Grofians Unauthorized
Discussion Group
THE EMERGING PARADIGM
As scientific endeavor extended to the world of subatomic particles and cosmological space-time, significant conceptual challenges arose. Modern physics reconciled these difficulties by transcending the classic distinction between material particles and the void. According to both Einstein's theory of gravity and quantum field theory, particles can come into being spontaneously out of the void and disappear again into the void (Grof '85).
"This physical vacuum is in a state of emptiness and nothingness, yet it contains the potentiality for all forms of the particle world. The concept of the dynamic vacuum shows a striking similarity to the concept of the metacosmic and supracosmic void found in many systems of perennial philosophy."
"In light of the new facts from consciousness research presented here, the exclusive image of the human being as nothing but a biological machine is no longer tenable. In serious logical conflict with this traditional model, the new data support quite unambiguously the view that has been held by the mystical traditions of all ages; under certain circumstances, human beings can also function as vast fields of consciousness, transcending the limitations of the physical body, of Newtonian time and space, and of linear causality. This situation is quite similar to the dilemma modern physicists encountered in their study of subatomic processes in the form of the wave-particle paradox regarding light and matter. According to Niels Bohr's principle of complementarity, which addresses this paradox, in order to describe light and subatomic particles in a comprehensive way, it is necessary to see the wave picture and the particle picture as two complementary and equally necessary aspects of the same reality. Each of them is only partially correct, and each has a limited range of applicability. It depends on the experimenter and the arrangement of the experiment which of these two aspects will become manifest."
"Bohr's principle of complementarity is related specifically to phenomena in the subatomic world and cannot be automatically transferred to other problem areas. However, it sets an interesting precedent for other disciplines by codifying a paradox instead of solving it. It seems that the sciences studying human beings - medicine, psychiatry, psychology, parapsychology, anthropology, thanatology, and others - have accumulated a body of controversial data sufficient to justify fully the formulation of a comparable principle of complementarity."
- Beyond the Brain
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