Metanoia LO23664

ACampnona@aol.com
Sat, 18 Dec 1999 07:04:11 EST

All text in quotation marks are from a paper by Andrej Detela
called 'Self-organization within complex quantum states'
"J. Stefan" Institute Ljubljana, Slovenia
Most others between hyphens are from Hindu literature down the ages and then
Bohm and de Lange.

Dear learners

Consider this; that we are not so much preparing for a new age but being
prepared by that new age. A lesson then in 'letting go'.

-To the Brahmin who has known self, all the Vedas are of so much use as a
reservoir is when a flood is all around. -
Bhagavad Gita, 2. 46

"In the last few years, a growing number of researchers are attempting to
understand complex quantum states in terms of the self-organizing
processes at the level of these quantum states. According to these
interpretations, quantum state is based upon some active information,
which regulates the internal space-time structure of this state."

-The world is a tangle. Who can untangle the tangle? - Ancient China,
3,500 BC

"Such ideas are interesting especially with regard to very complex quantum
states which are structured yet still coherent. Examples of such large
coherent quantum systems are the quantum states in living matter (e.g., in
complex protein structures such as microtubules), or complex
superconductive structures. If several particles constitute such coherent
quantum state, then this state is entangled. The quest for a computing
quantum chip is also based upon the concept that sub-quantum (some call
them post-quantum) informational fields are able to self-organize in a
two-way relationship between the subquantum world and the world of known
physical manifestations."

-Creation is the rise of a false view of the real. World manifestation is
the persistence of that view, and world dissolution is its removal. -

"Hence, the quantum states may have some inner feeling. Such views are
already distinct from the views of the Copenhagen school. That school did
not admit the existence of quantum states per se; it admitted only the
existence of data that come to us through our (classical) measuring
equipment. (A known Bohr's statement was: "There is no quantum world.
There is only an abstract quantum physical description.")

-Bring hither a fig from there.
Here it is, sir.
Divide it.
It is divided sir.
What do you see there?
These rather fine seeds, sir.
Of these, please, take and divide one.
It is divided, sir.
What do you see there?
Nothing at all, sir.
Then he said to him:
Verily my dear, that finest essence which you do not perceive, verily my
dear, from that finest essence this great sacred fig tree arises. Believe me
my dear, he said, that which is the finest essence- this who world has as its
soul. That is reality. That is Atman. That thou art. -

"But it is obvious to express deep respect for physical reality, whether
it be known or unknown - otherwise we could also ignore respect for the
most precious essence of this reality, which is life."

-What is, is the sole reality, which is neither created nor destroyed. It
is the infinite consciousness that is perceived by the ignorant as the
universe. -

"If we are open to this irrefutable life which permeates everything in
nature and which links us together with the world, then we can easily
perceive some striking similarities between biological organisms and
complex quantum states: Quantum states are very stable - there is nothing
like classical friction to stop their dynamic internal activity. They
actively respond to the disturbances from outside in such a way that they
preserve their internal space-time structure (self-organization in space
and time). Information concerning this structure is never lost. Internal
order is not dissipated, entropy of the state does not grow, albeit the
perturbances from outside."

-Seek the company of the good, for it is there He has His dwelling place. -

"Quantum states care for themselves in an intelligent way."

"The quantum world seems to be animate. Life is probably at the very basis of
our physical reality. But to grasp some scientific precision, we should first
know what life is. Can we define it?"
"Modern microbiology and cognitive sciences tell us that the gap between
animate and inanimate matter is no longer apparent. Intelligence is an
inherent ability of complex quantum systems. These are informationally
coherent, so the theory of information (long known in cybernetics and in
cognitive sciences) is an adequate concept for dealing with these systems.
-Strictly speaking, very little has been said about what the quantum
self-organizing processes actually are, and what their mysterious inner
driving force (élan vital if translated into a biologist's terminology)
should be at all? Obviously, within quantum states there must be some very
subtle internal activity responsible for self-organizing phenomena."

-How the screen of Maya is spread out in brilliant colours! How it
vibrates with energy in swirling waters and solid stones. -

"Firstly, we must be very cautious about the following question; What kind
of self-organization do we have in mind ? Maybe it is of the type known
from Prigogine's dissipative structures or Maturana's autopoietic
structures? If so, then the driving force for quantum self-organizing
processes is some initial order within the complete systems, order which
is established only if these systems are from the beginning distant from
thermodynamical equilibrium. If such systems are left to themselves
(isolated from the surroundings), then the source of order (negative
entropy) eventually fades out and with it the internal self-organization."

-How this cobweb gleams and sparkles, though its endless threads are only
our dreams. -

"I do not believe that complex coherent quantum systems belong to this
type of self-organization. We cannot imagine any store (thermodynamical
reservoir) of order (negative entropy) which provides us constantly with
the unimaginable variety of quantum manifestations, to persist unexhausted
for billions of years, and which still eludes us. The laws of quantum
physics are surely among the most basic laws that we are trying to
understand today. They should be, if possible, explained without some
complicated assumptions (hidden reservoirs of order, etc.). But if so,
then self-organization is possible if and only when the self-organizing
phenomena do not obey the second law of thermodynamics (the law of growing
entropy). Many authors claim such a solution. Can such a daring
possibility endure? The second law starts microscopically at the level of
quantum particles, but some complex quantum particles may already be too
clever for obeying a law which was meant and formulated to deal only with
very simple, inanimate bodies. Indeed, modern theories of chaos with
nonlinear dynamics (developed by mathematicians Kolmogorow, Arnold and
Moser, among others) do not find a firm support for the second law, even
in "inanimate" matter. Modern physical theories have admitted that nothing
and again nothing can be proved about the validity of the second law, when
the observed system is far from thermodynamical equilibrium."

-The wise know that all that is not the self is merely a movement of mind. -

"Highly organized quantum states may be precisely of this type, although
we do not know yet how to define the negative entropy (its distance from
thermodynamical equilibrium) of a complex quantum state." - "Negative
entropy is in a direct relationship to information. Therefore, we need
some new understanding of the subtle information residing within a complex
quantum state. The concept of information may possibly outgrow the basic
concept of energy and even discover some new descriptions for
hamiltonians."

Do I see a 'bridge of adjunction' upon the horizon of my dimmed mind?

"Can a quantum state be understood (and maybe even defined) in terms of
its internal informational interconnectedness? If some informational
structure is characteristic of a quantum state, on which level should we
look for it? Probably, it cannot be expressed with usual space-time
forms, but rather it exists on a level with a very different timeness, as
is evident from instantaneous interconnectedness of entangled quantum
states. So our task is quite difficult, and it will be a long time before
we can prepare some working mathematical tools."

The hands of the clock are moving strangely tonight.

"However, a proper definition for this type of information is the
bottleneck of modern quantum interpretations. It is the missing link
between two ideas: the idea of a quantum state and the idea of a conscious
being. So let us examine the meaning of the word information."

-Some say the mind is an enemy within us. The mind is a friend also. Mind
is the cause of both bondage and liberation. -

"The Latin, and also the English, meanings of this word are evident: in
form, something that is hidden in form or can be expressed by form. But in
my native language, which is Slovene (of the Slavic language group) we
have an interesting word for it: vest. It means a piece or an item of
active information (information which is being conveyed from one living
being to another), but at the same time it also means conscience.
Consciousness is zavest, something that is behind conscience. So
literally, vest is like a guard who takes care that some piece of
information (therefore, some passive information in the realm of
consciousness) is properly conveyed (which is already an active process),
so that there is some life-giving understanding between the giver and the
receiver of information. In my language, an active piece of information
already comprises a correct ethical attitude; only then does it benefit
mutual understanding and is able to make connections between various parts
of the whole."

Be patient, then. There is compassion in it.

- We need to give patient, sustained attention to the activity of
confusion, -giving simple attention, a finer faster process than confusion
allows originality and creativity to emerge. - Bohm.

"Curiously, in Slovene, ves means all, complete, and vez means connection,
bond. And if we only change the sequence of letters: Svet means the world
but also holy, sacred. Vest is therefore the living bond, which maintains
the whole world to be complete and sacred. It is something like active
information, but with a stressed ethical attitude in the life-giving
sense."

-It is more important we all see the same thing, which will create a new
frame of mind in which there is common consciousness. It is a kind of
implicate order, where each one enfolds the common consciousness, with
which we have something new, a new kind of intelligence. - Bohm.

"Accordingly, to our extended understanding of life (expounded above), it
would not be difficult to generalize life-supporting ethical attitude even
to physical entities like quantum states. I shall use this Slovene word
vest instead of active information, since I believe that the exact meaning
could be a key to a proper understanding. These phenomena deserve a new
name...¦"


- Certain kinds of things can be achieved by techniques and formulae, but
originality and creativity are not among these. The act of seeing this
deeply (and not merely verbally or intellectually) is also the act in
which originality and creativity can be born. - Bohm

Recent research that I am aware of suggests to us that part of creative
development of ideas in humans occurs in sleep, when the mind switches to
a differing form of thought patterning, reaching out to the corners of
stored conscious sense and connectedness to reconcile seeming opposites,
synthesizing all the while, finding what disparate things 'like being with
what' as Jung said it. Integrating in a symboline manner.

Tom Johnson suggests we look for nature's patterning and try to embody
them whenever we can. I feel very aligned to that. Passion for learning,
fear, edges of things, states and chaos, quantum states the undefined
spiritual underpinnings all these things I keep trying to unify in my
mind.

'What is this thing called 'passion' for learning, and chaos its seeming
sister?'
'Emergences (deep learning) happen at the edge of chaos, but you cannot be
forced there, you have to go there yourself. That which takes you there
(Passion) is that which you need there to ensure emergences and not
immergences-when it happens in a LO as with an individual it is a complex
event of pain , toil and ecstasy. It is like a newborn baby. It has to grow,
get embodied; it does that in relation to its environment. (Culture)'
At de Lange

That is very fitting right now. I hope it helps some others make fruitful
connections upon their unique reflections.

Best wishes,

Andrew Campbell.

-- 

ACampnona@aol.com

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