The Akashic Field Part II: Unexplained mysteries

(This is part II of a review of Ervin Laszlo's book, Science and the Akashic Field- see part I below)

At the core of Laszlo's book is the idea that the Universe is guided by an "informational" field, or, as he calls it: the "A-field". This name is taken from the Sanskrit word for "ether", Akashic. He describes the field as something akin to the Gravitational Field in that one cannot see it, feel it, or directly observe it- but one can infer that it exists from the way things may interact with it. This informational field, may inform all things in the Universe- from the smallest entities like quanta to massively large cosmological things like stars, planets, solar systems, and the actual universe itself.

What kinds of things can one infer an informational field from? Here Laszlo lists many different puzzles that do not make any sense when looked at from the conventional scientific point of view.

A. Cosmic mysteries:

1) The staggeringly fine-tuning of the universe: if the "Big Bang" had produced just one billionth more or less matter than it did, space-time would have been curved even in the absence of matter (it is flat in the absence of matter).

2) The missing "mass" of the universe: even when scientists use dark matter to account for a huge chunk of the mass in the universe that they cannot see, there is still a massive amount "missing".

3) The accelerating cosmos: the cosmos should be slowing down.

4) Coherence of cosmic ratios: the mass of elementary particles, the number of particles, and the forces that exist between them are all mysteriously adjusted to favor certain ratios that appear over and over.

5) the "horizon" problem: the cosmos is evolving exactly the same in every direction from the Earth, but that kind of coherence doesn't make any sense- nothing could travel that fast to make sure it stayed coherent.

6) fine-tuning of universal constants: the universe seems very finely tuned for the extremely improbable conditions for which life can emerge and evolve.

Conclusion from cosmic mysteries: something is connecting everything in the Universe, and thus the universe may not have risen in the context of random fluctuations.

B. Puzzles of Quantum Physics:

1) Quanta (the most infinitesimal unit of any entity) do not exist in just one state. Until interacted with they display the counterintuitive behavior of being in multiple states at the same time.

2) Once a quanta is interacted with, it "becomes" one state- but there appears to be no way of telling beforehand which state it will become- it seems to choose its state from some other way than the act of the interaction.

3) You cannot measure both speed and energy of a quanta at the same time- when one is measured, the other becomes "blurred".

4) Quanta that are linked somehow remain linked: even when taken far apart, when one is observed, the other takes on a complimentary state based on its linked partner.

5) In one system, all the quanta are linked in such a way that not only will all take on a state based on another quanta- if one is individually measured the others will take on a complimentary state- even if the experiment is not carried out.

Conclusion from activity at the quanta level: Newtonian physics works on Earth- but ran into trouble once we split the atom. Then Einstein came up with Relativity- which is very hard to understand as it does not mirror what we see in everyday life. Now that concept is having trouble since quantum mechanics has come along. Something even more counterintuitive is needed to explain the phenomena we are now experiencing. What can connect quanta and make them behave the way they do? No matter how far apart- even light years away- quanta are somehow correlated. How does that happen?

C. Puzzles with Biology

1) organisms are extremely coherent: experiments in quantum biology have shown connections between organs in the body and in particles within organs.

2) organisms are coherent with their environment: without an internal fine-tuning to the external, organisms would have not been able to adapt to changing environments and would have been eliminated by natural selection.

3) The Darwinian concept of the separation of the genome from its environment is not correct- it has been proven so by statistics and experimentation: offspring can adapt in such a way that the same environment would have killed the parent. Statistics proves that chance mutations and natural selection could never have resulted in life in such a "short" period as it did on Earth.

Conclusion from Quantum biology: we are not only internally coherent, we also are coherent and correlated with the outside world. Not only that, but something guided the evolution of life- chance and destruction of the weak couldn't have done it.

D. Puzzles with Conscience research:

1) The measured effects of "non-local" events: groups praying for hospitalized individuals were able to have a statistically significant impact on those hospitalized when compared to those who were not prayed for.

2) Cultures developing similar artifacts and other cultural connections and correlations although they were never in contact.

Conclusion: not only are we coherent within ourselves and the outside world, but we are coherent with each other.

Conclusion from all this: things on the micro, macro, and even "ordinary" (from the human perspective) scales are surprisingly coherent and correlated. What makes this coherency and correlation happen?

A possible solution is an informational field that we cannot detect, but that "informs" everything in the Universe, guides all evolution, and connects us to everything. What does it mean? This is a question Lazslo will attempt to answer, but one in which we can attempt to answer for ourselves as well. What are the implications of some of these ideas on us as Christians? On our understanding of God and our purpose here? On life and the afterlife?

The Akashic Field: Part I

In the coming weeks I will attempt to explain parts of a book called Science and the Akashic Field (http://www.anandavala.info/TASTMOTNOR/The%20Akashic%20Field.html). This book explores an "integral theory of everything", or- as Einstein liked to call it: "reading the mind of God." The book is a fascinating look at some cutting-edge science attempting to tie cosmology, physics, chemistry, biology, consciousness, and all other science disciplines together. It is written by Ervin Laszlo, (http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/bios/ervin-laszlo.asp).

What is a "theory of everything" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_everything)? Simply put, physicists have long dreamed of coming up with a mathematical equation that would be able to explain all observable phenomena. Einstein attempted to do so (unified field theory), but lately- especially in light of quantum mechanics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics)- scientists have turned to conceptual schemes instead of mathematical equations to help explain "everything".

For awhile now many people, and increasingly scientists, have felt that the universe was connected somehow- that it isn't all just a bunch of random encounters with lots of "empty" space in between matter. With the curious and "weird" phenomena that is quantum activity coupled with the puzzling discovery that matter (detectable, observable entities) only makes up 4% of the Universe- scientists have slowly been coming around to the realization that our perception of reality is massively skewed by our lack of perception of the true nature of the Universe.

Or, in layman's terms: we can only "see" 4% of what's out there- so any conclusions we attempt to make about the ENTIRE universe are apt to be incomplete and most likely totally wrong; in addition- quantum mechanics: or the explanation of physical reality at the smallest level- is "weird": i.e. it seems to violate Newton's Principles on how matter behaves.

The weirdest, most unexplainable phenomenon: the smallest facet of physical reality: the quanta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quanta)- basically a "packet" of energy that is unlike any form of energy that we know of (it is both a "corpuscle and a wave", is not material- but can have the properties of mass, gravitation, and inertia)- when one property of a quanta is measured, the other properties become unavailable to measurement and observation. In other words, each quanta has the potential to take on different properties, but once they are interacted with- they take on a specific characteristic, a reality- and all other potential positions are unavailable. Another weird quality: there is no way to predict which property the quanta will take.

Laszlo points out that many scientists do not mess with the "why", but only stick to finding out the "how" of things. He explains in the beginning that "why" and "purpose" questions seem to some to stray too close to putting human perception and subjectivity on science. However, Laszlo makes the case that science should be concerned with "why"- that ultimately "why" may matter more and help explain the "how" better than just attempting to explain the "how".

As Laszlo explains in the first section- "why" really matters because no-one wants to believe that this universe came about simply by chance, that nothing we do will amount to anything in the long-run, and that the universe will end in destruction. "Purpose" drives humans and if the Universe is purposeless, then it begs the question of why even have humans in the first place (or, for that matter- anything)?

His answer: that cutting edge discoveries in physics, biology, cosmology, and consciousness all point to an existence that is not accidental, that the universe is an informed and meaningful universe, and that a unifed conceptual scheme can tie all phenomena in the world together: Einstein's elusive integral theory of everything.

As we get further into the book we will discover new ways of looking at the Universe, some that will look very familiar to religious folk (while at the same time looking unfamiliar to athiestic scientists), and others that will tease us into looking at the Universe in a wholly different light. If God is indeed more complex than we can understand and a literal interpretation of the Bible would have us believe- then these concepts could indeed be a glimpse of the awesomeness of His creation and maybe even a hint of the essense of God Himself.