Is "the Quantum" Just another Story?*

Recently, someone asked me this intriguing question:

“Is this whole ‘quantum thing’ just another story?”

Fascinating question, isn’t it?

What do you think?

As I pondered the deeper realms of the question,

I found two separate responses appearing in my inquiring mind.

The first, as you might expect, is a simple, clear and emphatic

“Yes!”

This ‘quantum thing’ is indeed just another story.

(Fear not; be assured, there’s a ‘but clause’ coming later!).

This ‘yes!’ jumped out at me from three different perspectives.

The first, as you might expect, is a quantum perspective.

Seen through quantum eyes, everything in and around us,

including creation itself, is a bigger-than-life story.

To use metaphors: our world and everything around and beyond it,

is a quantumly generated fairy tale,

a captivating movie, an enticing dream—

one that the emptiness-filled Void is creatively imagining,

producing, directing and overseeing.

That’s the story—including the story about the quantum story.

The second perspective is a more psychological one.

Our otherwise wondrous human consciousness is remarkably limited

by three-dimensional thinking and duality-oriented minds.

Hence, every thought that passes through our minds

and every word that escapes from our mouths

express these limitations and are, you guessed it,

a remarkably small and insufficient version, a storied version,

of a much, much, much bigger reality.

From this view, any attempt to describe anything that is

beyond-three-dimensional, such as the very meaning of existence

or the infinite source of creation,

is not only inadequate; it’s impossible,

no matter how hard we try.

Because our mental concepts are thus limited and straight-jacketed,

we must resort to the realm of imagination—

creating symbols, metaphors, analogies, stories and myths

as our best-guess-based hints about the nature of such larger realities.

Indeed, all we can do is tell ourselves stories about our source!

The third perspective is a quite spiritual one.

Spiritually speaking, as you know,

you and I possess a unique nature:

We are pure light!

Yet, we find ourselves moving around in a human form,

with a convincingly duality-oriented mind, energy and body.

Generally speaking, we often feel cut off from our pure light.

How did this mysterious double-take happen?

Actually, we don’t know. It’s a complete mystery.

To help us understand this unexplainable mystery

of how we got from light to human,

we instinctively turn to our problem-solving minds.

But our minds, once again, simply aren’t equipped with concepts

adequate enough to produce a satisfying answer.

Again, we’ve had to make up imaginative stories—

philosophical theories, religious beliefs, cultural myths, spiritual visions, etc.—

about the origin, meaning and purpose

of this light-to-human phenomenon.

Wow! Three unique perspectives and one unified conclusion:

Everything we experience is make-believe—

including our every concept, belief, assumption and theory.

And that appears to include the important story of our origin,

whether it’s a philosophical, religious, cultural, scientific or quantum one.

“Oh no!” you might be ‘thinking.

“I was just beginning to get comfortable with believing

in modern science’s (and Bill’s) assertions

about the wonders of the quantum void.

Now what do I do?”

Well, fret not! Good news is arriving to assist us.

Enter, Stage left, the second response to our question:

the awaited ‘but’ clause. Finally!

Granting the above “Yes, it’s just a story!” response,

let’s look even deeper.

Come, peer with me beyond the apparent stories.

Yes, we well-meaning humans have no choice

but to resort to imagination-filled 3-dimensional language

to describe realities and phenomena that lie far beyond this world.

That statement, however, doesn’t negate or limit

the overwhelming magnitude, wonder and power

of our other-worldly, bigger-dimensional source.

Indeed, even though our stories are but our best guesses

of what lies beyond our cognitive grasp,

the unknowable source of us all remains a reality,

albeit an unexplainable and mystery-filled one.

Despite our cognitive and language limitations,

you and I have another compelling quality:

an innate capacity to know everything,

including everything that exists beyond our human world.

This capacity is alive and well at our deeper levels:

in our light-filled souls,

in our sub-conscious minds,

in our higher consciousness and

in our sixth-sense intuition.

Oh, yes, and in our quantum consciousness!

This remarkable capacity is our hidden ‘super-power.’

Here, in these deeper levels of an expanded and expansive self,

we live and move in unique, indescribable, mystical realms:

those of mystery … magic … wonder … miracle!

Here, beyond any seemingly rational or logical mindsets,

we swim freely in the extra-terrestrial waters of the unknowable.

We grasp the larger wonders and realities of creation.

We experience the awe and magic of ourselves and others.

We embrace and celebrate the unknowable mystery of everything.

We experience our oneness with the pure emptiness

that reigns supreme beyond all the rest.

Here, we understand the bigger-than-life truth of everything

even though without the slightest capacity to explain it cognitively.

Here, we understand the very mystery about which our minds remain puzzled.

Here, we are awed by our magical nature, revealed by our souls.

Here, we are filled with the nothingness-empowered mystery

that is so often hidden from our traditional human view.

Here, we recognize and are consumed by a sense of wonder—

a wonder that is so complete that it needs no explanation at all.

How do we get to these hidden sources within us?

Simply said, we open ourselves to them—

as all of us have already done

to varying degrees and in individual ways.

We invite our conscious awareness to focus on,

become aware of and connect with

our waiting souls,

our super-conscious light,

our sub-conscious intuition,

our inner truth,

our divine connection,

our quantum source.

In addition, for some of us, that hidden source also speaks to us

through our bodies, our energies,

our instincts, or some other unique inner source.

Then, once we’re increasingly aware and connected,

we invite ourselves to a close, intimate relationship with it or them,

perhaps talking to and with them daily,

perhaps listening to them—

usually not expecting to hear tangible words, mind you—

but listening for intuitive awarenesses, visual pictures,

moving energies, deeper ‘knowings,’ as some examples.

Over time, we live in these mystical inner spaces more and more.

We identify with our own mystery and that of the world around us.

We find that our conscious minds become more and more satisfied

with our deeper feelings and knowings.

We notice that they no longer need rational explanations;

they experience less and less urge to create mind-based stories.

In turn, we enjoy the unexpected side effect called

inner peace.

To conclude:

Humanly, we resort to telling stories about everything.

(Everything is a story, as the saying goes!).

All of our beliefs or theories about the ‘quantum thing’—

the quantum void, source and power—

are, thus, our best-guess-filled stories, metaphors and analogies.

Yet, beyond this well-intentioned story-telling effort,

there exists an amazing and magical reality—

one that can be neither described nor explained,

but one that we can access, connect to,

merge and unify with, and dissolve into.

When we do, whether fully or partially,

we begin to understand, know and experience this reality,

no longer as or through a belief-based story,

but personally, intuitively, deeply, sacredly and magically.

Then, we’ve achieved what our quantum source intended

when it created us and planted its “quantum gene” within us—

that quantum calling that now invites us back to our quantum roots—

so that we discover it, embrace it, become it.

Welcome to your beyond-story quantum calling!

Quantum Source ... Quantum World ... Quantum Void ... Quantum You!