How Quantum Physics Can Shed Light on Consciousness

One of the revolutionary theories in physics (beside Einstein's theories of relativity) is the quantum theory. Without going into complex and involved mathematics I am going to show how this theory can shed some light on consciousness. Now after reading this topic you might raise an eyebrow or scratch your forehead, this is perfectly understandable. The quantum theory is very hard to grasp. Even those physicists who know of it don't completely understand how it works. It just works they say. What is the quantum theory you may ask?

The quantum theory is a theory that deals with what goes on at the subatomic level of matter. That is, the world of elementary particles such as electrons, protons, neutrons, leptons, etc. Let us call this world Reality, and the elementary quantum particles that inhabit this world--quons. Now to the complementary-principle.

The complementary principle states that at certain circumstances a quon will behave like a particle and at other circumstances it will act like a wave. This phenomenon was first observed with light. When physicists started doing experiments with light they wanted to settle the issue of whether light was a wave or a particle. What they found out was, it was both. They started doing experiments with electrons, and found out electrons exhibited wave characteristics too, namely diffraction and interference. Soon they found out every quon exhibited both behaviors. What I propose is, consciousness exhibits both of these characteristics.

The continuous sensations (inside our body as well as outside) that drift through our consciousness that we ignore is the wave. We generally know that we are having sensations, but do not know any specific sensation. When we focus on one of those sensations to find out what specifically it is, then it becomes a particle. When I say the sensations that we ignore is the wave, I mean we treat them uniformly. All sensations are equal to one another. They have no significance, no importance, they are just meaningless sensations that pass through our consciousness. They are that way until we focus on them and make them meaningful. For instance, if you are in a room where people are talking, the voices you are hearing are waves. Every voice is like any other voice so, there is no meaning, but while you are hearing these voices, you hear your name. That particular sound just became a particle, because it is meaningful. It is your name, and not just another sound.

The ways in which waves and particles interact relate to how consciousness acts. When two particles interact they basically stay the same. They do not lose their identity. This is usually how consciousness treats its environment when consciousness is in its base state. It is separate from its environment. When a particle and a wave interact, the particle loses its identity, but the wave does not. As an analogy let's use an ocean, and a drop of water. The ocean represents the wave, and the drop represents the particle. When the drop falls into the ocean it loses its identity, and becomes part of the ocean while the ocean keeps its identity. In most alternate states of consciousness this phenomenon is experienced. The consciousness is the particle, and the external world is the wave. The consciousness loses its identity when it fuses with the external world. Now before I get to two waves interacting, I am going to talk about wave functions a little bit.

When the quantum theory was developed, physicists used a tool to describe how quons behave. This tool is the wave function. The wave function is not a real wave in any sense, it is a mathematical construct that gives a complete account of the physical situation of a single quon. If two or more quons have the same quantum function, their behaviors are in sync. Now, to the interaction.

When two quons interact, their wave functions interact too. The result of this is, two different wave functions interact, produce a new wave function, and this wave function becomes the property of the two quons, destroying the wave functions they had before the interaction, Thus, both quons are now in sync. As an example, consider this: All matter is made out of Reality. The light that reaches our eyes is composed out of Reality. Our consciousness is made out of Reality. A beam of light hits an object. The quons in the light and the object interact (or least part of them do). Realities are changed for both the object and the light for those quons that interacted. Now if their were any quons that were identical with the quons that interacted, these too were changed. All quons that interacted and their identical quons are in sync, because of what I said previously. The ray then reflects from the object, enters your eye, and reaches your consciousness. The quons in the consciousness and the light interact, change, and become in sync. Quon interactions are always happening, even though we are not aware of it happening. This is because the overall shape of the world keeps its stability. Only until we delve in deeper into matter we see it is not so stable. Now, for the consciousness-brain interaction.

The wave function also comes in handy when talking about the consciousness-brain interaction. Quantum physicist Evan Harris Walker at the NASA Electronics Research Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts developed a theory that uses the wave function to explain the consciousness-brain interaction. His major conclusions are: 1) consciousness is both real and non-physical; 2) consciousness is coupled to the physical brain by means of quantum mechanical wave function; 3) the brain is a logical instrument that employs a certain physical process for some of its data management, a process that can be properly described only by quantum physics; and 4) events in the brain are governed by a higher order, what is termed a "hidden variable" in physics, and these hidden variables are synonymous with consciousness. Conclusion two is interesting when applied to psychosomatic phenomena. If the physical brain and consciousness are coupled by a wave function then the two can affect each other, What conclusion two is saying, in a sense, is that consciousness and the brain have the same wave function. That I said earlier about two similar wave functions behaving in synch applies here, because the brain and consciousness have the same wave function, and they will behave similarly. Now, when consciousness changes its state, it changes its wave function, which changes the brain's wave function too. That in a nutshell is the quantum consciousness model.

"Evan Harris Walker." Wikipedia. URL: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Harris_Walker)