TruthBook Religious News Blog

'Quantum Gods' analyzes purported link between physics and cosmic consciousness

Does quantum mechanics show a connection between the human mind and the cosmos? Are our brains tuned into a "cosmic consciousness" that pervades the universe enabling us to make our own reality? Do quantum mechanics and chaos theory provide a place for God to act in the world without violating natural laws?

Many popular books and films make such claims and argue that key developments in twentieth-century physics, such as the uncertainty principle and the butterfly effect, support the notion that God or a universal mind acts upon material reality. Physicist Victor J. Stenger, author of New York Times bestseller God: The Failed Hypothesis, examines these contentions in QUANTUM GODS: CREATION, CHAOS AND THE SEARCH FOR COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS (Prometheus Books, $26.98), a carefully reasoned and incisive analysis of popular theories that seek to link spirituality to physics.

"The public understanding of modern physics is seriously out of whack, thanks largely to pop junk like The Secret and What the BLEEP Do We Know? [that] promote a bogus version of quantum mechanics—the belief that 'you create your own reality' by controlling the laws of physics with your mind…," said Geoff Gilpin, author of The Maharishi Effect: A Personal Journey Through the Movement That Transformed American Spirituality. "The world has needed a book like this for a long time. If you care about scientific literacy, Quantum Gods is not optional."

Throughout the book Stenger alternates his discussions of popular spirituality with a survey of what the findings of twentieth-century physics actually mean. Thus he offers the reader a useful synopsis of contemporary religious ideas as well as basic but sophisticated physics presented in layperson's terms.

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Labels: God, quantum physics, spirituality, Victor J. Stenger

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Sunday, April 05, 2009

Bishops: Alternative therapy 'superstition'

Some Catholics say the treatment is helpful and positive

By Mary Garrigan, Journal staff | Sunday, April 05, 2009

Defenders of Reiki expressed dismay and disappointment over criticism of the alternative health therapy by U.S. Catholic bishops, who recently called it "unscientific and inappropriate for Catholic institutions."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued guidelines March 24 that said Reiki's medical benefits are unproven by science and inappropriate for Christians because of the spiritual dangers posed. Rapid City Reiki teacher Cynthia Dumdey said she was surprised by those comments, which she called uninformed and unfortunate.

Reiki is usually described as a holistic healing technique, a form of therapeutic touch or a type of "energy medicine" in which a practitioner places hands on the body in certain positions in order to facilitate and manipulate the flow of energy. Reiki teaches that illness is caused by imbalances or disruptions of energy in a person's body.

But in its "Guidelines for Evaluating Reiki as an Alternative Therapy," the USCCB argued that "To use Reiki one would have to accept ... elements that belong neither to Christian faith nor to natural science. Without justification either from Christian faith or natural science, however, a Catholic who puts his or her trust in Reiki would be operating in the realm of superstition, the no-man's-land that is neither faith nor science."

Teresa Withee, a Reiki practitioner and baptized Catholic, said she "very much respects the religion" but disagrees with the bishops' characterization of Reiki as anti-religious or superstitious.

Dumdey is a Reiki master and clinical psychologist who has trained at least 100 people in the three levels of Reiki in the past 19 years. She also routinely gets patient referrals from medical doctors, including Mayo Clinic physicians.

"So they think it's got some medical benefits," she said. "Reiki is an option in many hospitals and hospices around the country. There's a whole field of healing called energy medicine, and a lot of doctors know that if they don't start acknowledging it, they are doing a huge disservice to their patients," she said.

The USCCB said Reiki lacks scientific credibility.

"Reputable scientific studies attesting to the efficacy of Reiki are lacking, as is a plausible scientific explanation as to how it could possibly be efficacious," they state.

Dumdey and Sister Susan Pohl, a Benedictine nun and longtime hospital chaplain, both say the field of quantum physics suggests that Reiki may be much more scientific than anyone knows right now.

"I've been at conferences with quantum physicists who are on the same page as Reiki when it comes to new theories about energy and matter," Dumdey said.

"I think we have to continue exploring quantum physics regarding how the divine can be viewed as an essential part of the mind-body-spirit connection," Pohl said. "Reiki therapy may be one of many avenues to travel in this regard."

Those connections were highlighted by last month's announcement that French physicist Bernard d'Espagnat was awarded the 2009 Templeton Prize, a coveted religion award honoring someone who has made exceptional contributions to affirming life's spiritual dimension through insight, discovery or practical works. D'Espagnat has theorized that quantum physics could provide insights into alternate spiritual realities and has been quoted as saying that recent discoveries may be "signs providing us with some perhaps not entirely misleading glimpses of a higher reality and, therefore, that higher forms of spirituality are fully compatible with what seems to emerge from contemporary physics."

Reiki is frequently described as a form of spiritual healing, and American bishops assert there is a radical difference between Reiki therapy and the healing by divine power in which Christians believe.

Withee, owner of Divine Kneads in Rapid City, said the patient, not the practitioner, is the "healer" in Reiki. "We're just providing the space for that energy work," she said.

For Chantelle Emond, a Reiki practitioner at Integrity Massage in Rapid City, the universal energy of Reiki and the divine energy of God are the same.

"For me, Reiki is just another part of God. My experience of Reiki only amplified my experience of God," she said.

Emond considers Reiki healing and the power of prayer closely related phenomena and believes both can be sent long distances. She was amused by criticism of it as unscientific.

"Can the power of prayer be proven? Please scientifically prove God to me," she said.

Pohl has no formal training in Reiki, but she respects the therapy as a form of stress reduction and a means to enhance overall health and well-being. She's seen it offer relief from the unpleasant side effects of medical treatments. "One Catholic sister I worked with was assigned a special room in her Motherhouse to provide this type of therapy to any who wished to seek some alternative pain remedy. I think Reiki, along with yoga, tai chi, meditation and other energy therapies, have a definite place in the continuing research into the mind-body-spirit connection," Pohl said.

Reiki therapists say the best way to learn about Reiki is to experience it.

"In my experience and in my life, I have received positive benefits from Reiki," said Emond. "But just like any medical therapy, some things work for some people and not for others."

Labels: Catholicism, Mary Garrigan, quantum physics, Reiki

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Friday, March 20, 2009

French Physicist Wins Templeton Religion Prize

By Ethan Cole
Christian Post Reporter
Mon, Mar. 16 2009

A French physicist and philosopher of science is the winner of the 2009 Templeton Prize for religion, the largest annual religion prize given to an individual, the foundation announced on Monday.

Bernard d’Espagnat, 87, will receive the $1.42 million prize for his work in quantum physics that shows the limits of knowable science and affirms a reality that can be explained through spirituality and art, according to Reuters.

D’Espagnat said in prepared remarks that he is “convinced that those among our contemporaries who believe in a spiritual dimension of existence and live up to it are, when all is said, fully right,” according to The Associated Press.

The John Templeton Foundation announced the prize at a news conference held at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris.

“[D’Espagnat has] explored the unlimited, the openings that new scientific discoveries offer in pure knowledge and in questions that go to the very heart of our existence and humanity,” said John Templeton, Jr., president of the foundation, at the ceremony.

Through his work, the physicist counters classical physics pioneered by Isaac Newton that says the world can be explained through laws of nature. Quantum physics, he argues, shows that tiny particles defy the laws of physics and act in unpredictable ways.

"Materialists consider that we are explained entirely by combinations of small uninteresting things like atoms or quarks," said d'Espagnat, who was raised Roman Catholic but now considers himself instead a spiritualist, in an interview with Reuters on Friday.

"I believe we ultimately come from a superior entity to which awe and respect is due and which we shouldn't try to approach by trying to conceptualize too much," he said. "It's more a question of feeling."

D’Espagnat will receive the prize May 5 in a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London, according to AP.

Previous winners of the prize include American evangelist Billy Graham, Roman Catholic humanitarian Mother Teresa, and Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

The Templeton Prize was established in 1972 by global investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton. The prize, given by Pennsylvanian-based Templeton Foundation, seeks to support scientific research that contributes to the “Big Questions” of science, religion, and human purposes. Each year, the Templeton Prize, which exceeds the monetary value of the Nobel Prizes, is presented in London.

Labels: Bernard d’Espagnat, Ethan Cole, quantum physics, religion, spirituality, Templeton Prize