Implicate Order

 The scientists were beduffled. When the mystic came out of his meditation and uttered “Vasudhaiv Kutambakam (the World is one family)”, what did he really mean?

They went back and stood before Einstein, “Pray, what is the meaning of Vasudhaiv Kutambakam.” Einstein was preoccupied- removing lice from his formidable head, “Go and speak to my successor, David Bohm, an American Nobel Prize winner and one of the leading quantum physicists of our age. He may be able to give you insight.”

Bohm was a creative genius, someone who believed in stretching boundaries of thought and brought in a lot of multidisciplinary new ideas and concepts.

Bohm shared his concerns with the scientists, “These subatomic particles behave in a bizarre manner. No matter how far apart two quanta's of light (photons) travel, when they are measured they will always be found to have identical angles of polarization. This suggests that somehow the two photons must be instantaneously communicating with each other so they know which angle of polarization to agree upon. Particles, that have interacted even once, can instantaneously respond to each other's motions. It doesn't matter whether they are 10 feet or 10 billion kilometers apart.”

“This meant that either Einstein's long-held theory that no communication can travel faster than the speed of light or the two particles are non-locally connected is true.” Bohm continued, “This sort of particle interconnectedness requires signaling that is faster than the speed of light.”

One of the scientists, Boris Podolsky, an American scientist of Russian origin, immediately added, “I agree with the concerns of David Bohm. Even Einstein, me and Nathan Rosen perceived the EPR paradox of quantum entanglement. Under the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, each particle is individually in an uncertain state until it is measured, at which point the state of that particle becomes certain. At that exact same moment, the other particle's state also becomes certain.” He continued, “The reason that this is classified as a paradox is that it seemingly involves communication between the two particles at speeds greater than the speed of light, which is a conflict with Einstein's theory of relativity. Einstein is deeply troubled because he had earlier showed that instantaneous transmission of information is impossible.”


"Guys, I, too am completely lost", said John Bell, a physicist, "I developed a series of inequalities which represent how measurements of the spin of Particle A and Particle B would distribute if they weren't entangled. But, in experiment after experiment, the inequalities are violated. Obviously this means that quantum entanglement does seem to take place. I can imagine why einstein would be upset with the paradox. Bohm sir, please give your views."

“Wait, David, hear me out,” interjected Alain Aspect, a French physicist, “I conducted some experiments, but those only demonstrated that the correlations Einstein objected are really there. There is no way out of the weirdness of quantum theory. It is really bizarre.”

David Bohm was tense, “I am also equally troubled that the two pillars of modern physics - quantum mechanics and relativity theory, actually contradict each other. This contradiction is not just in minor details but is very fundamental, because quantum mechanics requires reality to be discontinuous, non-causal, and non-local, whereas relativity theory requires reality to be continuous, causal, and local. Just give me some time to find a way to reconcile this seeming contradiction. I will explain this mystic’s worldview after I have resolved these complex inconsistencies.”

 Meanwhile, Bohm could not sleep well, waves and spin-ups and spin-downs of particles kept on appearing before his eyes.

While there were certain concepts that he was able to figure out – he could not still put his finger on the overall principles. He recognized that the reason subatomic particles are able to remain in contact with one another regardless of the distance separating them is not because they are sending some sort of mysterious signal back and forth, but because their separateness is an illusion.

The ultimate nature of physical reality is not a collection of separate objects (as it appears to us), but rather it is an undivided whole that is in perpetual dynamic flux. This undivided whole is not static but rather in a constant state of flow and change, kind of invisible ether from which all things arise and into which all things eventually dissolve. Indeed, even mind and matter are united.

All synchronicities, whether a phone call from a friend that you were just thinking about, or the thousands of shocking or surprising coincidences can be easily understood once one understands that we are connected to each other at the deepest level. And when one particle (you) act, it triggers reaction at the exact same time of particle B (your friend).

Then one day, he woke up all excited and his mind in complete clarity. He had finally evolved a new and controversial theory of the Universe. All this while, scientists were working on the smallest particle in nature. Bohm proposed that instead of thinking of particles as the fundamental reality, waves with discrete particles-like quanta in a continuous field should be considered as the basic reality.

He imagined the universe as an infinite sea of waves of space and energy out of which matter could be unfolded. It is the plenum; it is an immense background of intelligent energy. A sea of sinusoidal waves that was a deeper order of existence, a vast and more primary level of reality that gives birth to all the objects and appearances of our physical world.

Bohm calls this deeper level of reality the Implicate Order (which means enfolded or hidden), and he refers to our own level or existence as the Explicate, or unfolded order. Put another way, electrons and all other particles are no more substantive or permanent then the form a geyser of water takes as it gushes out of a fountain. In the implicate order, everything is enfolded into everything. While in the opposite explicate order, things are unfolded. They are sustained by a constant influx from the implicate order, and when a particle appears to be destroyed, it is not lost. It has merely enfolded back into the deeper order from which it sprang.

The unfolding and enfolding

A good analogy could be from a BBC science program that showed a device that illustrates this process of enfoldment and unfoldment very well. It consists of two concentric glass cylinders. Between them is a viscous fluid, such as glycerin. If a drop of insoluble ink is placed in the glycerin and the outer cylinder is turned slowly, the drop of dye will be drawn out into a thread. Eventually the thread gets so diffused it cannot be seen. At that moment there seems to be no order present at all. Yet if you slowly turn the cylinder backward, the glycerin draws back into its original form, and suddenly the ink drop is visible again. The ink had been enfolded into the glycerin, and it was unfolded again by the reverse turning.

Bohm called all the scientists and said, “The actual order (the Implicate Order) itself has been recorded in the complex movement of electromagnetic fields, in the form of light waves. Such movement of light waves is present everywhere and in principle enfolds the entire universe of space and time in each region. This enfoldment and unfolding takes place not only in the movement of the electromagnetic field but also in that of other fields (electronic, protonic, etc.). These fields obey quantum-mechanical laws, implying the properties of discontinuity and non-locality. The totality of the movement of enfoldment and unfolding may go immensely beyond what has revealed itself to our observations.”

“Just like the waves from a satellite that is intelligent and organized, that is visible in an explicate form on a TV screen. These waves unfold into an explicate reality and when its existence in explicate terms is over, it enfolds into the implicate order.” He continued, “These waves are like “superfield” or information that guides and organizes the original quantum field. It can be considered to be similar to a computer which supplies the information that arranges the various forms.”

He continued, “This entire game of existence could not have been possible without the Omnipresent “Player”. This Player or the Cosmic Mind is moving cyclically onward and onward preparing transformation of consciousness amongst individuals. The intense heightening of individuals, who have shaken off the wrong worldviews of ignorance, can develop a transformative collective consciousness. A consciousness that can begin to generate the immense power needed to ignite the whole consciousness of the world. In the depths of the Implicate Order, there is a consciousness, deep down--of the whole of mankind. The implicate order is the source, the Order, Intelligence, Personalization, Creativity, and a sense of Holiness.”

“No doubt that the Implicate Order, at its deepest level, is the source of all and interconnected. The Rishi was right. The World is undivided, connected and one family - Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam” He smiled.

The scientists were convinced with Bohm’s theory and they decided to go back to the Himalayan cave and meet the Rishi. They went in a large group and waited outside the cave. After two days, the Rishi came out, saw them and understood their purpose. He smiled at them in a beatific manner and said, “Brahma satyam, jagat mithya” (The Creator is True but the creation is false).

The scientists were confused, “How can the creation be false, if the Creator is true?”