . . 17 All-Entity . . 19 The Nature of Time . 22 The Human Psyche . 23 Multiple Worlds . . 28 Causality . . 31 5. PRACTICAL IMPACT . . . 32 IMPACT ON THE INDIVIDUAL . 32 IMPACT ON SOCIETY . . 34 6. CONCLUSION . . . . 36 GLOSSARY . . . . 37 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . 37 FOOTNOTES . . . . 39 ___ 1 1. INTRODUCTION Our common sense is not a reliable basis for correct judgements. There is no common sense on which all people agree. With time, major shifts occur in what people believe to be true, resulting in revolutionary changes in society. Such a shift is now under way. Scientists are talking about an impending "paradigm shift" (1)(2)(3), and free thinkers are anticipating a "New Age". While most scientific people tend to spurn New Age ideas, it can be shown that both developments are aspects of the same basic change in human perception of reality. This paper examines the basis for this revolution, a revolution that will change our lives profoundly. When we understand its underlying cause, we can reduce the growing pains involved and enjoy a better life. One does not have to be a scientist to understand the issues involved. What is required, is an open mind, to let go of deeply seated prejudices about the nature of reality. In this regard, a person steeped in contemporary scientific thought may even have a disadvantage, since he or she has spent a lifetime working in a cultural environment where certain unorthodox thoughts tend to be greeted with derision. We are not talking about disputing true scientific facts, it is the interpretation of these facts that is up for discussion. Through habitual repetition, interpretations are often accepted as if they were facts, and it is difficult to detect the difference. Perhaps the most pervasive unproven scientific belief is that our minds are the crowning outgrowth of physical matter, that material came first, and that mind evolved out of it. The dramatic successes of physical sciences, and the resulting technology, can easily mislead us to this conclusion. However, physical sciences are by definition aimed at the physical world, and to generalize their views beyond physical reality is scientifically not justified. This paper attempts to interpret the findings of quantum physics and other relevant scientific information. The logical conclusion is that mind is the basis of our reality, and matter evolves from it, not the other way around. A holistic logic system is postulated that unifies seemingly disparate concepts of physical science, psychology, philosophy, and religion. 2. LIMITATIONS OF COMMON SENSE SPACE-TIME In our three-dimensional (3-D) space, we have three "degrees of freedom" to move. We see objects that occupy space exclusive of each other. We also experience time, as a stream of sequential ___ 2 events, only one of which is real in the present. According to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, our concepts of space and time do not agree with actual reality. Our three-dimensional space and our one-dimensional time are actually two aspects of a four-dimensional "superspace", mostly called "space-time". Our senses do not perceive space-time directly (4), but its existence is well verified through decades of experiments. In addition to Einstein's relativity theory, modern physics is based on quantum theory, developed by famous physicists such as Heisenberg, Schroedinger, Bohr, and Dirac. Relativity theory focuses mainly on the macro world of outer space, quantum theory on the micro world of the atom and its subatomic particles. As relativity theory, quantum physics also assumes a four-dimensional space in which our 3-D space and time are blended together (5)(6). David Bohm, the prominent theoretical physicist at the University of London, and an associate of Einstein, thinks of space and time as projections from a higher-dimensional reality (7). In this more fundamental type of reality, the distinction that we make between our 3-D space and time is meaningless (8). Professor Stephen W. Hawking, one of the most prominent physicists of our age, states: "We must accept that time is not completely separate from and independent of space, but is combined with it to form an object called space-time." Also: "In reality, there is no real distinction between the space and time coordinates, just as there is no real difference between any two space coordinates" (9). Fritjof Capra describes the difficulty faced by us to form an intuitive picture of the four-dimensional space-time. This applies also to the physicists who have worked with it for decades and are thoroughly familiar with its mathematical formalism (10). To our common sense, such a superspace seems impossible to visualize. Yet we have to get used to the idea that it exists, and that we are living in it, here and now. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) devoted much of his life to the study of epistemology. He concluded that our way of seeing the world in 3-D space and time is only a human characteristic, not a characteristic of true reality. We interpret the true "thing-in-itself" in terms of space and time, but we do not perceive it directly. "Space and time are not realities or things existing for themselves, nor are they qualities or relations belonging to things as such. They are ways our sensibility has of apprehending objects . . ." (11)(12). Kant's writings are difficult to follow, but the message is clear: don't think that your common sense of space and time gives you a true picture of reality. The German philosopher Gottfried W. Leibniz made similar observations earlier (13). ___ 3 ENERGY-MASS Another one of Albert Einstein's conclusions is his famous E=mc2 formula. It states that the mass 'm' of a physical body can be converted into energy 'E' and vice versa. Mass, to our common sense, has inertia. It is characteristic of bodies that occupy space, such as billiard balls. In contrast, energy is invisible. We sense it only by its effects on physical objects, such as acceleration, heat, and sound. The fact that energy and mass are really different versions of the same thing is difficult for us to visualize, although by now we have become used to the idea. WAVE-PARTICLE Physicists have established without any doubt that light manifests itself as two different forms in our world. Depending on the circumstances, it appears either as electromagnetic waves, similar to radio waves, or as a stream of physical particles, like microscopic buck shot, called "quanta" or "photons" (14). The photons have masses, specific locations and mutually exclusive expansions in 3-D space. On the other hand, electromagnetic waves are a form of energy, extending in space and time as fields that can penetrate each other. For decades, even centuries, physicists have debated how these two seemingly contradictory forms of light can be reconciled. Now both views are accepted as valid, and scientists use either one or the other, depending on the situation (15). The two disparate, seemingly irreconcilable forms of light represent the same thing. In fact, this dual nature is not just a characteristic of electromagnetic radiation, but also of subatomic particles, the building blocks of matter, such as electrons and protons (16). Again, our common sense tells us that one and the same thing cannot have so diametrically opposite natures, yet there is no doubt about it. TWIN PARTICLES The most dramatic and ultimate proof of quantum theory is the Aspect experiment, named after the French quantum physicist Alain Aspect. In 1982, he and his research team implemented successfully the test that had been long in the making, starting with a thought experiment suggested by Einstein (17)(18)(19). Very simplified, Aspect and his colleagues created two photons from the same quantum event and observed them as they speeded into opposite directions. After they had travelled some distance with the speed of light, the researchers changed the polarization for only one of them. (Polarization is the orientation of the wave that corresponds to each photon.) As a result, the other photon instantaneously adopted the same polarization, even though the two were far apart. Relativity theory tells us that nothing can travel faster than light. So ___ 4 nothing could have caught up with the photons after they had departed. Yet, there is this instantaneous mysterious communication between them. They are somehow connected in a realm that is beyond our common sense, although they appear separated in our world. MIND-BODY In addition to the physics examples, we are all familiar with the Mind-Body dual. It is known as the "psychophysical" problem and has been concisely formulated by the French philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes in his "Meditations", published in 1641 (20). Descartes observed that the world consists of two basically different substances: mind and matter. Matter occupies 3-D space, mind does not. He could not explain satisfactorily how these two substances, mind and matter, interact, other than through God's intercession. To this day, scientists are debating this problem. We know that each one of us is one individual. Yet our common sense cannot tell us how our two different constituent parts, mind and body, function together. This is similar to our inability to visualize the 4-D whole of space and time. The resolution of this problem was already suggested by Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677) (21). He saw mind and body as two attributes of the same substance, "processes of one and the same thing expressed in two different ways" (22). Still it is difficult to understand why he thought that "these attributes are absolutely independent of one another and cannot influence each other: mind cannot produce changes in body nor the body changes in mind," as stated in F. Thilly's History of Philosophy (23). THE THRESHOLD The five examples mentioned above mark a line between what is included in our common sense and what is not. Our common sense can visualize each of the five pairs. But we cannot visualize their wholes that combine them. George W.F. Hegel (1770-1831) explained how for each pair of thesis and antithesis there exists a synthesis, a whole that transcends the two opposing parts (24). Our problem is that our common sense cannot see or visualize the wholes that transcend our 3-D world. The reason is that our five senses are three-dimensional in nature and thus are limited to perceiving 3-D reality. Our scientists have discovered a reality that transcends our physical existence. It is not that reality is divided into two realms. It is that human consciousness is able to grasp only so much of the total reality, the rest exceeds our capacity to comprehend. As a result, we experience our reality as a multitude of phenomena, like not seeing the forest for the ___ 5 trees. The threshold of our common sense, really of our conscious mind, is therefore not a hard and fast limitation, it is subject to evolution. Accepting this is a necessary evolutionary step. The present situation is similar to the one in the 17th century when mankind realized that the earth is not the center of the universe. Today it is a matter of common sense that the earth rotates around the sun, and that even the sun is only a speck in a vast cosmos of an untold number of galaxies. We are now facing again a new dramatic paradigm shift. This time, the entire physical 3-D cosmos will be delegated to the outskirts of a far vaster invisible multidimensional universe with an untold number of worlds. 3. THE KEY CONCEPTS MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS We can overcome the threshold of common sense outlined above with two interrelated concepts. One is that true reality has more dimensions than three. The other is a full understanding of the relationship between a whole and its constituent parts. In this section we will discuss the first point, multidimensional space, which we shall call "M-D space". We have only mentioned 4-D space so far, but once one accepts the idea that reality is not limited to three dimensions, then there is no logical reason to assume that it is limited to four or any other number. Also, physicists are reaching to ever higher dimensional spaces to consolidate existing theories into a "unified physics" (25)(26). For decades physicists have predicted accurately quantum physics events using mathematics with hundreds of dimensions. They have become used to the successful application of M-D calculations without seeing any significance beyond that. This, incidentally, was exactly what Copernicus told his Church superiors about his mathematical description of the solar system that delegated the earth away from the center of the universe. Although we can not experience M-D environments directly, the great enlightened religious leaders and mystics must have been able to do so (27). For Buddhism and Hinduism, specifically Yoga, the primary goal is to attain an ever more transcendent state of mind, and to perceive directly higher dimensional realities. In contrast, the Western World has pursued the development of rational thought. It allows us to understand the laws that govern reality, without perceiving the reality directly. So we understand for instance that the earth rotates around the sun, although we cannot see this directly. In the same manner it is possible to penetrate M-D reality. We can learn to understand it, though we cannot perceive it directly. The following sections of this paper will provide an introduction to this understanding. ___ 6 At the beginning of the 20th century a little book titled "Flatland" was published by Edwin Abbott Abbott. It may have been the first attempt to visualize transitions between spaces with different numbers of dimensions. Abbott described in humorous detail a world of creatures who live in 2-D space. They have no third dimension, as we do. Their world is confined to a two-dimensional surface, such as a sheet of paper without any thickness. For our discussion we shall modify Abbott's story. We shall assume that these creatures have the shape of circular discs with zero thickness, and with a "nose", so that we know which way they are facing (Fig.1). Let us name them "2Ds". Being totally flat, and sensing only 2-D objects, our 2Ds don't believe in the existence of a third dimension. Any 2D oddball who would express such thought would be ridiculed, because everybody knows of course, that 2-D space is the only reality there is. If any of us 3-D people would touch their surface world with our fingers, the 2Ds would see another disc. They would interpret it as a fellow occupant of their world. They may call it elephant, or whatever. If they see it the first time, they think that they have discovered a new species. The 2Ds do not see the fingerprint pattern, because to them it would resemble the inner organs of the elephant. If we touch the 2-D world with the five fingers of one hand, the 2Ds would see five animals, perhaps they would call our thumb print Rhinoceros. Graphics are available under file MULTIX.GIF (X = 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5). Figure 1. 2-D world. Figure 2. Sphere penetrating 2-D world. If we penetrate the plane with a billiard ball, moving it through the plane until it leaves on the other side, the 2Ds would experience the birth, growth, declination, and death of some phenomenon that constantly changes its size (Fig.2). The 2D population has some philosophers who believe that this phenomenon did not really die, that it continues to exist in some mysterious realm that they call 'spiritual', without having any visible evidence of this in their 2-D world. But most 2Ds follow the prevailing paradigm of scientific materialism and ignore such unscientific notions. Now let us cut a nail into small pieces. We get little cylinders that we throw on the 2-D plane (Fig.3). Some cylinders land on their side, the others on their ends. This event creates great excitement among the 2D scientists. They investigate this matter and observe that two different kinds of bodies have appeared in their world, some are circles, the others are rods. This is, of course, because the cylinder ends ___ 7 show up in their plane as circles, and the cylinder sides as rods. Further research by the 2D scientists leads to their discovery that it is possible to convert circles into rods and vice versa, by colliding them against each other. From our 3-D world we see that some cylinders are being tipped over on their sides and vice versa. The 2D scientists are agonizing about this puzzle for decades. Finally they are forced to assume that the circles and rods are really the same thing that exists in some 'nonmaterial' form, meaning their wholes do not exist in their 2-D space. The 2Ds postulate that there must be a 3-D reality that transcends their world. Sound familiar? Figure 3. 3-D cylinders seen from the 2-D world. David Bohm has suggested another analogy that describes the quan-tum physics duals (28)(29). Supposed one observes a fish tank with two TV cameras. One camera views the tank from the front, the other from the side. Two TV monitors placed side by side display the two images. A fish facing the front appears different on one monitor compared with the other. A child too young to understand the setup, will not even realize that the two images come from the same fish. In this analogy, as in the previous one, two separate 2-D aspects of a 3-D object are observed, and the observer is challenged to form a mental image of the 3-D object. In the same manner we are challenged to imag-ine M-D objects of which we see 3-D aspects in our world. Plato in his famous cave allegory (30) compared the appearances of our world with shadows that are thrown on a cave wall by the real things. We as cave dwellers cannot see the real objects because we cannot look in their direction. We see only the 2-D shadows of the invisible 3-D bodies, creating the illusion that the shadows are the real thing. In our attempt to understand M-D space, it is probably misleading to assume that the additional dimensions must be geometrically perpendicular to our three space dimensions. Our 3-D space is probably meaningless in an M-D environment, and geometric right angles between dimensions have only symbolic meaning. The term "degrees of freedom" describes the situation better, meaning possible directions of development that do not coincide with existing directions. Perhaps it is better to imagine how our thoughts can take off in directions that have nothing to do with space and time. We are talking about expanding our consciousness, so thoughts are a suitable subject to contemplate. ___ 8 THE WHOLE AND ITS PARTS: THE HOLON To simplify our discussions, we define the term "order" to mean an environment with a given number of dimensions. A plane has an order of two. A higher order has more dimensions than a lower order. The term "transcendent" means "to be of a higher order" or "to have more integrated dimensions" (See Glossary). The preceding analogies demonstrated transitions between lower and higher orders. Simultaneously they provided transitions between visible aspects and their transcendent invisible objects. In the same way we are trying to induce the integrated 4-D space-time environment from its aspects: 3-D space and time. From the observations of waves and particles, we want to transcend to understand the quanta from which they are projected, and so on. The key to this process is a thorough understanding of the relationship between a whole and its constituent parts. This is an age-old problem that was already debated vigorously between Plato and Aristotle. Plato postulated that the phenomena of our world are only aspects, shadows of invisible real things that he called "eidos" (31). Aristotle instead believed that the phenomena of our world are the real things, and that Plato's eidos were abstractions that lacked true reality in themselves (32). This debate flared up off and on throughout the history of the Western World, and it is not fully resolved yet. This paper attempts to do so, based on our understanding of different dimensional spaces and transitions between them. Imagine a cut crystal, say a diamond, and consider only its form, ignoring its material (Fig.4). The form represents a whole, while the planes of the crystal envelope are the constituent parts of the whole form. With this we can easily make several observations. They will be very useful for transitions between 3-D and M-D to be discussed later. We shall call these observations "holon principles" and give each of them an alphanumeric number HP1, HP2, etc.. The term "holon" was suggested by Arthur Koestler for the composite of a whole and its constituent parts (33). We shall discuss later whether the holon principles derived from this simple example are universally valid Figure 4. Crystal form. HOLON PRINCIPLES HP1. *The whole has more dimensions than each of its constituent parts.* In our simple example, the whole crystal form has three, the parts only two dimensions. ___ 9 HP2. *Each part is an aspect of the whole, seen from a lower order.* When we put our mind into the frame of the 2-D order, then we perceive each plane as a separate, individual part. HP3. *The whole encompasses all its parts.* The 3-D crystal form encompasses all its 2-D side planes. HP4. *The whole is invisible from the orders of its parts.* To the 2Ds, the whole crystal is not visible, because they do not perceive 3-D space. They don't even know about the existence of their fellow 2Ds in the other planes of the crystal. HP5. *The whole is an undivided and homogeneous entity, while its parts appear as separate individual entities in their order.* The 3-D space within the whole crystal form is continuous and homogeneous. In contrast, the parts exist as discrete 2-D entities. HP6. *The whole and its parts are one and the same, viewed from different dimensional orders.* From the 3-D point of view, we see the whole crystal, and we consider its surfaces as mere aspects of the same thing. From a 2-D point of view, we have discrete, individual planes. Another analogy for HP6 is David Bohm's fish-tank with TV cameras. The important point in holistic thinking is to distinguish carefully between observations made from different orders. HP7. *Both the whole and its parts are real, but the whole has a more profound reality.* There should be no disagreement that a 3-D form is more profound than a 2-D plane. HP8. *The parts are wholes in their own right at a lower order.* Each plane is an entity of its own in the 2-D order. In turn, the lines are 1-D aspects of the 2-D planes, yet they are entities in their own right within the 1-D order. And so are the points aspects of the lines, but they can also be seen as entities in their 0-D order. HP9. *The whole is immanent in each of its parts.* Our 2-D creature analogy is more representative if we picture the 2Ds as crosscuts of billiard balls, as figure 2 shows. They still have 2-D "bodies", but their real self is invisible to them in 3-D space, as ours is for us in M-D space. Asked about the location of their real selves, they would say that they are inside their bodies but transcendent to them. The term used for inside while simultaneously transcendent is "immanent". HP10. *A change of any part goes simultaneously with a change of the whole, and a change of the whole goes with changes in its parts.* A change of any crystal plane goes with a change of the whole crystal form, including other planes. One has to be careful ___ 10 here not to assume too easily a cause and effect relationship. From the lower-order environment of the parts we might conclude that one part pushes its adjacent parts around, causing them to change. But, viewed from the higher dimensional order of the whole, the whole is undergoing a change that is reflected in its aspect-parts, perhaps without us being able to say where the change originates. From the whole's point of view, there is no difference between the whole and its parts (HP6). It makes no sense to differentiate between a cause coming from a part or the whole. For instance, when faced with the problem of fitting a crystal into a non-yielding mounting, it makes no difference whether one changes the length of lines, the shape of planes, or the form of the crystal. All goes together simultaneously. More will be said about causality within a holon in section 4. It is very important to understand how change is transmitted within a holon. Suppose one part changes in some way. This is associated with a corresponding change of the whole. Now, since the whole is immanent in all its parts, they are all affected, their inner disposition is changed, affecting their future trend. The communication between the parts via the whole occurs because the whole is homogeneous, undivided. HP11. *It is impossible to perceive simultaneously more than one aspect of a whole undistorted from a lower order.* Assume that we take a photo of a crystal, with the camera film parallel to one of its planes. Only this plane appears with its correct shape on the photo, all other aspects appear either distorted or not at all. The 2-D photo is in a lower order than the 3-D crystal. HP12. *The holon principles 1 through 11 apply to all dimensional orders.* The reader may want to verify each holon principle for the case that the crystal planes are the wholes and the lines their parts. Then repeat the same for the lines as wholes and the points their parts. (Note that points can change only their positions). Having established that the principles are valid for all three transitions from 0-D through 3-D, the best assumption we can make is that they are also valid for all higher dimensional orders. HP12 is postulated as a reasonable hypothesis. HP13. *The holon principles 1-12 are aspects of one master holon principle.* The holon can be experienced directly, without passing sequentially through the principles 1-12 one at a time. This writer had this experience spontaneously as a young person. It was impossible to describe the holon directly without braking it down into discrete, individual principles. Even then, something is still missing: the homogeneity, the depth, the integrity, the vitality of the holon. The holon principles are an interrelated group. A mathematician might be able to formulate a single expression for the holon, from which the individual holon ___ 11 principles can be derived. We shall apply the holon principles as a "holistic logic" to research the M-D reality. HOLON EXAMPLES The holon principles have been stated above using only one simple example. Other examples are those listed in section 2 for the discussion of common sense limitations. Each pair of space-time, energy-mass, etc. forms a holon with its respective whole. As far as this writer can determine, each pair fulfills the cited holon principles, subject to verification by physicists and psychologists, thus extending the validity of the HP's to four dimensions. An example for holon principle (HP11) is the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, an important cornerstone of quantum physics (34)(35)(36)(37). It states (in one of its versions) that it is impossible to measure both the position and the momentum of an electron simultaneously. (The momentum is a measure of motion). Assuming that the electron exists in a higher order than 3-D, holon principle HP11 makes this same statement. It appears that the Heisenberg principle is a special case of holon principle HP11. The holon principles provide a plausible explanation for the so-called double-slot experiment that has puzzled quantum physicists. The experiment is well described in popular literature (38)(39). We will explain it here highly simplified. An electron gun shoots electrons against a target screen at some distance, similar to a rifle practice range. Now we place a shield between the gun and the target screen. The shield has two slots next to each other. We shoot only one electron at a time towards the slots. If we cover one slot, the picture on the target screen beyond shows the spot where one electron has hit, as expected. The same thing happens if we cover the other slot. However, if we leave both slots open, the target screen shows a broad interference pattern from two electron waves that come from both slots. We know that electrons can show up as waves. The surprise is that we get two waves from a single electron. How can a single electron go through two separated slots simultaneously? It is like shooting a billiard ball into two pockets simultaneously. The answer suggested by holistic logic is that the electron is a holon with its parts in our 3-D space, but its whole in 4-D space. Using a 2-D/3-D analogy, suppose two persons observe a low flying airplane through two widely separated holes in a roof. As the plane passes in close proximity, both persons take photos of it simultaneously. Each developed film shows the airplane clearly and unmistakably. But, if we view both negatives together, one on top of the other, there is interference between the two images. ___ 12 Similarly, the screen in the experiment shows clear pictures of a single electron when viewed separately, but an interference pattern when viewed simultaneously. As the airplane flies by in the third dimension while we are watching it from two positions on the 2-D ground, so the electron flies by in the 4th dimension, while we are trying to figure out how it passes through both slots arranged in 3-D space. We see only two different aspects of the electron, not the electron itself. True to holon principle HP11, no 3-D analogy can accurately describe all aspects of a 4-D situation. The example does not convey that the part and the whole are not separated (HP3, HP6), as the photo and the airplane are. It ignores also that one can change the whole by changing its part (HP10). Another holon example may be seen in the colors of a rainbow, which are integral parts of white light. When white light is sent through a prism, it fans out into different beams of light with the colors of the rainbow, from red through violet. White light as a whole appears physiologically uniform and homogeneous. In physics terms, it covers a certain frequency range of electromagnetic waves. Its individual parts, the perceived colors, have different frequencies and are enfolded in the white light. If one sends the same colors back through the prism in the opposite direction so that they merge properly, one obtains pure white light again. In physiological terms, the prism provides a transition from the whole (white) to its parts (colors) and vice versa. White light has two degrees of freedom: ranges of color and intensity. The individual colors have only one degree of freedom left: a range of different intensities. This example suggests also how quantum physicists "collapse" quantum wave-packages from M-D space into particles (40), as discussed later under Multiple Worlds, Section 4. Other holon analogies can be taken from the field of information. The words on this page represent holons with the letters of which they are composed; so do the sentences with the words as their parts, the sections with their sentences, and the whole paper forms a holon with its sections. A symphony as a whole transcends its parts, the melodies, and in turn the melodies are holons with the notes in them. In visual arts, a painting from a good artist expresses dimensions far beyond the assembly of its colors on the canvas. One can distinguish the quality of an art piece by the degree with which extra dimensions are expressed through its constituent parts, be it with colors, marble, tones, or words. Thus some modern "works of art" that are produced through an arbitrary mixing of elements cannot qualify as real art. Another example of holons in communication are TV pictures. The electrical signals that appear in time sequence on the screen represent the separate parts of the TV picture as a whole. The reader may want to select his or her examples from the infinite range of holons in our world, from subatomic particles up to the myriad of galaxies (41). It is better not to start ___ 13 with man-made holons, such as machines or organizations; they often do not represent true holons. The following sections will show how the holon principles lead logically and naturally to a model of the universe that encompasses harmoniously the seemingly conflicting world views of science and religion, of Western and Eastern thought, of matter and mind. 4. THE HOLISTIC UNIVERSE GROUP ENTITIES The whole of humanity encompasses the characteristics and capabilities of all humans (HP3). Holistic logic tells us that the entity of humanity forms a holon with all humans. Therefore we assume that a humanity-entity exists in M-D space, with much superior reality and capability than ours. We cannot perceive it, yet it is immanent in us. Humanity-entity includes all our characteristics, therefore it has the characteristic of a single individual that pursues its own interests. It is more intelligent than the smartest people throughout history combined. From its M-D environment, humankind-entity perceives interrelationships and potentials that are impossible for us to fathom. It is aware of our thoughts, because its consciousness includes the consciousness of each human (HP3). As it implements its decisions, it carries us along as we do the cells of our body. This does not mean that we are not free as individuals. Moving along with the humankind-entity is our inborn desire, because the humanity-entity is immanent in us. The humanity-entity is our very essence, our source, our root cause. Expressing it is what we live for. It means unfoldment of our innermost potentials. The desires of humanity are in our hearts. We want what it wants, and we are free when we can do what we want. From the humanity-entity's point of view, it and we are one and the same (HP6). Humanity-entity's will is our inner drive. That is unless we confuse some erroneous notions of ours with the will of our real innermost self. (This is when we begin to lose our freedom). One must distinguish between independence and freedom. We depend on humankind-entity for our very existence, yet we are totally free to express our own true nature, which is the nature of humankind. The conscious decisions of the humankind-entity dwell in us unconsciously and we experience them as instinct, as impulses. Thus, unless we have cluttered up our mind with wrong ideas, we can trust our instincts and act spontaneously. Then we take advantage of the superior knowledge and intelligence of our inborn humankind-entity. It is like our fingers doing the bidding of our will. They follow the impulses of our nervous system, initiated by our decisions. We can say that they act instinctively, on impulse, spontaneously. Their instincts are aspects of our conscious decisions. They can trust their ___ 14 instincts, because we are vitally interested in their welfare. We can say the same for our own relationship with humanity-entity. This does not absolve us from using our mind and do our best. Humanity-entity depends on us, as we depend on our fingers to do their job. A change in any human, for instance from experiences, goes with a change in the humanity-entity (HP10), and since it is immanent in all of us, we are all affected through our inner disposition, the mind of humanity-entity. The transmission from one individual to the others occurs because the humanity-entity is undivided and homogenous (HP9). Such interchanges are more pronounced for people who are closer to each other, because they form M-D wholes on a more intimate scale. Because of our immanent interdependence, we carry responsibility for others as well as for us, whether we are aware of it or not. A drug abuser hurts us all. On the other hand, positive efforts of a few can elevate all society, even if their deeds are not known. The concept of group entities is not new. As mentioned before, Plato believed that transcendent forms exist from which the multitude of appearances come into our world (42). The Swiss psychologist Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) concluded that humans share one collective unconscious that lies deeper than the unconscious of each individual (43)(44)(45). He had observed a surprising similarity between deeply seated ideas of widely separated peoples. Similar basic concepts exist in the psyche of all of us, revealed by recurring dreams and subconscious ideas expressed spontaneously, without prior knowledge that they are shared by others. Jung called these concepts "archetypes", which can be seen as the unconscious images of our instincts. Typical archetypes are "mother" and "hero". He stated: "To my mind it is a fatal mistake to regard the human psyche as a purely personal affair and to explain it exclusively from a personal point of view. Such a mode of explanation is only applicable to the individual in his ordinary everyday occupations and relationships" (46). Sigmund Freud had voiced a similar opinion: "I have taken as the basis of my whole position the existence of a collective mind, in which mental processes occur just as they do in the mind of the individual . . ."(47). Carl Jung claimed that ancestral experiences accumulate as archetypes in the collective subconscious of humankind. Individuals "inherit" archetypal propensities much like Plato saw appearances in our world come from transcendent "eidos". In holistic logic terms, Jung's collective subconscious is the consciousness of humanity-entity living in the M-D environment. Biologists are used to viewing animal societies as entities, especially colonies of insects such as bees, wasps, ants, and termites. The British biologist Rupert Sheldrake has generated much interest in this subject. He postulates the existence of hidden, nonphysical forms beyond space and time that, he claims, underlie biological phenomena. He calls them "Morphogenetic Fields", or "M-Fields" (48)(49)(50). Sheldrake brings a ___ 15 multitude of convincing examples for the existence of these transcendent entities. He describes for instance how beehives are organized with an intelligence that far exceeds the capacity of any individual bee. Honeybees maintain the internal temperature of their nests within 34.5 and 35.5 degrees from spring through fall. They do this by carefully sealing off all uncontrolled drafts and by warming the interiors with their body heat by huddling together, more or less as needed. In hot weather they carry water into their nest, spread it out, and enhance its cooling evaporation by fanning air over the water with their wings. Another example describes the mounds made by compass termites in Australia. These tall mounds are very narrow in the east-west direction, but broad in the north-south direction. In this way they are least exposed to the sun at noon, when its radiation is most intense. Sheldrake also reports what appears like a mysterious communication between members of a species. The communication occurs although individuals are too much separated for direct contact. He explains this phenomenon with what he calls "Morphic Resonance". By this he means that individuals resonate their information with the transcendent collective M-Fields, which in turn resonates with other members, unimpeded by space and time. Sheldrake's M-Fields have the character of our holon principles. Morphic resonance is the same as holon principle HP10. The most widely known anecdotal evidence of morphic resonance type communication is the so-called "hundredth monkey effect". The biologist Lyall Watson reported it in his 1970 book "Lifetide" (51)(52). The event occurred on a Japanese island where researchers had fed sweet potatoes to monkeys. For the monkeys this was a new, unknown staple. They liked the potatoes, but they did not like the beach sand that covered them. One monkey started to wash the potatoes in the ocean before eating. This also added a desirable salty taste. After a certain number of monkeys had copied the technique, it was suddenly and spontaneously practiced by the entire community, as if a "critical mass" of potato-washing monkeys triggered this behavior spontaneously in all their group members. Shortly after that, monkeys on other islands practiced the same procedure, although there was no communication between the islands. Such mysterious communication was also observed under laboratory conditions. Rats were put into a maze and had to find their way out, and later generations did this task with successively increasing speed. As more rats had become familiar with the maze, even untrained, genetically unrelated rats showed higher learning speeds (53). The M-Field effects have been observed even with inanimate objects. Mineralogists know that crystals are often very difficult to grow initially for a new substance. Once ___ 16 accomplished, however, it can be repeated more and more easily, even on other continents without any known reason (54,55). Other M-Field examples include flocks of birds, migrating animal herds, and schools of fish acting like single entities. Sheldrake's hypothesis has been tested with positive results. One test involved Japanese nursery rhymes. British and American groups who could not speak Japanese were given two rhymes, a traditional one known to virtually every Japanese, another nonsensical one composed for the test. After chanting each of them a given number of times, the old rhyme could be recalled significantly better than the artificial one (56). Similar tests were done with Hebrew and Persian words, with Russian typewriter keyboards, and with the Morse code (57). Results showed invariably that people who have never been exposed to the correct versions can learn them much easier than the artificial equivalents. David Bohm stated that "the energies involved in M-fields may be very similar to the energies that allow subatomic particles to communicate nonlocally, regardless of space and time," (58) and: "on some level that is beyond ordinary subjective experience, the human race may really be one organism" (59). Harvard biologist Stephen Jay Gould and his collaborator, paleontologist Niles Eldredge, propose to treat the whole of species as analogous to individuals, so that the whole of the species homo sapiens is considered an entity, as John Doe is an entity, according to Briggs and Peat (60). F. Capra states: "We may say that groups of people, societies, and cultures have a collective mind, and therefore also possess a collective consciousness. We also may follow Jung in the assumption that the collective mind, or collective psyche, also includes a collective unconscious" (61). With these collaborating comments, we shall assume that M-D entities do indeed exist, more profoundly than the physical appearances of its members, but invisible to us. Consequently, Darwin's theory of evolution, even in its present "Neodarwinism" version (62), would have to be revised. What is thought of as natural selection through "survival of the fittest", is in holistic reasoning the expression of the conscious will of the species-entity that lives in M-D space. The selection of the best genes from a "gene pool" explained by Neodarwinism is in holistic terms a projection of M-D activity into our 3-D world (refer to Causality, Sect.4). It is not that gene selection does not occur, but it is influenced by the will of an M-D entity as it appears in our 3-D world. To cite an analogy, we can explain our body movements by the brain sending commands through our nervous system, causing appropriate muscle contractions. We also can say that our body moves because we decided so. The anatomical explanation corresponds to the evolution theory of gene selection. Our decision to move our body corresponds to the species-entity's decision to evolve in a certain direction. It is important to distinguish the order ___ 17 levels from which observations are made (HP6). As the physicist Paul Davies states in his article (63): "Orthodox Neodarwinism, while correctly identifying the basic mechanism of evolutionary change, fails to capture the organizational element that generates the progressive arrow of time." THE TOTAL SYSTEM Multidimensional Pyramid The holon priciples lead to the assumption that each animal species has a group-entity that exists in an M-D environment. We also must assume species-entities for the plants, and we assume that physical matter is a projection from an M-D whole, as modern physics suggests. Based on these assumptions, it is logical that these group-entities are themselves parts of even higher order wholes, forming holons of unimaginable greatness and transcendence. One arrives at a single super M-D entity for the planet earth, as some scientists suggest (64). Then there is an M-D entity for our solar system, our galaxy, and so on. Finally there is an ultimate entity that encompasses all that exists, visible and invisible. We shall call it "All-Entity". This view of the universe agrees with that of David Bohm, the physicist mentioned before (Sect. 2). He makes the following statements: "Physics has shown that the mechanistic order doesn't fit experience" (65). Also: "the universe is an undivided whole" (66). Bohm speaks of an "implicate order" and an "explicate order" of the universe. The implicate order is the invisible reality from which our visible reality, the explicate order, emerges. He believes that life and consciousness are part of the implicate order, and that they are immanent in what we call inanimate matter. Multiple Holons Before we proceed with our journey into the M-D realm, it is necessary to understand the relationship between multiple holons that are stacked across several dimensional orders, where the parts of one holon are the wholes of others, and so on. We shall call the holon described in Section 3 a "simple holon". It is useful to introduce the following two definitions. a.) A "source-entity" is a whole at any dimensional order to which a part belongs, regardless how many orders are in between. A source-entity is like any ancestor, no matter how many generations ago. b.) A "sub-entity" is any part that belongs to a source-entity, regardless how many orders are in between, like a descendant from any ancestor, no matter how many generations ago. ___ 18 With these definitions, the following holon principles for multiple order transitions can be formulated. MULTIPLE HOLON PRINCIPLES MHP1 *All holon principles for a simple holon apply also to multiple holons.* For instance for HP1: if entity "A" has more dimensions than "B", and "B" has more dimensions than "C", then "A" has more dimensions than "C". MHP1 means that we can make statements about wholes and parts without knowing how many orders are between them. For instance, we can apply the holon principles for the humankind-entity and individual humans without knowing exactly the subdivisions in between, such as different races or different psychological character types. MPH2 *Any entity of a higher order is invisible to another entity of a lower order.* This has been stated already for the simple holon (HP4). For the sake of completeness, MHP2 points out that all entities of a higher order are invisible, not just the source-entity, because they all have more dimensions. For instance we cannot directly perceive the selves of other persons, as we cannot our own. MHP3 *The differentiation and separation between sub-entities increases with the number of orders between them and their source.* This is because each additional dimension of a source-entity provides an additional degree of freedom with which parts can differ from each other. For instance, the members of one human race-entity differ less from each other than all humans. MHP4 *The source-entities of all orders are immanent in a sub-entitiy.* This statement is equivalent to HP9, except that it includes also all source entities of higher orders beyond the immediate whole. The logical proof of this is similar to the one given under MHP1. MHP4 says for instance that immanent in a person are humanity-entity, earth-entity, All- Entity, and whatever source-entities are in between (see "Human Psyche", this section.) MHP5 *A source-entity has simultaneous and direct access to all its sub-entities at all lower orders, without the need to pass through the intermediate orders sequentially.* This is because of its added dimension. For instance we can see in a crystal form all points, lines, and planes simultaneously because we perceive in 3-D, the third being the added dimension. ___ 19 MHP6 *From a sub-entity's point of view, its source-entities of progressively increasing orders appear stacked in a successive sequence.* For a consciousness to proceed from a lower order to higher orders, it appears necessary to pass successively from one order to the next, because each higher order remains invisible before every upward step. This is in contrast to MHP5, which allows the source-entity to cross all lower orders in a single step. MPH7 *Higher order source-entities are more deeply immanent.* This statement amounts to a definition of "depth of immanence". The more order levels exist between a source-entity and a sub-entity, the more deeply immanent it is in an entity. Psychologically this corresponds to the observation that the humanity-entity is on a deeper subconscious level than the inner personal self. MHP8 *Deeper levels of immanence correspond to lesser privacy.* This is because the deeper immanent source-entity encompasses more sub-entities. This principle seems to contradict experience, because we tend to think that our most private thoughts and feelings are most deeply immanent. But there is a difference between individual and immanent thoughts. The deeper the immanence, the more it is shared with others. All-Entity We can now make some definite statements about the nature of M-D reality, beginning with All-Entity. All-Entity is the source-entity of everything; all other entities in the universe are Its sub-entities (HP3,MHP1). The entire universe is a holon with All-Entity being the whole. All-Entity and Its parts are one and the same, seen from different points of view (HP6). All-Entity has an infinite number of degrees of freedom (HP1). It includes in Itself all aspects, capabilities, and potentials of everything that exists (HP3). For instance It has all human aspects, but beyond these an infinite number of others. All-Entity has no individuality, if we mean by individuality to be different from others. There are no others on that level to be different from. Being the source-entity of everything alive, All-Entity is the very essence of life. It transcends and resolves all differences between entities in the universe (HP5). Thus All-Entity is ultimate harmony. Love is harmony between living beings, therefore All-Entity is ultimate Love. The lower the order from which All-Entity is viewed, the more It appears differentiated into discrete individuals (MPH3). All sub-entities, no matter what order, are equally close to ___ 20 All-Entity (MHP5). The dimensions of All-Entity provide a direct communication path even to the lowest entity. So, while we are aspects of humankind, we are also direct aspects of All-Entity. There is no danger of being blocked by some "middle management" in between. Therefore an individual can influence its entire species through a "divine spark". Since All-Entity encompasses everything, Its consciousness is aware of everything, including every thought and deed. Every thought and every deed is a direct part of All-Entity. There simply is no division between All-Entity and us (HP5). A whole and its parts are one and the same, just seen from different points of view (HP6). We cannot be separated from All-Entity. The only separation we may feel is due to our limited minds, our common sense. Since we cannot be separated from All-Entity, we are immortal. We shed our body as a tree sheds its leaves. Fear of death comes from excessive identification with physical reality, from lack of M-D understanding. Being immersed in All-Entity does not deprive us of our individuality. Any part maintains its uniqueness though it is totally merged with its whole. The different levels of dimensional orders make this possible (HP7&8). All-Entity is the root source within us. It is the reason why we must trust our inner strength, the reason why we are entitled to self confidence, no matter what our station in life. Since All-Entity, the essence of life and consciousness, is immanent in everything, there is no "dead" matter. There is consciousness in every atom. What we call dead matter appears so to our senses because we cannot sense the life within it. We know that the molecules, atoms, and subatomic parts are very active indeed in their world. This activity must be regarded as a form of life. Our American Indian friends have always been closer to this kind of understanding. We have good reason to appreciate their tradition that has kept these ideas alive. David Bohm, the physicist mentioned before, says that life is implicit in what we call inanimate matter (67)(68)(69). Philosophers had made such statements in the past. G.W. Leibniz claimed that the same principle of consciousness that expresses itself in the mind of man is active in inanimate matter, in plant, and animal (70). The valiant effort by scientists to determine the beginning of life on earth appears futile from a holistic point of view, because everything that exists is alive, period. Also in M-D terms, there is no beginning, because there is no time as we perceive it, to be discussed in the next section. Since M-D reality is immanent in all appearances of our world, people who believe that our physical world is the only reality have a good reason to think so. One can point to objects and claim that they represent all the reality there is, because all reality is indeed immanent in them. There is no higher reality outside our world, no "heaven" beyond outer space. One approach to Yoga enlightenment is to concentrate on an object, perhaps a ___ 21 flame, until one senses its inner reality, which eventually turns out to be the inner reality of everything else. Another approach is to concentrate on the present moment, because it contains all reality. Every flower that emerges from its seed, every birth of any kind, demonstrates the immanence of life. The closest contact with the ultimate reality is within our selves, as the great mystics of all ages have proclaimed (71). Fritjof Capra, nuclear physicist in Vienna and publisher of several books, draws compelling parallels between the findings of modern physics and the religious philosophies of the East: Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese thought, Taoism, and Zen (72). He writes for instance: "Modern physics leads us to a view of the world that is very similar to the views held by mystics of all ages and traditions" (73). The above statements fall logically and naturally from the holon principles. Beyond abstract thoughts they can have a profound effect on an individual. It is possible to have an experience of total unity with the entire universe. This occurs apparently to an increasing number of people. According to Dr. Joan Borysenko, polls show a surprisingly high and increasing rate of extraordinary psychological incidences (74). Thirtyfive percent of the American public are said to have felt very close to a powerful spiritual force that seemed to lift them out of themselves. Five percent experienced being bathed in a mysterious light, such as Apostle Paul on the way to Damascus. Dr. Borysenko has a PhD. in cell biology from Harvard Medical School and is president of Mind, Body Health Siences, Inc.. Spontaneous transcendental awakenings have been reported throughout history (75). The Canadian physician Richard Maurice Bucke, M.D., published a book in 1901, titled "Cosmic Consciousness" (76). In it he describes elevated states of mind and brings fifty examples of specific personalities. Bucke assumed that humankind is at the verge of developing a new kind of consciousness, because he observed an increasing rate of occurrences. The same thought was expressed by W.T. Stace (77). This is also supported by the "New Age" trend, that is driven by individual spontaneous spiritual or psychological transformations (78). Marilyn Ferguson describes the increasing trend towards enlightening transformation and lists nineteen "intentional triggers" in her book "The Aquarian Conspiracy" (79). Throughout the discussions in this paper, well known, long standing philosophical concepts come to mind. One is compelled to identify the All-Entity concept with "pantheism", the doctrine that the divine is all-pervasive. This writer feels uncomfortable with this term, because any theism, pan- or otherwise, tends to have a certain limiting connotation. The system described herein is neither theistic nor atheistic. All-Entity simply IS, and it encompasses everything else that IS. Any description of reality fails to convey true direct experience. This applies also to this paper. However there is ___ 22 an intuitive knowledge that goes with it and existing philosophical terms tend to divert attention from this knowledge. They have attained a reality of their own in the human psyche, and name recognition of them may be confused with understanding the underlying reality. The whole is basically simple, as any whole is, being only a single one. So this paper will use philosophical terms very sparingly, asking experts to be forgiving. The Nature of Time As already stated, our concept of time does not correspond to higher reality. Time is an aspect of 4-D space-time (Sect. 2). Following our holistic logic: past, present, and future are parts of space-time. They exist in it simultaneously (HP5). Past, present, and future are present in space-time, now and at any other moment of our time (HP9). We experience sequentially in our time what exists actually simultaneously in transcendent reality. It is like the light spot moving on the TV screen, going through the picture one point at a time, because the TV transmission system cannot handle all points simultaneously. Or it is like driving in a car through a landscape. At any one moment we experience the immediate environment around the car as the present event. We do not see the stretch that we have already travelled, or the one before us. Yet the entire route exists simultaneously, in parallel, if seen from above. In fact, the landscape does not only exist behind and in front of us, but stretches out to all sides. Our decisions are like turns that we take at intersections, choosing a particular future course of events out of many possible ones. Instead of a landscape with features such as trees, houses, etc., the space-time landscape is composed of probable events, the closest ones being most probable. This concept of space-time is emerging from modern science. John Gribbin describes in his book the hypothesis that many worlds exist in parallel to, and intersect with ours, with options to branch out (80). Gribbin also describes the work of Feynmann, who showed mathematically that subatomic particles can travel backward in time (81). "Both quantum theory and relativity theory permit time travel, of one kind or another. And anything that is acceptable to both theories, no matter how paradoxical that something may seem, has to be taken seriously" (82). Capra quotes Lama Govinda about Buddhist meditation experience: "In this space- experience the temporal sequence is converted into simultaneous coexistence, the side-by-side existence of things . . . becomes a living continuum in which time and space are integrated" (83). David Bohm believes that time is enfolded in the whole, that time is an aspect of the implicate order (84) (Sect.2). Professor Hawking talks about "imaginary time" in his book "A Brief History of Time", with a well defined mathematical meaning. He suggests "that the so-called imaginary time is really the real time, and that what we call real time is just a figment of our imaginations" (85). ___ 23 The assumption of an M-D landscape that holds all events, including the ones that in our view were in the past, would explain why scientists cannot find where in the brain memories are stored. They are most likely not stored in the brain, instead the brain has the function of reading information that exists in a timeless M-D environment. Photographic memory can be understood that way, also the reports that people with near death experiences (NDE's) see their entire lives in an instant. This understanding of space-time may explain the character of dreams pursuing a psychological tale with utter disregard of space and time. Holistic time and space could perhaps also explain clairvoyance, precognition, and readings of past reincarnations (86). Holistic logic tells us also that time has no beginning and end. The limitations that we perceive in our order do not exist in higher dimensional orders. A beginning of time implies a separation from non-time. Separations do not exist at the level of a whole (HP5). Physicists postulate that space-time runs back into itself in 4-D space, like the surface of our earth in 3-D space (87). Parts tend to be symbolic for the whole they represent, because the whole is immanent in the parts. The celestial bodies are likely to be 3-D symbols of the M-D reality whence they come. If there is no beginning and end of time, then our notion of a beginning of time with a "Big Bang" must represent a distorted view of true reality, caused by our "prejudice" that events occur sequentially in time, while in the actual and more fundamental M-D reality everything exists simultaneously in parallel. We have great difficulty visualizing this, but our common sense cannot be trusted in such matters. In this writer's opinion, the real "Big-Bang" is All-Entity, and our 3-D physical world is constantly being created out of the timeless M-D environment. In fact, we are the ones that create it. It is our limited view of the multidimensional reality that carves our aspect out of it. We are the ones that settle for a subset of the total. Without us, that narrowing-down to our reality would not exist. Of course the same goes for cats, dogs, fleas, etc., with their own worlds. The Human Psyche We can draw also some interesting conclusions about our own psyche. As we have already seen, it includes all source entities, including humankind-entity and All-Entity, with untold M-D layers in between (MHP4). They are all immanent in us. We must assume that there are intermediate entities between us and the humankind-entity, given the different races, nationalities and character types that we observe. We can draw a simplified map of the human psyche that corresponds to holistic thinking (Fig.5). We shall bypass psychological definitions, such as id, ego, and superego for the reason given for philosophical terms (All-Entity, last paragraph). Figure 5 depicts the view from our own, our sub-entity's position, with all higher entities in series according to MHP6. From All-Entity's point of view, all these entities appear in parallel (MHP5). ___ 24 -- All-Entity -- | --- ? --- | -- Earth-Entity -- | --- ? --- | -- Animal-Entity -- | --Humanity-Entity -- | ? | ------------ Soul ------------ | | | | | Self Self Self Self Self | | Mind Body Fig. 5. Map of human psyche. We call the M-D entity of our body and mind the "self". According to holistic reasoning, our self is in turn an aspect of a more complex entity of an even higher order. We shall call this next higher entity our "soul", disregarding existing meanings implied by this word. The soul must have other aspects besides the self that we identify with. We may call these the "multiple selves". The concept of multiple selves is not alien to psychologists. H. Kohurt, for instance, discussed them in his paper "The Search for the Self", as reported by Louis Zinkin (88)(89). The Soul is immanent in each of the multiple selves as it is in ours (HP9). Thus each self refers to it as "my soul", although the soul includes more selves than one (MHP8). Our soul is within our self, and our self is in our mind and body. This means of course that our Soul is immanent in our mind and body. The soul in turn is a part of an even higher order entity unknown to us. It in turn is part or subpart of the humankind-entity. This proceeds through entities of higher and higher order, through earth-entity all the way up to All-Entity. All are immanent in "us", in our bodies, minds, our Selves, and our Souls. If we could proceed in our consciousness to peel off the outer layers of us, one by one, starting with our body, we would recognize higher and higher entities as our "real I", eventually experiencing All-Entity as our ultimate true identity. In this sense, and with the appropriate state of mind, it is no blasphemy to state that "I am God". This is exactly the path to enlightenment taught by Yoga, Buddhism, and other mystic philosophies. They all seek the awakening to one's innermost reality, which turns out to be the holistic reality of the whole universe. The ancient scriptures of Hinduism, for instance, the Vedas, call the innermost personal reality ___ 25 "Atman", and the ultimate reality of the universe "Brahman". The wisdom to be understood and to be experienced is that Atman and Brahman are one and the same (90)(91)(92)(93). The described concept of the human psyche provides also an explanation why long distance runners get their "second wind", "third wind", etc., until they experience a psychic "high". They draw on deeper and deeper immanent reserves, thus experiencing higher levels of their psyche. For the same reason, frightening experiences can have an exhilarating effect. The soul dwells in an environment where our limited notions of space and time do not exist. For the soul, its constituent selves exist all simultaneously. However to our mind, time differences do exist, and the selves of the same soul appear in different time periods of human history. This has been interpreted as reincarnation, however it is not a matter of the soul jumping from body to body. It is the creative expression of life by the soul into many different dimensions, so that it can grow through experiencing life in a multifaceted way far beyond the scope of a single self. What we perceive as one particular incarnation of our soul is one specific aspect of natural, creative unfoldment into its constituent parts. Unfoldment occurs at any level, be it the spreading of a flower's petals, of a tree's branches, different races, or different selves of a soul. It is only our limited common sense, our distorted sense of space-time, that prevents us from seeing the true greatness of our souls as they unfold their existence into seemingly separate selves, as any holon does. Our souls do not need to be saved. They are securely imbedded in the folds of All-Entity, as are our selves. Where time does not exist, death cannot be. Dr. Ian Stevenson, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia Medical School, has performed thousands of scientifically documented case studies of apparent reincarnation. At least five volumes with case histories have been published by the Virginia University Press (94). The university's decision to publish this "controversial" material was based on Dr. Stevenson's impeccable professional credibility and on an independent in-depth check into the scientific viability of his studies. A summary of Dr. Stevenson's studies is given in a book titled: "Reincarnation", authored by Sylvia Cranston and Carey Williams (95). Dr. Stevenson focussed his studies on children, because he observed that the reincarnational recall tends to fade after a certain age. Also, children's spontaneous recalls are less suspect because they are less influenced by prior knowledge. Furthermore, children's stories can often be more easily verified, because witnesses of their former lives may still be alive. According to Cranston and Williams, for each case investigated Dr. Stevenson and his staff taped interviews with an average of 25 people. They checked out documents, letters, medical ___ 26 records, etc., and compared character traits between the child and its claimed former personality. In about 200 cases the child could point to a birthmark where it claimed to have been wounded or killed, and the position of the wound could be verified through witnesses or records of these events. For instance one boy claimed that he was formerly a Turkish bandit who took his life when he was cornered by authorities. He shot himself from below through his jaw. The boy had a huge mark there, and hair was missing on his scalp where the bullet supposedly had emerged in his former life. A witness of the shooting was still alive and verified these details. Other cases involved people who could fluently speak foreign languages, although they had never learned them in this life. It is appropriate at this point to redefine the term "mind". We distinguish here between "conscious mind" and "unconscious mind" and we shall define as "unconscious mind" all the mind-substance in our psyche, up to All-Entity. There are really no divisions. In any multiple holon there are no divisions between its order levels. The source-entities and the sub-entities at all levels are one and the same, only seen from different points of view (HP6&MHP1). The word "psyche" means then the total of conscious and unconscious mind. Holistic thinking leads to the belief in mind over matter. According to HP10, a change in any part is associated with changes in the whole and the other parts. Therefore, conscious thoughts change the self and through it the body. Any intense and persistent thought pattern does affect the body, positively or negatively, depending on the type of thoughts. Depending on how strong and persistent the thought patterns are, they affect deeper or shallower layers of the psyche, causing more or less permanent effects on the body. Therefore the prevailing medical practice of repairing the body as one would a complex machine appears inappropriate. Instead the growing trend of a holistic approach to medicine addresses the whole personality and is likely to be more effective and less costly in the long run. Of course a change in the body also affects our mind, as we all experience when we are sick. The effect in that direction usually happens much faster. Probably this is because our mind is much more flexible than our body, the former being less locked into space and time than the latter. Thus it takes the body longer to change in response to a new blueprint from the inner self, as seen in our time perception. So far we have viewed the M-D hierarchy like the organization of a corporation, where managers have an open door policy to all people working for him or her, down to the lowest rank. However, as everybody knows who has participated in corporate life, organization diagrams are crude abstractions of how an organization really functions. In actuality, there is a multitude of cross-communications and informal working ___ 27 relationships. So it is with the M-D hierarchy. Different levels are not distinctly separated, even seen from below, because consciousnesses usually grow across them gradually. Parallel entities melt together to form partial holistic unions, others disintegrate. Furthermore, parts belong to more than one whole, as individuals belong simultaneously to a family, a work organization, a church, a club, and (God forbid) to several partners. While this complicates the issues, the holon principles still apply to whatever situation one considers. Also remember that the hierarchical organization appears rigid only when viewed from the bottom up, while from the top down everything is one harmonious, homogeneous evolving union (HP6). Now, is the reader confused about who he or she really is, the daily-life-person, the self, the soul, or the entire string to All-Entity? And how do the multiple selves relate to us? The answer can be obtained again with our trusty crystal model. Pointing to one of its planes one can ask whether this is a plane or whether it is the whole crystal. It depends on our point of view (HP6). The more we live from our heart, the deeper we feel the joyful union with the rest of the world, the more we identify with our higher source-entities (MHP7). Each individual sets his or her own place by the attitude towards life, by the scope of mind. The other selves are not separate, competing entities, viewed from the soul (HP6). Any action, any thought of our self affects our other selves and vice versa, whether one is aware of them or not (HP10). It is unconscious teamwork across space and time. Learning to open up to and to identify with our inner self and our soul opens the access to their greater power, potential, and harmony. This is why deep muscle relaxation exercises used by psychologists for anxiety desensitization are so helpful. One puts the conflicting currents of daily life on hold and allows the soul to do its job: to implement peace and harmony. Conflicts are seen at this level with a detached, sovereign, and much more knowledgeable point of view. With some practice, one can sense answers and suggestions from there. The prerequisite is, of course, that one accepts the existence of M-D reality to begin with. This is also the reason why obsessive-compulsive behavior, such as alcoholism, can be much more effectively cured if the treatment involves a spiritual approach. Inner conflicts are already resolved at a deeper level within us, there being a harmonious whole of opposing parts. It's a matter of opening up to it. M-D reality is called "spiritual", but this term has connotations for many people that do not well reflect the true nature of M-D reality. Many believe that the spiritual world lies beyond our world, unreal compared with ours, separated from us, and only to be reached after death. Holistic knowledge tells us instead that transcendent existence is more real than physical reality. Spiritual and physical reality are one and the same, seen from different points of view. We are living in ___ 28 the spiritual M-D world right now, always, dead or alive. It is better to think in terms of laws of nature that permeate all reality. Only with this understanding shall we use the term spiritual here, synonymously with M-D reality. Multiple Worlds A holistic model of the multidimensional universe is not complete without addressing the utter immensity, the mindboggling and seemingly hopeless vastness and complexity of it all. If we think that we cannot grasp our physical cosmos with its myriad galaxies and endless space, wait till you hear the rest. Imagine that the cells in your body form a society of living individuals, like a microscopic human society. You are a single cell and you try to understand all of reality. Through some communication you may have a vague idea of the organ in which you dwell. However, to understand the whole body is impossible. This corresponds roughly to our understanding of the physical cosmos. Now realize that your scientists have not even discovered yet that there is a mind associated with the body, your cosmos. Worse yet, there are other body-cosmoses with minds in addition to yours, billions of them. And these live on one relatively insignificant planet, with the entire universe still beyond, with untold galaxies. This may be an apt description of our situation. It demonstrates also why we must not reject the following considerations as unrealistic. What is possible for one holon, the cell, is possible for any holon, including ours. If such conclusion is logical, our common sense is not qualified to reject it just because it is so overwhelming. Let us revisit our 2Ds. Our crystal has a number of planes with different orientations in 3-D space. The 2Ds of any one plane cannot perceive any of the other planes, because they lack a sense for a third dimension. The crystal in our example is a rather simple structure. Potentially, there can be an unlimited number of 2-D aspects of the same 3-D object. Think of a tree. One can take virtually an unlimited number of different (2-D) photos of it. Thus one can create an unlimited number of 2-D aspect/parts of one 3-D whole (HP2). As far as analogies go, it is not possible to find one that explains all holistic situations simultaneously. One must combine mentally the aspect-parts vs. whole relationship of the crystal (HP1-13) with the aspects of the tree. In other words, for an accurate analogy, the photos would have to be organically integrated with the tree (HP6). So there are potentially an infinite number of parts in the holon of any entity, and there are potentially an infinite number of worlds in the holon of any higher order world. Inhabitants of a lower order world do not perceive the fellow-worlds of the same order, as the 2Ds in one crystal plane don't see the other planes. In the same manner, we do not perceive the other 3-D worlds. They are differently oriented in ___ 29 4-D space. Higher order M-D worlds are even much more diversified. The 4-D world to which we and other worlds belong is itself only one of many. There are potentially a limitless number of 4-D worlds, each one having a limitless number of 3-D worlds, and so on up the M-D hierarchy. All-Entity has an infinite number of sub-entity worlds at all order levels, spreading out into more and more diversification at lower orders. Another analogy may help to visualize this situation. As mentioned in Section 3, white light contains a range of colors. It is possible to choose different colors from pure white light, corresponding to the infinite number of electromagnetic wave frequencies that comprise white light. So in the world of colors, the single whole, white, potentially spawns an infinite number of "color worlds". This concept applies to every holon on all M-D order levels. The multiple world concept is not just an unrealistic play with thoughts. Quantum physicists are beginning to believe that this is a correct interpretation of their quantum mathematics. The subject was first seriously addressed in 1950 by Hugh Everett who explored the concept mathematically (96)(97)(98). It appears that multiple worlds are just as real as ours, even though they are invisible to us. As John Gribbin says: "It sounds like science fiction, but it goes far deeper than any science fiction, and it is based on impeccable mathematical equations . . ."(99). The only reason why some physicists have difficulty to accept this is that it goes against their common sense. We have so much trouble to accept the immensity of multiple worlds because we imagine them as separate. In reality, they are aspects of one whole. In M-D reality there are ultimately no separate entities, there is only one single All-Entity. Our common sense may not be able to cope with the vastness of the M-D universe, but the consoling thought is that our inner psyche can do so. We can trust that it can deal with this because in its deepest immanence it is identical with All-Entity. We can compare this with an individual within a nation. As a single person we could feel hopelessly insignificant, given the total population of the country. Yet, with some spirit of patriotism it can be even uplifting to be part of a great nation. We can adopt a similar attitude towards the entire universe and feel very good about it. Holistic logic provides some insight into the creation of the worlds, ours and others. The camera in our tree analogy stands for a consciousness that perceives a 2-D aspect of the 3-D whole. It is the act of taking the picture, of paying attention to an aspect, which makes that aspect real as a 2-D entity. In a holon, the potential aspects of the whole become real in the lower order because some consciousness perceives them. If nobody looks at a particular aspect of a 3-D object, that aspect ___ 30 does not exist as a 2-D entity. By the same token, if nobody looks at a 3-D aspect of a 4-D object, that aspect does not exist as an entity in our 3-D world. It is the restricted consciousness that creates entities at its order level out of the unlimited aspects of the transcendent whole. As John Gribbin says: "nothing is real unless we look at it" (100). This is true for the reality that we experience, and we also must assume that it is true for other realities that we don't perceive ourselves. The different realities are "created" by their inhabitants because they look at different aspects of the same transcendent whole. The term "real" means here what is real for us, real in our order. The transcendent whole has always been and still is real, more profoundly real in its own domain (HP7). The multiple world idea is really analog to multiple selves. Holons have the same structure throughout the universe (HP12). We may assume that our multiple selves live in different multiple worlds, not just in different time periods. The multiple-world view of holistic thinking means that we constantly pick our own reality from an unlimited reservoir of existing probabilities that are already real in the multidimensional environment. Our own reality depends on how we approach the greater, invisible reality around and within us, which aspects we focus on, individually and as a society. It is as if we all wear tinted glasses, each person a different color. We all look at the same objects in M-D space bathed in white light. However, each one of us sees the same world with a different color. We hardly realize this, because we are so used to our own color. Some people see the world in a depressing blue, while others in a cheerful pink. Certain items are not even seen at all by some but by others, because our colored glasses filter out certain aspects. Assuming for a moment that there are enough colors (which is true in terms of psychological diversity), there are as many different worlds as there are people, each picking his or her unique aspect of the M-D world. To change our world, we must change the color of our own glasses. Preferably we want to increase the color range until we see white light. So we want to increase the range of our consciousness. As we do away with the limitations of our mindset, we automatically act more in tune with the greater reality in which we reside. Our world becomes more desirable for us as well as for others. "You create your own reality", this is the message repeated tirelessly by Seth in Jane Roberts' books. He explains in enlightening detail how we can change our lives by changing our beliefs (101). In fact, Seth's entire philosophy dovetails coherently with the holistic system described here. To this writer this is one of the indications of Seth's authenticity. Without the Seth material, the Multiple World section and some other parts of this paper would not have been written with the same confidence. The Seth books provide a wealth of information for the serious student of M-D reality. Philosophers have suggested multiple worlds in the past. Spinoza, for instance, said that God has an infinite number of ___ 31 attributes, of which humans perceive only two: physical extension and thought, humans being themselves of a physical and mental nature (102). Gottfied Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) postulated that ours is the "best of all possible worlds" (103). The holistic hierarchy described here is reminiscent of Leibniz's system of monads, which are basically spiritual, psychic entities positioned in a metaphysical hierarchy (104). The higher a monad is positioned, the more it represents the reality of the universe, each from its own perspective. There is an all-encompassing supreme monad: God. "The source of mechanics lies in meta-physics", according to Leibniz. He pointed out that the whole overall system is totally homogeneous, without discrete steps. The interaction between monads at different levels, such as the soul and the body, is due to a harmony preestablished by God, according to Leibniz. Causality There are two types of causality. We are used to the type confined to space and time: if certain conditions exist and certain events occur at some time, then these cause another set of conditions and events at a later time. This is the scientific type of reasoning. It deals with parts on the same order level, for instance within our 3-D world. We shall call this type of causal relationship "temporal causation", because time passes between its cause and effect. The maximum speed with which temporal causation can occur is the speed of light, according to Einstein. The other type of causation occurs between wholes and their parts, between dimensional orders (HP10). This type was more perceived by the Greek philosophers (105). We shall call it "holistic causation". In contrast to temporal causation, holistic causation can cause correlated events to appear in our world perfectly simultaneously, giving us the impression that they communicate faster than the speed of light. This is so because one of these events is not the result of another in time and space, but both events are the result of the same "super-event" in M-D space. The super-event may or may not appear simultaneously in our physical world, depending on what aspect of the M-D event we observe, depending on which of the multiple worlds we happen to occupy. Quantum physicists have indeed observed causation with higher speed than light. They call it "superluminal causation". The Aspect experiment mentioned before demonstrated holistic causation. The polarization of one photon changed instantaneously with that of its twin photon. Holistic causation occurs between the soul and its constituent selves (Sect.4). All selves influence their common soul, and the soul influences all its selves simultaneously, no matter where they happen to appear in time and space. No temporal causation exists between reincarnations, unless they meet in physical life. From the holistic point of view, the prevailing understanding of karma is misleading. Originally it meant the ___ 32 force of creation, wherefrom all things have their life. Later the meaning was distorted to imply fate, caused by one's own actions in former incarnations. The original meaning represents holistic causation. Apparently, with time people lost this understanding, and the definition of karma deteriorated to the temporal causation version. Between our inner self and the sum of our body and conscious mind is a constant flux of holistic causation. Carl Jung coined the term "synchronicity" for correlated psychological events that occur coincidentally, although they don't appear to be causally related to each other. Such experiences are not infrequent. For instance one may think of a person and then meet this person by chance, or one receives the news that the person has passed away. Jung referred to an extensive literature on telepathy, extrasensory perception, clairvoyance and similar phenomena in support of the principle of synchronicity (106)(107). Another example of holistic causation are similar experiences that occur frequently to monozygotic twins. They often feel the same physical pain simultaneously, even though they may be separated by great distances. In holistic terms monozygotic twins form one M-D entity. 5. PRACTICAL IMPACT IMPACT ON THE INDIVIDUAL Aristotle said that happiness is the goal of human nature (108). What does holistic reasoning tell us about reaching this goal? We can say that happiness is a state of harmony within our self and with the world. The state of harmony exists in the whole of a holon (HP5). Therefore we want to identify with the whole that is immanent in us and that unites us with the world: All-Entity. This discussion is not an attempt to coax the reader into a religious conversion. Instead it shows how straightforward, rational holistic logic leads naturally to the key tenets of major world religions. The highest form of identification between living beings is love. Thus one gains happiness through loving All-Entity. This is exactly what Jesus Christ told us, it is his first commandment (109). One cannot love the whole without loving its parts. So one cannot love All-Entity without loving one's fellow humans. Hence Christ's second commandment, to love one's neighbor as oneself. This message is perceived as a moral demand. Holistic reasoning tells us that it is the logically smart thing to do, smart from an egotistical point of view as well as from an altruistic one. Thus holistic logic transcends opposites. The ten commandments revealed earlier to the Jewish people are in line with the basic commands for love, spelled out in specific detail, as may have been more appropriate at that time. ___ 33 Hinduism, as mentioned earlier, is based on its ancient Veda scriptures. Its ultimate aim is to identify with the inner "Atman", who is also "Brahman" when perceived as the whole of the universe, our concept of All-Entity. It is the path of mysticism. A step-by-step description of a mystic path towards enlightenment is given in the "Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali" (110). Buddha, after his mystical enlightenment, taught that the world of appearances leads us to errors in judgement, with corresponding unpleasant consequences. According to him, no permanent security can be found except in the identification with the ultimate transcendent whole, the "Nirvana". Nirvana cannot be described in words, "because human language is too poor to express the real nature of the Absolute Truth or Ultimate Reality that is Nirvana" (111). Buddhism follows a mystic philosophy similar to Hinduism, with the difference that the ultimate whole does not have the theistic connotation. However, such differences come from the limitations of human perception and do not affect the principle. Ultimate mystic union is sought in the Eastern philosophy-religions through meditation, with a tendency to withdraw from our world of appearances. This aspect of Eastern thought goes against the grain of Western thinking. We see our society as antithesis to introverted withdrawal. However, if meditation is done correctly, it puts us in an intimate contact with the rest of the world, as it must, because the whole world is immanent in us. Westerners tend to be extroverted and find satisfaction in expressing their inner potentials. This is totally compatible with holistic thinking and akin to the Eastern philosophy of Karma Yoga. In striving for active expression of one's innermost core, one strives ultimately for identification with All-Entity that is immanent in us. The challenge is to clear the channel, one's own psyche, to foster the free flow of the energy, wisdom, and harmony from within. In each type of philosophy, Eastern and Western, the individual is encouraged to overcome the inner blocks and conflicts caused by misunderstanding of true reality. Holistically, both approaches should go together. Eastern philosophies point out, as did Socrates, that our problems are caused by our lack of understanding, lack of the right kind of knowledge. There is nothing wrong with physical reality. There is only inadequate understanding of the transcendent and immanent laws of nature. A malicious act is born from the misconception that one can gain an advantage by hurting somebody else. If we think and act like this, we emphasize the separation between us and others. This reduces our inner awareness of the harmonious whole that exists between us and others, our source-entity. Focusing on the conflict between sub-entities prevents awareness of the source-entity (HP4&6). Since our source-entity is immanent in us (HP9&10), ___ 34 the conflict blocks our access to our very source of life, health, and harmony. In this quite automatic way, a person can create a "life in hell" for him/herself, without anybody ever passing a judgement. On the other hand, the love that you give unselfishly emerges in your own heart. It is our mindset that creates our type of experience, as described under the Multiple Worlds section. The mindset acts like tinted glasses that impede access to the M-D whole. This does not mean that every bad experience is due to some malicious intent. Challenging experiences can be important stepping stones for inner growth, set up by the inner self, without us being conscious of it in our daily life. Inner growth toward lasting happiness requires that we face our weaknesses, our conflicting notions that block our way. A firm conscious decision by a person to go the route towards enlightenment permeates the inner self and the soul, as any change of a part does (HP10). The self and the soul then lead the person via intuitions and impulses, perceived by us as our will. Depending on the determination of the individual, this may lead into unexpected challenges. What matters are the lessons learnt, the blocks purged, the consciousness expanded. IMPACT ON SOCIETY Society changes as its individuals change (HP10). As more people adopt the holistic world view, so does the whole of society. Each individual added to the new thinkers makes it easier for others to join, because they are immanently more motivated via the common M-D whole of society. The validity of this holistic principle is supported by Rupurt Sheldrake's studies (Sect.4). Thus we shall see an ever increasing rate of change towards a holistic world view. A new common sense will be born. We are getting help along the way. The help comes from within ourselves, from the holistic harmony that is already immanent. With holistic understanding there is less need to subscribe to any particular brand of religious belief system. People can feel free to pursue their own path of spiritual growth, individually or in groups. Social movements such as environmentalism, human rights, and holistic medicine (112)(113) represent an awakening to holistic reality. Speaking of holistic medicine, the condition of the body is holistically caused by the condition of the mind (114). Spontaneous and dramatic healings after an individual's turnaround in attitudes and beliefs have been documented (115). Mental hygiene is the key to physical health. It is up to the people to control their minds. Objecting to the barrage of violent and detestable mass media programs is essential. Other initiatives must follow: care and compassion for the disadvantaged, the homeless, the uneducated. People will learn to control their lives through mental disciplines. "Creative visualization" is being ___ 35 successfully used, particularly in sports and medicine (116)(117). Creative visualization works because of holon principle HP10. Imagining repeatedly and vividly a desired situation brings about a corresponding change in one's psyche, thus creating a corresponding personal world. For this to work, it is first necessary to eliminate any lingering beliefs that contradict the desired situation (118). Fritjof Capra expresses his deep concern about the urgency and importance for the human race to wake up and face the true reality: "the gravity and the global extent of our current crisis indicate that this change is likely to result in a transformation of unprecedented dimensions, a turning point for the planet as a whole" (119); and: "we need a new vision of reality; a fundamental change in our thoughts, perceptions, and values. The beginnings of this change, of the shift from mechanistic to the holistic conception of reality, are already visible in all fields and are likely to dominate the present decade." Scientists will be more interested in understanding M-D reality, preferably in cooperation with Eastern "M-D experts". Such research may be even more productive and cost effective than creating subatomic particles with ever higher power. To penetrate M-D reality, it appears appropriate to use M-D means. Age-old moral maxims can perhaps be scientifically substantiated, converting belief systems into knowledge systems. Scientific research may eventually generate a revolution in the psychological arena similar to the industrial-technological revolution that followed the development of the physical sciences. Spectacular capabilities may be developed because the M-D environment has more degrees of freedom and is intrinsically more powerful than our physical world. As any individual, so a whole nation cannot continue to prosper, or even remain strong, while disregarding basic spiritual laws. The greatness of a nation depends on its immanent strength. For the American Dream to continue, it must include spiritual, holistic thinking. The modern American Dream must include equitable sharing of wealth, individual acceptance of responsibility for society, and the pursuit of excellence by all. ___ 36 6. CONCLUSION Modern research is leading to a new world view that unites physical science with psychology, philosophy, and religion. The key is the discovery of multiple dimensions beyond our 3-D world, combined with an understanding of holistic principles. We cannot perceive directly the multidimensional environment beyond ours because our senses are three-dimensional, but we can draw enlightening conclusions based on a set of holistic principles that together form a logic system. It enables us to research the structure of the multidimensional world and to create a new model of the universe. Holistic logic suggests answers to age-old questions such as the whole versus parts problem, mind-body interaction, the beginning of the universe and of life, and the nature of evolution. Corresponding to quantum physics findings, it is concluded that many other worlds exist in addition to ours, invisible to us but real. The new world view gives direction to people who search for vital answers and to society at large. According to holistic thinking, we can control our destiny, and humankind can unfold unlimited potentials, provided it observes cosmic rules. Americans could lead this trend with a renewed American Dream. ___ 37 GLOSSARY All-Entity: The integrated whole of everything that exists. Aspect: Partial exposure. Entity: Same as whole, viewed in its own order. Holistic: Emphasis on the organic integration of separate parts. Holon: A whole and its parts considered simultaneously. Immanent: Inside but transcendent. M-D: Multidimensional. Order: Number of dimensions. Part: One of several units which together form a whole. Self: The transcendent whole of body and mind. Source-entity: A whole that gives existence to parts of one or more orders. Sub-entity: A part of any order that belongs to a source-entity. Transcendent: Having more integrated dimensions. Higher order. 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Hawking, "A Brief History of Time", pg 29-30. 5 Fritjof Capra, "The Tao of Physics", pg 166-172. 6 John Gribbin, "In Search of Schroedinger's Cat", pg 183ff. 7 Quoted by Briggs & Peat, "The Looking Glass Universe" pg 125 ___ 40 8 John Gribbin, "In Search of Schroedinger's Cat", pg 188. 9 S.W. Hawking, "A Brief History of Time", Bantam, pg 23-24. 10 Fritjof Capra, "The Turning Point", pg 89 11 Thilly, XVI The Critical Philosophy of I.Kant, pg 421. 12 W.T. Jones, "Kant to Wittgenstein and Sartre" 13 F.Thilly, "A History of Philosophy", 3rd Ed. pg 387. 14 John Gribbin, "In Search of Schroedinger's Cat", pg 9ff,45ff. 15 John Gribbin, "In Search of Schroedinger's Cat", pg 83ff. 16 John Gribbin, "In Search of Schroedinger's Cat", pg 90-91. 17 J.P.Briggs & F.D.Peat, "Looking Glass Universe", pg 88-89. 18 John Gribbin,"In Search of Schroedinger's Cat", pg 3-4,77-78. 19 Michael Talbot, "Beyond the Quantum", pg 1-3, 27-39. 20 Descartes, R."Meditations on First Philosophy", 6th Meditation. 21 Stuart Hampshire, "Spinoza", London, Faber & Faber, 1956. 22 F.Thilly, "A History of Philosophy", 3rd Ed.pg326. 23 F.Thilly, "A History of Philosophy", 3rd Ed. pg323. 24 F.Thilly, "A History of Philosophy", 3rd Ed. pg481. 25 S.W. Hawking,"A Brief History of Time", pg 155ff. 26 J.Gribbin & P.Wesson, "The Fifth Dimension of Mass", New Scientist, 22 Sept.1988, pg 56ff. 27 Underhill E: "Mysticism". N.Y. EP Dutton & Co. 1961. 28 J.P.Briggs & F.D.Peat, "Looking Glass Universe", pg 123. 29 Michael Talbot, "Beyond the Quantum", pg 43. 30 Plato, "Republic", VII 514-516 31 Plato, "Republic", V-476a4. 32 The debate between Plato and Aristotle was actually more complex, but it essentially lived on throughout history in the simplified form stated in the text. 33 Fritjof Capra, "The Turning Point" pg 43,280. ___ 41 34 J. Gribbin, "Search of Schroedinger's Cat", pg 119-20, 155ff 35 S.W. Hawking,"A Brief History of Time", pg 54-55. 36 Michael Talbot, "Beyond the Quantum", pg 17. 37 Fritjof Capra, "The Tao of Physics" pg 127,143ff. 38 Michael Talbot, "Beyond the Quantum", pg 24ff. 39 John Gribbin, "In Search of Schroedinger's Cat" pg 164ff. 40 John Gribbin, "In Search of Schroedinger's Cat" pg 173. 41 Mathematicians, physicists, and engineers may find analogies in Laplace transforms, frequency versus time domains, and holograms. 42 Plato, "Republic", V-IX. 43 Carl G.Jung, "The Concept of the Collective Unconscious", Coll.Works 9,I. 1936/37. 44 Carl G.Jung, "The Archetypes and the Collective Consciousness", Coll.Works 9,I. German Ed.1936-55. 45 C.S.Kreutzer, "Archetypes, synchronicity, and the Theory of Formative Causation" J.Annal.Psych. 27.3. 1982. 46 E.A.Bennet, "What Jung Really Said", Schocken Books,N.Y.'66.Pg65,66. 47 Rupert Sheldrake, "The Presence of the Past", pg 247. 48 Rupert Sheldrake, "The Presence of the Past", Morphic Resonance and the Habits of Nature", Times Books. 49 Michael Talbot, "Beyond the Quantum", pg 57 50 J.P.Briggs & F.D.Peat, "Looking Glass Universe", pg 220 51 L.Watson, "Lifetide: The Biology of the Unconscious". 52 Michael Talbot, "Beyond the Quantum", pg72. 53 Rupert Sheldrake, "The Presence of the Past" pg175. 54 Rupert Sheldrake, "The Presence of the Past" pg131. 55 L.Holden & P.Singer: "Crystals and Crystal Growing" 1961 56 Rupert Sheldrake, "The Presence of the Past" pg 189ff. 57 A. 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