Multiple exclusive concentration: Sachchidānanda is playing Houdini

The Physics of Sachchidānanda Ulrich Mohrhoff Philica
Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry 605002 India ujm@auromail.net

Synopsis: A twenty-five centuries old paradigm has passed its expiry date. It is no longer appropriate to ask: what are the ultimate building blocks and how do they interact and combine? The right questions proceed from the assumption that what ultimately exists is a single, intrinsically ineffable Being. How does this manifest itself? How does it come to constitute an apparent multitude of objects?

After treating you to the answers from contemporary physics, I turn to the deeper answers from Indian philosophy in general and Sri Aurobindo in particular. That intrinsically ineffable Being relates to its manifestation in a threefold manner: it is the substance that constitutes, the consciousness that contains, and an infinite Quality-Delight that expresses and experiences itself. By a multiple exclusive concentration it assumes, first, the aspect of a multitude of separate selves and, last, the aspect of a multitude of formless particles — the latter in order to set the stage for the Adventure of Evolution. I conclude by explaining why the laws of physics are essentially tautological: if you want to set the stage for evolution via a process that results in a multitude of formless particles, then these laws must have exactly the form that they do...

The adventure of evolution (ānanda): What ultimately exists relates to its manifestation in a threefold manner: it is the substance that constitutes, it is the consciousness that contains, and it is (subjectively speaking) an infinite bliss — ānanda — and (objectively speaking) an infinite quality infinitely expressing and experiencing itself. Then why does it hide in formless particles? Why does it subject their relations to apparently selfeffective laws? In this world, sachchidānanda is playing Houdini, imprisoning and enchaining itself as rigorously as it can, challenging itself to escape, to re-discover and re-affirm its powers in what seems to be a universe of mechanical forces and random events. Its multiple exclusive concentration allows it to enter various states of ignorance and incapacity so as to experience growth in knowledge and power, the excitement of conquest and discovery, the surprise of the unknown, the challenge of opposition, the triumph of victory...

Quantum mechanics is a probability calculus. Given the outcomes of measurements that have been made, it allows us to calculate the probabilities of the possible outcomes of measurements that may be made. And that's it. Because quantum mechanics presupposes measurements, its consistency requires the existence of measurements. And it is eminently plausible that the existence of measurements in turn requires the validity of all empirically tested physical theories — namely, the so-called "standard model" and Einstein's theory of gravity — at least as effective theories. (An effective theory is a theory that is valid over some but not all scales of length.)

This is a humbling conclusion, for it means that all empirically tested physical theories are essentially tautological. If you want spatially extended objects that neither explode nor collapse the moment they are formed, the validity of these theories is a must. To be precise, their validity is guaranteed if spatially extended objects are composed of objects that lack spatial extent. This is the sole nontrivial input and the only real mystery. Why are things that "occupy space" made of finite numbers of things that don't? We have seen why. The creation of a world of formless particles is the final stage of an involution that has set the stage for the adventure of evolution...(Papers are available for download via http://thisquantumworld.com) Philica