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Journal of consciousness exploration & research

Deconstructing Reality: Two Levels of Reality

Graham P. Smetham

Published Sep 4, 2011• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

As we shall illustrate in this paper, it appears that quantum ‘particles’ might be thought to have aspects of both reality and unreality, and this is a paradoxical viewpoint which leads us in the direction of some dramatic claims about the nature of reality made by Buddhist metaphysicians such as Dharmakirti and Nagarjuna, claims which move towards providing an answer to Penrose’s quandary: “can real objects be constructed from unreal constituents?” According to Nagarjuna: “everything is real and not real, both real and not real, neither real nor not real which is the Lord Buddha’s teaching”. The resolution of the apparent paradox will become clear as we explore the relationship between the implications of quantum theory and the Buddhist doctrine of the ‘two truths’, or ‘two realities’, in detail. In fact we will discover that an appreciation of the Buddhist perspective throws significant light onto quantum conundrums. We shall discover that Dharmakirti’s philosophical analysis, alongside other Buddhist insights, which lead to the ‘ultimate’ realm of ‘empty’ Mindnature, prefigures modern quantum discoveries, particularly the notion of an ‘Epiontic Universe’ which derives from the ‘quantum Darwinism’ perspective suggested by Wojciech H. Zurek.

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Prespacetime journal•Jan 31, 2012•0 citations
As we shall illustrate in this paper, it appears that quantum ‘particles’ might be thought to have aspects of both reality and unreality, and this is a paradoxical viewpoint which leads us in the direction of some dramatic claims about the nature of reality made by Buddhist metaphysicians such as Dharmakirti and Nagarjuna, claims which move towards providing an answer to Penrose’s quandary: “can real objects be constructed from unreal constituents?” According to Nagarjuna: “everything is real and not real, both real and not real, neither real nor not real which is the Lord Buddha’s teaching”. The resolution of the apparent paradox will become clear as we explore the relationship between the implications of quantum theory and the Buddhist doctrine of the ‘two truths’, or ‘two realities’, in detail. In fact we will discover that an appreciation of the Buddhist perspective throws significant light onto quantum conundrums. We shall discover that Dharmakirti’s philosophical analysis, alongside other Buddhist insights, which lead to the ‘ultimate’ realm of ‘empty’ Mindnature, prefigures modern quantum discoveries, particularly the notion of an ‘Epiontic Universe’ which derives from the ‘quantum Darwinism’ perspective suggested by Wojciech H. Zurek.
The Buddhist metaphysical conceptual analysis of the nature of reality has always been founded upon the basis of a rigorous employment of scrupulously coherent conceptual analysis, which is in turn based upon an empirical observation of experience in a manner appropriate to the time, although one major difference between the empirical attitude of Western science and philosophy during the age of science and that of Buddhism was the Buddhist development of rigorous techniques of meditation in order to explore the structure and nature of consciousness. In this paper I will use the Buddhist philosopher Dharmakirti‘s imaginative deconstruction of reality, in the context of quantum theory, to try to answer the question which seems to be posed by quantum theory: Is 'Reality' really real? In our search for the ultimate nature of reality we have to leave behind the 'seeming' appearances of the everyday world, however persuasive the appearance may be, and break through to a more 'ultimate truth' concerning the nature of reality. We shall discover that Dharmakirti's philosophical analysis, alongside other Buddhist insights, which lead to the 'ultimate' realm of 'empty' Mindnature, prefigures modern quantum discoveries.
The seemingly solid entities that sentient beings experience as the ‘truth’ or mode of apprehension of the everyday world can, seemingly, be broken down into increasingly small particles. The ‘ultimate’ truth, or ‘ultimate’ level of reality, would, perhaps, be found when there is a ‘particle’ which can no longer be divided, if such things ‘exist’ ultimately. If they do not … well then we arrive at the quantum level, or what Buddhist metaphysics calls ‘emptiness’. In this paper I will use the Buddhist philosopher Dharmakirti’s imaginative deconstruction of reality, in the context of quantum theory, to try to answer the question which seems to be posed by quantum theory: Is ‘Reality’ really real? In our search for the ultimate nature of reality we have to leave behind the ‘seeming’ appearances of the everyday world, however persuasive the appearance may be, and break through to a more ‘ultimate truth’ concerning the nature of reality. We shall discover that Dharmakirti’s philosophical analysis, alongside other Buddhist insights, which lead to the ‘ultimate’ realm of ‘empty’ Mindnature, prefigures modern quantum discoveries, particularly the notion of an ‘Epiontic Universe’ which derives from the ‘quantum Darwinism’ perspective suggested by Wojciech H. Zurek.
The seemingly solid entities that sentient beings experience as the ‗truth‘ or mode of apprehension of the everyday world can, seemingly, be broken down into increasingly small particles. The ‗ultimate‘ truth, or ‗ultimate‘ level of reality, would, perhaps, be found when there is a ‗particle‘ which can no longer be divided, if such things ‗exist‘ ultimately. If they do not … well then we arrive at the quantum level, or what Buddhist metaphysics calls ‗emptiness‘. In this paper I will use the Buddhist philosopher Dharmakirti‘s imaginative deconstruction of reality, in the context of quantum theory, to try to answer the question which seems to be posed by quantum theory: Is ‗Reality‘ really real? In our search for the ultimate nature of reality we have to leave behind the ‗seeming‘ appearances of the everyday world, however persuasive the appearance may be, and break through to a more ‗ultimate truth‘ concerning the nature of reality. We shall discover that Dharmakirti‘s philosophical analysis, alongside other Buddhist insights, which lead to the ‗ultimate‘ realm of ‗empty‘ Mindnature, prefigures modern quantum discoveries, particularly the notion of an ‗Epiontic Universe‘ which derives from the ‗quantum Darwinism‘ perspective suggested by Wojciech H. Zurek.
According to the ‘Buddhist’ writer Stephen Batchelor the core Buddhist doctrine of the ‘two truths’ or ‘two realities’ is a major mistake on the part of Buddhist practitioners and philosophers throughout the ages. Although this doctrine has been central to Buddhist thinking since the time of the Buddha, Batchelor says that it is a serious mistake, and is completely unscientific. This article show that it is Batchelor who is desperately mistaken because modern quantum theory has validated the metaphysical claim that the ‘classical’ or ‘conventional’ world is an illusion which is derived from the deeper quantum realm. Thus the division into the ‘classical’ realm and the ‘quantum’ realm maps onto the Buddhist distinction between the ‘conventional’ mode of reality and the ‘ultimate’ mode of reality. Far from Buddhist philosophy being ‘unscientific’, it is Batchelor who displays ignorance of modern science.
A recent encounter with a quantum physicist has prompted me to examine the claims made by some interpreters of the work of Wojciech H. Zurek, and perhaps by Zurek himself – he does not seem to be clear on this point, that the quantum Darwinian approach to decoherence provides a means to establish the ‘objectivity’ of the classical world through the quantum ‘epiontic’ mechanism. A detailed and rigorous philosophical analysis of Zurek’s perspective indicates that the kind of objectivity provided by the quantum Darwinian physical-metaphysical perspective corresponds to what Bernard d’Espagnat terms ‘weak objectivity’, which is in fact a mixture of objectivity and subjectivity. Some of Zurek’s remarks seem to indicate that he thinks that his analysis undermines the ‘ultimate evidence’ that the classical world is entangled and dependent upon consciousness. However, a rigorous analysis shows that the opposite is the case; Zurek’s epiontic quantum Darwinian classical universe is ultimately dependent upon consciousness. I also indicate some remarkable points of contact with Buddhist metaphysics.
A recent encounter with a quantum physicist has prompted me to examine the claims made by some interpreters of the work of Wojciech H. Zurek, and perhaps by Zurek himself – he does not seem to be clear on this point, that the quantum Darwinian approach to decoherence provides a means to establish the ‘objectivity’ of the classical world through the quantum ‘epiontic’ mechanism. A detailed and rigorous philosophical analysis of Zurek’s perspective indicates that the kind of objectivity provided by the quantum Darwinian physical-metaphysical perspective corresponds to what Bernard d’Espagnat terms ‘weak objectivity’, which is in fact a mixture of objectivity and subjectivity. Some of Zurek’s remarks seem to indicate that he thinks that his analysis undermines the ‘ultimate evidence’ that the classical world is entangled and dependent upon consciousness. However, a rigorous analysis shows that the opposite is the case; Zurek’s epiontic quantum Darwinian classical universe is ultimately dependent upon consciousness. I also indicate some remarkable points of contact with Buddhist metaphysics.