Behind the Veil
Bernard d’Espagnat was a pioneering quantum physicist and well-versed philosopher of science. He wrote about the nature of reality over the course of four decades. D’Espagnat’s metaphysical outlook postulated an unseen source reality. Unlike other quantum physicists, he was not influenced by Eastern contemplative traditions or mysticism. At the age of 73, d’Espagnat published his main ontological proposition in 1995, called Veiled Reality: An Analysis of Present-Day Quantum Mechanical Concepts. Therein we can read:
“The final message of the book — stemming from a careful, comprehensive analysis — is that this apparent obscurity is here to stay, in the sense that what quantum mechanics (and therefore the whole of physics) describes in detail is not what could be consistently referred to as ‘human-independent reality.’ It is essentially what philosophers call ‘empirical reality,’ that is, reality as seen through ‘colored glasses’ consisting of our sensorial equipment and our possibilities of action. Of mind-independent reality we perceive, at best, some distorted general structures. It is veiled.”
The last two sentences perhaps betray a limitation in the scope of d’Espagnat’s metaphysics. He appears to insist that ultimate reality should be accessible and understandable by the rational human mind. As this is not the case, this fundamental level must always be shrouded from us. As such, d’Espagnat expects this veiled reality to be non-mental.
This expectation constitutes a blind spot imposed by the primacy of sober waking consciousness and the elevation of logical thinking over all other modes of sentience. As d’Espagnat was never exposed to contemplative traditions, mysticism, or psychedelics, this bias is very understandable. However, the transcendental source level of reality is, and always has been, very easily experienceable in great detail via the many states of non-normal consciousness, be they induced by chemical compounds, meditation, holotropic breathwork, or any other way of inducing trance, even pain. Only through the constricting lens of rationality, it appears ineffable and unapproachable, an enigma barely visible far off in the distance.
Ervin Laszlo was a child prodigy, debuting at the age of nine as a pianist with the Budapest Philharmonic. This exposure would allow him to cross the Iron Curtain, and later he was awarded US citizenship by an act of Congress. Laszlo’s focus then shifted to science, as he became an influential systems theorist, with systems theory being one of the precursory theories leading to today’s complexity science. He also ventured into the philosophy of science. “The author, co-author, or editor of ninety-one books that have appeared in twenty-four languages, Laszlo has also written several hundred papers and articles for scientific journals and popular magazines” as of 2016. In that year, at the age of over 80, he published an overview of his cosmology in the book called What is Reality? The New Map of Cosmos and Consciousness. Laszlo’s first book, entitled Introduction to Systems Philosophy: Toward a New Paradigm of Contemporary Thought, appeared in 1972, outlining his holistic approach to decoding the workings of nature.
Laszlo’s metaphysical claims are as follows:
“That there is an intelligence behind the things that exist in the universe, that there is purpose exhibited by this intelligence, and that it is humanly possible to access some elements of this intelligence and learn some aspects of its purpose.”
Laszlo believes the human mind can pierce d’Espagnat’s veil. This last quote is taken from the foreword Laszlo wrote for the book LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven, published in 2019. In his opinion:
“This is one of the most insightful and significant books I have ever read. But to understand its significance and to endorse its message, one must be willing to entertain three premises.”
These are the ones Laszlo mentioned above.
Christopher Bache wrote Diamonds from Heaven. He is a professor emeritus who taught philosophy and religious studies for 33 years and is a pioneer of the philosophy of psychedelics. In 1979, Bache embarked on a daunting journey:
“Following protocols established by Stanislav Grof, Bache’s 73 high-dose LSD sessions over the course of 20 years drew him into a deepening communion with cosmic consciousness.”
Bache tells us in great detail about this world of pure experience, lying at the foundations of reality. In a sense, his experiments with LSD can be understood as empirical metaphysics, as any intrepid psychonaut can retrace his footprints. And many have done and continue to do so. In a nutshell, Bache reports:
“Over and over again I was overwhelmed at the magnitude, subtlety, and the intelligence of what I was witnessing. […] The beauty of the design was such that I was repeatedly left breathless by what I was seeing. […] These experiences were the most ecstatic, most cognitively marvelous, most essentially satisfying experiences of my life. […] I was reawakening to levels of reality that I had previously known but forgotten.”
However, most crucially, Bache insists:
“Behind creation lies a Love of extraordinary proportions. The Intelligence of the universe’s design is matched by the depth of Love that inspired it.”
For the first time in history, we have the opportunity to embrace a scientific spiritual vision of existence. Or, perhaps more accurately, a spiritual atheism is possible that gives us a third option between religion’s dogmatic beliefs and the dominant metaphysics implicitly adopted by most scientists, namely a nihilistic certainty rendering the cosmos cold, pointless, random, and, indeed, arguably, cruel and cynical.
The emphasis now lies on the relevance of our own minds and the multiverse of experiential realms we have access to. Let’s do so and start by exploring the depths of our inner worlds…
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If you find these topics of interest and would like to explore the themes in more detail, well, I have good news:) The above is taken from a book I just finished recently called The Sapient Cosmos: What a Modern-Day Synthesis of Science and Philosophy Teaches Us About the Emergence of Information, Complexity, Consciousness, and Meaning. It will be published in 2024, so stay tuned.
