I’ve been reading two books by Deepak Chopra that really delve into the science behind the reality that our universe is conscious (Life After Death, and You Are the Universe – co-written with Menas C. Kafatos, Ph.D.). I highly, highly recommend these to you if you’re at all interested in how scientific facts support spiritual ideas. There is a lot to unpack here, so I’m going to take things one piece at a time, starting with the fascinating observer effect.
When I was very young, I remember my panic in wondering if what I saw with my eyes was really “there”. Most of us view the world through these two sockets in our head, giving us a specific field of vision at all times. But the only proof of what our eyes tell us is via our other senses, like touch, smell, and sound. How do we know those are trustworthy either? As I’ve aged, I’ve gotten used to the lack of proof of what I experience as reality, but the questions still remain.
My favorite metaphor for life as we understand it is like playing a video game with really impressive graphics and interactive features. We have our screen to observe gameplay. Our brain is our controller. In traditional video games, the game is only there for the player to use it. Without players, there would be no game. And the game itself is programmed to react to what the players do. Strangely, our world behaves exactly like this as well.
Mind over matter upsets the applecart of physics through this discovery, that the act of observation—mere looking—isn’t passive… You are altering the activity in your brain’s visual cortex as your eye falls upon different objects…What we take for granted, however, is that seeing things is passive “out there.” This is where the theory of quantum mechanics caused an upset.
If you move from big things to small things, observing photons, electrons, and other subatomic particles creates a mysterious phenomenon known as the observer effect… According to quantum theory, as long as a photon or electron isn’t being observed, it acts like a wave… Yet, as soon as the photon or electron is observed, it behaves like a particle.
Deepak Chopra, M.D. & Menas C. Kafatos, Ph.D., You Are the Universe, pg. 19
The observer effect can be found throughout all of nature, and shows us that just by looking at something, we change its state and behavior. This is the case for subatomic particles, as stated above. Electrons maintain a superposition, existing in several places at once, until they are observed. What wondrous behavior for one of the building blocks of matter!
Light particles behave similarly. Light maintains the form of a wave, until it is observed. Then it changes state to become a particle. This is known as the collapse of the wave function. The act of observation itself brings particles into existence in time and space. This means light, photons, and electrons know we’re watching, so they decide to change form. Know and decide are scary concepts to assign to things materialists insist contain no mind of their own. This is an example of how a conscious universe behaves.
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.
Werner Heisenberg
Schrödinger’s cat is another example of the observer effect. The cat is both alive and dead until we observe it. In fact, by observing the cat, we cause it to be either alive or dead, since otherwise it exists in both states simultaneously.
Materialist and traditional science like to state that the observer plays no significant part in reality. They say things are what they are, regardless of who’s around to notice. This is simply incorrect. As observers, we play a crucial role in reality. Reality is what it is right now because we observe it. Truthfully, we have no way of knowing what would exist if we were not here to function as observers, or if anything would exist at all. Without the players, after all, there is no game.
I know it’s a bold claim to say reality exists for the sake of those living in it, but this is exactly one of the truths explored in these books, supported by some of the most brilliant scientific minds in the world.
Though we might not understand why reality exists for the sake of us, the observers, that it does, that we shape the universe just by witnessing it, means a great deal. We are a crucial part of the functioning of our world just by being here.
It can be argued that without the observer, nature exists only as pure potential, that we the creators hold the responsibility for shaping everything, in each moment. If you ever doubt your worth or importance, hold onto the scientific fact that all of nature—everything made up of photons, electrons, and light—is designed to react specifically to you. What will you choose to do with that power?
Love and blessings, friends.
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