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consciousness and the universe

ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
edited August 2010 in Buddhism Today
Hello all ^.^

I was contemplating a matter not long ago that related science and buddhism to each other. Physicists are stating that consciousness is the fabric to the universe, that an atom in fact happens to be in every possible place at any given moment until a conscious being observes it. I know this is after all science and not the dharma, but I found it interesting how they are closely linked.
It struck me that for thousands of years people have been teaching and been aware of things that science today is coming to terms with..

Comments

  • FoibleFullFoibleFull Canada Veteran
    edited July 2010
    ThailandTom wrote: »
    Hello all ^.^

    I was contemplating a matter not long ago that related science and buddhism to each other. Physicists are stating that consciousness is the fabric to the universe, that an atom in fact happens to be in every possible place at any given moment until a conscious being observes it. I know this is after all science and not the dharma, but I found it interesting how they are closely linked.
    It struck me that for thousands of years people have been teaching and been aware of things that science today is coming to terms with..

    You are referring to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and that's not quite how it goes. But yeah, the more the scientists discover, the more it sounds metaphysical!
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    edited July 2010
    Then how does it go exactly, I am curious..
  • nuageuxnuageux
    edited July 2010
    Maybe this is a bit of a tangent, but it reminds me of something I read perhaps a year or two ago, where scientists had discovered that meditation really does work! :rolleyes: (The headline was something along these lines). Apparently they'd used MRI (I think) scanners to measure changes in brainwaves while people were meditating, and so had managed to prove something that people had already found their own proof of many, many years earlier.

    But yes, it's all still very interesting... :)
  • truthseekertruthseeker
    edited July 2010
    ThailandTom wrote: »
    Physicists are stating that consciousness is the fabric to the universe...

    I've personally never heard anyone working in the field of science making that particular statement. Possibly because scientists generally avoid overly hypothetical statements. Consciousness is a "problem" for science, or perhaps not, depending on whether you try to define it (scientifically) or simply ignore it. The pragmatic group of scientists, which is probably the vast majority, simply ignores the problem.

    I am personally inclined to a nonlocal explanation of consciousness, which implies that consciousness is not "produced" by the brain but picked up and processed by the brain not unlike radio waves are picked up and processed by a television set. It also implies that consciousness is more fundamental than we think. Alas, there is no proof, and conjectures such as these are only good to entertain philosophers.

    Cheers, Thomas
  • FoibleFullFoibleFull Canada Veteran
    edited July 2010
    ThailandTom wrote: »
    Then how does it go exactly, I am curious..

    Sorry for the delay, Tom ... haven't been at my computer for a few days.

    Heisenberg Uncertainy Principle states that you cannot precisely measure both position and velocity of a particle at the same time. The more precisely you measure one, the less precisely can you measure the other ... and that measuring one (say, speed) actually disturbs the other (say, location).

    So yes, there is uncertainty about where it is and what it is doing, and it is believed that the very process of observation changes these factors.
  • chariramacharirama Veteran
    edited August 2010
    truthseeker wrote: »
    ...I am personally inclined to a nonlocal explanation of consciousness, which implies that consciousness is not "produced" by the brain but picked up and processed by the brain not unlike radio waves are picked up and processed by a television set. It also implies that consciousness is more fundamental than we think...

    I like that thought.

    As a musician, my best performances happen when the music comes from "somewhere else" and I am just holding the instrument. It is that experience that started me on my spiritual quest.

    The idea that consciousness itself comes from somewhere else and it can be applied to more than just the music suddenly makes a lot of sense to me.

    Thank you for that.
  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    edited August 2010
    chari rama wrote: »
    I like that thought.

    As a musician, my best performances happen when the music comes from "somewhere else" and I am just holding the instrument. It is that experience that started me on my spiritual quest.

    The idea that consciousness itself comes from somewhere else and it can be applied to more than just the music suddenly makes a lot of sense to me.

    Thank you for that.


    i have experienced this with art as well. every now and then, i'm just "in it" and bam! ... even years later, i think, "really, did i make that? how????" it's as if i'm just tapped in to something greater and everything seems so easy at that moment. yet, on another day, i might struggle drawing a simple image i have drawn a thousand times before... truly wondrous.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    edited August 2010
    That is a very interesting way to look at it, for sure. If I think back to situations where I have been drawing, designing something on fotohop for uni or making some music, what you have pointed out there does speak to me. Hmm, something to consider next time we go about doing something maybe..
  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    edited August 2010
    ThailandTom wrote: »
    That is a very interesting way to look at it, for sure. If I think back to situations where I have been drawing, designing something on fotohop for uni or making some music, what you have pointed out there does speak to me. Hmm, something to consider next time we go about doing something maybe..

    yes, but i am still pretty hesitant to call it such. it's still very possible that maybe that day i just had a good nourishing meal and adequate sleep and a good idea and all of these things combine to create something amazing. another thing i notice is that the art i make for someone in mind is almost always better than anything i do just for the fun of it. as if the drive of the gift is inspiration enough.

    point being, if i truly believed that i was only good when i was somehow connected to this greater consciousness... i would probably paint/draw/whatever even less than i already do. :winkc:
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