Quantum mysticism is a set of metaphysical
beliefs and associated practices that seek
to relate consciousness, intelligence, spirituality,
or mystical worldviews to the ideas of quantum
mechanics and its interpretations. Quantum
mysticism is considered by most scientists
and philosophers to be pseudoscience or quackery.
== Early controversy and resolution ==
Quantum mysticism in the sense of consciousness
playing a role in quantum theory first appeared
in Germany during the 1920s when some of the
leading quantum physicists, such as Erwin
Schrödinger, leaned toward such interpretations
of their theories. Others, such as Albert
Einstein and Max Planck, objected to these
interpretations. Despite the accusation of
mysticism from Einstein, Niels Bohr denied
the charge, attributing it to misunderstandings.
By the second half of the twentieth century
the controversy had run its course—Schrödinger's
1958 lectures are said to "mark the last of
a generation that lived with the mysticism
controversy"—and today most physicists are
realists who do not believe that quantum theory
is involved with consciousness.
== Wigner ==
In 1961 Eugene Wigner wrote a paper, titled
"Remarks on the mind–body question", suggesting
that a conscious observer played a fundamental
role in quantum mechanics, a part of the von
Neumann–Wigner interpretation. While his
paper would serve as inspiration for later
mystical works by others, Wigner's ideas were
primarily philosophical and are not considered
"in the same ballpark" as the mysticism that
would follow.
== Appropriation by New Age thought ==
In the early 1970s New Age culture began to
incorporate ideas from quantum physics, beginning
with books by Arthur Koestler, Lawrence LeShan,
and others which suggested that purported
parapsychological phenomena could be explained
by quantum mechanics. In this decade the Fundamental
Fysiks Group emerged, a group of physicists
who embraced quantum mysticism while engaging
in parapsychology, Transcendental Meditation,
and various New Age and Eastern mystical practices.
Inspired in part by Wigner, Fritjof Capra,
a member of the Fundamental Fysiks Group,
wrote The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of
the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern
Mysticism (1975), a book espousing New Age
quantum physics that gained popularity among
the non-scientific public. In 1979 came the
publication of The Dancing Wu Li Masters by
Gary Zukav, a non-scientist and "the most
successful of Capra's followers". The Fundamental
Fysiks Group is said to be one of the agents
responsible for the "huge amount of pseudoscientific
nonsense" surrounding interpretations of quantum
mechanics.
== Modern usage and examples ==
In contrast to the mysticism of the early
twentieth century, today quantum mysticism
typically refers to its New Age incarnation
that combines ancient mysticism with quantum
mechanics. Called a pseudoscience and a "hijacking"
of quantum physics, it draws upon "coincidental
similarities of language rather than genuine
connections" to quantum mechanics. Physicist
Murray Gell-Mann coined the phrase "quantum
flapdoodle" to refer to the misuse and misapplication
of quantum physics to other topics.An example
of such misuse is New Age guru Deepak Chopra's
"quantum theory" that aging is caused by the
mind, expounded in his books Quantum Healing
(1989) and Ageless Body, Timeless Mind (1993).
In 1998 Chopra was awarded the parody Ig Nobel
Prize in the physics category for "his unique
interpretation of quantum physics as it applies
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic
happiness".The 2004 film What the Bleep Do
We Know!? dealt with a range of New Age ideas
in relation to physics. It was produced by
the Ramtha School of Enlightenment which was
founded by J.Z. Knight, a channeler who said
that her teachings were based on a discourse
with a 35,000-year-old disembodied entity
named Ramtha. Featuring Fundamental Fysiks
Group member Fred Alan Wolf, the film misused
some aspects of quantum mechanics—including
the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and the
observer effect—as well as biology and medicine.
Numerous critics dismissed the film for its
use of pseudoscience.
I love that in quantum physics for some reason
it's become an excuse to mock all of science.
See it's nothing real, nothing true and whatever
you think, that's how the world is. So if
you think positively you remake the world
positively according to this pseudo scientist
explanation.
== See also ==
== Notes ==
== Further reading ==
Publications relating to quantum mysticismFritjof
Capra, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration
of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and
Eastern Mysticism, Shambhala Publications,
1975
Deepak Chopra, Quantum Healing: Exploring
the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine, ISBN
0-553-34869-8
Rolf Froboese, The Secret Physics of Coincidence:
Quantum phenomena and fate – Can quantum
physics explain paranormal phenomena?, ISBN
978-3-84823-445-5
Patrick Grim, Philosophy of science and the
occult, ISBN 978-0-7914-0204-7
Lawrence LeShan, The Medium, the Mystic, and
the Physicist: Toward a General Theory of
the Paranormal, 2003, Helios Press, ISBN 978-1-58115-273-9
Jack Sarfatti, 1975, Space-Time and Beyond,
with Fred Alan Wolf and Bob Toben, E. P. Dutton.
ISBN 0-525-47399-8
Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe,
ISBN 0-06-092258-3
Michael Talbot, Mysticism And The New Physics,
ISBN 0-14-019328-6
Michael Talbot, Beyond The Quantum, ISBN 0-553-34480-3
Evan Harris Walker, The Physics of Consciousness:
The Quantum Mind and the Meaning of Life,
ISBN 0-7382-0436-6
Ken Wilber, Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings
of the World's Great Physicists (editor),
1984, rev. ed. 2001: ISBN 1-57062-768-1
Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, 1980,
ISBN 0-553-26382-X-
Alexander Zelitchenko,The scientist's Conversations
with the Teacher. Science and Esoterics. "Conversation
No.9. Resolving the scientist's Doubts, Which
Resulted in a Sketch of The Physics of Subtle
Matter", pp. 47ff, 2001, ISBN 0-595-19412-5Criticism
of quantum mysticismRichard H. Jones, Piercing
the Veil: Comparing Science and Mysticism
as Ways of Knowing Reality. Jackson Square
Books, 2014. ISBN 9781439266823 -- criticism
from both scientific and mystical point of
view
Eric R. Scerri (1989). "Eastern Mysticism
and the Alleged Parallels with Physics". American
Journal of Physics. 57 (8): 687–692. Bibcode:1989AmJPh..57..687S.
doi:10.1119/1.15921.
Michael Shermer, "Quantum Quackery", Scientific
American, January 2005 [1]
Victor J. Stenger, The Unconscious Quantum:
Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology.
Prometheus Books, 1995. ISBN 978-1-57392-022-3
Archived 12 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
-- an anti-mystical point-of-view
Victor J. Stenger, "Quantum quackery", Skeptical
Inquirer, Vol. 21. No. 1, January/February
1997, pp. 37ff, criticism of the book The
Self-Aware Universe by Amit Goswami
== External links ==
Media related to Quantum mysticism at Wikimedia
Commons
