The Soul and Quantum Physics
I knew the time would soon come when physicists would tackle the survival after physical life question. This article represents an important early step. Written by Janey Tracey in June 17, 2014, and published online at Outer Places.
Physicists Claim that Consciousness Lives
in Quantum State After Death
Does quantum mechanics predict the existence of a spiritual “soul”? Testimonials from prominent physics researchers from institutions such as Cambridge University, Princeton University, and the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich claim that quantum mechanicspredicts some version of “life after death.” They assert that a person may possess a body-soul duality that is an extension of the wave-particle duality of subatomic particles.
Wave-particle duality, a fundamental concept of quantum mechanics, proposes that elementary particles, such as photons and electrons, possess the properties of both particles and waves. These physicists claim that they can possibly extend this theory to the soul-body dichotomy. If there is a quantum code for all things, living and dead, then there is an existence after death (speaking in purely physical terms). Dr. Hans-Peter Dürr, former head of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, posits that, just as a particle “writes” all of its information on its wave function, the brain is the tangible “floppy disk” on which we save our data, and this data is then “uploaded” into the spiritual quantum field. Continuing with this analogy, when we die the body, or the physical disk, is gone, but our consciousness, or the data on the computer, lives on.
“What we consider the here and now, this world, it is actually just the material level that is comprehensible. The beyond is an infinite reality that is much bigger. Which this world is rooted in. In this way, our lives in this plane of existence are encompassed, surrounded, by the afterworld already… The body dies but the spiritual quantum field continues. In this way, I am immortal,” says Dürr.
Dr. Christian Hellwig of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, found evidence that information in our central nervous system is phase encoded, a type of coding that allows multiple pieces of data to occupy the same time. He said, “Our thoughts, our will, our consciousness and our feelings show properties that could be referred to as spiritual properties…No direct interaction with the known fundamental forces of natural science, such as gravitation, electromagnetic forces, etc. can be detected in the spiritual. On the other hand, however, these spiritual properties correspond exactly to the characteristics that distinguish the extremely puzzling and wondrous phenomena in the quantum world.”
Physicist Professor Robert Jahn of Princeton University concluded that if consciousness can exchange information in both directions with the physical environment, then it can be attributed with the same “molecular binding potential” as physical objects, meaning that it must also follow the tenets of quantum mechanics. Quantum physicist David Bohm, a student and friend of Albert Einstein, was of a similar opinion. He stated, “The results of modern natural sciences only make sense if we assume an inner, uniform, transcendent reality that is based on all external data and facts. The very depth of human consciousness is one of them.”
Chris Hancock
2018-09-22 @ 7:33 PM
Hi Julia,
I think you’ll appreciate this. Your website-your book page-literally just popped up on my laptop screen this morning. I was on Quora (trying not to read another article about Trump). I looked away for less than a moment, looked back, and there it was. I was like, “huh?”
Now, I was already familiar with you, IONS, etc. But I did not know you had your own website, or a new book, and so, I’ve never visited you online before. How about that? Posted to Instagram about it shortly after, (with an image of your book cover) indicating I guess spirit would have me bump this to the top of my list! So, can’t wait to read it!
Pax et Lux,
Chris Hancock, LCSW
Julia Assante
2019-01-24 @ 4:13 PM
A great story Chris! Thanks for posting it. By now, I suppose you have read my book. I do hope you got something out of it. At the moment, I am writing a new one on Incarnation. What a slippery topic that really is if you go deep enough. All the best to you. Julia
leonard balinski
2019-01-03 @ 4:23 PM
such notions also exist in hiduism
V. Raghunadh
2019-05-07 @ 1:24 PM
Good old saints, Maharshis and philosophers of ancient India had already explained the existence of SOUL but they said that the awareness of presence of soul in our body can be better known only through YOGA consciousness.
But the way you explained in a simple and logical way is Superb. Its very convincing. I liked it very much.
Julia Assante
2019-05-19 @ 10:40 AM
Thanks!
Andrew Linnell
2019-08-15 @ 4:57 PM
Hellenistic philosophers and early Christians (e.g. St. Paul) described the human as being comprised of body, soul, and spirit (soma, psyche,and pneuma). Somewhere around the 4th or 5th century, the concept of spirit was lost and its properties became merged with soul. Somewhere in the 9th or 10th century, the spiritual concepts applied to the soul were lost. How today does one distinguish between soul and spirit? Does Quantum reveal only a duality? Might there be a trinity?
Julia Assante
2019-08-16 @ 3:31 PM
Nice question Andrew! Personally I don’t like the terms soul and spirit because they imply something you have or will become after death. So I just use the words consciousness and super-conscious. Interestingly there is no concept of the transcendent soul or spirit in the Bible; only in later books do we read of the resurrected body for the righteous.If it were not for Paul, given that the Apocalypse has not happened and never will, I wonder where Christianity would be now.
Andrew Linnell
2019-08-16 @ 6:52 PM
I like that Julia! If we examine the ‘known’ states of human consciousness we find (1) awake, (2) dreaming, (3) dreamless sleep, and (4) coma. These could be extended to the four elements from Greek philosophy of fire, air, water, and earth. Taking your suggestion of super-consciousness, this would apply then to something yet higher in the human being.
Julia Assante
2019-08-22 @ 2:54 PM
What an interesting idea!