Over the past few decades, the field of quantum physics has provided conventional science with a radically different understanding of the nature of physical reality and our relationship to it. One example is the paradoxical notion that matter. At the subatomic level, is neither solid nor static, but rather is made up of constantly vibrating waves of infinite and luminous energy.
In truth, what you perceive as your physical world is just that—a perception. Quantum physicists claim that nothing is what it seems within our three dimensional space time experience of it.
You may look out your window and see what appears to be the stillness of a summer day, yet there is nothing still about it—not the trees, the mountains, or the rocks; not the planet, the solar system, or the galaxy; not even what we call the universe; and not even you! Everything is vibrating energy in constant motion. What’s more, the vibrating energy appears not only intelligent, but also conscious.
Max Planck, the father of quantum physics, spoke about the force behind matter this way:
All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force that brings the particles of an atom to a vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.
What Planck seems to be suggesting is that all matter, including the space within it, contains not only intelligence, but also consciousness! It appears that from Planck’s perspective, the quantum field is one of conscious intelligence.
From Plato to Planck
According to Plato, all that we perceive of the physical world is but a shadow of the world in its true form. Plato believed that shadows make up our illusion of reality and thus separate us from true reality.
Likewise, according to Planck and other quantum theorists, our current three dimensional perception of reality is really composed of energetic frequencies vibrating within a specific range of infinite frequencies, and this range is manifested as our physical world.
You might be thinking, Okay, this is very interesting—but how does it relate to my own experience of life? And specifically, if everything and everyone is so unified and fluid, why do so many people feel so separate from each other? If consciousness is really everything, why do we have such difficulty knowing ourselves as everything?
This truly is the million dollar question. Through consciousness, we not only experience what we focus on outside the body, but also experience what we focus on inside the body—specifically, the biological mind, the mind’s thoughts, and the thought structure we know as the personality or ego. This entanglement between your consciousness, and the biological brain and its thoughts gives us the internal experience of separation.
For most people, since their consciousness does not yet know or remember its own reason for being, it has yet to awaken. Consciousness remains stuck in the illusion-of-separation and, therefore, the illusion-of-duality. Until consciousness awakens to itself as consciousness—the inside and the outside—consciousness as the witnessing being will remain in the unconscious state of entanglement.
It is not hard to imagine the frustration and confusion that this dilemma causes, yet it also provides consciousness with a way to learn and evolve. The adage “No pain, no gain” is particularly relevant here. You can take comfort in knowing that no three dimensional life experience goes to waste; everything—every single moment, in one way or another—will eventually bring you closer to knowing yourself as consciousness.
The good news is that when consciousness finally awakens, it discovers that it has been neither the thoughts nor the thinker of the thoughts; instead, it has been the silent witness to all of them—the eternal observer of everything it has experienced.
When consciousness begins to remember its true identity, it quickly learns that it must be careful about what it focuses its attention on. It learns to focus attention only on those objects of its attention that it seeks to experience. This is why meditation is such a valuable and powerful practice and is, for many, the quickest path to awakening.
From the book Henry’s Puzzle – Awakening to Infinity (2011) All Rights Reserved.
