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org
Medical Pluralism and the Quest for Therapy: The Dilemma of HIV and AIDS Patients
in Zimbabwes Rural Gandanzara Area
Godfrey Museka (godiemuseka@gmail.com), Lecturer, Department of Curriculum and Arts,
Faculty of Education, University of Zimbabwe
Go directly to the text of the paper.
Abstract
Since disease and illness are intricately interwoven in the social status of a given social
group, and defined and understood differently in different social contexts, this article seeks to
explore how HIV and AIDS are perceived, with regard to aetiology, in an environment of
medical pluralism by focusing on a specific ethno-religio-cultural group, that is, the Manyika
people of rural Gandanzara area of Zimbabwe. Given the plurality of the Manyika medical
system, this article investigates the provision of medical services to HIV and AIDS patients
by these systems, the medical space occupied by each system, and the dilemma faced by
these patients in decision-making criteria with regard to therapy-seeking and selecting
behaviour. Due to the role of close kinship ties, the patients dilemma is aggravated by the
nuclear and extended family understanding of diseases and illnesses and their role in
selecting therapeutic procedures. Informed by the phenomenological approach, this study
shows that the Manyika people of this rural setting, like various other rural ethno-religio-
cultural groups in Zimbabwe and Africa, have complex disease aetiology which in turn
determines their therapy-seeking behaviour and choice. The dilemma is further compounded
by the fact that these people dichotomise diseases into natural and supernatural. As such, it is
not surprising that three medical systems co-exist, in opposition and in mutual borrowing.
These are: biomedicine; African traditional medicine; and Christian spiritual healing. With
the aid of face-to-face interviews and general observations, this research established that
irrespective of social status, the Manyika people try to overcome this dilemma by practicing
medical syncretism when faced with complex diseases or illnesses they cannot easily
comprehend, for example HIV and AIDS.
Le pluralisme mdical et la recherche de traitement : Le dilemme des patients vivants
avec le VIH et le sida dans la rgion rurale de Gandanzara au Zimbabwe
Godfrey Museka
Rsum
Puisque les maladies et les infections sont troitement imbriques dans le statut social d'un
certain groupe social, qu'elles sont dfinies et comprises diffremment en fonction des
contextes sociaux, cet article tente d'explorer comment le VIH et le sida sont perus, d'un
point de vue tiologique, dans un environnement de pluralisme mdical en se concentrant sur
un groupe culturel ethnique et religieux, form des Manyika de la rgion rurale de
Gandanzara au Zimbabwe. Compte tenu de la pluralit des systmes mdicaux auxquels ont
accs les Manyika, l'objectif de cet article consiste examiner l'offre des services mdicaux
auprs des patients atteints de VIH et de sida en fonction des divers systmes; d'tudier la
place de chacun de ces systmes et le dilemme auquel sont confronts les patients en ce qui a
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trait aux critres de slection d'un traitement et d'un type de comportement. En raison du rle
des liens de parent troits, le dilemme des patients est encore plus complexe si l'on tient
compte de la comprhension des membres de la famille nuclaire envers les maladies et les
infections et de leur rle lors de la slection des procdures thrapeutiques. l'aide d'une
approche fonde sur la comprhension phnomnologique, cette tude dmontre que les
Manyika de cette rgion rurale, comme bien d'autres groupes culturels ethnoreligieux du
Zimbabwe et de l'Afrique, possdent une tiologie complexe qui a des effets sur leurs
comportements et les critres utiliss lors du choix d'un traitement. Le dilemme est encore
plus grand puisque les membres de ce groupe font un tri des maladies en fonction de leur
caractre naturel et surnaturel. Ainsi, il n'est pas surprenant de constater la coexistence de
trois diffrents systmes mdicaux, qui s'opposent ou sont en interrelation. Il s'agit de la
biomdecine, de la mdecine traditionnelle africaine et de la gurison spirituelle chrtienne.
C'est grce l'utilisation des donnes d'entrevues en personne et des observations faites sur le
terrain que cette recherche indique que peu importe le statut social des Manyika, les membres
de ce groupe tentent de surmonter ce dilemme, lorsqu'ils sont face des maladies ou
infections complexes difficiles comprendre comme le VIH et le sida, en combinant les
diverses doctrines mdicales qu'ils connaissent.
Pluralismo Mdico y la Bsqueda de Terapias: el Dilema de Pacientes con HIV y SIDA
en el rea Rural de Gandanzara en Zimbabwe
Godfrey Museka
Resumen
Como las afecciones y las enfermedades estn elaboradamente entrelazadas en el estado
social de un grupo social dado, definido y entendido de forma diferente en diferentes
contextos sociales, este artculo busca explorar como el HIV y el SIDA son percibidos con
respecto a la etiologa, en un ambiente de pluralismo mdico, concentrndose en un grupo
tnico-religioso- cultural, esto es, los Manyika del rea rural de Gandanzara en Zimbabwe.
Dada la pluralidad del sistema de salud de los Manyika, este artculo investiga los servicios
mdicos para pacientes con VIH y SIDA por parte de estos sistemas; el espacio mdico
ocupado por cada sistema y los dilemas de estos pacientes en los criterios de toma de
decisiones con respecto a la bsqueda de tratamientos y su comportamiento de seleccin.
Debido al papel de las relaciones de parentesco, el dilema de los pacientes se agrava por la
comprensin de las afecciones y enfermedades de parte del ncleo familiar y la familia
ampliada y su papel al escoger los procedimientos teraputicos. Visto el enfoque
fenomenolgico, este estudio muestra que los Manyika, al igual que otros grupos tnico-
religioso- culturales de Zimbabwe y frica, tienen etiologas complejas, lo que a su turno
determina la forma de buscar y seleccionar el tratamiento. El dilema se complica an ms
por el hecho de que ellos dicotomizan las enfermedades en naturales y sobre naturales. Como
tal, no es sorprendente que estos tres sistemas mdicos coexistan. Estos son:, biomedicina,
medicina tradicional Africana y sanacin espiritual Cristiana. Con la ayuda de entrevistas
personales y observaciones generales, esta investigacin estableci, que sin importar el
estatus social, los Manyika tratan de superar este dilema practicando sincretismo mdico, al
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enfrentarse a afecciones o enfermedades complejas, que no pueden entender con facilidad,
por ejemplo VIH o SIDA.
Pluralismo Mdico e a Busca por Terapias: O dilemma de Pacientes com HIV e AIDS
na Zona Rural de Gandanzara no Zimbbue
Godfrey Museka
Resumo
Considerando que as doenas esto intimamente entrelaadas com o status social de um dado
grupo, definido e entendido de modo diferente em contextos sociais diferentes, este artigo
busca explorar como o HIV e a AIDS so vistos, com relao etiologia num ambiente de
pluralismo mdico focalizando num especfico grupo etno-religioso-cultural, ou seja, no povo
Maniika da zona rural no Zimbbue. Dada a pluralidade do sistema mdico Maniika, este
artigo investiga a prestao de servios mdicos para pacientes com HIV e AIDS atravs
desses sistemas; o espao mdico ocupado por cada sistema, e o dilema enfrentado por esses
pacientes nos critrios de deciso com relao busca de terapias e ao comportamento de
seleo. Devido o papel de laos ntimos da famlia, o dilema do paciente se agrava, com o
entendimento do ncleo familiar e da famlia em geral, sobre as doenas e seu papel na
escolha de procedimentos teraputicos. Informado pela abordagem fenomenolgica, este
estudo mostra que o povo Maniika deste cenrio rural, como vrios outros grupos etno-
religiosos-culturais no Zimbbue e na frica, tem uma etiologia de doenas complexa que
por sua vez determina a sua escolha e seu comportamento na busca por terapias. O dilema
ainda agravado pelo fato desses povos dicotomizar as doenas em natural e sobrenatural.
Como tal, no surpreendente que trs sistemas mdicos co-existam, em oposio e em
aproveitamento mtuo. So eles: a biomedicina, a medicina tradicional africana, e a cura
espiritual crist. Com a ajuda de entrevistas ao vivo e observaes gerais, esta pesquisa
determinou que independente do status social, o povo Maniika tenta superar este dilema
praticando sincretismo mdico quando enfrentam doenas complexas que no podem ser
facilmente compreendidas, por exemplo o HIV e a AIDS.
Medizinischer Pluralismus und die Suche nach der Therapie: Das Dilemma von HIV
und AIDS-Patienten in Zimbabwes lndlichem Gandanzara-Gebiet
Godfrey Museka
Zusammenfassung
Da Leiden und Krankheit in komplizierter Weise mit dem sozialen Status einer bestimmten
sozialen Gruppe verwoben sind, und damit in verschiedenen sozialen Zusammenhngen
unterschiedich definiert und verstanden werden, versucht dieser Artikel herauszufinden, wie
HIV und AIDS wahrgenommen werden bei der Ursachenforschung, in einer Umgebung des
medizinischen Pluralismus, und durch die Konzentration auf eine spezielle ethno-kulturell-
religise Gruppe, das heit dem Volk der Manyika im lndlichen Gebiet Gandanzara in
Zimbabwe. Auf dem Hintergrund Mehrfache rztliche Versorgungssysteme bei den Manyika
untersucht dieser Artikel die rztliche Versorgung der HIV und AIDS-Patienten durch diese
Systeme, den Versorgungsumfang den jedes System besetzt und das Dilemma der Patienten
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was die Entscheidungskriterien bei der Therapiesuche und -auswahl angeht. Wegen die
Rolle, die enge Verwandtschaftsbindungen spielt, wird das Dilemma des Patienten vertieft
durch das jeweilige Verstndnis der Krankheit und das Leiden durch die Kern- und weitere
Familie und deren Rolle bei der Auswahl therapeutischer Verfahren. Aus einem
phnomenologischen Ansatz heraus zeigt die Studie, dass das Volk der Manyika in dieser
lndlichen Umgebung, wie verschiedene andere ethno-religis-kulturelle Gruppen in
Zimbabwe und Afrika eine komplexe Krankheits-Aetiologie haben, die ihrerseits deren
Therapiesuche und -auswahlverhalten bestimmt. Das Dilemma wird noch komplizierter durch
die Tatsache, dass diese Leute Krankheiten in natrliche und bernatrliche unterteilen.
Daher ist es nicht verwunderlich, dass drei medizinische Systeme ko-existieren, in
Opposition zueinander und gegenseitiger Anleihe. Diese sind die Biomedizin, die
traditionelle afrikanische Medizin und die christliche spirituelle Heilung. Mit Hilfe von
persnlichen Interviews und allgemeine Beobachtungen hat diese Nachforschung
herausgefunden dass, unabhngig vom sozialen Status, das Volk der Manyika versucht ber
dieses Dilemma hinwegzukommen, indem sie einen medizinischen Synkretismus praktizieren
im Zusammenhang mit komplexen Leiden oder Krankheiten die sie nicht richtig verstehen,
wie zum Beispiel HIV oder AIDS.
Background
HIV and AIDS have for the past few decades geometrically propelled the death rate,
particularly in African communities, to unprecedented levels. Statistical data provided by
Aseka shows that sub-Saharan Africa, of which Zimbabwe is a constituent, accounts for 30
million people living with the HIV and AIDS virus, compared to 7 million in Asia and 2
million in Latin America and the Caribbean.
1
Inhabitants of the Gandanzara area (Manyika
people) under chief Makoni are not spared by this pandemic, as Gundani notes that a survey
carried out in the area around 2001 shows that half of the women attending maternity clinics
were HIV positive, prompting the chief to reintroduce virginity tests.
2

HIV and AIDS manifest in multifaceted ways, exhibiting bewildering symptoms thereby
compelling both the infected and the affected into pragmatic therapy seeking in various
medical systems, in this case, biomedicine, traditional African medicine, and Christian
spiritual healing, commonly associated with African Initiated Churches. This three-
dimensional approach to disease and illness can best be understood by having an appreciation
of the religio-cultural orientation of the inhabitants. The majority of people in this area are
dualfaith bearers, meaning officially they are Christians but in practice they are
traditionalists. This behaviour is most common among followers of the mainline churches,
such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and United Methodist. There are also a plethora of
African Initiated churches, the largest of them all being the Gospel of God Church in
Zimbabwe, commonly referred to as J ohanne Masowe. The area is also replete with
traditional and apostolic healers of high and modest repute. The medical landscape is further
decorated by the existence of three clinics and one rural district hospital (Rugoyi). Given this
pluralistic medical background, it can be asked whether the Manyika people find any
inconsistency in consulting specialists in either the modern, traditional, or spiritual medical
systems, when faced with HIV and AIDS. To what extent does this pluralism influence their
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theory of illness and their illness behaviour? Do they have any hierarchy of resort and if so,
how is it related to the multiplicity of medical systems?
Against this backdrop, this study seeks to investigate the HIV and AIDS patients therapy
choice and therapy seeking behaviour in a medical pluralistic milieu, using the case study of
the Manyika people of Gandanzara area. The Manyika disease aetiologies also need
interrogation because they influence in no small measure peoples opinions, attitudes, and
perceptions about the HIV and AIDS epidemic. These variables, in turn, determine peoples
behaviour and choice of therapy. To this end, this paper is an attempt to discover some of the
important religio-cultural determinants of behaviour when faced with HIV and AIDS-related
illnesses.
Methodology
In this qualitative research, I find the phenomenological approach most appropriate because it
enabled an in-depth and objective investigation of the phenomenon of medical syncretism
with regard to HIV and AIDS patients and their significant others. Though difficult to define,
this paper adopts Merleau-Pontys definition that phenomenology is a style of thinking,
meaning an effort to describe the actual state of affairs as disclosed by the phenomena of the
world.
3
In connection to the principles of this approach, absolute priority was given to the
infected and affected peoples point of view because, as noted by Kristensen, the believers
understand their own practices better than anyone from outside.
4
Because the researcher was
studying a community in which he belongs, the distance factor, which often blurs most
phenomenological researches, was greatly minimised. Through this approach, I was able to
discover the eidos, the essence of the religio-cultural phenomenon of medical pluralism and
how the various Manyika medical systems intersect in the light of HIV and AIDS. Moreover,
because this is an emic study, data was collected through interviews and general
observations. This method plus the various theoretical perspectives explained below informed
this study.
Cultural Perspectives
Every social group has a unique understanding of illness and disease aetiology, hence
Fabrega, cited by Sindiga in Sindiga et al, defines ethnomedicine as the study of the
different ways in which people of various cultures perceive and cope with illness, including
making a diagnosis and obtaining therapy.
5
As such, an ethnomedical approach to health
issues revolves around the idea that each cultural group handles its medical problems in a
relatively unique manner. This handling largely depends on the groups cosmological views,
value system, beliefs, and practices as well as institutions that have developed over the years
to cater for different diseases and illnesses. Furthermore, each culture has a unique
understanding of illness and disease causation, peculiar medical semantics and classification,
and a variety of practitioners. These attributes are however not static but dynamic; hence
peoples beliefs and response to disease and illness change over time.
The total sum of the groups beliefs, strategies, behaviour and interactions with ...
environment that pertain to sickness, its management, and health status is referred to as an
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ethnomedical system.
6
In other words, an ethnomedical system is constituted by the resources
and responses available to a particular group in order to overcome its health challenges.
Although other medical systems may be incorporated, the core concepts, beliefs, and
practices of the cultural group dominate. In view of these observations, this article examines
the Manyika peoples medical system for three major reasons, that is: to discern medical
systems that operate within this cultural group; to develop theories that explain how these
medical systems operate and change with time; and eventually to reflect on how these
medical systems function and serve community members in relation to the HIV and AIDS
epidemic.
From an ethnomedical perspective, diseases and illnesses are defined within a specific social
milieu, but in a situation where medical pluralism prevails the definitions could be multiple
and composite. J anzen, quoted by Sindiga in Sindiga et al, defines medical pluralism as the
existence in a single society of differently designed and conceived medical systems.
7
Such
systems usually co-exist, though characterised by competition, confrontation, and mutual
borrowing. In view of this plurality, Chavunduka, Gelfand, and Shoko concur that the Shona
see no contradiction in taking both traditional and biomedicine simultaneously for the same
episode of illness.
8
Because the Shona and the Africans in general utilise different medical
systems separately or jointly, there is constant flow of patients between doctors of both
philosophies.
Africans, argues Aguwa, uphold the naturalistic and supernaturalistic views concerning
disease aetiology.
9
Accordingly, diseases are dichotomised into those that require the
attention of biomedicine and those that can be handled by traditional medicine. It is important
to note that although many African cultural groups categorise diseases and illnesses
according to cause, they regard traditional and biomedicine as complementary. In addition to
these two medical systems, Aguwa also talks about Christian-based practices of religious
therapy, referred to, in other circles, as faith healing.
10
Thus, illnesses that frequently occur
and abruptly disappear are considered to be natural. Such fleeting diseases include coughs,
colds, stomachaches, and headaches. These diseases are either allowed to heal naturally or
they are referred to biomedicine or traditional therapeutists, also known as herbalists. In this
kind of situation, the choice of treatment is self-determined and hinges on perceived cost,
acceptability, accessibility, and dependability of the medical system.
By contrast, supernatural or abnormal illnesses are persistent and life-threatening. Such
illnesses usually start as normal (natural), but because they persist they are re-assessed and
re-interpreted as abnormal (supernatural), thereby compelling the sick and the significant
others to seek explanation.
11
The supernatural perspective is closely related to the African
peoples cosmological views. Many African societies believe that the supernatural beings
break into the human affairs with either beneficial or detrimental effects.
12
The implication
being that, prolonged life-threatening illness is in essence perceived not as mere physical
condition but as a religious matter. This dichotomisation, however, seems to be more
cognitive than behavioural.
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Similarly, Nyamwaya in Sindiga uses the how and why theory in his explanation of
health and illness in African communities. Whilst the how component relates to the
biological factors contributing to the aetiology of an illness and the interventions deemed
appropriate to eradicate the illness, the why component refers to the peoples explanation
with regard to the particularity of an illness which relates to the social and spiritual factors
that are thought to be relevant to the timing of an illness.
13
Such socio-spiritual factors
include the breach of taboo, effects of a curse, God or ancestral punishment for individual or
communal sins, or affliction by alien spirits. Chavunduka echoes similar sentiments by
averring that supernatural illnesses call for explanation (why).
14
For them, these illnesses are
generally attributed to the neglect of ancestor spirits (midzimu), angered spirits (ngozi), alien
spirits (mashayi), and witches and sorcerers (waroyi).
15
Because of their peculiarities, socio-
spiritual illnesses are referred to diviners or diviner-therapeutists.
This categorisation of illnesses into how and why is however not this simple but
complex. Apart from being a physical condition, illness is also socially defined; hence
peoples definition of illness varies from one stage to another. During the initial stages,
illness is presumed to be normal but if it persists, the perception of abnormality creeps in. In
this regard, Chavunduka noted that nowadays most Shona people make biomedicine their
first choice but if the condition deteriorates they turn to traditional medicine.
16
It is important
to note that before people leave biomedicine to traditional medicine or vice-versa they would
have changed their own views about the cause of the illness. Thus, views about the cause of
illness are closely tied to the lag-time between the onset of illness and the expected healing
period.
Erasmus, cited in Chavunduka, stresses the perceived differences in beliefs surrounding the
aetiology of various diseases as determining factors in the choice of therapy.
17
Diseases
classified as natural are thus commonly referred to scientific doctors or herbalists, while those
considered to have an essentially supernatural cause are taken to the diviner or diviner-
therapeutist. However, in his simultaneous theory, Gonzalez in Chavunduka contends that it
is not so much a question of one or the other medical system, but an issue of what shall be
sought and obtained from the specialist in different medical systems.
18
To this end, the same
malady is often brought to the attention of the traditional healer and to the scientific medical
practitioner. This syncretism is often done consciously. However, it can also operate at the
sub-conscious level in that a patient may take or apply a substance believed by him/her and
the specialist to ameliorate the sickness and also undertake an act, usually ritual, which may
or may not directly involve the body, but which is believed to have a positive effect on
health.
Bourdillon observes that due to close kinship relationship in African communities,
therapeutic decisions are rarely made by individuals but by the whole family and in some
instances, the extended family.
19
As such, the definition given to illness by the sick individual
and his social group or significant others at any given time is the most important determinant
of illness behaviour. Chavunduka added that most patients and their significant others make
an assessment and an evaluation of the illness primarily in terms of their own understanding
of diseases, and the influence of the dominant medical beliefs of the society in which they
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live appear to prevail with regard to the choice of therapy.
20
The dichotomisation of diseases
into natural and supernatural is therefore a consequence of these beliefs.
Romanucci-Ross posits that for every society which uses both indigenous and biomedicine
forms of therapy, there is a hierarchy of resort, indicative of the usual sequencing in the use
made of existing medical service alternatives.
21
This means illness is first referred to a
medical system deemed to be more reliable until subsequent developments prove them
wrong. Informed by these theories, this paper explores, from a phenomenological
perspective, factors influencing the HIV and AIDS patients therapy choice and therapy-
seeking behaviour, using the case of the Manyika people of Gandanzara area under chief
Makoni in the Manicaland province of Zimbabwe.
The Manyika Medical Systems
Press defines medical system as a patterned, interrelated body of values and deliberate
practices, governed by a single paradigm of the meaning, identification, prevention and
treatment of sickness.
22
This definition emphasizes the socio-cultural attributes of medical
systems, some of which might be unique to a specific system. Three medical systems were
delineated within the Manyika cultural group. These are; the biomedical, traditional, and
Christian-oriented spiritual/faith healing. While the traditional and Christian-oriented
spiritual healing have a lot in common, the biomedical system is very different from these
two systems in terms of the concept of disease aetiology, diagnosis of health problem,
therapy management and choice, range of practitioners, therapy procedures, and drugs plus
other pharmacopoeia. These differences place people in a serious dilemma when faced with
disease and illness they cannot easily comprehend. The existence of these medical systems
side by side, in isolation, confrontation, and mutual borrowing, influences in no small
measure the HIV and AIDS patients therapy-seeking and selecting behaviour. These medical
systems have attributes that pull and push patients toward and away from them. Because of
the weaknesses of each system, patients often see themselves in a quandary, as they
demonstrate by moving from one system to another in their quest to find a lasting solution to
their health problem(s).
Biomedicine
Fabrega defines biomedicine as the Western-oriented knowledge, practices, organisation, and
social roles of medicine.
23
The Manyika biomedical system is made up of one rural district
hospital (Makoni Rural District Hospital, generally known as Rugoyi), three clinics (Morris
Nyagumbo Memorial Clinic, Matotwe, and Mukuwapasi), and a number of Village Health
Workers (VHW). As noted by McIvor, the rural health centres (RHC) were established to
provide basic promotive, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative care.
24
Each RHC was to
serve a catchment population of 10,000 people who should be within a walking distance of
eight kilometres. It is important to note that these centres were established before HIV and
AIDS intensified and their focus was on epidemics such as malaria, tuberculosis, chicken
pox, etc. The VHW programme, launched in 1982, again before HIV and AIDS were a public
secret, aimed at providing one village health worker for every 5001,000 people. Their role
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was/is to promote basic hygienic standards. Ever since the discovery of HIV and AIDS, these
facilities have hardly been modified to fight the pandemic. The VHWs duties have since
dwindled to simply distribute family planning pills. The clinics suffer from acute shortage of
trained health workers and inadequate supplies of medicines, which translates to non-
availability of services. All twelve patients met and interviewed at the hospital and at three
clinics complained about the practice where they are prescribed paracetamol for different
ailments.
Following these difficulties, HIV and AIDS patients from this area have to go to Rusape
General Hospital for testing and screening before accessing the life-prolonging drugs.
Participants complained that most patients die before they even access the Anti-Retro-Viral
(ARV) drugs due to the long waiting list. It was, however, pleasing to note that the hospital
now dispenses ARVs to those who would have managed to outlive the long wait.
In biomedicine, disease and illness are viewed as physical/mechanical disorders or mere
organic malfunctioning, with negligible relationship to a persons socio-religious experience.
This means that the treatment of diseases within this system is limited to controlling and
eliminating physical symptoms. With regard to the Manyika people, the biomedical system
contradicts their values, beliefs, and practices, in that it largely focuses on the disease and not
the patient. In other words, it is concerned with the physiological rather than social factors in
the disease situation. This explains why some Manyika people do not seek biomedicine even
when it is accessible.
Traditional Medical System
The Manyika traditional medical system is basically ethnomedical in that disease and illness
are defined within a given social context. Ampofo and J ohnson-Romauld define traditional
African medicine as the
totality of all knowledge and practices, whether explicable or not, used in
diagnosing, preventing or eliminating a physical, mental or social
disequilibrium and which rely exclusively on past experience and observation
handed down from generation to generation, verbally or in writing.
25


Under this system, disease and illness are inextricably bound to the values, beliefs and
practices of the Manyika people. Thus, disease and misfortunes have a socio-religious
explanation; as such the treatment process goes beyond addressing the symptoms. Instead,
deep-seated causes and ways of preventing the disease from recurring are sought.
The Manyika traditional medical system is constituted by diviners, diviner-therapeutists,
therapeutists (herbalists), and traditional birth attendants. Diviners are primarily concerned
with forth telling the cause of an illness, usually through the art of throwing and interpreting
divining bones, dice, or lots. However, most diviners among the Manyika are diviner-
therapeutists meaning apart from forth telling (divining) they also prescribe and dispense
medicines. By contrast, therapeutists do not divine but have vast knowledge of herbs, and
they prescribe or prepare herbal concoctions for the treatment or cure of disease and illness.
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Traditional birth attendants are women endowed with the ability to assist prospective mothers
to deliver. They discharge key pre- and post-natal care for the mother and the baby. Disease
and illness, misfortunes, or complications during delivery are in most cases explained morally
or supernaturally.
Christianity-based Faith Healing
This medical system is also ethnomedical in that disease and illness are explained in terms of
beliefs and values that characterises the peoples cosmological views. Deep-seated
explanations are sought over and above the visible symptoms. A key figure or practitioner in
this system is the prophet, who is spiritually gifted to forth tell or diagnose illness by
appealing to the holy spirit. Unlike diviners, faith healers do not use divining bones or lots.
Faith healing, among the Manyika people, is usually practiced by African Initiated Churches
(mapostori) and Pentecostal churches. Both members and non-members seek the services of
faith healers. Disease and illness are usually explained in supernatural or moral terms.
The concept of disease causation, together with the three medical systems that exist within
the Manyika ethnic group, throws the HIV and AIDS patients into a predicament with regard
to therapy-seeking and selecting behaviour, theory of illness, medical behaviour, and
hierarchy of resort in handling their medical conditions.
FindingsManyika Disease Aetiologies
The Manyika people, like the generality of African ethnic groups, maintain a very close link
between health and traditional cosmological beliefs. Health, medicine, religion and magical
practices are so intertwined, hence Aschwanden noted that among the Shona, reality and
mythology are inseparable in everyday life.
26
They presuppose each other and require one
another because together they complement each other in creating a greater reality. By and
large, responses from participants showed that both traditional and modern perceptions of
health and disease are prevalent in present day Manyika community of Gandanzara area.
Members of this community broadly dichotomise illness into two, that is, normal (natural)
and abnormal (supernatural), and this categorisation pre-dates HIV and AIDS. Normal
illness is thought to arise from natural biological processes, occurs frequently in the life of
individuals, and is mild and of fleeting nature. Following this, normal illness, which
includes diseases such as coughs, colds, stomachaches and headaches, is taken casually. By
contrast, abnormal illness is persistent and life-threatening to the extent that causal
explanations are imperative.
It is also interesting to note that if normal illness persists and becomes severe, the Manyika
people define it as abnormal and explain it in terms of spiritual or socio-moral causes.
Spiritually, abnormal illness is thought to be sent by ancestor spirits (midzimu), avenging
spirits (ngozi), alien spirits (mashayi), and witches or sorcerers (waroyi). Abnormal illness
is also related to socio-moral factors, for instance, the breach of taboos like adultery,
marrying a woman dedicated to a spirit (tete wemusha), and incest. The question of causation
(why is the person ill?) and the question of mechanization (how is the person ill?) are usually
evoked in relation to abnormal rather than normal illness. These questions are
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interrelated, and both influence the kind of explanation that is arrived at as a course of action
for dealing with the illness.
The Manyika conception of HIV and AIDS-related conditions is not simple and
straightforward. Their classification of HIV and AIDS into either normal or abnormal
illness depends on factors such as the individual, family, and communitys perception and
definition of the visible symptoms, life history of the sick person, family history, and
religious affiliation. The complex and multifaceted ways through which HIV and AIDS
manifests aggravates the whole situation.
HIV and AIDS manifests in a variety of ways. People interviewed demonstrated a general
understanding of common HIV and AIDS symptoms, which include loss of weight, skin rash,
swollen lymph nodes, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, change in skin and hair texture, etc. Other
health conditions like pneumonia, severe headaches, backaches, mental illness, miscarriage,
etc, were hardly interpreted in terms of HIV and AIDS unless if they occur simultaneously
with the aforementioned symptoms. Information gathered through interviews revealed that
the Manyika people consider illnesses they perceive to be indicative of HIV and AIDS to be
normal while those illnesses thought not to be indicative of HIV and AIDS are first
interpreted as normal and later on as abnormal if they recur in a severe manner. HIV and
AIDS are generally thought to be a moral illness, in that the infected person is regarded as of
loose moral or having been infected by a loose partner. In vernacular they say, akazorwa
or akapiwa chirwere meaning he or she was infected by a loose wife or husband, or
akasiirwa chirwere, meaning he or she was infected with the late wife or husband. If the
sick person was not married then people say, ane chekufamba ichi or ane chemazuwa ano
ichi, meaning he or she is infected with the disease of loose morals or he or she is infected
with todays disease, respectively.
However, in cases where HIV and AIDS symptoms are not interpreted as HIV and AIDS
symptoms, the sick, together with his or her significant others, seek for a causal explanation
from the scientific and or spiritual realms. In this situation, HIV and AIDS cease to be a
typically moral challenge.
Concerning the life history of the sick person, if the sick individual were known to be of
loose morals, the Manyika quickly explain any depreciation in health morally, with minimum
consideration of the symptoms. Conversely, if the sick persons sexual forays were unknown,
then ill-health is likely to be explained in terms of other causes such as ancestor, alien, or
avenging spirits, especially if the symptoms are not very obvious to the community members.
Family history also influences peoples explanation of ill-health. If an individual is from a
family known to be haunted by avenging spirits and suffers ill-health without showing visible
or community-defined HIV and AIDS telling symptoms, then the HIV and AIDS-related
illness is likely to be attributed to the spirits.
The study also established that religious affiliation plays an important role in determining
how HIV and AIDS symptoms are viewed and interpreted. Six out of ten, that is, 60% of the
participants who practice both African Traditional Religion (ATR) and Christianity explained
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the death of their relatives in terms of the HIV virus. The other four, that is, 40%, attributed
the death of their relatives to witchcraft, although other observers alluded to the fact that the
late relatives had died from HIV and AIDS-related conditions. The four argued that witches
are taking advantage of the virus, take innocent peoples life, and use HIV and AIDS as a
scapegoat. All the ten participants agreed that people can also contract the virus if ancestors
are not happy. Ancestors register their disgruntlement by allowing misfortunes such as HIV
and AIDS virus to attack the living. It was interesting to note that five members of The
Gospel of God African Church, commonly referred to as J ohanne Masowe, the largest
African Initiated Church (AIC) in the area, and five people randomly chosen to represent
several other AICs in the area, unanimously agreed that ill-health is due to witchcraft
activities. None of them attributed the communitys increased death rate to HIV and AIDS.
Reasons for these different explanations from the perspective of religious orientation need
thorough research and are beyond the scope of this article.
Some Manyika people also opine that HIV and AIDS were invented and imported into
African societies by Europeans in an endeavour to wipe out the black race. Yet for others, it
is a divine punishment against the moral rote of the society. The dual interpretation of HIV
and AIDS, depending on the peoples understanding of the visible symptoms, as normal
and abnormal, does not only indicate peoples dilemma but also defines the therapy-
seeking and selecting behaviour of the sick person and his or her social group. However,
before navigating the issue of therapy-seeking and selecting behaviour, it is important to give
a reflection of the Manyika medical landscape.
HIV and AIDS Patients Therapy-Seeking and Selecting Behaviour in a Pluralistic
Medical Environment
At the outset, it is important to stress that there exist no technology among the Manyika
cultural group that is used to verify whether or not a person is infected with the HIV and
AIDS virus. Diseases and illnesses thought to be related or unrelated to HIV and AIDS are
therefore defined by the community. Thus, most HIV and AIDS patients among the Manyika,
together with their significant others, make an evaluation of their illness primarily in terms of
their own understanding of diseases. Unfortunately, HIV and AIDS symptoms begin to show
when the illness is already in its advanced stage. Various scenarios, indicative of the dilemma
the Manyika people face in handling HIV and AIDS, were discovered.
The early symptoms of HIV and AIDS infection fit well into the Manyika peoples natural or
normal category of disease and illness. As such, the early symptoms are taken casually and
are often referred to the nearby clinic or local therapeutist. However, as the condition
deteriorates and HIV and AIDS characteristic symptoms begin to manifest, according to the
judgment of the community, therapy preferences also change. Defining symptoms, together
with the agenda, announced or concealed, of the nucleus and sometimes extended family,
also determine the course of action or treatment response. If the sick individual and the
family are operating within the announced agenda, the subject matter of the illness is
disclosed and the social group may advise accordingly with regard to medical choice. Under
this circumstance, biomedicine is usually the first choice. Although other medical practices
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such as praying, fasting, exorcism, appeasement ritual, etc, may be performed, biomedicine
remains a priority. By contrast, if the sick and the family are operating within the concealed
agenda, as is the case with the majority of the Manyika people, largely due to stigma and or
denial, scapegoating prevails, particularly through witchcraft accusations, or other
supernatural explanations are offered.
Data obtained through interviews and observations show that the dilemma of the HIV and
AIDS patients aptly manifest in the three levels of interaction of these medical systems which
in the words of Nyamwaya are: sequential zigzag, supplementary, and complementarity.
27

These interactions usually take place after the sick person and his/her social group have
changed their definition of illness. The change of definition is due to the general
classification of disease and illness into normal (natural) and abnormal (supernatural)
and points to a degree of uncertainty as to whether the illness is normal or abnormal. The
syncretic behaviour also shows desperation on the part of the sick person and his/her social
group. In the sequential zigzag mode, a patient starts using either of the three systems and
then move on to the other systems. There is oscillation among the three medical systems as
the illness intensifies. This behaviour is necessitated by the realization that treatments from a
particular medical system are not bringing the desired results. The illness is reassessed and
redefined, thereby compelling a change of direction towards another medical system.
The supplementary relationship occurs where the HIV and AIDS patient is depending
primarily on one medical system but also uses medicines and practices from other systems to
enhance good health. To achieve a better appreciation of this illness behaviour, it is vital to
distinguish medicine and practice. While medicine presupposes application or introduction of
substances into the body to ameliorate the existing state of the body, medical practice is any
act undertaken by the sick individual or someone else for the purpose of promoting good
health without necessarily involving the body.
28
Responses from participants show that the
Manyika believe in both medicine and medical practice; hence they refer HIV and AIDS
suspected cases to biomedical practitioners to relieve pain and symptoms, but also to
traditional medical practitioners and faith healers to get rid of supernatural forces that may
worsen the condition. This explains various charms from traditional medical practitioners and
faith healers that are often tied around the wrist, ankles, neck, or waist of the sick person or
placed in the house to ward off evil spirits and witches who may want to take advantage of
the compromised immune system.
Complementarity is by far the most common relationship and exists in situations where
people consider resources from the three medical systems as necessarily vital for complete
healing to take place. It manifests when the chronic illness is thought to involve natural,
psychological, and spiritual factors. Illness behaviour is cyclic because the individual moves
or is moved from the clinic/hospital to a religious shrine for rituals or therapeutic ceremonies
at home or vice versa. Herbs, charms, and holy water are even administered to clinic/hospital
admitted patients. In this mode, there is a constant flow of patients among specialists of the
three systems.
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The aforementioned behaviours show that the Manyika people, like various other cultural
groups who share pluralistic medical configurations, learn to use and rely on different aspects
of the prevailing systems of medicine (the concept of mutual accommodation). This makes it
difficult to plot a hierarchy of resorts (treatment options) chart for the Manyika people; rather
what is important is to understand factors which influence their choice of specific therapeutic
alternatives. The Manyika peoples choice of therapy varies according to the stage of illness
and the definition given to illness, presumed acceptability, accessibility, and dependability of
a particular medical system. Stigma, agenda, desperation and religious orientation also
influences therapy-seeking and selecting behaviour in no small measure. Unfortunately,
because of space, a detailed analysis of these factors is beyond the scope of this article.
Conclusion
The three medical systems that exist within the Manyika medical landscape are of paramount
significance in the provision of medical services to the HIV and AIDS patient. Whilst the
biological (natural) interpretations of the HIV and AIDS-related illness requires biomedical
attention, the psychological and spiritual (supernatural) definitions given to the related
illnesses require the services of diviner, diviner therapeutist, or faith healer (prophet). As such
the systems occupy an equally significant space. Although a specific system may be primarily
preferred, the Manyika people generally utilise resources from the three medical systems,
sequentially or simultaneously, in their quest to achieve complete healing.
Phenomenologically, they are not in any dilemma, because they systematically negotiate their
way from one medical system into another or use resources from the three different medical
systems concurrently without seeing the inconsistencies involved and despite the need to
stick to one medical system for certain illnesses.
End Notes
1. Eric M. Aseka. HIV/AIDS in Africa: A Socio-Cultural Perspective. Accessed August 27,
2011. http://www2.aau.org/aur-hiv-aids/ws/kenyao6/docs/hw.africa-socio-cultural.
2. Paul H. Gundani, Continuity and Change in the Zimbabwean Religio-Cultural Landscape in
the Era of HIV/AIDS, in Zimbabwe: The Past is the Future, ed. Harold Barry (Harare:
Weaver Press, 2004), 98.
3. J ames L. Cox, An Introduction to the Phenomenology of Religion (New York: Continuum
Publishing Group, 2010), 25.
4. Clive Erricker, Phenomenological Approaches, in Approaches to the Study of Religion, ed.
Peter Connolly (London and New York: Continuum, 1999), 80.
5. Isaac Sindiga, African Ethnomedicine and Other Medical Systems, in Traditional Medicine
in Africa, ed. Isaac Sindiga et al. (Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers Ltd, 1995),
18.
6. Sindiga, African Ethnomedicine, 18.
7. Sindiga, African Ethnomedicine, 23.
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8. Gordon L. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers and the Shona Patient (Gweru: Mambo Press,
1978), 52. Gordon L. Chavunduka, Traditional Medicine in Modern Zimbabwe (Harare:
University of Zimbabwe Publications, 1994), 69. Michael Gelfand, Witch Doctor: Traditional
Medicine Man in Rhodesia (London: Harvill Press, 1964), 114. Tabona Shoko, Karanga
Indigenous Religion in Zimbabwe: Health and Well-Being (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing
Limited, 2007), 57.
9. J ude C.U. Aguwa, The Agwu Deity in Igbo Religion: A Study of the Patron Spirit of
Divination and Medicine in an African Society (Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishing, 1995),
21.
10. Aguwa, Agwu Deity, 124.
11. Chavunduka, Traditional Medicine, 69.
12. Aguwa, Agwu Deity, 22.
13. David O. Nyamwaya A Case for Traditional Medicine in Official Health Services, in
Traditional Medicine in Africa, ed. Isaac Sindiga et. al. (Nairobi: East African Educational
Publishers Ltd, 1995), 32.
14. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers, 12.
15. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers, 12.
16. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers, 40.
17. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers, 38.
18. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers, 38.
19. Michael F.C. Bourdillon, The Shona Peoples: An Ethnography of the Contemporary Shona,
With Special Reference to Their Religion (Gweru: Mambo Press, 1976), 152.
20. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers, 55.
21. David O. Nyamwaya, A Case for Traditional Medicine, 32.
22. Herbert Aschwanden, Karanga Mythology: An Analysis of the Consciousness of the Karanga
in Zimbabwe (Gweru: Mambo Press, 1989), 96.
23. Horacio Fabrega, A Commentary on African Systems of Medicine, in African Health and
Healing Systems: Proceedings of a Symposium, ed. Stanley P. Yoder. 217235 (Los Angeles,
CA: Crossroads Press, 1982), 242.
24. Sindiga, African Ethnomedicine, 22.
25. Chris McIvor, Zimbabwe and the Struggle for Health: A Community Approach for Farm
Workers (London: Catholic Institute for International Relations [CIIR], 1995), 34.
26. Sindiga, African Ethnomedicine, 19.
27. Nyamwaya, A Case for Traditional Medicine, 33.
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28. Chavunduka, Traditional Healers, 39.
Bibliography
Aguwa, J ude C.U. The Agwu Deity in Igbo Religion: A Study of the Patron Spirit of Divination and
Medicine in an African Society. Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishing, 1995.
Aschwanden, Herbert. Karanga Mythology: An Analysis of the Consciousness of the Karanga in
Zimbabwe. Gweru: Mambo Press, 1989.
Aseka, Eric M. HIV/AIDS in Africa: A Socio-Cultural Perspective. Accessed August 27, 2011.
http://www2.aau.org/aur-hiv-aids/ws/kenyao6/docs/hw.africa-socio-cultural.
Bourdillon, Michael F.C. The Shona Peoples: An Ethnography of the Contemporary Shona, With
Special Reference to Their Religion. Gweru: Mambo Press, 1976.
Chavunduka, Gordon L. Traditional Healers and the Shona Patient. Gweru: Mambo Press, 1978.
Chavunduka, Gordon L. Traditional Medicine in Modern Zimbabwe. Harare: University of Zimbabwe
Publications, 1994.
Cox, J ames L. An Introduction to the Phenomenology of Religion. New York: Continuum Publishing
Group, 2010.
Erricker, Clive. Phenomenological Approaches. In Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by
Peter Connolly, 73104. London and New York: Continuum, 1999.
Fabrega, Horacio. A Commentary on African Systems of Medicine. In African Health and Healing
Systems: Proceedings of a Symposium, edited by Stanley P. Yoder, 237252. Los Angeles, CA:
Crossroads Press, 1982.
Gelfand, Michael. Witch Doctor: Traditional Medicine Man in Rhodesia. London: Harvill Press,
1964.
Gundani, Paul H. Continuity and Change in the Zimbabwean Religio-Cultural Landscape in the Era
of HIV/AIDS. In Zimbabwe: The Past is the Future, edited by Harold Barry, 87105. Harare:
Weaver Press, 2004.
McIvor, Chris. Zimbabwe and the Struggle for Health: A Community Approach for Farm Workers.
London: Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR), 1995.
Nyamwaya, David O. A Case for Traditional Medicine in Official Health Services. In Traditional
Medicine in Africa, edited by Isaac Sindiga, Chacha Nyaigotti-Chacha, and Mary Peter Kanunah, 30
39. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers Ltd, 1995.
Shoko, Tabona. Karanga Indigenous Religion in Zimbabwe: Health and Well-Being. Aldershot:
Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2007.
Sindiga, Isaac. African Ethnomedicine and Other Medical Systems. In Traditional Medicine in
Africa, edited by Isaac Sindiga, Chacha Nyaigotti-Chacha, and Mary Peter Kanunah, 1629. Nairobi:
East African Educational Publishers Ltd, 1995.
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The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 18 www.rosecroixjournal.org
A Review on Antigravity, Levitation, Resonance, and Devices Inspired by the
Ouroboros Serpent
Christopher G. Provatidis, Ph.D.
Go directly to the text of the paper.
Abstract
This paper is an attempt to review the state-of-the-art on several physical principles related to
the movement and levitation of objects. Not only normal, but also paranormal, phenomena
are discussed. It is believed that this work contributes to a better understanding of present
technologies and techniques used. Starting from ancient times, the antigravity properties of
the caduceus carried by Hermes in Greek mythology are discussed. Next, strange paranormal
phenomena related to the levitation of inanimate and living objects are systematically
presented. The meaning of ether and its role in antigravity phenomena is discussed to an
extent. Some magic tricks are discussed. In addition, the philosophical importance of the
number eight (8), which if rotated by 90 degrees forms the infinity symbol (), is introduced.
Based on the latter figure-eight shape, a recently announced theory in physics that shows
promise for antigravity effects is discussed. Apart from a better philosophical understanding
of nature, the final technological objective of similar research could be the ability to perform
interstellar cruises in the future.
Une tude sur la notion d'anti-gravit, de lvitation, de resonance, et des outils inspirs
par le serpent Ouroboros
Christopher G. Provatidis, Ph.D.
Rsum
Cet article examine l'tat actuel des connaissances des divers principes physiques lis au
mouvement et la lvitation d'objets. On y prsente des phnomnes naturels et des
phnomnes paranormaux. Cette tude permet une meilleure comprhension des technologies
actuelles et des techniques utilises. Avec un retour vers les temps anciens, on y traite des
proprits du caduce qu'Herms transportait selon la mythologie grecque. Par la suite, on y
prsente des phnomnes paranormaux tranges en lien avec la lvitation d'objets inanims et
anims. La signification de l'ther et son rle dans le phnomne de l'anti-gravit font
galement l'objet de discussion. On y parle aussi de certains trucs de magie. Enfin, on discute
de l'importance philosophique du nombre 8 qui, une fois couch sur le ct (), prend la
forme du symbole de l'infini. En se basant sur ce dernier point concernant la forme du
nombre 8, l'article prsente une thorie rcente et prometteuse en physique en ce qui a trait
aux effets de l'anti-gravit. Outre l'acquisition d'une meilleure comprhension philosophique
de la nature, un des objectifs technologiques ultimes d'une recherche similaire pourrait tre la
capacit de faire des voyages interstellaires dans l'avenir.
Una revisin de Antigravedad, Levitacin, Resonancia, y Dispositivos inspirados en la
Serpiente Urboros
Christopher G. Provatidis, Ph.D.
Resumen
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 19 www.rosecroixjournal.org

Este artculo en un intento de revisar lo ltimo sobre ciertos principios fsicos relacionados
con el movimiento o levitacin de los objetos. No solo se discuten fenmenos normales sino
tambin los paranormales. Se cree que este trabajo contribuye a un mejor entendimiento de
las tecnologas o tcnicas actualmente utilizadas. Comenzando desde los tiempos antiguos,
son discutidas las propiedades de antigravedad de los Caduceos cargados por Hermes de la
mitologa Griega. Luego, se presentan en forma sistemtica, los fenmenos paranormales
extraos relacionados con la levitacin de objetos inanimados y animados. El significado del
ter y su papel en el fenmeno de la antigravedad se discuten ampliamente, como tambin
algunos trucos de magia. Adems, se habla de la importancia filosfica del nmero ocho (8) ,
el cual si es girado 90 grados forma el smbolo del infinito (). Luego se discute una teora
fsica recientemente anunciada que muestra efectos prometedores de la antigravedad y la
forma del ltimo nmero ocho citado. Aparte de un mejor entendimiento filosfico de la
naturaleza, el objetivo tecnolgico final de investigaciones similares puede ser la habilidad de
realizar viajes interestelares en el futuro.

Uma reviso sobre a Antigravidade, Levitao, Ressonncia, e Dispositivos inspirados
na Serpente Ouroboros
Christopher G. Provatidis, Ph.D.
Resumo

Este estudo uma tentativa de reviso da tecnologia de ponta dos vrios princpios fsicos
relacionados ao movimento e levitao de objetos. So discutidos no somente fenmenos
normais mas tambm paranormais. Acredita-se que este trabalho contribui para um
entendimento melhor das presentes tecnologias e tcnicas utilizadas. Comeando desde os
tempos antigos, so discutidas as propriedades antigravitacionais do caduceus carregado por
Hermes na mitologia grega. A seguir, so apresentados de modo sistemtico os estranhos
fenmenos paranormais relacionados com levitao de objetos inanimados e animados.
discutido dentro do possvel o significado de ter e seu papel no fenmeno antigravitacional.
So discutidos alguns truques de mgica. Alm disso, feita uma introduo sobre a
importncia filosfica do numero oito (8), que se girado 90 graus forma o smbolo do infinito
(). Com base na ltima forma da figura do oito, discutido uma teoria recentemente
anunciada na fsica que mostra o potencial dos efeitos da antigravidade. Alm de uma melhor
compreenso filosfica da natureza, o objetivo final de pesquisas tecnolgicas semelhantes
podem ter a capacidade de realizar cruzeiros interestelares no futuro.

Eine Besprechung der Antigravitation, der Levitation, der Resonanz, und der
Verfahren, die durch die Ouroboros-Schlange angeregt werden
Christopher G. Provatidis, Ph.D.
Zusammenfassung

Dieses Forschungspapier ist ein Versuch, den Stand der Wissenschaft in bezug auf
verschiedene physikalische Prinzipien im Zusammenhang mit der Bewegung und Anhebung
von Objekten zu begutachten. Es werden nicht nur normale sondern auch paranormale
Phnomene besprochen. Wir glauben, dass diese Arbeit zu einem besseren Verstndnis der
gegenwrtigen Technologien und Techniken beitrgt. Beginnend in uralter Vorzeit werden
die Anti-Gravitationseigenschaften des von Hermes in der griechischen Mythologie
getragenen Caduceus besprochen. Als nchstes werden eigenartige paranormale Phnomene
im Zusammenhang mit der Anhebung von leblosen und belebten Objekten systematisch
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 20 www.rosecroixjournal.org

vorgestellt. Die Bedeutung des thers und seine Rolle bei Anti-Gravitationsphnomenen
wird besprochen. Einige Zaubertricks werden auch besprochen. Auerdem wird die
philosophische Bedeutung der Zahl acht (8), die wenn sie um 90 Grad gedreht wird, das
Unendlichkeits-Symbol bildet (), eingefhrt. Auf der Grundlage der vorigen Figur der Zahl
acht, wird eine krzlich angekndigte Theorie in der Physik, die vielversprechend fr die
Erklrung der Anti-Gravitationseffekte ist, besprochen. Abgesehen von einem besseren
philosophischen Verstndnis der Natur, knnte das endgltige technologische Ziel derartiger
Forschung die Fhigkeit zum interstellaren Reisen sein.


1. Introduction
In Greek mythology, the god Hermes was always holding his caduceus, which was a short
staff entwined by two serpents, sometimes surmounted by wings (Fig.1). There are many
paintings, vases and sculptures on which Hermes is represented holding his caduceus, either
standing or, at most times, flying (Fig.2). A recent dissertation reveals the secret symbolism
of Hermes caduceus, which represents the first triad of Linear World Law in the creation of
the DNA of the universe, and the hidden information of energy production at the intersections
of the serpent helixes.
1







Fig.1: The caduceus of Hermes in Greek mythology.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caduceus,
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/7500/zhuk2si3.jpg)


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Fig.2: Several images of Hermes holding his caduceus.
(Sources: fr.wikipedia.org, giantbomb.com, myastrologybook.com, thespiritualsanctuary.org,
wisdomportal.com, pottery of fifth century BCE: Rome-Vatican museum.)

The two entwined serpents are found also in the Oriental world, as shown in Fig.3.

According to a recent publication by the well-known Russian newspaper Pravda, in Oriental
mythology gods have the same distinguishing feature of flying.
2
But even ordinary mortals,
albeit very few, also possess this unique art.

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Fig.3: An extension of the Greek caduceus in the
Oriental world.
(Source:
http://www.gnosisellas.gr/images/stories/2dvvcav.j
pg.)

For example, Indian Brahmans, yogis, saint hermits, magicians and fakirs master the art of
levitation. The Indian Vedas contain even practical guidelines to levitation. However, most
ancient Indic words and concepts lost their meanings and concepts through the years, which
makes it impossible to translate the priceless ancient text into modern languages. As to
ancient levitators, they could raise themselves up to 90 centimeters above the ground. They
did so because the position with feet above the ground was more comfortable for them in
terms of their religious rituals. They never levitated to startle anyone. In ancient times
levitation was practiced in India and Tibet. Buddhist texts say that in 527 A.D. Hindu founder
of Zen Buddhism, Bodhidharma, visited the Tibetan Shaolin Monastery and taught the monks
to control the body energy, which is a mandatory condition for levitation. Buddha himself
practiced levitation too, as well as his mentor Sammat who could stay in the air for hours.
2


As everyone can understand, the cancellation of gravitation is the main topic to deal with.
Newton (16421727) himself often told the story that he was inspired to formulate his theory
of gravitation by watching the fall of an apple from a tree. Generally, all heavy bodies tend to
fall onto the ground when they are released. In contrast, light objects such as a feather can be
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caught by the wind. Also, during the evaporation of liquid and the sublimation of solid
bodies, the produced vapors tend to rise into the atmosphere, in the opposite direction of the
gravity force.

One century after Newtons death and many years before the great inventions were achieved,
in the second half of the eighteenth century the bright mind of the French writer Jules Gabriel
Verne (18281905) captured a great number of these inventions long before their
announcement, including those related to the travel of man to the moon. A second bright
mind is the English writer Herbert George Wells (18661946), whose gravity-blocking
substance Cavorite is included in his work The First Men in the Moon.
3
Both Verne and
Wells predicted the future technologies, including the transportation of man to the moon.
Today their books are considered to be classical (Fig.4).

In simple terms, in order to move objects there are three main ways, as follows. The first way
is to use friction, like the motion of the wheels of a car on the ground, like the tracks of a
tank, or like the friction in the legs of a fly on the wall or the ceiling. The second way is to
use the principles of aerodynamics or hydrodynamics, as happens in the lift of helicopters and
airplanes as well as the drag in ships, in which the drag or/and the lift forces are produced by
the circulation of the fluid along the boundary of the object. The third way is to exploit the
principle of action-reaction, as when firing a gun, where the exit of the projectile results in
backward movement of the weapon (principle of conservation of linear momentum).

The aforementioned third way is applied for the propulsion of small space vehicles using
huge rockets. However, the use of the latter is problematic, because a huge amount of energy
is spent for traveling only the first 200 km from the surface of the Earth. According to
Wikipedia, Present-day launch costs are very high ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 per [kg]
from Earth to low Earth orbit, though some countries subsidize launches to prices nearer
$4,000.
4
Not only that, and not only do the rockets cause contamination of the environment,
but also the interstellar travels are not possible using the present technology.



(a) (b) (c)
Fig.4: The front pages of the books (a) Extraordinary Travels by Jules Verne, (b)
Frontispiece in The Men in the Moon and (c) The Time Machine by H. G. Wells.
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 24 www.rosecroixjournal.org

(Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hetzel_front_cover.jpg,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Menmoonfront.jpg,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Timemachinebook.JPG.)

From the above discussion it becomes evident that the novel method of applying a propulsion
force outside the framework of the three aforementioned ways must be a real breakthrough,
which will be something seemingly against the usual physical laws. Preliminary findings
based on Einsteins theories of relativity have not worked, in the sense that they lead to
extremely low antigravity forces.
5-7
As a result, it is quite normal that people who wish to
contribute to this breakthrough shall be open minds of high level and proper mentality that
they can challenge the conventional technology and rely on the physics of the future.

We all know that physics is the descendant of alchemy. The evolution from alchemy to
Newtons physics was long.
8
Despite the high level of university physics, only a small part of
the complex nature has been explored. There are still many paranormal phenomena, which
today we sometimes characterize as magic tricks, which have to be understood in terms of
physics.
9
From the practical point of view, if these peculiar phenomena are clarified, then the
space propulsion industry may have a great benefit in the research of interstellar travels, and
later this technology will be transferred to more terrestrial applications.

For the sake of brevity, in this paper some of these phenomena are roughly categorized in
three broad categories: antigravity, human levitation, and resonance/paranormal phenomena,
despite the fact that these three terms are not quite independent of one another. Again, it is
only a first rough attempt to put different things in an order.

2. Antigravity
Although antigravity as knowledge existed from the dawn of civilization, only recently it
acquired a scientifically theoretical form. The relevant technology, although very impressive,
remained on the sidelines for obscure reasons. But to understand antigravity, we need to first
understand the mechanism of gravity. An excellent treatise on gravity and antigravity, from
both physical and philosophical points of view, was written by David Pratt in 2001 and
revised in 2007.
10,11
Moreover, in the following text of this section we review additional
sources,
12-14
which below have been properly extended.

Despite the simplified mathematical models of Newton and Einstein, gravity is hypothesized
not to be an attraction, but a push. The most fundamental particles, which make up matter,
suck ether from all around. The aforementioned movement of the ether to aggregated
material such as the earth is the essence of the gravity. Channeling the flow of ether around a
body (so that the ether does not affect the body) can levitate the body so that it becomes
weightless, or rises. The interaction with the ether can be done in several ways, including
sound, magnetic, electrical, thermal, electromagnetic, or even by the power of mind. Of
course, all these indicate a relatively strong direct correlation between the fundamental forces
to link the ether, which is called the fifth element. However, this theory (known as the
unified field) is still incomplete because there are few scientists working with more than
three dimensions and even fewer accepting the existence of the ether. But what makes the
theory inaccessible to the scientific world is the lack of adequate mathematical formulation.
Maxwell himself, when he worked on electromagnetic theory, made use of quaternions
(numbers of the quaternary system) and mathematics beyond the three-dimensional vectors,
but the scientific community of the time accepted only the vector components and cut off the
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 25 www.rosecroixjournal.org

transcendent and fantastic elements. Although the theoretical background of antigravity
lacks a mathematical foundation, its techniques demonstrate efficacy and can surprise even
the most discerning skeptic.

For example, acoustic antigravity is a technique to control the ether flow through sounds, a
technique that seems magical to the observer. But the barriers between magic and ethereal
science are fuzzy. Furthermore, when the sound antigravity was developed it was mainly a
religious phenomenon. In Tibet, the monks had become adept at this and could lift huge
boulders to very high altitudes (200-300 m) very comfortably, even without physical contact.
Their only tool was the feast of harmonious sounds of the prayers that they sang, along with
the sounds of drums and trumpets. Certainly the noise sources have a special geometry in
connection with the subjects head, and the frequencies of the sounds were carefully selected
to keep the ratio 1:4:5 (e.g. Do-Fa-Sol). Witnesses of such demonstrations included the
Swede Dr. Jarl (Fig.5), whereas the second case involved an Austrian named Linauer, who
observed them while at a remote monastery in northern Tibet during 1930.
11,15


According to one theory, the gravitational field is nothing but an expression of the electric
and magnetic fields. Therefore, the weight of a body is associated with its magnetic potential.
But since all material bodies have weight, they should be magnetic as well. Of course, the
relationship between weight and magnetic potential is not linear, while the correlation is not
bidirectional; since it is real, antigravity can be achieved using only magnetic media.
Unfortunately, the effect of magnetic fields on living organisms (in terms of antigravity) is
very small. For example, for the levitation of a man, a special huge oval magnet of strength
around 40 Tesla is needed; it is worth mentioning that the creation of such a magnetic field
requires the power of about 1 GW, which is around three times the energy needs of a large
island like Crete, Greece.
14




Fig.5: Dr Jarls sketch showing how Tibetan monks were able to raise stone blocks
into the air using the power of sound (source: From References [
11
] and [
15
]).

The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 26 www.rosecroixjournal.org

At the time UFOs reportedly began to appear in America (1947), electro-gravity technology
had already begun to develop. Thus it made possible antigravity based exclusively on electric
instruments. Five years later, Thomas T. Brown was able to evolve the technology enough to
be practically feasible for antigravity (activation voltage: 50 KV, power requirements: 50W).
The next few years he developed more technology, wrote books on the theoretical
background of the physical phenomenon, which was later called the Biefeld-Brown effect,
and built several flying discs.
16
A mild reaction of electro-gravity is the ionization of air
around the flying crafts, making them look like bold colors that rotate a picture surprisingly
similar to the reports of most UFO observers in the USA. Experimental demos of aluminum
foil lifters of triangular and hexagonal shape can be found on the Internet,
17a
for which an
explanation was later given.
17b
On the same topic, very recent scientific publications have
given a full explanation in terms of computational fluid dynamics.
18,19

Less popular, but much more interesting, is the antigravity caused by heat. Although so far
levitation through thermo-gravity has not been achieved ,
20,21
Peter Fred
22
claims to have
managed to reduce the weight of an aluminum hemisphere by 2.9% by heating it with 3 KW
infrared for 530 seconds. Additionally, he managed to express the relationship between heat
and gravitational acceleration g for a spherical body as: g = 8RQ/M, where Q is total heat
flux that exits, M is its mass and R is its radius.

Another way to overcome gravity is by the use of electromagnetic means. This is perhaps the
best-known method and more understandable. In its simplest version it uses crossed
electromagnetic fields.
23


Finally, there is metaphysical antigravity, which utilizes pure human energy. This is a
technique known through esotericism and researchers of the occult. Professor Thury claimed
that there is a strange substance that permeates all matter, which he calls psychode, or psychic
"aether." The interaction of the mind over the psychode exerts a force, ectenic force,
24

which is equivalent to Crooke's psychic force.
25
The intended use of that power (in people
with stable and strong intention) or unintentionally (in particularly sensitive individuals) can
cause levitation phenomena. This distinction was made by HP Blavatsky,
26
according to
whom the levitation is due to the strongly focused minds of these people.

Of course, there are other techniques, such as that developed by Viktor Schauberger,
27
based
on etheric energy, utilizing the phenomenon of the vortex. In 1930, the great Austrian-
German inventor managed to build flying vehicles based on a technique he developed by
investigating this mysterious technology.
16
Unfortunately, after the Second World War the
drawings of its machinery fell to the Americans and his discoveries were buried in the
postwar silence. In other parts of the world, there were similar inventors who had knowledge
of this phenomenon even though they did not build antigravity machines.

Today, the main contributors in antigravity technology are:
28
Townsend Brown
(electrogravitics, 1920), Viktor Schauberger (flying saucers, 1929), Norman Dean (Dean
drive, 1959), John Searle (the Searle effect, 1969), Robert Cook (Cooks device, 1980),
Eugene Podkletnov (superconductive materials, 1992), Eric Laithwaite and William Dawson
(1999), Vladimir Vitalievich Roschin and Sergei Mikhailovich Godin (magnetic system,
2000), Boris Volfson, (inflationary vacuum state, 2005), Franklin Felber (antigravity
propulsion and relativistic hyperdrive, 2005), and Jochem Hauser and Walter Drscher
(gravitation space propulsion, 2007). Review papers are [
6
] and [
29
]. An edited book and a
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 27 www.rosecroixjournal.org

review paper with compiled information up through 2010 is authored by Marc Millis.
30,31
In
brief, he divides the relevant technologies into three main categories as follows: (i)
propellantless propulsion approaches (26 methods), (ii) faster-than-light approaches (4
methods), and (iii) energy conversion approaches (9 methods). Based on Laithwaites
experiments,
32
a new time dilation theory has been recently reported.
33


The role of rotation is important, and it has been a matter of inspiration and research. There is
a general feeling that physical laws may be somehow violated in rotating systems, and in
any case even simple laws are a matter of interest.
34
There has been some work on relativistic
rotating masses by Browne.
35
The gyroscopes are also a source of inspiration,
36-38
although
their capability has been disputed.
39,40
Also, in all drawings of flying saucers made by Viktor
Schauberger (Fig.6) or those created by science fiction enthusiasts, the rotation dominates
(Fig.7).
41,42
It is worth mentioning that the channel through which the fluid moves, in the area
of the axis of symmetry of Fig.6, is very similar to Hermes caduceus. Is it by accident so?


Fig.6: A typical flying saucer (Viktor Schauberger).
(Source: http://i44.tinypic.com/kafi42.jpg.)

Despite the apparent complexity of antigravity, it was and is simple and practical, and of
particular importance to humans. The techniques developed are a strong testament to the
power of humankind and its potential interaction with nature while respecting the
environment. It is not unrealistic (not utopianism) to imagine a world where antigravity will
play the dominant role in the movement of people and the transport of goods on the planet.
It's just a matter of time and maturity.


Fig.7: Flying saucers of Viktor Schauberger
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Schauberger).
(Source: http://www.evgars.com/new_page_1.htm.)
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 28 www.rosecroixjournal.org


3. Levitation of objects
Levitation is the process by which an object is suspended by a physical force against
gravity.
43


For levitation on Earth, first, a force directed vertically upwards and equal to the gravitational
force is required. Second, for any small displacement of the levitating object, a returning
force should manifest to stabilize it. The stable levitation can be naturally achieved by, for
example, magnetic or aerodynamic forces.

Levitation techniques are useful tools in physics research. For example, levitation methods
are useful for studies of molten materials because they eliminate the problem of reaction with
containers and allow deep undercooling. The containerless conditions may be obtained by
opposing gravity with a levitation force, or by allowing an entire experiment to freefall.
44


In brief, we can distinguish nine broad categories of levitation in inanimate objects, as
follows: (1) magnetic, (2) electromagnetic, (3) electrostatic, (4) aerodynamic, (5) acoustic, (6)
gas film, (7) optical, (8) Casimir force, and (9) buoyant levitation.


4. Human (Paranormal) Levitation
4.1 General

Levitation in a paranormal context is the alleged rising of a human body into the air by
mystical means.
45
It is generally believed that at present, there is no compelling evidence to
suggest that paranormal levitation is a real phenomenon. The scientific and empiricist
communities traditionally attribute such incidents to trickery, illusion, auto-suggestion, and
unseen natural causes.

According to Simon Harvey-Wilson, who has authored a Ph.D. thesis on human levitation,
46

there are two serious books on this topic. The first is by the French Catholic researcher
Olivier Leroy
47
and the second is by Steve Richards.
48
Harvey-Wilson states that,
traditionally, most levitation reports have originated from seven groups: (i) mysticism, (ii)
shamanism, (iii) people supposedly possessed by demonic spiritual entities, (iv) those
subjected to poltergeist activity, (v) spiritualism, (vi) people who believe they have been
abducted by aliens, and (vii) martial arts such as qigong.

The spiritualists and religious communities tend to interpret mystical levitation as the result
of supernatural action of tuning in to the Holy Spirit, spiritual energy, a deity, or sometimes
resulting from the influence of a poltergeist. Levitation is an aspect of psychokinesis. Yogic
masters claim that mystical levitation can occur as a siddhi during higher levels of
consciousness, such as mystical rapture, euphoria, or astral projection.

In the traditions of religions, many reports on human levitation have appeared.
1) In Hinduism, it is believed that some Hindu gurus who have become siddhas (those
who have achieved spiritual powers) have the siddhi (power) of being able to levitate.
The power of levitation is called in Sanskrit laghiman (lightness) or dardura-siddhi
(the frog power). It is said that Hindu Sadhus have a history of paranormal levitation
and that when one progresses on the path of spiritualism, levitation comes naturally.
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Autobiography of a Yogi has accounts of Hindu Yogis who used to levitate in the
course of their meditation. Levitation is said to be possible by mastering the Hindu
philosophy of yoga: Yogi Subbayah Pullavar (1936). Shirdi Sai Baba, an Indian yogi,
is described in the Sri Sai Satcharitra to have mastered the art of levitation while
sleeping, and the Transcendental Meditation movement claim that practitioners of the
TM-Sidhi program of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi achieve what they call "Yogic Flying."
2) In Buddhism, it is recounted as one of the Miracles of Buddha that Gautama Buddha
walked on water by levitating over a stream in order to convert a brahmin to
Buddhism. Yogi Milarepa, a Vajrayana Buddhist guru, was rumored to have
possessed a range of additional abilities during levitation, such as the ability to walk,
rest, and sleep; however such were deemed occult powers.
3) In Hellenism (the pagan religion of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome), according to
the testimony of Philostratus, Apollonius of Tyana underwent heavenly assumption
upon his death by levitating into Elysium.
4) According to some New Age teachings, it is believed by the adherents of the
Ascended Master Teachings (a group of New Age religions based on Theosophy) that
the Ascended Masters have the ability to levitate.
5) In Gnosticism, Simon Magus, a Gnostic who claimed to be an incarnation of God (as
conceived by the Gnostics), reportedly had the ability to levitate along with many
other magical powers. As a dissenter from the orthodox Christianity of the time, this
was branded by Christians as evil magic and attributed to demonic powers.
6) In Christianity, there are many Catholic, Roman, Eastern Roman, and Byzantine
Orthodox Saints who claimed to have levitated.
78
They include Saint Bessarion of
Egypt (d. 466), Saint Francis of Assisi (11811226), St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696
1787), St. Joseph of Cupertino (16031663), St. Teresa of Avila (15151582),
Ignatius of Loyola (14911556), Saint Martn de Porres (15791639), Blessed
Mariam Thresia (18761926), Girolamo Savonarola (14521498), Seraphim of Sarov
(17591833), and Padre Pio (18871968). In addition to holy persons, there are
reports also for the so-called "Demonic" Levitation in Christianity: Clara Germana
Cele (1906) reportedly levitated in a rigid position, and the effect was apparently only
reversed by the application of Holy water, leading to the belief that it was caused by
demonic possession. Another example is Magdalena de la Cruz (14871560), a
Franciscan nun of Cordova, Spain.

Moreover, many mediums have claimed to have levitated during sances, especially in
the nineteenth century in Britain and America. Many have been shown to be frauds, using
wires and stage magic tricks. The most prolific and well documented levitator (of himself
and other objects) was Daniel Dunglas Home. He was said to repeatedly defy gravity over
a career of forty years. He was reputedly observed levitating out of a building through a
third story window and back into the building via a different window. He could also cause
tables and chairs to rise feet into the air and was never demonstrated to be a fraud by
hundreds of purportedly skeptical witnesses, except one. He remained in full
consciousness throughout these feats, and attributed them to the action of some kind of
magical energy. Home's fame grew, fueled by his feats of levitation. Physicist William
Crookes
49,50
claimed to have observed more than fifty occasions in which Home
levitated, many of these at least five to seven feet above the floor, "in good light." More
common were feats recorded by Frank Podmore: "We all saw him rise from the ground
slowly to a height of about six inches, remain there for about ten seconds, and then slowly
descend." One of Home's levitations occurred in 1868. In front of three witnesses (Adare,
Captain Wynne, and Lord Lindsay) Home was said to have levitated out of the third story
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 30 www.rosecroixjournal.org

window of one room, and into the window of the adjoining room. "It was so dark I could
not see clearly how he was supported" [outside of the three story window]. A
characteristic lithograph of Daniel Dunglas Home is shown in Fig.8.


Fig.8: The levitation of Daniel Dunglas Home at Ward Cheney's house interpreted in
a lithograph from Louis Figuier, Les Mystres de la science 1887.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Daniel-Dunglas-Home-levitation.jpg.)

Significant information is provided by Helena P. Blavatsky (1831-1891).
26
Her work is
devoted to the Theosophical Society that was established in 1875 in New York, aiming at
studying similar topics. Blavatsky was trained in human levitation and similar feats during
her visits to Nepal and Tibet, among other countries. In her work Isis Unveiled, which is full
of interesting notes, she proved to be capable of handling large amounts of information in
many disciplines, not only contemporary information but also information from the distant
past. She was fond of Schopenhauer (1788-1860) and Kant (1724-1804). In many places in
her book, she argues against the famous professors Faraday (1791-1867) and Tyndall (1820-
1893), who were both strongly faithful. It is worth mentioning that both professors were
discoverers of diamagnetism, which is the property of an object which causes it to create a
magnetic field in opposition to an externally applied magnetic field, thus causing a repulsive
effect. From her book, one can find extensive literature related to the fight between
conformist scientists and supporters of magic, in which many people were involved (Count
Agenor De Gasparin (1810-1871), Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), Roger Gougenot des
Mousseaux (1805-1876), Jules de Mirville (18021873), and Sir William Crookes (1832
1919), who developed eight possible theories,
49,50
et cetera). We also learn that in 1850 the
French Academy established official committees to investigate topics such as human
elevation and turning tables (rotating tables for which the motion is induced by the mind of a
mentalist), whereas earlier, the Imperial University of St. Petersburg established another
committee under the leadership of the renowned chemist professor Dmitri Ivanovich
Mendeleev (1834 1907).
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 31 www.rosecroixjournal.org


Concerning controlled levitation experiments, the only somewhat compelling and thorough
case of controlled scientific tests performed recently were those of Nina Kulagina, a Russian
"psychokinetic," in the 1960s. She demonstrated the power to levitate small objects
repeatedly under conditions that satisfied Russian, Czech, and American scientists, although
she never levitated herself. She levitated objects such as table tennis balls, wine glasses, and
matches under conditions engineered to make use of hidden magnets, wires, and similar
"tricks" seem impossible. However, two things should be taken into consideration: first, these
feats are commonly reproduced on stage by illusionists, and, second, scientists can be fooled
by tricks of skillful illusionists as was proven by James Randi's Project Alpha in 1979. In
fact, Kulagina's use of a stick was actually photographed by parapsychologists.
Concerning possible scientific explanation, some physicists think that levitation, if
scientifically confirmed, could be the result of the mind "tapping into" the quantum vacuum
zero point energy in an altered state of consciousness.
45


4.2 A Skeptical Approach
As stated above, until not too long ago, human levitation was seen as an issue of occultism
and was ridiculed by many scientists. Yet the past four to five years have seen more coverage
both in popular media and in scientific literature. The Russian newspaper Pravda
2
presented a
full article on February 29, 2008. It covers the period from Oriental mythology through 1999,
referring to an experiment in Japan. In Japan in 1991, a scientific paper about some
intelligent tricks of human levitation was published.
51


Two other scientific papers from the parapsychological and the consciousness point of view
are [
46,52
], whereas a quite recent mathematical approach based on geometric topology was
presented by the same Japanese professor who also published in 1991.
53
Concerning older
literature, one of the most compact texts is that of Madam Helena Blavatsky,
26
which has
been translated into many languages.

As mentioned above, the study of the mechanics of magic tricks is very important and may
lead to promising findings.
9
In addition, there are several technological means to create
illusions.
54


Below we refer to some events the author has identified from Internet sources, events that
have been characterized by some as reality and by others as tricks.

I. Indian trick No.1

Along with the history of levitation, the English professor Steven Connor
55
has described
performances by the Dutch magician Wouter Bijdendijk on 22 October 2007. Bijdendijk,
who performs under the name Ramana, hovered cross-legged outside the White House,
apparently without support. An investigation revealed a Dutch TV video that shows him not
only to be cross-legged but also in contact with a vertical beam.
56
Another independent BBC
video revealed that the existence of the vertical beam is closely related to the secret of Indian
yogis for centuries, which is only a trick.
57


The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 32 www.rosecroixjournal.org

II. Indian trick No.2

In contrast, another event is the so-called Indian rope trick,
58
which, to the best of our
knowledge, is not a trick. The key point is that the supposed magician uses repetitious music
in order to tune the ropes dynamical behavior with the sound energy. This physical
phenomenon is called resonance and is reported even in high school books (of course not
for the Indian rope). When the rope unfolds from the basket in which they have folded it and
assumes a vertical position, it becomes so stiff that a small child can climb up it. On this topic
there is rich scientific literature. One of the first papers is by the academician Ilia
Blekhman,
59
but it was written in the Russian language and the English translation appeared
many years later. Examples of relevant Western literature are [
60-65
].

III. The Criss Angel Phenomenon

Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos, better known by the name Criss Angel, is an American
illusionist. He is best known for starring in the television show Criss Angel Mindfreak and for
his live performance illusion show Criss Angel Believe at the Luxor casino in Las Vegas,
Nevada in artistic collaboration with Cirque du Soleil. Criss is also the creator of
MagicPlace.com website, which is billed as a lifestyle portal for all things magic that also
sells his magic kits.
66


In a way similar to Indian trick No.1, in some festive TV programs, we have seen him
levitate above the ground,
67
from building to building,
68
or walk on the water of a swimming
pool.
69
The usual answer is that this is none other than individual or collective hallucination
or delusion. The other possibility is that they may all be tricks, as suggested in relevant
videos [
70-72
] that reveal the aforementioned [
67-69
] cheating and entertainment tricks,
respectively.

IV. A Shamanism Trick

Another example is an African shaman performing levitation,
73
who is debunked by
Trickbusters.
74


5. Resonance and Paranormal
In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at a greater amplitude at some
frequencies than at others. These are known as the system's resonant frequencies. At these
frequencies, even small periodic driving forces can produce large amplitude oscillations,
because the system stores vibrational energy. In physics and chemistry, resonance appears as
mechanical, electrical, acoustic, orbital, nuclear magnetic (NMR), particle, shape, Feshbach,
and Fano resonance.

The aforementioned phenomenon extends from physics to many other fields, such as
psychology and consciousness, where there are morphic resonance, limbic resonance,
synchronicity, etc. A branch of physics explores normal and paranormal phenomena like
love, telepathy, etc. Although some scientific papers are reviewed below, a detailed approach
is outside the scope of this paper, which focuses mostly on technical matters.

What is colloquially called the paranormal, academics refer to as parapsychology. In his book
An Introduction to Parapsychology, Dr. Harvey Irwin (2004) claims that parapsychologys
three basic concerns are authenticity, underlying process, and phenomenology.
75

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Ostensible paranormal experiences have been the subject of continuous scientific
investigation since the founding of the British Society for Psychical Research in 1882. During
this extensive period, certain categories of analysis emerged to become salient within both
the professional discipline and popular culture. These are exemplified by such standard
nomenclature as extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance,
psychokinesis, survival of the human personality after death, and reincarnation (see [
76
], and
papers therein).

Although the existence of phenomena such as telepathy
77
or remote viewing is not doubted,
skeptics frequently claim that because they are largely internal experiences, they are hard to
define or measure. In contrast, human levitation is clearly visible and hard to fake.

6. Devices Inspired by the Ouroboros Serpent
An extensive analysis concerning the Ouroboros serpent as well as the meaning of the figure
eight (8) and the closely related symbol of infinity () is provided in Appendix A.
In the sequence, two innovations related to the figure eight shape will be reported.
6.1 Gearless power transmission

Given two separate coaxial shafts, it is possible to determine a mechanical system between
them so as when one shaft turns clockwise the other turns anti-clockwise. This system is
called (mechanical) differential and consists of four gears as shown in [
79
]. The
aforementioned differential device exists in all terrestrial vehicles, from the smallest
passenger car up to the heaviest truck.

After thirteen years of intensive concentration and meditation by the inventor, the Ouroboros
serpent showed the way in the early 1980s. Since the motion should be continuous, the cyclic
and constant motion of the Ouroboros serpent reflected to a concrete design as shown in
Fig.9.

The entire technical study, accompanied by numerous publications in the period 1981-1987,
was reported in 2003.
80
Besides the differential device, the same idea is applicable to
gearboxes and novel motors.

The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 34 www.rosecroixjournal.org


Fig.9: Perspective view of the figure eight shaped cam-track disk in a gearless
differential mechanism.

(Source: Courtesy reference [
80
]; it concerns the European Patent Number: 0066122,
USA Patent Number: 4,509,388, Canadian Patent Number: 1195144, Japanese Patent
Number: 1612048, Korean Patent Number: 26451, Spanish Patent Number: 512.403,
Argentinean Patent Number: 228.492, Brazilian Patent Number: 8202966, Australian
Patent Number: 548573.)

The above idea led to a specific device that was successfully demonstrated in the European
Exhibition EUREKA (Brussels, Belgium) in December 1983, where it won first prize.
80
The
next year, October 1984, it was demonstrated in the international exhibition FIAC in Grande
Palais in Paris, France. The late journalist Constantine Stamatiou (1929-1991) wrote in the
daily newspaper NEA
81
(Athens, Greece) that FIAC was a trade fair covering an area of
15,000m,
2
divided into 135 galleries, with 2,950 creative works and 500 creators, where
every kind of innovation, including devices of perpetual motion, could be found.

6.2 Figure-Eight-Shaped Antigravity Mechanism
6.2.1 General
The operation of the Ouroboros serpent, and particularly its self-reflexivity, was again a
source of inspiration for another, much different problem, which is the antigravity effect. As
mentioned in Section 2, antigravity is a controversial matter that, according to various claims,
can be achieved by several means. A state-of-the-art has been presented in an international
Conference,
82
whereas another paper was recently published.
28


For the completeness of this paper, it is necessary to point out that the idea of using
aggregated masses to produce the so-called inertial propulsion is a very old concept. The first
application on record is probably the use of dumbbells (halteres; in Greek : ) that
have been used in athletic games such as the long jump in ancient Greece.
83,84
As illustrated
in Fig.10 and Fig.11, the jumper holds the dumbbells by passing his hands through the
openings (the latter shown in the right side of Fig.11), and he rotates them on the vertical
plane. In this way the linear momentum of the dumbbells is transferred to the body of the
jumper, thus increasing its velocity and the length of the long jump.

The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 35 www.rosecroixjournal.org




Fig.10: Young boy holding a discus at the
palaestra. Near him, a pick to prepare the
landing ground for the long jump and a pair of
dumbbells (halteres) used to maintain
equilibrium during the jump. Interior of an
Ancient Greek Attic red-figure kylix, 510500
BC, Louvre Museum, Paris.
(Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Discobolus_K
leomelos_Louvre_G111.jpg.)
Fig.11: Dumbbells (halteres) used in
athletic games in ancient Greece, National
Archaeological Museum, Athens.



(Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Halteres_f
rom_ancient_Greece.JPG.)

Twenty-five centuries later, in the mid-1950s, a US citizen named Norman Dean proposed
the use of two contra-rotating eccentric masses to convert rotary motion to unidirectional
motion.
85
He claimed that in this way one could achieve thrust, thus producing motion of the
object to which this system was attached. Since then, Deans mechanism was internationally
named the Dean drive or Dean space drive. This subject attracted the attention of many
scientists, science fiction writers and philosophers.
86-90
In the pure scientific domain, from the
book of the reputable Russian academician Prof. I.I. Blekhman, which was translated into
English twelve years ago,
91
we learn that the applicability of Deans drive to air or space
propulsion has been discussed in two Russian language works. As was previously mentioned,
Prof. Blekhman dealt also with the Indian rope trick.
59


A brief explanation of the incapability of Deans drive could be that every rotating mass
passes through a point at a certain velocity; exactly after a whole period of 360 degrees, the
same mass passes through the same point at exactly the same velocity. As a result, the change
of linear momentum is zero. Therefore, since no other external force is exerted, the net
impulse per period vanishes; thus inertia propulsion is not possible. From a different point of
view, when the mass traces the upper half of the circle the corresponding impulse is positive,
while when it traces the lower half it becomes negative (both of equal absolute value). This topic
has been thoroughly studied during the last three years,
92-94
while he has recently cooperated to
extend it to its electromagnetic equivalent.
95

6.2.2 Rotating gyros
The first scientific attempt to study rotating gyroscopes is probably attributable to Bruce
Eldridge De Palma (1935-1997), who was working at MIT as a lecturer in photographic science.
Based on photographic experiments, he claimed to have measured a delay in a falling gyro or an
increase of its maximum altitude in an oblique shoot. His work was published in a parareligion
book.
96
Thirteen years later, Hayasaka and associates measured a weight reduction of gyros
when rotating in the right direction (spin vector pointing downward);
97,98
he showed that the
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 36 www.rosecroixjournal.org

higher the gyro revolutions per minute, the higher the weight loss. This finding was disputed by
many others.
99-106
One of the latest papers concerning gyroscopes, and particularly Laithwaites
experiments, is a paper by Wayte,
107
who reported a weight loss of eight percent (it is noted that
the aforementioned loss has been calculated as a time integral of measured impulse of the
reaction force).

In their monograph, the Correas
108
comment of the controversial findings by some of the
aforementioned researchers,
99-106
who emphasized that all relevant experiments were conducted
at quite different angular velocities and provided explanations based on the resonances of the
aetherometric mesh.

Moreover, after twelve years of research, Benjamin Solomon
33
concluded that time dilation
can be the source of gravitation effects. He has also presented the hypothesis that time
dilation causes a shift in the center of mass.

For completeness, it is worth mentioning that in the field of relativistic physics based on
rotation, the first clear reference to antigravity was made by Forward
5
in 1963, although he
uses findings by Thirring-Lense in 1918-1921 that were translated into English by Mashhoon
et. al.
109
Clearly, when a horizontal ring rotates around its vertical axis of symmetry, not only
the usual Newtonian centrifugal force but also axial relativistic force appears; the latter is the
antigravity force. In this context, one of the most recent papers is that of Tajmar.
7


6.2.3 The Physics of the Dean Drive
Concerning the Dean space drive, the results obtained in previous works
92-94
show that it
works like a catapult, by transforming the angular momentum of the eccentric rotating masses
into linear momentum of the object. In this way, it is possible for the object to move upwards
like a projectile in a vertical upward trajectory and then fall down.

As was previously mentioned, the circular path on which the eccentric masses move causes
positive and negative vertical impulses when the mass moves above or below the horizontal
level through the center, respectively. The latter movement cancels the effect of the first
movement and prevents the system from producing a thrust. Therefore, in order to overcome
the cancellation resulting from the lower part of the motion, many attempts have been
made.
28


6.2.4 The Revolutionary Change in the Shape and Operation of Dean Drive for
Achieving the Selective Cancellation of the Centrifugal Force

As previously mentioned, the inspiration to overcome the canceling action of the centrifugal
forces, that is, to selectively strengthen the action of the centrifugal forces in the upper or the
lower part of the circular path traced by the aggregated masses, came first from the
Ouroboros serpent; a relevant video showing such a flying snake is [
110
]. The idea was
further reinforced by the motion of the hummingbird (see Appendix B).

The analysis of the figure-eight path, which transforms the circumference of a circle (on
which an eccentric mass moves), is as follows.

The transformation of the wrong circle into a figure-eight shaped path is achieved by
deforming the circle in two successive ways. First the circle is folded by rotating its lower
part around the vertical axis of symmetry, thus producing a crossed figure-eight shape, which
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 37 www.rosecroixjournal.org

entirely lies on the vertical plane. Secondly, the latter planar path is further bent in such a way
that it lies perfectly over the surface of a hemisphere, the latter having a center O and a radius
r. These two successive deformation steps lead to a new, fully three-dimensional, curvilinear
path that lies entirely above or entirely below the center of the hemisphere; hence it is called a
figure-eight-shaped path. Clarifying further, in this final configuration of the mechanism, the
immobile end of every connecting bar is pinned to the center of the hemisphere while the
second end carries the corresponding mass. Consequently, one could say that, in this way, the
proposed procedure creates a new path on which only the upper half, or only the lower half of
the initially considered circular path, operates. Despite this fact, it has been theoretically verified
that the maximum upward force is equal and opposite to the maximum downward force; thus
antigravity is still impossible.
82
The mechanical device capable of producing the aforementioned
figure-eight-shaped path has been presented in [
28,82,111
] and for completeness, it is shown in
Fig.12.

In brief, the device consists of two electric motors. The first motor produces the figure-eight-
shaped path on which the yellow concentrated masses at the ends of the two rods move; the
trajectory is shown on the right part of Fig.12. The second motor produces a spin of the entire
frame around the vertical axis of symmetry.

It is of particular interest that, if the second rotation is characterized by an angular velocity
that is not an integer multiple of the first one, a non-rational ratio of the two aforementioned
rotations ensures that the mass should never pass through the same point in the 3D Cartesian
space; illustrative simulations for several ratios may be found in reference.
112
In other words,
the synchronization between two rotations, the first being the 8-shape, is the technical
solution to produce mechanical antigravity.





Fig.12: The prototype antigravity mechanism. On the left, the arrows show the directions of
the two simultaneous rotations, while on the right the figure-eight-shaped path is clearly
illustrated from two different views.
(Source: reference [
112
].)

The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 38 www.rosecroixjournal.org


6.3 The Correlation between the Two Proposed Mechanisms
As was mentioned above, both the differential device and the antigravity mechanism were
inspired by the Ouroboros serpent. In the first device, the figure-eight shape is the real curve
that is part of the cam-track-disk of the differential (Fig.13, left), which aims to transmit the
power from the engine to the wheels. In contrast, in the second device, the figure-eight shape
is not a particular materialized component but merely the path formed by the rotating masses
mounted at the ends of the two rods (Fig.13, right); the vertical center line denotes the
direction toward which motion can be easily made.







(a) (b)
Fig.13: A comparison between (a) the first (differential mechanism) and (b) the
second (antigravity device) figure-eight-shaped curves.
(Source: references [
80,112
].)

7. Conclusion
This study systematically examined not only various theories of antigravity but also prototype
devices that have actually been constructed. The deep knowledge of physical principles
related to the movement and levitation of objects is a conditio sine qua non for the successful
replacement of conventional rockets and the development of future space vehicles capable of
performing interstellar travel. Despite the strong technological character of the latter need, a
good knowledge of parapsychology is believed to play a significant pedagogical role and
enable enlightened scientists eventually to achieve this goal. Additional inspiration will also
come when trying to decode ancient writings such as those related to the caduceus carried by
Hermes in Greek mythology, which was supposed to cause antigravity effects, and also when
trying to mimic nature.

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109
Flying snake (National Geographic). Accessed July 8, 2012,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwDAsJCB2Pg
110
C. G. Provatidis, A novel mechanism to produce figure-eight-shaped closed curves in the three-
dimensional space, (paper presented at the Third International Conference on
Experiments/Process/System Modeling/Simulation & Optimization, Athens, 8-11 July, 2009).
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 43 www.rosecroixjournal.org

111
C. G. Provatidis, A device that can produce net impulse using rotating masses, Engineering 2
(2010), 648657.
112
Richard H. Wilkinson, Symbol & Magic in Egyptian Art (London: Thames and Hudson, 1994),
137.
113
Richard Amiel McGough. 2009. http://www.biblewheel.com/wheel/spokes/chet_eight.asp
114
Paul A. LaViolette, Genesis of the Cosmos: The Ancient Science of Continuous Creation
(Rochester: Bear & Company, 2004), Chapter 8.
115
Carlos M. N. Eire, A very brief history of eternity (New Jersey: Princeton University Press,
2010), 29.
116
Erik Hornung; David Lorton, The ancient Egyptian books of the afterlife, (Ithaca and London:
Cornell University Press, 1999; Translated from the German by David Lorton), 78. The head and
the feet of the huge divine figure are each surrounded by an Ouroboros-serpent, which in each case
is called Mehen; this is the earliest known representation of the Ouroboros, and the entire figure,
with its captions, refers to the genesis and the end of time.
117
Ted Andrews, Animal Speak: the spiritual & magical powers of creatures great & small (St. Paul,
Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 1993), 157.
118
B. W. Tobalske, D. R. Warrick, C. J. Clark, D. R. Powers, T. L. Hedrick, G. A. Hyder and A. A.
Biewener, Three-dimensional kinematics of hummingbird flight, J. Exp.Biol. 210 (2007): 2368
2382.
119
Hummingbirds: Typical videos. Accessed July 8, 2012,
(i) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjnc1kHMDDo&feature=player_embedded,
(ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NQv89pCYU8&feature=fvst.
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 44 www.rosecroixjournal.org


APPENDIX A
Number Eight, the Symbol of Infinity and the Ouroboros Serpent
A.1 The Number Eight

In ancient Egyptian culture, four is the number of totality and completeness. Eight, as
four doubled, and hence intensified, appears to be used symbolically in some cases, as when
the god Shu created eight heh deities to help support the legs of the goddess Nut in her guise
as the great heavenly cow. The number often appears in relation to Hermopolis, the City of
Eight, where the eight-deity ogdoad led by the go Thoth was revealed.
113


The contextual connection between the number 8 and the name of Jesus is amplified in this,
one of the greatest alphanumeric identities linking the Greek and Hebrew languages to each
other and to the central doctrine of historic Christianity:
114


Jesus The Salvation of our God

= 888 =

Iesous Yeshoth Elohenu

The many numinous ramifications of this number are discussed in the Gematria Reference
under the Number 888.

In Christianity, the number 8 has the following meanings:
The spiritual Eighth Day, because the number 7 refers to the days of the week which
repeat themselves.
The number of Beatitudes.
The Anti-Christ, the eighth king according to the Book of Revelations.
Also, eight is considered a lucky number in both the Chinese and Japanese cultures.

A.2 The Role of the Symbol of Infinity
It has been previously written that the Tarot fortune-telling card deck consists of seventy-
eight cards and has been traced back to Renaissance Europe. The nineteenth-century French
physician Grard Encausse, writing under the pen name of Papus, conjectured that the
Egyptian magi may have purposefully created Tarot cards as an alternative way of ensuring
the survival of their sacred knowledge. In particular, many taroists teach that Arcana 1
through 10 portray principles governing the creation of the physical universe, while Arcana
11 through 21 describe matters relating to human evolution and spiritual development. A
detailed description can be found in [
115
].

The story of creation makes its true start with Arcanum 1. The Marseilles arcanum depicts a
magician wearing a hat in the form of an infinity sign, whereas the corresponding Rider-Waite
tarot deck is shown in Fig.14a. In a very similar Egyptian fresco, the magus (priest) stands
before a cubical stone altar, he wears a white robe secured about his waist by a serpent biting
its tail, the ancient Egyptian symbol of eternity and also the symbol for the cosmic ocean,
Nun.

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(a) (b)
Fig.14: Typical mystical uses of the figure eight or the symbol of infinity, in the
Rider-Waite tarot deck: (a) Arcana 1, (b) Arcana 8 or 11.
(Source: http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k464/jlehmann1030420/magicianBIG.jpg,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RWS_Tarot_08_Strength.jpg.)

A.3 The Role of Ouroboros Serpent and the Role of Figure-Eight

The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent eating its own tail (Fig.15). It often
represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-
creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon
as they end. It can also represent the idea of primordial unity related to something existing in
or persisting before any beginning with such force or qualities that it cannot be extinguished.
The Ouroboros has been important in religious and mythological symbolism, but has also
been frequently used in alchemical illustrations, where it symbolizes the circular nature of the
alchemist's opus. It is also often associated with Gnosticism and Hermeticism. Carl Jung
interpreted the Ouroboros as having an archetypal significance to the human psyche.
116
The
Ouroboros is contained in the Egyptian Book of the Netherworld.
117


The Ouroboros was popular after the Amarna period, the latter marked by the reign of
Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten (13531336 BC) in order to reflect the
dramatic change of Egypt's polytheistic religion into one where a sun-god, Aten, was
worshiped over all other gods.

The infinity symbol () is also sometimes depicted as a special variation of the ancient
Ouroboros snake symbol (Fig.15b and Fig.16). The snake is twisted into the horizontal eight
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 46 www.rosecroixjournal.org

configuration while engaged in eating its own tail, a uniquely suitable symbol for
endlessness.




(a) (b)
Fig.15: The Ouroboros serpent in two different options: (a) single loop, and (b) figure-
eight-shaped.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Serpiente_alquimica.jpg.)








Fig.16: Several figure-eight-shaped Ouroboros snakes.
(Source: http://nemetwr.pa-sy-a.gr/2010/05/22/00-00/feminist_masonic_8_snake.jpg.)



The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 47 www.rosecroixjournal.org


APPENDIX B
The hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae (Fig.17). The hummingbird can
hover almost motionless thanks to the extreme elastic deformation of its wings, of which the
tips form a figure-eight shape (the entire figure-eight shape is shown better in a video,
whereas only half of it is shown in Fig.17-right). Hummingbirds possess an extraordinary
capability: in order to hover, a hummingbirds wings move back and forth horizontally
drawing a narrow but elegant figure-eight in the air with each full stroke. The stroke is
continuous like a Mbius strip which is the symbol of infinity. The hummingbird can
hover for 50 minutes, while moving its wings 53 times per second (approx. 3,000 rounds per
minute).
118,119
The interested reader may consult many Internet videos such as those in [
120
].




Fig.17: The hummingbird eating from natural (left) and artificial (right) source.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Colibri-thalassinus-001-edit.jpg,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NQv89pCYU8&feature=fvst.)

The Rose+Croix Journal Vol 9 48 www.rosecroixjournal.org
Sciences Mysteries This Far and No Further
Dave Stein
Go directly to the text of the paper.
Abstract
Science and its underpinnings, mathematics and logic, are shaking their own foundations, with
profound implications not only for the scientific method but also for the relationship between
science and mysticism. For example, recent advances in quantum physics, and continual re-
interpretations of earlier findings, are calling into question the notion of the detached observer
a notion fundamental to the contemporary scientific method as well as the reductionistic
approach of attempting to understand an entirety in terms of its components.
Other findings indicate that uncertainty, randomness, and inconsistency may be basic to nature,
with pervasive implications for the predictive and descriptive capability of science. Indeed, it is
at the level of the chaotic, quantum substrate that mystical laws may operate. As for sciences
foundational mathematics and logic, they rest on axioms that, in a striking parallel with some
Western religions, are unprovable, consensus-based, and ultimately accepted on faith. Beyond
these gatekeepers to knowledge lies yet another. Stated differently, This far and no further.
Like religion, science has mysteries that are beyond its reach.
Increasing studies of consciousness, intuitive processes, and some of the healing modalities can
be expected to magnify the limits of reductionism-based science. This is because these studies
generally do not yield the repeatable results that the scientific method demands. It is envisioned
that the scientific method will need to evolve to encompass subjective experiences that have been
traditionally regarded as outside its realm and that are inherent to mystical teachings and
consciousness research perhaps starting with a framework that recognizes the
interconnectedness of the observer and the observed.
This paper concludes with commentary on cultural, social, and academic trends that in parallel
with developments in science highlight the limits of reductionism.
Les mystres de la science Jusqu'ici et pas plus loin
Dave Stein
Rsum
Les notions fondamentales propres la science, aux mathmatiques et la logique sont remises
en question, ce qui entrane de profonds changements en ce qui touche la mthode scientifique,
mais galement la relation entre la science et le mysticisme. titre d'exemple, les dcouvertes
rcentes en physique quantique et l'tude constante de l'interprtation des dcouvertes antrieures
entranent la reconsidration de la notion de l'observateur neutre, un principe fondamental de la
mthode scientifique contemporaine et de la mthode rductionniste, qui tente de comprendre
l'intgralit d'un concept en s'appuyant sur les lments qui le composent.
The Rose+Croix Journal Vol 9 49 www.rosecroixjournal.org

D'autres constatations dmontrent que l'incertitude, le caractre alatoire et les incohrences
constituent la base de la nature, ce qui a des rpercussions profondes sur la capacit de
description et de prdiction de la science. En fait, c'est au niveau du substrat quantique et
chaotique que les lois mystiques semblent intervenir. Tout comme les mathmatiques et la
logique la base des sciences, ces lois sont fondes sur des axiomes qui, paralllement avec
certaines religions occidentales, ne peuvent tre prouvs, sont gnralement accepts et d'une
certaine manire sont fonds sur la foi. Abstraction faite de ces gardiens du savoir, il existe un
autre monde de connaissances. On y fait rfrence dans l'expression Jusqu'ici et pas plus loin .
Tout comme la religion, le domaine de la science possde galement des mystres encore
inexpliqus.

Un nombre de plus en plus croissant d'tudes sur la conscience, sur les processus intuitifs et
certaines approches de gurison devraient permettre de repousser les limites de la science fonde
sur le rductionnisme. Cela s'explique par le fait que ces tudes ne fournissent gnralement pas
les rsultats rptitifs que recherche la science. Il est prvoir que la mthode scientifique devra
voluer afin d'englober les expriences subjectives qui ne sont pas intgres traditionnellement
dans ce domaine, et qui pourtant, font parties inhrentes de lenseignement mystique et de la
recherche de la conscience. Peut-tre faudra-t-il commencer par reconnatre l'interdpendance
entre l'observateur et le phnomne observ.

Cet article se termine par un commentaire sur les tendances culturelles, sociales et universitaires,
qui paralllement au dveloppement de la science, soulignent les limites de l'approche
rductionniste.

Los Misterios de la Ciencia, Hasta Aqu y No Ms
Dave Stein

Resumen

La ciencia y sus bases, las matemticas y la lgica, estn sacudiendo sus propios fundamentos,
con grandes implicaciones, no solo al mtodo cientfico, sino tambin en las relaciones entre la
ciencia y el misticismo. Por ejemplo, los recientes avances en fsica cuntica y las continuas
reinterpretaciones de hallazgos anteriores, estn cuestionando las nociones del observador no
implicado, una nocin al mtodo cientfico contemporneo, como tambin al enfoque
reduccionista para tratar de entender la totalidad en trminos de sus componentes constitutivos.

Otros hallazgos indican que la incertidumbre, la aleatoriedad y la inconsistencia pueden ser
bsicas en la naturaleza, con pentrantes implicaciones a la capacidad predictiva y descriptiva de
la ciencia. De hecho, es a este nivel de sustrato cuntico catico que las leyes msticas pueden
funcionar. En cuanto a las matemticas y lgica fundamental de la ciencia, estn basadas en
axiomas, con un paralelo impresionante con algunas religiones occidentales, son imposibles de
demostrar, basados en consensos y al final , son aceptadas como actos de fe. Ms all de estos
guardianes al conocimiento, hay aun ms. Dicho de forma diferente: Hasta aqu y no ms.
Igual que la religin, la ciencia tiene misterios que estn ms all de su propio alcance.

The Rose+Croix Journal Vol 9 50 www.rosecroixjournal.org

Se espera que los crecientes estudios sobre la conciencia, los procesos intuitivos y algunas
modalidades de curacin, amplifiquen los lmites de la ciencia basada en el reduccionismo. Esto
se debe a que estos estudios no producen resultados repetibles que el mtodo cientfico demanda.
Se contempla que el mtodo cientfico deber evolucionar para abarcar experiencias subjetivas
que han sido tradicionalmente consideradas como fuera de su dominio, y que son inherentes a las
enseanzas msticas e investigacin de la conciencia. Quizs, comenzando con un marco que
reconozca la interconectividad entre observador y lo observado.

Este artculo concluye con un comentario de las tendencias culturales, sociales y acadmicas que,
en paralelo con los desarrollos cientficos, resaltan los limites de reduccionismo.


Mistrios da CinciaAt Aqui e No Mais
Dave Stein

Resumo

A cincia, sua lgica e matemtica fundamentais, esto agitando seus prprios fundamentos,
com implicaes profundas no somente no mtodo cientfico mas tambm na relao entre
cincia e misticismo. Por exemplo, recentes avanos em fsica quntica, e reinterpretaes
contnuas de descobertas anteriores, esto pedindo que o observador tenha uma noo imparcial
uma noo fundamental para o mtodo cientfico contemporneo bem como uma abordagem
reducionstica na tentativa de entender a totalidade com relao a seus componentes.

Outras descobertas indicam que a incerteza, o acaso, e a inconsistncia so fatores fundamentais
da natureza, com implicaes difundidas na capacidade descritiva e preditiva da cincia. De fato,
a nvel do substrato quntico e catico que as leis msticas podem operar. Quanto lgica e
matemtica fundamentais da cincia, elas permanecem na hiptese que, num paralelo
surpreendente com algumas religies ocidentais, no podem ser comprovadas, baseadas num
consenso e por fim so aceitas na f. Alm dessas posies de conhecimento ainda existem
outras. Declaradas de forma diferente, At Aqui e No Mais. Como a religio, a cincia tem
mistrios que esto alm de serem alcanados.

O crescente nmero de estudos sobre conscincia, processos intuitivos, e algumas modalidades
de cura tem como expectativa aumentar os limites da cincia com base no reducionismo. Isto
acontece porque estes estudos em geral no produzem os mesmos resultados repetidamente
conforme exigidos pelos mtodos cientficos. Prev-se que o mtodo cientfico ter que evoluir
para incluir experincias subjetivas que vm sendo tradicionalmente consideradas como estando
fora de seu domnio e que so inerentes aos ensinamentos msticos e pesquisas sobre a
conscincia talvez comeando com uma estrutura que reconhea a interconexo do observador
e do observado.

Este estudo foi concludo com comentrios sobre tendncias acadmicas, culturais e sociais que
em paralelo com a evoluo da cincia destacam os limites do reducionismo.


The Rose+Croix Journal Vol 9 51 www.rosecroixjournal.org

Die Geheimnisse der Wissenschaft Bis hierher und nicht weiter
Dave Stein

Zusammenfassung
Die Wissenschaft, und die Mathematik und Logik, die diese untermauern, zerrttet ihre eigene
Basis mit tiefgreifenden Auswirkungen nicht nur fr die wissenschaftliche Methode, sondern
auch fr die Beziehung zwischen Wissenschaft und Mystizismus. Zum Beispiel stellen die
neueren Fortschritte in der Quantenphysik und dauernde Neuinterpretationen frherer Ergebnisse
nicht nur die Vorstellung eines objektiven Beobachters in Frage eine Vorstellung, die in der
gegenwrtigen wissenschaftlichen Methode grundlegend ist sondern auch den
reduktionistischen Ansatz des Versuchs, das Ganze auf der Grundlage seiner Einzelteile zu
verstehen.

Weitere Ergebnisse zeigen an, dass Unsicherheit, Zufaelligkeit und fehlende Konsistenz
grundlegend in der Natur sind, mit weitreichenden Auswirkungen fr die Fhigkeit der
Wissenschaft vorauszusagen und zu beschreiben. Was die der Wissenschaft zugrundeliegende
Mathematik und Logik angeht, so beruhen diese auf Axiomen die, in auffallender Parallelitt mit
westlichen Religionen nicht zu beweisen sind, auf Konsens grnden und letztendlich auf gut
Glauben akzeptiert werden. Jenseits dieser Torhter des Wissens liegt noch eine andere Art
Wissen. Anders ausgedrckt, bis hierher und nicht weiter. Wie in der Religion gibt es in der
Wissenschaft Geheimnisse, die jenseits ihrer Reichweite liegen.

Die zunehmende Menge der Forschung ber das Bewusstsein, intuitiven Erfahrungen und
einige Heilungsmodalitaeten stellen wahrscheinlich die Grenzen der auf Reduktionismus
gegrndeten Wissenschaft heraus. Das kommt daher, weil diese Studieren im Allgemeinen
nicht die wiederholbaren Ergebnisse erzielen, die die wissenschaftliche Methode fordert. Wir
stellen uns vor, dass die wissenschaftliche Methode sich entwickeln muss, um subjektive
Erfahrungen, die traditionellerweise als auerhalb ihres Bereichs liegend angesehen wurden
und die der mystischen Lehre und der Forschung ber das Bewusstsein angehren - mit
einzuschlieen. Unter Umstnden fangen wir mit einem Rahmen an, der die Verbindung
zwischen die Beobachter und die Beobachten anerkennt.

Dieses Forschungspapier schliet mit einem Kommentar zu den kulturellen, sozialen und
akademischen Trends ab, die - parallel zu Entwicklungen in der Wissenschaft - auf die Grenzen
des Reduktionismus hinweisen.

INTRODUCTION

Like the religions and creation myths that predate it, contemporary science provides a framework
for attempting to understand the universe. Replacing Western religious dogma with a new
consensus-based scientific authority that is grounded in repeatable experiment and observation, it
is itself based on a protocol known as the scientific method.

Contemporary scientific protocol is based, among other things, on the notion of the detached
observer or experimenter, who is separate from and impartial to that which is observed. In
this sense, and in other ways, too, it is reductionistic, attempting to understand the whole in terms
The Rose+Croix Journal Vol 9 www.rosecroixjournal.org 52

of the parts. A classic illustration is the notion of action-at-a-distance that underpins the
inverse square law equations for gravitational force and electrostatic force. In terms of this law,
a mass m
1
over there at a distance R from here exerts a force on a mass m
2
over here;
electrical charges behave similarly.

However, scientific advances are now calling into question the notion of the detached observer,
perhaps rendering him/her an anachronism. Actually, it is not always the advances themselves
that are new; instead, their impacts are now becoming better understood as they are continually
reinterpreted and may well be increasingly pervasive in next-generation science. For example,
since the advent of quantum mechanics, it has become more readily apparent that the process of
observing or measuring something influences the outcome a phenomenon that is, however,
generally inconsequential in everyday life. In a rough sense, this is because at quantum scales,
the mass-energies used to make the measurements are comparable to the mass-energies of that
which is being measured.
1
But the mechanism of influence does not stop here. The act of
choosing the experiment itself influences the outcome. Case in point: an electron can manifest as
a particle or as a wave, depending on how one chooses to observe it. One can argue that this
applies in the social sciences and other walks of life as well even in public opinion polls
since the answer to a question is often influenced by the way in which the question is framed.
Thus, just how detached is the observer or principal investigator?

QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT THE END OF REDUCTIONISM?

The proverbial plot thickens. Not only does the act of observation influence the outcome; not
only does the act of choosing the experiment influence the outcome the notion of separateness
or reductionism may itself need to be re-addressed, specifically, in the context of the Einstein-
Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox and gedanken experiment first proposed in 1935 and
performed years later by Alain Aspect (1982).
2
As commonly interpreted, the results of this
experiment challenge the reductionistic notion of action-at-a-distance, as this would require a
superluminal signal that violates special relativity. Instead, the results suggest an
interconnectedness or quantum entanglement that seemingly permits instantaneous
communication among the particles involved without requiring the forbidden superluminal
signal. But if the particles involved in the experiment are indeed quantum entangled, then one
might ask how separate they are and indeed what communication means.
3
To a number of
physicists, the results of this experiment point to a larger system whose properties depend on
its entirety and are thus beyond analysis in terms of its components in their parlance,
nonlocality. If so, then how scalable is this notion of larger system, and with what implications
to reductionist-based scientific frameworks based on an over there and over here, together
with a seemingly detached observer?
4


More profoundly, if quantum entanglement calls into question the notion of communication
and signal perhaps even the notion of separate particles then one might ask how scalable
the notion of entanglement is. Conceivably it extends to the macroscopic level and to all things.
Indeed, the eminent physicist David Bohm has postulated that an unbroken wholeness
underlies the seeming separateness of the everyday world.
5



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THIS FAR AND NO FURTHER

Compounding this challenge are other limitations inherent in science and mathematics, and now
perhaps even in their foundational deductive logic limitations that scientists themselves have
been among the first to acknowledge. One such limitation is randomness. Quantum mechanics
describes nature as probabilistic as opposed to deterministic. For example, the radial wave
function for an electron orbiting an atom predicts the probability that the electron is at a distance
r
1
, r
2
, r
3
, etc. from the nucleus of the atom when its position is measured. It does not predict a
specific value for the electrons distance from the nucleus. Furthermore, the radial wave
function predicts radial distances at which the probability of finding the electron is relatively
high, interspersed with radial distances at which the probability is zero in other words,
discreteness. During the early years of quantum mechanics, this probabilistic aspect of quantum
mechanics was resisted by no less of a physicist than Albert Einstein himself, who is reported to
have stated, The theory [quantum mechanics] says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer
to the secret of the old one. I, at any rate, am convinced that He [God] does not throw dice
Einsteins own role in ushering in quantum mechanics notwithstanding.
6
In response, physicist
Neils Bohr, father of the Bohr Theory of the atom, allegedly retorted, Stop telling God what to
do. Years later, the prominent physicist Stephen Hawking offered his own perspective: God
not only plays dice but sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen. Hawkings quote
alludes to the possibility of hidden variables; however, an alternative possibility that is gaining
increasing acceptance
7
is that uncertainty and inconsistency may be intrinsic to nature and that
indeed chaos may underlie the more predictable orderly macroscopic everyday world a notion
consistent with the concept of a violently fluctuating, turbulent quantum foam as a descriptor
of space-time at small scales, turbulent to the point that directions of space and time lose their
meanings. This randomness, this quantum chaos, may have profound implications for the
predictive and descriptive capability of science and it is at the level of the chaotic, quantum
substrate that mystical laws may operate.

Further limiting what can be known is the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which prohibits
simultaneous knowledge, with arbitrary precision, of two conjugate variables e.g., position and
momentum (along the same axis), angular position and angular momentum (relative to the same
axis of rotation), or energy uncertainty and the duration of the uncertainty. Arguably, it does not
make sense to even talk about two conjugate variables simultaneously. The product of the
uncertainties is at best on the order of Plancks constant, a lower bound. The Heisenberg
uncertainty principle supports the contention by some physicists that uncertainty is basic to
nature and that beyond a certain point, nature is unknowable in the objective scientific sense
8

again with profound implication for the predictive capability of science.

But it is not only at the quantum scale that the capability to know objectively and scientifically
is limited. At the cosmological level, the modern accepted creation myth the Big Bang
may have an event horizon that puts it forever beyond human reach a possibility suggested by
the eminent physicist Stephen Hawking.




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BUT NOT EVEN THIS FAR

Even the mathematics and logic that underpin science itself have their own inherent limitations.
For example, in quantum logic, the Law of the Excluded Middle (i.e., that everything must be
true or false) no longer rigorously applies. Taken to the extreme, this challenges the notion
of binary, either-or thinking with possible eventual implication to us-them thinking and
counterpoint-based identity in everyday life.

A further fundamental limit to deductive reasoning indeed to the axiomatic mathematical
systems that underpin the sciences is captured by Gdels theorem, which itself is not exactly
new. According to mathematician Kurt Gdel, the consistency of a finite mathematical system is
provable only at a level external to itself, and this in turn argues against the completeness of the
system.
9
In addition to giving rise to paradoxes e.g., the Barber of Seville paradox
10
Gdels
theorem represents an inherent limit to axiomatic mathematics and to what can be known or
expressed in terms of it. This represents another fundamental limit to deductive reasoning.
Indeed, science, mathematics, and logic are shaking their own foundations.

JUST THE COUNTERFACTS, PLEASE

It is not only new discoveries by which science, mathematics, and logic are proving their own
limitations. Continual reinterpretations of old discoveries even going back as far as Thomas
Youngs double slit experiment in 1802 are playing a role as well.

In Youngs double slit experiment, photons pass through two slits and impinge upon a screen
(for example, photographic film). If the photons are regarded as electromagnetic waves, then
wave mechanics describes and predicts the alternating bright and dark bands recorded on the
photographic strip, bands that correspond respectively to constructive and destructive
interference. This is straightforward.

But suppose that the intensity of the photon source is reduced to the point that only one photon is
in transit at a time. Over a period of time, the photographic film still records the interference
pattern that wave mechanics describes! In this case, what is interfering with what, if only one
photon is in transit at a given time? What is the wave now, except a description of the
statistical distribution of the photon paths? The fact that the interference pattern is still obtained
is the impact of the path not taken an arguably counterintuitive phenomenon known as
counterfactuality, which has implications for logic and for scientific experimentation. Thus,
counterfactuality can be regarded as the effect, on an observable outcome, of the mere existence
of an alternative that did not actually occur.
11


Continuing, if the experiment is repeated with an attempt made to identify the path through
which each photon passes (e.g., by adding detectors near the two slits), then the interference
pattern is destroyed and the well-known single-slit pattern is observed!




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BEYOND THE HUMAN VANTAGE POINT

Perhaps the most fundamental limitation to what can be known objectively scientifically is
the inability to (objectively) transcend the human experience. The universe is unknowable in an
objective, scientific sense independent of human measurements and observations. One might
regard this limitation as an extension of the anthropic principle.
12


SCIENCE A NEW RELIGION

Scientists have long known that science, itself a means to understand the universe, at best only
describes and predicts; it does not explain except in terms of consistency with other accepted
(that is, consensus-based) observations and facts and as discussed above, the predictive
capability of science is now under assault. At some point, science and the mathematics and logic
that underpin it rest on fundamental axioms and postulates that are beyond deductive proof and
accepted only by consensus and on faith. In this sense, science differs from religion only in
the level of consensus involved and the source of its authority, replacing religious teachings,
doctrine, and dogma with a consensus-based scientific authority that demands, among other
things, the replicability of experimental results. An additional resemblance is that science, like
some religions, has its own mysteries, the answers to which lie beyond its reach.

AND NOW, PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Although many regard science as a rebellion against religious dogma and the authority of
religious establishments, especially the establishments of revealed religions, it substituted its
own authority scientific consensus grounded in results that can be replicated for the authority
that it sought to supplant. In doing this, it has left little room for the magnified role of personal
experience that is inherent in physics of consciousness research, especially personal experience
that cannot be reliably replicated under seemingly controlled conditions but that as
nonconsensus reality (Mindell 2000, 25ff, 67, 209, 258ff, 587, 592) cannot be disproven.
Indeed, contemporary science is arguably ill-equipped to accommodate anecdotal evidence
beyond evidence aggregated from large statistically-significant population samples. Apart from
the influence of subtle energies not yet understood, one possible reason for this non-repeatability
in certain experiments is the mutual influence and indeed the entanglement of the observer with
the observed. From another vantage point, non-repeatability may stem from the chaos and
indeterminacy believed to underlie the more predictable and orderly macroscopic world.

Another mechanism for non-repeatability is the possibility of hidden variables, that is, subtle
influences that are not taken into account or perhaps not even understood. For example, recent
research suggests a correlation between space meteorology for example, the variations in the
Schumann resonances with solar activity and the effectiveness of intuitive processes and some
healing modalities (Oschman 2000, 97-104, 107-110). Other research corroborates the power of
intention, that is, mind over matter results for which vary according to test subject and other
influences (Jahn and Dunne 1987, 46, 52, 72; Oschman 2000, 227). Additional subtle influences
that have been proposed are local geological conditions (Oschman 2000, 187) and local electric
and magnetic fields including magnetic shielding (Oschman 2000, 97-98; Higgins 2007; Higgins
2010).
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THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONFLUENCE

Although randomness, uncertainty, counterfactuality, inherent limitations of axiomatic
frameworks, and the demise of the detached observer herald profound changes in the scientific
method (albeit not immediately), these changes are not happening in isolation. Indeed, social
and cultural factors may well magnify the impacts of these limitations. With the increased
interaction among the cultures of the world for example, via travel, communications,
commerce, and education (including self-development) there is an increased cross-flow of
ideas, philosophies, and perspectives among peoples, cultures, and regions. In comparison with
cultures generally characterized as Western, Asian cultures are generally more holistic and less
reductionistic in their approach to nearly everything, including philosophy, religion, medicine,
business relationships, and even warfare. This is underscored by the fact that in contrast with the
individualism that characterizes the United States and parts of Europe, Asian cultures tend to be
more group and personal relationship oriented.
13
A confluence of Asian cultural influences and
advances in particle physics may pave the way for a scientific method that is less reductionistic
than the present one and indeed the term particle itself has a reductionistic connotation.

To this confluence one might add the complex interrelationships among environmental,
economic policy, and business decisions interrelationships illustrated by ripple effects that
sometimes progress full circle and that are not captured by near-term focused utility functions.
14

One can envision that these complex interrelationships will give rise not only to more holistic
approaches to social issues but also to a way of thinking beyond us-them a way that
synergizes with the complementary holistic framework that is emerging in science and through
Asian cultural influences.

Foresight studies
15
and the organizations that enable and support them might well be a fourth
player in this confluence. By their very nature, foresight studies are holistic and interdisciplinary
as they examine the cross-cutting implications of technology advances, social trends, and policy
decisions implications far beyond the realm of the academic departments that mirror the
departments in governments and corporations. Furthermore, foresight studies and analyses
require more than extrapolative thinking they require discontinuous, nonlinear thinking that
anticipates the otherwise unexpected events, known in the profession as wild cards.

THE OUTLOOK

Religion and contemporary science face a common challenge people are seeking answers that
are seemingly beyond both. In this quest, an increased role can be expected for personal
experience that is not readily accommodated either by consensus-based religions or by
contemporary science.

A complete characterization of the scientific method to come would be premature, as this far
and no further itself recedes with time. One can be sure that there will be scientific advances
that are not yet envisioned. Like many scientific laws and findings before them, the Heisenberg
uncertainty principle, quantum logic, counterfactuality, and even Gdels theorem may
themselves be overturned someday, as scientific principles, laws, and discoveries are rarely final.
The Rose+Croix Journal Vol 9 57 www.rosecroixjournal.org

Nonetheless, it is reasonable to anticipate a new scientific method that emerges from the seeming
irreconcilability of personal experience and the entangled observer with the scientific method
and consensus-based science one that encompasses subjective experiences that are inherent to
consciousness research, perhaps starting with a framework that recognizes the
interconnectedness of the observer and the observed. One can expect the new scientific method
to be based on complementary ways of thinking that even challenge traditional notions of
academic authority experiential in addition to consensus-based, and holistic in addition to
deductive and reductionistic.

Equally premature would be speculation on the remaining tenure of the scientific method as
we presently know it. Less disputable is the growing possibility for substantial changes in
scientific protocol.

In addition, mutual enrichment of the physical sciences, cultural cross-flow, the social sciences,
and foresight studies can be anticipated. For example, one might anticipate enhanced awareness
to the complex interdependencies (entanglements) that characterize social issues and perhaps
even a re-convergence of science and mysticism.


APPENDIX THE EINSTEIN-PODOLSKY-ROSEN (EPR) PARADOX AND ALAIN
ASPECTS EXPERIMENT

Alain Aspects 1982 experiment, based on the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen gedanken experiment,
demonstrated the quantum entanglement of two particles emitted by a system the alternative
being a superluminal signal that is forbidden by special relativity. The experiment is based on a
quantum mechanical property known as spin (not the same as mechanical spin in everyday
life). Specifically, it is based on the fact that spin is a conserved quantity and that quantum
mechanics permits knowledge and measurement along only one spin projection axis at a time
for example, left-right or up-down but not both. (Electrons, for example, have spin projections
of (1/2)(h/2) where h is Plancks constant. For brevity, this is often expressed as 1/2,
where the signs differentiate between left and right or up and down.) Subsequent measurement
of spin projection along another axis destroys the knowledge gained from the first measurement.

In Alain Aspects experiment, a system--M--emits two particles--A and B--in opposite
directions. As spin is a conserved vector quantity, the total spin of M, A, and B after the
emission must equal the spin of M prior to the emission. This forces the vector sum of As spin
projection and Bs spin projection to equal zero. Thus, if A has spin up, B must have spin down.
Until measured, the spin of A and B are indeterminate.

In one variation of the experiment, the choice of axis against which to measure the spin
projections of particles A and B was made after the particles were emitted and in transit. If the
up-down axis is chosen and a measurement of particle A indicates that it is spin up, then particle
B must somehow instantaneously know that its spin must be down. If the left-right axis is
chosen and particle A is found to be spin left, then particle B must again instantaneously know
that it must be spin right. Thus, particle B (not measured) must somehow instantaneously
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know to manifest a spin opposite to that of A, relative to an axis chosen after the particles are
emitted. But such an instantaneous communication requires the forbidden superluminal signal.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Groff, Linda. Intercultural Communication and Negotiation: Insights on the U.S.
Japanese Relationship, FUTUREtakes Vol. 8, no. 1 (2009), accessed September 10, 2011,
http://www.futuretakes.org/docs/Volume%208%20no%201/v8n1_article2.pdf.

2. Higgins, Shelley. 2007. The Effect of Magnetically Shielding a Dowser, The Rose+Croix
Journal 4, 45-54, accessed September 12, 2011,
http://www.rosecroixjournal.org/issues/2007/articles/vol4_45_54_higgins.pdf.

3. Higgins, Shelley. 2010. The Magnetic Characteristics of Intuition, The Rose+Croix
Journal 7, 13-51, accessed September 12, 2011,
http://www.rosecroixjournal.org/issues/2010/articles/vol7_44_82_higgins.pdf.

4. Jahn, Robert G., and Brenda J. Dunne. 1987. Margins of Reality. San Diego: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, Publishers.

5. Mindell, Arnold. 2000. Quantum Mind. Portland: Lao Tse Press.

6. Oschman, James L. 2000. Energy Medicine. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone (an imprint
of Harcourt Publishers Limited).

7. Rosen, Stephen M. 2004. Dimensions of Apeiron. Amsterdam: Rodopi,





1
As a macroscopic analogy, consider using a thermometer with a bulb the size of a basketball to
measure the temperature of water in a bathtub. Unless the thermometer bulb and the bathtub water are at
thermal equilibrium at the outset, the very immersion of the large bulb into the water itself changes the
waters temperature, the accuracy of the thermometer notwithstanding.
2
See Appendix.
3
An extremely crude analogy consider a fish in an aquarium and two observers, each looking
through a separate side of the aquarium. If the observers are somehow unaware of each others presence,
the movements of the two observed fish will be correlated as one might expect, considering that they
are the same fish!
4
The interconnectedness has a possible parallel with the Ayurvedic perspective of the observer,
the observed, and the process of observing.
5
Interpreted in this context, the New Testament passage As ye do unto the least of my brethren,
so ye do unto me can be regarded as a quantum mechanical statement.
6
In 1921, Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for his research on the photoelectric effect,
a quantum phenomenon.
7
For example, Rosen discusses this at length.
8
Ibid.
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9
(Actually, this is one of his theorems.) In 1931, mathematician Kurt Gdel proved that no
axiomatic mathematical system can prove its own consistency and completeness through deductive
reasoning.
10
It has been argued that paradoxes and pseudo-paradoxes for example, the legendary barber who
shaves himself if and only if he does not shave himself are inevitable consequences of finite
axiomatic systems.
11
Hypothetical analogy suppose that the macroscopic world behaved similarly, and imagine a
person driving from point A to point B with a choice of several possible routes. Even if the vehicle is the
only one on the road at the time (such that traffic volume is not a factor), the mere existence of routes not
traversed influences the drivers experience of the route chosen! The implications of the double slit
experiment, and of the more elaborate similar experiments that followed it, continue to be subjects of
study.
12
In one of its simple forms, the anthropic principle states that the universe is the way that it is
because otherwise we (humans) would not be here to notice.
13
These cultural differences are discussed at length by Groff.
14
For example, employer downsizing in a given geographic area can precipitate ripple effects in
which progressively fewer people can afford any companys goods and services, in turn leading to more
layoffs in a vicious circle sense. A wave of home foreclosures can result in neighborhood blight,
ultimately impacting the very financial institutions that initiated the foreclosure actions. Pollution in one
part of the world recognizes no geopolitical boundaries and can have far-reaching impacts across the
globe. Uncompensated overtime and a workaholic culture entail hidden healthcare costs.
15
Also known as future studies.
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 60 www.rosecroixjournal.org
Deriving Maxwell's Equations From An Inspiring Walk In The Hills
Robert Watson and Thomas L. Selby, Ph.D.
Go directly to the text of the paper.
Abstract
An argument in reasoning using only experience is proposed. The aim of this work is to prompt the
reader to step outside conventional boundaries related to understanding our universe and analyze the
world primarily through personal experience. Hindsight is used as an analytical tool to demonstrate the
possibility of this occurrence and references are made to the area of physics and Maxwells equations.
This work stretches the boundaries of scientific reasoning, both in format and convention, to
demonstrate to the reader the value of ones own experience towards a greater understanding of
physical laws. Phenomena of light are used as a point of interest, but any naturally occurring
observable would suffice. Simplicity is demonstrated as a fundamental part of the solution, and
reasoning in ones own experience is reinforced. This is done, not in a manner that is meant to replace,
or even challenge, current scientific methods. One of the goals of this work is to assist the observer in
moving beyond what might be believed to be fact, but instead is a limiting factor in the progress toward
understanding something far greater.
Modification des quations de Maxwell la suite d'une marche inspirante dans les collines
Robert Watson and Thomas L. Selby, Ph.D.
Rsum
Un texte argumentaire li au raisonnement bas uniquement sur l'exprience est propos. L'objectif de
ce travail est de forcer le lecteur aller au-del des frontires conventionnelles qui touchent la
comprhension de notre univers et analyser le monde principalement l'aide d'exprience
personnelle. Le recours la distanciation, outil analytique utilis pour dmontrer la possibilit de cette
ralit, et les rfrences aux domaines de la physique et des quations de Maxwell font l'objet de cet
article. Ce travail permet de repousser les limites du raisonnement scientifique, la fois la forme et la
convention, pour dmontrer au lecteur la valeur de l'exprience individuelle par rapport la
comprhension globale des lois de la physique. Le phnomne de la lumire est l'un des points d'intrt
utilis, mais tout phnomne naturel observable qui se produit pourrait tre suffisant. On y prsente la
simplicit comme l'une des parties fondamentales de la solution et on accentue l'importance du
raisonnement fond sur l'exprience individuelle. Cette argumentation n'a pas pour objectif de
remplacer ou mme de s'opposer aux mthodes scientifiques actuelles. L'un des objectifs de ce travail
est d'aider l'observateur aller au-del de ce qui peut tre peru comme un fait, mais qui en fait est un
facteur qui freine l'acquisition d'une comprhension encore plus volue du monde qui nous entoure.
Derivando las Ecuaciones de Maxwell de una Inspiradora Caminata por las Colinas
Robert Watson and Thomas L. Selby, Ph.D.
Resumen
Se propone una argumentacin de razonamiento utilizando solo la experiencia. El objetivo de este
trabajo es incitar al lector a salirse de su zona convencional del entendimiento con relacin a la
comprensin del universo y analizar el mundo primordialmente a travs de la experiencia personal. La
The Rose+Croix Journal 2012 Vol 9 61 www.rosecroixjournal.org

comprensin retrospectiva se utiliza como una herramienta analtica para demostrar la posibilidad de
esta ocurrencia y se utilizan referencias al rea de la fsica y las ecuaciones de Maxwell. Este trabajo
amplia las limitaciones del razonamiento cientfico, tanto en formato como en convencionalismos, con
el fin de demostrar al lector el valor de la experiencia propia para el entendimiento de las leyes fsicas.
Se utilizan fenmenos de la luz como un punto de inters, sin embargo cualquier fenmeno natural
observable sera suficiente. Se muestra la simplicidad como una parte fundamental de la solucin y el
razonamiento de la experiencia propia lo refuerza. Esto se realiza, no para reemplazar o siquiera
desafiar los mtodos cientficos actuales. Uno de los objetivos de este trabajo es ayudar al observador a
ir ms all de lo que se cree que son Hechos, pero en realidad, se trata de un factor limitante en el
progreso hacia la comprensin de algo mucho mas grande.

Derivando as Equaes de Maxwell a Partir de uma Caminhada Inspiradora pelas Colinas
Robert Watson and Thomas L. Selby, Ph.D.

Resumo

proposto aqui um argumento sobre o raciocnio de se utilizar somente experincias. O objetivo deste
trabalho alertar o leitor para ir alm dos limites convencionais relacionados ao entendimento de nosso
universo e analisar o mundo, primeiramente atravs da experincia pessoal. A percepo usada como
uma ferramenta analtica para demonstrar a possibilidade desta ocorrncia e so feitas referncias
rea da fsica e das equaes de Maxwell. Este trabalho amplia os limites do raciocnio cientfico, tanto
no formato quanto na conveno, para demonstrar ao leitor o valor da prpria experincia de uma
pessoa em relao a um entendimento maior das leis da fsica. Os fenmenos da luz so usados como
um ponto de interesse, mas qualquer varivel que ocorre naturalmente seria suficiente. A simplicidade
demonstrada como uma parte fundamental da soluo, e reforado o raciocnio sobre a prpria
experincia de uma pessoa. Isto feito no de uma maneira que tem como objetivo substituir, ou
mesmo desafiar, os mtodos cientficos atuais. Um dos objetivos deste trabalho ajudar o observador a
se mover alm do que poderia ser acreditado como verdadeiro mas, ao invs, ser como um fator
limitante no progresso em direo ao entendimento de algo muito maior.

Die Ableitung von Maxwells Gleichungen aus einem anregenden Spaziergang in den Bergen
Robert Watson and Thomas L. Selby, Ph.D.

Zusammenfassung

Wir stellen eine vernnftige Diskussion die nur durch Erfahrung basiert ist, vor. Das Ziel dieser
Arbeit ist den Leser dazu zu bewegen, auerhalb der konventionellen Grenze unseres Verstndnisses zu
treten und die Welt primr aufgrund von persnlicher Erfahrung zu analysieren. Der Blick zurck wird
als analytisches Werkzeug benutzt um die Mglichkeit der Realitt des Vorfalls zu demonstrieren, und
es wird Bezug genommen auf das Gebiet der Physik und Maxwells Gleichungen. Diese Arbeit streckt
die Grenzen der wissenschaftlichen berlegung aus, sowohl in der Grenordnung als auch der
Konvention, um den Leser den Wert der eigenen Erfahrung hin zu einem besseren Verstndnis der
physikalischen Gesetze zu demonstrieren. Als interessantes Detail werden Lichtphnomene benutzt
aber jedes natrlich vorkommende Phnomen wrde ausreichen. Als fundamentaler Teil der Lsung
wird Einfachheit demonstriert, und was die eigene Erfahrung angeht, sollte bei dieser
Vernunftsberlegungen verstrkt werden. Dies soll nicht in einer Weise stattfinden dass gegenwrtige
wissenschaftliche Methoden ersetzt oder auch in Frage gestellt werden. Eines der Ziele dieser Arbeit ist
dem Beobachter jenseits zu Unterstuetzen und zu helfen mit dem was als Tatsache geglaubt werden
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koennte, was aber ein limitirener Faktor ist auf dem Weg hin zum Verstaendnis von was viel Groesser
ist.

Introduction

Hindsight is a wonderful thing! With this very thought in mind, lets reflect on our present knowledge
and peer into the future of what might be known.

Natural Philosophy

Here will be presented an argument in the spirit of natural philosophy that is not entirely empirical in
the traditional sense. The aim is to guide the reader to question what empiricism actually is and how
these ideas are used today to form what is believed to be true in scientific thought. What is suggested
here is provocative heresy, but is to be read with an open mind, not because it is to be deemed right
or wrong, but simply because it raises issues and points of discussion which may be ignored by our
modern philosophy of science. In this work, we are not confining ourselves to the philosophies of John
Locke and David Hume (Locke 1894 and Hume 1748), or any scientific method based on hypotheses
and rigorously reproducible experimentation. Instead we are looking into nature as our personal
laboratory and relying solely upon our own judgment of our personal experience. In a sense we are
following our own inner guide and interpreting the world in broader terms, which steps outside the
traditional reductionist viewpoint. It is a light-hearted analysis, but it nevertheless raises unanswered,
unasked, questions. By curious paths we shall derive Maxwell's laws defining the physical laws of
electromagnetic force (Maxwell 1865), or at least be led to hypothesize them from an almost a priori
argument just as the Aristotelians would have wanted to do. This is done to challenge the philosophy
of the scientific method and its definition, its self-imposed limitations, its assumptions and
presumptionsbut not to replace it. We seek rather to enhance its depth of enquiry and step outside
the box. Indeed, it is a call back to the simple truth of Aristotle's syllogisms (Smith 1989) as applied to
empiricism, and how this method can be extended to the maximum in the case of fundamental physics.

Let us take a stroll in the hills, let us observe the flow of the eddy the stream, the river, the waves
emitted by a stone thrown into water, their reflection and even interference. Let us sit on the heath at
night and watch the moon and the stars, and planets revolve about us as we observe from the apparent
motionlessness of our position, seemingly oblivious to the angular motion we are undergoing. Let us
observe the changes in intensity of a camp fire as we add firewood and feel the corresponding changes
in temperature and sense the correlation between light and heat. Let us observe the light emitted or
reflected by any source, whether by day or night; the rainbow and its relationship to the Sun as we
inspect a waterfall from different angles; the reflection of our image on the surface of a pool; or the
refraction that distorts our depth judgment as we grasp for a fish in the stream. Let us observe a flash of
lightning and the odd delay that the lightning and the thunder present us with and seek to understand
why this delay occurs. Could we desire a better laboratory for the observation of nature than nature
itself? Let us observe all this and see how far we might get with little but pure mathematics, recognition
of the power of empiricism and a little pragmatism to guide us in the understanding of these
phenomena. Phenomena eternally available, or so we must hope, for all humanity to observe, record,
and wonder. Let us apply natural philosophy alone without sophisticated experimental equipment, with
no more accuracy of measurement than one can construct with one's hands from forest wood and stone
in a brief sojourn, and the few but powerful laws of nature bequeathed to us by Newton, which in any
case we could prove to ourselves quite quickly with limited tools, assuming we knew the mathematics.
But let us also add another ingredient, a sense of unity in that which we observe, that will manifest as a
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sense of mathematical elegance, and see if it can aid us in our quest for understanding. That is, we will
seek out the simplest or most elegant description, the description that has the greatest explanatory
power.

Whilst this approach is not necessarily a practical way forward for science, the time has come to
reappraise our assumptions about empiricism, because empiricism, rightly, has become the dominant
approach used to investigate physical reality. Above all it may be possible to learn something from the
methods of the ancient Greeks, and apply a more personal philosophical approach to fundamental
science. In order to do this we will take a fresh look at Newton's laws (Newton 1726),
electromagnetism and other steps in the development of fundamental science. This will be done in a
flash, or a seeming flash, relative to the historical developments that took place in these sciences over
the years, which were long and tortuous, taking decades of work by large numbers of scientists. It will
also be fast relative to any normal steps in the process of learning these systems or applying them. We
will move over and through these momentous theories at break-neck speed as if they presented no
hindrance at all, extracting only the philosophical insight we need for our argument. What we are doing
will not therefore be rigorous in the usual sense, and it cannot be claimed to be proven. However, it
will be an intuitive grasping nevertheless, with its own internal logic and merit. We will in particular
start with the Newtonian conception of physics.

The Nature of Light

Let us assume that we already know experimentally, or by careful observation of nature, all about
inertial frames from a Newtonian conception, that is, elementary mechanics, and the laws that go with
it (Borowitz 1968). We have two possibilities for inertial frames that make physical sense based on
this, the original Newtonian one and the later one of special relativity (Einstein 1905). Both work with
the data hypothesized, that is a Newtonian limit, and the evidence presented casually by our walk in the
hills. But now let's say we want to fit the phenomenon of light into this framework. Since we can look
at light reflected and refracted, it reasons that it is composed of some sort of wave made of component
frequencies. If we have any doubts about this, the hills furnish us with ample opportunities to
experiment with waves in water and the play of light on water so as to see the similarity between
reflections and refractions in water and in light. In addition, we can see the beautiful and paradoxical
display of the rainbow, that would require of us some analysis of pigmentation with local flora in order
to unravel the complexity of our own senses. We should not consider too deeply ideas that light might
be corpuscular, despite the fact that corpuscular versus wave models go back to the ancient Greeks, let
us instead try to explain only what we can directly observe at this point, and that is waves. Let us
imagine ourselves 300 years ago or more, with nothing but curiosity and nature to guide us, but with
one important historical anachronism, one impossible gift from the future: every conceivable
mathematical and methodological and philosophical tool, every future paradigm without prejudice, so
that we may effortlessly select the most appropriate for our needs. But no technology! Instead, our gift
is a rather unfair amount of hindsight.

Methods

What sort of wave is this phenomena we call light? What can be deduced from our own personal
observations and limited technology?

Light as Phenomena

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We know that some aspect of light can be more or less added, that is summed together. It may not be
absolutely clear that this is in any sense linear, but linearity is a good first approximation, at least for
our sought-for quantity that is hypothesized to underlie the phenomenon of light. There is an assigned
zero intensity, and then there are gradations of relatively higher and lower intensities. There are no
negative intensities because we have referenced, or calibrated, our zero intensity to a fixed scale from
which we will analyze all phenomena. To a first approximation we have, underlying light, something
that can be added together and multiplied by a real number. Secondly this underlying something must
be invariant in inertial frames in some meaningful senseit must therefore be a tensorin the same
three-dimensional space that we typically observe objects; otherwise all sorts of contradictions or at
least complexities will arise. Inertial frames do not make sense without tensors (Lovelock 1989 and
Bishop 1980) if we are to use generalizations of geometry. How arbitrary (and therefore complex) it
would be for key physical geometrical objects not to be tensors, even in the absence of curvature.
Notwithstanding the fact that Newtonian physics does not really pass this test, with our mathematical
advantages, we must surely look at tensors anyway. This is the unfair advantage we bring with us to
our trek: if we are to see the world geometrically, which is to say, naturally, we must look for natural
tensorialdescriptions. If necessary we might have to change Newton's laws to make it work!and
this is exactly what Einstein did.

A Geometrical Approach

This geometrical approach is of course a paradigm possible only since Riemann (Reimann 2004), and
not actually integrated into science historically until Einstein. And indeed putting such an argument
ahead of that which is understood to be empirical fits no feasible working paradigm. Historically, and
empirically, it could never have happened like this. Nevertheless, Einstein made this change, although
he based his theories on considerably more robust empirical data than a mere walk in the hills. Thus,
the argument could have been constructed from geometrical considerations alone, almost a priori,
without any of the solid evidence that was actually used historically. It could have been proposed from
an argument such as the one presented here. And this is not something usually discussed by empiricists,
perhaps because it smacks of a priori thinking. But is it?

The combination that is apparent in a rainbow (whether in the sky or a waterfall, as one might observe
from a walk in the hills) is clear evidence that the underlying something directed from the Sun is
constituted from many frequencies also added together in some way. We seem to be at least dealing
with real number fields in this case. It would be difficult to argue at this stage that complex numbers or
non-linearity need come into play, even if in some final analysis they do. Let us be both practical and
far-seeing and seek the simplest, most elegant options whilst we still can. That our predecessors chose
simple vectors instead of tensors reflects a partial attempt in this direction, but the tensors of
differential geometry are simpler in some sense than the arbitrary space-plus-time vectors of Euclidean
space-plus-time. To think otherwise is to place a physical notion of simplicity above a mathematical
one. In this physical approach to the world, addition is more complicated than the complex fluid
dynamics of drinking a glass of water. Just ask any child about this difficulty. But mathematically the
opposite is true. If humanity were more mathematically-minded would it not be clear to the casual hill-
walker that tensorial objects are in fact required?

Given four-dimensional space we must associate light (or the underlying phenomena which we are
hypothesizing) with a tensor on a four-dimensional space. Maybe a vector, maybe a scalar, maybe a
metric tensor, maybe some convoluted gauge theoryor maybe a differential form (whether in a
Euclidean or Minkowskian/Lorentzian space). So we can at least fix our search space to this
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mathematical region if we wish to develop a first approximation theory of light from our walk in the
hills. We need not bother with curvature of space-time, unless we consider refraction a function of it.
But this does not tally with our experience of mechanics. In any case the lightning's flash is far faster
than thunder; curvature does not seem particularly relevant to light.

From hindsight we are cheering the differential form team, a specific subset of tensorial objects, which
in any case encompasses the vector and scalar options to some extent. But our hindsight must be
partially put aside for this derivation; we must still find the logical way through to the modern position
if such exists. Any tensorial object at this point is as good as the other, although perhaps we might
favor simple over complex explanations: discounting tensorial objects of greater dimensionality than
four, discounting complex numbers, complex vector bundles, complicated gauge theories and so on. If
it turns out we could obtain two equally valid explanations, we would start with the simple one as a
preference. So pragmatically we can reduce our search to real tensors of no more than rank four,
looking further only if no satisfactory model arises, and discounting the more complicated options if
simpler ones work.

Mathematical Models and History

As perhaps calculus was the stumbling-block to the Greeks who failed to derive Newtonian mechanics
from their observations, one wonders if the difficult step for scientists in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries with respect to Maxwell's laws might not have been a lack of differential geometry, in
particular differential forms (Khnel 2002 and Lovelock 1989). This includes, of course, their
attachment to a practical sense of space and time. They remained wedded to a practical vector
description of electricity and magnetism (or at least a non-differential form description) even until after
Einstein. Yet any sufficiently astute mathematician trained in twentieth-century mathematics,
regardless of experimental sophistication, could reach the point thus described from a mere walk in the
hills. And one wonders quite how much of this need in fact be hindsight after all. Mathematical tools
are powerful things. Perhaps we could imagine a Cartan living amongst the Greeks doing just this and
discussing his mathematical tools with Pythagoras? But doing this we are demeaning the importance of
the vast historical development of pure mathematics upon which, in truth, each generation builds only
its small layer. Were it so easy, the Greeks would have at least had Newton's laws. But they didn't.
Nevertheless, such would have been easily within their technological and experimental capabilities, if
any real technology is needed at allit wasn't the technology that was limiting them in this regard, and
they weren't far off in terms of mathematical sophistication either. Perhaps even more significant here
is the philosophical position of the modern with respect to the Greek, the faith we have in our
experience that mathematics can, or could, describe all that there is in physical form, and the
confidence and accuracy and plain usefulness that comes from the empirical scientific method which
although available to the Greeks was not so well-developed at that time.

Phenomena, Models, and Simplicity in Reasoning

Where possible, the Greeks preferred the a priori reasoning similar to our walk in the hills (that which
we are entertaining here). Such a method cannot be advocated as efficient or even humanly possible as
an approach to advancing science. However, there are many things we have mistakenly thought not
humanly possible only to be later entertained and educated by our own ignoranceas many spectacles
of human performance do almost routinely. But let us out of curiosity see just how powerful their
methods could have been, in theory at least, and integrate something from it in our own quest. So, we
must ask, which tensor best describes lightor that phenomenon which we are hypothesizing lies
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behind light? And in which inertial system do we observe: Euclidean or Lorentzian? Our options still
appear wide open.

We can close down these options with a bit of astuteness based on principles already known, and by
appealing to mathematical simplicity. We will want conservation laws to be present in the physical
system governing light, at the very least conservation of energythis follows from our Newtonian
conception where conservation of energy, momentum and angular momentum loom large. There are
many ways to do this with tensors: the metric tensor has zero covariant derivative, the Einstein tensor is
source-free, differential forms have a zero double exterior derivative, that is the derivative of closed
forms is zero, and we could add in by hand, artificially, a conservation law defined for almost any
tensor. And given various further constraints there are no doubt many other wayssuch as the Bel-
Robinson tensor, which is conserved on 4D Ricci flat Lorentz manifolds, and other super-energy
tensors. Of all of these, however, the two simplest and above all self-contained methods are to consider
either the always-conserved Einstein tensor and the conserved closed differential forms, in that their
exterior derivatives are zero. And it is the simpler possibilities that should manifest in nature with the
simplest consequences, and thus the most readily observed. All the other obvious methods require
additional constraints, they lack naturalness, that is, simplicity and explanatory power, and can thus be
discarded as not appropriate to a first attempt to explain light. The first implication of differential
geometry being, as Riemann understood long before Einstein, that curvatures of metrics could be open
to consideration as potentially describing reality, such as forces. And he did this on mathematical
elegance grounds alone. Thus, even though the Einstein tensor is used to describe gravity (Misner
1973), we cannot assume such a posteriori knowledge, herein. For all we know such a natural tensor
may describe light waves rather than gravity wavesand if we appeal to mathematical elegance from
the knowledge acquired only through our walk in the hills, such a natural way to produce waves must
also be initially allowed in the mix.

In any case we have reduced our search space of the underlying field to a finite list of the simplest
possibilities likely to arise on our casual stroll: Einstein's tensor (here given labels) in either (Ei)
Euclidean or (Eii) Lorentzian weakly-curved space or space-times; and 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4-forms, once again
in either Euclidean or Lorentzian flat space or space-time (labelled F0i, F1i, F2i, F3i, F4i, F0ii, F1ii,
F2ii, F3ii, F4ii, respectively). And nothing elseif we failed to find a suitable contender for our
description of light using these simplest of options, then perhaps the next step would be an order of
magnitude more complex, essentially intractable search space, at least for our walk in the hills, and
indeed this is the case for modern physics of gauge theories, the search space being so much larger. In
addition we ought to consider sound waves (Sei/Seii) and transversal displacement (Tei/Teii) waves in
some sort of ether, assuming that the conservation laws are taken care of essentially by a mechanical
process not incompatible with Newton's laws, as early investigators assumed. Thus we have sixteen
reasonable options at this point. We have at least narrowed the search space to something manageable.

Results and Analysis

Of course in historical terms we have just waved away most of the history of science in this analysis.
For many decades scientists assumed a corpuscular model of light, let alone reducing the search space
to tensors, let alone again to a few choice ones. With hindsight the path was always there, potentially to
be done in a single wave of the hand, a single bat of the eyelid. Humanly possible? No! Only with the
grossest hindsight is this possible for humansbut possible in principle it remains.

A Further Reduction of Options
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In reducing these options we will first see if there are any obvious reasons to discount any, in the sense
that some of the options may be contrary to observation. Take (Ei) and (Eii) as cases in point. We
discount them because they require that light or some aspects of light distort the paths of other objects
in motion, as gravity waves would. It might of course simply be that the effect is too weak to be readily
noticed, as they are with gravity waves, but this does not remove the problem: we have another source
of a force that appears to move the paths of all objectsthe Earth, and this seems to emit very little
light relative to a typical light source, such as say, a camp fire. It must surely be stuff or matter that
is the source of curvature under these two hypotheses, yet there is no apparent connection between the
Earth, or matter, and light. By the principle, or sense, of unity, which we have hypothesized, this
whole consideration leads to more questions than answers, both (Ei) and (Eii) can thus be readily
discarded, at least according to our methods. But is this sense of unity justified? Nowhere is a sense of
unity mentioned in any treatise on the scientific method! We must make observations based on
carefully planned and executed experiments and deduce our laws from those results, all the while
taking current scientific theories relevant to that field of investigation into consideration. This is the
nature of scientific investigation. Surely our reasoning here is but exploiting hindsight and knowledge
of general relativity? And of course it is, but where does the fault liein our lack of reasoning or our
lack of empiricism? Einstein deduced general relativity from little more in reality than the Michelson-
Morley experiment, no great body of new data at all, and a healthy dose of mathematical elegance. But
it could have been hypothesized just one logical step before even that experiment had been undertaken
in the mid 1800s. And the case here is given to suggest that a tensorial view, coupled with the sense of
unity that that embraces, would have led to it even earlier, such that it could have been apparent even to
the Greeks or, merely from our walk in the hills. This whole question is left as unanswered and maybe
unanswerable, the objective here is to taunt the reader for his sureness of the scientific method, and
maybe lay bear its assumptions. Because hidden deep within it are indeed assumptions, assumptions
about what constitutes evidence and experiment and deduction, and they are assumptions without
proof. They may not be fully correct even though they may work well.

Let us take (Sei/ii) and (Tei/ii) similarly. Either way we must have a parallel system of moving,
oscillating components (as indeed do exist in the form of charges), that are to exist as it were in parallel
with our mechanical system of masses and heat/sound vibration. Despite the fact that this is a correct
view of what is actually happening within atoms and molecules, as light passes through a medium, we
will discount it as not satisfying our sense of unity! The criteria of a sense of unity has surely led us
astray. However, a finer analysis shows that this is not true. For we have discounted options (Sei/ii) and
(Tei/ii) only relative to the other options with which we hope to display a higher degree of unity. And
indeed through Maxwell's laws this will indeed take place. Or to put it another way, equally, we can
accept (Sei/ii) or (Tei/ii) if and when we can find the unifying factor, which will be the electromagnetic
field, and thus the argument is subsumed by the remaining options. And the remaining options will
prove to be a more powerful starting pointand eventually lead to a transversal model (in some
specific technical sense) of electromagnetic waves. It does not seem here that we are using hindsight,
because the argument has specifically eliminated that which is truedespite the fact that it has not
eliminated (yet?) that which is more true. The astute reader will have noticed that by this curious
argument we have already reduced our search space to differential forms; a powerful mathematical tool
not available in any state of refinement in the era of Maxwell, let alone our Newtonian hill-walker.
Such a reduction to mathematical elegance is itself promising.

But of course an argument such as this cannot but be tainted with undue hindsight or even artificiality,
it would need to be proven in the lab. But, let us not censor an argument on that account, on account of
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unavoidable imperfection, we may put forward a hypothesis and test it later. Above all let us not deny
this argument on the basis that nobody would ever have done it like this, that it is historically absurd
the sheer possibility of such farsighted insight with such little data is all that is being discussed here,
not its likelihood or feasibility, which is as already mentioned not likely humanly possible. As
historical actuality it is quite impossible. Here however, all that is requested is an open mind simply to
follow through the argument and see the point, and then dismiss it as useless or interesting as the case
may be. Of course, any conclusions about the nature of reality from this method would need firm
verification, so perhaps in any case all we are doing is identifying an approach that could have led to a
good hypothesis, rather than a theoryand that may or may not be so. Given such provisos let us
continue our walk in the hills after some time to stop, rest, and think.

Empiricism, Reductionism and Unity

Let us for a moment analyze the foundations of empiricism more directly, not in a negative sense, but
more out of curiosity. The idea that we can observe something and draw conclusions from the observed
data makes total sense, and is extremely powerful. Indeed instrumentation used to analyze data has
advanced and become more powerful, but is still bound by our own understanding of both the design of
the instrument and our ability to analyze the data the instrument is producing. While telescopes, lasers,
and computers have extended our understanding, all roads to analysis, and hence empiricism, always
come back to the observer. Further experimentation and hypothesis testing is then possible, and
fundamental to science, enabling a feedback that has more or less led to our understanding of the
world today. But deep in the foundations of this simple, common sense, and correct, practical principle,
lie a few assumptions that should be teased out for inspection: how exactly do we draw conclusions
from data we obtain, regardless of the source? Additionally, is that different from how we should or
could draw conclusions from data from our own experience? In other words, what is the basis upon
which we do and should discern patterns in data and, as it were, join the dots? The answer of course is
as best one can with one's senses and intellect, always seeking simplicity and clarity. But herein lies the
problem: our ability to find patterns is limited by our viewpoint (humanity), even our personal talents,
and what is simple for us may not be simple objectively, that is, to a more insightful other. Our
concept of what a pattern is, a mathematical pattern in this case (which is bound up with this concept of
simplicity) is defined to some extent by this subjectivity. We may, by utilizing the process of
empiricism, be routinely missing patterns that some other intelligence would deem obvious, or merely
tricky. And indeed that is what is happening when we fail to apply advanced but elegant mathematical
tools, or even more broad sweeping philosophical tools, that do not yet exist or are not yet familiar to
us, despite their potential. By way of analogy, every school child knows how difficult algebra can be,
yet the construction of algebra is elementary and elegant as a mathematical concept. It is complex from
one perspective, but simple from the other. It is mathematically powerful and elegant, but it is
considered difficult and unnatural. How many more systems in our universe have this property? How
much more the mathematical basis of relativity, familiar in detail to no more than 1 in 1000? Thus, at
the very root of empiricism lies the concept of mathematical elegance, something difficult to define,
and indeed elusive by its very nature; the ultimate truth of which must always lie beyond our grasp.
And it is argued here, though this cannot be proven, that this is a part of the concept of a sense of
unity as applied to the physical world to which the arguments here defer. Or to put it another way,
seeking any pattern in nature is an implicit search for unity. The concept of unity being either (i) alien
to modern empiricism as conceptually too a priori, or (ii) a part of empiricism only via our humanity,
that is, as a human endeavor rather than an objective one. Either way, empiricism is not quite the
same product as that which it is sold to be: pure objective rationalism. That does not exist, unless one is
able to set aside any and all viewpoints prior to investigation.
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We have here a fundamental criticism of a philosophy often used in science, which, while not strictly a
part of empiricism often dominates it: the mindset of reductionism. What is proposed here is nothing
less than a philosophical reason within empiricism why science should leave reductionism behind as a
useful but now potentially misleading doctrine, or as a tool to be used, but not to be assumed in all
cases. That reductionism is limited and may miss key interpretations that observed data in fact
suggests. That reductionism by itself is a false assumption based on an over simplification of
empiricism.

Discussion

What then of experimentation when reductionism is questioned? How does one investigate the
fundamental laws of nature, and learn about the Universe around us, without devising carefully
executed experiments that are isolated from any chance contamination that might bias the results (that
is, without separating the elements reductively)? Additionally, is it possible to consider the principle of
Unity while carrying out experiments in isolation? Are these not contradictions that arise once
reductionism is challenged?

The idea of Unity is, by definition, not reducible to anything other than itself. At the same time, it
includes all components. However, we, the observers of this elegant universe, have throughout history
drawn boxes around natural phenomena and named the components inside for our own benefit,
somewhat artificially. We create definitions that need to be expanded upon later, or need further
mathematical treatment to be considered more accurate than the same measurements of yesteryear. We
have measured the speed of light to great accuracy, yet in areas that are new to us, such as dark matter
and dark energy, our previous conceptions of matter are once again defied. We devise the limitations
and boundaries of our world, and then investigate further to remove them. An open mind and the search
itself is the resolution of these contradictions. There can be no rule to say how one must search
however, or how best to have an open mind. For if one knew, it would not be a search, and the mind
would be already closed.

So, in this spirit let's continue our walk, we have tarried long on our hill top, and it is getting late and
darkening as we reach the dusk of our day's journey. Let us keep our minds open if we dare, and our
ideas free from chains if we are strong enough and of keen wit. From the grand vistas of the hills, we
plunge now into the forest of details, where differential forms lurk in the shadows of the mathematical
wilderness...

A Closer Look at Details: Differential Forms

We have in fact been led, albeit via long and varied paths, to surmise the importance of differential
forms from everyday observations. And we may go further still. By noting the direction of lightning as
having three dimensions of extension, we are looking for a 3 vector to express the force. Herein lies a
problem: how do we get a 3-vector out of differential forms? In fact we have the same problem for
gravity, but in this case we cannot discount curvature and we would be led by parallel arguments to
general relativity, and the gravitational field as a 3-vector as a limit via the Einstein tensor of
Lorentzian spacetime. There are two ways out (i) the electric force isn't a 3-vector at all but really a 4-
vector and (ii) that the 3-vector isn't so much a 3-vector but three components of a 2-form, distributed
as is the case in fact in the Faraday or Maxwell tensor, where three of the available components are
taken by the electric field, and three by the magnetic field. We might ask, why go to this latter
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complexity when we could just have the force as a 3-vector arbitrarily placed or appended to space as
was done by Maxwell? And the answer is simply that we are looking for a more fundamental
explanation and the unity that comes from looking at, and for, genuinely natural mathematical objects,
that is, genuine simplicity, not human simplicity. Thus: a 4-vector, yes, but a 3-vector, no. Or, let us say
that a 3-vector makes sense with respect to Newton's laws, so that we in fact have some sort of
displacement going on (as indeed with the charged ion in lightning), and we are led via a previous
argument (the one regarding transverse waves) back to a search for the underlying field, in terms of the
simplest possible mathematical objects, regardless. We would have to be looking at 4 vectors or
differential forms, and the only way to make that work will turn out to be the Lorentzian signature of
special relativity.

So, we now have two options (or four including both the Euclidean or Lorentzian variants). We can
discount the 0-form (a simple real numbered function) as insufficient to code the three dimensionality
of our sought-for force, although it could be the potential of our 1-form force. And we can discount 4-
forms for the same reasons. The application of a magnetic field in a 2-form is possible without any
loss of explanatory power, as a transverse wave uses up only half its available dimensions for
oscillation (it uses only one of the two available axes). But with greater numbers of components this
possibility reduces, or at least becomes far more complicated. We should first look for an explanation
in terms of the electric field being described by a 1-form (as this offers the simplest model). Failing
that, in terms of a 2-form (as indeed is the case). Discounting 3-forms only in that they are subsumed
into 1-forms as their hodge dual.

And perhaps the point of this tall tale at this point in our journey is that the concept of genuine
simplicity can be humanly complex, for although such perception as presented here with hindsight is
quite possible, as said previously, no human being would ever likely have done things like this from the
outset. Yet the argument continues.

At this point we can start to think about the Euclidean space plus time model (somehow represented by
a 4D manifold), and the only viable and straightforward manifold alternative in 4 dimensions, that of a
3+1 Minkowskian/Lorentzian space-time as in special relativity. Now, given that we are looking at
forms (a 1-form or a 2-form) to describe relativity, we must ask, if the case is Euclidean: what has
happened to rotations from space to time and how do they represent changes of coordinates? We have,
perhaps without knowing, simplified our reasoning into a trap by assuming differential geometrical
objects, whereby the Euclidean model becomes untenable, and special relativity must result. The
rotation from space to time has been brushed under the carpet, as an impossible maneuver. From a
differential geometry perspective, Euclidean space plus time was a complex mathematical structure
from the outset, regardless of how our brains are wired to understand it. That is, space and time as
understood by Newton and Euclid are not single geometrical objects, but some more complicated
convolution. Mathematically the unification of space and time in relativity, in a Lorentz manifold,
makes a priori sense, and is far simpler in a deeper sense. The Greeks could have stumbled upon it with
a bit more mathematical sophistication by almost a priori reasoning, but history left it to a more
technological society rooted in the other side of the same coin: empiricism. How much better to
combine both, as perhaps Einstein and others did. Could this use of such a syllogism, of synthesizing
two sides of the same coin, two seeming polar opposites that are in fact one, be the key to breaking into
new paradigms?

Maxwells Equations as a Result

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We are now left with strictly two options: a 1-form or a 2-form description of electric force within
special relativity. The first would correspond to a scalar potential, the second to the vector potential of
electromagnetism. We need to generate a wave, for which the simplest way for the 2-form is Maxwell's
laws: in terms of the 2-form F, it is simply that the exterior derivative of the hodge star of F is 0; i.e.
Maxwell's laws without source, which we know suffices, and that ample radiative solutions exist for
our purposes. We notice that the simplicity comes from the fact that both F and *F are 2-forms, an
occurrence that only happens for 2-forms in 4 dimensions. Finally applying the same hope to a 1-form
force field, we observe no such simply apparent wave solutions. That possibilities exist is true without
a doubt, but they are somewhat forced and require more complexity than the simpler Maxwell's
equations. It is as if with Maxwell's equations the universe has chosen the only possibility available to
it in terms of simplicity, and mathematical elegance. At least given the data provided by a walk in
hills. If one sees a few dots on a graph approximating a curve, one is empirically justified in lining
them up, but the same thing can be said for far more mathematical objects than our limited brains are
programmed to naturally perceive. Joining the dots of our observations of our walk in the hills, we
might declare: differential forms, tensors and a Lorentzian space-time metric. The fact that reality
might comply with or be subject to such reasoning, or even allow us to construct such reasoning with
hindsight, is peculiar. Yet this peculiarity comes from our own difficulty in perception, our own
labeling and classifying, our reductionist ways. It is an artifact of our own thoughts. It is like being
frightened by our own moonlit shadow as we exit the forest and start on the path back home.

What Have We Gained?

We have, despite much success with Maxwell's laws, not yet been led to hypothesize the Lorentz force
law or the particle nature of the electron, or the non-existence of monopoles, or many other things
fundamental to electromagnetism. The success presented here in devising an argument that appears to
naturally lead to Maxwell's laws seems not to go any further. But Maxwell's laws (albeit source-free in
this case) are far enough for the purposes. Perhaps it would be better to say that even if it did go further
(as it may well, after all: cannot one look at the embers of a fire and consider their thermodynamics
starting from Newtonian mechanics alone? Might not this lead to the quantum of action?), we would
need in any case to test our deductions, to finally obtain empirical certainty from what would otherwise
remain mere supposition based on astute observations. That is, what in any case remains is the need to
do some tangible experiments and prove what we have surmised from observation, something at which
modern science already excels. But yet one still wonders how far astuteness alone can go in forming
hypotheses, and what this tells us about the real nature of empiricism. How the two sides of syllogism
can be better harnessed. Seeing a simple pattern in data from an observation is not in fact a matter that
is necessarily simple at all, for mathematical simplicity may humanly appear complex, even impossibly
complex, at least at first, and nobody can be truly sure that at any one moment we are not simply being
blind to a deeper simplicity of reality, an alternative joining of the dots, that makes far more sense.
Perhaps it is this that one is looking for in the development of new fundamental physical theory,
however much it must be (and it must be) confirmed by further experimental tests? In short, the basis of
the analysis step of empiricism is that very mathematical elegance that could otherwise be criticized as
unempirical, the method the Greeks tried to use without sufficiently developing experimental work. But
at the same time that does not prevent such reasoning from being a powerful guide, the complementary
other side of the coin to supplement an experiment. And although one could criticize the Greeks for this
one-sided approach, this would be unfair by any human measure, and would show our cultural one-
sidedness too, rooted in practical technology, because in theory at least the Greeks might have
developed further their analytical methods to compensate, as exemplified by the argument presented
here. And at the same time modern science could learn from a more truly philosophical approach to
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fundamental science, that is, we could take on board the philosophy of the Greeks and discover new
powerful theoretical and philosophical tools in the process, and it may be that it is exactly a move
towards such a heightened and inspired approach that is needed to break the current dead-lock between
quantum mechanics and general relativity that seems currently so intractable to experiment or even
standard theoretical speculations.

Conclusion

Thus we return by evening from our walk in the hills having crossed much interesting, sometimes
difficult, yet always beautiful terrain, and feeling greatly inspired. And considering the work we have
undertaken, feeling strangely rested. Our path now takes us home via familiar and pretty lanes, the
sight and smell of flowers and fields, the distant sight of houses and the surprisingly friendly and
welcoming presence of man and toil. We cast our eyes up to the heavens, and contemplate how the
stars seemingly so insignificant and equal are each a distinct and vast world unto themselves separated
from each other as much as from us by inconceivable distances. We glance back briefly at the hills and
the forest and wonder where we have just been. And then again the Milky Way carelessly sprinkled
above, we pause to imagine what strange paths may take us there tomorrow. For one journey is but the
logical extension of another, long journeys but extensions and continuations of shorter ones.

But not today, as we reach the threshold of familiar lands, and streets; here our brief walk in the hills
reaches its end.

References

Aristotle. Prior Analytics. Translated by Robin Smith. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Co., 1989, 816.

Bishop, Richard L and Samuel I. Goldberg. Tensor Analysis on Manifolds. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications,
1980.

Borowitz, Sidney and Lawrence A. Bornstein. A Contemporary View of Elementary Physics. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1968.

Einstein, Albert. "Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Krper." Annalen der Physik, vol 17 (1905): 891.

Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. 1748. http://www.gutenberg.org.

Khnel, Wolfgang. Differential Geometry: Curves - Surfaces Manifolds. 2nd ed. Providence, RI: American
Mathematical Society, 2002.

Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Vol. 1. 1894. http://www.gutenberg.org.

Lovelock, David and Hanno Rund. Tensors, Differential Forms, and Variational Principles. Mineola, NY:
Dover Publications, 1989.

Maxwell, James Clerk. A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field." Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society of London, vol. 155 (1865): 459512.

Misner, Charles, Kip S. Thorne, and John Archibald Wheeler. Gravitation. New York: Freeman Publishing,
1973.

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Newton, Isaac. Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Translated by Andrew Motte. New York: Daniel
Adee, 1729.

Riemann, Bernhard. Collected Papers. Heber City, UT: Kendrick Press, 2004.



The Rose+Croix Journal Vol 9 74 www.rosecroixjournal.org
Rebuilding the Bridge Between Science and Mysticism
Paul J. Werbos, Ph.D.
Go directly to the text of the paper.
Abstract
Prior to 1600 or so, science and mysticism were mutually supportive, complementary approaches
to advancing human evolution. However, most of the recent scientific work on consciousness
and neuroscience has weakened the level of connection, and even led to harmful stereotypes
about what mysticism actually is. This paper reviews that background, and provides a brief
introduction to new developments in mathematical neural network theory, including a model of
intelligence and mind which is fully compatible with mysticism (at least of the Pythagorean or
Stoic schools). It is hoped that this new bridge between fields will help raise the appreciation of
mysticism, and assist in its long-term mission of fostering the fullest flowering of human
potential, including mind, body and soul.
Reconstruire le pont entre la science et le mysticism
Paul J. Werbos, Ph.D.
Rsum
Avant les annes 1600 environ, la science et le mysticisme taient perus comme des approches
en interaction et complmentaires l'volution de l'homme. Toutefois, la plupart des travaux
scientifiques rcents sur la conscience et la neuroscience ont affaibli cette interconnexion, crant
ainsi des strotypes dommageables lis la vritable nature du mysticisme. Cet article aborde
cette question en plus de prsenter une brve introduction des nouvelles avances lies la
thorie mathmatique des rseaux de neurones, y compris un modle de l'intelligence et du
cerveau entirement compatible avec le mysticisme, tout le moins avec les coles de pense de
Pythagore et du stocisme. Esprons que ce nouveau pont entre ces deux domaines permettra une
meilleure apprciation du mysticisme et contribuera la poursuite de son objectif long terme
visant l'panouissement du plein potentiel humain, notamment celui de l'esprit, du corps et de
l'me.
Reconstruyendo el Puente entre la Ciencia y el Misticismo
Paul J. Werbos, Ph.D.
Resumen
Hasta antes de alrededor del ao 1600, la ciencia y el misticismo se apoyaban mutuamente,
siendo enfoques complementarios para el avance de la evolucin humana. Sin embargo, recientes
investigaciones cientficas sobre consciencia y neurociencia debilitan el nivel de conexin y
hasta llevan a estereotipos dainos sobre lo que realmente es el misticismo. Este artculo analiza
los antecedentes y proporciona una breve introduccin a los nuevos desarrollos de la teora de
redes neuronales matemticas, incluyendo un modelo de inteligencia y mente, el cual es
completamente compatible con el misticismo, al menos con las escuelas Pitagoricas y Estoicas.
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Esperamos que este nuevo puente entre campos ayude a elevar el aprecio del misticismo y
ayudar en su misin de largo alcance de fomentar el florecimiento del completo potencial
humano, incluyendo mente, cuerpo y alma.

Reconstruindo a Ligao entre Cincia e Misticismo
Paul J. Werbos, Ph.D.

Resumo

Antes de mais ou menos 1600, a cincia e o misticismo se apoiavam mutuamente, com
abordagens complementares sobre os avanos da evoluo humana. Contudo, a maioria dos
trabalhos cientficos recentes sobre conscincia e neurocincia enfraqueceram esse nvel de
conexo, e at levaram a esteretipos prejudiciais sobre o que realmente o misticismo. Este
estudo revisa este contexto histrico e fornece uma breve introduo sobre os novos
desenvolvimentos da teoria de rede neurais matemticas, incluindo um modelo de inteligncia e
mente que totalmente compatvel com o misticismo (pelo menos nas escolas pitagoreanas ou
estoicas). Espera-se que esta nova ponte entre estes campos ajude a aumentar a valorizao do
misticismo, e ajudar na sua misso a longo prazo de promover o pleno florescimento do
potencial humano, incluindo a mente, o corpo e a alma.

Die Brcke zwischen Wissenschaft und Mystizismus wiederaufbauen
Paul J. Werbos, Ph.D.

Zusammenfassung
Vor dem Jahre 1600 haben sich Wissenschaft und Forschung gegenseitig untersttzt und waren
einander ergnzende Anstze bei der schreitend menschlichen Entwicklung. Jedoch hat die
meiste gegenwrtige wissenschaftliche Forschung ber das Bewusstsein und die
Neurowissenschaft den Grad dieser Verbindung geschwcht und sogar zu schdlichen
Stereotypen darber, was Mystizismus eigentlich ist, gefhrt. Dieses Forschungspapier sieht sich
diesen Hintergrund an und liefert eine kurze Einfhrung in die neuen Entwicklungen in der
mathematischen Nerven-Netzwerktheorie, einschlielich eines Modells der Intelligenz und des
Geistes, das vollstndig vereinbar ist mit dem Mystizismus (wenigstens der pythagorischen oder
der stoischen Schulen). Wir hoffen, dass diese neue Brcke zwischen den wissenschaftlichen
Bereichen die Wertschtzung des Mystizismus erhht und ihn in seinem langfristigen Auftrag
der Frderung einer vollkommenen Entfaltung des menschlichen Potentials, einschlielich Geist,
Krper und Seele, behilflich ist.

The Big Picture

For centuries and centuries, mystery schools such as the Rosicrucian Order and its Asian cousins
have provided exercises and disciplines aimed at enabling people to develop the full natural
capabilities of the body, mind and soul, with a strong special emphasis upon the soul. But in
recent decades, many scientists have found it ever more difficult to reconcile what they learn
from science with the very idea of soul. There have been many efforts to build a kind of weak or
fuzzy treaty between the world of mysticism and the world of science. There have been a few
promising images of how they might fit together in a more useful and substantive way, such as
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the Gaia hypothesis and the work of Teilhard de Chardin, but the hard-core study of mathematics
and the brain has been ever more difficult to reconcile with the pursuit of mysticism. Until now.

The goals of this paper are: (1) to review a new understanding of the mathematics of intelligence
in the brain which has emerged from research in neural networks,
1,2
and (2) to suggest a simple
augmentation or extension of that understanding, which is not only consistent with mysticism,
but provides a new basis for appreciating it, strengthening it and increasing its ability to achieve
its fundamental goals.

Of course, there are many varieties of science and of mysticism which are not compatible with
each other. The very words science and mysticism mean very different things to different
people. The twentieth century Anglo-American school of philosophy rightly stressed how often
people can become lost in totally meaningless arguments when they assume different or fuzzy
definitions of the words they use, and are not really careful about definitions and common sense.
The next section will describe what I mean by science and by mysticism or, in other
words, what kinds of neuroscience and mysticism are ready for a new partnership.

This paper will make little or no effort to try to persuade people who have made fundamental
personal commitments to varieties of mysticism, science, religion or ideology which rule out this
kind of partnership, or people whose experience is not yet rich enough for them to see the need
for it (as I once was myself). This is necessary here for two reasons: (1) there is a huge number
of such varieties on earth, well beyond what a single journal paper can discuss in detail; (2) there
are fundamental limits to the power of words alone in liberating people from prisons which they
construct for themselves at the nonverbal level of their mind.
2
Nevertheless, I do remember quite
clearly the time when I did not have enough experience to justify believing in the soul, and I
remember how strong and valid the arguments were against the soul, before my own personal
experience compelled me to become open-minded and then to grapple with a much larger base of
experience. After that experience, to deny the soul would be a gross exercise in denying reality,
as crazy as denying or opposing the existence of grass or trees or the feelings I share with my
wife. Most people take different paths to becoming open-minded, but I will make a few
comments about my own path, for the benefit of those readers who may be groping with similar
issues.

The first person approach in this paper would be unfamiliar both in traditional forms of
mysticism (where removal of I and of the little self is an important exercise) or in non-
normative objective science.
3
But in the new synthesis,
2
we vigilantly respect the distinction
between what we can learn, scientifically, from the database of shared experience which all
humans can agree to, versus what we can learn from the larger database of experience in first
person experience. Both are an important part of human culture. There is an analogy here to the
relation between non-normative social science, and modern rational policy research, which can
benefit each other but are quite distinct and legitimate social intellectual activities.

Science is simply not ready yet to affirm the existence of the soul based on evidence which all
humans can agree to. Thus the relevant data and tentative conclusions do need to be qualified by
the word I, or even by specific names, in order to avoid the pretense that these are matters
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which we could all agree to even if we had a perfect ability to infer the implications of our
limited experience.

Many scientists and people striving for human progress would also object strongly to the
hierarchical forms of organization which have been inherited from the past in all ancient schools
of mysticism and religion. Of course, similar concerns apply to the issues of modernizing
universities and corporations.
4
The Rosicrucian Order has often discussed the need for 108-year
cycles of decay and rebirth, in order to avoid the kind of entropy which has been seen in many
large historic organizations. Lewis
5
played a major role in consolidating and enhancing the
heritage of Rosicrucians and other schools of mysticism, in a way which served as a kind of tool
or augmentation for the rest of society, including the highly decentralized and democratic
structures of Quaker meetings. The development of new forms of organization and corporate
culture is an important area for research and for policy, but it is well beyond the scope of this
paper. This paper will mainly focus on science and mysticism as systems of ideas.

This paper is mainly written for those readers who are open-minded and free enough that they
can seriously entertain the possibility of a new integration of science and mysticism. It will begin
by portraying a picture of what science and mysticism are really about, as systems of ideas, in
the modern world. Though I am not currently a member of the Rosicrucian Order or of any other
school of mysticism East or West, I feel great gratitude for what these schools have provided to
me and to others in the past, and a need to highlight the unique importance of the heritage which
they offer to us all. I also feel great gratitude for what I have learned from the Rosicrucian
writings and actions of Raymond Bernard and Christian Bernard (filtered of course through my
own consciousness), but those subjects are also beyond the scope of this paper, which is aimed at
a level of experience which, while not universal, is more consciously familiar to a larger
audience.

Science, Mysticism, and the Rosicrucian Order: A View of the General Background

Science and Mysticism in General

Years ago, a great controversy erupted when Websters dictionary included a definition of
Jew as an avaricious and evil sort of person. Similar definitions of words like mysticism and
sustainability have become very common, and are often defended as axioms by people
committed to attacking those concepts. However, mystics like Jews and people committed to
sustainability have some right to their own concepts and traditions, and to the use of the word
which refers to these core concepts. Here, when I refer to mysticism, I will basically be
referring back to the very first sentence of this paper. Here, mysticism refers to systems of
disciplines and exercises which attempt to enhance the first person experience of life, in order to
advance the full natural flowering of the body, mind, and soul, with a special emphasis upon
attaining the full maximum potential of the soul. It is about direct experience, first and foremost,
and not about words. The rose symbolizes that flowering.

Mystery schools have existed and have learned from each other for untold centuries, all over the
world. It is hard for me to refrain from saying more about that incredible history here.
Nevertheless, the modern form of mysticism as reflected in the Rosicrucian Order was strongly
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reshaped by the major change of culture in the West from about 1300 to 1600, which will be my
starting point here.

Circa 1300, intellectual debates in the West all ultimately raised the question: How is it that we
can know anything at all? What is the foundation of knowledge, the ultimate rock we can depend
on? Some said The Book, and developed elaborate hermeneutic reasoning attached to The
Book. Some said Authority ultimately, the living embodiment of Christ, the Pope. Some said
Pure Reason, which generally ended up being some interpretation of Aristotle. Hermeneutics,
Aristotle, and the Pope all contributed to the Great Inquisition, and to the enforcement of rigid
doctrines such as the doctrine that the earth is the center of the universe. Dangerous aberrations
of politics like that continue to this day, in the West and elsewhere.

But in those days, new thinkers like William of Ockham pioneered a new approach, which took
direct experience as its foundation. We each as individuals ultimately have two foundations we
can build upon the history or time-series of everything we have seen or sensed directly, and the
full use of our intelligence (which includes both deductive reasoning and inductive learning,
verbal and nonverbal, mathematical and nonmathematical). Our ability to learn from experience
depends on certain basic principles such as Ockhams Razor which science is now beginning to
understand far more precisely.
1,6
In natural life we rely heavily on using that natural learning
ability long before we understand it more objectively; with full self-awareness, we express that
natural ability to its fullest, and our scientific understanding of it supports its operation.
2


This new emphasis on the empirical approach led to two strong new currents of culture, both of
which initially flowed together. There was the scientific method as promulgated by Francis
Bacon, which grew into the great scientific revolution, later analyzed by historians such as
Kuhn
3
. Kuhn defines science as the exercise of two or three basic disciplines the full use of
intelligence to learn what we can from experience, and a focus on what we can learn from
shared, replicable experience such as laboratory experiments. There was also the reinvigorated
Rosicrucian Order, also supported by Bacon at the same time, with auxiliary organizations such
as Scottish Rite Freemasonry strengthening the effort to take a more modern and liberated
approach to life in general, not just to science. Visiting the dining hall and chapel of Trinity
College of Cambridge University, one can easily enhance ones feeling for the truly powerful
rivers of thought which flowed from there (and still flow in various ways). In the world of
religion, the Society of Friends (Quakers) worked to create a similar revolution, and there were
important connections at times between all of these traditions. H. Spencer Lewis,
5
for example,
worked intensely through at least three of these channels, in his efforts to advance human
evolution.

A certain degree of secrecy was necessary at times, unfortunately, because of powerful groups
committed to murdering people who think for themselves. Historians have noted that Leibniz
resigned loudly as a secretary of a Rosicrucian body, in protest against that policy, and he is
well-known to have been in conflict with Newton. But for purposes of this paper, the ideas are
what matter, not the historical personalities.

All these traditions ultimately rely on the full use of intelligence and learning from experience to
enhance our understanding, as a foundation for our spiritual development and as a channel for its
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expression. The main difference is that science, as a special niche in our society, focuses on
shared and replicable experience, while mysticism consciously tries to address the full range
of first-person experience. In a sense, science is like poetry a very specialized discipline,
defined by the constraints it imposes in order to achieve a certain kind of power or effect.
Mysticism is like prose, which is more inclusive. The two will never be the same, since different
databases of experience lead to different inferences, but they can learn from each other and share
concepts. Mysticism in this sense includes science as one part of its database.

Preliminary Journey from Science to the Soul

But now I must move on, and make a sharper distinction.

Science actually has some ability to reach beyond the laboratory, and correlate neural network
mathematics with those types of first-person experience which anyone can see fairly easily.
Science can make sense of Freuds concept of sanity and of Confuciuss concept of integrity
as interpreted by those Confucian scholars who do not believe in the soul at all.
2


At a time when I did not believe in the soul at all myself, I could easily see the logic of trying to
achieve that kind of sanity or integrity. I tried to understand intelligence in the brain, in part
because I knew that greater integrity would allow me to be far more effective in using my mind,
but also because I felt that a better understanding of this mathematics would help us get rid of
wrong ideas about the soul which cripple people and cause wars and other problems on a large
scale. Like most of the other founders of the neural network field, I was deeply excited by one of
the two books which launched the neural network revolution, by D.O. Hebb.
7


Hebb argued that the probability of soul or of paranormal abilities is very low, despite laboratory
evidence which would be convincing for any other theory about the mind, because of the strong
prior probability against the idea. Sagan has popularized this line of thinking by saying
extraordinary claims require extraordinary justification. Hebb argued for a low prior
probability, based on the apparent physical impossibility of those kinds of connections between
human minds and the larger universe. All of this rested heavily on his understanding of the laws
of physics.

Ironically, the effort to achieve greater integrity and to understand the brain was one of the main
causes of life experience which forced me to change my position. (Other causes may include
some kind of genetic predisposition, and concern for the fate of humanity as a whole.) That was
not the intention, but the effect was evident. In truth, it happened in stages, as one thing
happened after another. But one very unmistakable experience of quoting a speech before it was
given
8
made me resolve in 1967 that I would henceforth be open-minded. I did not immediately
accept the existence of paranormal effects or of the soul, but in Hebbs language I adjusted my
likelihood function enough that I resolved to be truly open-minded, and to assume a kind of 50-
50 attitude towards the possibility of soul and paranormal phenomena. I also resolved to not let
this get in the way of my clarity of thought or effectiveness, and to work hard to understand just
what was really going on here.

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Of course, many people have not yet reached that point. That is why mysticism is not for
everyone. The pursuit of sanity or integrity really should be for everyone, and is legitimately
something to pursue through the shared channels of science and general culture.
2
It is also very
important as a preparation for more serious mysticism, because lapses in sanity which may be
harmless in everyday life can become far more serious when amplified by the power of the soul.
But in essence, mysticism is there to provide a path for those who are ready to move beyond
what is shared by everyone. It takes the discipline of sanity, and extends it to a larger domain of
experience.

Back when I was open-minded and groping for deeper understanding, in 1973 or 1974, I
obtained a copy of the simple booklet from AMORC, Mastery of Life. Many of my schoolmates
at Harvard would have been very turned off by that book. For example, I knew proud
intellectuals whose pride would lead them instead to things like the Order of the Golden Dawn or
Gurdjieff, which use big words and provide great play for hermeneutics. The simple common
words in Mastery of Life were in many ways the direct opposite. Yet because of my training in
pure mathematics, I understood the importance and power of concise statements put in the
simplest possible terms. Also, I had had lots of experience with people saying they didnt
understand my equations (including PhDs on the Harvard faculty!), urging me to find ways to
say complex and tricky things in words that people could understand. Reading that little book,
carefully, and trying to read between the lines as deeply as I could, in a quiet meditative
environment (as the book itself called for), was very encouraging to me, and I decided to go
further, in order to learn more. Even though I could not fully trust other peoples accounts of
their first-person experience, I felt I should do what I could to learn as much as possible from the
experience of other people, from all times and cultures.

To be honest, I should note that Mastery of Life was certainly not the only thing I read or learned
from in those times of groping. For example, I probed into other schools, and I also probed into
parapsychology.
9,10,11
Years later, I was intrigued to see how certain types of mental discipline
11

were also crucial in the most successful efforts along those lines in the West; however, because
those efforts addressed the cognitive aspect of integrity, but not the emotional or affective part,
and were not as well-grounded in understanding the phenomenon, they were limited in many
ways in what they accomplished.

Before going on, I should mention another aspect which raised my interest in the Rosicrucian
Order. In trying to understand what could possibly explain my personal experience, and how to
rebuild my understanding of reality, I immediately realized that my experience to date was still
far too limited to answer most of my questions. I knew I could find lots and lots of theories about
the soul, from dozens of sources which I could not fully trust (in part because of how much they
contradicted each other, and in part because of obvious political and historical biases). Also, I
already began to feel that our inner nature calls for us not only to understand the soul, in
intellectual terms, but to strengthen it and express it in life. This is quite different, of course,
from believing in the soul or invoking it as an excuse for things we want to do for mundane
reasons. I certainly did not want to turn into a spiritual couch potato, the kind of person who is
furiously loyal to some theories, like a football fan who is furiously loyal to one team, and claims
to worship physical activity, even as he spends his life on the couch swilling beer, watching other
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people exercise on television, as his own body, mind and soul all slowly deteriorate away to
nothing.

But how could I expand the database of experience, and get more reliable hints from the more
direct experience of others? In late 1972, when I was regularly visiting the library of the Harvard
Medical School to read books about the brain, I also read through all the back issues of the
Journal of the American Parapsychology Association which were interesting, but only got me
so far. At one time, my housemate (a Harvard anthropologist) showed me a simple book, entitled
something like How to Help Yourself with ESP, which I might have rejected with contempt
just a year or two before. But then I was intrigued by the fact that it contained a number of very
straightforward exercises or experiments, which I could try for myself, drawing my own
conclusions. I had no interest in whether the book was ultimately true or false, and I did not
approach this with any kind of slavish devotion to the book; I was determined to try to see as
much as I could for myself, using the book as a kind of hint about where I might get more access
to these phenomena. Two of the exercises did work out for me, with some adjustment, and
helped me begin to appreciate the need for a wider perspective. I then began to realize how much
I needed to work with others, drawing on the best that had emerged from centuries and centuries
of exercises and experiments.

The beginning monographs of AMORC stressed the need to build two foundations first, before
going too far into the most serious exercises or experiments. They stressed the need to try to
develop understanding, first, as a basis for action, and the need to develop a kind of deeper
ethical balance (which basically corresponds to integrity). This happens through at least two
spirals. The key position of this paper is that to progress still further, we need to spiral around
these foundations one more time, and deepen the understanding and the ethical foundations still
further. The next section describes the basics of how new science can contribute to this.

Neural networks, the Brain, and the Soul

Science, mysticism, and Quakers are all big tents. They all understand that progress requires
respect for a diversity of views. The unification proposed here is not such a big tent; it draws on
particular strands of mysticism and of science. On the mystical side, it draws on the Pythagorean
and Stoic viewpoints, which are among the strands which continue to exist within the
Rosicrucian Order.
5
Of course, the mathematics available to the Pythagorean view has advanced
quite a bit over the past two thousand years.

In the Pythagorean view, mysticism and the soul have nothing to do with the supernatural or with
miracles which violate the laws of nature. They are governed by the laws of nature, just like
the mundane side of life. As below, so above (or vice-versa). The laws of nature can be
understood in mathematics, in principle, even though we still do not know them completely yet,
after thousands of years of serious progress which has yet to reach fulfillment.

In this view, mysticism is not about escaping reality or escaping from the complexities of life. It
is the exact opposite. It is about strengthening ones sense of reality, and ones demand for
realism. It is about opening up to a much larger reality, embracing all of what we see every day
with our mundane eyes but also embracing more, and doing our best to create a harmonious
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balance such as the alchemical marriage between the elements of that large and complex
reality. The sheer complexities of real life can be very overwhelming at times, and even
frightening (especially if one sees some of the dark thoughts which exist in our world); however,
for the true mystic, it feels safer to be in the light than to be in the darkness, even if what one
sees poses difficult challenges, and even if one cannot cope with everything at once. Mysticism
is about strengthening soul, mind and body, so as to better rise to these challenges.

The best survey data now available
12
suggests that a majority of productive PhDs have had the
kind of personal experience which leads them to go beyond the simple mundane view of life
which I believed in as a teenager. Most often, they are frightened by that experience, and revert
to formal religion as a way to acknowledge but also to avoid that experience. The true mystic
like Heisenberg, Schrdinger and DeBroglie faces up to the situation, and acts on the fact that
they would feel more secure in the light than in the darkness.

Even though I criticized some of the wrong uses of Aristotle, the Stoic tradition and modern
science both have a great debt to some of his better ideas. Aristotle proposed that humans are
born with some inner sense of telos, some sort of inborn purpose, which we see simply as
following nature in the pursuit of happiness, which is basically how we sense telos. These
ideas stimulated the philosophy of utilitarianism, by philosophers like John Stuart Mill and
Jeremy Bentham, which tried to express Aristotles basic ideas in a more mathematical and
consistent way. Finally, the great mathematician John Von Neumann developed a concept of
cardinal utility function, U, which led to the new formulation which I have pioneered.
1,2


The new mathematical understanding of mind is still a big tent, in a way. It certainly does not
require belief in soul or in mysticism. But it also makes full room for it, and provides a vehicle
for the fuller expression of mysticism.

For those who prefer pictures or equations over words, I will first copy over the two most
important figures in my recent reviews,
1,2
and then explain only a few of the most basic aspects
of what they mean.


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Figure 1. How we actually reverse-engineer the brain with mathematical neural networks and
make use of what we learn.




Figure 2. Mathematics reveals levels and levels of consciousness
13
or intelligence, based on ever
more universal underlying principles.

For hard-core mathematical science in this century, the number one challenge is to reverse
engineer the higher- order learning abilities of the smallest mammal brain, the mouse, as
illustrated in Figure 1. We now know the principles which make this possible, but the work
needed in education, follow-through, implementation and application is very great.
1,6
From
building on what we know from the mouse, science also has a foundation for better
understanding the human mind and human potential, in a more qualitative way.
2
That second
stage takes us to the top of the mountain in Figure 2. The new mathematics makes perfect sense
for those who would be happy to stop at the top of the mountain. However, there are certain
limitations apparent even in the most refined and cultivated human brain which learns to emulate
the top of the mountain. In my view, first-person experience and mathematics both tell us that
there is still another level of mind, beyond what we can actually see in the mundane individual
brain. At the present time, first-person experience and the strengthening of the soul and the brain
are the main vehicles we have to better understand that next level though we also have work to
do in improving our knowledge of the underlying laws of physics.
14,15
But even so, all levels of
intelligence or mind have important things in common.

Aristotle described mind as an aspect of the form or organization of the cosmos, not as a kind
of substance. All mind must have a foundation in some kind of substance. When we look at our
world with mundane eyes only, the only minds we see are embedded in physical brains and
organisms. In the augmented view, we simply conclude that the relevant substance is not just a
matter of neutrons, electrons, and light governed by classical physics; rather, there is more
substance and life that we do not see, and also a few relatively small but significant changes in
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how the physics works. When we look out at the world through our eyes the I who is looking
out is not just the consciousness embedded in our brain, and not just the esoteric consciousness
embedded in that other substance, but a hybrid of the two. We are a symbiotic life form, a
symbiosis of body and soul. In order to extend the mundane concept of sanity or integrity
2
to
the entire self, it is necessary that we achieve what Rosicrucians call the alchemical marriage
a kind of harmonious mutual support of both parts of the self, consistent with the modern
concept of Pareto optimality. The details of that process are very important, but beyond the
scope of this paper.

In this view, all mind may be viewed as systems which process information. The brains we see
with our mundane eyes basically have three parts: (1) the intelligence or consciousness, which
learns over time how to be ever more effective in understanding its environment and in
maximizing its utility function U (i.e. happiness or telos); (2) the primary emotional system
which actually provides us with this sense of U, and also gives us some indications of what
specifically makes us happy; (3) other, older things, like sensory input, muscle output, and hard-
coded blind reflexes. In other words, mind as we know it simply cannot be divorced from
purpose and happiness. Where there is no sense of purpose, no emotion and no sense of value,
there is essentially no mind and no consciousness. The primary emotional system speaks to us in
feelings and in images, not in words or mathematics, but we can use words or mathematics to try
to understand it better and see it more clearly, just as we use words and mathematics to try to
understand what we see through our eyes.

Could it be that the universe itself is some other kind of mind, a mind which does not have any
kind of purpose and is not engaged in learning? If so, it is not mind as we see it and understand
it. Such another concept of mind is essentially meaningless, until one somehow specifies the idea
more than I have ever seen anywhere. Trying to develop such a concept is a valid intellectual
challenge,
14
but for now I do not yet see the real need for it, in explaining experience. The
concepts of symbiosis, life, and purpose seem powerful enough to explain everything I have
encountered at any level of life.

As life becomes ever more complicated, all of us naturally wonder what we can really count on,
what is most important to us, and where our commitment should be unmistakable. The
frustrations and difficulties of life often tempt us to a variety of reactive and truly irrational
behaviors. In my view, sanity or integrity means always remembering our basic innate sense
U of what we really like and what we really do not like, for its own sake. Thus in my own life, at
times of challenge, I often find myself affirming the old Rosicrucian phrase life, light, and
love. (And sometimes I remember that old woman in the musical Cats, who sang about
remembering what happiness is. It is said that that musical was inspired by ideas from
Gurdjieff on how to become an Immortal, which were clearly inspired by ancient Taoism,
probably by way of Sichuan province and the old Silk Road. But other followers of Gurdjieff
have told me: Hey, he is just telling you to store your most important data on the hard disk,
instead of RAM, so that you wont lose it when you shut off for the night.)

Light, life, and love what could I add after that? We never outgrow that foundation. But in
actuality, the full pursuit and service to light, life and love is a never-ending challenge,
demanding intelligence, flexibility and all the abilities of our minds and souls. The very
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existence of the human species is at risk over the next few millennia, and it will depend very
heavily on that small number of people who are most completely conscious and competent and
willing to work hard and creatively on behalf of life, light, and love. Figure 1 moves out from the
brain, to ask: What can we do to preserve and strengthen life and sustainably on the planet earth,
and also to extend it beyond the planet earth to outer space, and also to strengthen our common
growth in inner space, where we are all connected together and depend upon each other? The
rose on the yin-yang symbolizes the latter.

The cultivation of integrity at a mundane level
2
is really not so different from cultivation of
integrity at a higher level. If you read that more mundane guide to human potential carefully, you
can see how as above, so below applies at many levels. When I spoke on this new synthesis at
the main Confucius Institute in China in 2011, we were in agreement but the Chinese informed
me that the very word integrity is expressed in Chinese as zheng qi, as correct or balanced
qi. A member of the Confucius family showed me his old eagle statue, which he used to
symbolize the higher esoteric side of his life, which rises above the old astral dragons and etheric
tigers which are more familiar in the common life of China. Perhaps if more of us learn how to
really emulate this eagle, we might be able to fly to a place of real survival.

Summary and Conclusions

This paper defines a new synthesis, to make a stronger connection between hard-core
mathematical science and hard-core experience-based mysticism. The neural network field does
not propose to redesign the human brain or the human mind, but it does offer a higher level of
understanding and self-awareness than is possible without making full use either of science or of
mathematical thinking.

The principles described in this paper are relatively simple, and more like a set of axioms than a
body of theorems and knowledge about life. Life is more complex; the more detailed papers cited
here are windows into some of that complexity. Even so, axioms are important. The effort to
always remember the basic axioms and build upon a solid foundation is especially important
when life becomes more complex and there are no easy answers other than continuing the effort
to keep learning and growing and surviving and appreciating what we are building upon.


References

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Networks 22 (2009): 200-212, accessed March 29, 2009, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2009.03.012.

2. Werbos, Paul J. Neural Networks and the Experience and Cultivation of Mind, Neural Networks 32
(2012): 86-95, accessed February 14, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2012.02.026.

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13. Werbos, Paul J.(1999). What Do Neural Nets and Quantum Theory Tell Us About Mind and
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Science of Consciousness: Fundamental Approaches (Tokyo '99). (Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub Co,
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14. Werbos, Paul J. A Three Step Program for Return to Reality, Problems of Nonlinear Analysis in
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15. Werbos, Paul J. Solitons for Describing 3-D Physical Reality: The Current Frontier, in Chaos, CNN,
Memristors and Beyond, ed. Andrew Adamatzky and Guanrong Chen, World Scientific, 2012. See also
http://www.scribd.com/doc/95547363/How-to-Quantize-June2012.

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