Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The complete seeking the complete

Science  has relentlessly  diversified into various established and emerging modalities to seek answers for the   hows  whats  whens  and wheres of this phenomenal  creation.These questions are yielding answers, which keep  evolving and  refining  as do our investigative tools  The answers paradoxically seem to generate further questions and the plot keeps  thickening. Scientific researchand technological progress amplify  the range of our sensory perception  to investigate the  realm of the micro, and  also  open a window  into the vast universe. These advances give the  impression  of getting tantalisingly close to the truth . 
This euphoria is aborted by realising that what seemed like the ultimate answer is actually a new set of questions.  " Fractals" discovered by Mandelbrot, are similar patterns repeating themselves at higher orders of dimension. If you magnify a fine area of fractal structure, you get increased information in proportion to the new scale. Thus, the world not only looks different to the observers at different scales, it also measures differently. In every day language, this  means that the deeper your understanding of a complex picture, the more meaningful nuances you can notice in it.
Science  has sharpened  the tools of reductionism and permitted  deeper access  into the microcosm. It is hyper fractioning the tangible  to the  point of intangibility.
The  monochromatic  reductionist approach  of scientific enquiry  may  eventually  have  to  metamorphose into a spectrum  to  throw light on the  "why " of this phenomenal creation.The  ultimate solution and understanding of the "what and how"    make the "why "more pertinent and inevitable. The anthropic principle suggests that  intelligent consciousness  which could comprehend the universe was the objective of creation. Quantum physics underlined the importance of the observer to validate the observed. It has to widen it's scope to  authenticate  the observer in this game of hide and seek where any phenomenon  ceases to exist in the absence of the observer. A  strictly epistemological approach may  explain the modus operandi of creation but it will fall despicably short  of  providing a rationale for creation. The "why" coerces scientific endeavour to introspect and  realise the worthlessness of it's fangs  of enquiry if the venom of how, what where and  when is replaced by a hypnotic potion  of why.  
Science is too egoistic to question it's own existence. It is too preoccupied in preening it's feathers and marvelling at their  splendour. It has the arrogance of " my way or the highway". The conceit of tangibility blinds scientific thought ; a veritable train of intelligence chugging along  on the track of logic  blissfully unaware why it began the journey in the very first place.
Often times, rationalist reductionism gives  the illusion of uncovering the truth. But this truth is relative to  the system attempting to uncover it. The absolute truth includes the seeker. This  unbroken wholeness in which, and through which we exist was brillantly captured by Gödel in the proof of his celebrated Theorem: it is possible to make true statements within a particular system that cannot be proved by use of the elements and logic of that system. This is simply because the system under consideration is organically interconnected with some larger system, which by itself is dissolved into another greater than it, and so on.. The part can never understand the whole.The search for the elusive Higgs Boson is in effect the search for what gives  matter its tangibility and this   is perceived by the intangible consciousness.  As  the adage goes, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, tangibility may  lie in perception and not be  an  apriori  measurable attribute of the perceived.
Chaos and Complexity entirely deniy the idea of analyzability of the world into separated parts. Parts simply do not exist.the Whole consists of Wholes. 
purnamadah purnamidam 'That is complete, this is complete'.
purnat purna mudachyate - 'From that completeness comes this completeness' 
purnasya purnamadaya - If we take away this completeness from that completeness'
purnameva vashishyate: 'Only completeness remains.'
This is a quote from  Upanishads.

  The  ultimate truth may  be  a state  of oneness (Advaita - Nonduality) , an assimilative   philosophy that realises the wholeness  of  the part    while  scientific enquiry will persist with reductionism  of the whole into  smaller wholes.

Dr Deepak M. Ranade

(The author a Consultant Neurosurgeon, is the co-organiser of the first national conference on Non-duality held by  World Peace Center, Alandi, MAEER'S  ,MIT  Pune on the 30th and 31 Jan 2012.) Details on www.neuroconsciousness.blogspot.com

7 comments:

drhemantsant said...

Well said.Truth is simple..we all living and non living beings arise and go back to same Universal matter that is mass energy and time fused into One.Like temporaray forms of water arising from vast ocean that merge back into mass of water divine after some seconds !laya and pralaya.All that good or bad we do affects us all for sure sooner or later.So have viveka karuna bhaktee Vishalta and Living in Light of new wisdom always is the message of vedas to all for ever.So think and Do GOOD as all universal GOOD is real GOD!

drhemantsant said...

where are the details of conf.?

Premji said...

thanks Shri Deepak Ranade for the insights.
Some words like 'a priori'; 'antrhopomorphic' make it difficult to understand the premises.
Another para which is confusing me is celebrated theorem of Godel-
'the first theore says that for a given system, there will be statements that r true in that system; but that they cannot be proved to be true inside the system". (vide yr article in TOI, Amdavad - "the speaking tree" dtd 19th Jan 2012). However your blog explains it but still I am not clear about it. May be some examples that could not be given in the TOI dail, would brighten our understanding. YOUR SUMMARY APPEALS TO ME THAT 'WHY' STUMPS THE SCIENCE AS IT DOES ALL OF US. Nevertheless 'why' still nags us. Is it a meaningless time pass exercise for the creator?

Premji said...

do we have your knowledge written in books available to us?

Premji said...

Since you are a practising neurologist, what rôle does the neurons in the brain play in the mystery that is 'creation'?

J. Vijay said...

I have followed with interest your writings. As a student of Advaita let me add my two cents which I hope will be useful to your readers.

Carrying forward the mantra purnam...(brilliant in its brevity), Advaita can be summarized as follows:

1. At the highest level of generalization, the "substance" (as Spinoza, whose work bears a striking similarity to Advaita, would have called it)is a single, homogeneous principle. Ref: Chandogya, VI.2

2. This highest level of generalization consists of a single mass of consciousness (noun not adjective) Ref: Brhadaranya IV.5

3. Just as it is possible at a higher level of generalization to see a wave as merely water, it is possible to "see" this diverse gross universe at its highest level of generalization as merely this mass of consciousness.

4. This consciousness expresses itself in us as the one awake, dreaming, sleeping. Stripped of its roles/expressions in these states, the "actor in the green room" is only the single mass of consciousness. Ref: Mandukya 7.

vinayakP said...

This is a unique critique using appropriate words for scientific thought.However, one should enjoy the
euphoria at each discovery at the same time delving further whether there are limits to consciousness to
fathom things.Mathematical consciousness.Can it go beyond senses? Probabilities, statistical models, Standard or otherwise, though
hold good for normal purposes are they ultimate truth? Advait, dwait,
Vishishtadwait do hold answer to the enigma