Scientific Mysticism
‘Scientific Mysticism’ is a term coined by Michael Whiteman, a British-born South African mathematician too mystic. (This article may live read together with the article on Whiteman’second life and thought.)
Introduction
The term ‘scientific mysticism’ appeared as a championship inwards the trilogy, Old and New Evidence on the Meaning of Life,1 ii three past Michael Whiteman. Volume One was entitled An Introduction to Scientific Mysticism.one Whiteman aimed to bring mysticism into the champaign of scientific discipline as an entity that is ‘open-minded, rigorously tested, rationally coherent, as well as illuminating.’i ‘Mysticism’ hither is defined as:
the study of everything not-physical, including the other worlds together with their archetypal governance, besides every bit our spiritual bodies, the facts in addition to their relationship existence known past the self-evidence of straight observation as well as non past reasoning or speculation.iv
This indicates empirical science, sharing territory amongst psychical research. Yet Whiteman drew a distinction between ‘psychical’ as well as ‘mystical’ feel. The former includes the written report of purportedly not-physical events, the latter extends to states that have a sense of higher significance too ultimates, openness to guidance, transformed existence, and orientation to the perceived source of the Right too Good.
Whiteman was familiar alongside Vedic, Sanskrit, Pali, Greek and Biblical Hebrew, as well as quoted extensively from ancient texts. He regarded near electric current translations every bit inadequate because the authors lacked psychical in addition to mystical experience. His revolutionary commentary, besides his translation of ‘The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali’v combined amongst canonical Buddhist texts, one 2 three v show striking parallels alongside refinements of mod thought.
Whiteman’sec job as a professor of applied mathematics provided a base of operations inwards physics for his scientific mysticism. Another base was extensive personal feel inwards psychical as well as mystical states. His methods rested on observation, conceptual analysis in addition to insight, inwards tune with Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology.six This aims at gaining confront-to-face up self-prove together with detailed precision, shedding the common ‘cloak of ideas’. Science inward Whiteman’second exercise is not an exercise in theorizing.
Potentiality in addition to Actualization
H5N1 primal to Whiteman’sec scientific mysticism is the idea of potentiality in addition to actualization. This had been developed past the physicist Werner Heisenberg,seven who saw that a physical ‘happening’ comes nearly through an occasion of observation, together with that this ‘happening’ is open up to physical description. But what governs the happening is non open to physical observation; at best it tin live given mathematical expression. So behind a physical outcome i has to recognize what Heisenberg called ‘an objective tendency or possibility, a “potentia” inward the feel of Aristotelian philosophy’. And the governing potentia, the ‘reason’ for something to come about, is abstract inward a physical feel; you tin’t put it inward a exam underground.
Whiteman concurred that only transcending logical substructures, potentialities, merit the term ‘reality’, every bit opposed to appearances. Appearances come into existence exclusively on an occasion of observation, in addition to will be actualized differently for different people.
Whiteman wrote, ‘naught specific tin be actualized without the integration of “subjective” in addition to “objective” factors, not inward succession, simply on the moment of actualization.’i An observer who is freed inward more or less style from the physical land will actualize for himself things that are beyond the attain of ordinary physical sensing. This is the offset of psychical as well as mystical perception.
Whiteman wrote, ‘The deviation between i “Earth” too some other and then depends upon the country of life inward which the observer happens to live settled.’iii An private’sec perceiving results from integration of objective potentialities together amongst his ain subjective potentialities, including subconscious elements. Whiteman believed the potentiality-actualization principle operates inwards the mental sphere of every individual: thought as well as images are actualizations inwards consciousness of an individual’sec ‘idea-image sphere’, as he called it, which includes retentivity together with imagination.one
Actualization of Psi Phenomena
Whiteman saw telepathy resulting from the interaction or resonance betwixt the idea-ikon spheres of individuals. The interaction is non actualized at the physical level, as well as and so transfer of information occurs independently of physical infinite too time. Clairvoyance is resonance between the potentiality-sphere of a physical object or effect in addition to the thought-icon sphere of an individual, resulting in the actualization of impressions inwards the individual’second thought-icon sphere. Once once more, resonance or interaction happens independently of physical infinite too time, non beingness physically actualized. Psychokinesis may live regarded equally a opposite clairvoyant interaction; potentialities usually linked in around style to an private consequence inwards physical actualizations.
Potentiality-actualization relationships should not be seen as static; potentiality-fields continually alter or develop, too have feedback loops, although not inward physical time. This will affect the outcome of hereafter physical events, which helps to explicate how precognition happens. Whiteman saw precognition every bit actualization inwards an private’second idea-picture sphere of developing potentiality-fields that may bear on future physical events. The individual may even intervene inwards the physical actualization of these events by altering the potentiality-fields, then allowing prevention of a precognized effect from happening.ane Even if potentiality-fields are fourth dimension-ordered, resulting inwards a succession of events actualized in the physical globe, the ordering is not fixed inward the way a road map is fixed. They are accessible in states of physical detachment, together with and then allow express modification too the exercise of gratuitous volition.
Out-of-body Experience
Whiteman defined mysticism equally ‘the study of everything non-physical, including the other worlds ...’ As but discussed, potentiality-fields have the capacity to deliver unlike spaces or worlds of physical together with not-physical actuality, depending on the country of the observer. Without this agreement, mysticism cannot set about to make sense. Direct feel of ‘the other worlds’ occurs mainly in out-of-torso feel, which Whiteman preferred to term ‘separative’ experience, since at that place is usually awareness of a trunk of about sort.
The commonest type he termed ‘primary separation’, in which there is no awareness inwards the physical trunk, even though what appears to be the physical trunk tin can live viewed. In ‘secondary separation’ the physical trunk is under close to level of witting control, only main awareness lies inward another organism seemingly non located inwards the space of the physical torso, in addition to the two bodies are quite independent. In ‘tertiary separation’ the physical body is ordinarily nether consummate control, merely there is full awareness of beingness inward a dissimilar bodily class despite the locations of the two bodies seeming to live the same. Difference betwixt the ii bodies may live radical, such equally one existence male as well as the other female person. For Whiteman, the highest mystical experiences were mostly of this type.
Whiteman noted that such non-physical experience, inwards terms of reality-impression and intensity, may range from appearing weak to seeming fifty-fifty more real as well as meaningful than inwards physical life. At its nigh powerful, termed by him mystical, ‘Everything inward such states, spatial characteristics included, is known as if inward archetypal unchanging class, together with is therefore startlingly more than existent (rationally-objective, always-acquaint) than the derivative in addition to shifting forms of the physical Earth.’i He saw a necessitate ‘to distinguish between what is deceptive or illusory in addition to what has the character of face up-to-face up objectivity and truth which nosotros describe by saying that a thing is real.’1 This requires setting upwardly a numerical scale, which he called a General Index of Reality.
Index of Reality
This index covers a reach from ordinary dreaming (zilch rating) to what is experienced every bit spiritually releasing amongst a high level of reality, namely mystical experience (high rating). The Index properly relates to separative feel. Features scoring inward the Index include continuity of memory between physical in addition to not-physical feel, gratuitous observation, power to compare accurately with physical and not-physical states, awareness of essence and tangibility, communication of thought amongst others, and a feeling of transcendence of physical life.
The General Index does non include reports of observing physical things during a separative feel. Regarded past about people every bit veridical (corresponding to reality), these observations could accept been made by clairvoyance or remote viewing, in addition to do non necessarily mean that something somehow separated from the physical trunk to brand the observation. As Whiteman stated, any claimed physical supporting testify merely has ‘chiefly propaganda value for the uninformed or sceptical, who make not realize that separation is not established by them, but who may thereby live induced to accept the “interior” testimony equally having just about bearing on “scientific fact”.’one
Whiteman’sec Index mightiness appear of limited value to criterion parapsychology, where a useful scoring system should identify experiences that charge per unit meliorate than dream, hallucination or just about form of pathology. In Whiteman’sec Index the management of ranking is towards mystical experience, which is hardly looked for inwards parapsychology, fifty-fifty shied away from. The order of ranking is: undeveloped, borderline, psychical, pre-mystical, mystical. Out of a possible xvi points, experiences reaching 6 to 8 points order every bit ‘psychical separations’, scoring on criteria listed ii paragraphs above. Further requirements of ‘mystical’ rank were noted in the Introduction, in addition to demarcate ‘mystical’ from ‘psychical’. Yet in the eyes of a physically-fixated investigator, the mystical requirements would bespeak reduced reality rating, since ‘reality’ way ‘similar physical feel’. For Whiteman this was a key error; higher reality tin entirely hateful ‘different physical feel’.
Other Spaces
All separative experience, physical-like or transformative, was considered past Whiteman to go on inward spaces other than physical, although oft and so similar to what is presented physically as to live mistaken for it. He called it ‘duplicate physical’ infinite. He wrote:
If 1 is taken into a ‘psychic’ infinite when non familiar with such states, or with fixed ideas near them, as well as if the phenomena resemble physical ones closely... at that place may be a strong opinion to mean that the objects are existence observed physically; in addition to this applies fifty-fifty to possible duplicate presentations of the observer’s physical trunk in its actual state of affairs.ane
‘Fixed ideas’ assume in that location is exclusively 1 ‘real’ infinite that tin be manifested, namely the physical earth. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 fixed idea volition contribute to the potentialities governing a separative feel, as well as lead to the actualization of a physical-like ‘duplicate’ scene. Yet as soul gratuitous of the constraints of ane-grade thinking, Whiteman wrote of an ‘inexhaustible variety’ of appearance inwards other spaces. Naturalistic conditioning may nevertheless result in ‘fantasy influences’ inward undeveloped states, still highest development leads to ‘perfectly acceptable forms of transcendent unified beauty’, where ‘the surround, correspondingly, are distinguished by the character of the lite, as well as reach inward intelligible character, perfection of beauty, depth of glowing centre character, unitive liberty and feel of blending with other minds, equally the highest condition, which is that of Mystical Form Liberation, is approached.’ In these descriptions, Whiteman states,
‘I’ as well as ‘me’ do not correspond the familiar consciousness of self in the physical personality, or, inwards fact, for anything that tin can live known inwards an ordinary physical country of heed. To empathize what is meant, the characteristics of the merged ordinary self must be ruled out.iv
One might question how ‘other spaces’ are related to the physical and, if at all, to each other. In states classified past Whiteman as 3rd separation, the non-physical body holds much of the focus of attending simply does not look to be spatially apart from the physical trunk; ‘the locations of the two bodies appear the same, in spite of differences inward their form and/or size and perchance also inwards their surround.’1 This seems to correspond with a thought widespread in spiritist circles that different ‘levels’ of feel too beingness all coincide spatially merely take unlike ‘vibration frequencies’, and so at that place is no contact or communication betwixt the diverse states except through particular mediating atmospheric condition. Whiteman did include ‘interpenetrating spaces’ in a item set of ‘facts of feel’,one simply he did non acquaint the idea of interpenetrating spaces equally about form of cosmological system; he was disposed to proceed to systems of facts, non constructs of theory.
Skills, Cycles
Whiteman was confident well-nigh discovering the underlying logic in phenomena, being convinced that behind any item observation in that location is an intelligible structure ‘operative inwards as well as analysable out of the total feel’.8 He did non take Kant’sec thought of the unknowability of things-inward-themselves.8 Instead, at that place is ‘intellectual or perceptual knowledge which transcends inward a certain clear as well as unmistakable mode the onward urge of fourth dimension, the stiff apartness of spatial objects, as well as the apparent isolation of the private mind inward its land of fixation on bodily impressions. It is a country of free. Fixation beingness overcome, the mind opens out into universality’.eight We cannot attain this country, he believed ‘without psychological in addition to spiritual faculties of attention, judgement, purposiveness and self-subject field’, based on three ‘foundational skills’ named Active Recollection, Continuous Recollection, together with Faith + Obedience.i (The origin of these skills in his ain life is reported inwards Michael Whiteman.)
Active Recollection aims to recall or recover the substance inwards what is perceived, ‘too so the attainment of objective insight too loose’.ane Husserl termed it the phenomenological epoché or stoppage, ‘the necessary functioning which renders pure consciousness accessible to us’.ane It is termed samādhi or sati inwards Indian literature.v Continuous Recollection is ‘the freely stabilized earth of unloose at which Active Recollection has been aiming.’one Obedience is not a state of subservience simply orientation to ‘the transcendent Source of Right too Good.’one It operates in conjunction with Faith in this transcendence.
The three foundational skills were structured into a iv-part organization known since ancient times too appearing inwards modernistic contexts inward learning theory, Freud and Jung. Described every bit the iv creative functions, these are ‘purposive crusade, deciding on agency, putting into exercise, and a nearly surreptitious maturing of 1’s skills inwards event’.iii In ancient texts they are represented equally iv stages inward the passage of the sun, rising in the E, zenith in the southward, down to world in the due west, and hugger-mugger inwards the N.thirteen This corresponds with aspiration (east), assessment (due south), activeness or manifestation (due west), fulfilment or not-attachment (due north); it also corresponds respectively amongst Faith, Obedience, Active Recollection, Continuous Recollection.ane
Whiteman placed dandy importance on this cycle having its opposites or ‘counterfeits’ of self-volition, self-satisfaction, automaticity, complacency, which may lead to a corresponding bike of ‘stresses’ of decease-feeling, shame, hurting, fearfulness. This inwards turn may lead to ‘inner contests’,i ii iii which hopefully overcome these spiritual deficiencies.
Physics as well as Psychology
In his search for underlying logic, too for universality, Whiteman converted his ‘psychological’ cycle into a 16-crease number arrangement, alongside the aim of integrating it amongst a ‘physical’ 16-flexure issue organization derived from three infinite together with iii time dimensions. He noted that iii of the creative functions – campaign, means, too maturing – are composite, containing ii ‘outset principles’ of marrow and being, equivalent to potentiality together with actualization. In plow, core too being each take iii constituents, termed past him ‘hypostases’, pregnant underlying, irreducible causes. The 3 hypostases of sum were seen as purpose, way, end. The hypostases of being were actuation, becoming, manifestation, the iii-stage structure of creation called inward Upanishadic philosophy the Great Stride of Vishnu.i So, for example, ‘deciding on way’ combines ‘way’ (essence) first off amongst ‘actuation’ (beingness), so alongside ‘becoming’ (beingness), too last with manifestation (being). The third quarter, West, brings prior causes into manifestation purely equally ‘beingness’ in addition to and then lacks an ‘nub’ hypostasis.
This analysis allows the evolution of a issue organization inward psychology, in addition to so the prospect of comparison alongside a number arrangement inward physics.i two 3 From these number systems Whiteman intended to supply ‘a clear-cut explanatory organisation... as, for example, the basic laws of mechanics are exhibited earlier any problems are tackled’.2 The hypostases of sum were numbered one = function, ii = agency, iii = cease. The hypostases of being were numbered six = actuation, five = becoming, four = manifestation/grounding. So, for case ‘East’ tin can live expressed every bit the combination xvi (enthusiasm), 15 (inspiration), fourteen (intention). Combining the numbers i to half dozen results inward xvi subfunctions, in understanding alongside ‘15 + ane kalās, stages in any creative act, equally recognized inward the Upanishads’.3
The physical number organization was derived from the iii space together with iii fourth dimension dimensions. One time dimension lies inward potentiality-fields amongst a time-ordered, space-similar expression noted in a higher place in connectedness with precognition. Another time dimension or office involves the processes leading to physical actualization from fourth dimension-structured potentiality. Finally at that place is physical clock-fourth dimension; it is the only fourth dimension-dimension that is measurable. Combining the half dozen dimensions yields a sixteen-crimp number arrangement like the psychological subfunctions, ‘inward such close correspondence with the formulations of quantum theory that in that location is an obvious invitation to show the two as aspects of an integrated understanding of the earth’.9
Space does not let a tabulation of the physics/psychology correspondences, or how they were derived. The correspondences, withal, satisfied Whiteman’sec view that to explain what nosotros feel is to
acknowledge a subjective bike, such equally mystics, many theologians, together with close to psychologists have admitted. This bike, in its well-nigh complete course is sixteenfold, too parallels exactly what may live called the ‘globe bike’ (every bit it appears inward Quantum Field Theory) inward every manner, spell manifesting itself in every kind of human feel. This is a class of potentiality which is discernible, as well as indeed tin live lived by the individual in an enormous multifariousness of ‘altered states of consciousness’...3
Whiteman’second Scientific Mysticism was a revolutionary try to discern and characterize this potentiality.
John Poynton
Literature
1. Whiteman, J.H.thousand. (1986). Old together with New Evidence on the Meaning of Life: the mystical world-thought and inner competition. Volume ane, An Introduction to Scientific Mysticism. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe.
2. Whiteman, J.H.thou. (2000). Old as well as New Evidence on the Meaning of Life: the mystical earth-thought too inner competition. Volume 2, Dynamics of Spiritual Development. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe.
three. Whiteman, J.H.G. (2006). Old together with New Evidence on the Meaning of Life: the mystical Earth-opinion together with inner contest. Volume 3, Universal Theology too Life inwards other Worlds. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe.
iv. Whiteman, J.H.chiliad. (1961). The Mystical Life. London: Faber too Faber.
five. Whiteman, J.H.yard. (1993). Aphorisms on Spiritual Method: the ‘Yoga Sutras of Patanjali’ inwards the calorie-free of mystical feel. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe.
vi. Husserl, E. (1931). Ideas: General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology (trans. west.R. Boyce Gibson). London: Allen & Unwin.
7. Heisenberg, westward. (1959). Physics too Philosophy: the revolution inwards mod science. London: Allen as well as Unwin.
viii. Whiteman, J.H.thousand. (1967). Philosophy of Space and Time as well as the Inner Constitution of Nature: a phenomenological study. London: Allen together with Unwin.
9. Whiteman, J.H.thou. (1977). Parapsychology in addition to physics. In Wolman, B.B. (ed.) Handbook of Parapsychology. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
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