Yoga of Physics

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, shanracer <no_reply wrote:

 

Shanracer isn't it tme to re-post the old article " Yoga of Physics " ?

 

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Excerpts from the keynote address of Dr.Fritjof Capra famous

physicist and author of " Tao of Physics " ,delivered at the Los

Angeles Symposium on Physics and Metaphysics on Oct 29 1977.

 

 

What is the nature and origin of the Universe ? What is the nature

of human existence? What is matter made of ? What is the relation

between spirit and matter ? What is space ? What is time ?

Throughout the ages men and women have been fascinated by these

questions. Different approaches have been developed in different

cultural contexts and at different times.

 

 

Artists scientists, shamans, mystics - all have their own way of

describing, both verbally and non-verbally, the world. We shall

focus mainly on two approaches. We shall look at modern Western

science, on the one hand and Eastern mysticism -particularly the

traditon of yoga - on the other. We shall see that they lead to very

similar views of the world.

 

My field is physics, a science which in the 20th century, has led to

a radical revision of many of our basic concepts of reality. For

example, the concept of matter is very different in sub-atomic

physics from the traditional idea of a material substance that was

held in classical physics. The same is true of other concepts of

reality such as space time, objects or cause and effect. Out of

these changes in our concepts of reality, a new wold-view is

emerging. This view turns out to be closely related to the views of

mystics of all ages and traditions, particularly the religious

philosophies of the Far East - Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism.

In the Yoga tradition it is said that there are many paths, all

leading to spiritual knowledge and self-realization.

 

I believe that modern physics, to some extent, can be such a path.

Its view of the universe is in harmony with those of the great yogis

and sages. In that sense, I am going to talk of the Yoga of Physics.

 

 

Classical Western physics has its roots in the philosophy of the

fifth century Greek Atomists, a philosophical school which saw

matter as made up of basic building blocks called atoms. There were

believed to be hard, solid, basically passive chunks of matter. This

inert matter was said to be moved by external forces of a totally

different nature and category, which was identified with the

spiritual realm. In this way, a dichotomy was created which became

characteristic of Western thinking in subsequent centuries. It gave

rise to the dualism between spirit and matter, between the mind and

the body.

 

 

In contrast to the mechanistic view of classical western science,

the eastern view could be called an organic, holistic or ecological

view. Things and phenomena are perceived as being different

manifestations of the same reality. The division of the world into

separate objects, though useful and practical on the everyday level,

is seen as an illusion - May, as the Indians say.

 

To eastern mystics, objects have a fluid and ever-changing

character. Change and transformation, flow and movement, play an

essential role in their world-view. The cosmos is seen as one

inseparable reality, forever in motion. It is alive, organic,

spiritual and material at the same time. A very similar view is now

emerging from modern physics.

 

In the 20th Century western scientists began probing the atom. They

discovered that atoms were not hard and solid but consisted mainly

of empty space. Each atom had a tiny nucleus made up of particles

around which whirled other particles. At first, scientists decided

that these sub-atomic particles must be the essential building

blocks of matter. But they found that this was again wrong. This was

shown in the 1920s when Quantum theory, the theoretical framework of

atomic physics, was worked out.

 

Quantum Theory showed that the sub-atomic particles have no meaning

as isolated entities, but can only be understood as interconnections

between various agencies of observations and measurement. Particles

are not things but interconnections between things; and these things

are interconnections between other things, and so on.

 

Quantum Theory thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It

shows that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing

smallest units. As we penetate into mattter, nature does not show us

any isolated basic building blocks, but rather appears as a

complicatede web of relations between the various parts of a unified

whole.

 

This network of relations, furthermore, is instrinsically dynamic.

According to Quantum Theory, matter is never quiescent, but always

in a state of motion. Macroscopically, the materials around us may

seem dead and inert. But if you magnify a piece of metal or stone,

you realize that it is full of activity.

 

Modern physics pictures matter, not as passive and inert, but as

continuously dancing and vibrating. This is very much like the

Eastern mystics; description of the world. Both emphasize that the

universe has to be grasped dynamically. Its structiores are not

static, rigid ones, but should be seen interms of dynamic

equilibrium.

 

Physicists speak of the continuous dance of sub-atomic matter which

goes on all the time. They have acutally used the words dance of

creation and destruction or energy dance. This naturally comes to

mind when you see some of the pictures of partiucls takn by

physicisits in their bubble chambers.

 

Of course, physicists are not the only one talking about this cosmic

dance. Perhaps the most beautiful example of this metaphor exists in

Hinduism - the idea of the dancing Lord Shiva. Shiva is the

personification of the cosmic dance.

 

According to Indian tradition, all life is a rhythmic interplay of

death and birth, of creation and destruction.

 

Indian artists have created beautiful pictures and statues of

dancing Lord Shiva. These statues are visual images of the cosmic

dance and so are the bubble chamber tracks photographed by modern

physicists. They are a modern version of the dance of Shiva,

obtained by using the most modern and advanced of our Western

technological instruments.

 

To me, the effect is as beautiful and as profound as the

maginificent Hindu statues. In both cases, we are picturing an

eternal dance of creation and destruction, which is the basis of all

natural phenomena, the basis of all existence. Therefore, I have put

the two together - here you have the Dance of shiva merging the 12th

and 20th century versions. You can see that this image of the cosmic

dance unifies, in a very beautiful way, ancient mythology, religious

art, mystical insight and moder science.

 

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Further readings of this wonderful scietists can be read in his book

Tao of Physics.

 

AUM