Quantum – Magic

 

 

What follows is an outline/ draft of a book by Luc Sala, under construction so these are rough concepts and loose ends.

Copyright 2001 by Luc Sala, 
no duplication or download permitted, just for reference. 
No permission for copy in any form.

Raison d'etre?

Why another study into esoterism, into the world of prana, magic and the unknowable, as so many books, studies, grimoires and encyclopedic overviews have been written. Maybe my efforts are egomaniacal, but there is a feeling that it is about time we embraced magic as a fundamental and all-pervasive aspect of life, science and even mundane things like economics and our daily bread. Most works in this field treat the "other dimension" as something outside the normal, as an irrational or metaphysical subject. I tend to see the world more and more as a magical place, where the logical and the rational are the exceptions. This means I am not looking for the rare occurrences of paranormal experiences, for the miracles and the fringe events, but try to discern the magical force in all things, as the underlying principle in everything. Not the amazement about the yogi's miracle powers, not the delving into the esoteric rituals of hidden tribes or brotherhoods, but accepting that the basic life-force (the magical dimensions influence) pervades everything and should be accepted as such. Not something for the elite, for the seekers and the priests, not reserved for the mystical inclined, but the basis of everybody's reality, the basis of how we experience the world. A world that seems to have rigid "natural" laws, but isn't it the bending and manipulation of those laws by socalled saints, prophets, sorcerers and assorted holymen that we look upon as the supernatural, not noticing that we ourselves have fixed those laws. If incidental deviations from those "eternal" natural laws are possible and in fact frequently encountered and accepted as historical facts, then how "eternal" are those laws. Is it too bold to assume that those laws have changed over time and that we (or it) could change them again?

One could observe that many wisdom schools of old have pointed to the illusionary "Maya" nature of our reality perception, but few religions have kept up the belief that we are indeed guided and directed from another level in a practical way. Even as the holy books of most churches are fairly clear about the other world, heaven and hell, the afterlife and how their saints have performed miracles and wonders, we don't regard or experience things like business success, relationships or even birth and death as interwoven with the other dimension.

I believe they are, as they were before and forever will be; we are the magical dimension, we are heaven, but don't recognize it. Now this notion might be embedded in our codified religions, but very few live by it. Even among so-called fundamentalist movements one sticks to the codified dogma's and leaves little space for walking the talk, living the faith. But at the same time our world, or at least our perception of it, is getting overpopulated, ecologically destroyed and ethically narrowed to politically correctness. There seems no way out, water and air are getting worse every day, war and violence is rampant, where to look for salvation and hope.

I do believe a better understanding of the magical nature of ourself and the world around is offers a way out (or in), a way to overcome our condition, a way to move towards a broader consciousness, a way ahead. I don't mean this to sound as coming from a preacher, a prophet or a visionary. On the contrary, if this message has to have any impact, it has to use the words and concepts of modern man, it has to prove that magic is the real science or the science of reality, that magic is tangible, practical and even economical. In fact I do believe that studying and applying the magical force and its fundamental relationship to what some call "information" is the fundamental task of this coming era.

The true information age is yet to come, not concerned with what happens between data and screen, but exploring the whole process whereby data becomes information. "A bit is only information if it bytes" is a powerful adagium that attacks the twentieth century notion that more is better and that computers and logic are the only way to progress. Furthermore I sense that if our reality is indeed permeated by magical force(s) then there must be a interesting connection between magic and true information technology. From the so-called reality, from facts and figures or even sense data to understanding (and wisdom) cannot seen as a one-way process, in fact data and information (as the resulting consciousness-change) interact with each other, in and beyond time and spatial dimensions.

To prove beyond reasonable doubt that magic (or the mixture of modern physics and magical understanding that I call quantum-magic) exists and can be recognized and even used on a far wider scale than even the softest new-ager could imagine, I will have to delve into the depth of history and the hidden knowledge of many a (sub-)culture and even then it seems a too audacious task. But maybe, maybe, a few practical applications along the way will help, a few miracles will pave the way for the deeper understanding, that we are capable of (inter)action in the other world but just have forgotten how.

"Come on, let's change the laws of nature" might be the battle-cry of a lunatic, but I feel the company and inspiration of Giordano Bruno, Pythagoras and so many more who dares to challenge the scientific correctness of their times. And admittedly, some of my claims may sound preposterous and a tad too wild, but don't we need a little exaggeration, a little noise to wake up. If only this work, for a work it is that has not or probably ever will finish, wakes up a few to the notion, that love is not a construction of our imagination, but the magical ingredient of life and reality, it's worth the effort.

For wisdom is not knowing, but feeling the truth

Quantum - Magic

Can we model the mind -matter interaction and more practical, can we harness the mind-power to create, not only in the realm of ideas, but in physical reality. Not only by the slow process of building and constructing by conceptualizing, drawing and building, but in discrete reality jumps, quantum-miracles beyond the limits of time, place and 'normal' causality.

All & Everything:
If mind-power or consciousness is the essential factor in the fabric of reality, as quantum-theory hints at, why not use this as an axiom and starting point to evaluate the multitude of tools and techniques that emerged through the aeons and notably in the evolution of mankind. The Western world has tried to label these as superstitious and primitive, but what if we accepted them as true and inspired ways to connect to the metaphysical and hence transform the physical.

What do we know, did we know or can we know about the link between ordinary reality and the metaphysical world of the shaman or mystic? The word knowing is not even appropriate, it is more feeling and sensing, the concept of information doesn't apply here, as this concerns the deeper aspects, the hidden qualities, maybe we can use the word isformation here, trying to understand the world behind, Kant's das Ding an sich.

What can be deduced about this isformation quantum wave that permeates and supersedes our mortal reality? The isness of things, their full gestalt encompasses more than just the material or even the virtual qualities, but how do we connect to that isness, how do we reach the unreachable and yet so close oneness.

The contact with the otherworld is not the subject of serious study or scientific analysis, it's a fringe science. It's a question for mystics and spiritual seekers, easily brushed aside as irrelevant in our modern world of communication, information and science. The politically correct attitude is: "We don't need to delve into the superstitions and ancient lore, modern man can do without!"

But what did modern man achieve, apart from a decadent wealth for some, a spoilt ecology, technology that claims connectedness but delivers pulp and instant loneliness, textbook science that has no real answers for natural disaster, man-made war and economic crises. What greatness is there in our ability to bomb nations or to create a hype-economy if we can't prevent the poor of this world becoming poorer every day.

I happen to believe that we cannot ignore the limits of today's science anymore, in fact there is a growing urgency to look further, to ask essential questions about the goal of technology, the real use of information, the relevance of ever faster data-processing and arithmetical progress. Does it make people happier, better, more connected, or are we chasing the spook of progress, while in fact regressing into the dark age of abundant data but less and less information about what really matters, the isness of things, of ourselves and our place in the greater scheme of things?

The twentieth century was all about technology and information, but did we ever understood what information was, true information about things and ideas that matter beyond the next dollar, the next moment, the next exit. Stacking and stockpiling gigabytes and terabytes of data, senselessly moving them around the globe, but not really connecting with anything, not feeling the spine resonate with ethereal and eternal truth, not making sense out of the overload of stimuli. Media proliferate, but do we care more, do we feel deeper, do we understand en empathize better? The extension of the senses has indeed become mere massage, killing time and seemingly eliminating the limitations of the time/space dimensions, but numbing us at the same time. We are less and less part of the creation, but consume the virtuality that separates us from the real experience.

Has Internet made us happier, more connected, even as it does have a transformational effect on society and cyber-mystics discover its synchronicity power? The return on investment per click diminishes as the number of pages and sites grow, we only find what we already know, we search within the limits of our vocabulary, no new associations emerge from the pre-moulded and pre-thought interactivity. Like with television interactivity soon becomes a negative choice, the zapping away from what we don't like, hoping for the next best thing.

The limits and emerging constraints of communication and information technology are maybe not so obvious as we are blinded by visions of e-commerce, mobile communication, global internet and the promise of a new economy without losers. However, we really have to look at the basic question, how data becomes information. How does this flow of facts and figures, images and sounds translate into the things that really matter, that move us, the things that make a difference.

This question, I believe, has everything to do with our relation to the metaphysical, the otherworld that is inside and outside. Information science needs to wake up, redefine itself, and might be surprised to find itself at the same level as what witchdoctors do, shamen and holy men praying to the Gods. Information is not only looking at the cognitive processes, filtering, recognition, association, those are only processes at the receiving end of the stick. The process of informing oneself, of obtaining relevant data, is much more a two-way phenomenon. Sheldrake made the point that when looking at someone we somehow connect to them in a way different from what classical physics can explain, but I think the same applies to all our senses and to the whole 'information' thing. It has to do with intention, with frame of mind, with synchronicity, maybe that what we perceive as information is nothing but some side-effect of a consciousness process. Maybe we manifest the 'tangible' data, coming to us in the form of books, emails or other media only after we have made up our minds as what it is we need.

By switching on one's PC or television set we can theoretically receive gigabytes of information, but we all know that there is a limit to what really reaches us. Maybe only a few bytes per second, our system doesn't accept more input than that as the core level. A yet, that poem or this piece of music, this glance and that touch sometime change our life completely. We all know instinctively that lots of data don't serve us, that it's the few that move and resonate in us that matter. But even with the best search engines and neural network computer we really have no idea how to filter or separate or recognize those few bits that really byte.

The rise of the information age is astonishing, the advances in processing power, storage and communication speeds awesome, but aren't we going over the top, aren't we drowning in the data-sea?

Like with all 'advances' we will undoubtly discover that we have gone too far. Once we explored or have approached the limits of our physical and sensory input we will feel saturated and the race for more speed, bandwith or quantity becomes irrelevant. Who wants hifi sound in frequency bands one cannot hear, who wants resolution beyond the perceptible.

We will sober up. The data-bombardment, in the virtual and psychological sense and in the real sense of polluting this world and its fragile connections with the next level of reality, needs to be canalised and limited. Therefore, shielding, filtering, protecting ourselves from that pollution will be the main concern for decades to come. This requires better understanding of how data becomes knowledge, information, wisdom, not only as a psychological process, but at the core biological level as well as at the quantum-level where observer and observed are both promoted to co-creators in a game of probabilities and non-locality.

Isn't it interesting, that exactly the core question "what is information anyway" throws us back from the heights of gigaflop-processing hysteria into the dark pits of hidden magic, of stone-age rituals. I am actually wondering why all through the history of the philosophy one has devoted so much attention to knowledge/cognition but little to the 'dark' knowledge of magic.

The search for the true meaning of information, the jump from data to a meaningful and appropriate place in the world of ideas and hence its effect on the material world is what misses in our 'information' age. A bit is only information if it bytes, but how does it byte, when does it byte, how does it make the quantumjump from noise to meaning. Attention, consciousness, will, we know that these play a role, but what role and how, what happens when we 'understand', what happens when we connect, when we unite. Science has of course looked into it and we have far more detailed understanding of the sense organs, the sinews, synapses and the structure of the brain, there are theories about neuro-linguistics and symbolic language, but the next search engine on Internet hardly goes beyond alphabetic searches, maybe with a correction for spelling mistakes.

My personal experiences are maybe appropriate here.

At Mount Tamapais, quite LSD-ed, one sunny afternoon I received this line of poetry, a piece of real isformation, a personal revelation about the nature of the observation.

 "Between me and the mountain, but God to enjoy"

At the time one of those trippy truths that dissolve in the light of 'normal' reason, but this one had a deeper meaning. The triangle of observer, object and God is a deep Sufi paradigm, the joy of creation shared and the deeper meaning of the archetypical mountain representing mankind, suffering and the aspiration of the material to reach into the heavens, it took me years to embrace this all. It remains a line that immediately reconnects me, to that moment and that vision, but also to the happiness and grace it represents. Whenever I read those meaty theories about quantum-physics, get lost in the lengthy treatises of philosophers, scientists and mages I do come down to the same simple image; Me, God, the world, who cares about the difference, about the separation, as there is this memory of unity, of enjoyment. I was, and am, absolutely aware of that mountain's participation in the joy of being. When scientists try to frame or catch that relationship in matrices, wave descriptions, probability theorems or whatever theory or hypothesis, they only approximate what is.

The relation between our inner and outer world, between the world of ideas and the outside reality, between the cold facts and our experiental wisdom, between the daily rational reality and the more complete isness, the being and the not being, this is where I think, but rather feel that I have to attempt to structure, to simplify, to elucidate or maybe just share.

As:

Wisdom is not knowing

but feeling the truth

and for those

who acknowledge grace

it is living it

and we all do

I am only different

as I have not yet learnt to be the same

and of course that being the same becomes the real challenge when down from the mountain I have to cope with the human dimensions. There sameness and unity are hard to recognize against the backdrop of the ordinary reality, the shadow of God's love where duality reigns. I believe that another core message I was given as a lifelong inspiration again hints at the same realization.

 My life's motto: To live in the shadow of God's love

It is all about recognizing the one, the unity, recognizing it in observing, without judgment, that what our senses bring us. Everyday reality carries the message of cocreation, of connectedness, of non-separation, but what a hard job to discern it.

And yet, can one deny that most of our lifes are governed by unexplainable synchronicities, by luck or chance events that confirm our trust in the universe? Rupert Sheldrake has listed a few experiments that could and do shake 'ordinary' science like the notion that we can 'feel' if someone looks at us, unexplainable by the physical laws we believe to be valid.

But these anomalies are all around us, why do Sports-teams score better at home turf, why do small businesses flourish against all economic odds? These are not Extra-Sensory-Perception (ESP) or witchcraft, but routine events.

Plants (and everything else) grow better when you love them, you pick up the phone and find yourself connected to someone you just thought about, once you open yourself up to noticing the miraculous, it is everywhere.

I am more and more beginning to realize, that the so-called normal is just a subset of the miraculous, that unconnected and rational events as described in physics textbooks are peculiar instances, collapsed probability curves.

The majority of the fuller reality events happen in a connected way, have therefore direction and meaning, even if we don't see them. It's our Western Cartesian rationality that has pushed away that awareness, banning it to the realm of religion, superstition and primitive belief. However, a quick scan around us and we see that most human beings do not adhere to the 'modern' standard of rationalism. Observe the shamen, the rainmakers, witchdoctors, magicians (and stock-brokers), join the aboriginal in their Dreamtime rituals, who can deny that it's rationality that is an isolated quirk. And with what detrimental results, we have ruined our world, our genes and the fabric of society.

It is time to bow to the historic lineage, to the wisdom and deep understanding of our ancestors and surviving cultures and to use their practices, rituals and traditions as a starting point to investigate the other, deeper reality. A reality that works more along the lines of the quantum-theory, that spits in the face of the classic limitation of time and space, that is all and everything at once.

Quantum-magic is but a word to paint, to sketch the 'science' that by others was called magick (Crowley), gnosis, alchemy, withcraft and flourished in many forms and among many groups, religious, spiritual, in secret or openly. A science that is concerned with Bohm's quantum-wholeness, the morfogenetic fields of Sheldrake as well as with the power of breath in tantric exercises, with the rituals of nature-people as well as the effect of the latest psycho-active drugs, with the search for the transmutation of lead into gold of Paracelsus as well as the power of a semiconductor Eccles-gate. Maybe not even a science, a science deals with repeatabilty and falsification, but an art. Art can do without form or structure, rules or dogma's, art relies on intentionality, connectedness and inspiration.

When Shakespeare wrote '"To be or not to be that" is the question', he was not referring to death and existence, but rather to the old Hindu "Thou are That" , a hint that got lost in history as the human preoccupation with mortality obscured the true message of the bard. Shakespeare, as Plato, Mozes and countless others was aware of this dimension, not separate but interwoven, the heaven among us, the paradise of being whole.

Being at one, the unitive experience, something many of us have or will experience, a peek in the other reality where time and place don't matter, where our physical causality doesn't reign, where purpose and intentionality fade into being, where will equals love, where the witch flies and the Gods and demons rule, where inner and outer dissolve.

This dimension, this deeper reality, this realm of higher frequency is where religion, art, and magic are concerned with. Even the practical arts of agriculture, building, education, healing are far more magical than we care to accept. No doctor, no farmer will deny that miraculous things happen all the time. If fact most any labourer, artisan of even car-driver will experience the impossible, the near miss, the sudden awakening so often, that he forgets to acknowledge the miraculous. Simple, but rationally unexplainable laws, the magic and craft traditions have scores of them, karmic reciprocity is a widely accepted one, why is their formal exposure limited to obscure manuscripts and dwindling periodicals.

I will in this essay attempt to integrate the ancient understandings with modern science by modelling and defining the functional relation between events/objects and attention. This involves a bridge between what physicist like Dirac and Bohm describe in terms of information waves and what mages, shamen, mystics and artist know to be the "otherworld'.

In other words the relation between the higher reality (or at least the next layer) and everyday modern life with its somewhat sterile rationality.

The twentieth century has seen tremendous advanced in science, but left us with the same perennial questions as to the nature of mind, matter and God. Is God the collapsing power in the quantum-fysical probability game, are we co-creators in that sense and how does the individual relates to his reality. This is not merely a philosophical question, as the familiar causality and mechanistic approach seems incapable of coping with the serious problems of the world. The inherent dangers of technology to our ecosystem and mental health, or even to our genepool and DNA are slowly coming to light, what to do? The alternative, once called magic and witchcraft, the way of awareness, the path of the inside, of the virtual reality of the sages, the artists, the holy and the mystic needs a new appreciation. We need to come clear about the power of mind (or consciousness) over matter.

I believe that the relationship between mind and matter, between (perceived) reality and consciousness needs methodical study and research. Research that goes beyond the mechanistic limitations of time and space and accepts that the freedom from those 'normal' constraints does extend into the scale of everyday life and maybe even beyond.

I think that a study of quantum-magic is essential for the direction of science, society and biosphere and thus of mankind in this third millennium.

Quantum mechanics and understanding of entropy has opened our eyes to the intricacies of creation, chaos theory gave another link between the world of ideas and perceived reality, virtual reality actualised the 'psychedelic experience' or the "mystical unitive awareness" into the science of perception and visualisation, we have grown to appreciate the mathematics of creation, the logic of the mind-computer, but failed to realistically delve into the esoteric.

We do appreciate the power of the mind as decisive factor in creation, but in a mechanistic way. What starts as an idea or thought then by our hands turns into the reality we live in, largely man-made but at the brink of ecological disaster.

What about creation without tools, without technology or even muscle power?

Religion, belief systems, in 'rational' times they were squared away as necessary safety valves for psychological immature seekers, but has science really given us substantial 'happiness' or 'fulfilment'. We don't go to church, but surf the internet-waves, looking for the same answers and not realising that data is no information, that a mountain of facts might contain nothing that moves or touches us, that a bit is only information if it bytes. But what bytes, what touches us, what changes the world or at least our perception of it? What is the relation between will and the world.

I think that a model that maps the known (but scientifically unproven) interaction between mind and matter in a more accepting perspective could help us to understand how magic (as in conscious creation) works.

A perspective that a priori accepts the tales, the stories, the anecdotic, the miracles. A model that encompasses and tries to explain the symbolic, the virtuality, the intuitive and the 'real'.

As a first step, lets assume that the relation between the probablity of an event and a individual mind can be described in very broad terms as a function of the properties and processes of the individual mind, that is also influenced by the body and then by the physical aspects like time, place and form. The quantum-magical function:

y (event) = f (mindstate, bodystate, worldstate)

The possibility of an event, whicht relates to its probability of happening as y*y (y squared).

In practical terms, can we see a relationship between a thougt and an event. For a bushman of papua witchdoctor this is probably more tangible than for the 'modern' scientist, so let's take an example from their world.

If a shaman wants to evoke a healing, what helps to achieve the desired effect? He will probably tell you that his mindstate is the most important, that he needs to go into trance and brain-researchers will tell you that this relates to specific brainwaves. His bodystate can be described, his breath patterns, his chanting, the way he dances etc. His worldstate, the spot he is in, the distance between him and his patient, the tools he uses, the skulls or bones, the herbs etc.

In general terms, therefore, the body-state and the worldstate combined with the mindstate does have an effect on the propability of healing.

Now by looking into many of these practices one could try to distill see some structure, some rules of thumb. For instance, the deeper the trance, the better the results. But are shamans with more bones or skulls more powerful? Does the distance matter, is there an optimum, when the patient is far away is there a notable time delay? Can we learn from their concentration techniques, their synbols, their ritual how to reach a mindstate/bodystate that elevates us into that otherworld were healing is not the purpose, but just restoration to balance and normalness.

Researchers like LeShan have developed insights in the way 'paranormal' healers work and even devised exercises to train psychic healers. By listening to 'experts' he postulated that a meditative state of oneness, overcoming separation between healer and healee is at least part of the secret. His approach did result in statistically significant and therefore miraculous healings. Not with certainty, but the odds are there. And who are we to guess the face of God anyway? Even if we ask (pray) for healing there might be higher wisdom in not healing. This again is not cartesian logic, 1 + 1 isn't always 2, but like in the wave superposition mathematics might be 0 or even -2, depending on phase-shifts.

The easiest of sciences
The study of quantum-magic is, different from chemistry or physics, quite an easy one. Innnumerable books, pictures, even video's are available about other and older cultures, no city is without museums full of artefarcts, in fact the subject of most books, stories, plays and songs is the connection with the divine, the magical, the other side. Artist and scholars alike have given us images and desciption from the that outerworld, underworld, subconscious or superconscious realm. Most have been inspired at the the visitor, the mystical passive level, but some have ventured into the psycho-active, maybe better described as the quantum-active, the magical level. Any esoteric bookshop has hundreds or thousands of titles, ranging from sagas and vedas originating in the oral tradition to those many books about the relationship between modern physics and the deeper realities. And they all hold part of the truth, the alchemical, the antropological, the books with magical incantations (Grimoires), the religious and the holy books, no doubt the Egyptian hieroclyphs and the Mayan calender stones, the Sumerian cuneiform clay-tablets as well as Meister Eckhart's poems.

So there is abundant study material and who likes to experiment, yoga, tantra, aura-reading, tarot, classes, usually there is something going on around the corner. Further experimentation just requires dedication and discipline, an environment as provided in most religious 'master-classes'. But it usually takes years or decades to be initiated into the higher ranks. Those with access to psycho-active substances can preview the show somewhat easier, but without lasting access and with some risk. In a nutshell the somatic and psychological constraints of psychedelics make clear what the limitations and risks of releasing the quantum-magical toolbox to a larger audience are. The word toolbox seems appropriate, as there are so many approaches, so many schools and teachings, rituals and secret societies, that most likely there are many quantum-active tools that work, at least sometimes. What indeed misses is a unifying theory, sometimes that elucidates the commonalities rather tahn the differences.

It is astonishing that so little structured work has been done in this direction (or came to the surface). Although many, in fact most religions have mapped the terrain and usually devised rituals and practices to help their devotees and priestly class to perform quantum-magic or at least enter into mindstates associated with it, they usually are very secretive about it. And rightfully so, there are enormous powers at play. Powers of creation, but also of destruction. Out in the open there is no control over who uses what and history is full with stories of the one group of magicians pitted against some other, of various factions war-mongering in the name and under favourable auspices of their Gods or Gods.

Of course there are ways to obtain the esoteric knowledge, receive the initiations into higher levels of wisdom, but usually at a price. Solemn vows, secret orders, even those who have tried to organise and systematize the knowledge like Aleister Crowley, Madame Blavatsky, Ouspensky have left out important parts of their understanding or hidden and camouflaged it. And although many sacred text of the old do contain direct and effective clues it seems as they have remained obscured and mostly forgotten. Now and then we recover some of the old insights, like when archeological finds of scrolls or artefacts focus our attention on gnosticism, cathars, sufism or the egyptian rites, but mostly this is a passing and quickly waning interest. We consider it the hidden part of our culture and like to see it as the unconcscious, the subconscious or anyway fabrications of the mind in need of direction and meaning. In fact, studying these things is not even considered science, at best comparative religion and all through the ages those who dared venture into risked being burned at the stakes.

The quantum-magic powers of unity could be used to separate instead. The black magic that is

related to the human tendency to separate, to shy awy from unity, to think in us and them, in inner and outer, in this and that, isn't that the basis of the whole thing, of humans falling out of grace? Surely a course and path to proceed cautiously!

 

Why delve into quantum magic

So why do I attempt to study or even elucidate this realm. Is it because my first name is Lucius, which means light and I understood the motto "to lighten the light" to represent the job of the lightbearer, both physical and symbolical. This includes the diabolical side, the Lucifer aspect that no doubt is part of me too. But is the acceptance of the devil as the first and essential dualism not part of the greater play?

Another argument of keeping any insight in all this more or less private is that the 'average' person is unable to understand it all, that exposure to these esoteric matters is dangerous, could be used wrongly, that gradual initiation in these matters is a timeproven method, or even that not limiting it to a few might dissolve the awarenss. These are the classic reasons for keeping things secret and I do agree to some extend.

Assume that one of the methods I personally researched, using a special device to shield oneself from the quantum-waves (the thought-noise that enters our brain and sometimes upsets us or makes us uneasy) is used on a wider scale. I found that by 'shutting off' external brainwaves I become not only more sensitive to my own thoughts and impulses, but that an increased sensitivy to outside input evolves. In other words, my 'unshielded' sensitivity in fact increases, resulting in stronger, more chaotic dreams etc. Note that in fact the crew-cut or shaven heads so popualr in some fascistoid organisations has a similar effect, especially in group situations one tend to act upon the group brain-waves and loose the individual ethics.

Now distributing such devices at a wider scale could be risky, lessening the thickheadedness of some people might result in psychological instability and depression. With proper training and awareness this could be overcome, but historically these thing have been misused. However, there are times, when the quantum-waves are so disturbing, that shielding makes sense. Here one can speculate about astrological influences, the electromagnetic pollution, the mergence of certain minerals or substances in our environment or even deliberate pollution by evil-minded individuals or organisations.

Let me take this into a very much wider context, a bit of speculation about the evolution of life-forms. I feel, this is one of those insights that made my spine resonate, that both the disappearance of the larger dinosaurs and the return of certain mammals like the dolphins and whales to the sea are due to a large-scale quantum-wave pollution. Maybe by celestial disturbances, maybe polar shifts, there are many theories around, but I feel that the whales made their choice to escape from this pollution. Water, especially seawater containing many spore-elements that have quantum-magical effects, is a good insulator. The other survival strategy, shielding oneself with huge armoured plates, turned out to be somewhat succesful, but in the end didn't work. Some clever biologist might note, that other lifeforms like insects did survive without any special shielding, but maybe there always less susceptible to these disturbances. Now one could further speculate, that the whole Atlantis story, the flooding of the Pyramids, there are suggestions they were underwater structures anyway, all this is related to this. This is not my field, but I do believe that very detailed analysis of the shields of dinosaurs, the ones that survived longer or shorter, might reveal chemical differences. I say chemical, but the science of quantum-wave shielding has not even started, so maybe there are carbon-related biological devices or organs that are quantum-sensitive, the brain as a prime example.

Given this hypothesis, I again feel that the world might be approaching, or is in fact already suffering from severe quantum-magical pollution and that further study and research in this direction is essential. This is a personal estimation, and one I am not really finished with.

There is certainlyd some doubt as to the ethical aspect of this all, is deeper understanding of esoteric things not dangerous, the example of the esoteric inclination of Adolf Hitler comes to mind. That might be, but at the other hand the western world has become rather decadent and irresponsible towards our poorer brothers and the ecology. Can the doom-scenario of Ozone-depletion, ecological disasters, the rift between have and have-nots be changed by 'normal' science alone or do we need a drastic change in consciousness? I feel that we need to do something, the inflated worldview of this hyper-cyber age might collapse any moment and those who will suffer the most are probably the least responsable. Again, this might be the way things should be, in which case my efforts will be of no effect. On the other hand, I am here and the synchronistic grace that put me on this path is undeniable, so here I go, quantum-magic is where my intuition leads me.

The purpose of trying to quantify and qualify the magical is not so much an attempt to master it as it is reclaiming the place of the mage in our world. We believe we can do without them, but look closer. Bill Gates is, his success proves this, a magical master of time and place, but he is mostly seen as the rational silicon king. Most cultures do have a magical (or religious) face, there usually is a hierophant or high priest. In the Twentieth Century we have done away with that, relegating the task to the spin-doctors, the Wall-street guru's and the occasional saints. We have left the magical to Hollywood, the music industry and television, we pay for it but we don't recognize it. But is there a difference between the way Wall Street manipulates the Internet-bubble and the sacrificial adoration for Gods and Demons in our past?

I do believe that the basic of mind/matter interaction is similar to what swe call quantum-effects in the 'new physics'. People like mathematician Johhny von Neumann made clear that the role of the observer is essential, in fact that without observer, without attention, without consciousness reality is a ficton. Not a new thesis for the Hindu or Buddhist, and those wandering in the virtual Cyberspace economy must feel the familiarity. I use the word quantum-magic because the truly magical, the miracles of creation, the singularities of history, the grace we experience in our personal lives, they all seem to follow the same irrational rules we encounter at the quantum level. Only the quantum approach explains the strange phenomena where events, things, particles happen or not happen, seemingly at random but obviously depending on intention and consciousness, at whatever level.

I feel that the phenomena of quantum-physics is not limited to the very small, the very fast, the boundary regions, but is the central force in creation. The magical force, the life force, the exhalation of Brahma, the Chi or the Holy Spirit.

Different from Nick Herbert's approach in "Elemental Mind" I am not so much concerned with the exact nature or location of the consciousness process or with the historical debate about mind/matter. Nor do I intend to prove by scientific experiments that the Newtonian causality model is inadequate as in Rupert Sheldrake's "Seven Experiments". I simply assume that whatever has survived in folklore, religion, tales and fringe literature as magic or ritual pratice has some truth or lets say probability in it. Instead of discarding the unbelievable I honor it, seeking the deeper truth behind it.

Obviously the practice of shamen, rainmakers and such has survived the ages, so some results can be assumed. And of course trickery, deceit, sleight of hand play a role, just because there is no guaranteed outcome of any healing or magical act. But to deny that miracles or at least singularities occur has more to do with a psychological denial and fear of the unexplainable than sticking to the facts. The quantum-facts of the physicist have led to theories that seem to explain and even predict new experiments, in the same way the quantum-magical facts of human history should be examined.

What are the general priciples of healing, of the traditional ways of indigenous cultures, but why look so far? We still have many practices and rituals that survived the cold winds of rational thinking. Look at the coins in your pocket, listen to the solemn vows in courts, but how about the informal meetings around the coffee-machine, the copier, our office rituals and watch athletes for their mascottes.

Can we analyze the basic principles of quantum-magic, maybe starting with the familiar magic of religion. How can we compare aboriginal healing with praying, what has a shaman's journey to do with Holy Mass, what are sacraments in quantum-magical terms, what about miracles and saints, how did the mystics experience their connection to the other realms.

A logical step could be to analyse the practical aspects of rituals in churches, how far away from the people is the preacher, how does he breathe during consecration of sacraments, is a mass with 3 priest more powerfull than one with a single celebrant, does it matter how he is dressed, does the amount of gold or precious stones matter. Modern science might not validate it, as many of the effects are non-reproducable (or we don't understand how observation influences the outcome). But does that matter, all through the ages we have seen that certain substances like gold, certain symbolic forms, certain hats, crowns, dresses, wands, certain music, incantations, body postures, mudra's, mantra's, smells, and whatever constitutes a ritual were considered powerful.

It seems, that by just analysing the historic evidence, part of the function f in the quantum magic equantion could be extracted. Maybe not in nice mathematical terms, but surely we can recognize optimums. There seems no logical explanation, but surely 12 or 13 shamen form a more powerfull 'circle' than an isolated holy man. History is full of examples, where a relationship between certain mind, body or worldstates and the probabilty of an event was at least 'believed'. From the numeric relationship between cause and cure in the homeopathic approach to the form-relationship in the art of the symbolic props and jewelry. From body-functions like breath to yoga, hypnosis and the egocentric visualisation-magic so prevalent in middle-class talk show religion to the use of certain rhytms in house-music and relaxation techniques. Our bookshelves are full with new-age tomes about this method and that practice, but not many since Evelyn Underhill and Aldous Huxley have tried to extract the perennial wisdom. Wisdom has two sides, the magical and the mystical, the active and the passive, in that ying-yang interaction indicating that in the total mystic the seed of the magical is present.

Two approaches

Now the fully trained magician will probably admit he doesn't actually uses his powers, he becomes in fact more of a mystic, while the mystical seeker in the end develops many siddhi's or magical powers, like Jezus who was described as going around sprinkling miracles wherever he went.

But it might help to distinguish between the two. There is the mystical where one open oneself to the unity, without any attempt to do or act, just receiving God's grace. God of course might be anything, the thousand names of the divine principle including the new divinities like science, progress, internet or cyberspace. The other approach, where one tries to act, to change, to influence can becalled the magical.

Reports and studies about psychic healing like LeShan's reveal that both approaches work, that both the intention to change and the surrender to whatever the universe wants can be effective in healing.

etc. etc.

The essential magic: working on the self

We know we have a self-aware "I", separate from others and separate from our environment. And yet this "I" must be given up to reach the "unity" state. Whoever wants to enter the realm of the miraculous has to do away with his 'worldly' illusions about him or herself. Quantum-magic therefore starts by giving up the "I", the perception of self and the personality or ego we associate with it.

The body

It is of course the mind that controls the sympatic and parasynpathic nerve system and

However, a common trait of most systems of meditation seem to adress the parasympathtic nerve system. Although we can control breath to a certain extend and we can calm our body by concentrating on regular breathing, even guiding the chi-energy through various parts.

Personality

Even a superficial study of the various esoteric schools reveals that understanding the personality is the core of their teachings. Understanding the drives and limitations of the psychological defense systems in oneself and others is clearly important, even as one aims at loosing that personality in a surrender to higher forces or as a prerequisite for entering certain consciousness states.

There are simple systems to classify and describe personality or the psychological subtypes of the human species. The Ayurvedic Kappa, Vata and ??? is already more refined than describing people in terms of the basic fire, water, air and earth characteristics, but what about astrology, in many variations another link into the qunatum-magic realm. There is eastern and western astrology, but also more complicated systems based on the celestial constellation like the Human Design System of ra Uru Hu. Who is scientifically studying the various types of psychological make-up knows about the Meyer-Briggs typology resulting from statistical analysis, but the enneagram of personality types with sufi-roots provides a more logical framework.

Breath is the common path

Whatever the discipline or path, breathing seems to be a universal part of the traning and toolkit of shamen, healers, mystics, saddhoes and the modern new-ager alike.

The geometry of quantum-space

Obviously the normal mechanics of space and time don't apply to the quantum-space, which permeates and contains our space-time continuum. But does this mean there is no space or time perception when in this state. Is all reality gone like in some deep trance or psychedelic experiences or are there varying degrees of entering that state. There might be a multitude of realities or quantum-states, with different levels of non-newtonian causality.

The dreamstate we remember when waking up does have familiar features like color (although many dreams are black&white experiences), texture, smell, there is however place and time in the sense that one scene follows another. We do experience a certain power over where we are and what we do, but it differs from 'normal' consciousness. Experienced 'Lucid dreamers", who have honed their control over the dreamstate tell us that they can go wherever they want and do experience a certain sensation of time, there is logic in their travels, although they can go back in time and are not limited by the futilities of gravity or matter.

Buckminster Fuller and his geometric

The will

Human will, divine will

Do what Thou wilst is the whole of the Law

is there consciousness outside and to what extend

Devils

Is magic an art

schopenhauer sees art as the a connection with things, independant of will and independent of causaliity, becomng a pure subject of knowledge, pure objectivity

the isness, das ding an sich is seen as the will by schopenhauer. he sees art as the estethic escape, but the ethic and durable way to escape the will is like buddhahood.

music is the ultimate art, as it is not the representation but the thing itself, a direct projection of the will.

kant denkt dat je in het binnenste noouit kunt doordringen, goethe en schopenhauer zien de mystieke weg

Nietzsche will zur macht sees the will as the only power in an ever changing and yet limited universe.

nietzsche en schopenhuer bewustzijn, verstand, intellect zijn een oppervlakte, dienaren der wil

nietzsche god is dood

zelfs de filosofie is gebasseerd op instinctief denken, dat eigenlijk het meest intelligente is.nietzsche

Hume empiricisme, Leibniz rationalisme

Luc Sala
April 2001