by Michael Dargaville
PREFACE 7
SECTION 1
WHAT IS THE NEW IDEALISM?
The Climate of how the New Idealism Evolved 25
The New Physics as a Form of Philosophical Idealism 37
Some Other Theories of Physics Which Posit Idealism 45
Other Regions of the New Idealism: the New Age 53
Hinduism and Indian Philosophy 65
The Occult and Esoteric Aspect of the New Age 75
SECTION 2
JUSTIFYING THE NEW IDEALISM:
The New Idealism/7
This book gives a complete outline of the implications of the
New Age movement and the science behind it. It fully
explains all the latest details in quantum physics as well as the
latest developments in spirituality. It is simply explained for the
average reader and can be grasped by high school students as
well. If there is a problem with certain technical terms the reader
should consult a dictionary or a dictionary of philosophy.
Nevertheless all terms are fully explained.
The basis of the New Age movement is a spiritual
awakening, similar to that of the 1960s - yet only this time it is
far more radical. And it also has its own media fighting the forces
of capitalism.
The New Age movement is very broad-based but does
involve certain fundamental principles.
Firstly, many at the front ranks of the New Age movement
believe that the Christ, or Lord Maitreya as he is known, has
returned and is living in London .
It is said that Lord Maitreya is committed to worldwide
socialism and wants to form a world government based on love,
socialism and sharing of all the world's resources. For those
readers who are already puzzled by this preface, a few facts will
be given. The New Age joins many movements together into one
union. Firstly, in India a man called Sri Satha Sai Baba is world
famous for his many so-called miracles.
Sai Baba has a following of more than 100 million people
throughout the planet. He is world famous for producing objects
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out of thin air, bi-locating (being in two places at the same time)
and teleporting (moving from one place to another through the
speed of light).
Sai Baba has had many scientists come to test his powers but
in the New Age he is simply known at the Cosmic Christ, or
Cosmic Avatar.
Lord Maitreya in London is known as a planetary Avatar - or
planetary Christ - that is, he has evolved from this planet. Under
Lord Maitreya are more than 300 beings called Ascended
Masters. These beings are not human but had once been human.
They are part of what is called the Earth's Spiritual Hierarchy.
The spiritual headquarters of Planet Earth is in China in a
place known as Shamballa somewhere in the Gobi Desert and this
is where the Planetary Logos is located. The name of the
Planetary Logos is currently a secret although many had claimed
Lord Buddha to have taken this role but this is not true. The new
Planetary Logos has taken over the role from another magnificent
being called Sanat Kumara.
This may seem extraordinary to many readers, but many in
the New Age movement firmly believe all of this.
Another major belief that New Age people have is the
rejection of Darwinian theory. New Age followers believe that
humans came from other planets and star systems.
The first humans that came to this planet was 2 million years
ago. They came from another human planet called Sirius. They
came here by advanced spaceships that can teleport through the
speed of light. These spaceships use bio-crystal energetic
computers with telepathic captains and are about three times the
size of a Jumbo 747 yet also have huge motherships hundreds of
kilometres long.
The New Idealism/9
This first Earth civilization was called Hybornea and lasted
from 2 million BC until 1 million BC yet was destroyed by other
non-human aliens called Reptoids about 1 million years ago in a
major war. Humans again came back 900,000 years ago and
formed a civilization called Lemuria. Humans during this
civilization lived for 5000 years on average. Atlantis, which was a
civilization within Lemuria, is well-known even in the writings of
Plato.
Some time about 15000BC a huge nuclear war destroyed this
civilization and then earth was repopulated by galactic humans
with the agreement of the earth's spiritual hierarchy. During this
time humans were genetically mutated because its protective
biosphere had been destroyed.
Reptoids first came to Earth more than 20 million years ago,
much earlier than humans, although the Spiritual Hierarchy
supports Humans not Reptoids. Reptoids can shapeshift into
human form and are virtually immortal. However, in human form
on this planet they are harmless. In their original form they look
like lizards that can stand erect or gargoyles.
Thus, Christ, Buddha and Krishna (the founders of three
major Earth religions) are in fact all from the same source - the
planet's spiritual hierarchy or Shamballa in China.
From this it can be clearly seen that Lord Maitreya in
London (the returned Christ) and the unnamed Planetary Logos in
Shamballa in China, are now in charge of the planet. Sai Baba in
India has come from the centre of the galaxy as a Christed ET to
especially help for the dawning of the New Age. And remember
that there are 300 Ascended Masters helping the Planetary Logos
and Lord Maitreya (and Sai Baba in India).
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Now, readers may be asking with all of these powerful beings on
the planet, why is there so much strife and wars.
The main reason had been that these nonhuman aliens called
Reptoids mentioned earlier had a moon base that had machines
that had the ability to change the way humans and countries can
think. These Reptoid aliens had used psychotronic weapons and
technology on this planet for hundreds of years to control us or
destroy us. This base was destroyed at the beginning of the 21st
Century by Galactic Federation human aliens who have come
here to save this planet and support us. They will be importantly
fully outlined later in this preface.
This psychotronic technology is already being widely used
by the United States who gained this technology from the little
grey aliens that they had a covert deal with for the past 60 years.
The grey aliens and the USA worked together on many projects.
Hollywood's most famous film, ET, is about that relationship
called the Plato Pact.
The United States has built a huge base in Alaska called the
H.A.A.R.P base which has the ability to change the way an entire
city can think yet has been de-activated by good aliens. This
psychotronic technology was widely used during the Cold War.
The Russians developed the technology to great sophistication.
One machine which is used widely is called the neurophone.
The neurophone has been used widely by governments especially
the CIA to change the way people think. It has the ability to
change electro-magnetic frequencies into sound. The H.A.A.R.P
base in Alaska is like a huge neurophone.
Capitalist governments have used this weaponry on socialists
widely while the American government politically destabilised
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many governments because of its alien agenda since the Second
World War
Obviously there are angels in human bodies on Planet Earth
but there is also Evil Angels (basically the Reptoid aliens), who
are part of what is called the Luciferic Rebellion, which has come
from another galaxy. This involves the support of Lucifer himself
for these evil Reptoids who lived on the moon and used
psychotronic technology on the entire planet for hundreds of
years. This is the Devil's weaponry. Do you understand? And all
governments have used it at some time.
Most top leaders in the New Age believe that our entire
galaxy has humans on other planets and star systems. Many
millions of New Age followers believe that humans evolved in a
Darwinian fashion 6-7 million years ago on the star system Vega.
Humans were developed from a primate on that star system by
powerful creator forces. They eventually developed to a very high
level with extremely high technology. About 5 million years ago
a Galactic Federation (of humans) was formed as these early
galactic humans space traveled and set up colonies all over our
galaxy. They came to earth via the Sirians 2 million years ago as
part of this colonization. This true Earth history was fully outlined
in the now world famous New Age 1994 classic book called YOU
ARE BECOMING A GALACTIC HUMAN by the American
writer Sheldon Nidle.
Thousands of Galactic Federation human planets have been
attacked by Reptoid aliens in a similar way to our planet. The
Galactic Federation presently has humans from other planets on
our Planet Earth (Gaia) at present to help fight what is happening.
Some have come in spaceships, others have incarnated, while
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others have come as "walk-ins" (they exchange their soul with a
human).
Galactic Humans from the Galactic Federation live according
to how spiritually advanced they are. For example, Arcturians can
live for 30,000 years and are virtually immortal and look oriental.
Sirians live for 5000 years and look European. There are many
galactic human planets in our galaxy only slightly more advanced
than ours with life spans of 300-500 years. Humans from Hydra
live for 500 years, Plaideans for 700 years. We can have sex with
some of them and reproduce and can in fact live on some of their
planets which use oxygen for their atmospheres.
The way the Galactic Federation human aliens managed to
fight the Reptoid aliens was to develop to a high spiritual level.
Large numbers of Arcturians are Ascended Masters and all
humans in the Galaxy have the potential to become Ascended
Masters.
The Galactic Federation wants a socialist world government
led by China based on peace and love. It wants the United States
to give up its world power and for the rest of the world to take
their positions in forming a world government.
Already, China is the military power of the world because
the Galactic Federation human aliens can stop any American
(Russian) nuclear missile. China has the biggest army in the
world and could now easily beat America in a land war. Only
land wars are reality now, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet the
world lives under the delusion of American control because no
formal alien announcement has been made. The Galactic
Federation now surround our planet in spaceships demanding an
announcement.
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Nevertheless the Chinese Government clearly knows it is now the
leader of the world and are waiting for the right time although the
Galactic Federation have said the Indian Government in New
Delhi may be the first government to make a formal
announcement of the truth.
The Galactic Federation want to see
the new world government based in Sichuan province in China
because a new world government must be in China because it is
the biggest and most important country but it must be close to
India, which is now the second most important government and
country. So Sichuan is perfect, because it is in China but close to
India. So the new world capital would be located south of
Chengdu, which is the centre of Asia. And Asia now is King and
runs the world, while the West is its new dutiful Queen.
The Galactic Federation has a great deal of very advanced
technology to give the planet but it will not do this until a world
government is formed. It is especially worried by the actions of
the United States Government.
The Leader of the Galactic
Federation is Archangel Michael and the leader of the Reptoid
aliens is Archangel Lucifer. Thus, our Galaxy and this planet as
well, has been involved in a massive spiritual war between two
towering archangels and their various alien races who support
them. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
Their power and the way
aliens space travel is fully outlined in this book using a new
theory of physics called super energy, which is energy faster than
light. Both energy and super energy are produced by THOUGHT.
Thus, the title of this book, THE NEW IDEALISM. In
philosophy idealism is the notion that Thought creates reality, all
reality, everything. And Love/Fear creates thought.
The United States is a one-party capitalist state with power
vested in multi-national and transnational corporations. Both the
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Democratic and Republican parties are capitalist parties. Most of
the corporations in America are owned by the Illuminati. The
Illuminati are the 13 multi-billionaire families in America such as
the Rockefellers (who own Exxon Oil and Chase Manhatten
Bank), the Rothchilds, the Murdochs (who own 20th Century Fox
and countless other media), the Duponts, the Waltons (who own
Walmart), Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and others. One per cent of
Americans own everything. Aliens have said these families were
behind the September 11 World Trade Centre tragedy in New
York which started the Iraq and Afghan wars. They did this
because there is money in war. However, these families now
really have no power because both China and India could destroy
them at the wink of an eye.
Nevertheless these ruthless and selfish families have killed
millions of innocent children and tens of millions of adults
because of the huge loan repayments they make poor countries in
Africa and elsewhere pay back because of the loans they make
through the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF). The families control these world institutions through the
American Federal Reserve which is partly a private corporation.
However, the big and powerful new superpowers, China and
India , are now clearly stopping their power.
When the fall of the Soviet Union happened, US power grew
hugely without the support of the world and a global hegemony
began on a scale the modern world had never seen before. The
many wars the USA started since the fall of the Soviet Union,
such as in Belgrade, created a new precedent in the world where
the USA was acting in a totalitarian manner. China, India, Russia
and Brazil all protested relentlessly.
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The United States is now truly finished as a world power and
has clearly demonstrated to the world its fascist killer instinct
while it thought it had control. Yet the Galactic Federation has
now made the world safe from America because China now rules
completely. Communism has won and the Chinese Communist
Party is the ruler of the world. Once the alien announcement is
made, a new world history will truly be made. This is now just a
matter of time. 2012 had been hoped for the year of the
announcement yet this now is not certain. 2012 is the magical
time into a new time zone, where the universe itself will start to
implode. Our universe is right in the middle of a huge breath. It is
a truly momentous time.
It is now clear that the Soviet Union was certainly a victim of
the psychotronic technology that the reptoid aliens on the moon
had been using on the planet with the support of the Devil
Lucifer. These evil alien Reptoids and the Devil himself have been
controlling the United States since the fall of the Soviet Union .
The Spiritual Hierarchy of this planet has allowed this to happen
to show the planet that capitalism is dangerous and does not
work.
Both the Spiritual Hierarchy and the Galactic Federation
want to see a genuine world government on Planet Earth. The
government would be based on libertarian socialism where
socialized housing, farming land, industry and other
infrastructures would be a massive genuine alternative to the
current multi-trillionaire dominated Illuminati billionaire families
that own the planet. Small business could then genuinely flourish
to boost an overall socialist economy.
The New Idealism/16
The Galactic Federation want to see the use of the hydrogen
engine widely to stop the use of all fossil fuel and nuclear energy.
All cars could be run from hydrogen fuel either in the form of
electric cars supported by local hydrogen engine power grids or
hydrogen engine cars themselves. Hydrogen fuel and engines is
the future, aliens have stressed.
Some Reptoid aliens are in fact members of the Galactic
Federation and are not all bad and they follow Archangel
Michael.
The so-called capitalist developed countries would be
completely disarmed. The World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund would cease their operations immediately. These
organizations have imposed capitalist measures on the Third
World via the Illuminati. Obviously from this China has to take
its responsibility in leading the world towards a world
government based on socialism, peace and love.
While the United States capitalist media rallied about how
socialist states were one party, they never mentioned the fact that
the US is a one-party capitalist state. The United States has a
tradition of being a one-party capitalist state. Both the Republican
and Democratic parties represent big business capitalism and the
Illuminati. Their policies only vary on issues that concern
capitalism.
This has been given as the reason why so many Americans
do not bother to vote and has led to the creation of a power elite
in that country that does not present the will of the people. Only
50 per cent of people bother to vote in America. Presidents get
15-20 per cent of the vote so are not the real leaders.
It is now fairly clear that AIDS and many other diseases have
been created by scientists in the USA as part of a biological
The New Idealism/17
weapons program to kill off vast legions of Earth's population.
However, the Galactic Federation has now said they can and will
intervene. This preface has been written to outline what is
happening and this writer has had alien contact for the past 13
years where aliens have demonstrated huge powers including
amazing powers of telepathy and psychic abilities that would
make you truly question everything you do.
Thus, please read this following book which is kind of a New
Age handbook for humanity. Have faith that big change will
happen, that things will improve but it is ultimately up to us, to
make that change. This is our planet and the aliens are here to
protect us and support us and to completely respect our
sovereignty. The Galactic Federation has saved this planet from
destruction and now wants the people of this planet to join
together in a world government and to make this world a pristine
beautiful planet full of joy and hope, equality for all. They have
new technologies to give including a machine that can keep
people alive for 1000 years. Can you imagine?
The New Idealism/19
This work will examine what I have termed "The New
Idealism". It is timely that this treatise is being written at
the beginning of the new millennium because the concept
of the New Idealism is revolutionary from a philosophical, and
more specifically, metaphysical, point of view. The 20th century
has been a century dictated by the concept of philosophical
materialism. From academic philosophy to the far reaches of
Readers Digest culture under advanced western capitalism, the
notion of materialism has been rampant.
In academic philosophy,
materialism has ruled supreme. All the major philosophical
movements of this century starting with Logical Atomism,
Logical Positivism, agnostic existentialism, phenomenology,
linguistic or ordinary language philosophy, structuralism,
post-structuralism, postmodernism, Feminism and analytical
philosophy in general, and this would also include the notion of
anti-realism, has been against the philosophical metaphysical
concept of Idealism or that reality as we know it, is produced by
thought, a mind, Consciousness, a mental construct, Spirit.
When I use the term, "the new idealism" I am using the term
in two senses. Firstly, the developments in science and the New
Physics in general has radically reintroduced the concept of
philosophical Idealism. By this I mean that the once completely
banished concept of philosophical Idealism has been reintroduced
and it is a New Idealism, or rather, a new set of philosophies that
posit Idealism. Secondly, the New Idealism, when it is taken to its
fullest extent, is actually different from the many brands of
philosophical Idealism prior to the 19th century. The most famous
The New Idealism/20
brand of Idealism, of course, had been Hegel's Absolute Idealism,
which says that all matter in the Universe is Spirit, or mental in
construct.
Generally, the notion of philosophical Idealism says that
reality is not fundamentally material, but mental. The word grew
out of Idea-ism, strictly speaking. In philosophy the great debate
in metaphysics had been between Idealism and materialism, until
the 20th century virtually abandoned the concept of philosophical
Idealism. This, however, was contained strictly within academic
philosophy, which was usually seen as being at the cutting edge
of philosophical research.
Philosophical materialism, and the rise of philosophical
materialism has an extremely complex historical background
which had been strongly vocal throughout the past four centuries.
The Logical Positivists in the 20th century appealed to science to
dismiss metaphysics while the analytic philosophical tradition
fully emerged with the dawning of that philosophical system.
These ideas represented a range of ideas characteristic of the
Vienna Circle in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. They were
strongly influenced by empirical tradition, and especially the
work of David Hume. According to the famous verification
principle, the meaning of a proposition consists in the methods of
its verification. This principle is the basis of Logical Positivism's
attack of theology and metaphysics because these notions were considered
unverifiable.
However, at the heart of the New Idealism, science is once
again used, but this time it is used to dismiss philosophical
materialism. Right across the scientific spectrum there has been a
radical swing towards philosophical issues of spirituality and
Idealism. And at the heart of this scientific revolution is the major
The New Idealism/21
developments in physics, which is now called the New Physics.
This book will examine how the New Physics radically
reintroduces the concept of philosophical Idealism. There are now
many physicists, many of whom are at the front ranks of their
profession, who have in common a position which rejects
philosophical materialism and reintroduces the concept of
spirituality in matter. This is very radical stuff, indeed, and is a
complete philosophical revolution. This is because, as discussed
earlier, all of the major philosophies of the 20th century were
forms of philosophical materialism.
The first section of this book will be called, "What is the New
Idealism". This section will especially concentrate on the New
Physics, and how the New Physics reintroduces the metaphysical
concept of Idealism, and that in fact developments in physics has
made redundant the notion that matter is in any way a substance
which is non-mental.
This chapter will concentrate on the work of
many physicists including Fritjof Capra, David Bohm, Geoffrey
Chew, Paul Davies, David Clark, Willis Harman, John Wheeler
and Brenda Dunn. It will also concentrate on some of the works
of other thinkers who are not professional physicists but write
extensively about physics. This will be very much a core section
and will provide the reader to some of the exciting new
developments in this region of science.
Various comparisons will
also be used to show how the New Physics is similar and has deep
sympathies with many branches of Eastern philosophy and will
make a connection with what is termed the New Age movement,
an often highly criticised philosophical position that has gained a
great deal of respect from independent thinkers. The thinkers used
here will include the work of David Ash and Peter Hewitt, two
The New Idealism/22
British physicists who have put forward the theory of
transubstantiation, which basically concurs with the New Physics
in saying that Consciousness produces matter. However, the
theory goes further and says that Consciousness is faster than the
speed of light which creates a new form of energy called super
energy. This is like the final nail in the coffin for materialism and
is the cream on the cake of the New Physics.
In this section I will make an effort to combine all of these
major physical systems to give a coherent overview. The section
will outline Eastern philosophical systems.
Other areas of the New Idealism that will be touched upon in
the next section are the other regions of the sciences that are also
challenging the concept of philosophical materialism, especially
biology. This will essentially concentrate on the work of Rupert
Sheldrake and other biologists. It will also concentrate on the
scientific discoveries in psychology. This will concentrate on the
work of thinkers such as Carl Simonton, Ken Wilber, Gregory
Bateson plus many other new writers, especially those who work
in the medical sciences.
This next section will be called, "Justifying the New
Idealism". This section will clearly evaluate some of the
extremely radical claims that the New Idealism makes and the
philosophical revolutionary aspects of it. This will carefully
examine the notion of what arguments philosophical materialism
has against Idealism, and the concept of Idealism. Once again this
will concentrate on the radical development of the New Physics.
This obviously has to be the best way to justify the concept of the
New Idealism but will take an extremely objective outlook at
some of the major arguments that materialists use.
The third section will examine the epistemology of the New
Idealism. This will look at some of the more common
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epistemologies from the 20th century such as Logical Positivism,
existentialism, structuralism and post modernism to some of the
more rationalistic epistemologies advocated by profound
philosophers such as Noam Chomsky, which has a great deal more
in common with the New Idealism.
Throughout, a major effort will be made to be as explicit and
precise as possible, and to clearly explain what is being stated
here. What is being said here is that a straightforward approach
will be adopted in the use of my philosophical language to be as
clear as possible, and to avoid philosophical jargon, a practice
that many philosophers use unsuccessfully because it usually
frightens the reader away.
Each section will be broken down into further sub-sections
with headings to further help the reader gain exactly what I am
saying here, and to give a clearly focused explanation on what is
happening. This is very much an effort, once again, of clearly
outlining for the reader what is happening, especially
thematically. This will, I believe, give a firm structure for the
overall book.
Because this is very much a new area of philosophy and an
area that I believe is not only revolutionary but of vital
importance, it is most important for the reader to clearly
understand what is being stated. The New Idealism is completely
revolutionary in that it will affect all fields of endeavour - from
political life, economics, medicine, psychiatry, biology and many
other areas of society.
There is now a strong worldwide movement that is redirecting
the nature of human thought, although western philosophy right
in the lead-up into the new millennium has been concentrating on
postmodernism and anti-realism. However, the New Idealism has
The New Idealism/24
profoundly opened another door for philosophy and makes it a
highly interesting time for the pursuit of a craft that is now of
vital importance.
The section on super energy is very important because it fully
explains how alien spaceships come to planet earth. As outlined
in the preface of this book, the Galactic Federation aliens are now
surrounding this planet. They are our galactic human brothers and
sisters from other star nations and they travel through the speed of
light in energy called super energy or plasma energy. Both super
energy and energy are manifestations of consciousness - which is
a form of idealism. This book fully outlines this further on. Their
spaceships use computers to register super energy and then
telepathic captains send a message to a bio-crystal "energetic"
computer on the ship that gives the messages into super energy at
"the speed of thought". And this is how the spaceships travel the
vast distances they do. So this book fully explains alien space
travel simply for the average reader.
The New Idealism/25
The major philosophical system that ruled the hearts and
minds of men for the past four centuries is what is termed
philosophical materialism. This historical concept cannot be
overstressed here, at the beginning of this treatise. Right up to the
end of the 20th century the concept of philosophical materialism is
taught throughout most western universities. Philosophical
materialism is also throughout virtually all societies on Earth,
embedded into our medicine, economics, virtually all our sciences
and in every structure of thought.
Philosophical materialism grew from the Scientific
Revolution of more than four hundred years ago, which was
initiated by two towering figures of the seventeenth century,
Descartes and Newton.
Rene Descartes is usually regarded as the founder of modern
philosophy who had written that, "all science is certain, evident
knowledge". It is this certainty of scientific knowledge which lies
at the heart of Cartesian philosophy, and it is from this paradigm
where some of the major philosophical flaws of thought started.
All branches of modern science were hugely influenced by
Descartes. At the centre of Descartes' method is what he termed
radical doubt until he reaches the realisation that one cannot
doubt the existence of ourselves as a thinker. The famous
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"Cogito, Ergo sum" or "I think, therefore I exist" came from this
position.
Descarte's cogito made mind more certain for him than
matter which lead to the conclusion that there were two separate
and fundamentally different substances, that of mind, and that of
matter. "There is nothing included in the concept of body that
belongs to the mind; and nothing in that of mind that belongs to
the body." This Cartesian division between mind and matter has
remained with Western thought right up to present day and lays
the very foundations of philosophical materialism, along with the
essence of Greek philosophy, which will be discussed later. In the
life sciences, the Cartesian division led to endless confusion about
the relation between the mind and the brain, while in physics it
made it extremely difficult for the founders of quantum theory to
interpret their observations of atomic phenomenal.
The entire philosophy of Descartes was based on the
fundamental division of two independent and separate realms -
that of mind, the res cognitans, the "thinking thing" - and that of
matter, or res extensa, the "extended thing". In Descartes view
both mind and matter were the creations of God, who represented
their common point of reference, being the source of the exact
common point of reference and natural order and of the light of
reason that enabled the human mind to recognise this order. The
existence of God was essential to his scientific method, although,
and this is important, scientists omitted any explicit reference to
God and developed their theories according to the Cartesian
1 F. Capra, The Tao of Physics, New Science Library, Boston, 1985,
page 57.
The New Idealism/27
division, with the humanities concentrating on the "thinking
substance" and the natural sciences on the "extended substance".
To Descartes the material universe was a machine and nothing
but a machine. This is at the very heart of the concept of
philosophical materialism. In this philosophy there was no
purpose, life, or spirituality in MATTER. Nature worked
according to mechanical laws, and everything in the material
world could be explained in terms of the arrangement and
movement of its parts. The mechanical picture of nature became
the dominant paradigm of nature and guided all scientific
observation and the formulation of all theories of natural
phenomena until 20th century physics shattered all of these
concepts.
The entire elaboration of mechanistic science in the 17th, 18th
and 19th centuries , including Newton's grand synthesis, came
from the development of the Cartesian idea which saw nature (or
matter) as being a perfect machine, governed by exact
mathematical laws.
This rampant philosophical materialism was also extended to
the natural sciences and plants and animals were considered
simply machines, which also included human beings, although we
fortunately had a "rational soul" connected to the body by the
pineal gland. The biological function of the body could be
reduced to mechanical operations, in order to show that living
organisms were nothing but automata. This view had a huge
impact on biologists, physicians and psychologists for the past
200 years and encouraged scientists to view all organisms as
nothing but machines, a reductionist fallacy that became
especially apparent in medicine where the adherence to the
The New Idealism/28
Cartesian method of the human body as clockwork has prevented
medical practitioners many of our major illnesses.
In this background, Isaac Newton developed the achievement
of 17th century science by providing a consistent mathematical
theory of the universe that remained the solid foundation of
scientific thought well into the 20th century. The Newtonian
universe was one huge mechanical system, operating according to
exact mathematical laws.
The Newtonian universe in which all physical phenomena
took place was the three-dimensional space of classical Euclidean
geometry. It was an absolute space, an empty container that was
independent of the physical phenomena occurring in it. Newton
wrote that absolute space, in its own nature, without regard to
anything external, remains always similar and immovable2. All
changes in the physical world were described in terms of a
separate dimension while time, which again was absolute, had no
connection with the material world and flowed smoothly from the
past through the present to the future. All matter which moved in
this absolute space and absolute time consisted of material
particles. This is an important notion to the understanding of
materialism, and the philosophy behind it. The Newtonian
particles were small, solid and indestructible objects out of which
all matter was made.
This, of course, is the very heart of the doctrine of
philosophical Materialism. While the Newtonian model was
atomistic, it differed from the modern notion of atoms of different
weights or densities but in terms of more or less dense packing of
atoms. Physicist Fritjof Capra says that the Newtonian concept
2 Ibid, page 55
The New Idealism/29
saw the basic building blocks of matter could be of different sizes
but consisted of the same "stuff", and the total amount of material
substance in an object was given by the object's mass.
In Newton's view, the motion of the particles was caused by
the force of gravity and acted instantaneously over a distance. The
material particles and the forces between them were of a
fundamentally different nature, with the inner constitution of the
particles being independent of their mutual interaction. Capra
says that Newton saw both the particles and the force of gravity
as created by God and thus not subject to further analysis.
The Cartesian-Newtonian world machine formed the core of
all major materialist thought since that time. All physical
phenomena in this scheme, are reduced to the motion of material
particles, caused by their mutual attraction. The concept of a
perfect world-machine also implied an external creator, a sort of
monarchical god who ruled the world from above imposing his
divine law on it. Capra points out that the physical phenomena
themselves were not thought to be divine in any sense, and when
science made it more and more difficult to believe in such a god,
the divine disappeared completely from the scientific world view.
"The philosophical basis of this secularisation of nature was the
Cartesian division between spirit and matter. As a consequence of
this division, the world was believed to be a mechanical system
that could be described objectively, without ever mentioning the
human observer, and such an objective description of nature
became the ideal of all science," writes Capra in The Turning
Point. (page 57)3
3 F. Capra, The Turning Point, Flamingo, London, 1983, page 53
The New Idealism/30
Newtonian mechanics was used widely throughout the 18th
and 19th centuries, writes Capra. The Newtonian theory was able
to explain the motion of the planets, moons, and comets down to
minute detail. With the success of the Newtonian-Cartesian world
machine philosophical system during this time led directly to the
emphasis on "hard science: and "hard" technology in our culture.
Because of the materialist conception world view, physics
naturally became the basis of all the sciences.
The nail on the coffin for opponents of the
Newtonian-Cartesian world machine during these centuries was
Charles Darwin's origin of Species. This theory forced biologists
to fit the Darwinian theory into the Cartesian framework, thus
paving the way for the doctrine of philosophical materialism
within all layers of the life sciences.
Albert Einstein published two articles in 1905 and thus
changed the future of physics completely. These articles also lay
the foundations for the destruction of the concept of philosophical
materialism and reintroduced the concept of philosophical
Idealism, that of a Mind Dependent Universe. The revolution
which Einstein initiated was twofold. Firstly was his special
theory of relativity while the other was a new way of looking at
electromagnetic radiation which was to become characteristic of
the quantum theory of atomic phenomena.
According to Capra, Einstein's scientific papers are
intellectual monuments that mark the beginning of 20th century
thought. He says Einstein strongly believed in nature's inherent
harmony, and throughout his scientific life his deepest concern
The New Idealism/31
was to find a unified foundation of physics. He began to move
toward this goal by constructing a common framework for
electrodynamics and mechanics, the two separate theories of
classical physics. According to Capra, this theory unified and
completed the structure of classical physics, and at the same time
importantly involved radical changes in the traditional concepts
of space and time, and by so doing completely undermined the
foundations of the Newtonian world view. Einstein proposed the
general theory of relativity 10 years later, where the framework of
the special theory is extended to include gravity.
The other major development in 20th century physics was a
consequence of the experimental investigation of atoms.
Physicists discovered at the turn of the century several
phenomena connected with the structure of atoms, such as X-rays
and radioactivity, which were inexplicable in terms of classical
physics. Capra states that besides being objects of intense study,
these phenomena were used, in most ingenious ways, as new
tools to probe deeper into matter than had ever been possible
before. He says this exploration of the atomic and subatomic
world brought scientists in contact with a strange and unexpected
reality that shattered the foundations of their world view and
forced them to think in an entirely new way.
It was to be a complete revolution and nothing like this had
ever happened before. It made physicists conclude that their basic
concepts, their language, and their whole way of thinking were
inadequate to describe atomic phenomena and that the paradoxes
they encountered were an essential aspect of atomic physics, and
that classical concepts were useless.
Quantum theory, or quantum mechanics, was formulated
during the first three decades of the century by an international
The New Idealism/32
group of physicists including Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels
Bohr, Louise De Broglie, Erwin Schodinger, Wolfgang Pauli,
Werner Heisenberg and Paul Dirac.
Capra states that the scientists deeply interested in the
philosophical implications of modern physics have been trying in
an open minded way to improve their understanding of the nature
of reality. "In contrast to the mechanistic Cartesian view of the
world, the world view emerging from modern physics can be
characterised by words like organic, holistic and ecological. It
might be called a systems view, in the sense of a general systems
theory. The universe is no longer seen as a machine, made up of a
multitude of objects, but has to be pictured as one indivisible,
dynamic whole whose parts are essentially interrelated and can be
understood only as patterns of a cosmic process," Capra writes.
(p66)4
When physicists started investigating atoms at the start of the
20th century some extraordinary and completely unexpected
results occurred. Far from being the hard, solid particles of
time-honoured theory, atoms turned out to consist of vast regions
of space in which extremely small particles - the electrons -
moved around the nucleus. Also, it was found that electrons and
the protons and the neutron in the nucleus were nothing like the
solid objects of classical physics and were very abstract entities
which had a dual aspect, depending on how they were observed.
They could sometimes be particles and sometimes could appear
as waves. The dual nature is also exhibited in light, which can
take the form of electromagnetic waves or particles. These
4 ibid, p 66
The New Idealism/33
particles of light were first called "quanta" by Einstein, which
became known as quantum theory.
Capra states that this dual nature of matter and of light is
very strange because it seemed impossible to accept that
something can be, at the same time, a particle, which is an entity
confined to a very small volume, and a wave, which is spread out
over a vast region of space. However, this is the reality that was
being proved until it was realised that the terms "particle" and
"wave" refer to classical concepts which could not describe
atomic phenomena. In the case of an electron, it is neither a
particle nor a wave, but it may show particle-like aspects in some
circumstances and wave-like aspects in others. When it is acting
like a particle, it is capable of developing in its wave nature at the
expense of its particle nature, and vice versa, which means that it
is always in transformation from particle to wave and from wave
to particle and means that particles have no intrinsic properties
independent of the environment. The properties it shows -
particle-like or wave-like - will depend on the experimental
situation, that is, on the apparatus it is forced to interact with,
writes Capra.
The physicist Niels Bohr introduced the term or notion of
complementarily to describe this situation in that the particle
picture and the wave picture were two complementary
descriptions of the same reality. The concept of complementarily
is now an essential part of the way physicists think about nature.
The wave/particle paradox had forced physicists to question the
very nature of philosophical materialism, or the mechanical world
view which is, the concept of the reality of matter. Matter does
not exist with certainty at the subatomic level but rather shows
"tendencies to exist", while atomic events do not occur with
The New Idealism/34
certainty at definite times and in definite ways, but rather show
"tendencies to occur", and that the "tendencies" are expressed as
probabilities. As Capra explains: "In the formalism of quantum
mechanics, these tendencies are expressed as probabilities and are
associated with quantities that take the form of waves; they are
similar to the mathematical forms used to describe, say a
vibrating guitar string, or sound wave. This is how particles can
be waves at the same time. They are not 'real' three-dimensional
waves like water waves or sound waves. They are 'probability'
waves - abstract mathematical quantities with all the
characteristic properties of waves - that are related to the
probabilities of finding the particles at particular points in space
at particular times. All the laws of atomic physics are expressed
in terms of these probabilities."5
Furthermore, these atomic events do not describe
probabilities of things, but rather probabilities of
"interconnections" and that isolated material particles are indeed
abstractions, with their properties being definable and observable
only through their interaction with other systems, as Niel Bohr
stated. Thus, subatomic particles are not "things" but are
interconnections between "things", and these "things" in turn, are
interconnections between other things.
Capra says that this is how modern physics reveals the basic
oneness of the universe. He says that as physicists penetrate
further and further into the nature of matter, nature does not show
any isolated building blocks, but rather appears as a complicated
web of relations between various parts of a unified whole.6
5 ibid, p 69, 6 ibid, p 70
The New Idealism/35
When these quantum considerations are combined with
Einstein's theory of relativity, many interesting notions start
developing. Relativity theory showed that space is not
three-dimensional and time is not separate. Both are intimately
connected and form a four-dimensional continuum, "space-time".
The concepts of space and time are so basic for the description of
natural phenomena that their modification of the whole
framework that is used to describe nature. The major consequence
of this is the realisation that mass is a form of energy and that
even an object at rest has energy stored in its mass, and the
relation between the two is given by the famous equation
E=mc(2), c being the speed of light.
Thus, what is being stated is
that everything in the universe is a form of energy, including the
interconnections that occur at the sub-atomic level. In modern
physics, matter is no longer associated with a material substance,
and particles are not seen as consisting of any basic "stuff", but as
bundles of energy. This is a truly extraordinary concept because if
the universe and all the matter in the universe is energy, then the
very nature of energy comes to be examined.
Capra states that
energy, however, is associated with activity, with processes, and
this implies that the nature of subatomic particles is intrinsically
dynamic. Particles can no longer be pictured as small billiard
balls, or grains of sand, but as patterns of activity, or movement
itself, which have a space aspect and a time aspect. Their space
aspect makes them appear as objects with a certain mass, their
time aspect as processes involving the equivalent energy. Capra
points out that the being of matter and activity, thus, could not be
separated as they are different aspects of the same space-time
reality.
The New Idealism/36
Our view of the forces between these particles has been radically
altered by these developments. In a relativistic description of
particle interactions, the forces between the particles, which
includes their mutual attraction or repulsion, are pictured as the
exchange of other particles. Capra says this concept is very
difficult to visualise, but it is vital to understand for understanding
of subatomic phenomena. He says 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 fundamentally different in Newtonian physics.
Also both force and matter are now seen to have their common
origin in the dynamic patterns that we call particles. These energy
patterns of the subatomic world form the stable nuclear, atomic,
and molecular structures which build up matter and give it its
macroscopic solid aspect, which makes us believe that it is made
of some material substance. Although the notion that matter or
substance can be helpful, at the atomic level it no longer makes
sense and that in fact everything that is being witnessed in the
world is a form of energy. Capra states that atoms consist of
particles, and these particles are not made of any material stuff.
He says when we observe them we never see any substance; what
we observe are dynamic patterns continually changing into one
another - the continuous dance of energy.
From here we start asking what in fact is energy. And those
physicists asking the most vital question of exactly what energy
is, have been forced to introduce the concept of Consciousness
into the arena. Many physicists are now saying the Consciousness
produces Energy, which is a form of philosophical Idealism. This
is very much a revolutionary philosophical position but those
physicists at the cutting edge of research are saying that particle
The New Idealism/37
research is suggesting that the particles are merely patterns of
Consciousness. Now we will examine some of these theories.
The New Physics As A Form Of Philosophical Idealism
The two most basic theories of contemporary physics has
shown that the Cartesian world view and Newtonian physics have
been superseded, although, of course, they still exert a huge
influence on our way of thinking. Quantum theory shows that
matter is made up of "probability patterns", which represents an
inseparable cosmic web that includes the human observer and
their consciousness. On the other hand, relativity theory has made
this cosmic web a dynamic character by showing that its activity
is the very essence of its being and that at the sub-atomic level the
interrelations and interactions between the parts of the whole are
more fundamental then the parts themselves.
Fritjof Capra says current research in physics aims at
unifying quantum mechanics and relativity theory into a complete
theory of sub-atomic particles. In the area of this form of research
there are basically two different kinds of "quantum-relativistic"
theories. The first deals with field theory while the second is
known as the S-Matrix theory. The other is super string theory.
Capra says that the S-matrix theory has been successful in
describing the strong interactions of particles. The theory was
founded by the physicist Geoffrey Chew in the 1960s and was
developed as a comprehensive theory of strongly interacting
particles which was tied into a more philosophical system in
itself.
Capra writes that according to the bootstrap philosophy,
The New Idealism/38
nature cannot be reduced to fundamental entities, like
fundamental building blocks of matter, but has to be understood
entirely through consistency. All physics has to follow uniquely
from the requirement that its components be consistent with one
another and themselves, writes Capra. He says that this idea
radically departs from the traditional spirit of basic research in
physics which has always been the search for the fundamental
nature of matter.
Bootstrap philosophy, or the S-matrix theory, is
the culmination of the conception of the material world as an
interconnected web of relations that emerged from quantum
theory. Capra writes that the bootstrap philosophy not only
abandons the idea of fundamental building blocks of matter, but
accepts no fundamental entities whatsoever - no fundamental
constants, laws or equations and the universe is seen as a dynamic
web of interrelated events. The important aspect of the theory is
that none of the properties of any part of this web is fundamental
because they all follow from the properties of the other parts. The
overall consistency of their interrelations determines the structure
of the entire web.
Capra writes that in the framework of S-matrix theory, the
bootstrap approach attempted to derive all properties of particles
and their interactions uniquely from the requirements of
self-consistency. He says the only fundamental laws accepted are
a few very general principles that are required by the methods of
observation and are essential parts of the scientific framework.
"All other aspects of particle physics are expected to emerge as a
necessary consequence of self-consistency," Capra writes.7
7 ibid, page 85
The New Idealism/39
Capra points out that if this bootstrap approach can be
carried out successfully, the philosophical implications will be
extremely profound. "The fact that all the properties of particles
are determined by principles closely related to the methods of
observation would mean that the basic structures of the material
world are determined, ultimately, by the way we look at the
world; that the observed patterns of matter are reflection of
patterns of mind," Capra writes profoundly8. This, of course,
clearly posits a philosophical Idealist position in that if the
structures of the material world are determined, fundamentally,
through reflections of mind, or intelligence, or Consciousness,
and is a complete breakthrough in which we perceive the world,
the universe and everything in it.
Capra writes that the phenomena of the subatomic world are
so complex that it is envisaged that a series of partly successful
models will continue to be developed. He says that each would be
intended to cover only a part of the observed phenomena and
would contain some unexplained aspects, or parameters, but the
parameters of one model might be explained by another. Thus
more and more phenomena could gradually be covered with ever
increasing accuracy by a mosaic of interlocking models whose net
number of unexplained parameters keeps decreasing. The
adjective bootstrap is thus never appropriate for any individual
model, but can be applied only to a combination of mutually
consistent models, none of which are any more fundamental than
the others, Capra says.
Geoffrey Chew has stated that a physicist who is able to view
any number of different partially successful models without
8 ibid
The New Idealism/40
favouritism is automatically a bootstrapper. One of the major new
insights of the bootstrap theory of subatomic particles is the
notion or order as a new and important aspect of particle physics,
says Capra. In this context, order means the interconnectedness of
subatomic processes.
Capra writes that when the concept of order is incorporated
into the mathematical framework of S-matrix theory, only a few
special categories of ordered relationships turn out to be
consistent with that framework and that the resulting patterns of
particle interactions are precisely those observed in nature. This is
an extraordinary concept in itself but when the picture of
subatomic particles that emerges from the bootstrap theory is
combined with the revelation that every particle consists of all
other particles, then a truly revolutionary philosophical position
starts developing.
Capra points out that the particles should not be
imagined that they contain all the others in a classical, static
sense. Rather, subatomic particles are not separate entities but
interrelated energy patterns in an ongoing dynamic basis, says
Capra. He says these patterns do not 'contain' one another but
rather 'involve' one another in a way that can be given a precise
mathematical meaning but cannot easily be expressed in words".
The significance of order in subatomic physics plays a very
basic role in the scientific approach to reality, and is a crucial
aspect of all methods of observation and is essential to the
rational mind and that every perception of a pattern is, in a sense,
a perception of order. Capra stresses that the clarification of the
concept or order in a field of research where patterns of matter
and patterns of mind are increasingly being recognised as
reflections of one another has forced physicists to include our
conception of macroscopic space-time and our conception of
The New Idealism/41
human consciousness.
Increased use of the bootstrap approach
opens up the unprecedented possibility of being forced to include
the study of human consciousness explicitly in future theories of
matter. The question of consciousness has already arisen in
quantum theory in connection with the problem of observation
and measurement, but the pragmatic formulation of the theory
scientists use in their research does not refer to consciousness
explicitly. Capra says some physicists argue that consciousness
may be an essential aspect of the universe, and that we may be
blocked from further understanding of natural phenomena if we
insist on excluding it. What is being posited again here is a form
of philosophical Idealism and Capra says that there are two main
approaches in physics that come very close to dealing with
consciousness explicitly. The bootstrap theory is one that has
received considerable attention while the other has been
developed by the maverick physicist David Bohm.
Bohm's theory begins with the notion of "unbroken
wholeness" and his aim was to explore the order inherent in the
cosmic web of relations at a deeper, "nonmanifest" level. Bohm
called these the "implicate" order, or "enfolded" order, and
compares it to the analogy of a hologram. Holograms are
three-dimensional images created with the aid of a laser. For
example, when a person shines a laser beam through a piece of
photographic film containing the encoded image of an apple, a
three-dimensional image of the apple will appear on the other side
of the film. If the film is cut in half and a laser is shone through
each piece, two complete three-dimensional images will appear.
Then again, if the film is cut into four pieces, four apples appear.
Each piece of holographic transparency contains the entire image,
in which each part, in some sense, contains the whole. If any part
The New Idealism/42
of the hologram is illuminated, the entire image will be
reconstructed. Bohm believed the real world was structured
according to the same general principles, with the whole enfolded
in each of its parts.
Capra says Bohm realised that the hologram was too static to
be used as a scientific model for the implicate order at the
subatomic level and coined the term "holomovement". The
holomovement was a dynamic phenomenon out of which all
forms of the material universe flowed. Bohm found it necessary
to regard consciousness as an essential feature of the
holomovement and to take it into account explicitly in his theory.
Mind and matter were simply interdependent and correlated
mutually enfolding projections of a higher reality.
During his life Bohm stated his position philosophically:
"The mental and the material are two sides of one overall process
that are (like form and content) separated only in thought and not
in actuality. Rather, there is one energy that is the basis of all
reality...There is never any division between mental and material
sides at any stage of the overall process."9
This eventually led Bohm to consider the presence of
"proto-conscious" properties at the level of particle physics. He
used the analogy to illustrate this apparent "knowing" properties
of subatomic particles, of the movements of electrons in the
laboratory to those of ballet dancers responding to a musical
score, with the score itself constituting "a common pool" of
information that guides each of the dancers as he takes steps.
Bohm wrote that in the case of the electrons, the 'score' is of
course the wave function. As with the dancer, the electrons are
9 D. Zohar, The Quantum Self, London, Flaming 1991, page 41
The New Idealism/43
thus participating in a common action based on a pool of
information, rather than pushing or pulling on each other
mechanically according to laws like those of classical physics.
For Bohm, this sharing of information, this mutual
"knowing", could be the elementary conscious awareness of each
particle. Bohm is positing a pan physicist notion here similar to
the thinking of Spinoza. A major aspect of the holographic view
of consciousness is the implications it has for consciousness as a
field because if consciousness is a field and only one vibration
then all other fields are enfolded into this. The holomovement
points out that physics cannot undertake the project of
ascertaining the law of the whole because relativity and quantum
theory had shown that Newtonian laws had only limited
relevance. The notion of the implicate order becomes the totality
of what constitutes the holomovement, which in itself is
"undefinable and immeasurable", which is what mind or
consciousness would be.
Bohm believes that just as quantum systems are essentially
unified, so are our thought processes. He writes: "Thought
process and quantum systems are analogous in that they cannot be
analysed too much in terms of distinct elements, because the
'intrinsic' nature of each element is not a property existing
separately from and independently of other elements but is,
instead, a property that arises partially from its relation with other
elements."10
The Oxford physicist Roger Penrose has supported a great
deal of what Bohm is suggesting. Penrose has stated that quantum
theory and the physics of consciousness, as it is now called,
10 ibid, page 59
The New Idealism/44
clearly indicates that the universe as a whole could be a form of
consciousness. He has stated his position with these words:
"Quantum physics involves many highly intriguing and
mysterious kinds of behaviour. Not the least of these are the
non-local quantum correlations which can occur over widely
separated distances. It seems to me to be a definite possibility that
such things could be playing a role in conscious thought modes.
Perhaps it is not too fanciful to suggest that quantum correlations
could be playing an operative role over large regions of the brain.
Might there be any relation between a 'state of awareness' and a
highly coherent quantum state in the brain? Is the 'oneness' or
'globality' that seems to be a feature of consciousness connected
with this? It is somewhat tempting to believe so."11
Bohm pointed out more than 40 years ago that there were many
striking similarities between the behaviour of our thought
processes and that of some quantum processes.
Bohm states that just as life as we know it would be
impossible if quantum theory did not have a present classical
limit, though as we know it would be impossible unless we could
express its results in logical terms. Bohm points out that the vital
link between thought processes and quantum processes, between
ourselves and electrons, is clearly explaining how consciousness
can be seen in terms of quantum mechanical features. This is truly
a revolutionary concept and once again is clearly a form of
philosophical Idealism in that both quantum reality and the actual
structure and functioning of the brain are reflections of the same
thing - that reality, or rather quantum reality, is being structured
in exactly the same way that mind is being structured. That the
11 ibid, page 61
The New Idealism/45
entire universe is a form of thought because it is a macroscopical
reflection of quantum consciousness and even the very internal
processes of the brain.
What is being suggested here is that Consciousness itself is
the quantum process and produces matter.
Matter is being produced by the quantum process of
consciousness. Now this form of philosophical Idealism is very
much a Berkleyian form of Idealism in this instance.
Some Other Theories Of Physics Which Posit Idealism
One of the most impressive theories to come from the New
Age that posits philosophical Idealism is that put forward by two
British thinkers, David Ash and Peter Hewitt. Both Ash and
Hewitt were trained as scientists at London and Cambridge
universities and have come up with a theory which says that
Thought itself is creating the Material Universe. Firstly they posit
the notion that an elementary particle is a vortex of energy. They
say that energy is not material and that it is dynamic in that it
involves action and change, and that in fact it could be pictured as
simply movement.
"Just as movement cannot exist without direction, so energy
cannot exist without form," they write in their book Science of
the Gods.12 The two fundamental forms of energy in our world
12 D. Ash and P. Hewitt, Science of the Gods, Gateway Books, Bath,
1990, page 26
The New Idealism/46
are matter and light and that light is often taken to be a wave form
of energy.
Ash and Hewitt say that the two major pillars of 20th century
physics are relativity and quantum theory, and that the concept of
the vortex will complement significant areas of both these
achievements. "In Quantum theory, for example, it can begin to
provide models which give physical reality to otherwise obscure
concepts. Take, for instance, the enigma of quantum spin.
Quantum theory regards this elusive property as somehow
intrinsic to the particle, but insists that it is not a form of particle
rotation. The vortex shows quite clearly that spin is absolutely
intrinsic to the particle, being fundamental to its very existence,"
they write.13
With regard to relativity, they say that the vortex account of
space is entirely compatible with Einstein's theory.
Ash and Hewitt stress, and this as an extremely important
concept, that realising our world is nothing but energy is the
crucial step for an understanding of the universe. They say that
energy is the prime reality. "Energy is the prime reality. Energy is
the foundation of everything in the universe, from the minute
atom to the mighty galaxy. But is the physical universe the only
reality? If matter and light - its building blocks - are purely two
forms of energy, could there be other energy, in non-material
forms?" Ash and Hewitt write.
Ash and Hewitt say that a particle of matter is a swirling ball
of energy, a spherical vortex of movement. Light is a different
form of energy, but according to Ash and Hewitt, it is obvious
from Einstein's E=mc(2) equation, that matter and light share a
13 ibid, page 30
The New Idealism/47
common movement. In E=mc(2), they say, it is c, the speed of
light, which relates matter to energy. "From this, we can draw a
simple conclusion. It is obvious: the speed of movement in matter
must be the speed of light. This is the only possible sense we can
make of Einstein's equation. If, in a particle of matter, the vortex
movement is at the speed of light."14
Then Ash and Hewitt say that as energy has been equated
with movement, why is all movement constrained by the speed of
light. They say that science has come to the conclusion that
nothing can move faster than the speed of light. This applies to all
forms of energy, including particles of matter and light. But Ash
and Hewitt ask if it applies to the movement which underlies
energy itself, the primal movement from which matter and light
themselves arise.
"This is the crucial question. It all boils down to what energy
is. Whilst physicists will not commit themselves to saying what
energy is, they are adamant that energy cannot move faster than
the speed of light. But if forms of energy are intrinsically forms of
movement, then movement is more fundamental than energy.
Why should pure movement be limited to the speed of light?"15
Ash and Hewitt then add that if movement could have a faster
speed, it would give rise to a completely different type of energy
which they call super energy. "Energy and super energy would be
different in substance. Movement at the speed of light could be
described as the substance of energy in the physical world. The
14 ibid, page 33, 15 ibid
The New Idealism/48
substance of super energy would be movement at a faster speed."16
Ash and Hewitt say that objects of super energy could share
the same form as things in our world, but their substance would
be entirely different because matter would not interact with them
and light would not reflect off them.
Ash and Hewitt have called this the theory of
transubstantiation. They say that science is concerned mainly with
the changing forms of energy but that this theory explains the
barrier between the natural and the supernatural, the normal and
the paranormal. "Through transubstantiation, an object could
materialise or dematerialise...Transubstantiation would take an
object through the light barrier and into the realm of the
super-physical. The light barrier would be the dividing line
between the physical and the super-physical."17
Ash and Hewitt say movement and not material is the reality
underlying the universe. They say there is nothing concrete in the
universe and there is no underlying material there at all, with
movement the sole reality. "This is a staggering thought. People
mostly imagine our world to be made up of substantial things that
move. In reality, it is quite the opposite. Movement exists first
and foremost. Everything in the universe is relative to the speed
of light, which is itself a measure of movement. Pure movement
creates our world - from light and warmth to the wind and rain,
from trees and mountains to the laughter of children playing,"
Ash and Hewitt write.18
16 ibid, page 35 The New Idealism/49
Then they ask the question what could movement be? How
can there be movement if there is nothing to move. They claim
that this movement appears to be an abstraction. "Could it be that
the movement underpinning the universe is an abstract reality?
Could it be purely the idea of movement? Is the universe but a
vision of movement, a pure act of imagination," they write.19
They say that if the movement underlying energy is an act of
pure imagination, then every particle of matter is simply
"imagined" into existence and that every bit of energy and super
energy is nothing but an idea, which is a pure form of
philosophical Idealism. But this is very much a new form of
Idealism because obviously there could be various speeds of the
flow of ideas. If the universe is nothing but a dream, then the
dream has various speeds of being recorded.
Ash and Hewitt also distinguish between the concept of the
dream and the dreamer. They say that a dream is distinct from the
dreamer. "Likewise the creation is quite distinct from the creator.
This account of the universe is not a form of pantheism.
Pantheism claims that God is the substance of everything, that all
things are formed out of God. The universe is formed out of
movement which has no substance, be it material or God.
Movement is the act of God, not the substance of God," they
write.20
They ask the question that if the universe is an unfolding act
of imagination, it could be viewed as a vast body of thought.
Every movement, every bit of energy, would be a thought form
and that every particle of matter and light, as an act of
19 ibid, page 171 The New Idealism/50
imagination, would be thought in the mind of God. "Could it be
that the universe in its entirety is simply the mind of God?" they
write.21 They say that in mind, we see the conjunction of
consciousness and thought. Mind could be the body of thought
but consciousness is quite distinct from thought. They say that
consciousness is not thought, it is the awareness that lies behind
thought. "Consciousness can exist without thought, but without
consciousness there is no awareness of thought," Ash and Hewitt
write. In the end, they say, that perhaps there are only two
fundamental realities; consciousness and thought. They say that if
the universe is the mind of God, then god would be the
consciousness underlying it.
In this theory, consciousness is not energy, nor is it the
consequence of any form of energy. Rather, consciousness is the
source of all energy, pervading the whole of creation even to the
sub-atomic level. Ash and Hewitt say that Consciousness could
be taken to correspond to "spirit". They say that it is as if God
creates the universe and then experiences thought every single
part of it. God experiences being a blade of grass and a tree, being
an eagle and a dolphin.
Ash and Hewitt's theory of transubstantiation has some
astounding philosophical implications and is clearly a form of
philosophical Idealism. This is also the theory that would aptly
describe what mystics for thousands of years have said: that we
see only 10 per cent of the universe. Using the theory of
transubstantiation, the other 90 per cent of the universe would
exist in super energy, in the super-physical world. It would also
describe a great deal of paranormal phenomenon because objects
21 ibid
The New Idealism/51
could go through the light barrier at will. But also, and very
profoundly, it makes the universe itself much vaster for if we see
only 10 per cent of the universe in our space-time, then the other
90 per cent would make the universe truly enormous. It also gives
scientific evidence to what the Indians calls Prana and what the
Chinese call Chi energy - but has never been verifiable. These
energies, then, would be low levels of super energy. At faster
levels of super energy, the mind of God would move at faster
speeds. Thus, what is happening here is that the mind of god
works at much slower speeds in our space-time and is restricted to
the speed of light. But in the speeds of super energy, there are,
presumably, various dimensions of speed, such as the fifth, sixth,
seventh, eighth and ninth dimensions. The theory of super energy
also fully explains how aliens travel the vast distances they do.
Their ships use computers to register super energy which gives
messages to conscious energy which in turn sends the ship
through the light barrier and into inter-stellar travel. Super energy
also fully explains how Sai Baba teleports and bi-locates, and
archangels exist in super energy. This is where they flex their real
power because super energy can impinge on energy.
There are many other theories which deal with the New
Physics that have not received the same attention as some of the
previous ones that also offer support for a form of philosophical
Idealism. Robert Jahn, who was a professor of aerospace sciences
and dean emeritus of the School of engineering and Applied
Science at Princeton has been collating evidence over more than a
decade of research that mind can interact with physical matter. In
a series of lengthy experiments Jahn had people sit in front of a
random number generator, which is an automatic coin flipper, in a
bid to get the machine into producing more heads than tails. After
The New Idealism/52
virtually hundreds of thousands of trials he discovered that
volunteers could indeed exert a small but statistically significant
effect on the random number generator's output.
Jahn and physicist Brenda Dunne's book titled The Margins
of Reality: The Role of Consciousness in the Physical World
looks carefully at a number of aspects at the claim that the world
is a construct of consciousness. They claim that it is the
interaction between consciousness and reality described in
quantum theory that provides the key. Since all quanta can
manifest either as a wave or a particle, it is not unreasonable to
assume that consciousness does as well. It is particle-like when it
appears to be inside our heads, but in its wave-like phase it can
interact with the physical world. Both believe that consciousness
cannot exist separately from the physical world because the
process is much more subtle. "It may be that such concepts are
simply not viable, that we cannot talk profitably about an abstract
environment or an abstract consciousness. The only thing we can
experience is the interpenetration of the two in some way," writes
Jahn22.23
Physicists T.Gornitz and C.C.von Weizsacker have stressed
that mind plays a role in the creation of the material universe but
they want to bring the observer more explicitly into our
understanding of quantum physics. They have tried to formulate
meaningful ways to relate quantum phenomena to states of mind.
22 ibid The New Idealism/53
"There is no distinction between substances called mind and
matter," says Weizsacker.24
Roger Sperry of the California Institute of Technology, who
won a Nobel Prize for his pioneering split-brain studies, has
stated that he became extremely disillusioned with the materialist
and behaviourist doctrine that has dominated neuroscience for
most of the 20th century. He has stated that science should never
have disregarded the concept of consciousness as a guiding force
in the world. "Instead of renouncing or ignoring
consciousness...(we should) give full recognition to the primacy
of inner conscious awareness as a casual reality."
Prominent physicist John Wheeler has said that the mind
may be responsible for the creation of the universe but condemns
the use of the term consciousness. He prefers the term "intelligent
observer", which he defines as anything that is "meaning
sensitive."
Wheeler coined the term geometrodynamics for a theory
developed by himself and others from Einstein's general theory of
relativity. The theory is concerned with the dynamics of curved
space, and proposes that the Einsteinian concept of
four-dimensional space-time is limited and has introduced the
concept of "superspace" because it is multidimensional. The
theory implies that space-time is "multiply connected" and that
people have to forgo the view of nature in which every event,
past, present or future, occupies its preordained position in grand
category called "space-time".
24 ibid
The New Idealism/54
Other Regions of the New Idealism: The New Age
The trend towards philosophical Idealism can particularly be
felt in the philosophies of the New Age, which is very much a
serious movement and incorporates such extremely important and
well respected religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and also
major trains of thought within Chinese philosophy as well as
some branches of western mysticism. The New Age movement is
also particularly interested in the rise of scientific culture that is
opposed to philosophical materialism, such as the philosophies
put forward by Fritjof Capra, David Bohm, Geoffrey Chew to
other famous and respected scientists such as Gregory Bateson,
Lawrence LeShan, James Lovelock, Abraham Maslow, Rupert
Sheldrake, Carl Simonton, Robert Toben, Ken Wilber plus many
other new writers, especially those who work in the medical
sciences.
Many of these writers represent a world-wide movement of
thinking which has been strongly attacking the basis of
philosophical materialism. The New Age movement has attracted
the scorn of both the materialistically based academic institutions,
which are deeply Cartesian, to the fundamentalist religions of the
western world. Ironically, the New Age philosophies which
sprung to life in the 1950s and 1960s have much in common in
Europe throughout the 19th century. And to be absolutely
academic, the New Age movement itself really began in the 19th
century when the Theosophical Society was founded by Madame
Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott in 1875. The formation of the
society was aimed at the expression of the brotherhood of
humanity, the study of comparative religion to establish a
universal ethic and the development of the latent powers of the
The New Idealism/55
human soul. The society had adopted the motto, "There is no
religion higher than Truth."
The specific doctrines of the society remain a fascinating
melange of esoteric Buddhism, Lamaist doctrines from Tibet,
Hindu mysticism and a romantic picture of world history which
postulates a non-physical period of prehistoric evolution with the
ecosphere gradually solidifying into matter, and a series of root
races stretching all the way back to lost Atlantis.
Generally, however, the New Age movement lay dormant
throughout the first half of the 20th century, although there
certainly were movements that were exceptions, such as Aldous
Huxley and Christopher Isherwood who together brought a great
deal of Indian Hinduism to the western world. Both of these
writers produced brilliant and original philosophical work
outlining what exactly Indian philosophy and Hinduism was to a
Western world strongly dictated by scientism and materialism.
However, the vast majority of people knew little about the
philosophies of the East and knew hardly anything of Eastern
medicines and healing practices.
The early crusaders of the New Age were those people in
both the East and the West who began to experiment with esoteric
knowledge from the East. In the West, a counter culture
developed among writers and intellectuals who became interested
in Eastern thought and philosophy. In the United States shortly
after the Second World War new attitudes started to develop. A
group of writers known as the Beat Generation, which included
such famous and celebrated authors such as poet Allen Ginsberg,
novelists Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, as well as a
handful of other Eastern scholars such as Alan Watts, popularised
Eastern thought through their writings in the 1950s. When Jack
The New Idealism/56
Kerouac's novel The Dharma Bums was published throughout the
United States in the mid to late 1950s a frenzy of interest had
been created in what Eastern thought represented.
By the 1960s celebrated authors such as Herman Hesse had
received the Nobel Prize for writing important novels dealing
with Eastern concepts. While the counter culture grew, a new
generation also became immersed in some aspects of Eastern
philosophy. Many western youths of that era travelled widely
throughout Eastern countries, especially India.
One of the major philosophical threads of the New Age
movement has been the firm understanding in the notion of
philosophical Idealism. Virtually all of the Eastern philosophies
pursued were forms of philosophical Idealism as well as the
esoteric philosophies of the West, such as suffism, the Occult and
some forms of Christianity, such as those developed by the
Liberation Theologists in Latin American countries.
In the past 30 years from the beginning of the 1970s, the
New Age movement has tended to develop into an extremely
serious movement that incorporates the ecology movements, the
human potential movement, the many and varied Eastern sects,
many political movements and a huge and varied number of
spiritual organisations committed to human liberation through
consciousness expansion.
Throughout the New Age movement there is a shared
commitment to the founding principles of the Theosophy Society
and its respect for the unification of all religious and
philosophical dogmas that stress the importance of all spiritual
legacies. Buddhists, Hindus and Taoists have shared heritage with
Moslems, Christians and animists claim New Age practitioners.
The work of Aldous Huxley examined this notion in detail with
The New Idealism/57
the philosophies of the Vedanta, which says that all religions
share a similar outlook, creed and path towards an understanding
of spiritual processes.
Eastern philosophies have particularly caught the eye of the
New Age movement in the West due to their adherence to organic
ways of healing as well as a conceptual philosophy that has been
more akin to developments in science. There has also been the
fact that many Eastern philosophies stress direct mystical
experience as a way to human liberation, a concept that has not
been encouraged by Western theologians, who have always
stressed the separateness of mystical transcendence. Eastern
philosophies have also incorporated many of the most important
traditions of western religions and philosophies. In both
Buddhism and Hinduism the concept of Christ has been
developed and incorporated into the fabric and structure of the
myths and legends that make up the very basis of these religions.
Even at the very esoteric heart of Buddhism the figure of Lord
Maitreya has been worshipped for thousands of years. Today
Lord Maitreya is thought esoterically to be the New Christ and
the Theosophicist Society has for more than 100 years told of the
return of Christ. Some New Agers say the Christ (or Lord
Maitreya) has already returned and is living as an Indian man in
Europe, specifically based in London. Lord Maitreya is said to be
the brother of Buddha and is also said esoterically to be the entity
of Lord Krishna. Thus the relationship between Eastern
philosophy and Western religion is far and much closer than
many thinkers give it credit.
According to Fritjof Capra, the changes brought about by
modern physics are very similar to the views held in Eastern
mysticism and show surprising parallels to the ideas expressed in
The New Idealism/58
the Eastern philosophies of the Far East. These parallels have
been noticed by some of the great physicists of our century when
they came into contact with Far Eastern culture during their tours
to India, China and Japan.
Julius Robert Oppenheimer has said that the general notions
about understanding which are illustrated by discoveries in
atomic physics are not in their nature unfamiliar or new because
Buddhist and Hindu thought has a long history in such thinking.
Niels Bohr has said: "For a parallel to the lesson of atomic
theory...we must turn to those kinds of epistemological problems
with which already thinkers like the Buddha and Lao Tzu have
been confronted when trying to harmonise our position as
spectators and actors in the great drama of existence."25.26
Capra stresses that the two foundations of 20th century
physics - quantum theory and relativity theory - both force us to
see the world very much in the way a Hindu, Buddhist or Taoist
sees it, and how this similarity strengthens when we look at the
recent attempts to combine these two theories in order to describe
the phenomena of submicroscopic world, and it is here that the
parallels between modern physics and Eastern mysticism are most
striking.
The difference between Eastern and Western mysticism is
that mystical schools have always played a marginal role in the
West, whereas they constitute the mainstream of Eastern
philosophical and religious thought.
All Eastern philosophies are a form of philosophical
idealism. In India intimations of advanced theism, both in deistic
25 ibid, page 161 26 F. Capra, The Tao of Physics, page 18
The New Idealism/59
and immanesenistic form, are to be found in the Rig Veda. The
early Upanishads in general teach an impersonal Idealism,
according to which the World Ground (brahman) is identified
with the universal soul (atman) which is the inner or essential self
within each individual person. The Bhagavad Gita, while mixing
pantheism, immanent theism, and deism, inclines towards a
personalistic idealism and a corresponding ethics of bhakti.
Many of the schools of Buddhism teach idealistic doctrines
from a monistic immaterialism and subjectivism where the
Absolute is pure consciousness to an immaterialistic idealism
with non-absolutist idealism. Within Indian thought the most
influential Vedantic system is the monistic spiritualism of
Shankara where the Absolute is pure interminable being, which
can only be described as pure consciousness of Bliss itself.
Vedantic Idealism, whether in its monistic and impersonalistic
form is the dominant type of metaphysics in India. Idealism is
also pronounced in the reviving doctrines of Shivaism.
In China, the traditional basic concepts of Chinese
metaphysics are ideal. Heaven, the spiritual and moral power of
cosmic and social order, that distributes to each thing, is
theistically and personalistically conceived in the Shu Ching
(Book of Poetry). It was also interpreted by Confucius and
Mencius. Tao, as a cosmic principle, is an impersonal, immaterial
World Ground. Mayayana Buddhism introduced into China an
Idealistic influence while pure metaphysical idealism was thought
by Buddhist monk Hsuan Ch'uang. Important Buddhist and
Taoist influences appear in the Sung Confucianism which was a
distinctly Idealistic movement. Chou Tun I taught that matter, life
and mind emerge from Wu Chi (Pure Being). The Chinese sage
PREFACE
The New Idealism/18
INTRODUCTION
SECTION I:
17 ibid, page 37
18 ibid, page 170
20 ibid, page 172
23 M. Talbot, Mysticism and the New Physics, Penquin,
London, 1993, page 16