ALSO BY WOLFGANG SMITH PHYSICS Cosmos andTranscendence: Breaking Through the Barrier of Scientistic Belief and

Theistic Evolution: The Teilhardian Heresy VERTICAL The Quantum Enigma: Finding the Hidden Key CAUSATION Ancient Wisdom and Modern Misconceptions: A Critique of Contemporary Scientism The End of Christian Gnosis: From St. Paul to Meister Eckhart Quantum Reality

Science & Myth: With a Response to Stephen Hawking's The Grand Design +++ In Quest of Catholicity: Malachi Martin Responds to WolfgangSmith (with MalachiMartin) Wolfgang Smith Rediscovery of the Integral Cosmos: Physics, Metaphysics, and Vertical Causality (with Jean Borella)

� Angelico Press CONTENTS

Preface i

1 The Origin of Quantum Theory 1 2 The Quantum Enigma 7

3 Finding the Hidden Key 13

4 Three Vertical Powers of the Soul 31 Free Will as Vertical Causality [35 ]-The Verticality ofVisual Perception [ 3 7]-The Verticality oflntellect [ 41]

5 The War on Design 45 The Theoretical Basis of Einsteinian Physics [ 48 ]-The Empirical Argument Contra Einsteinian Physics [ 62]­ Unmasking "Anthropic Coincidence" [71]

6 The Emergence of the Tripartite Cosmos 77

7 The Primacy of Vertical Causality 93

8 Pondering the Cosmic Icon 101 The Aeviternity of the Spiritual State [106]-The Primacy of the Intermediary [107]-The Primacy of Time [107]-The Cyclicity ofTime [107]

Postscript 123 Index 127 About the Author 129 1 PREFACE

HE PRESENT BOOK IS MEANT, IN THE FIRST place, to serve as an introduction to a hitherto unrecognized mode of causation which proves moreoverT to be ubiquitous: what I referto, namely, as "ver­ tical causality:' The question that immediately presents itself, of course, is how this newly-discovered causality relates to the causality with which physics has been con­ cerned since thedays of Sir Isaac Newton, which I shall refer to as "horizontal"; and suffice it to say, by way of a first ori­ entation, that vertical causality does enter into the purview of physics, but in a manner the physicistas such is in princi­ ple unable to comprehend. For as we shall come to see, ver­ tical causality-unlike horizontal-is not something quan­ titative, not something amenable to description in terms of differential equations. At the risk of producing more con­ sternation than enlightenment, one couldsay that it is a cau­ sality that measures but cannot itself be measured. The crucial point is that even though the existence of vertical causation constitutes one of the two keys that render con­ temporary physics ontologically comprehensible, VC is something by nature invisible to the physicist, and hence proves to be incurablyphilosophical. It pertains moreover to a genre of philosophy which, in the post-Kantian era, has

1. Reprinted from "Physics and Vertical Causation" as first published in Rediscovering the IntegralCosmos (Brooklyn,NY: Angelico Press, 2018 ), slightly adapted.

-i- PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION PREFACE been quite out of fashion: to metaphysics. It is thus in a way now qualifyas "horizontal" -acts in time by way of a tem­ ironic that this supposedly "outdated" discipline should poral process; and as might thus be expected, vertical cau­ emerge at the end of the twentieth century as the long sality is characterized by the factthat it does not act in time: sought-after means to understand the latest formulation of one can say that it acts instantaneously. How then can one physics: that this philosophy should thus live up to its name ever "detect" an act of vertical causation: how, in other as constituting indeed a meta-physics. words, is it possible to concludethat an act of causation was My second objective is to bring into unity the multiple actually instantaneous and not just "very fast"? That is where strands pursued in the books I have written over the years, the distinction between ontological domains comes into in a way that manifests what may rightfully be termed "the play: if there exists indeed a corporeal domain-the one in big picture:' I take the liberty, moreover, to express myself which we "live, and move, and have our being''-as distin­ sometimes in broad sweeps, leaving it to the interested guished from the physical accessed by way of measurement, reader to consult this or that earlier work, where a more then it follows that the act of measurement entails a transi­ detailed and documented account of a particular subject is tion from the one to the other: and it is not difficult to see to be found. One has, in the evening of one's life, the luxury that an ontological transition can only be achieved instanta­ to speak freely, and focus on what constitutes the most ulti­ neously. mately profound fact of all. At that point "lesser" facts But whereas vertical causality was discovered in the con­ hardly matter anymore in themselves. What counts in the text of quantum measurement, it proves to be ubiquitous: end is an overview-like the panorama seen from a moun­ nothing whatsoever can in fact exist without being "verti­ taintop-in which everything finds its rightful place, and cally" caused. In particular, it is vertical causality that "the many"mysteriously unite in that which is incompara­ accounts for the ontological stratification of the cosmos­ bly greater than their sum. which the ancients understood so profoundly and present­ day civilization failseven to recognize. There is the fact,first of all, that the corporeal world divides into the mineral, +++ plant, animal and anthropic domains, which prove to be, VERTICAL CAUSALITY MADE ITS APPEARANCE IN THE once again, distinguished ontologically, and thus in ways context of quantum theory, along with the ontological dis­ physics as such cannot comprehend-for the very simple tinction between the physical and the corporeal domains. reason that, here again, what stands at issue are effects of Not, to be sure, that it was "detected" in the sense of detect­ vertical causality. ing a quantum particle! It is rather implied by virtue of the Tocomprehend this hitherto unrecognized mode of cau­ fact that the resolution of the so-called measurement prob­ sation, we need to understand that the cosmos at large lem demands as much. proves to be ontologically trichotomous: that even as man What, then, is vertical causality? It needs to be recalled himself is made up of corpus, anima, and spiritus, so is the that the causality previously known to physics-which we integral cosmos. Thus, as every major premodern civiliza-

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tion had recognized, there exist two additional ontological ontological "within" centered upon that Apex: it is as if the strata "above" the corporeal, rendering the cosmos tripar­ two centers actually "touch:'s tite. 2 There exists moreover a primordial iconic representa­ To the Thomist let me point out that for every cosmic tion of that integral cosmos that proves to be invaluable, being, that "meeting point" may be identified with its sub­ consisting quite simply of a circle in which the circumfer­ stantial form. It is needful,therefore, to distinguish between ence corresponds to the corporeal world, the center to the the two centers: the one universal Center (represented by spiritual or "celestial" realm, and the interior to the inter­ the central point of the cosmic icon), and the other defini­ mediary. What needs above all to be understood-and may tive of a cosmic existent. What concerns us is the fact that indeed be termed the "hidden key"-is that even as the cor­ vertical causality, by virtue of not acting "in time:' acts nec­ poreal domain is subject to the bounds of space and time, the essarilyfrom a center, and therefore in one of two ways: it intermediary is subjectto time alone while the center is subject may act from the universal Center, in which case that cau­ to neither of the two bounds. 3 And so that center-that sality coincides with thecosmogenetic Act, or fromthe cen­ seeming "point:' having neither extension in space nor ter of a particular being, in which case-so farfrom being duration in time, which thus appears to be "the least"­ cosmogenetic-it is evidently the act of a cosmic agent. And proves to be actually "the greatest of all"4: impervious to the needless to say, there exists a very broad spectrum of such constraints of space and the terminations of time, it encom­ cosmic activity, ranging fromthe existential act of a pebble passes in truth every "where" and every "when;' and can to the freeand creative acts of man. therefore be identified as the nunc stans, the omnipresent "now that stands:' Strange as it may seem so long as we pic­ +++ ture it as something "faraway and high above:' that Apex is actually present within every being as its ultimate center. LET ME, AT THIS JUNCTURE, ASSURE THE READER THAT This means that every actual being is endowed with an "the worst" is now over: having plunged ahead into admit­ tedly abstruse and difficult realms-to provide a kind of synoptic overview of the territory we are about to enter­ 2. Sanskrit may be the only language with a word for this ontological we shall henceforth proceed by clear and simple steps. My trichotomy, which is traditionally referred to in India as the tribhuvana aim in this monograph is to provide a readilycomprehensi­ or "triple world." ble-and exceedingly brief-introduction to the discovery 3. I am not aware of any source which enunciates this fundamental principle. As a matter of fact, written sources, both ancient or modern, have precious littleto say on the subject of such a "cosmic icon." What we 5. AB the reader may note, in the special case of the anthropos that do find are clues.A study on this subject would be of great interest. «within" coincides with what mystics are wont to call the "heart." It 4. I would note parenthetically that the correspondence here with should likewise be noted that the cosmic icon applies not only to the cos­ various allusions in the New Testament-forinstance, the parable of the mos at large-traditionally termed the macrocosm-but likewiseto man, mustard seed-is by no means accidental or adventitious. the so-called microcosm, an analogy which in fact it exemplifies,

-iv- -v- PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION

and the implications of vertical causality, extending our purview step by step from quantum physics to the cosmos at large: for as we have seen, vertical causality acts in truth from that "punto dello stelo a cui la prima rota va ditorno"­ 1 fromthat "pivot around which the primordial wheel revolves;' to put it in Dante's inimitable words. "There everywhere and every when are focused,"6 the Poet goes on to say by way of THE ORIGIN depicting that central and yet ubiquitous punto dello stelo OF QUANTUM THEORY wherein the mystery of vertical causation resides.

+++ HE STORY BEGINS IN THE FATEFUL YEAR 1900 when a young physicist named MaxPlanck decided to FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL PUBLICATION OF "Physics and investigate the so-called black-body problem. It has Vertical Causation" in Rediscovering the Integral Cosmos,7 I alwaysT been known that a piece of iron, forexample, glows red; continued to ponder our iconic circle, what I came to refer yet for some unknown reason it turned out that calculations to as the "cosmic icon:' It occurred to me, moreover, that invariably indicated that it ought to glow blue. Now, to calcu­ this figure may well have been viewed in ancient times as late the radiation of a black-body, one needs to relate the the icon par excellence of the integral cosmos-a remote kinetic energy E of a vibrating particle to the light-frequency f conjecture, which however, not long thereafter, gained a it emits; and what Planck discovered-serendipitously as it measure of credibility from a serendipitous discovery: fry­ turns out-is that this emission can take place only in "pack­ ing to reconstruct for myself how this "Euclidean" figure ets" of energy given by hf, where h is a constant subsequently might have been viewed within Plato's Academy, I was led to referredto as "the quantum of action" or Planck's constant. Its discover what may literally be termed "metaphysical equa­ value has since been established to be 6.626076 times 10 to the tions": four of them, to be exact, each of whichentails a cor­ power -34 (in standard units); and thus emended, the theory responding metaphysical theorem, which in conjunction yields the values confirmedby experiment. constitute a metaphysics-a Platonist metaphysics!-of the As might be expected, this result proved to be utterly incom­ integral cosmos. I have consequently added these reflections prehensible to the physics community at the time, and it is safe to the present book in the formof chapter 8. to saythat no one as yet had the ghost of an idea what Planck's discovery presaged. The conviction was rife that physics had attained a state of near-perfection in which only minor prob­ lems remained yet to be resolved-which is why the young

6. Paradiso xiii, 10 and xx.ix,12, Planck had in factbeen advised by his mentors not to become a 7. Brooklyn, NY:Angelico Press, 2018. physicist, but to pursue instead a career in music! It happens, however, that this state of affairswas about to change.

-vi- -1- PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION THE ORIGIN OF QUANTUM THEORY

Since the days of Sir Isaac Newton it had been supposed themost perfectphysics the world had ever seen turned out that matter reduces ultimately to Democritean atoms, and to be "a kind of mystic chant over an unintelligible uni­ that with the refinement of experimental means these verse;' in Whitehead's telling words. would eventually present themselves as objects to be mea­ Let us take a summary look at this new physics. As we sured and observed. However, at the very moment when have seen, the entities-if indeed that term is still applica­ this prospect did materialize, it became apparent that these ble-with which it is concerned exhibitboth wave and par­ so-called atoms are not in fact"tiny particles" at all. In place ticle aspects, which implies that in truth they answer to of authentic atoms, what came to light is something that neither designation. It turns out, moreover, that a strict exhibits both particle and wave characteristics, which is to determinism is no longer tenable: somehow the notion of say that it is actually neither a particle nor a wave. Thus, if "probability" must enter the picture-for it is precisely an we do think of it as a particle, we must live with the fact that "indeterminacy" that allows wave and particle characteris­ it can, for example, pass throughtwo slits in a partition at tics to co-exist without logical contradiction. The factis that thesame time, and can moreover "multilocate" in countless quantum physics needs both the wave and the particle rep­ other ways. Nor do we fareany better if we conceive of these resentation, together with a "principle of indeterminacy" to entities as "waves:' inasmuch as it is now the particle-aspect render them compatible. On top of which it needs one more that does not fit. ingredient: a means, namely, of passing from one to the One was left thus with something that can no longer be other. And this is where Planck's constant comes into play: pictured or conceived at all-except possibly in mathemati­ in connecting the energy of a vibrating particle to the fre­ cal terms. By the time the "smoke had cleared;' physicists quency of a wave, it serves as the bridge between the two were obliged to accept the fact that their near-perfectNew­ descriptions. tonian science had, in a sense, vanished into thin air. Of What was called for, as we have said, was a brand new course the theory could still be applied to technology in physics; and amazingly, that transition was accomplished­ domains where the deviation from classical behavior is to perfection!-in a span of twenty-five years. A veritable insignificant (which of course covers a very broad range); explosion of genius ensued, such as the world had rarely but that, in any case, is all that remains of the two-century­ seen; and in the fateful year 1925-in one giant leap as it long Newtonian hegemony. were-physics attained what might well be its ultimate It was a singularly exciting and challenging time. What form. The discovery was in factmade three times, in terms was needed was not only a brand new physics that works, of three radically dissimilar mathematical structures which but also a new understanding of what physics is: that is to later proved to be isomorphic. It was by any count a stellar say, how it relates to reality. And as we shall come to see, the moment in the history of man's quest to comprehend the first of these objectives the physics community was able to universe. achieve rapidly and to perfection, whereas the second they In a way, the greatest genius among the three discoverers have not been able to attain at all. It thus came about that was Werner Heisenberg, a 24-year-old physicist and close

-2- -3- PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION THE ORIGIN OF QUANTUM THEORY friend of Niels Bohr, who in July of 1925 sojourned on the a false result. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that, desolate isle of Helgoland. Finding himself alone-the sea here at last, physics has attained its ultimate ground in the before him and the sky above-the young physicist was formof a mathematicalscience which fullysquares with the apparently seized by a spirit of "back to the facts."It struck corresponding facts. him thus that whereas physicists at large invariably evinced The idea obtrudes that Heisenberg's quantum theory boundless respect for the so-called "hard facts of observa­ could be something "given" or "discovered" rather than tion," they seemed rarely to ask themselves what these facts "man-made"; and it appears that Heisenberg himself may might actually be. They seemed to assume, in particular, that have shared that view. As his wife Elisabeth recalls: ''With a physical system owns its dynamic attributes-a position or smiling certainty, he once said to me 'I was lucky enough momentum, say-prior to the act of measurement, when in to be allowed once to look over the good Lord's shoulder fact this constitutes evidently an unverifiable hypothesis. while he was at work: That was enough forhim, more than One may presume that Heisenberg was moved to ask him­ enough!"2 self whether this may not prove to be indeed the very assumption that renders us incapable of understanding the quantum world! And perhaps, at this juncture, he recalled Lord Kelvin's definition of physics as "the science of mea­ surement"-and realized in a flash that the mysteryof quan­ tum physicsresides precisely in the act of measurement itself. What we do know is that, abandoning the aforesaid assumption, Heisenberg-in the course of a single day and night-invented a mathematical formalism1 that enables one to transact the business of physics without assuming that quantum systems own their dynamic attributes. Briefly stated, what a quantum system owns in place of actual dynamic attributes, according to Heisenberg's theory, is an array of probabilities, which could be represented as the ele­ ments of an infinite matrix. And unwieldy as the resultant "matrix mechanics" may be, it has now been in direct or indirect use for close to a century and has never yet yielded

1. Strictly speaking, he "re-invented" that formalism: what stands at issue is the algebraic theory of matrices, with which the young Heisen­ 2. ElisabethHeisenber g, Inner Exile:Recollections of a Lifewith Werner berg was not acquainted at the time. Heisenberg(Boston: Birkhauser, 1980), 157.

-4- -5- 2 THE QUANTUM ENIGMA

ET IT APPEARS THAT THE CONSUMMATE perfection of quantum theory comes at a price: for it happens that no one seems to haveso much as the Yslightest notion what in plain fact it means-whether, for example, there actually exists a "quantum world" or not. Now it seems that physicists at large have not been unduly disturbed by this state of affairs.Most seem content to vacil­ late between the pre-quantum outlook on the one hand and some suitably reified picture of the quantum realm. They appear for the most part not even to realizethat something is seriously amiss, and that in fact they are pendulating between two contradictory worldviews. In the upper eche­ lons of the physics community, on the other hand, efforts began almost immediately to render the marvelous new physics intelligible as well. For that subclass of physicists who are more than technicians, predicting the outcome of experiments was not enough; they wanted also to under­ stand what physics entails regarding the actual composition of the world, and found it intolerable that the new science seemed not to fit the prevailing worldview. A debate con­ cerning these deeper issues began almost immediately at the Solvay Conference of 1927 in the form of the famousBohr­ Einstein exchange, and for the past ninety years, to be pre­ cise, physicists with a philosophic bent have proposed and counter-proposed the most extraordinary notions in an

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effort to resolve the persisting riddle, with no resolution yet ognition which inspired Heisenberg, on that fateful day in in sight. It appears that Richard Feynman may well have hit 1925, to achieve his monumental breakthrough. Meanwhile the nailon the head with his apodictic declaration "No one that stipulation was confirmed, in 1932, by a Hungarian understands quantum theory." Many do, of course, under­ mathematician named John van Neumann, in a startling stand the theory on a technical plane: the "no one" applies­ revelation which appeared to settle the issue beyond all not evidently when one compares mathematical solutions doubt. What van Neumann accomplished breaks into two with corresponding measurements-but the moment one parts: first, he axiomatized the principles of quantum phys­ asks how a red apple in our hand relates to protons and ics, thereby putting the discipline upon a rigorous mathe­ electrons. matical foundation, following which he showed that the As concerns the manifold proposals put forth by physi­ Copenhagenist claim of no "pre-measured" dynamic attri­ cists in the interminable quest to resolve the "quantum real­ butes can now be established as a mathematical theorem. ity" conundrum, it needs first of all to be noted that, in the Thus, if we define an ordinary object as one that owns its final count, each without exception falls short of the mark. dynamic attributes, the theorem states quite simply that On the whole these proposals strike the"unprogrammed" there are no ordinary objects in the quantum realm. observer as ranging-let me speak plainly-from the biz­ But whereas it appeared at this point that the matter had arre to the outright ridiculous, and none more so, I would now been settled once and for all, it turns out that addi­ add, than the so-called "many-worlds" approach which tional featsof genius were in the offing, which would, once seeks to rescue determinism by stipulatingthat every possi­ again, upset the status quo. For it turns out that van Neu­ ble outcome of every measurement is in fact realized, how­ mann had neglected to spell out a certain condition that had beit in a different universe! So too mention might be made of hitherto been assumed as a matter of course, but which the so-called "quantum logic" approach, based upon the proves ultimately to be not only unwarranted but indeed remarkable premise that ordinary logic ceases to apply in untenable. Which brings us to John Stuart Bell, thephysic ist the quantum realm. The very absurdity of such proposals­ who, in 1964, in the course of an exacting study of van Neu­ combined with the fact that they originated in universities mann's proof, identified that mysterious condition. What and institutes for advanced study-serves to underscore the van Neumann had tacitly assumed-and what later came to difficultyand indeed profundityof the quantum enigma. be knownas the condition of locality-isthat quantum par­ I shall argue that it is the so-calledCopenhagen interpre­ ticles can interact only via forceswhich propagate no faster tation, originally conceived by Niels Bohr, that beyond all than the speed oflight. It thusturns out that what van Neu­ doubt holds precedence over all competing views regarding mann had actually established as a theorem of quantum the nature of quantum reality by virtue of its pivotal tenet, mechanics is that local objects do not own their dynamic which affirms that a quantum system does not own its attributes: which is to say that ordinary objectsmust be non­ dynamic attributes (such as position or momentum). As pre­ local. viously noted, this was in essence the "back to the facts"rec-

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instantaneously. Thus, if one can still speak of "interaction" +++ at all, what confronts us here is indeed a nonlocal interac­ FROM THE OUTSET THE EPICENTER OF THE QUANTUM tion: the kind von Neumann had inadvertently left out of REALITY debate was definedby the Bohr-Einstein exchange. account. And so his famous theorem, as we have noted Quantum theory had scarcely seen the light of day when the before, does not in fact rule out ordinary objects per se-as renowned Albert Einstein stepped forth to challenge Niels everyone had initially believed-but only local ordinary Bohr in a bid to overthrow the new physics, or at the very objects: the kind that interact only via forces carried by least, reduce it to a mere approximation "beneath" which a fields. basically Einsteinian physics reigns supreme. What troubled This brings us finally to what has come to be known as Einstein the most in regard to quantum theory, it seems, is Bell's theorem, an epochal result the Irish physicist discov­ the loss of a Newtonian or "absolute" determinism, that is ered in the wake of his inquiry into von Neumann's proof. to say, its replacement by an incurably probabilistic physics; By means of an argument inspired by the EPR setup, and as he famously put it: "God does not play dice." Moreover, which, though ingenious in the extreme, turns out to be inasmuch as an absolute determinism demands "ordinary" relatively uncomplicated, Bell proved-to everyone's utter objects, Einstein was adamantly opposed to the central amazement!-that actually there are no local objects: in a tenet of the Copenhagenist position. He consequently pro­ word: reality is nonlocal. Now the implications of this dis­ posed various arguments and a plethora of ingenious exper­ covery prove to be unimaginably far-reaching, and for the iments designed to reinstate ordinary objects in a bid to most part remain yet to be explored. Meanwhile, one would disprove the quantum-mechanical indeterminism. The be hard pressed not to concur with Berkeley physicist Henry irony is that one of these-the so-called Einstein-Podolski­ Stapp when he declares Bell's theorem to be "the most pro­ Rosen or EPR experiment-has led eventually to a result found discovery of science."1 henceforth known as Bell's theorem, which constitutes The question now becomes what Bell's theorem has to say arguably an irrefutabledisproof of Einstein's contention. regarding Einstein's view of quantum theory. It is true that To indicate briefly what stands at issue, let us consider a ordinary objects have not in fact been ruled out, as von somewhat simplified version of the relevant EPR experi­ Neumann's theorem had initially seemed to imply. But ment. Consider two photons in a so-called "state of parallel meanwhile something no less unacceptable to Einsteinians polarization;' emanating in opposite directions from a has come to light: the fact, namely, that physical objects­ source O to points A and B, which can be as widely separated including the ordinary kind, if such do in fact exist-must as we wish. Whereas neither particle possesses a definite be nonlocal: havethe capacity, that is, to communicate with polarization initially,this entails that once a polarization has

I been established by an act of measurement at A (let us say), 1. "Bell's Theorem and World Process;' IINuovo Cimento, 40b (1977)1 the same polarization will be foundin the photon at B: it is 271. For a readable explanation of Bell's proof we refer to Nick Herbert, as if the measurement at A affectsthe state of the photon at B Quantum Reality(New York: Doubleday, 1985), 211-31.

-11- -10- PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION other such objects instantaneously, a possibility which the very axioms of relativistic physics stringently exclude. The irony is that it was the EPR set-up-which Einstein himself had conceived in the expectation that it woulddisprove the 3 claims of quantum theory-that had enabled Bell to prove his "anti-Einsteinian" theorem. FINDING

+++ THE HIDDEN KEY

GETTING BACK TO THE INTERPRETATION OF QUANTUM theory: the superiority of the Copenhagen approach, I OT LONG AFTER I HAD BEGUN TO PURUSE would argue, derives from its care not to overstep the the quantum reality literature, I was struck by the bounds of what we actually know: only in the wake of such fact that everyone seemed implicitlyto presuppose an over-reach, I surmise, does one experience a need for N a major philosophicpostulate, which at the very least could something as weird as a "multiverse" or a so-called "quan­ be characterized as "dubious." Whereas, as a rule, assump­ tum logic:' As Niels Bohr reminds us, even to speak of a tions of even the most seemingly innocuous kind were "quantum world" is to overstep what we actually know: a sought out meticulously and subjected to exacting scrutiny "quantum description" is allwe can legitimately claim. And by one or another of the quantum-reality theorists-even that description is moreover geared to the business of phys­ the hitherto sacrosanct principles oflogic!-I was amazed to ics: beyond this, its intended and rightful application, no find that the Cartesian premises, which entered the scientific one indeed "understands quantum theory"! It was the phi­ mainstream by way of Newton's Principia, had apparently losopher Alfred North Whitehead-and not Niels Bohr­ remained undetected, and in any case unchallenged by the who lamented the factthat physics has thus been reduced to investigators. What stands at issue in this philosophic Ansatz "a mystic chant over an unintelligible universe." How quan­ is a splitting of thereal into two mutually exclusive compart­ tum physics could be more than a " mystic chant"-that ments: an externalworld comprised of so-called resextensae problem remained yet to be resolved. or "extended entities;' and an internal and subjective domain consisting of res cogitantes or "thinking entities:' And even though this Cartesian "bifurcation'' has been often enough called into question by philosophers of rank, and Alfred North Whitehead in particular has chided the scientificcom­ munity repeatedly for its adhesion to what he termed "the fallacy of misplaced concreteness;' it appears these strictures have invariably fallen upon deaf ears. Whitehead himself,

-12- -13- PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION FINDING THE HIDDEN KEY moreover, offersat least one explanationas to why the Carte­ well founded. What struck me was the factthat, in essence, sian philosophy has thus become de facto sacrosanct: Descartes had simply reinstated the Democritean atom­ the notion that "by convention there exist color, In the firstplace, we must note its astounding efficiency as ism- the sweet, and the bitter,but in reality only atomsand thevoid"3 as a system of concepts for the organization of scientific research.... Every university in the world organizes itself tlie celebrated fragment has it-a doctrine which the major in accordance withit. No alternative system of organizing schools of Greek philosophy came in time to view as hetero­ the pursuit of scientific truth has been suggested. It is not dox. The key issue, it seemed to me, is to grasp how sense only reigning, but it is without a rival. And yet-it is quite perception-and visual perception above all-can transcend unbelievable. I the subjective realm of res cogitantesso as to perceive, not a mere image, but indeed the external object itself: the world One might add that these words were written prior to 1925, of res extensae. And so, in the first chapter of The Quantum the year when everything pertaining to physics changed­ Enigma, I dealt with this question as best I could-unaware or should by right have changed. Whenit comes to "the sys­ of thefact that, not long before, a cognitive psychologist by tem without rival;' however, what came to pass was a classic the name ofJames Gibson had in effectresolved this issue on case of "pouring new wine into old bottles": Cartesian bot­ rigorous scientific ground. To be precise: having discovered, tles, to be exact. by means of key experiments, that the prevailing "visual The main exception among the reigning authorities, it ima e" theory of perception proves to be untenable, and seems, was Werner Heisenberg, who did at times voice � doubts concerning the Cartesian postulates, and lamented havmg subsequently spent three decades in quest of a new paradigm, Gibson arrived at what he terms "the ecological that "today in the physics of elementary particles,good phys­ theory of isual percepti n;' which-incredible as it may ics is unconsciously being spoiled by bad philosophy:'2 Now, : � seem-falsifi s the Cartesian premise on scientific grounds, it seemed to me that what was actually being "spoiled" by � that "bad philosophy'' was not in fact the "good physics" and re-establishes what amounts to the pre-Cartesian real­ ism. We willrecur to this crucial issue in thenext chapter. itself, but the ontologicalinterpretation of that "good physics;' � which is something else entirely.And so I arrived at the sur­ Given then that we do perceive the external world-that the grass is actually green and the red apple in myhand is mise that it must be, at bottom, the Cartesian partition of the not afterall a res cogitans-given this fundamentalpremise, real into res extensae and res cogitantes that accounts forthe I posed the question whether it is possible to interpret phys- factthat, to this day, "no one understands quantum theory." The first thing that needed to be done to break the Carte­ 3. Hermann Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (Dublin: Wiedemann, sian stranglehold was to see how the postulate of bifurcation 1969), vol.II, 168. stands on philosophic ground: whether, in other words, it is 4. James Gibson, TheEcological Theoryof VisualPerception (Hillsdale NJ: Edbaum Publications, 1986). I have discussed Gibson's theory a; I. Science and the Modern World (New York:Macmillan, 1925), 54. length m Science and Myth (Tacoma, WA: Angelico Press/Sophia Peren­ 2. Encounterswith Einstein (Princeton University Press, 1983), 81. nis, 2012), ch. 4.

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PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION FINDING THE HIDDEN KEY

modus operandi. The reason why physics does nonetheless fact come as no surprise if only one recalls that Heisenberg have something to say regarding the corporeal realm resides himself has situated the so-calledelementary particles onto­ in the fact that the latter derives its quantitative content logically "just in the middle between possibility and reality;' fromthe physical. One may, of course, go on to ask all man­ and has pointed out that as such they are in fact"reminiscent ner of questions concerning the nature and origin of that of Aristotelian potentiae;'6 We need thus to ask the crucial "subcorporeal" domain, its relation to other ontological question: what is it, then, that actualizes these potentiae? strata, and so forth: the point, however, is that these are And as is so oftenthe case when, at long last, the right ques­ philosophic questions which physics as such is neither able tion is posed, the answer stares us in the face! Quantum par­ ", nor in any way obliged to answer. ticles are "actualized" precisely in the act of measurement, and thus on the corporeal plane: in the state of a corporeal instru­ +++ ment, to be exact. The key to the quantum enigma is thus to be found in WE NEED NOW TO ASK WHAT IT IS THAT DISTINGUISHES Lord Kelvin's conception of physics as "the science of mea­ the corporeal from the physical; and the firstthing to note is surement;' which is to say that the ultimate object of physics that this, too, is a question physical science as such cannot is neither the physical as such, much less the corporeal, but pose, let alone answer. Physics has eyes only for the physical, the transition, precisely, from the former to the latter in the period; and one might add that inestimable harm to civili­ act of measurement. A so-called quantum particle, thus, is zation at large has resulted from the factthat this inherently not actually a particle-does not, properly speaking, obvious fact has as a rule been negated by the presiding exist!-until it interacts with a corporeal instrument of elite. The almost universal tendency on the part of physi­ measurement or detection: "beneath" the corporeal plane cists to conflate the physical and the corporeal domains all is potency, what Heisenberg refers to as ''Aristotelian turns out thus to constitute a category error resulting from potentiae;' In the final count, one is forcedto admit that the a failure to comprehend the modus operandi of physics in physical universe, properly so called, constitutes, properly ontological terms. speaking, a sub-existential domain, which in an unimagin­ What in truth distinguishes corporealentities from the phys­ ably subtle yet absolutely precise sense underlies the corpo­ ical is the fact that they exist. This may of course come as a real world, and in factdetermines its quantitative attributes. shock to the public at large inasmuch as the prevailing worldview affirms in effectthe very opposite. In the name of +++ science an uncanny deception has been imposed upon humanity, which-quite literally-stands the world on its WE SHOULD REMIND OURSELVES, AT THIS JUNCTURE, THAT head. Yet the fact remains that the physical, properly so thenotion of an ontological realm or stratum"beneath" the called-so farfrom coinciding with the corporeal-consti­ tutes in truth a sub-existential domain. And this should in 6. Physics and Philosophy (New York: Harper & Row, 1962), 41.

-18- -19- PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION FINDING THE HIDDEN KEY corporeal proves to be integral to our metaphysical heritage. In terms of this metaphysical and archetypal symbolism It springs in fact from the seminal recognition that corpo­ we can "picture" the integral cosmos as a hierarchy of "hor­ 8 real being entails, not one, but two fundamental principles: izontal" planes; which brings us to the question: where something called hyle or materia, plus morphe or form, to then-on what "level" -arewe to situate this, our corporeal put it in Aristotelian terms. Everything in creation hinges world? And contrary to contemporary expectation, meta­ upon these two complementary principles: the paternal, physical tradition answers with one voice: on thevery lowest exemplified by form, and the maternal corresponding to tier! According to the simplest and if you will primary rep­ materia (it seems our very language testifies to this fact). resentation, we arrive thus at three tiers-corresponding, as The doctrine known as hylomorphism proves thus to be-­ we have noted before, to the corpus-anima-spiritus ternary. not the mere invention of Aristotle-butthe expression of a The corporeal plane of the integral cosmos corresponds universal truth, which in one formor another constitutes in thus to the "corporeal" component of man. This is where fact thesine qua non of every sound ontology. "existence;' properly so called, comes to an end-or begins, It will be expedient at this point to observe that this foun­ if you look at it the other way. Below the corporeal world dational duality of form and matter has been conceived icon­ there is "pure materia;' so-called materia prima, conceived ically-from time immemorial-as a vertical distinction, as a "pure receptivity" which as such does not actually exist. which is to say that one conceives of morphe "pictorially" as Now, all this havingbeen said, we can returnto the quan­ situated "above" materia, a step which defines a "vertical" tum enigma and state, quite simply, that the physical uni­ axis,a cosmic "up" and "down," a "high'' and "low.'' It is hard verse is situated below the corporeal, or more precisely: to describe or explain what actually stands at issue here "between" the corporeal and materia prima. One might add because the idea is incurably metaphysical, and yet so very that this prime or first "materia" corresponds to the so­ "cosmic;' so very "pictorial" one could even say. Yet the fact called "waters" over which "the spirit of God" was said to is that the authentic concept of "verticality" is both factual "move"-or even more suggestively, perhaps, to the Chaos and normative, a universal compass one might say, accessi­ which, according to Hesiod, "was in the beginning:' These in ble to mankind. I thereforeask the reader's indulgence: bear any case are the metaphysical categories, come down to us with me when I speak of "verticality''-of "high'' and from remote antiquity, in terms of which one can "situate" "low" -in so many contexts, while insisting that these are the newly-discovered quantum world. To do so in terms of not merely "subjective" conceptions. More than that is in play: what stands at issue, in the final count, is nothing less than the metaphysicalfoundation of the world, which resides in regard to values and norms of every "non-quantitative" kindi be it in in the morphe!hyle dichotomy.7 the sphere of art, morality, or, of course, religion. The idea that "values" are ultimately founded upon truth is perhaps the contra-modern recog­ nition most desperately needed inour day. 7. I cannot refrainfrom pointing out that it is precisely the loss of this 8. Or as concentric rings, in accordance with what we have termed, in metaphysical recognition that has led to the well-nigh universalrelativism the preface, the"cosmic icon."

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concepts less ancient and less venerable would prove, I be­ however, is that so far hardly anyone, even within the aca­ lieve, to be misconceived. demic ranks, appears to have grasped the point: to this day I would add-forthose who have "eyes to see"-that these the tendency to reifythe quantum world at the expense of the ancient and perhaps pre-historic cosmological conceptions corporeal-as a mark of up-to-date enlightenment, no carry not only an archetypal, but a mysticalsense impenetra­ less!-is rife across the land. I recall with consternation, but ble to the modern mind. Yet even so we can draw inspiration little surprise, the words of a top Vatican spokesman, who from that perennial source, and need in fact to do so if ever announced that the concept of "transubstantiation" is no we are to "understand quantum theory." It might be worth longer tenable "because physics has proved that there is no pointing out that Hesiod's allusion to a sub-existential such thing as substance." It is time, I say, to put an end to this Chaos-which can after all be conceived as a kind of co­ catastrophic confusion,imposed upon present-dayhuman­ presence of contradictory elements-may not be irrelevant ity by the reigning periti: high time, indeed, to recover our to the metaphysics of quantum theory, which does afterall collective sanity! entail a "co-presence" of mutually exclusive states9 by virtue To this end let it be recalled, once again, that this intellec­ of the superposition principle. Could it be, then, that the tual-and spiritual-bedlam is based squarely upon Carte­ quantum realm rests upon or embodies that Hesiodian sian bifurcation, whichto this day serves as the bedrock of Chaos? Whatin any case has been established beyond doubt our supposedly "scientific"Weltanschauung. It is astound­ through the resolution of the quantum enigma is that the ing to observe what a veritable stranglehold this unlikely quantum world-or more precisely, what I term the physical and indeed untenable premise exerts to this day upon our universe-proves to be a sub-existential domain, situated post-Newtonian civilization: how the most basic tenets our ontologically between prima materia and the corporeal science is said to have "proved" rest squarely upon that illu­ plane. sory foundation. What is it then, of which Cartesian bifurcation has in +++ effect deprived the external world, that mankind so desper­

HAVING THUS "SITUATED" THE PHYSICAL OR QUANTUM ately needs? What could it be, in the absence of which we world, it is crucial to note that in this subcorporeal realm the lose our bearing and become progressively dehumanized? concept of "substance" ceases to apply: as Arthur Eddington The answer to this vital question is that the precious ingre­ was quick to recognize: "the concept of substance"has indeed dient is given to us in the apprehension of what we have termed verticality: in the fact,namely, that the cosmos pre­ "disappeared from fundamental physics;'10 The problem, sentifies not only entities, but values, that it speaks to us not only of "things," but of beciuty and goodness-and ulti­ 9. As distinguished froman actual coexistence, which would be antin­ omous. mately, as Plato informs us, of the Beautiful and the Good 10. The Philosophy of Physical Science (Cambridge University Press, itself. We need to remind ourselves thus of the categorical

1949), 110. distinction between qualities and quantities,which proves to

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be immeasurably profound: forwhereas quantitiesderive in is no substance, no being whatsoever! And from that point truth "from below"-in keeping with the Scholastic dictum onwards, as we have seen, physicists have been confronted "numerus stat ex parte materiae'' -it can in truth be said by the daunting task of constructing a universe out of that qualities stem "from above," that in fact they transmit "things" that do not actually exist: no wonder that labor the light of supernal essences into this nether world. continues up to the present day! It thus becomes evident-on the basis of what might Given that Descartes propounded his fatefulpostulate to truly be termed the perennial wisdom of mankind-that in prepare the way for a mathematical physics of unlimited banishing the qualitative content of the corporeal world by scope, it is ironic that the very science to which that Ansatz relegating qualities per se to a subjective realm of so-called gave rise has led in the end to a veritable reductio ad absur­ res cogitantes, Descartes has in effectcast out the very essence dum which in effect disqualifies the Cartesian worldview of the world in which we live, and move, and have our itself. Thus it came to pass in 1897-just when the quest for being. The crucial and almost universally undiscerned fact res extensae in the form of Democritean atoms seemed is that the Cartesian reduction of the corporeal world to finallyto have attained its end in J.J. Thomson's discovery of "matter" -the denial, thus, of its "formal" component, its the electron-that at this very moment the long-sought inherent morphe-has seemingly emptied the world of quarry mysteriously eluded our grasp. And by 1925, follow­ everything that answers to thehigher cravings of the human ing one of the most intense periods of intellectual endeavor heart. And of all that has thus been forfeited, the loss of the in human history, the verdict was in: there is actually no such sacredis beyond doubt the most tragic of all: forthat proves thing as a ''fundamental particle:' no such thing as a res to be the privation we cannot ultimately survive. extensa at all! One might add that the non-existence of res extensaecould indeed have been foreseenby anyoneconver­ +++ sant with the traditions of metaphysics; what proves to have been humanly unforeseeable, on the other hand, is the dis­ MEANWHILE-IN THE WAKE OF THE CARTESIAN DISCLO­ covery of a subcorporeal domain, made up of entities "mid­ sure-it seemed to the dazzled progeny of the Enlighten­ way between being and nonbeing;' from whence the ment that every new triumph of Newtonian physics quantitative attributes of the corporeal universe are derived, constituted yet another proof of that non plus ultra Weltan­ along with a mathematical physics of unimaginable accu­ schauung. And so the victorious march continued right up racy descriptive of this realm, which gives rise moreover to to the twentieth century, at which point something utterly technological wonders that not only "could deceive even the unexpected occurred: at the precise moment when that all­ elect:'11 but arguably have done so. conquering physics finally attained to its own ground by ridding itself of its last non-quantitative vestiges, it came to pass that the very idea of "substance"-and thus of being­ had to be jettisoned: in the so-called "quantum world" there 11. Matt. 24:24.

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+++ explanation. In fact, there cannot be: what confrontsus here proves incontrovertibly to constitute an effect of vertical GETTING BACK TO THE QUANTUM ENIGMA: IT NEEDS NOW causation, an act which affects both the measuring instru­ to be pointed out that what I have termed "the rediscovery ment and the physical system instantaneously. It should be of the corporeal world" proves to be but the firststep in the noted, moreover, that this causation "emanates;' not from resolution of the quantum quandary. What is likewise the physical,but perforcefrom thecorporeal side, inasmuch required, it turns out-in addition to a supra-physical as it interrupts-or "overrides" -the "Schrodinger causal­ world-is a supra-physical mode of causation. Thus, in ity" indigenous to the physical plane. addition to the modes of causality with which physical sci­ I would point out, moreover, that this settles the long­ ence is conversant-which operate by way of a temporal debated question whether the postulate of a perfect or so­ process that may be deterministic, random or stochastic, called "Laplacian" determinism has or has not been disqual­ and which we shall henceforth refer to as "horizontal"­ ified by quantum theory: it can in fact be seen that it has, there exists also what I term a vertical mode of causality, though not on purely mathematical grounds. For insofaras which does not operate in time, but acts instantaneously the act of measurement entails an ontological transition and therefore, as it were, "above time:' It turns out, more­ fromthe physical to the corporeal domain, it cannot be fully over, that this hitherto unrecogn'ized causality plays a cru­ described in mathematical terms: no differential equation, cial role in the economy of physics, and thus constitutes yet evidently, can determine the outcome of an instantaneous another reason why "nobody understands quantum the- act! And let us note that this interdict refers in particular ory." to the differentialequations of thede Broglie-Bohm theory, As the ontological distinction between the physical and which despite their marvelous elegance and rigor of mathe­ the corporeal might lead one to surmise, it is precisely in the matical derivation still do not apply to an act that does not act of measurement that vertical causation comes perforce transpire in time. The ineluctable verdict, thus, is that the into play. For it stands to reason that horizontal causation notion of a Laplacian or "mathematical" determinism has cannot act from one ontological plane to another-given that now been rigorously disqualified, and no "hidden variables" such an effect must be instantaneous. Inasmuch, therefore, theory can alter this fact. as the act of measurement does entail an interaction Getting back to vertical causation: one recognition, as is between the physical system and a corporeal instrument, it so oftenthe case, leads to another. Even as the rediscovery of cannot be attributed to horizontal causation: the matter the corporealdomain has led to the identificationof vertical turns out to be as simple as that! The fact is that, at the causality in the act of measurement, it now becomes appar­ instant of measurement, the evolution of the physical sys­ ent that other acts ofVCare occurring ubiquitously, begin­ tem, as described say by the Schrodinger wave equation, is ning with the fact that every corporeal object X acts interrupted-the Schrodinger equation is "re-initialized;' as "vertically" upon the corresponding physical object SX­ physicists say-an event for which there is no physical which is evidently the reason why cricket balls don't mul-

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tilocate and cats cannot be both dead and alive.12 The point the cosmic hierarchy: at the Apex of the integral cosmos, is that the physical object SX is invariably constrained by its one can say, which transcends not only the bound of time, corporeal counterpart to exclude superpositions incompati­ but consequently the bound of space as well. Verticalcausal­ ble with the corporeal nature of X. And thus another long­ ity proves thus to be not only "higher" but incomparably standing conundrum of quantum theory has been resolved. more powerfulthan the modes of causality hitherto known The most profoundly significant fact of all, however, is to physics, which actually stem fromthe opposite direction: 14 that the effect of vertical causation emanating from a corpo­ that is, fromthe subcorporeal domain. real object X is by no means limited to the immediate vicinity of X, but can in principle encompass all of space! And herein indeed resides the wonder of Bell's theorem,13 which has caused such consternation among physicists. Let me recall the salient factas illustratedby the example of the twin pho­ tons in a state of "parallel polarization:' traveling respec­ tively to points A and B, perhaps millions of miles apart. The fact is that a measurement which determines the polar­ ization of the photon at A instantly determines the polariza­ tion of its twin at B as well. Now, what shocks physicists in this scenario is the fact that horizontal causality is categori­ cally incapable of accounting for this effect-which how­ ever signifies simply that the prodigy constitutes perforce an effect of vertical causation. Bell's theorem affirming the non-existence of "local" objects thus entails not only the "ubiquity" of vertical causation, but its well-nigh miracu­ lous efficacy as well: for not only does VC act instanta­ neously, but its effectis not diminished by spatial separation. From a metaphysical point of view, that well-nighmirac­ ulous efficacy is implied by the fact that vertical causality operates instantaneously; for as we have noted at the outset, this situates the origin of that causality at the highest level of

12. I am referringto the so-called "SchrOdinger paradox." See Ancient 14. It must not be forgotten, however, that even though horizontal causality derives froma subcorporeal plane, it is yet "activated'' by vertical Wisdomand ModernMisconceptions, ch. 1. 13. See chapter 2, 11-12. causality, as is clearly evident in the instance of quantum measurement.

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THREE VERTICAL 1, POWERS OF THE SOUL

The soul is partly in eternity, and partly in time. PLATO

HIS BRINGS TO A CLOSE OUR CYCLE OF reflections centered upon quantum physics. As we have come to see, the resolution of the quantum enigmaT hinges upon two primary distinctions: the ontologi­ cal discernment between the corporeal and the physical domains, and the etiological between horizontaland vertical causation. But whereas the notion of corporeal being con­ stitutes a basic conception of traditional philosophy, it appears that the existence of vertical causality has remained essentially unrecognized and unexplored. It is time, I believe, to remedy this neglect: the present cri­ sis demands no less. Having been subjected to what might be termed "the tyranny of horizontal causation" since the onset of the Enlightenment, it is high time to realize that all the causalities known to physics prove in fact to be second­ ary, with a sphere of operation restricted to the lower extremities of the integral cosmos, whereas the primary mode of causation-whose sphere of action extends through the length and breadth of the cosmos, from its Apex down to a particle of dust-proves to be inexorably vertical. The moment has arrived, it seems to me, for this

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decisive factto be brought into the light of day: the defeatof strictly speaking, an entity, but what is termed a "mixture": scientistic materialism-the restoration of our collective a composite of inanimate substances, which as such is prone sanity!-appears to demand nothing less. to decompose. Given that, among natural functions,human intelligence So much by wayof recounting the most basic metaphysi­ may be the most closelyconnected to "vertical" causality, let cal conceptions. The notion we are about to introduce, on us now shift our attention, fromfundamental physics to the the other hand, pertains towhat may perhaps be termed the opposite end of the sea/a naturae, to investigate the active deepest level of the Thomistic ontology. If it be the substan­ and cognitive faculties of mankind, in the expectation that tial form that founds a being (animate or inanimate), we these will prove in factto be vertical, that is to say, supratem­ now ask what it is that founds the substantial form itself: poral in their mode of action. It turnsout that not only God, and that is what St. Thomas refersto as the act of being. As but man too has a certain "access" to the nunc stans: the elu­ the Master himself explains: "The act-of-being is the most sive "now that stands;' which, as we have noted, constitutes intimate element in anything, and the most profound ele­ the central Point and Apex of the integral cosmos. ment in all things, because it is like a form in regard to all that is in the thing;' 1 The act-of-being proves thus to be +++ none other than the cosmogenetic Act itself, viewed in rela­ tion to a specific being. And that act-of-being, moreover, INASMUCH AS WE SHALL BE DEALING WITH "POWERS OF bestows not only being, but also a power to act with an effi­ the soul;' it is needful, first of all, to consider-following cacyof its own. As Etienne Gilson observes magnificently: centuries of oblivion-what exactly is meant by a "soul." The universe, as represented by St. Thomas, is not a mass Recalling the Aristotelian distinction between morphe and of inert bodies passively moved by a force which passes hyle ("form" and "matter"), let us note that a corporeal through them, but a collection of active beings each entity is what it is by virtue of its "formal" component, enjoying an efficacy delegated to it by God along with known as a "substantial form." Thus, in the absence of a actual being. 2 substantial form, that putative entity has no "what;' which of course entails that like the so-called fundamental parti­ This brings us to a crucial point: on every level, that "effi­ cles of quantum physics, it does not actually exist as an cacy delegated by God" entails a capacity, on the part of cre­ entity, as a "thing:' But if the "what" of an entity is specified ated beings, to achieve all manner of effects by way of by its substantial form, it is that form which determines vertical causation-beginning with the rudimentary exam­ whether the entity is animate or inanimate. Thus, in the ples pertaining to the inanimate realm previously cited in case of an animal, that formis called an anima or soul, and in that of man, it is-for good reason-termed a rational 1. Summa Theologiae I, 8, 1. soul. After death, in any case, when the soul has separated 2. The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas (University of from the body, what remains of the body is no longer, Notre Dame Press, 1994), 183.

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the context of quantum theory. Turning now to the oppo­ I will point out in passing that if every corporeal object site end of the sea/a naturae, namely to the anthropic gives rise to acts of vertical causality-as we have shown-it sphere, one sees that the prime example of vertical causa­ should come as no surprise thatthis capacity to activate VC tion proves to be precisely what is traditionally termed "free increases as we ascend from the inorganic to the organic will": forwhat else does the adjective "free" signifyin this domain, and attains its zenith in man, the anthropos. 4 It context than the capacity to act-not as a marionette, should moreover be noted that between the extremes of the through the action of external causes, but indeed "from inorganic and the anthropic there must exist a plethora of within:' An act is "free;' therefore, by virtue of thefact that "vertical" effects which a higher kind of science could pre­ it is not effected by a chain of external causes, but by the sumably discover and put to good use, but which will soul, the anima which acts from within, and hence by way remain undiscovered until it dawns upon the scientificcom­

of vertical causation. 3 munity that causality exists actually in twomodes: horizon­ Moreover, in addition to "active" powers delegated by tal and vertical. When it comes to the ontologically higher God, man is endowed with "cognitive" powers as well; and domains, our sciences-as presently conceived-may actu­ here too one finds that "verticality" in the sense of the allybe losing the better halfof the picture. For those capa­ "supra-temporal" proves to be key: for it turns out, as we ble, on the other hand, of thinking "outside the box;' the shall see, that both visual and intellectual perception ( the opportunities forthe discovery of deeper and more power­ kind manifested, forinstance, in understanding the proof of fulsciences appear to be vast. a mathematical theorem) demand a supra-temporal act. Now, to be "supra-temporal" means to be situated in the FREE WILL AS VERTICAL CAUSALITY nunc stans: for between the seeming "now that moves" and the "now that stands" there is no middle term. Both of the THE CONNECTION BETWEEN "FREE WILL" AND VERTICAL aforesaidcognitive facultiespresuppose thereforea capacity causation came to light abruptlyin 1998 when a mathemati­ to "access" the nunc stans: to "step out of time;' as it were. cian named WilliamDembski published a remarkable theo­ And that transcendence of time-of the temporal condi­ rem.5 Having introduced the decisive concept of "complex tion, if you will-has served from the start as the defining specified information" or CSI, Dembski stunned the scien­ characteristic of the "vertical" in the sense we have made tific world by proving-with complete mathematical rigor-thatno physical process, be it deterministic,random or our own. In a word, the concept of "verticality" applies not 6 only to causation, but to cognition as well. stochastic, can produce CSI. But this means, in our termi-

4. It is to be understood that we are speaking of what maybe termed the "sub-angelic" realm. 3. The theoretical possibility of constraint "from above" by way of 5. TheDesign Inference (Cambridge University Press, 1998). vertical causation has already been ruled out, and is in any case not nor­ 6. A "stochastic" process is partly deterministic and partly random, as mally under consideration when one speaks of "free will." in the case of Brownian motion.

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nology, that what has thus been disqualified fromproduc­ the subjects of the next two sections-there will be no more ing CSI is none other than horizontal causality! Wherever, need, in this context, for information-theoretic argument. therefore, we encounter the production of CSI, we have · What I find remarkable is not that this kind of reasoning documented an act of vertical causation. can take us only so far, but rather that a science which Now it appears that humans produce CSI almost inces­ excludes all essence from its purview can in fact arrive at a santly; I myself, for instance, am apparently doing so at this conclusion as powerfulas Dembski's theorem. very moment by writing these lines. And we take it in our stride: we see nothing remotely exceptional or astounding THE VERTICALITY OF VISUAL PERCEPTION in these quotidian acts. Little do we realize that the meta­ physical implications of this capacity are profound in the IT HAS BEEN ASSUMED FOR CENTURIES THAT THE EYE IS IN extreme, to the point that an inkling, even, of what actually effect a camera, and that what we perceive is based upon a transpires would in factsuffice to disqualifythe contempo­ retinal image. One is quite certain, moreover, not just that rary Weltanschauung irrevocably: for the intervention of this is the only reasonable way to account forvisual percep­ vertical causation actually entails a certain "access" on the tion, but that this "image theory" has been corroborated by part of man to the nunc stans, that elusive "now" that is said an abundance of evidence, beginning presumably with the to "stand still;' in which, according to Meister Eckhart, "God fact that spectacles affect vision in keeping with that para­ creates the world and all things." digm. What we are not told, on the other hand, is that in the I should add that, in point of mathematical rigor, the 4o's of the last century, a cognitive psychologist at Cornell aforesaid argument is yet incomplete: for inasmuch as we University, named James Gibson, serendipitously uncovered have access to an immense store of CSI-e.g., in the form of facts whichrigorously disqualifythis visual-imagetheory, and memory-it remains to show that the CSI we are said to that in the course of three subsequent decades of empirical "produce" ( as I am doing right now, say,by composing this research he succeeded in replacingthat now discredited par­ book) is not already "given" in that store. But whereas I fully adigm by one which does square with the empirical facts. 8 acknowledge the logical force of this objection, I find it Having dealt elsewhere and at considerable length with this quite inconceivable that a chain of horizontal causation epochal discovery, it will sufficeto highlight the main find­ could take us-presumably by algorithmic means-from ings which both reveal and establish the supra-temporal such "given CSI" to the "produced:'7 And I would add that nature of visual perception. by the time we recognize the verticality of visual perception According to Gibson, what we perceive visually is not an and the non-algorithmic nature of mathematical proof- image-be it retinal, cerebral, or mental-but so-called invariants given in what he terms ambient-as distinguished 7. Of course the question remains how the "given CSI" itself was pro­ duced. Andhere again Dembski,s theorem implies that somewhere along the line an act of verticalcausation must have intervened. 8. Science and Myth, ch. 4.

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from radiant-light. By "ambient" light he means light understanding of what we actually perceive necessitates a reflected from the environment, which Gibson conceives, corresponding change in our conception of how that per­ not in "physical;' but in what he refers to as "ecological" ception is effected.What needs above all to be understood is terms. To make a long story short: Gibson's use of the term that so long as the faculties of perception are themselves a "ecological" proves ultimately tantamount to what I term mere aggregate or "sum of parts;' a pick-up of formsis sim­ corporeal, the point being that Gibson's "environment" ply inconceivable. So long, therefore,as one conceives of the owns not only quantitative attributes, but qualities as well. percipient in what might be referred to as "post-Enlighten­ What then are the "invariants" we are said to "pick up" in ment" terms, an understanding of perception proves thus to the act of visual perception? Gibson, to be sure, speaks of be impossible: that very premise suffices to render it such. these in his own "research-based" terms; yet in light of tra­ And amazingly, as time went on, Gibson the quintessential ditional metaphysics, what actually stands at issue are none empiricist came to realize this ontological fact with ever other than forms. And let us note at once: if what we "pick greater clarity: his experimental findings actually demand up" in the act of visual perception are indeed forms,then­ nothing less. It turns out that one cannot in fact understand and then only!-is it possible to perceive, not simply an visual perception simply by looking at the retina or at the image or phantasm, but the very objects: that is to say, the behavior of neurons in affected parts of the brain. This is external world itself. For in that case we perceive--not a not to say, of course, that these processes have nothing to do mere image or effectof that world-but the very formsthat with visual perception; the point, rather, is that they are part constitute its reality. of a process which in truth is more than the sum of its parts. Gibson's discovery, as noted before, amounts thus to a And it came to pass that Gibson-this genius of an empiri­ scientific refutation of the Cartesian doctrine: specifically its cist-came, by gradual and meticulous steps, to understand epistemology, which affirms that the object of perception that the mystery of perception resides precisely in this constitutes a mere phantasm or "thing of the mind." Even as "more:' It remains only to point out that this "more" is Heisenberg's physics has demonstrated that there exists finallynone other than what is traditionally termed a "soul:' actually no such thing as a Cartesian res extensa, so has Gib­ The power of visual perception derives thus, in the final son's discovery toppled the second pillar of the Cartesian count, fromthe soul. And inasmuch as the soul is united to edifice:the misbegotten notion of res cogitans. The amazing the body as its substantial form,what to the neuro-scientist fact-which Gibson himself clearly recognized-is that his appears as a vast ensemble of neuronal activity constitutes in so-called "ecological" theory of visual perception has vali­ reality a single event, a single act of the living and sentient dated the immemorial premise that we do actually "look organism. The point is simple: if perception were merely a out" upon the world, which thus proves to be-not the matter of neuronal firings, we would need a homunculus­ world as conceived or imagined by the physicist-but none a little man within the brain-to "read" these events­ other than what we have termed the corporeal. which is of course absurd. It should therefore come as no It is essential to recognize that this radical shift in our surprise when Sir Francis Crick ( of DNA fame) informsus

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that "we can see how the brain takes the picture apart, but we fined to the temporal realm, the soul does in truth have do not yet see how it puts it together"9-the point being that access to eternity. the brain itself cannot in fact "put it together" at all: it takes the soul to accomplish that prodigy. And the reason, more­ THE VERTICALITY OF INTELLECT over, why it can do so resides in the ontological fact that the soul is not subject to thebounds of space. Let us note what this ONCE IT HAD BEEN ASSUMED THAT THE EXTERNAL WORLD entails: it is by virtue of the resultant "ubiquity" that the of res extensae constitutes a single gigantic mechanism, it did soul can actually be present to each cell in the body-not as not take long for the enlightened ones to draw the conclu­ some minute fragment of itself-but in its undivided and sion that man too is basically a mechanism. And this entails undiminished entirety. IO that his so-calledintellectual capacities must likewisebe the Yet it turns out that even this marvelous capacity-this result of some-presumably cerebral-machinery. Around seemingly miraculous ability on the part of the soul to tran­ the fatefulyear 1900, moreover, the basic component of that scend spatial bounds-does not yet suffice: for it happens hypothesized mechanism-the so-called neuron-was that the prodigy of visual perception requires a comparable identifiedby a Spanish biologist named Ram6n y Cajal; and transcendence of temporal bounds as well! And this too came that discovery, as one might surmise, gave rise to a world­ to light in the course of Gibson's experiments, culminating wide brain-research enterprise designed to ascertain the in the recognition that we perceive motion, not "moment by structure and modus operandi of thathor rendously complex moment:' but the only way motion can in fact be perceived: "machine" made up of neurons: close to 100 billion irt all. all at once! Yet, amazing as this factmay be, it is hardly sur­ Around the year 1936, moreover, another fundamental prising: for if in fact we did perceive "moment by moment:' breakthrough occurred, which soon proved to be related. It we would in principle fare no better than a camera, which is happened when a mathematician, named Alan Turing, able to "see" merely a succession of images while the motion posed the question whetherm athematical reasoning as such itself remains invisible. could, in principle, be carried out by a "machine" or mecha­ I would emphasize that Gibson's arguments are both sub­ nism of some sort. Now the kind of"reasoning" Turing had tle and fully rigorous once the point has been grasped, and in mind has since been termed algorithmic; and what he confirm unequivocally that visual perception constitutes did-to the amazement of the mathematical world-was to indeed a vertical act. Plato was right: so far frombeing con- construct what has ever since been termed a Turing machine: a device, existing "on paper" if you will,capable in principle of executing every conceivable algorithm by means 9. The Astonishing Hypothesis (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), of a corresponding "program'' inscribed in the "software" 159. part of the machine. The fact is that Turing discovered the 10. Once one catches so much as a glimpse of what the transcendence of space-the existence of the intermediary domain-actually entails, universal prototype of which every computer in the world one's outlook regarding contemporary science will never be the same. constitutes a partial embodiment.

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In the wake of this epochal discovery it came to be widely We now define the following propositional function: assumed that the human brain functions-atleast in part­ "There exists no k such that IT(k) proves P(w,w):' Since our as a computer, and that human intelligence is consequently enumeration P(m,n) of arithmetical propositions is com­ algorithmic. There can be little doubt, moreover, that this plete, there must exist a natural number s such that P(s,n) is has been the reigning paradigm in the pertinent fields of the aforesaidfunction. Now consider the proposition P(s,s): scientific endeavor ever since the discovery of the Turing the first thing to note is that this proposition is unprovable machine: that to this day, in fact,it constitutes the underly­ ( since our construction entails that "there exists no k such ing premise upon which our scientific understanding of that IT(k) proves P(s,s)");11 and the second is that P(s,s) is "human intelligence" is based. It may therefore come as a true: for indeed there exists no k such that IT(k) proves P(s,s). shock to many that this putatively "scientific" tenet turns And this is how Godel proved the existence of true but un­ out to be not only questionable, but has in fact been dis­ provable propositions! proved with mathematical rigor. That is what I wish now to The question, now, is whether this theorem has been explain as brieflyas I can. proved by way of an algorithm or not. It is always possible, The argument is based upon a stupendous theorem, of course, to claim that an algorithm of some kind has proved in 1933 by a 25-year-old mathematician named Kurt unwittingly played out in the process of arriving at a given Godel, which affirmsthat given a set of mathematical axi­ conclusion; but as Roger Penrose observes, the algorithms oms (extensive enough to encompass arithmetical proposi­ used in mathematics are well known and communicable, tions), there must exist a proposition which is true but and it is evident in the case of Gi:idel'stheorem thatno such unprovablein that system. The proof of Gi:idel'stheorem is has come into play. In a word, the intelligence which based upon the amazing fact that not only arithmetical enabled us to understand the proof in question is manifestly propositions, but all possible proofs of such within a given non-algorithmic."When we convince ourselves of the valid­ axiom system can be "ordered": that is to say, indexed by the ity of Gi:idel'stheorem;' Penrose goes on to say, "we not only natural numbers 1,2,3 ... Now this is the part of the proof 'see' it, but in so doing we reveal the very non-algorithmic which is both technical and difficultin the extreme, whereas nature of the 'seeing' process itself:'12 Now, we concur with what remains-though highly ingenious-turns out to be this statement wholeheartedly-except for one word: we rather simple. Here then is that second part, which con­ must insist that this "seeing'' is not in facta "process;' but a cludes Gi:idel's argument: vertical and therefore instantaneous act. As the expression By virtue of Part I, we may assume that there exists a func­ goes, it is manifestly a question of"seeing the point"-and a tion P(m,n), definedfor all natural numbers m and n, such "point" is to be seen "all at once" or not at all. that, forever y m, P(m,n) is a propositional functionof n (an algebraic statement depending on n, which may be true or 11. The reader will note that the propositional functions P(k,k) and false) and a function IT(k) which orders all mathematical P(s,s) are evidently one and the same. proofs in the given axiom system. 12. The Emperor's New Mind (Oxford UniversityPress, 1989), 418.

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One should add that precisely the same actually holds true when a theorem is supposedly proved by an algorithm: forit is actually not the algorithm that proves the theorem, but the person who "sees" that it does. Strictly speaking, a for­ 5 mal proof of a mathematical theorem can do no more than elicit, in those who are qualified,a perception of its validity. THE WAR ON DESIGN The fact that an argument or chain of reasoning constitutes a proof by virtue of meeting appropriate criteria of validity is of course undeniable-but that does not obviate the neces­ INCE THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, WESTERN sity of "seeing the point:' Thus, in the final count, science is civilizationhas been subject to the spell of a new and indeed "nothing but perception;' as Plato noted long ago. In supposedly "scientific" Weltanschauung, initiated by the end-when the work has been accomplished and the Galileo,S Descartes and Newton. From the publication of quest attained its goal-that's what it reduces to. And that Newton's Principia in 1687 to the discovery of quantum consummation, let us add, is achieved-not by the rational physics in the earlytwentieth century, it was assumed by the faculty,which is discursive and operates in time-but by the pundits of the Enlightenment that, at bottom, the universe intellect, properlyso called, which does not operate in time, constitutes a gigantic "clockwork;' in which the disposition but in what has been termed the nunc stans. For the intellect of the parts determines-with mathematical precision!­ is indeed the "eye of the soul" by which we see: the "part;' as the movement of the whole. And even in the face of the Plato says,which "pertains to eternity." quantum facts, that paradigm was not actually discarded, but merely modified.To this day one is prone to conceive of the universe basically as a "clockwork;' howbeit one which no longer functions with absolute precision: one could say that in addition to rigid cogwheels, it now comprises some "wobbly" components as well, which in effect play the role of "dice:' The larger picture, thus, has scarcely changed at all: now as before,Nature is perceived, on scientific author­ ity, as constituting precisely what Whitehead referred to as "a dull affair": merely "the hurrying of material, endlessly, meaninglessly:'1 With the appearance of what we have termed "vertical causation;' however, the picture has radically changed. I

1. Science and the Modern World(New York: Macmillan,1953), 54-

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need hardly recount how, beginning with the quantum the final count by vertical modes of causation. It is high measurement problem, vertical causation has come into time, I would argue, to jettison our Galilean, Cartesian, and view time and again, profoundly affecting the entire spec­ Newtonian assumptions and become philosophically liter­ trum of scientific domains-from physics to cognitive psy­ ate once again. chology-touching even, if you will, upon the mathematical sciences. +++ In light of these findings-andthis is the firstmajor point I wish now to convey-it emerges that our natural sciences INASMUCH AS VERTICAL CAUSATION PRESENTS ITSELF IN have presently reached a stage at which the next round of numerous modes, some fundamentaldistinctions need now foundational discovery may very well hinge upon a recogni­ to be made. The primary dichotomy sterns from the funda­ tion of vertical causality. I say "foundational;'because it is mental recognition touched upon earlier: the fact, namely, of course alwayspossible to investigate this or that phenom­ that the act of being bestows upon creatures not only exist­ enon along already established lines, and in so doing reap ence by wayof a substantial form,but also an efficacy, a cer­ whatever technological or other benefits may ensue. Obvi­ tain power to act. To be precise, every corporeal entity is ously, however, I am referringto something quite different: endowed with a capacity to act by way of vertical causation; to the question, for instance, how the mysterious and hith­ and inasmuch as this power pertains to the substantial form, erto inexplicable "epigenorne"fits into genetics as presently we may referto it as substantialVC. It is also needful,how­ conceived, or what neuronal structures can and cannot ever, to recognize a higher mode of vertical causality, which accomplish by way of facilitating thought, perception, does not emanate from a substantial form, but can in fact memory and the like. 2 If not perhaps the. first, then most give rise to substantial forms, a mode which we may conse­ assuredly the second question requires that we bring the quently refer to as creative.And this brings us finally to the concept of vertical causation into play. I surmise that when subject of thepresent chapter: the notion of design.What do it comes to research of a truly foundational kind, we are we mean by this term? One is prone to say that "design" is approaching the end of what can in principle be understood simplyan effectof creative VC;but this is far too broad to be on the basis of horizontal causality alone, and that much of of much use: for what then, in the universe, would not be an whatpr esently impedes progress at the frontiersof scientific instance of design? To be of interest, the concept should be inquiry may prove, ultimately, to be an effectofVC. What is restricted to what in fact cannot be produced by "the hurry­ called for, I maintain, is a vastly deepened understanding of ing of material, endlessly, meaninglessly." There are then, Nature, based upon the recognition that horizontal causal­ first of all, two instances of design which prove to be of spe­ ity, so farfrom standing alone, is perforcecomplemented in cial interest, one terrestrial and the other cosmic: speciation namely, and a marvelous order pertaining to the cosmos at 2. I have dealt with this question in a general way in "Neurons and large, which we term immobility,a concept that will emerge Mind." See Science and Myth. in the course of our inquiry.

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Which brings me finally to the subject of the present chapter: "The War on Design." My first contention should hardly come as a surprise: I charge that the Darwinist claim, so fa �om c nstituting : � a scientifich ypothesis supported by empmcal evidence, proves to be in truth an ideological tenet, based upon the a priori denial 3 of design in the formof speciation. It is my second claim, rather, that may cause astonishment: I shall contend that even as Darwinism upon the denial rests of design in the origin of species, hysics relativistic � at large is based upon the a priori rejection ... _ of design

3. It is safe to say that with the discovery of DNA around the of the last century Darwinism middle was in effectdisqualified as a scientific ry. With the p blic the­ � � �tion moreover of Dembski's 1998 theorem complex specrfied regarding mformation" it has been rigorously mathematical disproved on grounds, and thus reduced from hypothesis a bona-fide scientific to the status of a sociological phenomenon. ,i

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alive by means of ad hoc postulates, assumptions "picked out f thin air" for that very purpose. The technique had long +++ �erved as a mainstay of Darwinist biology before it came to be employed in the service of Einsteinian cosm�logy. I find it an interesting question, pertaining to the philosophy of IT SHOULD HARDLY COME AS A SURPRISE THAT CONTEM­ science, whether theend-prod uct of such a process: a�sum­ porary astrophysics-based as it is upon the general theory ing the sequence does converge, has yet even a �cmtilla of of relativity-has not fared too well. The grand expecta­ scientificvalidity: have we then, in other words, d1sc.overed a tions, fueled by the mystique of a "four-dimensional space­ truth-or simply constructed a fantasy? We need not how­ time" in which moving rods contract, clocks slow down, ever resolve that issue in the case of Einsteinian cosmology: and the continuum itself curves in unimaginable ways, have for by 1996, difficulties arising from empirical data came not materialized: the facts of observation seem not to be into view which no "ad hoc magic" could dispel. onboard. From the outset unanticipated difficulties have The problem resides in an electromagnetic rad_ia�ion field cropped up which could be "explained away" only by invo­ known as the CMB: let us pick up the story at thisJuncture. king the virtually unlimited powers of the most abstruse As Robert Bennett explains: mathematics. When forexample, in the first second of the The Cosmic Microwave Background is considered the postulated "Big Bang," the expansion proves too slow, the most conclusive piece of evidence forthe Big Bang by cur­ resources of mathematical wizardry can provide us with rent cosmology. It is the isotropic radiation �ath that p r­ something termed "inflation" to set the process back on � meates the entirety of the universe. Acc1dentall �is­ course. Or when it turnsout that there is not enough matter � covered in 1964, it was soon determined th�t th� rad'.at10n in the universe to produce gravitational fields strong was diffuse,emanated unifornilyfrom all d1rect10ns ":the enough for the formation of stars and galaxies, there are sky, and had a temperature of about 2.73 d�grees Kelvm. It mathematical geniuses with a flair for particle physics who is now explained as a relic of the evolut10n of the um­ can make up the difference with something termed "dark verse.25 matter." The requisite ingredient can in fact be supplied in The CMB is in fact regarded by theorists as a picture of the numerous varieties and flavors: by the magic stroke of a pen universesome 300,000 years afterthe Big Bang. Its isotr py, there appear before us higgsinos, photinos, gluinos, quark ? moreover, is tempered by "small" random fluctuat10 s nuggets, and many many more such marvels to meet our _ � which in factare needed to explain the formation of stars.. it needs. Never mind that not one of these wonders has ever . is for this reason that cheers went up, literally, hen it was been detected: the fact that they are supportive of "Big :"' firstannounced that data fromthe COBE satellitehad con- Bang" theory is proof enough. We need not multiply examples of this kind. What con­ fronts Us here is a strategy for keeping a scientific theory 25. Galileo Was Wrong, 498.

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firmed the existence of such statistical variations in the CMB. Yet there is more to the story: for it happens that the What the cheering scientists did not know is that addi­ plane defined by that circular axis coincides with the ecliptic tional information regarding the CMB was in the offing, of our solar system; and for Einsteinians this constitutes which would prove to be far less felicitous. For it happened indeed a worst-case scenario: for what was supposed to be that, not long thereafter,hin ts of an "axis" began to appear, an accidental "speck" within a galaxy-which itself is spreading alarm within the astrophysics community: its ini­ sup­posedly but an accidental speck in a universe bereft of tial designation as "the axis of evil" testifies to the fact that order, bereft of design-this "accidental speck within an the phenomenon-if it were to prove real-is by no means accidental speck" turns out to define the global structure of propitious to the Big Bang. In hopes of putting these fears to the universe! At the risk of sounding anthropomorphic, I rest, another satellite, named "Planck;' outfitted with the surmise "the Old One" may have smiled when he traced that most marvelous instruments-and lavishly protected axis. Or per­haps-to venture yet another against all conceivable "extraneous" radiation which might anthropomorphic surmise­may simply have had enough! cause a non-existent axis to emerge-was put into orbit in 2009, at which point the scientists could do nothing more than wait and hope for the best. It was a "make-or-break" UNMASKING "ANTHROPIC COINCIDENCE" scenario; for if that "axis" were to prove real, no ad hoc BY THE MIDDLE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, ATOMIC hypothesis whatsoever could save the theory: it would in physics and molecular biology had arrived at a point of truth be the end of Big Bang cosmology. And the verdict did van­tage from which the existence of man upon "planet come in, and the dreaded axiswas there, plain as day-as if Earth" appeared so vastly improbable as to be, in effect, drawn by the Finger of God. ... miracu­lous; and to folks who despise miracles, this poses a prob­lem. The central mystery resides in the fact that an exceedingly fine balance of the four fundamental forces known to phys­ics is needed to render organic molecules stable enough to exist, which means that the basic constants of physics need be almost "infinitesimally" close to their given values­prompting the question: why? "What is a man;' asks Carl Becker, "that the electron is mindful of him?"

-70- -71- PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION THE WAR ON DESIGN a n e Wh t confro n e o ts us her i this "mindfuln e n o o n ss" is vide tly o en e ne of the m st c mpelli g a n th ei . r m num tal survey, 27 this branch of "scienc " had design. o n o and irrefut ble i stances eone o n . T the u pr grammed n o of burg d .mto a fi e Id alm st rivalli g the classicald omams a mi d, m reover, a n on n this fact is s e n e a i immediately pp re t: e f phy ics. Having elsewher prese t d n overv ew and a a recog izes the imprint design i t n e e e through n a of qu si-direct realizatio e e o en n �nalys s of this s ra g e ti t - h . 2 ' I e th t th ph e e 8 qu stion could not-by a o n m o in n;; : �J ;:��: ��: � :�� ny n will r strict mys lf to w. a co p r the e stretch f the imaginatio l ne ea n the eff ct of horizontal n -be e or so-called e e main i argument, l dmg step by wo drous. step,, to that e e a n e " atural" caus s. On . . on n n a v e do sn't r quir u o o astomshmg concepti k ow s the " mu Iu ers . o iv rsity dipl ma or e a e n n s much ev n s a he i e o high sch ol ducatio : the rs 't If to th contemp rary e a atural light of human ! s gence suffic a a intelli­ fi : � �;!:�::�;��: s mply to rrive n a e mmd whe i�; origin is of c�urse the n o at th t conclusio e e o n n an n Whe o e o in tric . it c mes to the c n o e i d a of" v Iu tio "· · the probl em, i'n this i st ce, is to co - a nt mp rary scie tist, e e s th t normal e o h w ver, . . power of compr o ce1v h ow t h P hys ical umver e as sueh -w hich supposedly e a e hensi n seems 1 o b oper tiv o no longer t a e . : for him the questi n e e o forms the b s1s · o f ev rythmg-couId ·tself "evolve." H w an e "why th el ctr e e n n mindfulof m " constitut e a n is could such a th' mg as th fin -structure co sta t , forexam- o s a probl m th t calls e n n e t for s me o ultimately . kind of "hyper-physics" o e p1 -a umer ical consta t of P hysi cs which happ ns o be a o yet t be c nceived. e o i sets bout n o So h io-3, . . t construct sce a 7.2973531 x failmg w hich "w " w uld not ex st-how n o arios f the most v a ki d t explain-or actually, e imagin tive o o n e e . a xplain o c u Id th a t c nsta t hav conc 1vably "evol ed"? A br nd- tic away-this pr blem­ ion o sl e e "mindfulness,"oblivious e a new concep bvio . all d for at the v ry outset a o of the fact : ,. � of consider a a that h is le ving out an re�: � n n ea e ti n wh t is ctually o n n e of such mqmry. An he i ge ious id pr sents it takes, no e the crucial p i t: am y, e t n r e e i n o that t on , but two modes of causality l its lf hat i asmuc� as, us, �=c�niv rs is ev de tly n t universe. e to make a n nt1t c�is ve e n These hyp r-physicists n a unobserved � y: t ;r impos s certai condi­ n e are searchi g therefore­ n o a n n e t with i domitabl n n n e physical determi atio n tio s f ki d. An thou gh, at first gla c , tha cannot o l ss-for somethi n . e e n n which in principle exist. e g ot10n may app ar to b tautoI ogous-like sayi g "the u i- e n No wond r t ee tinu e e the search con­ e i e s . s i terminably a e e v rse s perceptibl because ,t. , . p erceived"- hat s mmg a to xpand whil it le ds n might s well a e nowh r : o e a ve a o e e scour the m th a t utology pr? � ac t Uy t hav t e th as a so -called "self­ a o o matical woods in search e on 1 ration l square no o e of � ro t f 2! And w sel cti " prmc ple 2 It I ea d s m . fact to the first"anthropic has e e n nd r, also, that the quest . fragm nt d i to various o e ne modus operandio technical d mains e a d fi d by a 27. The Anthropic Cosmological Pnncip. . le (Oxford Unive rsity Pre ss, e f their own, ach n o n M fant stic i its w way. anwhile, as library shelves e e n continue to bulge, th e 828. Ancient Wisdoman dM° dern Misconceptions,ch.10. of the el ctro 's "mindfulness" myst ry 19 6). . . e e remains 29. Th e idea was applie d, for example , by Co ernicus in the recogm- periti a as incomprehensible to th sci ntific en e on eno o as it h e ti that the ph eno n of retrogra de mot'�n 1 in planets could be a n d be when th � m search b gan o re than half ce tury ago. explained by the mot10n o f the Earth-b und observer. In the context o f By n an the anthropic coincidence prob1 ema t' ic, 1't was introduced by Brandon the time Joh D. Barrow a e d Fr nk J. Tipl r published Carter in 1974.

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from which an "SAP universe" principle" named WAP, the "W" standing for"w eak." In the quate supp ly of "universes" ,, drawn, as it were, "by chance. words of Barrow and Tipler, it affirms that "the observed can be and_ �nngs o this is of course perfectly insane, values of all physical and cosmological quantities are not N w, all willmgto to which scientists of repute are equally probable, but take on values restricted by the hom e the lengths ask against design:' One cannot �ut requirement that there exist sites where carbon-based life go 1· n this ongoing "war deep-roote d avers10· n -thispro- can evolve, and by the requirement that the Universe is old oneself: whence comes this . to say-to the very concep- enough forit to have already done so." found an1mos1't y, one is tempted We will pass over the fact that our hyper-physicists are tion of God? apparently willing to base their conclusions upon the Dar­ winist hypothesis at a time when the discovery of the genome has already de jure invalidated that nineteenth-cen­ tury conjecture. But let us continue: this WAP proved in any case to be less than sufficient,and was succeeded ere long by an SAP-"S" standing for "strong"-which asserts: "The universe must have those properties which allow life to develop within it at some stage of history:' Yet that new so­ called "principle"-which once again presupposes the Dar­ winist scenario and in truth explains nothing-that princi­ ple too does not yet suffice: for the question obviously remains fromwhere and by what means one could obtain a universe satisfying that "strong" condition. And out of the maze of the purportedly "scientific" literature dealing with this issue, what might be termed a consensus appears to have emerged: following the lead of Stephen Hawking, a considerable portion of the scientificelite have opted foran infinite ensemble of possible universes, termed the "multi­ verse;' as the ultimate solution to the riddle posed by the existence of our world. There is a certain logic in this Ansatz; for in light of the SAP the question becomes: how then do we obtain a uni­ verse satisfying that stipulated condition? And there are, basically, only two options: by an act of creation of course, or by a "roll of the dice"-which evidently demands an ade-

-75- -74- 6 THE EMERGENCE OF THE TRIPARTITE COSMOS

ITH THE DISCOVERY OF QUANTUM THE­ ory, the "Reign of Quantity" has entered its ter­ minal phase. The shift from classical to Wquantum physics-which evidently is not compatible with the pre-quantum worldview-heralds the demise of that Reign: when the fundamental science stands in contradic­ tion to the prevailing Weltanschauung, the latter is bound to giveway. Let us look at the matter more closely. Beginning with Galileo and Descartes, the "enlightened" portion of man­ kind succumbed to the surprisingly crude notion of a "clockwork" universe. Reformulated in the course of the nineteenth century in more abstract terms through the dis­ covery of electromagnetism, it is in the schematic of Ein­ steinian physics that this mechanistic notion attained its most sophisticated form. Meanwhile, however, it came to pass with the advent of quantum theory that the idea of clockwork causality in whatever mode has been invalidated, once and for all, as the presiding paradigm: not even the dazzling mathematics of David Bohm-with its quasi-mag­ ical pilot wave-can controvert this fact, as we have seen.1

I. Seep. 27 above.

-77- PHYSICS AND VERTICAL TRIPARTITE COSMOS CAUSATION THEEMERGENCE OF THE

c The pre-quantum co e o e . . n o insignifi ance: nc pt f a det rministic causa im. · ons of the re1gmng periti pale i t o lity op c · retains f course a certain validity c c o o b oard or not, history ontmues in the classi al limit­ whether they ele t t c me a realized mathematically by c a letting Planck's onst nt h tend n its course. to zero e o -but fails irr mediably on the plane of quantum theory. +++ But whereas the OF "THE QUANTUM demise of determinism has been wide THEN DOES THE RESOLUTION o ly HOW ackn wledged, e a 1 n s e what has so far r m ined almost total i. Id vi, ew. I the fir t plac it gives us e ly ENIGMA " mp act our wor unr cognized is the a t e n o e th at fact th t quan um physics demands2 a . can b e v1 . wedi . One eeds t r call a back " wor Id" that two supr -physic co c o . on so­ al n eptions: ne etiological and the ublication of Newt 's Principia in 1687, the since the p n other ontological. The e ca · o n « ca not first-what I t rm verti l causa­ undits. h ave imp sed upo us a worId" that t o o entific p e ion-c mes int view, e . a m an- as we have s en, in the act of mea­ viewe d a t · all What h s saved us from annihilation, be e s surement, and proves to be c e n o e beli ve what more basi and mor powerful e the factt hat o n on E ar th actually o whil , 1s· n than the horizontal m des of causality o o s o e n a score· not eve th e top kn wn t the phy i­ the sc1ent1. 'fi c pen'ti adv cat o th t cist; and the seco c o t d, nd, amazingly enough, is simply the affir­ ts To all ex ept p ssibly he impaire o e physicis themselves\ a e mation f th actual world "in whic a o a . o e except in those r r h we live, nd m ve, nd the sky is st1·n blue and r s s red , have our being": ho e es n n s of a w strange that despite d cades of almost o e ts en one engag i scie ti tic speculations e e e o m m n wh d sp rate ff rts to circumvent a o o what otherwise we "quantum par d x," it has Cartesian· k'm d· · then only d we deny apparently never occ i e unob - urred to the quantum-realitytheorists a e e e. Though weII -n ·gh univ rsally c st unchly b ri ". o that su h a worldmight e s e auung-t actually exist! e £act is th a t our sci nti tic W ltansch e serv d, the d Th se then are e co o a e nge us th twin re gniti ns which not only that we have m .d 1't our own-has plu e o the extent on c r s lve the quantum enigma, de e t o e afflicti s arcely but Jure t rmina e the into a state of c 11 c ti e sch1zoph rema, . an Reign of Quantity. a e ec e o e aforesaid It m tters little wh ther our scientific attb sanity v · The firs te,v cc t , th , n f th o comp . l ·e h wit pundits rec gnize this fact e o e o . . c a t oke of this malaise, or continu t sp use disquali­ res0Iut10n, 1s th a t 1.·t ures us t one s r fied e t . o e s pr mises: like i or not, the cycle o f history initiated e, m parttcu. lar ' t b a phy icist while e by and renders it possibl Cop rnicus and Galileo o n is n w drawing to its close. When e n perfectly sa e. o r mai ing the foundati nal physic c o e t e c remarkable s--whi h pr v s o be the most My second point relat s to Ri h ard Feynman's "astronomically"ac curate ce th eory." It happens scien the world has ever seen­ dictum: "",,o one understands quantum declares its own insuffic e enigma enabl es i ncy and points beyond itself, the namely that the resolution. f the quantum n eor ' but to u nder­ us not only to " un d t ers d an °qua tum th y" n could. The t e same tim e why prev10us. 1 Y "no o e" stand a th no 2. It does so, not on the t e c ntum world can t be com- basis of quantum mechanics itself,but on the point 1s. that h so- alled qua grounds of e e e or cor­ metaphysics-which is after all the reason why, e refer nce to th sense-p rceptible "no to this day, preh nded without . one understands quantum theory:' e s enc physicists have poreal: the very realm th exi t e o f which

1 -78- -79- I PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION ·•· THE EMERGENCE OF THE TRIPARTITE COSMOS long been taught to deny. The reason, more quantum world over, wh eC 10n cannot be understo y the 'fhe ob J. t' may be raise. d that physics has actually to simply od "on its own • . that it does a " is q uanti • en not in f ct exist: s uite with q 'ti es.. that it consutut es after all "thesci ce of first to fora Heisenberg do observe, that putative was the re ment." True enoughi But here again the Scholastics particles "world" consists measu · which o of so-called a are n t in truth "things," hold the ke y: "Numerus st a t ex parte m teriae· " -"N umber which do not e but potenti "yet" xist. ae, stems from the side of materia· " - they declare. An d t h'1s But not . only has it now o .e".en ,f the p h sicist could know literally every­ bec me possible to means that while remaining perfectly "do physics" o o sane-and e thing pertammg to the q!antitative . aspects f the cosm s, what one is ven to "understan doing-but now, by d" something absolutely basic an d indeed "essential" would tions, o virtue of these recog ne can actually do so ni­ elude his grasp. understand better. Thus we have still not only come to a what physics can Strange as 1't m y sound to mo dern ears ' what physics as can't: for it happens do, but also what . . that the ontological it such has I e ft O ut of account is. precise , ly the active prmc1p1 e quantum theory interpretation has uncovered of cosmic existence: the �ns. t o telian morphe correspond' mg of a hitherto unknown of causation more mode . n fundamental than to the yang s1. de fo theChmese icon. And this "white spot i nous to the physical the causality indige­ world. For as the resolution the black fieId" has now reve ale 1 d 'tself on the quantum 1 eve 1 surement pro of the mea­ . blem has brought to in the form of vertical causa l'ty-t . 1't is something ph ys1cs . as trumpshorizontal: light, vertical causation . has power, namely, we know 1t can _ne ithercompre h end nor ignore-because in tialize" to abrogate or the Schriidinger equation. And this "re-ini­ fact that causality mam. £es ts the cosmogenetic Act itseIf · ing discovery, is a game-chang­ for it tells us that quantum truth the absolutely physics is not in "fundamental"science one to be, but is in has taken +++ factrestricted in its it of mere potentiae: scope to an "underworld" that so THIS WAS PREDICTABLE FROM THE START. THE LAPSE farfrom being a "theory ALL thing " there is of every­ n n , rather point in saying into a fa ntasy-world bega w1'th the philosophy of Re e theory "of that it is, in a nothing at all." sense, a Descartes, upon which the current interpretation of our I will mention in passing that students physics. 1s· b ased·bybams · . h'm g the qualities fromthe re al or ophy willnot of Oriental philos­ be altogether surprised: "external" world, thePren� h me a hysician has m. efr ,ect cas t a very long time it has been known for by way of the yin-yang out the yang-s,' d e of cosmic real :t1 Y·p Wehave said that "num- not be reduced that existence . to a single can­ quantity. d env.· esfrom t hes ,·de of materia: 1t need s exist." principle: that "it ber" or To put it takes two to a in Aristotelian terms: also however to be pomted ou.t th t the qualitative con,tent morphe ( the Latin it requires hyle materiaand plus of thewor Id -w hat the Cartesians have downgraded to the herein forma) to make a world. resides the o And t e " ensat1ons , -s n ontol gical heresy o sta us of m re s . , tands o theside of morp h e, which has in f modern physics, effect sought to build of form. Wha tis · left' there,co re, a fte rthe Cartesian interven- out of"matter"-alone. a cosmos out of hyle­ tion, is. a ki n o d f half-warId w h',c hi ' · ' n truth as we have sa1'd , . . does not exist. Yet it IS. t h'is semi-world, precisely, w h' ,c h

-80- -81- PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION THE EMERGENCE OF THE TRIPARTITE COSMOS

e N w�?nian a s or '.'classical"physics has m de it the r r t own' m-its "u within the cosmic hierarchy, what I designate corporeal. ve se ove wh1eh tha phvs, ICS · h oId s sway. s thusto this pseudo-world of Wh a at a It i materias signata quantitates ic i , le st supe fi- e that the object of physic in truth ��:�;;: �: �:�: cl r r beneath th corporeal s cially, :: a h; t:tp � e o e e a t m rima Y concern d, not bel ng, a factwhich b comes appar nt the moment phy ics with. wh t h· gs s s e s s s are-or whether they even "exi t" b been dive t d of it metaphy ical fanta ies: has been "de­ I� :�: t e s has e e s :;J i s fu�dam ntal law s ou howev r, i that 0 : ;wtheyt move:u are Carte ianized;' one c ld say. The probl m, ; · a Wh ca ses a thmg laws�; e u s s e a s r to move, moreover, are as q antum physic itself ha rejected th C rte ian generally . u r wher othe things, whrch act pon each othe es s e s is c m. by way. of pr uppo itions, th quantum phy icists have not-which a causal ham. . 0 ne may th k a m s e of it s k' d f precisely why the o-called "quantum reality problem" has r agati� e t u :: g spac , whic� c:nst� u�� o e �::e �! t�rough a ty: ��:; pr ved forth m to be insol ble. med h " c I • r · a es de factos s e n orizonta l usal · .t rs ctually surpris- What pr ently concern u is the fact that at the v ry i g that this simple n a e s e a o o tio n o f caus lity _has enabled t s nded;' so to spe k, to its wn prod c o h moment when phy ic "desc igies of predi tion ontr p u t, u s e l _ hysics has wro gh level, a mode of causation has come pers a ��f i s a proper e ding ome of th g r e non-physicale s r est mmd_ th t it cove s th We ne d to under tand it tak s a "non-hori­ entire g � r a ur into view. why ound; what on th e ot e h nd rs c s e e s t not s prising in zontal" au ality to "manif st" the quantum world.Now it the l a t is that in fact i t o s e does not. Yet hat rec gnition will s the reason is not far to e k: for if the act of take tim . s a a happen that e t o d. h ic a all, e e e s a m r � y� t large h s, fter pro­ m asurement does inde d ntail a tran ition fromth cl i ed ;o t n o us c phys­ u ov::}:���te: r_e year� th� the world annot s teractm is made to the pla e, then horiz ntal ca ality p of Carte ian a ical corporeals o e s e zo :11 g m complex res exte:;usa w ys via take us there: fora previously n t d, a tran ition b tween chains of c � n er o a e a o o e s horit ntala nd ev the disc f mplish d "in tanta­ - � �tr,,� o � ov y o ont logical pl n s c n nly be acc elec rom gnetism "et er s s e t ugh rt b�did nothing way of causation. The factis to t neou ly;'3 and thu by s dislodg hat inbred ;.r . e evertical a h Newtoman "clockwork" d causality functions in thi paradigm ave u that this hith rto unrecogniz m y h be:� ;: � s ea s e s c e e u e ne b t wa by no m link b tweenth quant m world abandon d. ns in tanc a the onnecting t e or world of corporeal enti­ t s of and the The pic ur began to shift o u epotentiaeu esreal e existentse e o s wi h the r c very _of q antum p rfect sen ! Our conn cti n with phy t t ti s. It act ally mak ics, which disclosed he � a u e start!.mg ac th t the quant m world hinges, after all, upon th act of mea­ r s m thequan­ e s tums eworld th Phy ics had require a mode of causation de ::: : :: r01es extensaee ate all. finally surem nt, which consequently c nded, s p , _ sown o e a s r ac t t l v ! which P: .ve d to h ch in The moment, therefore,when bo u ar- effect d by causal . a in pl e of"act al" c not s s a o potentiaee s v c . . ' Toput rt m S holas- to its rightful ontol gical status, VC w s tic t 1' things. phy ic ttained • rm : ph si s h a d now arrived e . u s e at the]. ve.] of bo nd to enter the picture a the conn cting link between signata (matter under the m materia a quantitatee . e d t erm at10n of quan- the nd the From a meta- tity), betwe n , . o quantum realm corporeal world. s e primaa m aa,eria-whrch pr perI Y aki �pe ng has no "exi tenc " at ll- e a s nd the I ow st ontolog1e l tratum 3. See pp. 26-27 above.

-82- -83- COSMOS PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION THE EMERGENCE OF THE TRIPARTITE

o a s physical point of vantage, e s uffice t forest ll scenario moreover, it can be seen that v r­ Einsteinian postulates-could tical causality is needed to yang c supply the omponent of of that kind. v corporeal existence, which a er ss e o v . this· having disco ered the the quantum realm s such does The deep i � , h we , is o :{. s me initial not possess-in a word, that vertical causation vert cal cau and attained t is "form existence o� i _ �::a er bestowing;' and therefore inseparable o ar m nn of its action, can tha from the c smoge­ understandmg re� � g e s netic Act. One could in s s e b put to scientific u e? truth ay that it pertains to the "more-than-phy ical kn wled n s n o � t'fic1 , k authentic "Big Bang" which acts-not O f ascien 1"nd a d pos ibly to a "i time;' some fif­ Can 1t. lead to d"1scover ies ar s r teen billion ye rs ago-but n nunc stans 1 re d thi to be mo e i the very in which as yet undreamed-of apphcat10ns.. . I g "God makes the universe and all things," an as Meister Eckhart likely th not. ... declares. e c Referring to post-N wtonian physi s, Sir Arthur c Edding­ ton observed that "the con ept of substance has disap­ peared." c s What has a tually "di appeared;' however, are the res extensae c c c imagined whi h "classi al" physi s had spuri­ s c ously presupposed. It i this ontological re tification, c more­ over, that has enabled physi s to enter finally into its ro own proper domain, which p ves to be categorically sub-corpo­ real-"sub-existential" c c in fa t-forthe simple reason that it is omprised a exclusively of "quantitative" elements. Wh t is missing in that so-called quantum world, ave morphe yang-side as we h noted is the or of , c the coin: and that is precisely what verti c al causality supplies or brings into play in the a t of measurement, and in so doing, "actualizes" the quantum world "in part." Getting back to knowing also what physics "can't do;' I would like to emphasize how important this proves to be: think of the time and treasure wasted o in the search forenti­ ties which pr ve to be predictably n fictitious! Think of the "Big Ba g" fiasc o ro a o, not to speak f the LargeHad n n Collider t CERN-which it took 100 ations to finance!-mis­ a s sioned to detect n array of "super- ymmetry" particles conceived to exist c ontological in "spa e-time:' My point is that a little insight-sufficient, for example, to unmask the

-84- 7 THE PRIMACY OF VERTICAL CAUSALITY

ERTICAL CAUSALITY WAS IDENTIFIED IN THE context of quantum measurement: as the mode of V causation, namely, which effects the transition from the physical to the corporeal domain. There exist other physical facts, moreover, that prove to be likewise indicative of VC: quantum entanglement, for instance, and the associated phenomenon of non-locality. When the mea­ surement of an attribute of a particle at a point A instantly affects the state of its twin particle at B-conceivably light­ years distant fromA-the causality at issue cannot but be vertical. What gives rise to quantum entanglement, more­ over, are interactions between the wave function and a cor­ poreal entity, a fact which, once again, confirms that vertical causalityacts upon a quantum system by way of the corporeal plane: that it "descends;' so to speak, fromthe corporeal to the physical. It behooves us now to "step back'' and look at the etiolog- ical picture from a strictly ontological point of view. As stated at the outset, based upon what some have termed cos­ mologia perennis, the integral cosmos proves to be ontologi­ cally tripartite,and can be represented iconically by a circle, in which the circumference stands for the corporeal world, the center forthe spiritual, and the interior forthe intermedi-

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ary.1 It needs moreover to be clearly understood that thes that the cosmos originated in a three components of the e based on the recognition iconic circle correspond in truth ontological domains to cosmogenetic Act which perforce is supratemporal, fo� the of the integral cosmos which ca specified in n be simple reason that time pertains to t?e c?s��s alone: �he terms of two bounds: the corporeal by time, space and world was created, not in time, but with time, St. Augustme the subtle or intermediary2 by time alone, . and the spiri­ to this inscrutable Act,nothmg whatsoever tual or celestial by the factthat it observes. "Prior" is subject to neither bound. sur­ What in the iconic representation existed-except of course the Universal Cause of all. �et: appears thus to be th least of the domains-inasmuch e prisingly perhaps, this wayof looking at cosmoge�es1s I� yet as it has neither spatia extension nor temporal l somewhat incomplete: for according to the "."nstotehan­ duration-proves thus to be actually the greatest: the ontological Thomistic ontology-its so-called hylomorph1sm-som:· domain which in truth encom passes both ­ thing does in a way "pre-exist" e e ct f he o mogene�1c the corporeal and the intermediary realms. � �� ? � ?, � It is worthy of note, Act: i.e., a certain "receptivity' or rec1p1ent, if you will, moreover, how drastically even our . truncated cosmos, termed hyle or prima materia, which is rece�tlve �f morphe as conceived in contemporary cosmol­ ogy, has actually shrunk; or form, and in conjunction with morphe gives nse to the and one might add that the con­ _ comitant explosion in actual universe. 3 And that primary morphe, umted thus to both its temporal and spatial ex­ tension-as measured materia, gives rise to substantial form,which is �hat bestows supposedly in billions of years light-years-merely and realityupon a cosmic entity, what both causes 1t to e ist and exacerbates its indigence. Despite . � official the it to act: i.e., to deploy a verticalcausality of its wn. bluster, the factremains that, compared enables ? to the inte­ questions: gral cosmos contemplated perennially This brings us finally to the fundamental by the wise, that arise, and wha co ­ "brave new universe" amounts to 'whence then does horizontal causation � ? little more than a speck of IS dust. Supposedly measuring stitutes its field of action? Now the answer to the first v'.r­ billions of light-years, it is in truthtoo indigent to tually self-evident: What gives rise t� horizontal c�usaltty be envisioned at all: to do so one needs first to embellish that postulated universe can be none other than vertical causation. And as to its field with attributes it is actually unable to possess. of action, this too is not hard to discern: The sphere of be none other than the cor­ action of a horizontal cause can _ +++ poreal domain, forthe simple reason that honzo�tal causa­ tion entails a transmission through space, and it happens A PHILOSOPHICALLY COGENT COSMOLOGY CANNOT BUT and only spa­ BE that the corporeal world constitutes the one _ tio-temporaldomain; we must bear in mind that the spatial 1. It is vital to note that these three basic components bound ceases to apply "above" the corporeal plane. have their of the cosmos counterparts in the anthropos, the divides human microcosm ' which analogously into corpus, anima, and spiritus. 2. Thi is what has been termed � the "astral plane" in occultist circles, h G · t "the waters" in and what m Orthodox Christianity 3. This corresponds evidently to w at enesis erms is referredto as the "aerial world." 1:2.

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It needs however to be noted that horizontal causality to "override" what we term the laws of physics is in fact definitiveof the biosphere. does also in a sense act "below" the corporeal plane, that is to say, on the quantum level,4 where it applies to entities "mid­ way between being and non-being:'s For whereas these enti­ +++ ties may indeed be "less than real:'the associated horizontal causality-as represented, say, by the Schri:idinger equa­ GETTING BACK TO THE SO-CALLED QUANTUM WORLD, LET tion-proves to be the most mathematically accurate phys­ us remind ourselves that it constitutes a materia signata ics mankind has ever known. What confronts us here is a quantitate: a realm midway between prima materiaor "pure "real" causalitygoverning "less than real" entities. receptivity'' and corporeal being, endowed with purely Having shown that horizontal causation-whether acting quantitative attributes. What is it, then, that could have on the corporeal or on the physical plane--constitutes an effected its formation: by what process of causality was effect of vertical causes, it remains now to consider whether quantity "added" as it were to prima materia? This is still the latter are perforce cosmogenetic, or whether VC arising something of a mystery.Here the cosmologia perennis, which from a substantial form can be likewise productive of hori­ has served as our guiding light up to this point, is of little help, inasmuch as nothing remotely resembling the quan­ zontalcausality. To this end we need to take into account an obvious distinction: it is one thing to give rise to horizontal tum realm was ever conceived in pre-modern times. The causality "ex nihilo:' as it were-and quite another to affect crucial question is whether John Wheeler was right when he or impact an existing causal chain (for example, by "re-ini­ claimed that physics deals ultimately with a "participatory tializing" thewave-equation). It thus becomes apparent that universe": that in some waythis materia signata quantitate is whereasit must be the cosmogenetic Act itself that actually actually"constructed" by the modus operandi of the physi­ gives rise to horizontal causation, secondary VC has none­ cist. There appear moreover to be fairly cogent grounds to theless power to act upon existing chains of horizontal cau­ conclude that such may indeed be the case: it happens that the pioneering work of Sir Arthur Eddington, which entails sality, to affect and alter them as we have had occasion to note: the vertical causality emanating from the substantial as much, has been strikinglyconfirmed in recent times by a formof a pebble, for instance, has power to impedeits mul­ physicist named Roy Frieden, who should by right be far tilocation.And let us not fail to recall at this juncture what better known than he is.6 I would point out, moreover, that we have said in the preceding chapter in reference to biol­ the notion of a "participatory universe"-the idea that the ogy: that when it comes to substantial formsdefinitive of the physical universe is in a sense "constructed"-is strongly animate order-the kind termed an "anima"-this capacity supported by the recognition that corporeal entities can indeed "act" upon the subcorporeal realm by way of vertical

4. As I have argued elsewherei the corporealand the physical domains share the same space and time. See The Quantum Enigma, 40. 6. On this question I referto Ancient Wisdom and Modern Misconcep­ 5. In Heisenberg's famous words. tions, ch. 2.

-96- -97- PHYSICS AND VERTICAL CAUSATION THE PRIMACY OF VERTICAL CAUSALITY 1 i� causation. And I will add parenthetically that an inquiry into the sense of duration) is likewise measured by way of spatial 11 that hypothetical "construction I• of the physical universe" in extension, it too can be expressed in terms of real numbers. light ofvertical causality I• strikes me as the ideal-and perhaps even as the only Which brings us to the crucial point: horizontal causality, viable-starting point to arrive at a deep­ ened understanding as known tophysics, assumes the formof a differential equa­ of physics: an understanding, namely, which brings to tion relating spatial and temporal magnitudes, and red�ces light the function of vertical causality, its intrinsic connection thus to a "law of motion." it needs however to be recogmzed with horizontal causation. Yet be that as it may, on met that this law itself is imposed by an act of vertical causation: aphysical grounds the fundamental fact remains that to claim otherwise is to put the cart beforethe horse. Given the quantum realm-like every other ontolog­ ical domain-constitutes that the corporeal world originates in an ontological domain in the finalcount an effectof verti­ cal causation. where there is no spatial extension at aJl-and where conse­ What then is quently the equations of physics do no� apply-it fol�ows the raison d'etre of horizontal causality: what constitutes its cosmic that the spatial and temporal bounds, which these equat10ns "function;' so to speak? Now the salient characteristic presuppose, cannot themselves be the result of hori�ontal of horizontal causation is that it has to do exclusively with causes. It can thus be affirmedas a theorem of authentic cos­ quantities: with the quantitative side of cosmic existence. mology that the fundamental laws of physics-expressive of Not with quantity per se however, but with a certain kind horizontal causality-are based on vertical causation. of quantity: the kind, namely, which is inher­ ently spatial and Wesee fromthese cursory reflectionsthat the scope and hence indigenous to the corporeal domain. And that, efficacy of horizontal causality within the integral cosmos I surmise, is the kind referred to as "numerus" _ the Scholastic in turns out to be quite limited: not only is horizontal causality dictum "numerus stat ex parte materiae'' ("number derives subsidiary to vertical, but its sphere of action is restricted to from the side of materia"): the kind, namely, which the corporeal and subcorporealdomains, what might sym­ measures or "metes out" spatial extension. And let us note that bolicaJlybe termed "the lower third" of the integral cosmos. this is the very bound which definesthe corporeal domain: To which one should add that as one ascends the sea/a one might referto it as "extensive" quan­ tity-the kind expressed naturae within the corporeal domain itself, the efficacy of by real numbers-as distinguished from quantity defined horizontal causality is progressively diminished through by integers and their ratios, which unlike the former the incursion of vertical modes. In terms of the traditional has a significance by no means restricted to the corporeal domain.7 Moreover, inasmuch as time (in played a decis v role in. characterized as "harmonic," which moreover � � . in support of the arts, the scien es, an even th hfe. antiquity � . � � spiritual 7. That is the reason why music, All but forgotten in modern times, I surmise 1t will be rediscovered after forexample, with its harmonic and rhythmic ratios, can literally the "reign of comes to an end. richly deserves to e: for e e "lift us out of this world." The quantities numerus" It . � � � in question here-significantly as qualities trump mere quantity, so does the science of harmonic termed "rational"-arein a sense tative," and pertain "quali­ numbers outrank our contemporary mathematics in the larger scheme of to a branch of mathematical science that may be things.

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"mineral, plant, animal, and anthropic" partition, it appears that the h e ony f orizontal �� 1:' ,� � causation is restricted at best to the mmeral or morganic domain. To explore the implications . of this fundamental etiologi­ cal fact for e sciences, 8 � forphilosophy, and above all,for an understandmg of man, of his origin and destiny-this is a task we leave forothers to take up. PONDERING THE COSMIC ICON

From the point comes a line, then a circle. SHABISTARI

NSCRIBED REPUTEDLYOVER THE PORTALOF THE Platonic Academy was an injunction which read: "Let no I one ignorant of geometry enter here"-what are we to make of this? To begin with the obvious: it points to a con­ nection between geometry and metaphysics, and suggests that the former-asconceived in the Euclidean tradition­ may serve as a key to the profunditiesof the latter: a veritable sine qua non in fact,as the words" let no one" seem to imply. It behooves us, first of all, to recognize that for Plato all "science;' inclusive of metaphysics, was ultimately a matter of "seeing"-but not simply with these, our corporeal eyes. Whatis called for, evidently, is a seeing with the "eye of the intellect;' the authentic nous as distinguished from psyche. There is however a connection between the two levels: the "seeing" with corporeal eyes has a role to play also in the metaphysical realm. And even in the case of ordinary vision-as we have had occasion to note1-the actual "see­ ing" takes place "above time;' and thus indeed on the plane of intellect. Which brings us to the crucial point: just as

1. I am referringto James Gibson's discovery. See ch. 4.

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visual forms can facilitate the perception of corporeal enti­ ties, so too can they catalyze an intellective perception per­ taining to the metaphysical realm. An object of visu perception, in al other words, can serve asa sign pointing metaphysical referent. to a A "metaphysical icon;' then, ble form is a visi­ which-by virtue of an invisible correspondence­ can enable the intellective perception of truth. a metaphysical Getting back to the reputed inscription: sur�ise that it refers one may to the use of thus whICh we sha certain geometric ll term "Euclidean," figures, the preferred in an iconic means of ent capacity, as Judging ry into the metap by the inscription hysical realm. itself, this m the means par excellen ay indeed have ce in use a been eyes" of a t the Academy t novice to metaphysic o "open the mally al vistas of oblivious. ... which we are nor­

.

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HIS BRINGS TO A CLOSE OUR BRIEF REFLEC­ tions on the scientific significance and implications of vertical causality. It remains to point out that havingT thus initiated what might broadly be termed a redis­ covery of the vertical dimension, we may have prepared the ground fora shift in the Weltanschauung of Westerncivili­ zation. I believe, moreover, that a scientific metanoia, based on a rediscovery of vertical causation, is apt to inaugurate a cultural metanoia as well, which may "open doors" bolted shut centuries ago. 1 Above all, it may enable men and women to discern, once again, the raison d'etre of human birth, which is and ever shall be the attainment of lifeeternal in union with God. We have been collec�ively distracted and deviated for centuries from catching so much as a glimpse of that God-given imperative: has the time perhaps arrived when that descending arc of history will come to an end? Such appears indeed to be the case. That arc began in a very realsense with Galileo'shypothe­ sized displacement of the Earth. It needs however to be understood that this conjecture does not stand alone: for it happens that the decentralization of the Earth goes hand in hand with a corresponding decentralization of man. What has in effectbeen lost are both the macro- and microcosmic manifestation of that central point in the cosmic icon: that "pivot around which the primordial wheel revolves." There are

1. On the relation between "science" and culture I refer to Ancient Wisdomand Modern Misconceptions, especially the chapter entitled "Sci­ ence and the Restoration of Culture."

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in truth two centers: the macrocosmic and its counterpart in and in consequence of this breach the anthropos himself I the microcosm, the anthropos; and the two centers are in has begun to disintegrate at an unprecedented rate: the l· fact inseparable. How, then, are they connected? And by Galilean impact upon humanity could thus be viewed as a ,,i' now the answer cannot but stare us in the face: that univer­ I second Fall. ... !i sal and transcendent Center of the cosmos is connected to its counterpart in man2 by an act of vertical causality, which is none other than the cosmogenetic Act itself. Neither spatial distance nor temporal duration, thus, separates our Center from that "pivot" around which "the primordial wheel revolves." And this, I surmise, constitutes the Mystery wise men have pondered ever since the world began: their Quest has ever been forthat ''punto dello stelo" hidden deep within the heart, which is "the eye of the needle" through which "the rich man' cannot pass, the "narrow gate" the "pure in heart" alone can enter. How then did the Galilean intervention impact this Quest, this longing, however dimmed? It did so, ontologi­ cally, through the subjectivation of the qualities, and cosmo­ graphically, by the denial of geocentric cosmology. What remains, following these twin reductions, is on the one hand the phantasm of a clockwork universe driven by a horizontal causality, and on the other a de-centered humanity: for when the cosmos loses its center, so does the microcosm, so as a rule does man. The overall impact of the Galilean inter­ vention proves thus to be twofold: on the one hand what Rene Guenon refers to as "the reign of quantity" engendered by Cartesian bifurcation, and on the other what might well be termed "the reign of relativity" symptomatic of a decen­ tralized humanity in a decentralizeduniverse. The congruity of God, man, and cosmos became thus newly compromised,

2. Which can be identifiedwith his substantial formor soul. ,,

-124- -125- ABOUT THE AUTHOR

OLFGANG SMITH WAS BORN IN VIENNA IN W 1930. At age eighteen he graduated from Cornell University with majors in physics, mathematics, and philosophy. At age twenty he received his Master's degree in theoretical physics from Purdue University, and climbed the Matterhorn. After contributing to the theoretical solution of the re­ entry problem as an aerodynamicist at Bell Aircraft Corpora­ tion, Smith earned his doctorate in Mathematics at Columbia University, subsequently embarking upon a 30-year career as a Professor of Mathematics at MIT, UCLA, and Oregon State University. Above all, however, it needs to be realized that despite his impeccable credentials in physics, mathematics, and philoso­ phy, WolfgangSmith is at heart an outsider not only in regard to these academic disciplines, but more profoundly, in refer­ ence to the post-Enlightenment premises of our contempo­ rary world. Early in life he became deeply attracted to the Platonist and Neoplatonist schools, and subsequently under­ took extensive sojourns in India and the Himalayan regions to contact such vestiges of ancient tradition as still could be found. And one of the basic lessons he learned by way of these encounters is that there actuallyexist higher sciences in which man himself plays the part not merely of the observer, but of the "scientificinstrument": becomes himself, in other words, the "microscope" or "telescope" by which he is enabled to per­ ceive hitherto invisible reaches of the integral cosmos. By the same token, moreover, Smith came to recognize the stringent limitations to which our contemporary sciences are subject by virtue of their "extrinsic" modus operandi:the follyof presum­ ing to fathom the depths of the universe having barely scratched tilesurface in the discovery of man himself.

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Finding himself, thus, irreconcilably at odds with the pre­ vailing Zeitgeist, Smithdecided to foregoa professionalcareer in the fieldsof his primary interest-Le., physics and philoso­ phy-in favor of pure mathematics: the one and only aca­ demic discipline, he avers, in which "politicalcorrectness" can findno foothold.And so he enjoyed the luxuryof pursuing a respected university career while being at liberty, as he puts it, "to remain perfectlysane." It is no wonder, then, that when he finallyconfronted the so-called quantum enigma, Smith perceived the issue in a very differentlight than his peers. The problem all along had actually not been "technical"! It was not a question to be resolved by way of differentialequations, nor primarily a mat­ ter of finding something new-but one of jettisoning an entire Weltanschauung. And for Wolfgang Smith this posed no difficulty: he had in fact done so decades earlier, as can be discerned in his remarkable series of publications. WolfgangSmith's life and work are the subject of the docu­ mentary film The End of Quantum Reality, scheduled for release in early 2019.

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