Alles Leben ist Eins

This book written by Renée Weber carries the subtitle: “the Encounter of Quantum Physics and Mysticism”. It is a compilation of interviews with renowned scientists and thinkers, such as David Bohm, Rupert Sheldrake, Ilya Prigogine, the Dalai Lama and Krishnamurti. The starting point is that scientific rigorism forbids us to pursue more hypothetical theories about the coherence between matter and meaning or about the possibility of consciousness at other abstraction levels of our existence. However, it is in humankind’s DNA to wonder about our origins, to search for a meaning in life and to speculate about our destiny.

Looking at recent scientific findings, be it in astrophysics or life sciences, can make us stand in awe (Deutsch: Ehrfurcht, Nederlands: ontzag) for the beauty of science. I believe it also makes us humble. A first finding is that ‘Gods book’ has been written with the letters of mathematics, which is already amazing when you think about it. Why do we have laws of nature that can be expressed or approximated with mathematical equations? A second finding is that we are ‘star stuff contemplating the stars’ and therefore we seem to constitute a part of the universe’s awareness. Carl Sagan was not a mystic, but he could certainly bring his audience in the same spiritual awe we are considering here.

What if awareness exists in many levels of our existence, even in the subtle, at first sight incomprehensible behaviour of small parts in quantum mechanics? Can matter and meaning be separated from each other? What is the nature and the meaning of light, probably still the largest mystery in physics? Are we seeing only the ‘holographic image’ of a multidimensional universe? If the laws of nature have not always been the same, could it happen they adapt with the universe’s evolution?

For scientists these questions may seem very unscientific. Stephen Hawking even claimed mysticism is only an excuse to those who are not able to understand the fundamental physics of the cosmos. On the other hand, admiration, sense of beauty and awe are human state of minds we can experience without the obligation to adhere to one or the other kind of belief. Perhaps they are the salt and pepper we need to give a taste to our work and our life.

The book was given to me by a former employer company manager and friend, who proved in this way that he knew me better than I could imagine.

I also refer to Homo Deus and to my Dutch blog: ‘Verdwaald in de werkelijkheid’.