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Why Synergetics?

The Synergetics of Science and Spirituality: Action Research in the Practical Integration of TOK and Group Four Presented by Lorne Young to VRA April 21-23, 2006. Why Synergetics?. Why the Synergetics of Science and Spirituality? Synergy is one of the fundamental

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Why Synergetics?

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  1. The Synergetics of Science and Spirituality: Action Research in the Practical Integration of TOK and Group Four Presented by Lorne Youngto VRA April 21-23, 2006

  2. Why Synergetics? Why the Synergetics of Science and Spirituality? Synergy is one of the fundamental General Principles of the Universe and one of the least understood

  3. Synergy • The whole is greater than the sum of its parts • The behaviour of the whole is unpredictable by knowing the behaviour of the individual parts taken separately. RBF • Corollary: If you know the behaviour of the whole and the behaviour of some of the parts, you may be able to discover some of the others parts. RBF • Examples: 1. Gravity 2. Solar System 3. Salt

  4. General Principles A generalization in an English or History essay usually means that the material was covered too superficially to be convincing or of much use. A generalization in Science means a concept, idea, or law that has been found to be true in every case. For example: Leverage

  5. Buckminster Fuller employed Synergy in many areas

  6. Synergetics of Science and Spirituality • By applying the General Principle of Synergy to Science and Spirituality we can anticipate discovering new, emergent and previously unpredictable behaviours. • We can anticipate discovering previously unknown parts. • This is discovery and one discovery often leads to further discoveries.

  7. TOK What do we know? How do we know? Science What do we know? How do we know?

  8. Left Brain LogicalSequentialRationalAnalyticalObjectiveLooks at parts Right Brain RandomIntuitiveHolisticSynthesizingSubjectiveLooks at wholes Brain ResearchLeft and Right Brain

  9. Two different paradigms, two different ways of knowing. Science and Spirituality

  10. Paradigms The 5 Monkey Experiment 'A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.' Max Planck

  11. Science Rational Logical Outward looking Reductionist Rigorous investigations Machines, telescopes, lasers, particle accelerators Spirituality Intuitive Faith Inward looking Holistic Insight No machines only the mind and meditation Two different paradigms

  12. Science Rational Logic Outward Reductionist Rigorous investigations Machines, telescopes, lasers, particle accelerators Energetic Spirituality Intuitive Faith Inward Holistic Insight No machines, the mind and meditation Left Brain Rational Logical SequentialAnalyticalObjectiveReductionist (Looks at parts) Energetic Parallels between Scientific methodology and the Left Brain Right Brain RandomIntuitiveHolisticSynthesizingSubjectiveLooks at wholes

  13. East the Right Hemisphere Turned inward Search for truth through introspection, intuition Spirituality West the Left Hemisphere Turned outward Search for truth by reductionism, analysing and through reason Science Philosophy and Methodology of Eastern and Western Cultures

  14. Western Science Heraclitus Pythagorus Socrates/Plato/Aristotle Galileo/Copernicus Newton Einstein Planck/Heisenberg/Schroedinger/ Bohr/Pauli/Oppenheimer Hawking Bohm, Bell, Pribram, Aspect Buckminster Fuller Eastern Science/Spirituality Siddhartha Gautama-Buddha Lao Tzu Ashvaganda Nagarjuna Lodro Taye Gen Lamrimpa D.T. Suzuki Lama Govinda Tenzin Gyatso- the 14th Dalai Lama A Brief History and the Main Players

  15. Nagarjuna and Buckminster Fuller

  16. Heisenberg and the Dalai Lama

  17. Galileo and D.T. Suzuki

  18. Buddha and David Bohm

  19. Murti and Erwin Schrodinger

  20. Einstein and Lao Tsu

  21. Our Western paradigm Our Western paradigm tends to be skeptical of the intuitive, inward method and places more value on the scientific method, especially in the areas of describing reality, how the universe and the cosmos works, and our ideas of space, time, matter, energy, and even our consciousness

  22. “The concept of space, detached from any physical content does not exist” “If there is only empty space, then space loses its substantiality” The concept of Spaceaccording to the Buddha and EinsteinWho Said What?

  23. Who said what?Is there any difference?

  24. Buddha and Einstein Buddha and Einstein lived over 2 thousand years apart and separated by several continents and yet, although they were brought up in different cultures and were schooled in completely different methodology ie Science and Spirituality, they both discovered many of the same truths…the same understanding, the same realizations.

  25. “The concept of space, detached from any physical content does not exist” “If there is only empty space, then space loses its substantiality” The concept of Spaceaccording to the Buddha and EinsteinWho Said What?

  26. Eternally and always there is only now, one and the same now; the present is the only thing that has no end. The past and future are both rolled up in this one moment of now. The Concept of Time from the Western Scientific Paradigm and the Western Scientific Paradigm Schroedinger DT Suzuki

  27. Everything is held together by being pulled apart. Be vacant and you will remain full, Paradox from East and West Lao Tsu Buckminster Fuller

  28. Truth is what stands the test of experience The real meaning of the truth …must be directly experienced On Truth Einstein Nagarjuna

  29. The true value of a human being is determined by his liberation from the self. The perfect man has no self. On the Human Experience

  30. Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two. Unity is plural and at minimum two Unity and Duality

  31. Spiritual Traditions • Buddhist, Taoist, Hinduism, Zen, Sufism, (and for that matter Kaballah and Mystical Christianity) do differ in the some of the details of their beliefs BUT they are in general agreement in possibly the most fundamental of all aspects….

  32. …the awareness of the unity and the interrelatedness of all things and events. • Everything is part of the One. Different aspects of the same ultimate reality.

  33. In Taoism it is called the Tao • In Buddhism it is called Dharmakaya • In Hinduism it is called Brahman

  34. Buddhists also call it Tathata or Suchness • “ What is meant by the soul as suchness, is the oneness of the totality of all things, the great all-including whole” Ashvaganda

  35. Everyday Lifeaccording to Eastern MysticsThe Two Truths • The two truths doctrine in Buddhism differentiates between two levels of truth, a commonsense truth, and an "ultimate" truth or between a relative and an absolute truth. • In our everyday existence we are not aware of this unity, but rather see and experience things as separate objects and events. • Mystics understand that this experience is necessary to live in this environment but that it is not the fundamental aspect of reality. • This is an abstraction created by our mind, our intellect.

  36. They would say that these abstractions are illusions (maya). • These illusions are based on ignorance • The way to see through the illusion is to center and train the mind through meditation. • The Sanskrit word for meditation is samadhi or “mental equilibrium”

  37. “Entering into samadhi of purity, one obtains all-penetrating insight that enables one to become conscious of the absolute oneness of the universe.” Ashvagosha

  38. Theory of Emptiness This view states that all things and events are “empty” of any intrinsic and absolute existence. They come into being due to the aggregation of multiple causes and conditions. Their material existence is dependent upon their relationships to other things "emptiness" is considered to be the ultimate truth of all things and events. this fundamental truth about the nature of reality is understood best through a language of interdependence and interrelationship of things.

  39. Einsteinian Relativity, Quantum Mechanics and the Theory of Everything • The same notion of oneness and interconnectedness of all things also emerges as a fundamental concept in atomic science. • This hasn’t always been the case. This is a new revelation (early 20th century) as it goes against the classical, Newtonian-Gallilean, Cartesian, reductionist ideas of reality

  40. Descartes, Galileo and Newton (late 16th-early 17th Centuries) • The model of the universe that they developed dominated and influenced thought for almost 300 years.

  41. The Newtonian, Cartesian, Reductionist Modelor Classical Physics • The universe is made up of separate individual parts that are assembled like the components of a clock. • Hence the term Mechanistic view of the world, and clockwork universe.

  42. By breaking something down into its parts (reductionism) we could understand how the whole worked.

  43. “Cogito ergo sum”I think, therefore I am. This quote from Descartes identifies man with his mind instead of with his entire being. The mind is separate from the body and needs to control it

  44. This sets up the internal separation and conflict between consciousness and the body. • This inner split seemed to mirror the outer world with its separate objects and phenomena

  45. This fragmentation, separation, division was then extended to: -cultures, races and societies, us against them -the environment: man against nature, our ecological problems

  46. Paradox • This mechanistic paradigm provided great advances in science and technology (we used Newtons equations to put men on the moon) but simultaneously led to serious problems

  47. The 16th Century Paradigms • The world/universe is a machine, a thing • All particles separate from everything else • Man and nature are separate from each other • Time and Space are absolute, the same everywhere for everyone

  48. Evolution of the Revolution • The end of the 19th century saw the Michelson-Morley experiment which measured the speed of light. • Discovery of the electron (Thompson). The invisible becomes visible and real. Didn’t make the news at first…it was invisible. • Einsteinian Relativity 1905, the Universe is not a thing but a process. Matter and energy are one: E=mc2 • Time and Space are NOT absolute but are relative • ie NOT THE SAME FOR EVERYONE!!! • Quantum Physics 1910- subatomic particles had no meaning in isolation…they only had meaning in relationship with everything else. They only became real once we observed them. • Planck, Schrondinger, Heisnberg, Bohr, Pauli, Bell, Bohm • String Theory, M Theory, 11 Dimensional Universe, Parallel Universes

  49. Quantum MechanicsHeisenberg Uncertainty Principle • Elementary particles do not exist separate from the measurement made of them. • The position or location of an electron only has a tendency, a potential, a probability to exist in a certain place

  50. Quantum Physics • Found that: -the tiniest bits of matter were not even matter (we measure their mass in energy units!!) -sometimes they were one thing and sometimes something else -Sometimes they were many possible things all at the same time

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