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Quantum Tantra QUANTUM TANTRAQUANTUM TANTRA IS PHYSICS-ASSISTED DEEP UNION WITH NATURE.Like the Newtonian physics it replaced, quantum physics grows outof a worldview that sees nature as separate from man, as a dangerous Otherto be tamed and controlled by scientists who have decoded her (mostly mathematical)rules. Despite lip service payed to "quantum wholeness" most physicistsstill view the world as Us versus It, as conscious mind confronting mindlessparticles. Though their methods differ radically from Newton's, modern physicistsregard quantum mechanics as just that, a new type of mechanics--subtle andstrange, to be sure--but at base as soulless and impersonal as Newton'sgravity-driven celestial machine.Despite statements in some quantum texts that Observer and System form aninseparable whole, I know of no physicist that has ever merged with hisapparatus: the relationship of the modern scientist to his quantum Systemis every bit as aloof as that of a pre-quantum Victorian scientist to hispendulum clocks and meter sticks. Despite their nominal belief in the "undividedwholeness" of the quantum world (described especially well by DavidBohm), physicists, in the name of "scientific objectivity" holdthemselves apart from the nature they are examining and practice dispassionate"observation" rather than merging. Such aloof inquiry results,predictably, in a picture of nature that, despite its quantum strangeness,is essentially dead and lifeless.Can it be that quantum mechanics has limited itself unnecessarily by thoughtlesslymaintaining old mechanistic and separatist notions inherited from its Newtonianpast? Feminist critics of science such as Evelyn Fox Keller and Sandra Hardingsee physics as blinded by "patriarchal biases" and look towarda more clear-sighted "successor science". Can we find a radicallynew way to approach science that is more in tune with the way the worldreally is, the way quantum theory hints it might actually be?"Quantum Tantra" attempts to blaze a new pathway for science byincorporating previously discarded and marginal ways of thinking into anew synthesis. Two non-mechanistic, non-separatist traditions are of particularinterest for this purpose: Western alchemy and Eastern tantra. Alchemy isbased on the notion of a partially psychic chemistry in which the mind ofthe alchemist merges with the material cooking in his alembic. Tantra teachesthat the universe is not mere motion of dead matter but the sexual playof two divine beings and seeks techniques to directly participate in thatholy play. The goal of "QuantumTantra:" is to initiate an entirelynew direction of research by approaching quantum theory and its paradoxesas if they were incomplete fragments of a "successor science"based on tantric and alchemical principles.For instance, what kind of science would result if we regarded the worldnot as a collection of dead objects but, in the manner of certain Sufi mystics(practitioners of 'ilm al-qulub or "science of hearts"), as thevery body of the Beloved? What could be learned about nature and ourselvesif, instead of treating her as an object to be passively observed, we beginlooking for ways to "woo her", to become actively involved innatural processes? And suppose our attempts at wooing and deeper involvementwere guided, not by vague myths of pre-scientific peoples, but by powerfulinsights, bold hunches and inspired guesses gleaned from three centuriesof math-enlightened physics? What is the deepest kind of union with naturethat twentieth-century minds can envision? What is the deepest kind of unionwe can actually achieve?Western religion sees the world as a job completed by a lone omnipotentbeing (traditionally male) long ago in the past, an event in which humansplayed no part. Practitioners of tantra, on the other hand, consider theworld to be created anew each moment, as the love play of two divine beings,Shiva and Shakti, and believe that humans can participate to some extentin that union, in partnership with another being, performing a kind of "cosmicphysics" in a soft laboratory of entangled muscle and mind. Which isthe better world-myth? Is the universe more like an ancient one-man jobor present-moment two-part joy?Along with much else of deep human concern, science has tamed and sanitizedsex as a mere psychobiological process, like breathing or digestion. Sexin the West has been subject to glaring scrutiny, in hundreds of books,thousands of magazine articles and millions of pornographic images, butin spite of massive scientific and media exposure, sex continues to fascinateus with its primitive mystery. Each of us, no matter how sophisticated,senses that he or she could still be sexually surprised.Mystics of many persuasions, using ecstatic introspection as tool have attemptedto examine this world's deep reality from inside and claim, like quantumphysicists, that truth at that level strains human powers of description.Most mystics are solitary, but, alongside these one-person paths, a moresocial way of exploring the inner world in couples and small groups hasalso existed, a yoga-for-two calling itself "tantra" from theSanskrit word for "weaving".Tantra begins with the surprising claim that sex is not only holy, but thatit is in some sense a direct participation in the creation of the world,an event which Western science and religion assert to have happened in thefar distant past. Tantrikas also claim that the universe results from theplayful union of two divine beings and that this divine union can be directlyexperienced in the sexual act. Through there are many tantras (tantric scriptures)they all agree that the truth of these statements is not to be taken onfaith but must be directly experienced. If tantra can be regarded as a science,it is the kind of science that values experiment more highly than words.Tantric adepts (tantrikas) use sex neither for recreation nor procreationbut for exploration of deep reality, as a kind of hands-on, wide-eyed descentinto Being. In the past these intuition-inspired sexual explorations ofdeep inner nature were carried out within cultures that knew almost nothingabout the deep structure of matter as seen from without. Likewise our math-guidedunderstanding of outer nature has been achieved in a vacuum of spiritualknowledge. "Quantum Tantra" will for the first time weave thesetwo methods of probing reality together by merging the insights of tantrikaswith the insights of physicists. In addition "Quantum Tantra"will expore the possibility of a new style of scientific inquiry based onthe strengths of both tantra and physics."Quantum Tantra" will explore the possibility of a sacred sexualityenriched by the metaphors of modern physics as well as the possibility ofa new tantra-inspired style of doing physics. The central mystery of physicsis how possibilities become actual; the central mystery of tantra is decidingwhat to do next.Quantum tantrikas are particularly inspired by a wholly quantum form ofconnection called "phase entanglement''--the type of connection responsiblefor the voodoo-like direct influence proved by John Bell to underlie theworld's everywhere local phenomena. Three "physics icons" in thequantum tantra book of natural wonders include: a single quantum systementangled in its own mirror image (Drexhage experiment); Bell's much-studiedquantum twosome (EPR experiment); and a recently concocted quantum threesome(GHZ experiment) each of which illustrates important features of the peculiarquantum style of connection.These three examples of matter quantum-entangling with other matter prepareus to think about the more unconventional and exciting possibility of humanminds quantum-entangling with matter in new forms of union. These new stylesof directly experiencing nature will involve our quantum parts (oscillatingpossibilities) rather than our computer-like Newtonian parts (actual particles),will involve giving up control, yielding to matter's way, relaxing, beingmoved by, being penetrated by and taking in nature, letting "naturemeasure us" rather than "us measuring her", will involvescientists taking turns in the "male" and "female" rolesrather than staying stuck in the single pose of "objective observer"(which we can always return to with fresh insights)Most likely these new forms of entanglement with matter will be practicedfirst not by conventional scientists but by ordinary people with less old-fashionedconceptual baggage to overcome. Stuck-in-the-past scientists may be thelast to enjoy the benefits of this quantum-inspired, physics-assisted deepunion with nature. Quantum tantra, with unique labs in every household,may be a true people's science, its wisdom passed on privately mouth-to-mouth.For a taste/tease of Quantum Tantra, Nick Herbert recommends"The Spell of the Sensuous"by David Abram,Pantheon Books (1996)BACKusps://usa.ca/95006.bouldercreek/box261/nick.herbertquanta@cruzio.com |
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