This month a local institution I grew up with – since my father worked there for decades supervising operations of a cyclotron – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory at long last announced a breakthrough in nuclear fusion research: “After decades of trying, scientists for the first time carried out a nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than went into it.”
The New York Times article is quick to point out that there are still major obstacles to making this a viable energy source, but still, kudos on this breakthrough! Aside: I had to smile – wait a moment, I recognize that face! – as I watched about 20 seconds into this (NIF Achieves Fusion Ignition) video when I saw a familiar face – our neighbor a few doors up the street I lived on as a kid, John Nuckolls; our families were good friends, and my siblings and I were friends with their kids.
It would be great if this breakthrough led quickly enough to a sustainable, environmentally benign energy source… IF (huge “elephant in the room” if) it was used only for peacetime purposes. When my dad worked at “the lab” he would try to assure visiting out-of-town guests that only about 10% of the lab’s work was weapons related.
So, regular readers of this blog might be wondering what this physics story has to do with the pure non-dual metaphysics of the Course. For starters, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to make this world a better place; it would be silly to not want that, of course. Just one problem (which ironically the same modern physics that is enabling these technical breakthroughs and the also gadgetry and infrastructure that I’m using to type this blog post informs us): The “world” as we usually conceive of it appears to be a staggeringly incomplete at best misunderstanding of reality. Many pioneers of quantum mechanics became mystics almost of necessity when they discovered that this pesky “mind” stuff couldn’t be conveniently left out of any equations describing what is real or at least what seems to be!
Here are the quotes I used to introduce the chapter “Take Home Lessons from Modern Physics” in my 2nd book (The Geometry Code: Universal Symbolic Mirrors of Natural Laws Within Us; Friendly Reminders of Inclusion to Forgive the Dreamer of Separation):
“If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet.”
– Neils Bohr“Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.”
– Werner Heisenberg“The boldness of asking deep questions may require unforeseen flexibility if we are to accept the answers.”
– Brian Greene
These weren’t isolated conclusions by these pioneers of contemporary science; here are a couple of quotes from Albert Einstein:
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
and
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
More along these lines:
“There’s no ‘out there’ out there.” – (physicist) John Wheeler
“One of the most surprising discoveries of modern physics is that objects aren’t as separate as they may seem. When you drill down into the core of even the most solid-looking material, separateness dissolves. All that remains, like the smile of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, are relationships extending curiously throughout space and time. These connections were predicted by quantum theory and were called ‘spooky action at a distance’ by Albert Einstein. One of the founders of quantum theory, Erwin Schrödinger, dubbed this peculiarity entanglement, saying ‘I would not call that one but rather the characteristic trait of quantum mechanics.’ ”
– Dean Radin“Everything seems to interact with everything else at many subtle levels of the universe beyond the purely physical level, and the deeper we penetrate into these levels, the more do we realize that we are One.” – William Tiller, from the Preface to Stalking the Wild Pendulum by Itzhak Bentov
The Greek myth of Prometheus stealing fire from the gods seems helpful here when we contemplate having our very own star power (literally) attempting to usurp and replace the big stellar figure on the well-established throne, Sol in our local solar system. Moving from the physical to the mental realm, ACIM goes into tremendous detail to show us how we feel horribly guilty for believing we pulled off this impossible crime on an ontological, metaphysical level, how we deny the phenomenal guilt associated with believing we actually committed the dethroning and will go to unimaginable lengths – like making up an entire material universe! – just to have a seemingly endless supply of scapegoats to project that unconscious, unfounded guilt. Our authority problem is resolved by trusting Holy Spirit – the connection in everyone’s right mind that has never left Perfect Undifferentiated Oneness, reminding us unceasingly of our eternal innocence – to guide us from the inappropriate guilt with which we would otherwise torture ourselves needlessly.
Returning to the topic of fusion, but from a metaphoric perspective, what are we hoping to accomplish with (nuclear) fusion on the level of form? Merging discrete particles (in this case Hydrogen) into a new fused identity, with the by-product of energy that could sustain our mundane needs. The Course’s pure non-dual metaphysics suggests (as I suggest physics points to as well) that there is only One Identity that we powerful dreamers have merely dreamt could be fragmented.
Like Sisyphus in his seemingly endless struggle pushing the Zeus-shaped boulder up the hill, only to have it tumble down again and start the process all over, our world (as misconceived by the ego mind) was designed to not work:
” ‘Seek but do not find’ remains this world’s stern decree, and no one who pursues the world’s goals can do otherwise.” (ACIM, M-13.5:8)
Should we stop trying then? Of course not, and the Course gently reminds us that the “level confusion” of changing our behavior in order to change our mind is attempting to reverse cause and effect and would be just as silly as stopping breathing just because the ultimate outcome of every material form is disintegration.
What we can do is remind ourselves that there is a realm of thought that forgiveness brings us back to – we never left, but only dreamt we did – where our Real Identity is already “fused” or joined with that of everyone else. We must unlearn the notion that our interests could ever have been separate through wanting to be compassionate with all of creation; recognizing that doing so is being kind, gentle, and truly helpful to all aspects of the One Mind we share; the True Identity we have and are, forever and eternally the same, innocent of dualistic dreams. We must choose to go watch – without judgment – and ultimately go beyond the ego’s polarizing dreary and ridiculous thoughts of confusion and realize the ultimate nature of the All-Inclusive Mind we share – the foundation of our Being IS fusion.
Here is a photo I took a few years ago of a very old fusion reaction (towards the top of the image) that still makes daily appearances in our fluctuating spacetime movie.
