Today's generation of physicists, impressed by the stunning successes of quantum physics--from nuclear weapons to lasers-are of a different mind. They are busy applying quantum mechanics to areas its original creators never imagined. Stephen Hawking, for example, used it to describe the creation of elementary particles from black holes and to argue that the universe exploded into being in a quantum-mechanical event.
Bucking this tide of modern physics for more than 30 years, Bohm has been more than a gadfly. His objections to the foundations of quantum mechanics have gradually coalesced into an extension of the theory so sweeping that it amounts to a new view of reality. Believing that the nature of things is not reducible to fragments or particles, he argues for a holistic view of the universe. He demands that we learn to regard matter and life as a whole, coherent domain, which he calls the implicate order.
Most other physicists discard Bohm's logic without bothering to scrutinize it. Part of the difficulty is that his implicate order is rife with paradox. Another problem is the sheer range of his ideas, which encompass such hitherto nonphysical subjects as consciousness, society, truth, language, and the process of scientific theory making itself.
Perhaps Bohm's getting past conditioning means he is a modern day Maria? His words are rife with paradox. I think of this in terms of the writings of mythologist Joseph Campbell, whose most famous book is Hero of a Thousand Faces. Campbell was very much like Peat in being interested in the work of psychiatrist Carl Jung (e.g., Peat's Synchronicity: The Unity of Mind and Matter). Campbell also spoke a lot to the coincidence of opposites in the myths, which fits into the way Bohm was seeing physics.
Ultimately, the paradox is that unity is inherent in diversity and diversity is inherent in unity. We live in a paradoxical universe in which the implicate and explicate orders require the apposition of their opposites with a constant flux between the two-in-one. The wave and the particle coexist. Thus, the United States motto is "E Pluribus Unim," in the many one, which is in contrast to the current nation's undeclared, "United Corporations War Against Planet" whose mode of operandi is to "Divide and Conquer." A simple example would be the United States cable news channels that act as opposites such as Fox and CNN. But are they truly opposites or are they like the right and left arms of the same monster?
But this is merely my way of viewing opposites. How would David Bohm answer me? I'd love to hear the answer.
But, Bohm is deceased. In addition to Bohm's writings, his memory lives on in the writings and work of F. David Peat. Thus, Peat is teaming up with movie producer Paul Howard of Imagine Films to produce a documentary regarding the work of Bohm.
This movie adventure on the part of Peat and Howard provided me the opportunity to ask questions I would have probably asked Bohm. But, I had to take care of family needs. So, I could not talk to Peat and Howard directly. But, I did get answers from questions I wrote. Merry simply served as my voice.
The ultimate message Bohm would impart to whoever reads this article is that the potentials within us all, including you, are endless. Perhaps you can read this message in a book written by Peat about Bohm?
My suggestion is not to look at the title, Infinite Potential as just speaking of Bohm, Peat, Howard or any other specific person. I suggest the title refers to everything and everyone. This means you, the reader. In my understanding, infinity exists side-by-side with nothing. This is its limitation. Without the finite, the infinite has no sense of Her-His Self. This is why there is the dark circle within the white half of the Tao symbol and a white circle (yang or male) within the dark (yin or female) half. To be whole, the Unmanifest (Yin) needs to manifest (Yang, the spark or Eros of creation). Thus the Unlimited is inherent in the Limited and the Limited is inherent in the Unlimited. Their ongoing dance together is the dance of Life itself.
Duality, the beginning division of Genesis--be it of the Cosmos or the human egg--is the beginning of self-awareness. If nothing exists within you except you within your self, how would you know anything? Thus, it is in the manifestation of potentials (i.e., the finite) of evolution that the Unlimited ultimately sees itself.
The real question is: "What potentials exist in you?" Beyond that, "Which of these potentials do you choose to manifest?"
Sit with those questions for a while. Perhaps the unfolding of potential in you is the true dream of David Bohm as well as Peat and Howard? Or, perhaps the true author is Nature, Yahweh (I AM) or Brahman (the Self)? Is there truly a distinction between I and Thou?
To listen to the interview with Peat and Howard talking about Bohm's infinite potential, go to: RECONNECT TO OUR TRUE NATURE VIA A DOCUMENTARY ON QUANTUM PHYSICIST DAVID BOHM 02/26 by ENVISION THIS | Culture Podcasts
To learn more about David Bohm and Peat and Howard's documentary on him, visit: http://thebohmdocumentary.org
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