Updated: August 11, 2024
So, my friends, I'm in Greece at the moment and I've been doing
a seminar here on the Path to Love –
the 8 Limbs of yoga and the awakened
life. And I
had the opportunity to being interviewed
two days ago by Roger Cohen, a New York Times
journalist, very well-known. And it was a very interesting
interview because he brought
up issues and controversies about me from
a long time ago, including my misuse of quantum mechanics as mumbo jumbo. And also the fact that I had once said that evolution is guided by consciousness. So let me
explain why I still maintain
those positions. Quantum mechanics is a mathematical
recipe. Schrodinger's
equation, which now suggests the following:
(1) Every particle that exists
or manifests, before it
does, exists in superposition
with all other particles. And the analogy here to the mind is that every thought exists
in superposition with all other
thoughts that you've had
until it manifests or actualizes. (2) In quantum field
theory, particles appear
as determined…
And in quantum
mechanics, particles
appear as determined by the uncertainty
principle, although they are probabilities
and likelihoods of location
in space and time. Similarly,
our thoughts are determined by the uncertainty
principle and we can only predict
the likelihood of thoughts
based on habitual patterns
of past thinking. So that's
another analogy. The uncertainty
principle applies to the mind as well as to
quantum mechanics. If I ask you to predict your next
thought, you can't. That's number two. (3) Every thought is capable of taking
quantum leaps of creativity through
discontinuity.
And similarly,
particles take leaps through
discontinuity. (4) The quantum
field, many suggest, is self-organizing
and self-regulating. So is consciousness
self-organizing and self-regulating. And finally, collapse
of wavefunction occurs
in observation. And the same thing
happens when we decide to
have an intention. So in quantum
mechanics, whether you see a wave or a particle
depends on how you make
the observation, what you put
your attention and intention
on, whatever it is, a Higgs boson
or another particle. Same thing, our attention
and intention actualizes
out of the field of possibilities,
the next space-time event
in consciousness. So this is why
quantum consciousness is now becoming
a legitimate field among some quantum
physicists. Roger Cohen also criticized me for saying
in the past, many years ago,
almost ten years ago,
that consciousness could play
a role in evolution. And this is why
I still maintain that point of view: Epigenetics
is the study how changes in
gene expression can occur
without changes in DNA
sequence itself.
These changes can be caused
by a variety of environmental
factors, including diet,
exercise, stress and exposure
to toxins, epigenetic changes
can be passed down to offspring,
meaning that they can play a role
in evolution. There's a growing
body of evidence that suggests
that consciousness may play a role
in epigenetics. For example, studies have shown
that meditation and other
mindfulness practices can lead to changes
in gene expression. Additionally,
studies have shown
that people with different
personality types have different
epigenetic patterns. One way that consciousness
could influence evolution is through the effect
on epigenetics. Therefore, that's what I've be
been maintaining.
There are some specific examples of how epigenetics
and consciousness could be linked to biological
evolution. So to repeat
epigenetic changes can be passed down
to our offspring. This means that if a parent experiences an
environmental factor that leads to
epigenetic change, that change
could be passed on to their children. This could lead
to accumulation of epigenetic
changes over generations, which could
potentially drive evolutionary change.
So these studies all suggest that consciousness plays
a role in evolution, and consciousness
can lead to changes in behavior,
epigenetic changes, therefore,
are an example of how experience
shapes evolution. Overall, the
evidence suggests that there is
potential link between epigenetics,
consciousness and biological
evolution. And as we as we continue
looking at epigenetic
modulation and gene expression and how that is passed on to future
generations, I think there is a growing body
of evidence that consciousness
plays a role in evolution. So let me know your thoughts and I'll pass this information
on to our friend Roger Cohen as well. Thank you..
