Bohm proposes that consciousness is to be regarded in terms of the implicate order, along with reality as a whole. Mind and matter are seen as projections into our explicate order from the underlying reality of the implicate order. Looking at the extension of matter and separation of its parts in space, will not help with understanding consciousness.

Consciousness and implicate order

Language has an important role in bringing about fragmentation. The current structure of subject-verb-object implies separation. Bohm proposes experimenting with a new mode of using the existing language - the rheomode (flowing mode), in which the verb will have the basic role rather than the noun. "Thus, both in form and in content, the language will be in harmony with the unbroken flowing movement of existence as a whole."

Current language doesn't help with fragmentation

The old Cartesian model of reality, which views the mental and the physical as two separate parts is too limited. Thought has developed through time in such a way that it claims it does not affect anything, it just tells things as they are. Therefore it cannot see that it is creating a problem and then apparently trying to solve it. So our general world view, which is itself a movement of thought, has to be viable in the sense that all resulting actions are in harmony, both in themselves and with regard to the whole existence.&nbsp;

Thought and reality 

Prevalent distinctions between people (race, nation, profession, etc.) are preventing mankind from working together for the common good. One of the main reasons for this is a kind of thought that treats things as inherently divided, disconnected. Each part is considered independent. Thinking this way, you will inevitably tend to defend the needs of your own self, your "Ego", or the group of people you identify with. Hello there how are you? This is super slow, fdsfds fdsf dsfdsfsd fsdf Bohm highlights the importance of mankind's general view of the world. How do we think of the totality? If we think of it as constituted of independent fragments, it will not be best for order of the human mind itself.

The fragmentation of consciousness

"The notion that all these fragments are separately existent is evidently an illusion, and this illusion cannot do other than lead to endless conflict and confusion."

Bohm talks about an universal flux, unbroken wholeness, called the implicate or enfolded order, where space and time are no longer dominant factors. Rather, all our notions and separately existent material particles are just abstractions deriving from the deeper order. These ordinary concepts appear in what is called the explicate or unfolded order. Implicate order offers a much more coherent account of the quantum theories than does the traditional mechanistic order and the author suggests that it be taken as fundamental.

implicate and explicate order

Consider a fast-flowing brook and think about relatively stable and autonomous "objects" which would be vortices in this stream. Such an object might appear to be congruous and independent of other parts appearing elsewhere in the flow of water. And yet, these abstracted things merge and unite, in one whole movement of the flowing stream.

The analogy of a whirlpool

Analyzing the world into independent parts does not work very well in modern physics. "It is shown that both in relativity theory and quantum theory, notions implying the undivided wholeness of the universe would provide a much more orderly way of considering the general nature of reality."

Science demands a new world view

Consider a tank full of water with transparent walls and two television cameras at right angles to each other. Suppose further that the two cameras are transmitting images to two screens correspondingly which are placed in another room. What will be seen is a certain relationship between the images appearing on the two screens. They will generally look different but will be related. The images refer to a single actuality, which is of higher dimension than are the separate images on the screens. In other words, the images are projections from a higher-dimensional reality. Quantum entanglement, or the property of non-locality of particles, which modern physics has failed to explain, can easily be understood with the analogy described above. Just as each image of a fish appears different on the screen, but refers to a single instance, so do two quantum entangled particles siting at different corners of the universe may appear separate, but they are actually just two abstractions of the same thing.

Multidimensional implicate order

David Bohm was one of the foremost scientific thinkers and philosophers of our time. Although deeply influenced by Einstein, he was also, more unusually for a scientist, inspired by mysticism. Indeed, in the 1970s and 1980s he made contact with both J. Krishnamurti and the Dalai Lama whose teachings helped shape his work. In both science and philosophy, Bohm's main concern was with understanding the nature of reality in general and of consciousness in particular. In this classic work he develops a theory of quantum physics which treats the totality of existence as an unbroken whole. Writing clearly and without technical jargon, he makes complex ideas accessible to anyone interested in the nature of reality.

books

Books

David Joseph Bohm (December 20, 1917 – October 27, 1992) was an American scientist who has been described as one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th century and who contributed innovative and unorthodox ideas to quantum theory, neuropsychology and the philosophy of mind.

DAVID BOHM

Similar ideas

Busy Bangwagon & Infinite Pools

Theme chapter 1

Illusion of explanatory depth