Creation vs Evolution: a Debate Arising from a Deep Misunderstanding

cREATION OR EVOLUTION?

Richard Dawkins, high-profile self-proclaimed atheist is on national TV today making declarative statements like "Evolution is a fact with thousands of proven examples, implying that there was and is no 'Creator'." Mr. Dawkins is either an idiot, or he is being deliberately misleading. Yes things, including biological life, evolve over time, but this in no way eliminates the fact that there has to be an intelligent creative force. In fact, without an intelligent creative force there could be no physical universe. This is true for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the second law of thermodynamics. It is understandable that many may think that the debate over the existence of God vs a universe evolving from the random combination of matter and energy after a big-bang explosion, but this is a misguided debate arising from a profound misunderstanding on the part of the participants on both sides. While there is ample evidence that things evolve, there is also ample evidence of an infinite form of consciousness behind it all. So we need to avoid the extremists' rantings on both sides, and examine the evidence without prejudice. 

The Illusion of Material Reality

Clues from relativity and quantum physics suggest that the time-honored idea that matter, energy, space, and time exist separately is incorrect.  It appears that the macro forms of matter, space and time we perceive through our physical senses are subtle illusions; although, as Einstein said about time², they are “very persistent” illusions. TDVP is built upon, and an extension of, the monumental works of a number of intellectual giants like Pythagoras, Fermat, Leibniz, Poincare, Cantor, and Minkowski; but most especially, it is built upon on the deep insights of Max Planck and Albert Einstein.

Max Planck said: "As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear-headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as the result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter."¹⁴

And, Albert Einstein said: “Space-time is not necessarily something to which one can ascribe a separate existence.”¹⁵ And “I want to know the thoughts of God, everything else is just details”¹⁶

These statements, from two of the most brilliant scientists who spent their entire lives studying physical reality, reveal the important conclusion that the common perceptions of matter, energy, space, and time, conveyed to our brains by the physical senses, are subtle illusions! And both of them conclude that the reality behind these subtle illusions is a conscious, intelligent Mind!

It has long been known that the appearance of solid matter is an illusion, in the sense that there appears to be far more empty space than substance in an atom. But now we learn that the matter of sub-atomic particles and the “empty” space around them are also illusory. This is, however, consistent with quantum physics experiments that bear out the conclusion resulting from the resolution of the EPR paradox¹⁶ with the empirical demonstration of John Bell’s inequality¹⁷ by experimental physicist Alain Aspect¹⁸ and many others that the particles and/or waves of the objective physical reality perceived through our senses cannot be said to exist as localized objects until they impact irreversibly on a series of receptors constituting a distinct observation or measurement by a conscious entity.

We must be clear, however, that this does not validate subjective solipsist theories like that of Bishop Berkley¹⁹ as one might think; rather, it reveals a deeper, multi-dimensional reality, only partially revealed by the physical senses. It suggests that reality is like a fathomless, dynamic ocean that we can’t see except for the white caps. The difference is that the particles and waves, analogous to the white caps, only appear in response to our conscious interaction with the ocean of the deeper reality.

As noted above, Albert Einstein is quoted as saying: “Ich will Gottes Gedanken zu wissen, alles anderes ist nur Einselheit.” (I want to know God’s thoughts, the rest is just detail.) And he also said “Rafinert ist der Herr Gott, aber Bohaft ist er nicht!” (The Lord God is clever, but he is not malicious.) Taken together, these two statements reveal that Einstein’s science was rooted in a deeply spiritual understanding of reality. It appears that he believed that the universe, as a manifestation of God’s thoughts, is very complex, but understandable. Agreeing with Einstein, TDVP seeks to reveal that all things are, in fact connected to, and part of that deeper ocean of reality, only momentarily appearing to be separated from it. This apparent separation, perpetuated by the conscious drawing the distinction of ‘self’ from ‘other’ and the drawing of distinctions in self and other, allows us to interact with and draw distinctions in the ‘other’. TDVP posits that, although ostensibly separate in the 3S-1t world of our physical perceptions, we are never truly separated from the whole of reality, but remain connected at deeply embedded multi-dimensional levels.

There are some in the current mainstream of science who do see the universe as deeply mathematical, but even those scientists seem to shy away from including consciousness in their equations. An example is the Swedish physicist Max Tegmark. In his brilliant book “Our Mathematical Universe” he concludes that the ultimate nature of reality is mathematical structure. In reaching this conclusion, however, he strips mathematical description of any intent or purpose. He says “A mathematical structure is an abstract set of entities with relations between them. The entities have no ‘baggage’: they have no properties whatsoever except these relations.” ^{ref p. 231} In other words, he still does what most mainstream materialistic scientists do: he throws the baby out with the bath water. It is critically important to separate science from fantasy and wishful thinking, but consciousness is an extremely important part of reality and should not be excluded from the equations of science just because it complicates the picture.

From the broader viewpoint of TDVP, it is not surprising that mainstream science, focused, as it is, on the limiting philosophy of reductionist materialism, has lost touch its metaphysical roots, and thus cannot explain how it is that a large part of reality is not available to us for direct observation, but makes its existence known only indirectly through quantum phenomena like non-locality and quantum entanglement, as well as the near light-speed vortical spin of fermions and the effects of so-called dark matter and dark energy in the rotation of spiral galaxies²⁰.

TDVP also answers the real need to explain why we sometimes catch glimpses of a broader reality in rare extra-corporeal (out-of-body) experiences and other documented psi phenomena. The current mainstream scientific paradigm cannot explain so-called anomalous phenomena and the “missing” portions of reality because there is no place in its formulation for phenomena that may involve more than matter and energy interacting in three-dimensions of space and one dimension of time. TDVP, on the other hand, reveals a multi-dimensional reality and the need to recognize a third form of reality, not measurable as mass or energy, in the equations of science. As we shall see, TDVP provides a theoretical basis for a much deeper understanding of reality, as well as providing the appropriate tools for exploring it.

DO WE LIVE IN AN ACCIDENTAL UNIVERSE OF RANDOM COINCIDENCES?

Dividing the world of our experiences into the internal or subjective and the external, assumed to be completely independent of any form of consciousness, i.e. leaving consciousness out of the equations, as the current scientific paradigm does, alienates consciousness from the ‘real’ world of the physical universe and leads to an endless chain of unresolvable paradoxes. The prevalence of this attitude among scientists is expressed very well by MIT physicist - become science writer Alan Lightman in his recent book “The Accidental Universe”. In talking about the apparent ‘fine-tuning’ of the physical universe (if any one of a number of parameters were only a tiny bit different, there would be no chance for life as we know it), he says “Intelligent Design is an answer to fine-tuning that does not appeal to most scientists.” 

When confronted with the observer-related non-locality of Bohr’s solution to the EPR paradox, most scientists prefer the multiverse theory, devised to preserve Cartesian duality and keep consciousness out of the picture of ‘scientific objectivity’. In the multiverse theory, there are many, many parallel universes. Just how many there are is unknown and unknowable, because your consciousness only exists in this one, and unfortunately you cannot experience any of the other universes. Thus, just like the spate of string theories, there is no hope of proving or disproving such a theory. Even though these scientists pride themselves in being ‘hard-nosed’ objective scientists (read: materialists), it doesn’t seem to bother them that string theory and the multiverse theory cannot be tested. At best, they can only be internally consistent; and thus they do not even qualify as scientific hypotheses. By retreating into safely unprovable theories, they continue to throw the baby out with the bath water. TDVP, on the other hand, by including consciousness as an objective reality, is producing testable results and explaining observations that the current materialistic paradigm cannot explain. Several of these are listed in the previous section. In a new paper, I take the time to explain exactly how we put consciousness into the equations as part of objective reality, and show how doing so explains many things inexplicable in the current materialistic paradigm.

Unifying Quantum Physics and Relativity

The full unification of quantum physics and relativity is brought about in TDVP by applying the tools of CoDD and Dimensional Extrapolation²¹ to the mathematical expressions of three well-established features of reality, recognized in the current scientific paradigm: 1.) quantization of mass and energy as two forms of the same essential substance of reality; 2.) introduction of time as a fourth dimension, and 3.) the limitation of the velocity of rotational acceleration to light speed, c. In this process, the need for a more basic unit of quantization is identified, and when it is defined, the reason there is something rather than nothing becomes clear.

Einstein recognized that mass and energy are interchangeable forms of the physical substance of the universe, and discovered that their mathematical equivalence is expressed by the equation E=mc². In TDVP, accepting the relativistic relationship of mass and energy at the quantum level, we proceed, based on Planck’s discovery, to describe quantized mass and energy as the content of quantized dimensional distinctions of extent. This allows us to apply the CoDD to quantum phenomena as quantum distinctions and describe reality at the quantum level as integer multiples of minimal equivalence units. This replaces the assumption of conventional mathematical physics that mass and energy can exist as dimensionless points analogous to mathematical singularities.

The assumption of dimensionless physical objects works for most calculations in practical applications because our units of measurement are so extremely large, compared to the actual size of elementary quanta, that the quanta appear to be existing as mathematical singularities, i.e. dimensionless points. (The electron mass, e.g., is about 1x10^-30 kg, with a radius of about 3x10^-15 meter.) Point masses and point charges, etc. are simply convenient fictions for macro-scale calculations. The calculus of Leibniz and Newton works beautifully for this convenient fiction because it incorporates the fiction mathematically by assuming that the numerical value of a function describing the volume of a physical feature of reality, like a photon or an electron, can become a specific discrete finite entity as the value of a real variable, like the measure of distance or time approaches zero asymptotically (i.e. infinitely closely). This is a mathematical description of a non-quantized reality. But we exist in a quantized reality.

Planck discovered that the reality we exist in is actually a quantized reality. This means that there is a “bottom” to physical reality; it is not infinitely divisible, and thus the calculus of Newton and Leibniz does not apply at the quantum level. This is one reason scientists applying Newtonian calculus to quantum mechanics declare that quantum reality is ‘weird’. The appropriate mathematical description of physical reality at the quantum level is provided by the calculus of distinctions with the relationships between the measureable minimum finite distinctions of elementary particles defined by integral solutions of the appropriate Diophantine equations. The mathematics of quanta is the mathematics of integers.

In TDVP we find that, for quantized phenomena, existing in a multi-dimensional domain consisting of space and time, embedded in one or more additional dimensional domains, the fiction of dimensionless objects, a convenient mathematical expedient when we did not know that physical phenomena are quantized, is no longer appropriate. We can proceed with a new form of mathematical analysis, the calculus of dimensional distinctions (CoDD), and treat all phenomena as finite, non-zero distinctions. Replacing the dimensionless points of conventional mathematical physics with distinctions of finite unitary volume, we can equate these unitary volumes of the elementary particles of the physical universe with integers. We can then relate the integers of quantum reality to the integers of number theory and explore the deep relationship between mathematics and reality.

In TDVP, we have also developed the procedure of Dimensional Extrapolation using dimensional invariants to move beyond three dimensions of space and one of time. Within the multi-dimensional domains defined in this way, mass and energy are measures of distinctions of content. If there are other dimensions beyond the three of space and one of time that are available to our physical senses, how are they different, and do they contain additional distinctions of content? If so, how is such content different from mass and energy? We know that mass and energy are two forms of the same thing. If there are other forms, what is the basic “stuff” that makes up the universe? Is it necessarily a combination of mass and energy, - or something else? For the sake of parsimony, let’s begin by assuming that the substance of reality, whatever it is, is multi-dimensional and uniform at the quantum level, and that mass and energy are the most easily measurable forms of it in the 3S-1t domain. This allows us to relate the unitary measure of inertial mass and its energy equivalent to a unitary volume, and provides a multi-dimensional framework to explore the possibility that the “stuff” of reality may exist in more than two forms.

Since 1989, I have been determined to find a better way to explain putting the Primary Reality of Consciousness into the equations of science. In 1996 I published the book “Transcendental Physics”, an effort to make the 1989 work more accessible. It reached a few more people, but still only a relative handful of scientists and others interested in the merging of science and spirituality.  One who shared my vision, and has been my research partner for the past six years, is the world-renowned neuroscientist, Dr. Vernon Neppe, MD, PhD. Together Dr. Neppe and I have developed a comprehensive framework, a paradigm for the science of the future. We call it the Triadic Rotational Dimensional Distinction Paradigm (TDVP). It was first published as “Reality Begins with Consciousness” in 2011, and has been reviewed by more than 200 scientists and philosophers worldwide. We have also published a number of technical papers; and recently, I’ve found a way to explain the revelations of the Calculus of Distinctions of 1989, 1996 and 2011, in a more accessible way. This paper does that, and in the process, I believe, it does much more.

The exists empirical evidence that provides the answer to two important questions: 1.) Why is there something rather than nothing? And, 2.), what is missing from the current scientific paradigm? The answer to both questions can be summed up in one word: Consciousness. Without consciousness there could be no physical universe; and yet, there is no place in the current paradigm for consciousness. The clues that consciousness is the answer to the first question are plain in both relativity and quantum physics, but most mainstream scientists, steeped in reductionist materialism, are blind to those clues, and their belief – it is not even a valid scientific hypothesis – that the universe could exist without some primary form of the consciousness manifest in sentient life, is stubbornly maintained and the clues are ignored.

Many of the key scientists of the past were deeply spiritual. But the materialistic belief system widely taught in our educational institutions today brings otherwise rational people to scoff at, and ridicule, any mention of any form of intelligence superior to their own. This egotistical position of mainstream scientists is justified in their minds by the successes of materialistic science. But those successes lie almost entirely in the realm of explaining superficial physical mechanisms. Deeper and ultimately much more important questions about the meaning and purpose of manifest physical reality, life and conscious awareness, are beyond their reach. Those questions, of paramount importance to humanity, are within reach of meaningful analysis when consciousness is included in the equations of science. The purpose of a new paper by Close and Neppe is to show how this is done.

The bottom line is that, in this world of human experience, we will never truly understand the Nature of Reality until our searches for scientific and spiritual knowledge are merged into one serious, combined effort. Once this happens on a global scale, humanity will experience an explosion of new knowledge and understanding far beyond anything experienced so far in the current era of recorded history. The argument between creationists and evolutionists will be seen for what it iss: a profound misunderstanding. In TDVP, we show how consciousness is describable in the equations of quantum physics and relativity, and a few of the explanatory revelations produced as a result. And, believe me, this is only the tip of the iceberg! 

Note: the references indicated in this article will be provided in the paper on TRUE units, currently in press.