THE ILLUSION OF MATERIAL REALITY

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 time, 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."

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

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 paradox with the empirical demonstration of John Bell’s inequality by experimental physicist Alain Aspect 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 Berkley 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.”  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 galaxies.

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. 

In coming installments I will go more deeply into the mathematical proof that the reality we experience is no accident.