The Tao of Physics. Fritjof Capra

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СКАЧАТЬ be transmuted into other particles; they can be created from energy and can vanish into energy. In this world, classical concepts like ‘elementary particle’, ‘material substance’ or ‘isolated object’, have lost their meaning; the whole universe appears as a dynamic web of inseparable energy patterns. So far, we have not yet found a complete theory to describe this world of subatomic particles, but we do have several theoretical models which describe certain aspects of it very well. None of these models is free from mathematical difficulties, and they all contradict each other in certain ways, but all of them reflect the basic unity and the intrinsically dynamic character of matter. They show that the properties of a particle can only be understood in terms of its activity—of its interaction with the surrounding environment—and that the particle, therefore, cannot be seen as an isolated entity, but has to be understood as an integrated part of the whole.

      Relativity theory has not only affected our conception of particles in a drastic way, but also our picture of the forces between these particles. In a relativistic description of particle interactions, the forces between the particles—that is their mutual attraction or repulsion—are pictured as the exchange of other particles. This concept is very difficult to visualize. It is a consequence of the four dimensional space-time character of the subatomic world and neither our intuition nor our language can deal with this image very well. Yet it is crucial for an understanding of subatomic phenomena. It links the forces between constituents of matter to the properties of other constituents of matter, and thus unifies the two concepts, force and matter, which had seemed to be so fundamentally different ever since the Greek atomists. Both force and matter are now seen to have their common origin in the dynamic patterns which we call particles.

      The fact that particles interact through forces which manifest themselves as the exchange of other particles is yet another reason why the subatomic world cannot be decomposed into constituent parts. From the macroscopic level down to the nuclear level, the forces which hold things together are relatively weak and it is a good approximation to say that things consist of constituent parts. Thus a grain of salt can be said to consist of salt molecules, the salt molecules of two kinds of atoms, those atoms to consist of nuclei and electrons, and the nuclei of protons and neutrons. At the particle level, however, it is no longer possible to see things that way.

      In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of evidence that the protons and neutrons, too, are composite objects; but the forces holding them together are so strong or—what amounts to the same—the velocities acquired by the components are so high, that the relativistic picture has to be applied, where the forces are also particles. Thus the distinction between the constituent particles and the particles making up the binding forces becomes blurred and the approximation of an object consisting of constituent parts breaks down. The particle world cannot be decomposed into elementary components.

      In modern physics, the universe is thus experienced as a dynamic, inseparable whole which always includes the observer in an essential way. In this experience, the traditional concepts of space and time, of isolated objects, and of cause and effect, lose their meaning. Such an experience, however, is very similar to that of the Eastern mystics. The similarity becomes apparent in quantum and relativity theory, and becomes even stronger in the ‘quantum-relativistic’ models of subatomic physics where both these theories combine to produce the most striking parallels to Eastern mysticism.

      Before spelling out these parallels in detail, I shall give a brief account of the schools of Eastern philosophy which are relevant to the comparison for the reader who is not familiar with them. They are the various schools in the religious philosophies of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. In the following five chapters, the historical background, characteristic features and philosophical concepts of these spiritual traditions will be described, the emphasis being on those aspects and concepts which will be important for the subsequent comparison with physics.

^* The reader who finds this preliminary presentation of modern physics too compressed and difficult to understand should not be unduly worried. All of the concepts mentioned in this chapter will be discussed in greater detail later on.

^* The hydrogen atom consists of just one proton and one electron.

^* The ‘rotation’ of an electron in its orbit must not be understood in the classical sense; it is determined by the shape of the electron wave in terms of the probabilities for the particle’s existence in certain parts of the orbit.

II The Way of Eastern Mysticism

       Chapter 5 Hinduism

      For an understanding of any of the philosophies to be described, it is important to realize that they are religious in essence. Their main aim is the direct mystical experience of reality, and since this experience is religious by nature, they are inseparable from religion. More than for any other Eastern tradition this is true for Hinduism, where the connection between philosophy and religion is particularly strong. It has been said that almost all thought in India is in a sense religious thought and Hinduism has not only influenced, throughout many centuries, India’s intellectual life, but almost completely determined her social and cultural life as well.

      Hinduism cannot be called a philosophy, nor is it a well defined religion. It is, rather, a large and complex socio-religious organism consisting of innumerable sects, cults and philosophical systems and involving various rituals, ceremonies and spiritual disciplines, as well as the worship of countless gods and goddesses. The many facets of this complex and yet persistent and powerful spiritual tradition mirror the geographical, racial, linguistic and cultural complexities of India’s vast subcontinent. The manifestations of Hinduism range from highly intellectual philosophies involving conceptions of fabulous range and depth to the naïve and childlike ritual practices of the masses. If the majority of the Hindus are simple villagers who keep the popular religion alive in their daily worship, Hinduism has, on the other hand, brought forth a large number of outstanding spiritual teachers to transmit its profound insights.

      The spiritual source of Hinduism lies in the Vedas, a collection of ancient scriptures written by anonymous sages, the so-called Vedic ‘seers’. There are four Vedas, the oldest of them being the Rig Veda. Written in ancient Sanskrit, the sacred language of India, the Vedas have remained the highest religious authority for most sections of Hinduism. In India, any philosophical system that does not accept the authority of the Vedas is considered to be unorthodox.

      Each of these Vedas consists of several parts which were composed at different periods, probably between 1500 and 500 B.C. The oldest parts are sacred hymns and prayers. Subsequent parts deal with sacrificial rituals connected with the Vedic hymns, and the last, called the Upanishads, elaborate their philosophical and practical content. The Upanishads contain the essence of Hinduism’s spiritual message. They have guided and inspired India’s greatest minds for the last twenty-five centuries, in accordance with the advice given in their verses:

      Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad, One should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation. Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That, Penetrate that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.¹

      The masses of the Indian people, however, have received the teachings of Hinduism not through the Upanishads, but through a large number of popular tales, collected in huge epics, which are the basis of the vast and colourful Indian mythology. One of those epics, СКАЧАТЬ