QUANTUM THEORY AND INTERCONNECTEDNESS

QUANTUM THEORY AND INTERCONNECTEDNESS

In the modern world, we have developed a mechanistic thought process that we are separate from nature, and nature is constituted of discrete units.

We interact with nature only using violence, force, through action by contact. The result is, man is always in conflict with nature, trying to control it rather than be a part of it.

In quantum theory, as scholar Vandana Shiva mentions, there is no separability, everything is interconnected. Learnings from quantum theory suggest that non-locality, non separation, interconnectedness is the nature of reality. (Recall Heisenberg's uncertainty principle for instance)

In modern mechanistic world, there is separateness, the operative principle is "OR" (for example, light is either seen as a wave or particle).

In quantum world, there is a potential to be both- light can be BOTH wave AND a particle! (The operative principle is "and")

When we look at the world with this framework- we find that the world is an interconnected whole- and the differences that we see are different expressions of an interconnected reality.

This worldview in turn gives rise to tolerance, pluralism, and diversity.

SIMILAR CONCEPTS:

Anekantavada of Jainism,

Ekam Sat Vipra Bahuda Vidhanti principle of Vedantic Philosophy

Khānti pārāmi of Buddhism,

The story of blind men and the elephant