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G O D IN A QUANTUM W O R L D
John Breck
Recent developments in quantum, evolution, and relativity theory
are changing our way of conceptualizing God s being and activity in
and beyond the cosmos.
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The Hebrew priests "serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly
sanctuary ... Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with
hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God on our behalf" (Heb 8:5; 9:24).
The accuracy of this "Platonic" vision, characteristic of the firstcentury epistle to the Hebrews, is being confirmed increasingly
today by quantum mechanics and relativity theory. Each of these
branches of science presents us with a dualistic paradigm of reality,
one in which the world of time and space, matter and energy,
appears as a limited aspect of the real, if not as pure illusion. As
the Hebrews passage implies, ultimate reality, of which the material
universe is a mere "shadow" {skia), exists on another plane, one
properly termed "transcendent" or even "spiritual." The classical
Euclidian, Newtonian, and Darwinian models, while in many ways
still valid (in our time and space), are thus giving way to a new
conception of the world and of God s place within it. This paradigm,
based on experimentally proven theories of "non-locality" and
"incompleteness," illustrates the limits of philosophical and
methodological materialism, while it allows us to grasp the nature
of reality as both transcendent and immanent. It reinterprets the
dualistic vision of Plato (particularly his allegory of the cave), and
provides us with a way to envision or conceptualize God that is in
keeping with the Scriptures and mystical experience, while fully
incorporating the findings of modern science.
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"Locality," which operates in the macroscopic realm, refers to interactions that are
mediated by signals in the framework of time and space. In this realm, the signals
cannot surpass the speed of light, and effects are produced by specific causes. In the
microscopic domain of "non-locality," interactions occur independently of material
signals, they can occur instantaneously over vast distances between two previously
interacting particles, and ordinary laws of cause and effect are suspended.
Until recently Heisenberg s uncertainty principle and non-locality were regarded
as separate concepts An article published by J. Oppenheim and S. Wehner in Science
vol 330 (19 Nov 2010), is entitled "The Uncertainty Principle Determines the Nonlocality of Quantum Mechanics." The abstract states "The link between uncertainty
and non-locality holds for all physical theories." The authors demonstrate mathematically that the two concepts can be successfully combined.
Ail
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Does Our Existence Have Meaning? A Scientific and Philosophical Inquiry (Pans:
Presses de la Renaissance, 2007).
La Science des coeurs et de la nature (ditions Dsins, 1998).
Entre Science et Religion. Qute de sens dans le monde prsent (ditions du Rocher,
1998)
La science, le sens et l'volution (ditions du Flin, 1988).
L'Homme Dieu ou le sens de la vie (Grasset, 1996).
Implications philosophiques de la science contemporaine, 3 tomes (Presse Universitaire
de France, 2002).
Le Visage de Dieu (Grasset, 2010).
Notre existence a-t-elle un sensf, 125.
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That probability is determined by squaring the amplitude of the probability wave associated with the particle in question The greater the amplitude (the higher the wave
crest), the greater the probability that the particle will be found at that location. Quantum mechanics, in other words, does not predict events or realities as such, but only the
probabilities associated with observation and measurement In 1932, J. von Neumann
developed what is known as the Theory of Measurement. This holds that to an observer
the wave function of a photon, once observed or measured, collapses into one of two
possibilities (it will pass through either slit 1 or slit 2) to become actualized Prior to
that observation, all that existed was the wave function itself, a "potentiality."
Schrodinger s wave equation tells us that an endless number of possibilities or potentialities accumulate as we move from the wave function of the photon, to the
detectors in the slit experiment, to the observer, to an observer of the observer, etc.,
until finally the entire universe is included (an effect known as quantum superposition or the "von Neuman chain") Physicists raise the question, "Who is observing
the universe?" They tend to answer, "We are!" It is our observation that collapses
the wave function and actualizes universal reality (It is important to remember that,
paradoxically, the wave function itself is not some thing, it is rather an "idea," a conscious mental description of possible occurrences.) This however, is a circular argument. Some ultimate, supra-cosmic Observer is required, one "outside" any particular wave function, who can effect the actualization of quantum potentiality As we
understand things, it is God who is "observing the universe "
It is the refusal to accept this point that has led to various "multiverse" hypotheses,
according to which each of an infinite number of quantum wave functions is collapsed, and a given reality is actualized in an infinite number of separate dimensions
or universes. When each wave function collapses, all of its mutually exclusive possibilities are in fact actualized: one of them in our universe, and the others each in its
own separate universeabout which we can know nothing To avoid the notion of
an ultimate, transcendent Observer, theorists have produced a hypothesis that is as
improbable as it is unvenfiable.
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"Complementarity," which refers to the mutually exclusive yet at the same time complementary wave and particle characteristics of a photon (or in fact of any subatomic
entity), is also an appropriate designation for the relationship or interaction between
a particle and ourselves. Again, a quantum wave function collapses, revealing the particle at a given location, only when it is "complemented" by our observation of it. The
wave-particle duality is in fact a property not of the photon itself, but rather of our
interaction with it. Depending on how we set up our experiment, the same photon
will behave either as a wave or as a particle To some physicists (e.g., A. Goswami), the
complementary aspects of quantum entities include "transcendent" waves (beyond
the framework of space-time) and "immanent" particles. To express this dual aspect,
quantum objects are often referred to as "wavicles."
See David Bhm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order (London & Boston Ark,
1983), and Fred Alan Wolf, Taking the Quantum Leap (New York. Harper & Row,
1989), esp chs. 8 and 11, for a good, popular introduction to this question.
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"Quantum potential" refers to the theory of de Broglie, proposed in 1926 and developed in the 1950s by David Bhm. QP is described as "a non-local hidden variable":
particles communicate via a hidden, invisible field, which transmits information (cf.
the long-discarded "ether" hypothesis). This view preserves a (weak) materialist vision of reality and avoids the idea of "non-physicality."
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See A.H. Guth and D.I. Kaiser, "Inflationary Cosmology: Exploring the Universe
from the Smallest to the Largest Scales," in Science vol. 307 (11 Feb 2005): 884-90,
for a useful overview of these issues.
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a tautology: "we are here because we are here," that is, because
conditions enable us to be here. The strong anthropic principle adds
to that the idea that some ultimate purpose or plan lies behind the
expansion of the universe, with the intention of producing conscious
beings. Thus it may be said that "the universe was expecting us."
Unlike "intelligent design," however, the anthropic principle does
not necessarily imply the existence of a creator.
Without going into detail, we can note simply that most
scientists today accept the "Big Bang" theory of the creation of the
universe. The universe is not eternal, but is contingent, constantly
expanding and subject to entropy. Many researchers stress the
point that universal constants (the speed of light, gravitation, the
strong and weak nuclear forces, the conservation of energy, Planck s
constant,17 etc.) have been so finely tuned since the very beginning
(10~43 seconds) that the slightest variation in their effects would
have made impossible the formation of stars, planets, and therefore
mankind. Some 96% of the mass and energy of the known universe
is itself unknown (a quarter is made up of "dark matter" and the rest
constitutes "dark energy") ; only 4% constitutes what we understand
to be "ordinary matter" that leads to the existence of conscious and
self-conscious beings (ourselves, and perhaps others somewhere
"out there"). These and related considerations lead many scientists
and philosophers of science to posit the existence of an (infinitely)
intelligent creator or creative power, which has structured a telos or
"finality" into the cosmos. The world, in other words, together with
human kind, has definite meaning and is headed toward a definite
17
In 1900 Max Planck proposed a "quantum theory" to explain radiation from a dark
body that is heated (for example, a branding iron) The radiation, he held, is made by
indivisible particles (quanta), each of which contains energy equal to hv, where is
the frequency of the radiation, and h is a constant that pertains to all forms of electro
magnetic radiation, including X-rays and radio waves It serves basically to calculate
the size of the quanta of light frequencies Using Planck's constant (h = 6 63 10 2 "
erg-sec), Niels Bohr demonstrated in 1913 that an atom is characterized by disconti
nuity electrons circle the nucleus in discrete orbits, moving immediately from one to
the othermaking "quantum jumps" or discontinuous transitionswithout passing
through intermediate orbits Heisenberg appealed to the same constant in formulat
ing his "uncertainty principle "
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by God to test our faith, and so on). Nevertheless, they open the
way for a theory of evolution that recognizes that not all mutations
are the result of chance, and that there is a "finality" or purposeful
end to the development of living things. From a strictly scientific
point of view it has become possible to affirm that evolutionary
development results from a certain organizational program that is
inscribed in the very laws of nature, like the structure of a snowflake.
It is a short leap from there to the conviction that "everything has its
purpose," and that the beauty of the created order and of life itself
will, as Dostoevsky declared, "save the world."19
A major element in this ongoing discussion concerns the role
o consciousness. A "fuzz field" or quantum wave function collapses
to reveal an electron or other particle only when it is observed,
when it is impacted upon by a conscious being (and perhaps we
must add, "self-conscious," aware of itself as observer). Again,
the transformation seems to take place both within and beyond
the limits of time and space. Benjamin Libet of the University of
California (San Francisco) has done extraordinary work in a related
area. His studies have also inspired researchers in France, particularly
his experimental demonstration that time can flow backwards!
Staune gives a good summary of Libet s experiments. Give an
electric shock to a finger and the brain receives the sensation after
25 milliseconds. In a second experiment involving an open brain
operation, Libet continually stimulated with a mild electric pulse
the region of the brain that corresponds to the finger, and the
patient felt a shock in the finger after 500 ms. or half a second,
although the finger itself had not been touched. When combined,
these two procedures (finger shock and brain stimulation) showed
that by stimulating the brain for 500 ms., the first shock to the
finger was not felt. Somehow, it seems to have been canceled out,
since only the mild shock from the brain stimulation was felt. Now,
we must make a clear distinction between detecting something
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For an Orthodox Christian perspective on the issue of evolution, particularly in regard to objections arising from a fundamentalist or literalist reading of Scripture, see
Gayle Woloschak, Beauty and Unity m Creation (Minneapolis Light & Life, 1996).
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On this entire question, see Staune, Notre existence a-t-elle un sens?, ch 14.
See especially Benjamin Libet, Mind Time. The Temporal Factor m Consciousness
(Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 2004) This phenomenon of time reversal has been noticed since at least 1949, with Richard Feynman s discoveries that
anti-particles can move backwards in time See Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li
Masters. An Overview of the New Physics (New York. Basic Books, 1979), 217-22
For an in-depth discussion of the role of consciousness in the quantum paradigm,
see Lothar Schafer, "Quantum Reality, the Emergence of Complex Order from Virtual States, and the Importance of Consciousness in the Universe," Zygon 41/3 (Sep
2006) 505-98.
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compatible with the cosmic force that creates and sustains quantum
reality?
The beginning of a response might be found in the idea of
consciousness.22 According to the Book of Genesis, we have been
created "in the image and likeness of God." That is, we bear and
reflect certain characteristics and qualities proper to the deity,
known in Christian tradition as the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. Our personhood is a reflection ofthat deity, who reveals
itself to be "hypostatic" or "personal." If human beings had simply
made God in their own image, then personhood would have no
ultimate referent, and its primary qualities of conscious awareness,
intelligence and love would be explainable by the language of
genetics and the effects of environmental conditioning. On the
other hand, to those "who have tasted the heavenly gift and have
become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness
of the word of God and the powers of the world to come," as the
epistle to the Hebrews expresses it (6:4-5), there is no question that
God is ontologically real and the Author of all things, visible and
invisible. Christian experienceprayer, contemplation, self-giving
expressions of sacrificial loveconfirms beyond doubt for a great
many people that such a God is both Creator and Sustainer of all
things, and at the same time, in the ascetic language of the Church,
"God is closer to us than our own heart."
That God is the archetype of our being and our consciousness.
If we have the capacity to bring elementary particles into physical
22
Consciousness should not be confused with "awareness." Awareness is a mindbrain function of perception. Consciousness may be described as a universal field
of transcendent character (independent of time and space), which involves not just
awareness of a given reality, but interaction with that reality. Amit Goswami, The
Self Aware Universe (New York: Putnam, 1993) states: consciousness "manifests itself as the subject that chooses, and experiences what it chooses, as it self-referentially
collapses the quantum wave function in the presence of brain-mind awareness" (glossary). Consciousness is a creative "force" that actualizes potential or virtual realities
at the quantum level, andwe may say hypotheticallygives rise to relational interactions between persons. In this perspective, a person's communion with God occurs
by means of reciprocal consciousness. A question that needs to be explored is the
relationship between consciousness and "soul."
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