Particle or Wave?

Is Life Material or Energetic?

by Patrick Quanten MD

Isn't it strange: life or how we experience it? It is so confusing because we only seem to be getting bits of it, never the full story. And all those bits confuse us, because we haven't got the picture this jigsaw should turn into. We have trouble these days to know what the truth is, as the information we are being given is so contradictory that the only way we seem to be able to survive and find a way through it all is to conveniently forget the bits of information that don't fit in with the latest.

When we are being told that direct sunlight is a killer, we conveniently forget that sunlight had, prior to that, been known to give and sustain life. Sunshine is good for all living things; without it there could not be any life on earth as we know it. And yet, when we are told that it is dangerous we don't know how to maintain both beliefs, how to integrate them, and so we are immediately prepared to drop the "old" one. We replace one with the other, because we see no possible way of integration. And yet, nature, and life in general, shows us that everything is possible at the same time. It shows us that there is a way in which all opposites can be together in a harmony we, humans, have obviously not found yet.

Is it possible for us, mere humans, to find it though? I think that the answer has to be a wholehearted yes. The only problem there truly is is the restrictions we put on our search. We do this all the time: we are keen to find answers to our health problems but only by searching in the physical realm. Anything outside it will be deemed "the exception". If we truly want to know the answers we need to allow them to come from all directions, without preconceived ideas about what is possible and what isn't. And that is precisely where the problem lies!

And here is how we can solve it.

Start with what we know. Science knows that light is at the same time a wave and a particle. Sometimes, when we look at it (examine it, test it) we will find that it behaves exactly as if it was a wave and at other times it does things as if it was a particle. We know that what makes that difference is the way we "look" at it. How we set up the experiment, what we want to measure, determines whether we will see a wave or a particle aspect of light.

Science also knows that every atom in the whole of the universe has at any given time a place and a speed and direction. The trouble is that we cannot know both of these for any given moment in time: if we determine the place of the atom we have fixed it and thereby taken away its speed and direction. On the other hand we can determine its speed and direction, but then we can't know exactly where it is as it is constantly shifting places. When we "look" at the place each atom holds we are looking at the particle that we call an atom. When we "look" at its speed and direction, we look at the behaviour of a wave, a constantly moving feature with no fixed particle. It is so to speak everywhere.

This means that each atom, or what we have called atoms, has certain particle-like capabilities and certain wavelike capabilities. It can behave as a particle and as a wave depending on how we choose to look at it. In other words, at any given time it is actually behaving both as a particle and a wave, and it is only our view point that determines which side of the phenomenon we are highlighting.

All molecules are made from atoms. All biological structures are made from molecules. All bodies and body parts are made from biological building blocks that are made from molecules who have been put together from atoms. Therefore, every living body, every living structure, from a grain of sand to the human body, has been made from atoms. Each of these atoms is at the same time a wave and a particle. And we also know that we cannot observe both at the same time: we either see the material part (the particle element) or we observe wavelike phenomena. If that is the case for every building block of our body and of our material world then that surely must also be true for the result of that construction, the whole of the building, our body and the rest of the physical world as we perceive it.

So we see the world as we choose to see it. We can observe the physicality of it, or we can observe its wavelike existence. We can't do both at the same time. We may be aware of a wider aspect of life; we may know that what we are looking at is not the whole story, but from where we are, with the tools we are using we can only see one or the other.

This means that the world we live in, the world we see around us is both: it is material and it is energetic (wavelike). This is in spite of the fact that most of us only "see" the material world. If we are truly open to experience more we become well aware of the other part of the world. Extrasensory perception, telepathy, intuition and various other living experiences are true indications of a world beyond the seen, beyond the material one.

Focussing all of this onto human life we are clearly aware of these two distinct aspects: the human body and the human mind. There are plenty of non-physical, non-tangible, parts to life as we know it. Some might call it our spirit; others are happier just to stick with some elements such as our emotions, our thoughts, our mental body. The medical profession has been very keen to demonstrate the seat of each specific emotion in our brain. They are frantically looking for the place in the brain where the mind lives. It's not there. Why? Because the mind is an aspect of the wavelike properties of the atoms that make up our body, our being. That particular aspect has no place, it has speed and direction. The mind is that aspect of our lives that cannot be pinpointed in one particular place. The brain can. And then again, the brain is a material part and is not the bit that gives direction to our lives, that's the mind again. The brain is the part where we would locate the mind if we stopped it moving and "fixed" it in one place, but if we fixed it it wouldn't be a wave anymore and therefore it would no longer be the mind.

Science tells us that every cell of the body has a memory of everything that has ever happened to us. Every cell has a mind that responds directly to any change in circumstances. It doesn't need the brain to give it instructions; it takes those from the ether, directly from the wave energy by which it is surrounded and to which it is connected and with which it constantly interacts. That is why a chance encounter with a lion on the loose in the inner city changes all your body functions in a fraction of a second in order for you to have the best possible chance of survival. The brain could not act that fast and that accurate as it would first have to analyse the input data, evaluate it, co-ordinate an appropriate response, send out the corresponding adjustments, whilst at the same time continue to analyse and revise updated input in order to be alert enough to respond to a constantly changing environment. No, every cell of your body relates directly to the wave-energy it is bathing in and consequently is not only up-to-date at any given moment in time, it is also totally appropriate and co-ordinated in its responses. How can each cell do this? Well science has discovered, but not told you, that the DNA is a radio receiver and transmitter. Our DNA interacts constantly with the energyfield that surrounds us and thus each cell has a direct line that translates wavelike information into particle-like information.

A further consequence of all of this is that the energyfield determines what is expressed in the material world. The material side of life is an expressing of what the DNA "reads" in the energetic world. This is why ancient cultures have always talked about the spiritual life as the higher life. Another reason for this is that the vibrational frequency of the spiritual, the energetic, is higher than of the physical expression of it. This explains why the physical is less flexible in its approach and its living conditions than the spiritual. We say that the spirit never dies, but the physical body obviously does. The lower vibrational frequency levels limit the responses available to that part of the whole living experience and puts boundaries as to what is and what isn't compatible with life in that particular format. This means that a whole lot more is possible at a spiritual level than can possibly be achieved on a physical level, and thus, the more we choose to restrict our lives within the limits set by the material world, the physical realm, the more restricted our lives will become, the less will be possible.

If the spiritual is then creating the physical world, if the energetic world is manifesting itself in the physical, then we already existed in the energy world anyway. Also of course because the spirit, the energy that is the individual, never dies. If we already existed on a plane with more possibilities then we are experiencing here on earth, then why the hell did we come here?

Now it is time to recall how children learn, and how adults are taught their lessons in life. When do you appreciate things the most? When they have been taken away from you! When do you feel the value of something? When the use of it has become restricted. Ever realised how much your big toe means to you? You probably have if you have ever broken it, badly damaged it or if you have had it amputated.

We are here, living this restricted life locked into a physical realm, because we need to learn to appreciate the value and the possibilities of the energetic world. We have been forced into a position where our main observation point shows us life from a particular point of view. It throws up all sorts of questions regarding what life is all about and how it works. Questions that cannot be answered only taking into account the things we see from within the physical. It shows us the restrictions of living in details. If we limit ourselves to a certain set of observations we are limiting our experiences and as a result we will limit our knowledge.

We are both particle and wave, at the same time. If you decide your life is a totally particle life, you have chosen to be in one place. You have chosen for a life that has no direction and no momentum, but that gives you the comfort of knowing where it is at all time. On the other extreme, you may choose for a life that is full of momentum and direction but has no "security" of place. You won't know where you are, but you do know you are going places. Where? Everywhere and nowhere.

There is no right or wrong choice here. Humanity needs both kind of people, but maybe it will help society if the members of it understood what the differences were and that one side isn't better or worse. Accepting that there is more to living than the physical part of life, I am afraid, is essential for each individual's evolution and development. It would help if science wasn't so controlled by authorities that have a power agenda, rather than a human compassionate one.

Be both, a particle and a wave. And learn to enjoy aspects of both.

It's a wonderful journey; make it yours.

September 2005