Modem Physics Enters The Void
The first observation that we make the moment we set out to study the phenomenon called “space” is that the adjective “empty” can never accurately be applied to it. Since we have already found that the energy fields we call “matter” are all interconnected by other fields which we call “forces,” there cannot be even the tiniest area of space anywhere in the cosmos in which at least one of these field-types is not present.
   According to relativity theory, however, an energy field does not just fill the area of space which contains it—the field actually is the space itself. An energy field determines the actual structure of the space it inhabits; therefore, modern physics has abandoned all distinctions between fields and space. The consequences of this discovery become far-reaching indeed when we remember that matter is nothing but a particular type of energy field, for this means that matter and space must now be considered inseparable and interdependent. Modern physics considers matter and space to be two different aspects of a single phenomenon.
   This explains why the closer we look at a material particle; the more all distinctions between it and the space around it become lost. It also accounts for the astounding fact that such particles can be observed actually springing into existence directly from the void, as well as vanishing suddenly back into nothingness. What we are seeing are simply two different sides of the same coin.
   The reigning model of the universe upheld by physicists today is that of quantum field theory, which effectively combines the laws of classical physics with those of quantum theory and relativity. This view of the cosmos erases all distinctions between matter, energy and space, encompassing them all within a single physical reality called the quantum field. This field is present everywhere, and its most distinctive characteristic is that there are two apparent aspects to its basic nature: (1) it has a continuous structure which we know as “space” and “time” because this aspect seems to exist constantly and changelessly throughout the cosmos and also throughout the past, present and future; and (2) it also has a granular or particle aspect which we know as “matter” and “force” because in this aspect the quantum field appears in the form of discontinuous, localized particles which enjoy only temporary existence. The field continually oscillates between these two apparently dissimilar states, incessantly transforming itself from one to the other.
   Now we can no longer consider space to be simply a static background [or events or a passive container of objects, for it does in tact possess a vital, self-governing structure of its own, If we want to really understand the nature of a subatomic particle, therefore, we must observe it in connection with the space around it, instead of trying to draw distinctions between the particle and that space.
   Observed in this light, for example, an electron reveals itself to be a kind of “energy knot,” a blemish on the face of its underlying field; it does not in fact revolve around its nucleus as does our earth around its sun; instead, it propagates through space like a water wave, and clearly does not consist of any selfsame substance at all times. A material particle, it turns out, is simply a local condensation of the quantum field, a temporary concentration of energy which appears solid to our sight and touch. In the words of Albert Einstein: “We may therefore regard matter as being constituted by the regions of space in which the field is extremely intense. . . . There is no place in this kind of physics both for the field and matter, for the field is the only reality.”3
   The physical vacuum, as the void is called in quantum field theory, is far from empty nothingness, for it contains an infinite number of every type of particle in potential form, which also indirectly means that it contains all material objects in potential form as well. Every object in the world around us is a transient particle manifestation of the quantum field, and every interaction among these objects, as well as between us and them, is also carried by this field in the form of vibrational waves. If it were not for this living, moving void, if it did not continually vibrate in an endless dance of creation and destruction, there would be no physical universe, no perceptible reality at all, anywhere. The discovery that the physical vacuum or void is alive and active is one of the outstanding revelations of modem physics.
   As yet, science does not know what the quantum field is made of, but it is now considered the fundamental substance of all material phenomena in Creation. It is not, however, viewed as the basis of all nonmaterial phenomena, most notably the force of gravity. Convinced that there must exist an even more fundamental ground field which would prove to be the basis of both the quantum and gravitational fields, Einstein spent twenty years of his life in pursuit of such a unified field theory. Finally, in 1949, he presented a mathematical solution which brings these apparently diverse phenomena under the same set of equations, but three decades later his theory remains unverified, since no practicable way has yet been found to confirm the results of his mathematics with experimental evidence.
   Nevertheless, in what is perhaps the most astounding example of “East meets West,” today’s physicists have completely verified the ancient Oriental assertion that the material world is an illusion, and in addition have come within a hair’s breadth of confirming another famous Eastern postulate as well—the one proclaiming that ‘‘All is One.’’
   Now that we have examined the world-view held by modern physicists, the view put forth by yogic scientists may not seem as bizarre as it once did to Westerners, for as we shall see, the two views are strikingly similar. The major difference between them, in fact, may be that most of us will likely find the yogic model of reality, with its dramatic use of metaphor, to be a great deal more comprehensible than the abstract mathematical concepts presented by contemporary physics. Let’s compare the two and decide for ourselves