In The Realm of Consciousness- Timeless, Spaceless and Immortal (Theme and Variations) An Old and Rare Book

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In the course of my studies of Relativity and Quantum theories half a dozen years back, I was intrigued by the role played by human consciousness in moulding the modern scientist's views to ascertaining the true nature of external reality at the subatomic level. Heisenberg, pursuing his experiments, prior to formulating his "Uncertainty Principle" in 1927, specifically the aspects connected with the problem of observation and measurement in Quantum Theory, had hit at the truth that

"Consciousness may be an essential aspect of the universe and that we may be blocked from further understanding of natural phenomena if we insist on excluding it". 1.

An average intelligent man is broadly aware of what "Consciousness" generally stands for and what role it plays in everyday human life but I could not help being surprised at its vital "participation" in ascertaining the truth about matter and reality, now being so keenly appreciated by the modern physicists. I started looking for other more or less similar assertions made earlier by thinkers and philosophers on the role of consciousness in similar spheres. In the meantime, I added a brief introductory Chapter 12 on this subject ("Human consciousness in Modern Science) in my book: "Spiritual Peregrinations" (1994), to draw attention to this phenomenon, inter alia.

E. F. Schumacher, in his book "A Guide for the Perplexed", while dealing with the subject of man's evolution in the Universe, had mentioned the sequence of life, consciousness and self awareness, to indicate the three stages of evolution through which an individual entity, or the original germ, had to pass before it or he could reach the climax called "Man".

Now that the modern physicists have concluded that it is the observer's consciousness which determines the nature and reality of the 'electrons in the subatomic world, it is easy to gauge that the sense organs of man, the functioning of which itself is contingent on that very Consciousness, are ostensibly the factor behind the concepts about material truths perceived by him. It is now believed that matter is the creation of our minds, essentially.

Physics now accepts the fact that we have to restore Consciousness to the fundamental position in the Universe rather than see it simply as a secondary epiphenomenon The Reader's Digest Great Encyclopaedic Dictionary Vali 1964 defines the term epiphenomenon as under.

"Something appearing in addition, secondary symptom. esp. (psych) consciousness regarded as by product of material activities of brain and nerve system derived from a particular arrangement of atoms and particles in the brain. It is only Consciousness that can provide the necessary background for all knowledge covered by physical science and all the pointer-readings of the Scientists. Says Eddington.

"The background is 'mind-stuff and stuff of the world is mind-stuff, not spread out in time and space, on the contrary, time and space are spun out of it. Here and there it rises to the level of self consciousness in human beings and, from those tips of icebergs floating on the periphery of the world-stuff, springs our two-tier intellectual knowledge direct knowledge within each thinking individual and generalised inferential knowledge which includes that of the physical world.