Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Reality's "Blind Spot"

This morning I had an experience that reminded me of a thought..

It is a combination of two (maybe three) different ideas, one a little more proven then the other/s.

In our field of vision, there is a blind spot. We cannot perceive this blind spot under normal conditions due to our brain compensating and "filling in" the empty space.

The core concept behind quantum theory is Wave-particle duality. The idea that objects from elementary particles to macroscopic ones (in theory) possess a particle state and a wave state.

On the quantum level, an object is thought to be in it's wave state prior to observation. Once the object is observed the wave state collapses or condenses into it's particle state.

I have always understood the wave state to in a way be an expression of all possible states an object can possess, and through observation the object usually collapses into the most probable of those states.

The third idea that is related to my experience this morning is that for every choice that exists in your experience the universe splits and all possible outcomes are expressed and ultimately occurring. The reason I don't necessarily consider this a separate concept is because in essence you yourself are also a macroscopic object and therefore in theory quantum theory applies to you.

Below is an explanation of my combination of these multiple ideas and how they relate to my experience this morning.

The thought is that ultimately, you are alone in your experience. Everyone you meet and everything you observe is in a constant state of flux. Although perceptually the person you first talked to this morning is the same person you talked to later in the day. They are in fact not the same person at the end of your morning conversation with them.

This is not to say that nobody else exists.

What you are experiencing from moment to moment is usually the next probable state of self in relation to state of the universe. Which is simultaneously what everyone else is experiencing.

Now, when you take your morning drive to work every moment that passes is usually greeted by the next most probable moment. But due to the nature of probability, there is a chance that you may enter into a less probable moment.

Which leads to my experience this morning.

This morning after making breakfast, I poured myself a cup of coffee. Reached into the silverware drawer to grab a teaspoon. I then walked over to the pantry with spoon in hand, to grab the sugar I was thinking to myself during this time that maybe I should have grabbed a tablespoon instead so that I could also use it for my breakfast. When I went to spoon out the sugar to my surprise I was holding a tablespoon in my hand.

The question is, if you found yourself in a similar situation would you be more inclined to believe that you had just mistakenly grabbed a tablespoon, or that you had entered an improbable moment skewed by your conscious observation.

Is it that reality is definitive and concrete? or just that our minds fill in the blind spots?