Saturday, February 9, 2008

Are we living in a psychic universe?

Recently, I have been looking at “Atom and Archetype, The Pauli/Jung Letters 1932—1958.” Revolving around archetype and physics, the two develop a way into the psyche that proceeds through what Pauli refers to as microphysics, the physics of subatomic particles, more generally known today as quantum physics or quantum mechanics. Pauli founded several significant principles of quantum physics, and he is well on his way to inscribing his signature into the book of archetypal, analytical psychology in this tome. The most interesting aspect is the concentration almost exclusively on the intuitive nature, rather than the physical nature, when they approach the subject of psyche. Pauli goes toward Jung and Jung develops wonderful ideas, the most radical of which being that of synchronicity. They deliberately eschew a focus on the microphysics which is Pauli’s area of expertise. This concentration on alchemy, psychopomp, constellation of the archetypes, figures in dreams representing the self—radioactivity (Pauli)—the light and the dark animus, and other dream figures, most significantly Pauli’s stranger does not elucidate the calculus of the quantum world. They elaborate more on the development of alchemy, astrology, and ignore 20th c. science. This is both a shame and an opening. It is a shame because a great opportunity is missed to ground the psyche in the known experimental world of quantum mechanics and all that follows, and it is an opening because others are given the roadmap to follow so as to explore this unknown territory.
What is elevated is less experiment and more intuition. The logical nature of science is reduced to metaphor. Radioactivity becomes the 20th c. metaphor, just like the steam engine, the circulation of the alchemists, and the conjunctions of the planets were metaphorical expressions of projected psyche. What is left out is a hypothetical deductive approach to the confluence of psyche and physics, what Jung refers to as psychoid. Energy becomes psychic energy. But psychic energy does not have more than an allegorical relationship to energy equaling mass times the speed of light squared (Einstein), or quantum energy. This is what needs to be explored in the 21st c. The temptation is to make more metaphors. The goal ought to be to ground psychology—the study of psyche—in physics, and to relate physics to psychology.
Thankfully, Jung and Pauli make amazing progress in the area of analytic psychology. Jung completes an experiment utilizing astrology to support the concept of synchronicity which still holds up, partially due to Pauli’s suggestions along the way for an experimental design and statistical analysis that remains internally and externally valid and reliable according to the rules of scientific investigation. As a cornerstone for further study, the synchronicity analysis is remarkable. My own work in creativity and intuition follows this model—statistically, intuition covaries with creativity to a very high degree of significance. If you’re interested, refer to my doctoral dissertation (Moss, 1991, University of Wisconsin-Madison). The movement now ought to be, from my perspective, toward further supporting synchronicity in the realm of science, specifically by following the rules of the mind as they relate to extremely clear rules of quantum mechanics. Number should become a portal to consciousness. Perhaps Einstein’s Old One is really a mathematician.

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