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Relativistic Quantum Field Theory - Implications for Gestalt Therapy (Brian O’Neil)

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Relativistic Quantum Field Theory - Implications for Gestalt Therapy (Brian O’Neil) Relativistic Quantum Field Theory - Implications for Gestalt Therapy (Brian O’Neil) It is timely to address how the terms ‘field’ and ‘field theory’ have developed in physics and Gestalt therapy and the inter-relation between the two. Gestalt therapy writers such as Parlett have noted advances in physics which have moved beyond the initial formulation of Maxwell’s electromagnetic field. This includes the quantum field, the relativitistic quantum field, and now post relativistic quantum fields through the work of Bohm and others. These advanced notions of field are beyond the original field theory taken up by Smuts, Lewin, Wertheimer and Gestalt therapy. The possible implication of this expanded field perception in physics for Gestalt therapy is outlined theoretically and clinically. Arjuna Said What are Nature and Self? What are the field and its Knower, knowledge and the object of knowledge? Teach me about them Krishna. Krisna: I am the Knower of the field in everybody Arjuna. genuine knowledge means knowing both the field and the Knower The Bhagavad Gita This paper is offered as a heuristic device to better understand the impact and application of field theory in Gestalt therapy and to refresh and enrich the dialogue between Gestalt therapy and other domains, specifically physics and biology. In particular, to what extent are the terms ‘field’ and field theory’ used as an epistemology (ie as a method of obtaining and validating knowledge) and as an ontology (ie expressing the nature of being), with the understanding that each term is not exclusive of the other. In the present state of physics there is an acceptance of ‘field’ as an ontological reality, while many Gestalt therapy writers relate to ‘field’ epistemologically as a metaphor or method. Parlett (2005) has already hinted at the exciting implications for Gestalt therapy in re-visiting the science which provided the conceptualisation of field theory, and to consider current state of relativistic quantum field theory. Physics began with the simple concepts of mass, force, vectors and inertia which described the mechanics of the world and universe. In this classical Newtonian physics, there are separate objects and separate forces which act on these objects. This is the consensus reality of the western World in how we construct our state of consciousness (Ornstein 1972, Tart 1975) and provides us a sense of separate identity. In a similar way psychology began with theories of inner and external forces which acted on or in the individual through drives, unconscious processes, reinforcement, will and motivation. In physics a new concept appeared - the field. Initially with electromagnetism and then light, this concept proved experimentally successful in describing and predicting reality. The field is at first a way of representing vectors of force in a schematic drawing of forces (such as gravity) and as such it is purely a representation of reality. Field as Representation The first stage of developing a field perspective of reality was to visualise and map as vectors the force that was operating in a field. At this point the field was used simply as a device, or method to assist with conceptualisation. By drawing these lines of force such as gravity, physicists were able to note the direction of the force, but they could not use this as a way to explain gravity. So the attempt to make the field at this point more than a representation or model seemed fruitless (Einstein and Infield 1938). The field remained an epistemological tool - a field theory or method. Field as Real However it was the work with electricity, magnetism and then electromagnetism which began to establish the field as a reality. While Newton’s laws defined the motion of the earth as effected by the force of a sun far away, Maxwell theory was about a field here and now, as a whole, not two widely separated events. As Einstein and Infield (1938) relate, this described both electric and optical phenomena and the new concept of the field, in their opinion, was the most important discovery in physics since the time of Newton. However with the advent of Maxwell’s four equations describing the structure of the electromagnetic field, there was born, in Einstein’s words, “a new reality”. The electromagnetic field is, for the modern physicist, as real as the chair on which he sits (Einstein and Infield, 1938, pg151) The field had thus shifted from being simply an epistemology to become an ontology - no longer just field theory but the field as real. Field and Matter as Real - the Relativistic Quantum Field Einstein and others had hoped this would lead to a Unified field theory, with matter as points of concentrated energy in the singular field. Having combined energy and matter he then looked for matter as a concentrated form of field. As Einstein notes it became impossible to imagine a surface distinctly separating mass and field. This, and the advent of experiments that required an acceptance of discontinuous quanta of energy and matter, left Einstein with the unacceptable conclusion that he was left with two realities - matter and field. The theory of relativity stresses the importance of the field concept in physics. But we have not yet succeeded in formulating a pure field physics. For the present we must still assume the existence of both: field and matter. (Einstein and Infield, 1938 pg 245). It is the existence of these two realities, field and matter, as described by relativity and quantum physics together, that leads to the naming of Relativistic Quantum Field theory (Bohm 1993). Separately neither relativity theory nor quantum theory fully explains the phenomenon of light but together they do as relativistic quantum field theory. The work of Bohm (1993) has been in developing theoretical syntheses of both relativity and quantum physics in at first a hybrid called Relativistic Quantum field theory, and later into his more developed modelling of the holomovement (based of holographic reality) and what he terms the Implicate Order. SECTION 1. Relativistic Quantum Field Theory and Gestalt Therapy - An Overview Quantum theory and quantum mechanics have been developed to understand a number of experiments and observations which demonstrate the dual nature of reality. Taking light as a prime example, there are times when light behaves as if it were made up of particles or photons (such as the photoelectric effect) and times when it behaves as a wave phenomenon (such as the bending of light around an object). More interestingly there are times when light behaves as both a wave and a particle. Sometimes the nature of light as particle or wave is dependant on whether it is observed or not. This has become known as the wave-particle duality (Einstein and Infield 1938, Bohm 1993, Lightman 2000). This quantum view of reality derived four points which challenge relativity and the classical view of reality. The wave-particle duality just mentioned, the uncertainty of measurement, the nature of the observer in determining reality, and non-locality. These four principle challenges of quantum physics can be defined psychologically as Identity, Connection, Ontology and Control, as described in the table below - Physics Psychology Wave Particle Duality Identity Non locality Connection Reality and the inseparable nature of the observer and the observed Ontology of Self Uncertainty Control As relativistic quantum field theory is correlated with Gestalt therapy the following four areas of linkage between the two can be described - 1. Quantum Identity and the Wave Particle Duality. In the famous Double Slit Experiment originated by Thomas Young, a very dim light is passed through two slits in a board unto a screen which produces a pattern. This pattern demonstrates light acting as a wave phenomenon. The patterns produced show positive and negative interference in the forms of striated bands. If the light was acting as a particle they would instead produce two clearly defined bands of light. However when non interfering glass monitors were attached to the slits they recorded each electron or photon as they passed through the slits. Hence the photon or electron is acting as a particle, as matter instead of field. So when the photon or electron is observed it acts as a particle, yet when not observed the result is a wave phenomenon. (Lightman, 2000) A wave-particle duality where identity is both matter and field.. This resembles the struggle in Perls, Hefferline and Goodman (1951, 1984 edition) or PHG, to understand the system of contacts and agent of growth duality of the nature of self. This was not clearly articulated in PHG (Crocker, 1999) and hence our Gestalt theory lives with a similar duality of relativistic quantum theory. We are a particle (agent of growth) and a wave phenomenon (system of contacts in the organism/environment field). PHGs original notion of self correlates with that of physics - we are field and matter, aware of our unique nature and connected and intrinsically part of an organism/environment field. Both in the field and of the field. Both the field and the Knower as described by the Bhagavad Gita at the beginning. More attention was paid in PHG to the field nature of the self. Later formulations of Fritz Perls, as evidenced in his Gestalt prayer, focused on the individualistic, particle nature of self - You are you, and I am I (Shepherd, 1976, pg 3). This was discussed by Kempler (1974) who stated that the Gestalt movement (at his time) was out of balance with too much emphasis on I am I and not enough appreciation of union. In the literature we find the notions of seperatness and union further developed by both Wheeler (1991) and Polsters (1973). 2. Quantum Connection and the phenomenon of Non Locality The most emphatic description of a quantum experiment which challenges both classical physics and relativity is the EPR experiment, named after Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen.
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