A while ago, I read “Observer: A novel” by Robert Lanza, a book about quantum foam, infinite universes, consciousness and observer effects. Your mind as a quantum machine. Blew my mind. So I decided to pick up another book by Lanza, “The Grand Biocentric Design: How Life Creates Reality”.
We create the universe
Life is not a product of the universe but the other way around. In other words, we have created the universe with our mind. We are the universe. Early Sanskrit and Taoist teachers unanimously declared that when it comes to the cosmos, “All is One.” We are not separate from the things we see, hear, and contemplate. Rather, we—nature and the observer—are some sort of inseparable entity. This simple conclusion lies at the heart of biocentrism.
Observer effect
The laws and conditions of the universe allow for the observer because the observer generates them. An external reality, if it existed, would, by definition, have to exist in the framework of space and time. But space and time are not independent realities but tools of the human and animal mind. The act of observation is somehow central to the existence of reality. In Quantumland, the realm of the tiny, a particle like an electron exists in a state called superposition. Meaning it is doing everything that is possible at once. Until it is observed. Observation is the cause of the quantum/classical transition. The only things we perceive are our perceptions.
The basic structure of the cosmos requires observers.
It’s really true that life and consciousness are central to everything else, then countless puzzling anomalies in science enjoy immediate clarification. For example, the electromagnetic force called “alpha” that governs the electrical bonds in every atom is identical throughout the universe and “set in stone” at precisely the values that allow life to exist. This could merely be an astounding coincidence. But the simplest explanation is that the laws and conditions of the universe allow for the observer because the observer generates them. The basic structure of the cosmos—things like space and time and the way matter holds together—requires observers.
Consciousness is fundamental
Consciousness, the fact of awareness, of perception, is not only fundamental to all we know or ever hope to know, it is also exceedingly peculiar, both in fact and in origin. Consciousness is the root. It’s more fundamental than your computer’s hard drive. In this analogy, it’s rather like the electric current. Moreover, experiments since the 1920s have unequivocally revealed that the mere presence of the observer changes an observation.
Particles exist in all possible places at once
The most famous names in quantum mechanics regarded consciousness as central to the understanding of the cosmos. Quantum mechanics consistently and accurately predicts how and where the basic particles of matter will appear, with the amazing revelation that prior to observation, they—dwelling in a sort of blurry probability state that physicists call “an uncollapsed wave function.” Indeed, quantum theory casts serious doubt about whether even far-apart bodies are truly and fully separated. Particles and photons—matter and energy—go from blurry, probabilistic, not-quite-real “wave function” statistical entities to actual objects the moment we observe them.
One
Eastern mystics and philosophers inherently perceived or intuited a unity between the observer and the so-called external universe, and, as centuries elapsed, they were consistent in maintaining that such a distinction is illusory.
The principles
- First principle of biocentrism: What we perceive as reality is a process that involves our consciousness.
- Second principle of biocentrism: Our external and internal perceptions are inextricably intertwined.
- Third principle of biocentrism: The behaviour of subatomic particles—indeed all particles and objects—is inextricably linked to the presence of an observer.
- Fourth principle of biocentrism: Without consciousness, “matter” dwells in an undetermined state of probability. Any universe that could have preceded consciousness only existed in a probability state.
- Fifth principle of biocentrism: The structure of the universe is explainable only through biocentrism because the universe is fine-tuned for life—which makes perfect sense as life creates the universe, not the other way around.
- Sixth principle of biocentrism: Time does not have a real existence outside of animal sense perception. It is the process by which we perceive changes in the universe.
- Seventh principle of biocentrism: Space, like time, is not an object or a thing.
- Eighth principle of biocentrism: Biocentrism offers the only explanation of how the mind is unified with matter and the world by showing how modulation of ion dynamics in the brain at the quantum level allows all parts of the information system that we associate with consciousness to be simultaneously interconnected.
- Ninth principle of biocentrism: There are several basic relationships—called “forces”—that the mind uses to construct reality. They have their roots in the logic of how the various components of the information system interact with each other to create the 3-D experience we call consciousness or reality. Each force describes how bits of energy interact at different levels, starting with the strong and weak forces (which govern how particles hold together or fall apart in the nucleus of atoms) and moving up to electromagnetism and then gravity (which dominates interactions on astronomical scales such as the behaviour of solar systems and galaxies).
- Tenth principle of biocentrism: The two pillars of physics—quantum mechanics and general relativity—can only be reconciled by taking observers, us, into account.
- Eleventh principle of biocentrism: Observers ultimately define the structure of physical reality—of states of matter and spacetime—even if there is a “real world out there” beyond us, whether one of fields, quantum foam, or some other entity.
Sadhguru and Deepak
The book is not that dissimilar to other books about creating our own reality. They just take a highly scientific approach to something some of us already know(ish). Follow Sadhguru or Deepak Copra, and you will get a sense of what that means.
Everything is energy
Ignore the doctrine that material objects exist in themselves, apart from the mind’s consciousness. There is no material universe existing independently of consciousness. The universe could only come into existence if someone observed it. The universe exists because we are aware of it. Until that observation, all possibilities continue to coexist and are equally real. Quantum foam. At any given moment, there is a cloud of quantum activity associated with consciousness.
Michu Kaku
Michu Kaku in “The future of the mind” describes the brain as a quantum machine. Whether or not the brain can indeed be in a superposition state is a matter of debate within the scientific community. However, quantum coherence in the brain is one thing, but the brain and the environment together are in a pure (that is, superposed) quantum state. And, in fact, the “environment” extends to the entire universe. Self-awareness
Time and space are projections created inside the mind, where perception, feeling, and experience begin. Which brings it back to Sadhguru and Deepak Chopra. If your mind controls your environment, you need to control your mind. In that context, it might also be useful to read “Supernormal“.
Animals
The book makes a jump to animals and alternative forms of consciousness. Read “Ways of being”. Once we begin to take a look at animal consciousness, we find ourselves in an almost endless exploration of strange new worlds. Remember, reality exists relative to a particular observer—animal consciousness, like human consciousness, involves the collapse of wave function.
- Dogs with very sensitive olfactory abilities can detect just a few molecules wafting in the air. Researchers estimate that a bloodhound’s nose contains 230 million olfactory cells, which is forty times more than we humans have.
- We’ve long known that some animals navigate by aligning themselves with Earth’s weak magnetosphere, a barely-there force of just 0.5 gauss. Bees, birds, termites, ants, hens, molluscs, many bacteria, homing pigeons, chinook salmon, European eels, salamanders, toads, turtles—the list is long.
- In contrast, vampire bats can detect heat at distances up to eight inches and at temperatures as low as 86°F—a range that covers the skin warmth of virtually every mammal on which they might wish to perform their Dracula routine.
- Dolphins have the ability to reproduce the echoes of their own sonar signals so that when they have found something interesting, like a delicious school of juicy fish, they can replicate the sounds to “tell” other dolphins what they’ve discovered.
- Sharks have organs called Lorenzini blisters, which sense electrical fields. Bees can sense electrical fields as well.
Other topics
Other topics the book covers are death (it does not exist as energy never dies), parallel universes, multiple universes, time travel, branches of reality, the universe as an information system, spatiotemporal reality, non-renormalisability, dreaming (the ability of the mind to turn pure information into a dynamic multidimensional reality), consensus reality, etc. A lot of it went over my head.
Reality is active
Reality isn’t a hard, cold thing but an active process that involves our consciousness. Space and time are simply the tools our mind uses to weave information together into a coherent experience—they are the language of consciousness. In the mind, were we able to lay it open, we would see the internal logic of the universe. The universe is the externalisation of the soul.
