Is it possible to understand the deeper teachings of the Yoga tradition through the discoveries of quantum physics? Remember that Yoga is about revealing the true nature of consciousness. The physical disciplines, or postures, are really a preparatory stage for deeper self-investigation. Quantum physics, while ostensibly about investigating the minutest aspects of “matter,” has revealed that consciousness is an integral feature of the equation. “Consciousness,” writes physicist Amit Goswami in The Self-Aware Universe
, “is the agency that collapses the wave of a quantum object, which exists in potentia, making it an imminent particle in the world of manifestation.” Consciousness, it seems is ultimately responsible for the material world. From the perspective of Yoga, the world is a product of the interaction between consciousness and energy. We might say, between basic awareness and the quantum field. While physics is most interested in investigating the underlying energy, Yoga practitioners are interested in investigating consciousness itself. Science, per se, cannot truly investigate consciousness. It is not something that is measurable, observable, or quantifiable. It cannot be objectified because it ever the subjective aspect of experience. However, without a subject there can be no objective reality. As Robert Lanza, MD, writes in Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
, “Some may imagine there are two worlds, one “out there” and a separate one being cognized inside the skull. But the “two worlds” model is a myth. Nothing is perceived accept the perceptions themselves, and nothing exists outside of consciousness.” Yoga psychology teaches that the biggest obstacle we face in realizing the true nature of consciousness is ego-identification. Rather than the psychoanalytic ego, here we are talking about our most basic sense of identification with our individual physical beings and our internal thought processes. Remember that the physical body, as an object, comes about as result of the collapse of the quantum wave due to consciousness. The true “self” of consciousness is non-physical, nonlocal, non-temporal. Because we fixate on the objective world we forget that we are not ourselves objects within that world. Desire, aversion and fear help to keep us fixated. The goal of yoga is to awaken to ourselves as interconnected and immortal beings of consciousness.
Awakening is a process, however. Yoga provides a step-by-step path towards spiritual realization. Patanjali outlined eight stages on this path in his Yoga Sutras. It culminates in the practices of meditation. Meditation is a means of releasing both the cognitive and emotional bonds that keep us attached to a falsely limited identity. In Meditations from the Tantras
, Swami Satyananda Saraswati gives us a number of approaches to meditation practice. Ultimately meditation is not just practice but the awakening of a new consciousness, a new mind and a new reality. As Swamiji states,“One normally sees oneself as a small, insignificant part of the universe, as a small cog in a large wheel, a small particle in unending space and time. One often feels completely isolated and often alienated from other parts of existence. One feels, alone and very mortal. One never even suspects that one can overcome this situation. Most people merely shrug their shoulders and fatalistically accept their fate. Meditation changes all this. One realizes through meditation that one is a necessary, intimate and important part of the universe. One starts to relate deeply to everything that exists. They are no longer separate entities. You are That.” (p. 48)
The discoveries of quantum physics have taken us beyond the mechanistic, materialist paradigm of the 19th century - although many people still adhere to it. We now know that instead of living in a blind mechanical universe in which our consciousness is a meaningless epiphenomenon, we live in a universe in which consciousness is a central feature. Thus quantum physics has opened the door to an understanding and validation of age-old Yogic teachings. Still, it is up to us to adopt the practice relevant to our level of psychological and spiritual development in order to realize our true nature.
