Evolution of Consciousness

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Mind in the Cosmos

• Evolution of Consciousness

Christian de Quincey, Ph.D.
University of Philosophical Research Institute of
Noetic Sciences John F. Kennedy University
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Session Six
From Light to Enlightenment
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Overview of Session 6

• In this session, we will look more closely at
  Arthur Young's idea that the quantum of action
  (aka, the photon, the ultimate unit of light) is
  the source of purpose in the physical world.
• We will examine the four levels and seven stages
  of the reflexive arc as the original quantum of
  purpose travels on its grand journey of
  involution through time, space, and matter,
  before encountering The Turn, and starting its
  evolutionary journey back to its homecoming in
  spirit.

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Evolutionary Sequence

• The Story of Science (1)
• Science comes from Mind.
• Mind comes from Life.
• Life comes from Molecules.
• Molecules come from Atoms.
• Atoms come from Nuclear forces.
• Nuclear forces come from Quantum potential.
• Reversing the sequence we get the evolutionary
  sequence
• Quantum potential gt Subatomic forces gt Atoms gt
  Moleculesgt Life gt Mind gt Science

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Evolutionary Sequence

• Two problem with this sequence
• 1) Why end sequence with Science?
• 2) What about the Big Bang?
• 1) Culminating in Science?
• Yes, clearly Science does come from Mind
• Science means knowledgeimpossible without
  consciousness
• But so are Art, Religion, Philosophy,
  Myth, Music . . . etc.
• Perhaps better to end with Mind leading to
  Culture?
• But, isnt Science the leading-edge of
  Culture?
• And isnt science the only self-rounded story
  where the earlier stages are explained by the
  final stage itself?
• After all, only science can fill in the gaps, and
  tell the story from quantum to life and mind.

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Evolutionary Sequence

• 2) What about the Big Bang?
• Science Universe began 15 billion years ago in a
  mighty explosion
• Spewing out radiationa blazing flaring forth of
  light, photons, quanta
• But what caused the Big Bang?
• Its beyond science. Time space break down at
  the Big Bang. Science cannot penetrate any
  further back. All laws of physics and all
  knowledge evaporate at that point.
• So revised sequence would now be
• ? gt Big Bang gt Quantum gt Nuclear forces gt
  Atoms gt Molecules gt Life gt Mind gt Culture (or
  Science)
• This is a pretty fair description of the current
  story of science stripped down to its bare
  essentials

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Science, God, Big Bang

• Science admits that beyond the Big Bang lies a
  big mystery. And science remains completely
  neutral on whether that mystery translates into
  what religions call God.
• According to science, the universethe entire
  cosmos, every nook and cranny of realitybegan
  with the Big Bang. And whether or not it all
  started with God or with a Bang, theres no need
  for the God hypothesis once it got going.
• And it all got going from the quantuma sea of
  chaotic, random flashes of pure potential.
  Instead of God to account for the magnificent
  order we find in nature, science says purposeless
  evolution is the generator of all the different
  forms of lifeall the way up to minds and culture.

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• So weve addressed two problems in the
  evolutionary sequence
• 1) By substituting Culture for Science (or by
  recognizing Science as the leading-edge of
  Culture), we bring evolution up to date
• 2) And by recognizing that whatever caused the
  Big Bang, the universe began in a blaze of
  radiating lightwith photons, with the quantum
• Since the Big Bang is a big mystery, and since
  science has no place for God in its story, the
  original evolutionary sequence stands
• Quantum potential gt Subatomic forces gt Atoms gt
  Moleculesgt Life gt Mind gt Science/Culture
• But theres a third problema major gap in the
  sequence
• Right at the crucial transition from Life to
  Mind

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Sciences Missing Link

• Getting from Life to Mind
• Earlier, we said that science may be considered
  the leading-edge of evolution because only
  science can explain the entire sequence
• Only science can fill in all the gaps from
  Quantum to Mind
• But can it? Can science explain how Life could
  give rise to Mindhow biology could produce
  consciousness?
• As we learned in an earlier lecture, science
  cannot explain how the biology of brains and
  nervous systems could result in consciousness
• You cant get the wine of subjective mind from
  the water of objective brainsat least not
  without a miracle. And science has no room for
  that.
• The standard story of emergence from complexity
  just doesnt fill in the gaps.
• The story of science, in fact, is ruptured by a
  glaring gap Science cannot account for the
  presence of consciousness in the cosmos

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Fuzziness is not Consciousness

• Imagine your brain a highly complex, dynamic
  network of axons, dendrites and synapsesall
  enmeshed with billions of connections.
• If you try to imagine that vast network of
  interconnections between the billions of brain
  cells, your mind draws a blankor comes up with a
  very fuzzy picture.
• You may mistake this fuzziness as a possible
  opening from which something like consciousness
  could emerge. The fuzziness is to be expected. It
  is impossible for you to have any realistic
  picture of the brains immense complexity. But it
  is a mistake to then project the illusion that
  you can imagine consciousness emerging from such
  a scintillating enchanted loom.
• Thats the major gap in the standard scientific
  storygetting mind from brain. Conceptual
  fuzziness is not an explanation of consciousness.
• But clearly, consciousness exists. Thats one
  fact we can be absolutely sure of. The cosmos
  contains consciousness. The big question for
  science is How?

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Consciousness All the Way Down

• If the brain can produce consciousness, then
  whatever the brain is made of must have
  consciousness, too. We must assume that brain
  cells have purpose, intentionality, feeling, and
  so on. But if brain cells have purpose, then
  theres no reason why other cells in the body
  shouldnt have purpose or consciousness, also.
  Theres nothing particularly special about brain
  cells.
• Now, of course, scientists are adamant that
  cellswhether in the brain or elsewhere in the
  bodydo not by themselves have consciousness or
  purpose. And even if they could bring themselves
  to admit this, they would certainly insist that
  the molecules making up the cells do not have
  consciousness or purpose.
• Exactly the same problem arises at every stage
  If brains with consciousness cannot evolve out of
  cells unless the cells have consciousness, then
  cells with consciousness cannot evolve out of
  molecules unless the molecules have
  consciousness and molecules cannot evolve out of
  atoms unless the atoms have consciousness . . .
  and so on, all the way down to quanta. Thus, for
  brains to produce consciousness, as the standard
  scientific story claims, consciousness must go
  all the way down, right back along the sequence,
  with some form of consciousness, or intelligence,
  present at every stage.

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Consciousness All the Way Down

• But this is precisely what the standard story
  does not accept. Science very confidently denies
  that objects as primitive as single cells, or
  molecules, or atoms, or elementary particles
  could have even the slightest trace of
  consciousness or purpose. Science does not
  recognize any intelligence back at the beginning
  of the story.
• And it is precisely because of this denial that
  the standard story does not make sense. This is
  why a miracle occurs in the gap between Life
  gt Mind. Lifethat is, cells, nervous systems
  and brainscannot evolve into consciousness
  unless some trace of consciousness already exists
  in the cells of the brain. And this requires
  consciousness to exist in the molecules of the
  cells . . . all the way down, and all the way
  back in evolution. The bottom line is that the
  quantum must have consciousness, too. The quantum
  must have purpose.
• And that means there must have been purpose and
  intelligence at the Big Bang, too. It must have
  been an intelligent Big Bang!

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Evolutionary SequenceRedux

• So, consciousness must have been present in
  evolution right from the start. Thats how
  consciousness or mind fits into sciences
  evolutionary sequence.
• Instead of Quantum at the beginning, we could
  just as well put Lightlight with purpose.
• And since we have good reason to expect that
  Mind will continue to evolve to higher states
  of consciousness, instead of Science or
  Culture at the end, we could put
  Enlightenment.
• We can now revise the seven-stage evolutionary
  sequence to read
• Light gt Nuclear forces gt Atoms gt Moleculesgt
  Life gt Self-reflective mind gt Enlightenment
• With this modification, we can still remain true
  to the findings of science and show how the story
  of science may finally turn out to be compatible
  with the findings of the worlds great spiritual
  traditionsthe perennial philosophy, and its
  story of the evolution of consciousness.
• Lets now turn to a modern attempt to bridge the
  gap between science and spiritualityby exploring
  the ideas of Arthur Young.

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Cosmology Consciousness

• Arthur Youngs Lifework
• Arthur Young was a true Renaissance mana master
  inmany fields including engineering, mathematics,
  philosophy, science, the arts, mythology,
  spirituality, and even astrology. Perhaps his
  greatest legacy is his Theory of Processa
  comprehensive and inspired cosmology that takes
  account of both matter and mind, both
  consciousness and the physical universe.
• But even if the world never heard of Arthur
  Youngs ideas about consciousness and the cosmos,
  he will be remembered for his engineering genius
  He invented the Bell helicopter.

Arthur Young(1905-1995)
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Cosmology Consciousness
Youngs lifelong work was motivated by a
passionate grand vision nothing less than to
know, and to communicate in simplest terms, the
structures and processes of the cosmos. But he
was not interested in an abstract, theoretical
cosmology concerned only with the physical
contents of the universe, and how it all might
have come into being. His cosmology is not about
big-bang origins, inflationary or expanding
models of space-time-energy, nor about the
distribution of galaxies and superclusters,
black-hole singularities or three degree
background radiation. That is the cosmology of
contemporary scienceessentially, a cosmology of
determinism and reductionism, of matter.
Youngs cosmology grew out of a different
perspective of the universe. Prior to knowledge
of objective things, of material objects, he
said, there is one undeniable, pervasive fact
the perceiving self. Consciousness. Without this,
all the rest would forever remain unknown and,
possibly, nonexistent (at least there would be no
way to distinguish existence from non-existence).
Yet nowhere within orthodox scientific cosmology
is there an adequate explanation for
consciousness.
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Cosmology Consciousness
Whereas scientific cosmology attempts to explain
the universe as interactions of physical energy,
leaving unresolved the hard problem of mind,
Youngs cosmology flips the perspective and
begins with consciousness as the primary datum.
Logically, there is no difference between taking
matter-energy as your starting assumption and
positing consciousness at the starting gate.
Science has chosen the former assumption, Young
chose the latter. Of course, Young is not alone
in this. Throughout the history of philosophy
theres been a continuous lineage of idealists
reaching back beyond Berkeley to Plato. What is
attractive about Youngs modelhis Theory of
Processis that it includes all of conventional
physical science, while going beyond it to
provide an explanation for other levels of being,
including Life, Mind, Soul, and Spirit.
Young offers a cosmology that embraces
mechanistic matter and holistic consciousness, as
well as a spectrum of entities in between.
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Cosmology Consciousness
The core of Arthur Youngs Theory of Process is
detailed in two landmark books The Reflexive
Universe and The Geometry of Meaning. By
returning to first principles, he takes his
readers by the hand and guides us through a rich
maze of connections. Skillfully integrating the
results of quantum physics, simple geometry,
chemical properties, biological and evolutionary
data, with analogies from myth and folklore, he
weaves a tapestry of insights that for sheer
internal consistency and scope is unrivaled in
the world of science. No matter how impressive
or comprehensive this model may be, however, it
should never be taken as the last word. If
presented as dogma, it becomes questionable as a
useful guide. I present Youngs ideas here as an
ontological map because it is one of the best
Ive come across. If it works for you, fine if
it doesnt, I wish you success in finding one
that does work for you.
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Which Way Out?

• Perhaps the best way to begin is with four key
  ideas or themes that capture the essence of
  Youngs work
• 1) The reflexive arc a model for evolution
• 2) The fundamental photon the quantum of action
  as the fundamental cosmic entitythe source of
  both mind matter
• 3) The third derivative control
• 4) The geometry of being the four levels of
  reality
• Lets now look at each of these briefly . . .

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The Reflexive Arc

• At the core of Youngs theory is the image of
  the reflexive arc of evolution. Like a kind of
  universal template for all processes, it seems to
  be a fundamental principle, rule, guide or law
  directing all activity. From another perspective,
  it may be viewed as a cycle of actiona journey
  out from a source, undergoing various
  transformations, before returning to itself. It
  is both a symbol of the perennial wisdom,
  echoed through the centuries in legends and
  parables of Return and Homecoming, and a
  model for uniting science and religion.
• The arc has three components
• On the left side, descentthe downward involution
  of pure action or spirit into matter
• Then the turn, or the turning point, the dark
  night of the soul and
• On the right side, ascentthe evolution of
  consciousness back through matter to its
  homecoming.
• Both descent and ascent move through four
  levels, and since they share the bottom levelthe
  turnthere are seven stages to complete the
  process.

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Fundamental Photons
This is perhaps the most controversial aspect of
Youngs work. In a sense it is the cornerstone of
his theory. Here, again, he turns to the evidence
of conventional science, this time quantum
physics, and focuses on the anomalous and unique
properties of the photon of light (it has no
mass, always moves at the same velocity, has no
charge, and is unavailable for replicable
observation photons disappear the instant they
are observed). He argues that the quantum of
action (another term for photon) is
characterized by complete uncertainty and that
to an observer this uncertainty is
indistinguishable from total freedom, choice or
free-will. Thus, consciousness enters the
universe at the level of the photon.
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Control The Third Derivative
This is a simple, though mysteriously ignored,
extension of ordinary physics. Essentially, Young
asks a question that physicists almost
universally ignore If velocity is the first
derivative of position with respect to time
(L/T), and acceleration is the second derivative
(of velocityL/T2 ) . . . what is the derivative
of acceleration? (L/T3 )? It remains a
glaring gap in physical theory, probably because,
as Young elegantly shows, the third derivative is
control. And control smacks of purpose, choice
and consciousnessnot the sort of thing
physicists want contaminating their deterministic
equations. Remember from a previous lesson we
learned that laws and consciousness just dont
mix. The closest scientists or technologists
have come to the third derivative is in
engineering where L/T3 is referred to as jerka
sort of uncontrolled, discontinuous motion that
bears little resemblance to the familiar
derivative of acceleration we recognize, for
example, as steering (a change of direction of
acceleration).
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Four Levels of Being
Here is where Young introduces the metaphysical
flip by positing consciousness, rather than
matter, as primary. Essentially, as the primary
datum of experience, consciousness may be
regarded both as the starting point of
epistemology and, by extension, assumed to be the
primary level, or source, of the continuum of
being (ontology). Consciousness, in Youngs
ontology, gives rise first to time and then to
space, and, by combining time and space, creates
the phenomenal domain of three-dimensional
objects. The four levels of being in his
reflexive model are 1) Consciousness, 2) Time,
3) Space, 4) Matter. Alternatively these may be
described 1) Spirit, 2) Forces (or soul), 3)
Mind (reason, concept), and 4) Matter (solid
objects).
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Cosmos and Process
In a nutshell, these are the key themes of
Youngs body of work. They are interrelated and
mutually dependent is many ways. For simplicity,
it is easier to isolate distinctive categories of
being and stages in the processbut, really, they
are all of a piece. As its name implies,
Youngs theory is dynamic, it describes a cosmos
in process, an active universe, where action is
fundamental. It describes, therefore, a universe
that is intrinsically evolutionary. Evolution,
as a reflexive process, is integral to the
theory Consciousness begins by descending from
Level 1 all the way down to Level 4progressively
involving into matterbefore turning to evolve
and rise up again through each of the four levels
to return to Spirit at Level 1. We can now say
more about each of Youngs key themes. Lets take
them in reverse order, expanding first on his
Four Levels model.
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First Level Photons
Consciousness / Spirit As already mentioned,
Young begins with the statement Our primary
datum is the fact of consciousness itself. . . .
Even if we decree that all objects of
consciousness or of sense are false or illusory,
the fact of consciousness itself remains and
cannot be removed. Such priority has a sanction
more basic than space Thus, Young asserts
that consciousness is the initial and basic
unity from which all else derives. This is the
first level of being that we can know. Since it
is prior to space it has no extension, and may be
characterized as a dimensionless point. Level
1, therefore, is point-like. Young shows that
another attribute of this point-like primordial
entity is pure activity or pure action. It is, in
fact, the quantum of action familiar to quantum
physicists, the source and mediator of all
interactions and entities in the physical
universe. Its other characteristic is that it is
a whole.
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Fundamental Photons
Remember, the quantum of action or the photon of
light is outside both space and time. From the
photons viewpointlike Einstein traveling on a
light raytime does not exist. In our world, time
is determined by the passage of a photon from one
location to another. Now, since the photon does
not occupy space, it has no size. We may picture
it as a point of infinitesimal size, but since
it is dimensionless it is equally legitimate to
think of it as encompassing the entire universe.
It is a whole, physically indivisible. The
fact is we have no way of imagining what a photon
looks like. It has no analogy in our experience.
Yet photons are the most ubiquitous phenomenon in
our world of sensory experience All our
perceptions depend on them . . . whether as the
detection of photons in vision, or the pressure
of sound waves in hearing, or the stereo-chemical
properties of molecules in taste and smell, or
the differential pressure of objects on our skin,
in touchultimately, all are electromagnetic and
photonic in nature.
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Fundamental Photons
We speak of photons as quanta of light, and may
be misled into visualizing them as tiny
independent particles or even wavicles. Yet
since they have no size, it is meaningless to
speak of separate photons. Each photon is both
infinitesimally small and infinitesimally
large. In some sense, beyond our ability to
imagine, each photon contains every other
photoneach photon contains the entire universe.
We could call this the holographic paradox of
photons underlying all manifest existence. But
we have stepped outside philosophy, here, merging
physics with metaphysics. That may well be
inevitable when we attempt to say anything at all
about this First Level of being. In actuality, it
is beyond all description and can only be hinted
at in clumsy metaphors and analogies. It is the
realm of Spirit, about which saints and mystics
have whispered to us down through the centuries.
It is the unnameable Source, the Fountainhead,
the Godhead, the Tao.
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Fundamental Photons
In Youngs metaphysics, where the quantum of
action is equated with spirit, the most we can
say is that the primordial unity is pure action.
It is beyond all determinism and constraint,
completely freewhich we, from our vantage point
as observers, would characterize as complete
uncertainty, total unpredictability. Complete
uncertainty is logically indistinguishable from
unconstrained choice. If the activity of an
entity is completely uncertain to us, we have no
way of determining whether its action is purely
random or the exercise of free-will or choice.
Operationally, they are identical. It is
legitimate, therefore, to attribute choice or
consciousness to the primary photons, as Young,
in fact, does when he blends metaphysics with the
results of quantum physics. Therefore, given
that the primary ontological datum is
consciousness, and that this is pure actionthe
quantum of actionwe may infer that the primary
ontological level is an undifferentiated,
seething psychic soup of activity brimming with
purpose and potential. We may, perhaps, picture
it as an infinite collection of points (points of
light, if you like) bursting forth from the
Primordial Dimensionlessness and creating the
universe of time and space.
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Second Level Time
In Youngs cosmology, the action of the
primordial point-like entity or quantum is
projective. Geometrically, it pro-jects (or
throws forward) itself from being a point
source, and extends its being in one dimensiona
line. The quantum moves from becoming to being,
from potentia to actuality. It creates time. By
extending itself in one dimension, the primordial
proto-consciousness creates the condition for
distinguishing between actions or eventsbetween
action that has happened, and action that has
not. Young is suggesting that the primordial
unified field of consciousness projects itself
from being point-like to being line-like. From
zero dimension it creates one dimension. It is
now able to divide this projected line into a
three-fold division actions or events that have
happened (past), actions or events that have not
happened (future), and separating these, now
action (present). Past and future actions are
separated by present action.
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Second Level Time
Action is undefined at this level, except,
perhaps, as the intrinsic flow of experienced
consciousness (the primordial point, or quantum,
moving along its world-line). In passing, we
should note that consciousness, action, and
present all share the characteristic of
wholeness. You cannot have a part of
consciousness, or a part of an action, or a part
of the present. They are always wholes. Time
flow, therefore, is the linear sequence of
actions along the world-line of consciousness.
This is what we recognize as experience.
Youngs model presents time as a continuous flow
where the past continually consumes the present
and the futureit is the origin of change, and
this change is irreversible. Level Two,
therefore, is characterized by an inherent
asymmetry in the motion of the present along the
world-line of experience. At this level of
being, all is subjectiveor as Young calls it
projectiveexperience. As yet, there is no room
for anything objective to exist. Objectivity
and objects require space, and this has not yet
emerged at Level Two. Here, all that exists are
projective phenomena such as forces (which we
experience as feelings, emotions, or values).
This is the level of qualities. It is the level
of Platos Forms and Ideasthe realm of psyche,
or soul.
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Second Level Time
We should note here that whereas dimensionless
photons inhabit Level 1, Youngs Level 2 is
populated by forcesrecognized in physics as
nuclear particles. In Youngs ontology, the
primary point-like photons create the
one-dimensional realm of linear time and
projective forces. In physics, this is paralleled
by the experimental observation that photons
create nuclear particles in the phenomenon known
as pair-production, where a photon may
spontaneously transform itself into, say, a
proton and an anti-proton, or an electron and a
positron. Thus, Youngs process ontology is
supported by evidence from experimental physics
the forces that give rise to the world of
material atoms, are themselves created from
point-like photons.
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Third Level Space
In order to compare two events or actions, or to
know again some past experience, a conscious
agent must be able to step outside the flow of
its world-line of experience. Since, as we have
seen, linear time flow is unidirectional, the
conscious agent cannot double back on itself.
It must create a space for comparison. It must,
in other words, create two more dimensions.
Geometrically, these dimensions are extension,
width and height a plane area. Now, with these
two dimensions, multiple points may exist and be
perceived simultaneously. Unlike points on the
dynamic world-line of time, the points of space
exist in simultaneity. This is the level of
objectivity and objects. With two dimensions,
comparisons may be made between different
objects, or even the same object at different
times (if memory is employed). In other words,
the points of space are no longer projective,
they do not throw themselves forward purposively,
they ob-ject to each otherthat is, they throw
or stand against each other. Here, at this level,
we can now make measurements by placing one
object alongside another we can compare their
magnitudes and thus generate ratios. This is the
level of quantities, of ratios, of
ratio-alityrationalityof reason, of intellect,
of concepts the level we are currently
communicating from.
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Third Level Space
But objects, such as words, remain objects and
have no meaning unless there is some subject to
know them, or perceive them. So all comparisons
that are made possible by the creation of
two-dimensional space, still require the presence
of a conscious agent, to experience them. In
other words, space-like phenomena require
time-like linear experience to project meaning.
Graphically, we could say that the
two-dimensional area or space remains unknown
unless pierced by the projected arrow or line
of one-dimensional experience. Another way of
saying the same thing, is that concepts without
experience remain barren and lifeless. Without a
person to read the map, the map serves no
purpose and only when the details of the map are
matched by the persons experience (past or
present) traveling through the territory, can the
contours and other symbols on the map be tested
for meaning and accuracy. Earlier, we saw how
the point-like primordial entity, the quantum of
action, creates time by projecting itself forward
and by flowing along this line, enabling the
separation of past from future by the present.
But how does this same entity create space? It is
not clear from Youngs essay how this may occur.
However, reading between the lines, it seems
likely that the phenomenon of rotation is the
key. Young does he gives precise details of how
rotation is a neglected invariant in physics,
and how angular momentum has the same formula as
the quantum of action. Rotation, according to
Young, is a fundamental property of the photon
an absolute, as much as the other recognized
invariants of light such as c (velocity of
light) and h (Plancks constant, the quantum of
action).
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Third Level Space
Imagine this As the primordial dimensionless
point rotates, it creates one-dimensional time
along its projected axis of rotation, and a
two-dimensional plane (space) by the sweep of its
spin. Geometrically, we could say that space is
characterized by the movement of any objective
point not on the line of the axis.
Heres how I picture it a dimensionless
ice-skater, spinning with infinite energy and
velocity, rises up out of the ice (the quantum
vacuum). She emerges in the direction of her axis
of rotation, and then throws out her arms
creating space for her body to have extension and
massand this slows her rate of rotation. As a
quantum of action, or photon, of course, she
could choose to reverse this activity by pulling
in her arms, and vanish back into the quantum
potential as a quantum of infinite energy.
Level 3rising up out of the level of nuclear
forcesis the domain of atoms. Here, we have the
first entities that occupy space, have a
generalized objectivity, and individual
identities. We can distinguish different types of
atoms, for instance, but protons and electrons
(which are really nuclear forces, at Level 2)
are indistinguishable among their own kind. Level
3 is the domain of spaces, areas, grids,
matrices, templates, blueprints, plans, maps,
shapes and forms. These forms are, themselves,
in- formed by second-level forces that is,
third-level forms are caused by second-level
forces. Time injects itself into and informs
space, as experience informs concepts, and
projected purpose or intention informs plans or
blueprints.
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Fourth Level Matter
Level 4 is a combination of the previous two
levelsof time and space, of experience and
concept, of line and area, of force and form.
Perhaps here more than elsewhere, the simplicity
of Youngs model is evident and also one of the
reasons his theory may find difficulty finding
acceptance in the academic world. For here he
breaks with one of the giants of modern science
Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity.
Unlike Einstein, who said that the universe is
constructed on a space-time matrix of four
dimensions, where time is essentially a fourth
dimension of space, Young insists that we can
account for all the phenomena of physics with
just two space dimensions and one time
dimensionparticularly, if we keep time and space
distinct, which Einstein didnt. So how does
Young account for space with just two dimensions
width and height? Whatever happened to depth,
which is a crucial third spatial dimension in
Einsteins theorynot to mention familiar
everyday experience? Depth, says Young, is
different from the other two dimensions. For
example, height and width account for the size of
an object, and this information is given by their
angular extent, that is, by eye motions in two
directions, either up/down or right/left. To
gauge depth or the distance of objects, however,
we must employ a different tactic, one that
involves time. We must (1) either move toward the
object and detect its distance by change of size
(vis-à-vis the velocity of our approach) or (2)
estimate its distance from us by parallax, by the
difference in angle of each eye or (3) send a
signal and measure elapsed time when it returns
(echo location).
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Fourth Level Matter
Level 4 is the domain of objects, of mechanism
and determinism. This is where quantum of action
has spent its capital, so to speak, in
constructing the world of molecules and
three-dimensional things. At this level, all
activity must proceed according to the laws of
mechanical interactions. This is the level where
Descartes and Newton were right, where the world
is a great machine. But that is only part of the
picture, one quarter of four-fold reality.
Starting out with complete freedom at Level 1,
the conscious quantum of action gradually traded
in its freedom for progressively greater
constraint as it descended through the four
levels, until at Level 4, it has maximum
constraint and minimum freedom or choice. Butand
this is critical to Youngs theoryeven in the
heart of matter, at the level of random
collisions of molecules, choice or freedom is not
completely submerged. It is protected by Plancks
constant and Heisenbergs uncertainty principle.
A quantum of purpose, of creativity, choice, and
freedom remains, giving evolution just enough
wiggle room to make The Turn, and begin its
upward journey back to Spirit.
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Fourth Level The Turn
Having constructed the material world as a
machinethe world of moleculesthe constrained
quantum of action has only one course left open
It must use the mechanism of matter, and it does
this within the quantum of freedom remaining in
the uncertainty of the quntum wavelength of
molecules. By applying the only means left
available to it, the rotating photon engages its
timing function, identified by Arthur Eddington
as the phase space (or 2p). It controls the
motions of molecules to store energy or
information (learning), and counteracts the
otherwise inevitable entropy of the physical
systems it is embedded in. The most familiar
example of this is photosynthesis, where
(directed by their embedded quanta) the
chlorophyll molecules trap and store the energy
of incident photons, and use it to build up cells
and living systems. Level 4, then, is the
floor of the evolutionary process, where, as
Young so poetically expresses it, consciousness
has been spilled upon it, infinitely dispersed.
The only way out is up. And the only way up is
by using the mechanism of matter to learn what
it needs to know in order to evolve and return
through the reflexive arc to Level 1its final
homecoming in the realm of Spirit.
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Quantum Choice
I have now introduced some of the key ideas in
Arthur Youngs Theory of Processthe Four Levels
of Being, fundamental photons, the reflexive
arc, and the third derivative. We have also
explored and clarified the evolutionary
sequence presented in the story of
science. Before closing, however, I should say a
little more about why Young identifies the photon
or quantum with the essence of self or
consciousness. He builds his case by arguing
that the quantum of action is the source of
choice in the world. He points out, first of all,
that nerve cells operate according to an
all-or-nothing law. It is the firing of these
neurons that controls the muscles, and so
determines the movements of animals. The only way
a nerve impulse can behave in such an on-off
manner, Young says, is if the current involved
is triggered by a single electronotherwise it
could be more or less rather than
all-or-nothing. In other words, nerve action can
be understood as simply another quantum leap of
excited electrons.
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Quantum Choice
In Youngs own words Now, since control,
conscious or unconscious, employs nerve action,
and nerve action proceeds by quantum jumps, we
may deduce that control in life processes
proceeds by quantum jumpsand that the terminal
point in the chain of command is the quantum of
action . . . This quantum . . . is a unit of
action. Its function in the scheme of things is
the conveyance of the energy necessary to induce
change . . . it initiates change . . . He goes
on There must be a central office that
activates an electron that creates a molecular
bond, in turn activating a nerve cell that
triggers a muscle fiber . . . I do not see how
there can be found a better or more suitable
protagonist for the central role of selfhood than
the quantum of action, whose description as
unitary, unpredictable, and without materiality
identify it with what philosophers, speaking out
of inner conviction and with no deference to an
objectively limited science, have been wont to
call the divine spark, or spirit.
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Summary
Such is the evolutionary process of The
Reflexive Universeconsciousness descending
through the four levels of being, into the depths
of matter, before rising up again through life,
and eventually transcending the constraints of
mechanism, to return to the heart of Spirit, the
Omega Point. Perhaps next to Teilhard de
Chardins, Youngs is the most poetic and yet
scientific model of a living, conscious cosmos
produced in the past century. And if we ask Why
should it be this way? Why should the universe
go through all this trouble just to get back to
where it started? We can only surmise that this
is what consciousness needs to do to be
self-reflective. And if we again ask Why?Why
would it want to know itself?I must shrug and
ask Why not? Young builds a case for a
purposeful universe evolving from a primordial
realm of complete uncertainty, freedom, or chaos.
Uncertainty, not law, he says, is fundamental.
However, the first cause is not blind chance,
it is complete freedom with a purpose. In order
to realize this purpose, the primary
entitiesYoung calls them monadsrequire
means to achieve their ends. This is the
original impetus for the directedness of
evolution.
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The means are the creation of time, space, and
mattergoverned by the laws of physics. The
quantum of action (photon) uses these laws to
construct increasingly more complex vehicles to
transport it down the left side of the reflexive
arc, involving into matter, before reaching a
turning point and swinging up the right side to
evolve into cells, plants, animals, and
humans. As Young develops his theory, he draws
out so many correspondences and correlations
between kingdoms, substages, principles
and powers that the reader may be left with a
mixture of insight and overwhelm, Of course, this
effect does not diminish the force of Youngs
argument. After all, part of the power and
attraction of the theory is that it goes beyond,
while including, the operations of intellect and
reason. Youngs theory makes clear that
different ways of knowing are required for
accessing different levels of reality. Up till
now, we have explored cosmology and consciousness
from the perspective of ontologya study of the
nature of being or reality.
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Next Session 7Multiple Ways of Knowing

• In the next session, we will shift perspective,
  and begin to look at consciousness and cosmology
  through the lens of epistemologya study of how
  we know anything.
• We will pay particular attention to what it means
  to use different ways of knowingsuch as sensory
  perception, rationality, feeling, intuition, and
  even what the ancient Chinese called wu or
  no-knowledge.
• We will show how Arthur Young's reflexive arc
  model of ontology is also a way of understanding
  a hierarchy of ways of knowingand how each level
  of being requires its own mode of knowing to gain
  access to that level.