Time's Arrow and Irreversibility in Time‐Asymmetric Quantum Mechanics

The aim of this paper is to analyze time‐asymmetric quantum mechanics with respect to the problems of irreversibility and of time’s arrow. We begin with arguing that both problems are conceptually different. Then, we show that, contrary to a common opinion, the theory’s ability to describe irreversible quantum processes is not a consequence of the semigroup evolution laws expressing the non‐time‐reversal invariance of the theory. Finally, we argue that time‐asymmetric quantum mechanics, either in Prigogine’s version or in Bohm’s version, does not solve the problem of the arrow of time because it does not supply a substantial and theoretically founded criterion for distinguishing between the two directions of time.     

The 'hard problem' and the quantum physicists. Part 2: Modern times

This is the second part of a review of the work of quantum physicists on the 'hard part' of the problem of mind. After an introduction which sets the scene and a brief review of contemporary work on the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) the work of four prominent modern investigators is examined: J.C. Eccles/Friedrich Beck; Henry Stapp; Stuart Hameroff/Roger Penrose; David Bohm. With the exception of David Bohm, all attempt to show where in the brain's microstructure quantum affects could make themselves felt. It is reluctantly concluded that none have neurobiological plausibility. They are all instances, to paraphrase T.H. Huxley, of a beautiful hypothesis destroyed by ugly facts. David Bohm does not attempt to fit his new quantum physics to contemporary neurobiology but instead asks for a radical rethink of our conventional scientific paradigm. He suggests that we should look towards developing a 'pan-experientialism' or 'dual-aspect monism' where consciousness goes 'all the way down' and that the 'hard problem' is not soluble within the framework of ideas provided by 'classical' natural science.     

Toward the Source of Thought: Insights from David Bohm on a Sustainable Future

Abstract

This article explores insights of physicist David Bohm on the source of thought and the creative intelligence that emerges from this source. It highlights a link that Bohm sees between this creative intelligence and the crises of our age, including environmental degradation, hunger, poverty, and climate change. It describes how creative intelligence gives rise to fresh “generative orders which may open us to new ways of thinking, new possibilities and a fresh lens for experiencing, appreciating, and respecting life.     

Macroscopic Oil Droplets Mimicking Quantum Behaviour: How Far Can We Push an Analogy?

We describe a series of experimental analogies between fluid mechanics and quantum mechanics recently discovered by a team of physicists. These analogies arise in droplet systems guided by a surface (or pilot) wave. We argue that these experimental facts put ancient theoretical work by Madelung on the analogy between fluid and quantum mechanics into new light. After re-deriving Madelung’s result starting from two basic fluid mechanical equations (the Navier–Stokes equation and the continuity equation), we discuss the relation with the de Broglie–Bohm theory. This allows to make a direct link with the droplet experiments. It is argued that the fluid mechanical interpretation of quantum mechanics, if it can be extended to the general N-particle case, would have a considerable advantage over the Bohm interpretation: it could rid Bohm’s theory of its non-local character.     

Individual growth in the family

While interviewing David Bohm recently, our editor espied a paper Bohm had written on the nature of consciousness and the self. Although Dr. Bohm did not feel it was ready for publication, it is already a fascinating document for anyone familiar with C. G. Jung's views in this area. Beginning with ordinary common sense ideas about “the notion of self-consciousness” Bohm rapidly progresses to a conception of consciousness and what has been called the “Self” as the quintessence of human existence.

This working paper is an initial questioning exploration of the difficulties we all experience in comprehending the basic issues of transpersonal psychology. Read in this spirit, this paper-in-progress provides interesting insights into the mind of a brilliant theoretical physicist making a fresh approach to the perennial, paradoxical problems of consciousness reflecting upon itself.     

《白虎通义》与易学

光武中兴后,在易学领域,古文费氏易学渐兴,但属于今文的象数易学特别是<易纬>的象数易学仍然占据主导地位,且广泛、深刻地影响着当时的社会政治和思想文化的发展.<白虎通义>吸收、借鉴<易纬>之说,构筑了一个以太初、太始、太素、三光、五行为次序的宇宙生成模式.它曾称述<易传>"汤武革命"之说,强调改朝换代的必然性和合理性,同时倾心于<易传>的天尊地卑、乾坤定位之说和董仲舒的三纲五常思想,系统阐述了三纲六纪理论,目的在于营造一个上下各安其位的和谐的社会氛围,实现天人整体和谐的文化价值理想.     

Growing Up Poor in Los Angeles: A Memoir

OUR EDITOR caught up with physicist David Bohm for a few days at Bailey Farm, a “think-tank” for lawyers in New York state. Autumn was crisp in the air with golden leaves and agreeable conversation as they walked together through the local woods. Bohm was in the middle of writing several books simultaneously with a number of his colleagues on the brood implications of his view of quantum physics for current ideas in psychology, sociology, and philosophy. In this wide-ranging interview, Bohm talks for the first time about his early scientific development, his relations with Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein, and his idealistic struggles to actualize heightened states of being within a creative community. He also talks about imagery, stress, and the difficult evolutionary struggle in which we are currently engaged to free our minds from the negative conditioning of the past and the conceptual blind alleys of the present. David Bohm takes us on a journey into the post-modern world, a cultural step beyond relativity and quantum theory.     

现代中国人心理健康和谐观的理论构念

本文分析显示中国人的心理是自我的关系状态,中国人的健康是和谐状态,传统心理健康的本质是自我关系世界的和谐。基于对传统的继承和发展。提出现代中国人心理健康的本质是自我关系世界的全面积极和谐,内容包括人自身的和谐、人与社会的和谐、人与自然的和谐和人与意义世界的和谐。     

The harmony of grounding

Philosophical Studies - Mereological harmony is the idea that the mereological structure of objects mirrors the mereological structure of locations. Grounding harmony is the idea that there is a...     

先秦儒家"和为贵"的政治伦理追求

“和为贵”是先秦儒家政治伦理思想的核心理念和本质特征。重视“人和”的社会管理思想．强调“民为邦本”的和谐社会基础,提倡“修己安人”的“和”政治伦理要求,构成了先秦儒家“和为贵”的政治伦理内涵。吸取其合理养分,对于我们今天构建社会主义和谐社会仍具有一定的借鉴作用。     

Order,disorder, and the absolute: An experiment in dialogue

The first section of this dialogue is excerpted from an edited conversation between Sean Kelly and the late David Bohm, and focuses on the concepts of order, disorder, and the Absolute. The second section explores these concepts in greater depth, with Bohm maintaining the impossibility of absolute knowledge and the fundamental unintelligibility of the concept of disorder, preferring instead to speak of “orders of infinite degree” which emerge out of an “unknown ground.” Kelly responds by proposing the concept of “absolute knowing” as the cognitive process within which the concepts of order and disorder, the known and the Unknown are seen as dialectically related moments of the Absolute as complex whole. The third section is Edgar Morin's response to the preceding dialogue. He begins by outlining his views on the nature and limits of rationality, maintaining, with Bohm, the superiority of the “negative modality” of speaking about “being” or “reality.” In the second part, however, he proposes the notion of nature as “chaosmos,” which he understands as a creative “dialogic” of order, disorder, and organization.     

The Ideal of Harmony in Ancient Chinese and Greek Philosophy

This article offers a study of the early formation and development of the ideal of harmony in ancient Chinese philosophy and ancient Greek philosophy. It shows that, unlike the Pythagorean notion of harmony, which is primarily based on a linear progressive model with a pre-set order, the ancient Chinese concept of harmony is best understood as a comprehensive process of harmonization. It encompasses spatial as well as temporal dimensions, metaphysical as well as moral and aesthetical dimensions. It is a fundamentally open notion in the sense that it does not aim to conform to any pre-set order. This broader, richer, and more liberal understanding of harmony has had a profound influence on Chinese culture as whole in its long history.     

《管子》的天地人和合观探析

《管子》的"和合"是一种差等和合,治国理念以天地人和合观为基础,建立了形而上的天地和合道德根据,治国的目标是为了达到社会和合偕习,和合观的使用在方法上运用个人内心和合、国家内外和合达到国家治理,形下之用体现于政治上政通人和以实现天地人和。管子之所以成为我国春秋初期著名的政治家,是因为他的治国理念高远、方法得当、运用适宜,既有道德感化,又有法治辅助,还有礼义调和,实现了社会上下和合、内外和合、形上形下和合。     

The role of primordial emotions in the evolutionary origin of consciousness

Primordial emotions are the subjective element of the instincts which are the genetically programmed behaviour patterns which contrive homeostasis. They include thirst, hunger for air, hunger for food, pain and hunger for specific minerals etc.There are two constituents of a primordial emotion—the specific sensation which when severe may be imperious, and the compelling intention for gratification by a consummatory act. They may dominate the stream of consciousness, and can have plenipotentiary power over behaviour.It is hypothesized that early in animal evolution complex reflex mechanisms in the basal brain subserving homeostatic responses, in concert with elements of the reticular activating system subserving arousal, melded functionally with regions embodied in the progressive rostral development of the telencephalon. This included the emergent limbic and paralimbic areas, and the insula. This phylogenetically ancient organization subserved the origin of consciousness as the primordial emotion, which signalled that the organisms existence was immediately threatened. Neuroimaging confirms major activations in regions of the basal brain during primordial emotions in humans. The behaviour of decorticate humans and animals is discussed in relation to the possible existence of primitive awareness.Neuroimaging of the primordial emotions reveals that rapid gratification of intention by a consummatory act such as ingestion causes precipitate decline of both the initiating sensation and the intention. There is contemporaneous rapid disappearance of particular regions of brain activation which suggests they may be part of the jointly sufficient and severally necessary activations and deactivations which correlate with consciousness [Crick, F. & Koch, C. (2003). A framework for consciousness. Nature Neuroscience, 6, 119–126].     

The influences of harmony motives and implicit beliefs on conflict styles of the collectivist

The collectivist preference for nonconfrontational conflict styles is usually attributed to the influences of the Confucian value of harmony, which promotes tolerance of interpersonal transgression. Harmony has two distinct motives in collectivistic Asian societies (Leung, 1997 ): harmony enhancement is affective in nature and represents a genuine concern for relationship harmony, while disintegration avoidance is instrumental in nature and sees harmony maintenance as a means to other ends. Hence, as predicted, harmony enhancement is positively related to the use of integrating and compromising, while disintegration avoidance is positively related to the use of avoiding and obliging and is negatively related to the use of integrating during a conflict with a peer in a collectivistic society, Singapore. Besides examining this from a motivational perspective, the study also examines the role of implicit beliefs of personality on one's choice of conflict styles. The two implicit theories of personality refer to the two different assumptions the lay person has about the mutability of personal attributes; an entity theorist believes that personal attributes are fixed and nonmalleable qualities, while an incremental theorist sees personal attributes as qualities that can be developed and changed. Results reveal that incrementalist implicit beliefs also significantly predicted the use of integrating. Harmony enhancement represents a genuine concern for relationship harmony and involves feelings of closeness, unity, and trust. The finding that integrating is predicted by a harmony enhancement motivation suggests the importance of fostering collectivist values of interdependence and feelings of unity and trust so as to encourage the use of integrating to discuss the opposing views openly and constructively. The present study also underscores the benefit of learning an incremental theory to be open to the positive changes in others and work toward improving the relationship and the situation during a conflict.     

Primordial Image and the Archetypal Design of Art

This paper extends Jung's work on the relationship of art to (postulated) archetypes of the collective unconscious. Archetypes of the collective unconscious, according to Jung, are revealed to ego consciousness only by way of images--images of a specific form. Jung suggests that archetypes, primordial images, combine two aspects in a single form and are therefore paradoxical. The wise old man and youth and hermaphrodites illustrate Jung's definition of a primordial image. My study of Jung's illustrations concludes that he is referring to what I term double-figures as the design form of primordial imagery. I elaborate upon the design form of double-figures, and illustrate my conception of archetypal imagery through comparative analysis of nine cases of double-figure imagery from selected prehistoric and contemporary societies. Double-figures, as archetypal primordial imagery of the collective unconscious, are spontaneously generated, autonomous, and known to a wide variety of societies. I distinguish between form and content in the study of primordial imagery, and conclude with a summary of the importance of Jung to the cross-cultural study of art.     

The Chinese Notions of Harmony,With Special Focus on Implications for Cross-Cultural and Global Psychology

Harmony is a value that is frequently associated with China as much as love is with Christianity. In both cases, misconceptions abound. This article articulates the nuanced conceptualizations of harmony in classical Chinese texts for a two-fold purpose: first, to refute the tendency in cross-cultural psychology to equate harmony with uniformity and status quo; second, to derive from harmony a model of unity that has far reaching implications for the development of global psychology.     

Reflections of a second-generation jungian analyst on the eve of the third millennium

Dr. F. David Peat is a theoretical physicist residing in Ottawa, Canada, whose recent book, Synchronicity: The Bridge between Matter and Mind (Bantam, 1987) generalizes Jung's views on the ultimately a causal foundation of physics and psychology. Peat is currently collaborating with David Bohm in utilizing quantum theory to update the mathematical-philosophical foundations of psychology in a series of books of which Science, Order and Creativity (Banram, 1987) is a lucid and broadly-based introduction for the general reader. Our editor recently spent a few days with Peat and Bohm discussing their evolving world view. This essay by Peat was written in response to our editor's queries concerning what is generally known by the physicist community about the collaboration between C.G. Jung and the early quantum physicists on the foundations of analytical psychology.     

BEYOND RELATIVISM AND FOUNDATIONALISM: A PROLEGOMENON TO FUTURE RESEARCH IN ETHICS

Abstract. This article examines the similarities between notions about the nature of reality held by some Christian mystics (Thomas Merton and the author of The Cloud of Unknowing) and those proposed by physicists David Bohm and Henry Margenau. My aim is to consider how the implications of certain metaphysical interpretations of modern physics may: (1) hold similarities with Christian mystical notions about reality, and (2) be important for guiding future research in ethics. I further look into the traditional approaches to ethical theory that come out of the foundationalist, relativist, and skeptical realist camps and argue that while skeptical realists such as Timothy Jackson are moving in the right direction, further consideration of what is meant by reality is necessary if we are to traverse the gap between foundationalists and relativists. It is here that Christian ethicists in particular have the opportunity to pick up the metaphysical batons carried by physicists like Margenau and Bohm and mystics like Merton and the author of The Cloud and begin investigating the possibility that ethical theory can be approached from a nondualistic perspective.