Monday 23 January 2012

Quest


QUEST
K S Kanakasabapathi
(All rights with the author)

Telepathy
ESP
Clairvoyance

These are but a few of the “Supernatural” expressions we have heard of. In our daily life, we do not experience any of these, but at one time or the other, we wonder whether these are real.

I have also been asking these questions to myself and this article is a product of this state of mind.

Science as we all know is a tool for the search for TRUTH. But we have not yet reached this state where we are sure we have understood TRUTH. Spirituality seeks the TRUTH by taking a different path.

Man has six senses developed and with these six senses, he is able to see, hear, touch, smell and taste things present and analyze things present or past. Future is out of reach for him until it becomes “Present”.

We have been under the impression that these six senses are the ultimate in the process of evolution. We may or may not be right.


Another sense, which could again be called the sixth sense is consciousness, or awareness of oneself. Living things are aware of their existence while non-living things are not. This is how our philosophy defines living and non-living. A famous mathematician Roger Penrose became philosophical in his later years and wrote a book “The Emperor’s new mind” where he argues as to how the known laws of Physics are inadequate to describe a perfectly well-known and real phenomenon such as consciousness. He proves that a computer, however complex it may get in the future, will never be able to simulate consciousness and thus can never become aware of its existence. In other words, even an infinitely complex computer and only be confined to its 5 senses and can never realize that a 6th sense can exist.
 Similarly, we are confined within our 6 senses and there is nothing to disprove the theory that higher senses are available. There is no sanctity to the number “6” !!

Present day science has told us that the speed of light is the highest possible. Our senses or the instruments we have devised have not been able to perceive any form of energy faster than light. Does this mean that there is no form of energy faster than light? May be we are wrong. Now even this is being questioned by scientists themselves with the supposed discovery of “God Particles”.

Let us assume for a moment that the Universe is also filled with certain forms of energy which can travel faster than light. But only we are unable to sense these forms of energy due to our own limitations. Now we hear of “Dark Energy” to describe such unknown form.

According to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, time is relative. Hence if we are able to use a form of energy faster than light, past, present and future become indistinguishable and we can see any of them at our choice.

Possibly this is what our ancient sages had mastered. They possibly had senses more than six – may be seven or eight or even more.

Science has taken us westward and spirituality would take us eastward. But finally east and west are bound to meet.

Reading the future
Reading a distant mind
Transcending time and space in one go

These are subjects which can stimulate anyone to explore.

But there are no scientific tools available for this purpose. Modern science has never shown any deep interest in these topics and any studies have been so far only to disprove their existence.

But what is not proved is not necessarily disproved.

Let us assume for a moment, that these powers exist in some people. Let us call them superhuman. What I mean is that they may possess senses not known to ordinary men. That is seventh, eighth, ninth and so on.

For instance, let us suppose that we have another sense organ that detects ultraviolet or infrared or X-Rays or even microwave radiation. Then our view of the universe will be totally different from what we are able to see with our six senses. If we can hear sound waves beyond the audible range, this will again change our perception. The entire universe will look different to us. Some forms of life are known to have such senses.

Do ordinary men have the capability to understand these? Like the proverbial two dimensional ant which cannot recognize the third dimension, the six senses of human beings are insufficient to recognize the existence of such powers.

We have definitely come across people who, by looking at someone’s face tell things not known about them. This may be about their characteristics, families or even about future course of events. (I do not mix up astrology here. That will be a different topic.)

Then how could these extraordinary people get to know things not known to lesser human beings? Is there something in their brains which is capable of these powers?

Let us then Assume that their brains are also something special. From where does the brain get the information? How is it passed on from the source? And how is time circumvented? Time as we know, though relative, remains a mystery. Future never becomes past until one traverses that moment.

Let us call it the “Third Eye”., which itself is invisible to the normal eye or imperceptible to our other senses.

Some day science will merge with spirituality in its quest for TRUTH.

9 comments:

Naru said...

Wonderful article! A very good summary of the essence of spiritual quest as defined in Hinduism and possibly Buddhism (the little I have read). It is important to strive to "know" rather than "believe" - since the more you try to know, the greater the chance that you know and the more you know there is more that opens up. I will look forward to your next article!

Unknown said...

Thank you Narayan. You can look forward to the next article - May be on a different topic

KG said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KG said...
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KG said...

[Blogspot imposed a character limit that truncated my previous attempt. I am splitting into 2 parts and posting.]

Part 1 of 2:


A brief note to preface my comment. I have based a lot of my thinking on what you have you have once told me - to paraphrase, "Science is a search for God." Given this, I am commenting mostly on what in the article I disagree with, rather than spend time on what I agree with. Some of what I have said doesn't necessarily disagree with what you say either - I just felt that a different facet needs to be highlighted in addition to what you have said.

Here is what I will quibble with, roughly in the order in which you cover them:

1. The six senses are the product of an imperfect "greedy algorithm" of evolution. They are the best we have at the moment. If Man continues living for much longer, his senses may adapt to the world around him. However, this is a case where Intellectual evolution can dominate over organic evolution. We have added capabilities to sense the Universe in ways undreamt of by our ancestors. We can visualize individual molecules, look at x-ray pictures (of ourselves, or of the most distant bodies we know of, etc.). However, I agree that we should know what to look for. In the pursuit of science, we have begun to gradually understand further underlying layers in how things may work. We have learned to look for the origins of the universe by looking at microwaves. We definitely don't know much, but we are learning fast. I do not believe we are being handicapped by our "sensory senses", but we might be severely limited by our "analytical senses." [I am afraid that we are limited by opinion at this point. Even if we find a seventh sense/dimension/quality that we predict through analysis, I don't see a way to prove that there is no eighth. Or the other way around: We don't have a proof that there is a seventh sense that we are inherently unable to understand.]

2. My understanding of Penrose's "The Emperor's new mind" (on his take on how the mind works) is that he argues that the Turing model of computers are insufficient to model intelligence. As I interpret it, he is perfectly fine with, say, a quantum computing based non-deterministic implementation.

3. "Present day science has told us that the speed of light is the highest possible." Special relativity tells us that speed of light is the highest possible. Science does not. I think that the difference is subtle, yet important. The scientific process asks us to hypothesize, predict and confirm. But the confirmation is never done, unless/until it is confirmed wrong. Science is built on something we currently think we know being wrong. A good approximation, but wrong. I am sure that the best scientists would take pleasure in their hypotheses being proved wrong. The neutrinos observed recently will shed some light on either (a) why the experiment was flawed, or (b) how special relativity was flawed - typically, what modifications / enhancements / exceptions need to be added. [Note: The Higgs Boson / God particle has nothing to do with faster than light travel.]

KG said...

Part 2 of 2:


4. I think Dark energy is not an apt example for this context. Dark energy is something we mathematically understand, but haven't really seen directly. Almost the opposite of what I understand you are saying.

5. Dark energy is not faster than light as per current understanding. Dark energy can contribute the universe expanding faster than light, but this has nothing to do with relativity's speed of light being as a limit. Relativity talks about speeds from an object in an inertial frame of reference.

6. Re. the quote in the beginning of #3, and a couple of others: "Modern science has never shown any deep interest in these topics", "Science has taken us westward and spirituality would take us eastward". If esp / future reading / astrology etc. do happen, then science does include them. If there is some part of spirituality based on observable fact, it is a part of science. Science is not what a scientist believe in. That is just that scientist's opinion. The beauty of science is that it can be practised by everyone. Being a scientist only gives you some experience in recognizing the typical mistakes you can make, and learning to avoid them. If you can observe in anything, then you that truth is science. In fact, if there is someone out there who believes in something, I beseech them to undertake a scientific study of this. At the very least, even if the evidence is not conclusive, you would learn more on the scientific process and rigour in avoiding biases both for and against.

7. Re. what ancient sages might have mastered and other speculations: (This is a purely personal thought, and doesn't mean to preach in any way): I just see so much in the universe that I do not understand. There is so much that fills me with wonder and that I would love to study. With so much around me that I can see and don't understand, I have little time to spend on making up something and then explaining it.

Finally, a nice quote:
"Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality."
--Carl Sagan

Unknown said...

Well written. This is what I expected of you when I insisted on your comments. You have helped to take the discussion forward. For the present, I shall stop here to await others to respond. May be I shall revert to this topic at an appropriate time later

Vazz said...

Our five senses are limited. What we are able to see, hear, smell, touch or feel is restricted by our own limited need to adapt to the environment and hardly are we even aware of our sixth sense !.
KSK Sir, As you rightly expressed in your article, it is a rare and magnificent superhuman who can stretch his six senses to the highest level to use his seventh sense.
Vasanta.R.

Unknown said...

Thanks to Mrs. Vasantha R for her valued comments. I am still seeking a answer to the points raised in the posting "Comments on Quest" -KSK