Trust in Source: Comparing Tantra and Quantum Physics
By Gail Matheson, PhD
What is the nature of the Divine? What is God? These are most likely the most common questions of the spiritual seeker.
It was required in undergraduate Arts programs that you have a minimum science requirement. One of the more interesting ways to meet this requirement was to take The History Of Science. The history of science suggested that our most deeply scientific study – physics – in fact emerged from trying to understand the nature of God. Philosophy, physics, and psychology all emerged as fields of inquiry to ultimately answer our burning questions about God. (See this link for a paper on integrating science and religion). Of course, other cultures have their own history that does not make it into a mainstream academic class. Eastern cultures developed systematic and rich ways of understanding God.
In exploring these broad traditions, one finds there are tremendous intersections in the philosophy of Tantra, and in the research overviewed in the documentary The Quantum Activist. The Quantum Activist logically walks through the implications of the Observer Effect in physics, and utilizes Quantum Physics to answer questions about the nature of Consciousness.
The main ideas in this documentary are that “consciousness is the ground of all being, and all objects of our experience (sensing, thinking, feeling, and intuition) are quantum possibilities for consciousness to choose from. If we choose from what is known, that is to say, what is conditioned in us from prior experiences, we are choosing from our ego-consciousness. But if we choose what is unknown, what is unmanifest in our prior experiences, we are choosing from what spiritual traditions call God-consciousness (in scientific language we call it quantum consciousness). Choosing from God-consciousness requires quantum leaps (movement from point A to point B without going through intermediate steps), nonlocality (signal-less communication), and tangled hierarchy (causal relationships of circularity). The third message of quantum physics is the evolution of consciousness, and it is taking us toward a greater and greater capacity for processing the meaning of our lives and the world around us. The immediate future of evolution is promising to take us from our current preoccupation with the rational mind to an intuitive mind that values the archetypes; such as Good, Beauty, Truth, Justice, and Love, and gives us the ability to process the meaning of our lives through these archetypes.” – The Quantum Activit.com
In Tantra, it is believed that all things are part of one vast field of energy, called the Light of Creation or the Light of Consciousness (Christopher Wallis). God is viewed as “the unbounded Light of Consciousness reposing in innate bliss, endowed with the Powers of Will, Knowledge, and Action.” We are not separate from that, and it is the process of spiritual practice that helps us remove the blocks to seeing ourselves as we really are (divine) and fully able to access that same freedom as our Source.
Both Tantra and Quantum Activist speak to the issue of creation. Dr. Goswami refers to God as Creative Consciousness. In Tantra, creation is viewed as “the flowing forth, within the infinite field of Consciousness, of a vast multiplicity of apparently differentiated subjects and objects” (Christopher Wallis). Dr Goswami notes that when we manifest, we do so in a higher state of Consciousness. The difficulty is that many people try to create from ego-consciousness, which is limited by experience.
In the Quantum Activist, it becomes clear that we influence not only our experience, but the experience of all others because we are connected to all others energetically (as defined in physics). He argues for a principal of non-locality, showing that we are all interconnected – even without signals we can communicate and influence each other, and experimental evidence is proving our inherent unity.
In Tantra, there is also a recognition of unity. “Every encounter with any other being is an opportunity for reflecting one’s own total nature. Recognizing yourself in the other being, and the other being in yourself, necessarily involves an expansion of your sense of identity…this expansion continues until you experience yourself in all things, and all things in yourself.” (Christopher Wallis)
Tantra reminds us that to attain fulfillment you simply need to see the truth of your own being: “that infinite potential exists within you, for you are an expression of the Divine, and whatever manifests through you in this life, though not infinite, is to be honored as what you alone can add to the ever-expanding process of God’s grand self-exploration.” (Christopher Wallis)
So what? With all this power, what do we do now? In a moment of humor, Dr Goswami suggests we “Do, Be, Do, Be, Do. Be with God some of the time, be in the ego some of the time, and let the dance generate creative acts of transformation. ”
The Quantum Activist calls us to apply our knowledge of creation to change the world. “He issues a call for a spiritual economics that is concerned with our well-being rather than only our material needs; politics that uses power to serve, instead of dominating others; education that liberates rather than shackles; and new healthy practices that restore wholeness.” In other words, he is speaking to another famous quotation by Gandhi – Be the Change you want to see in the world.
There are many more approaches to understanding consciousness. There are many practices and philosophies to guide our spiritual growth. To me, the biggest insight I take from the union of Tantra and Quantum Physics is this: Trust in Source.
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