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Intuition: Delusion or Perception? Toward a Scientific Explanation of the Akashic Experience
Posted By davidjones On May 1, 2009 @ 12:00 pm In Metaphysics , Paranormal , Parapsychology , UFOs, Cutting Edge Science | No Comments
By ERVIN LASZLO
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The intuitions reported by mystics, poets, artists, ordinary people, even scientists, often go beyond the range of sensory perception.
In the reductionist culture inspired by classical science, they are dismissed as mere delusion – classical empiricism claims that there is
nothing in the mind that was not first in the eye. However, the classical tenet is not universally upheld. It is exceptional in the annals
of history, and even in the context of contemporary cultures.In history intuitions were embedded in the conceptual framework through
which a given culture interpreted the nature of reality. In indigenous societies shamans and medicinemen (and women) tuned
themselves to spontaneous apprehension through rigorous initiation and training; they derived their mystical vision from them. In
mythically oriented societies the world was seen as a cosmic realm of spirits, and in classical cultures it was believed to be governed
by a panoply of unseen gods. The Abrahamic monotheistic religions recognised the intuitions of their prophets as conveying
fundamental truths about God and the nature of His creation. Eastern cultures have always held that reality extends far beyond the
domain of the senses.On the other hand Western culture takes as real only that which is manifest – literally “to hand.” Because what
people see is constrained by what they believe they can see, everything that is not conveyed to consciousness by eye and ear is
dismissed from the modern view of the world. But are the intuitions that occasionally surface in consciousness mere delusion? Or can
there be intuitions that are as real and fundamental as sensory perception? This question calls for a deeper look at the possibility that
spontaneous insights and apprehensions may have a physical basis. There are findings at the cuttingedge of scientific research that
affirm this possibility.
The Brain as a “macroscopic quantum system”
The crucial finding is the discovery that the brain is not merely a classical biochemical system; in some respects it is a “macroscopic
quantum system.” Certain cerebral functions involve processes previously thought to be limited to the domain of the quantum. The
pertinent functions concern the reception and transmission of information at the cellular and subcellular level: intercellular
communication involves quantumeffects and processes. Neurons and neuronal and subneuronal networks form synchronised oscillators
that receive and send information through quantum resonance. This information propagates quasi instantly throughout the organism
and does not require classical channels of signal transmission. The various forms and characteristics of information transmitted through
quantum resonance are not fully understood, but their physical basis is clear. It is nonlocality, the process Einstein first said is
“spooky” and then Erwin Schrödinger termed “entanglement.” Entanglement means that the states and functions of the entangled
entities are correlated beyond the ordinary bounds of space and time. As a result the entities are intrinsically and fundamentally
coherent. Such coherence obtains in the domain of the quantum: in pristine states quanta are coherent and mutually entangled. Only
interaction in some form (measurement, and possibly certain acts of observation) renders them decoherent. Macroscale objects were
said to be in a permanently decoherent state, yet certain objects also exhibit forms of quantum coherence. There is experimental
evidence that the state of entire atoms can be entangled, and in recent years quantumcoherence has been discovered at the scale
of living organisms. The divide between the microworld of the quantum and the world of macroscale objects has been breached. The
heat of living organisms – even of warmbodied species – does not necessarily destroy the coherence that is the precondition of
entanglement. While classical quantum theory maintained that at ordinary temperatures Brownian movement made quanta, socalled
“qubits,” decoherent and thus incapable of entanglement, recent research (inter alia by Kitaev, Pitkanen, and Frecska and Luna)
indicates that the problem of “heatdecoherence” is not insuperable.1
There appear to be networks of quanta where the particles are “woven” or “braided” in a way that is sufficiently robust to maintain
coherence at body temperatures. Whereas at such temperatures classically organised qubits become decoherent, networks of woven
or braided qubits conserve coherence. As Parsons put it, “braiding is robust: just as a passing gust of wind may ruffle your shoelaces
but won’t untie them, data stored on a quantum braid can survive all kinds of disturbance.”2 Quantum coherence in the brain and
throughout the organism is not just theoretical speculation; it is entirely fundamental for coordinating the processes that make life
There appear to be networks of quanta where the particles are “woven” or “braided” in a way that is sufficiently robust to maintain
coherence at body temperatures. Whereas at such temperatures classically organised qubits become decoherent, networks of woven
or braided qubits conserve coherence. As Parsons put it, “braiding is robust: just as a passing gust of wind may ruffle your shoelaces
but won’t untie them, data stored on a quantum braid can survive all kinds of disturbance.”2 Quantum coherence in the brain and
throughout the organism is not just theoretical speculation; it is entirely fundamental for coordinating the processes that make life
possible. The staggering number of physical and chemical reactions taking place in the living organism is not likely to be coordinated by
limited and relatively slow biochemical signaltransmission alone. Only the “entanglement” of the organism’s cellular and subcellular
components can ensure a sufficiently rapid flow of multidimensional information to maintain the organism in its physically improbable
state far from thermal and chemical equilibrium.
Cytoskeletal Structures
Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff suggest that cytoskeletal structures in the brain are responsible for the reception, computation,
and transmission of multidimensional quantumresonancebased information. Throughout the organism cytoskeletal proteins are
organised into a network of microtubules, and the elements of these networks are connected to each other structurally by protein
links and functionally by gap junctions. However, the network of microtubules may be too coarse grained to produce quantumeffects
in the brain. The “infoplasm,” the basic substrate of living matter, may be the microtrabecular lattice, a web of microfilaments 7 to 9
nanometer in diameter. The periodic lattice of microtubules forms a network within the network of neurons, and the microtrabecular
lattice is a network embedded in the network of microtubules. According to Ede Frecska, it is this lattice that is likely to be the
structure responsible for quantumeffects in the brain. It appears physically possible that the quantumscale components of the
cytoskeletal lattice convey information from the world to the brain. The question is, what information? How does information originate
in the world at large?
The Akashic Field
Until recently, asserting that information is objectively present in nature and not only in the human realm was considered
metaphysical. This is no longer the case. It is now recognised that information is present in all things; as John Wheeler remarked, in
some respects it the most fundamental feature of the universe. Experiments designed to test the Einstein PodolskiRosen hypothesis
indicate that already quanta behave in an informed manner: they appear to make choices of their own, and respond to choices by
other quanta. Either they have a form of consciousness (a thesis entertained by some physicists), or they are embedded in a complex
informational environment. The latter is the minimally speculative assumption. It suggests that even in the absence of matter space is
neither empty nor passive. As this writer among others has suggested, cosmic space is not a vacuum, but a plenum. In recognition of
the prophetic insight of ancient Sanskrit and Hindu cosmology – where Akasha is the most fundamental of the five elements, the one
from which the others arise – this writer calls the field that fills cosmic space the “Akashic Field.”3
The idea that space is active and filled with physically significant events is not unique to Sanskrit and Hindu cosmology; it has
noteworthy antecedents also in the history of science. In the nineteenth century, mathematician William Clifford suggested that small
portions of space are analogous to little hills on a surface that is flat on average; the geometry of the landscape does not hold for
them. The property of space to be curved or distorted, he said, is continually being passed on from one portion of space to another
after the manner of a wave. In the physical world there is nothing else but this wavelike variation.4
In a 1930 paper, “The concept of space,” Albert Einstein noted, “We have now come to the conclusion that space is the primary thing
and matter only secondary; we may say that space, in revenge for its former inferior position, is now eating up matter.”5 A few years
later Erwin Schrödinger restated the same thought: “What we observe as material bodies and forces are nothing but shapes and
variations in the structure of space. ”6 In physical cosmology cosmic space is seen as a ceaselessly fluctuating sea of emerging and
vanishing virtual particles. In grandunified and supergrand unified theories all the universal fields and forces of nature are traced to
origins in the quantum vacuum, a fundamental hyperspace often viewed as a unified field. This fundamental field carries also zeropoint
energies – energies that remain present when at the absolute zero of temperature conventional forms of energy vanish. The concept
of a complex unified field, effectively the Akashic Field, offers a basis for identifying the origins of the information that quantum
processes transfer to the brain. It is known that as a consequence of their motion atoms, molecules and all material entities (i.e.
structures composed of massive particles) produce electromagnetic waves that radiate into surrounding space. Space, however, is not
empty and passive, and it is more than Maxwell’s extended electromagnetic field. It is the locus of the Akashic Field. The waves
emitted by moving objects excite and modulate this field, creating wavefronts that propagate in the field and, upon meeting, interfere
with each other. The interference patterns that result carry information at their nodes on the objects that created the waves.
Because the Akashic Field is a seamless medium that extends throughout space, the information carried by the interference patterns
produced by moving objects extends throughout space. This information corresponds to the physical properties of the objects.7
The process is similar to that which occurs in holography. The holograms created by interfering beams of light conserve information on
the surface of the things and events that modulated the light beams. But the interference patterns responsible for quantum coherence
are created by waves in the Akashic Field, and not by photons in the electromagnetic field. Thus they are not ordinary, but quantum
holograms. Walter Schempp has shown that quantum holograms are coherent, mutually entangled, and carry nonlocal information on
the things and events that produced the constituent waves. He has also shown that the brain’s object imagery is phase conjugate.
Lending support to Karl Pribram’s “holonomic brain theory,” Schempp affirmed that “the conditions which make quantum holography
possible are ideally suited to the hypothesis that the brain works … by quantum holography.”8
the surface of the things and events that modulated the light beams. But the interference patterns responsible for quantum coherence
are created by waves in the Akashic Field, and not by photons in the electromagnetic field. Thus they are not ordinary, but quantum
holograms. Walter Schempp has shown that quantum holograms are coherent, mutually entangled, and carry nonlocal information on
the things and events that produced the constituent waves. He has also shown that the brain’s object imagery is phase conjugate.
Lending support to Karl Pribram’s “holonomic brain theory,” Schempp affirmed that “the conditions which make quantum holography
possible are ideally suited to the hypothesis that the brain works … by quantum holography.”8
The answer to the question regarding the origin and nature of the information transferred by quantumresonance to the brain can now
be essayed. When the phase and frequency of a cerebral lattice corresponds to the phase and frequency of a quantum hologram,
brain and hologram enter into phaseconjugate resonance. This allows the information conserved at the nodes of Akashic Field
quantum holograms to be transferred to the cerebral receptors. Thus some of the intuitions that reach consciousness are not merely
delusion: they are transmitted by phaseconjugate resonance from the Akashic Field to the cytoskeletal structures of the brain. Just
which intuitions have this physical origin cannot be ascertained at this time merely by examining the pertinent cerebral processes. We
need to resort to circumstantial evidence, examining the correspondence of the content of the intuitions with things and events
known to exist in the real world through ordinary sensory perception. But we can affirm in good conscience that it is entirely plausible
some intuitions have a bona fide physical basis. And that, in itself, goes a long way toward legitimating belief in the veridical nature of
at least some of our intuitions.
A Concluding Note
Although widely reported and often meaningful, intuition is seldom the subject of sustained scientific research. The classical empirical
tenet of mainstream science discourages attempts to investigate the phenomenon: it is physically implausible if not categorically
impossible. Yet sustained research on intuition would be potentially fruitful and extremely important. In the positive case it would show
that the human brain and nervous systems can access information in a spontaneous mode. While some varieties of experience viewed
as intuition could well be delusion, there could also be spontaneous apprehension for which we can find an acceptable scientific
explanation. This would lend support to the frequently voiced belief that human beings – and by implication all living things – are
connected with each other and with nature in ways that are more subtle than those that stimulate the senses. This in turn would
reinforce and legitimate empathy and solidarity among people and a closer sense of rapport with nature – vitally important attributes in
our critical times when we face problems we can only resolve in cooperation with each other and harmony with our environment. This
article is based on the author’s latest book The Akashic Experience: Science and the Cosmic Memory Field (Inner Traditions,
Rochester, USA).
Footnotes:
1. Alexei Kitaev, 1997, Quantum error correction with imperfect gates, in Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Quantum Communication and
Measurement, edited by O. Hirota, A.S. Holevo, and C.M. Caves, New York: Plenum Press; Pitkanen, Matti, 2006, Topological Geometrodynamics, Frome, UK:
Lunilever Press; Frecska, Ede and Luis Eduardo Luna, 2006, NeuroOntological Interpretation of Spiritual Experiences, Neuropsychopharmacologia Hungarica, 8
(3), 2006.
2. Paul Parsons, Dancing the Quantum Dream, New Scientist 2431: 3134, 2004.
International 2004; Quantum Shift in the Global Brain , Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions International, 2008.
4. William Clifford, in Wolf Milo and Geoff Haselhurst, Einstein ’s Last Question, VIA: Journal of Integral Thinking for Visionary Action, Vol. Three, No. 1, 2005.
5. Cited in Wolf and Haselhurst, op. cit.
6. Erwin Schrödinger, in Schrödinger: Life and Though, Cambridge University Press, London, 1989.
7. Peter H. Fraser and Harry Massey, Decoding the Human BodyField, Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions International, 2008.
1997; Karl Pribram, 1991, Brain and Perception: Holonomy and Structure in Figural Processing (John M Maceachran Memorial Lecture Series), Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum, 1991.
.
ERVIN LASZLO, twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, is editor of the international periodical World Futures: The
Journal of General Evolution and ChancellorDesignate of the newly formed GlobalShift University. He is the founder and
president of the international think tanks the Club of Budapest and the General Evolution Research Group and the author
of 83 books translated into 21 languages. He lives in Italy.
The above article appeared in New Dawn No. 114 (MayJune 2009) [1] .
Read this article with its illustrations by downloading your copy
of New Dawn 114 (PDF version) for only US$5 [2]
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