ZERO POINT
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Microcosm/Macrocosm
Scientific and Mystical View on the Origin of the Universe,
the Nature of Matter & Human Consciousness
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MICROCOSM Zero Point Origins of Consciousness and Creation the Self and the World ... in some sense man is a microcosm of the universe;
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| It was the combination of Pribram’s
model of the holographic mind/brain with David Bohm’s model of wholeness
and the implicate order in physics which created the basis for holographic
paradigm which emerged in the 1980's. Indeed, Dr. Bohm suggested
that there are incredible amounts of information present within the frequency
domain which the mind/brain can access–because “the entire Universe
... (is) ... a single undivided whole.” It is the presence of such
a deep reality that make plausible the ideas of trans-personal psychologists
such as Ring and Grof, the evidences of parapsychology and studies of psychical
phenomena, and the profound metaphysical theories of the mystics.
The holographic theory and Bohm’s model suggest that a human being is a microcosm of the macrocosm, rooted into the same inner dimensions of being and the plenum, and interconnected to the larger universe! Grof notes: “If this (holographic paradigm) is true, then we each hold the potential for having direct and immediate experiential access to virtually every aspect of the universe ....” (1993) Certainly, a holographic universe provides an unimaginable playground for a similarly holographic mind, consciousness and Self. The profound implications of a holographic model of the brain or mind, became apparent to psychologist Karl Pribram when he gained an appreciation of the ideas of David Bohm. If the whole of the universe is implicated in any (apparently) localized region (or point) in space/time, then the brain/mind could potentially have unlimited access to this underlying storehouse of information in the implicate orders–the Mind at Large. Pribram viewed the brain as mathematically extracting information out of the underlying frequency domain. Now it seemed that this frequency domain could be vast indeed. Dr. Pribram describes the possibilities of a holographic mind/brain in a holographic universe:
... Leibnitz talked about “monads,” and ... (an) indivisible entity that is the basic unit of the universe and a microcosm of it. God, said Leibnitz, was a monad. ... In a monadic organization, the part contains the whole–as in a hologram. “Man was made in the image of God.” Spiritual insights fit the descriptions of this domain. They are perfectly plausible by the invention of the hologram. (pp. 33-4) Pribram (1982) contrasts two fundamentally different assumptions about the brain. The first represents a traditional materialist viewpoint, and views the brain as organizing input from the physical world and constructing mental properties. Scientists have assumed that mental properties are derived from physical processes. The second viewpoint states that: “Mental properties are the pervasive organizing principles of the universe, which includes the brain.” Sir James Jeans, a prominent physicist of the early part of this century, is often quoted for his remark that the more we penetrate into the nature of matter, the more it appears as “a great thought, rather than as a vast machine.” Many influential physicists and mathematicians have subscribed to the second viewpoint. In fact, in modern science, 'information' is the third force which seems to underlie and sustain material and energetic exchanges. 'Information' is the emerging third force within science itself. |
A critical idea linking the holographic theory of
consciousness to holographic views of the world is that the mind is isomorphic
to the world. This suggests “a one-to-one correspondence
between the form (morphology) of the world around us and the form in the
brain representing that world.” (Pribram, p.80) In this
case, mind would not simply be an emergent property of the brain’s material
organization, but instead, it “reflects the basic organization of the
Universe (including the organism's brain).” (1984, p. 33)
Similarly, Bohm explains:
The holographic paradigm emerge in the 1980's and attracted wide interest among the New Age movement and among those interested in the issues of consciousness. One New Age spokesperson, Shirley MacLaine (1989) gave this popular account of this emerging paradigm of wholeness:
Unfortunately, the holographic paradigm has lacked certain key elements–which has meant that the full implications and applications of this model have not been fleshed out and substantiated as a model of consciousness and creation. In this regard, Pribram’s comment that “There are no laser beams in the brain”–is most telling. Firstly, it indicates that the idea of a laser beam, or of a “point source of coherent light,” is not seriously considered. Secondly, his comment indicate that scientists have primarily looked for such holographic dynamics within “the brain”–in the head. Once again, we encounter the limits of the head doctrine, and the neglect of mystical, spiritual and occult views concerning the deepest levels of Self. |
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