The Retroactive
Universe:
How the Emergence of "Moral Beings" (eg Humans) Catalyzed the Emergence into Existence of the
Universe Itself!
Summary/Abstract
In quantum
metaphysics the mental realm is more improtant in
determining reality than is all physicality. In religion, the spiritual realm
is more important than the physical realm, In the understanding of both quantum
ophysic sand of spiituality
presented here, it is moral choice which is the fundamental aspect of both
quantum physic sand of spirituality, and thus the universe and humanity emerghe into existence only due to its emergence, and only
when it emerges.
Definition: Moral
Beings: Beings who understand the difference between good and evil, feel they
ought to do good, and are capable of free-willed choice.
The
Spiritual Realm and PHYSICAL REALITY
According to
Jewish thought, the true reality is the spiritual realm, the physical cosmos
being God’s precision-crafted instrument for achieving spiritual goals. Indeed,
the physical universe is a shadow of the spiritual world, the illusion
perceived by limited beings who are in contact with
the spiritual cosmos but can directly sense and perceive only its shadow. Human
free-willed moral choice connects the two realms, and this moral activity gives
meaning to the existence of the universe.
the true reality of the universe is the spiritually
meaningful aspect, it should not be surprising that the emergence of the
universe into reality is so intimately bound up with the emergence of those
beings who endow physicality of meaning. Furthermore, once this connection is
understood, it is most appropriate that the very characteristics of man which
allow the emergence of the universe into reality (i.e., his free-willed
consciousness) are the very same characteristics which endow it with meaning.
We can thus see the fundamental interrelationship between meaning, purpose,
free will, consciousness, and the very nature of reality (and how this is
reflected in Creation).
according to Jewish
thought free-willed choice gives the universe meaning and is thus the
“motivation” for the very existence of the universe.
Humanity
And Reality
In our universe, the operative concepts are
“free-willed conscious choice,” not “nature,” i.e. objective scientific fact.
It is the former which causes the latter to emerge into existence (collapse of
a probability wave). Moral law, free-willed conscious moral choice, rules over
the “laws of nature,” rather than vice versa. The true reality is the spiritual
one. The physical is in existence only to serve the spiritual. The entire
physical universe is an artifact created by God. Man us a precisely crafted
instrument designed to interact with the physical universe in ways which have
the potential to achieve spiritual goals unattainable without the vehicle of
the physical. Thus, the physical is of central importance, but only as a means:
It can have sublime beauty and dignity, but only by virtue of its ability to
achieve in the spiritual realm. Thus the human body, rather than being a
hindrance to spirituality, is a potentially holy physical tool which can
control the spiritual. Indeed, every action/thought/word affects the spiritual cosmos, and one's life when correctly lived is designed to
resonate with the spiritual and to correctly utilize the physical order to
elicit the fusion of ultimate spirituality with the physical. God created the
universe and humanity, and designed a way of life which allows to humans
and the res tof the universe complete each other, to
complement one another, in a self-consistent optimum system.
The
philosophy and metaphysics of quantum physics
According to
the philosophy of quantum physics, actual physical reality can exist (in the
scientific meaning of the term existence) only as a result of
measurement. When not being measured, the universe is in a quasi-real state
amenable to description only in terms of probabilities and not facts.
What is the active
factor in a measurement which causes this emergence into reality? According to
some leading physicists, this factor is consciousness [DUP: Some eminent
physicists argue that the measurement must be performed by a conscious entity]
The great mathematician John Von Neumann, who
provided a rigorous mathematical foundation for quantum mechanics, believed
that only a human consciousness can collapse the wave function [DUP: According
to this view, it is only measurement performed by a conscious being which can
bring the universe into full reality.].
The eminent
Nobel prize-winning physicist Eugene Wigner writes: It follows that the quantum
description of objects is influenced by impressions entering my consciousness….
It follows that the being with a consciousness must have a different role in
quantum mechanics than the inanimate measuring device.
This view is
far from the dominant one among physicists, but it is accepted as a
possibility. We can consider this thesis either an aspect of quantum philosophy
or of a quantum metaphysics.
The
"Retroactive Universe"
The famous
physicist John Wheeler has taken this several steps further. According to him
the entire universe can emerge into true physical existence only via the
observation of a consciousness! [DUP: a consciousness is indispensable to the
universe if it is to emerge into reality. Physical reality can be said to exist
only as a result of our presence within it or, more precisely, as a result of
our perception of it. ]
And then he
goes the next step: if the universe emerges into reality only when it is
humanly-observed, "[Perhaps] no universe at all could come into being
unless it were guaranteed to produce life, consciousness and observership somewhere and for some little length of time
in its history-to-be?…
Thus, according
to Wheeler's “quantum metaphysics,” in some sense the univere
emerges 'retroactively'. Wheeler has constructed a fascinating diagram to
illustrate this concept. Explaining the diagram, he writes: “Beginning with the
Big Bang, the universe expands and cools. After eons of dynamic development it
gives rise to observership. Acts of observer-participancy in turn give tangible reality to the universe
not only now but back to the beginning.”
FREE WILL,
QUANTUM PHYSICS, AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE WAVE FUNCTION
A free-willed
decision, in order to be truly free, has to be unconstrained by the laws of
nature and not determined by any physical phenomena. Hence free will must be
neither the result of deterministic processes, nor the result of random
processes occurring in accordance with the natural order of phenomena. Hence if
the universe contains a free will, this free will must operate via interactions
which transcend both the determinism of classical physics and the randomness of
quantum physics. Free will is then unique in this respect. If some entity
exists which can collapse the quantum wave function, then it is reasonable to
postulate that this entity has to be a free will, since, as we just discussed,
only free will transcends quantum randomness, as it transcends nature in
general. Since a consciousness can affect the universe only if it has a free
will, and a free will is by definition unthinkable without a consciousness, we
will assume in the course of further discussion that free will subsumes within
itself the concept of consciousness.
EXISTENCE OF
THE UNIVERSE AND THE ROLE OF FREE-WILLED CONSCIOUS BEINGS
We will now try
to apply the conclusions we reached above to the question of the existence of
the universe. As we saw, according to quantum metaphysics, the universe can
emerge into reality only when it is observed by a consciousness. This
consciousness possibly must function in a nonquantum
fashion in order to “collapse the wave function.” The only such nonquantum factor in the universe is free will. Thus, we
postulate that it is the presence of a free-willed, conscious being which
enables the universe to emerge into reality.
........................
Thus, since the
true reality of the universe is the spiritually meaningful aspect, it should
not be surprising that the emergence of the universe into reality is so
intimately bound up with the emergence of those beings who endow physicality of
meaning. Furthermore, once this connection is understood, it is most
appropriate that the very characteristics of man which both according to
quantum metaphysics and according to religious teachings allow the emergence of
the universe into reality (i.e., his free-willed consciousness) are the very
same characteristics which endow it with meaning. We can thus see the
fundamental interrelationship between meaning, purpose, free will,
consciousness, and the very nature of reality (and how this is reflected in
Creation).
Summary
We have seen that according to quantum (meta)physics,
reality is established via the observation of a (free-willed) consciousness. In
addition, according to Jewish thought free-willed choice gives the universe
meaning and is thus the “motivation” for the very existence of the universe.
Just as according to quantum physics (or
metaphysics) nature has delegated to humans the ability to determine the nature
of physical reality within the limitations of natural law, similarly God, the
Creator of nature, delegated to man alone the ability to determine the nature
of spiritual reality, which then influences the physical. Of the two levels,
the physical is merely the means to the spiritual end. Thus the determination
by man of spiritual reality is even more fundamental than is his determination
of physical reality. So, too, it is man’s spiritual qualities (free-willed
consciousness) which are more fundamental than these physical qualities. It is
up to man to use his own limited sense of right and wrong, guided by moral and
religious criteria, to determine reality. This is the way to achieve one’s
purpose - and it is this purpose which also gives meaning to the universe.
Since it is man’s consciousness and free will which invest his choices with the
possibility of meaning, it is therefore only free-willed consciousness which
has the possibility of conducting reality-determining observation and
measurement. Nature by itself is powerless to achieve self-realization; man is
required to bring both himself and the universe into
reality. Thus nature cannot determine reality, God does not decide reality; it is
man’s prerogative and sole responsibility. Man, alive and physical and yet
spiritual as well, albeit limited and fallible - or perhaps because he
is limited and fallible - is uniquely qualified, by virtue of his possessing a
free-willed consciousness, to determine the nature of physical and spiritual
reality.
Emergence of
Humans
As we have
seen, quantum physics connects ontology (being) with epistemology (knowing),
and quantum metaphysics postulates that the universe can emerge into true
physical existence only when there are (free-willed) conscious beings in it.
According to this scenario, man is not a random product of the universe but is
rather a necessary condition for the very existence of the universe. In
addition, since the universe can emerge into true physical existence only when
free-willed conscious man is present within it, there is no true physical
reality to any time prior to the emergence of the first free-willed conscious
man. According to Torah, this man was Adam. Of course, other theories have been
advanced regarding the emergence of man. However, these by definition relate to
a time prior to the emergence of conscious individuals. According to the
approach of quantum physics explored here, these theories cannot relate actual
physical historical events since there were no such actual events prior to the
emergence of free-willed conscious beings.
...............
Adam,
Creation & Science
If events
“prior” to the emergence of the first free-willed conscious being are undefined
scientifically, then it is only to be expected that there will be differences
between the description made of the emergence of this first free-willed
conscious being by a source limited by quantum physics - such as man and his
theories - and the description made by a source originating outside of
physicality - such as the Torah.