Why Physics?

What is so special about modern physics that its interpretations of "reality" are even discussed in the context of philosophy, religion and eastern traditions? There are plenty of other disciplines in western science like biology or chemistry but physics is almost seen as the base of all other science disciplines. This is, of course, understandable as physics studies all physical phenomena at a very basic level. Is there anything else that makes physics so special?

The two groundbreaking discoveries in physics that really make huge difference in the understanding of the "world" are relativity and quantum mechanics. The interpretation of these two theories which have been well confirmed by experiments is the part of physics that connects the dots with eastern world views. 

In the next few blog articles I will pick one specific topic and review it from a physics, Buddhism and NLP point of view.

Buddhism, Physics and NLP

I am currently reading a very interesting book. It is written by Vic Mansfield and the title is "Tibetan Buddhism & Modern Physics". It also includes a foreword by the Dalai Lama. This is not the first book I read about parallels and similarities between concepts in eastern philosophy and modern physics. The first book I read on this subject was "The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra. It impressed me so much when it first came out and really triggered my interest in the philosophical and religious side of physics.

Most people think of physics as something very difficult to understand and a big part of this comes from the language that physics uses - mathematics. Yes, I agree, physics on a very detailed level can get very complex but a lot of concepts can be understood on an elementary level without a lot of mathematics. Especially, when it comes to the interpretation of theories and how they relate to our understanding of the world Vic Mansfield and Fritjof Capra did a great job in explaining these concepts with simple words rather than abstract formulas.

Even though physics has made a huge progress in the recent 110 years with new theories developed like Quantum Mechanics and Relativity most peoples behavior and thinking is still based on a description of the world by classic physics developed a couple of hundred years ago.

Physics studies sections of the "world" (e.g. atoms) as an object through repeatable experiments and describes the results through models, a hypothesis or a theory (e.g. Quantum Mechanics). Buddhism studies the mind (and body) through meditation. NLP looks at "programs", language and communication and changes those to increase choice, success and happiness.

Are there any parallels?

People Work Perfectly

NLP is based on a few "axioms" or presuppositions. One is: "People work perfectly" or sometimes also expressed as "Everybody's behavior has a positive intention". This is a very interesting presupposition as it is wide open for interpretation and can be seen as controversial.

You could say: well, if any behavior always has a positive intention why would anybody smoke? Why would anybody smoke cigarettes? It's clearly printed on the packages what harm they can cause.

So, is there something wrong with this presupposition? Maybe it's only valid for new behavior? People start smoking for all kind of reasons, one of the most common reasons is trying to be socially accepted. A positive intention indeed in this context. However, then they get hooked, a meta-program gets installed and you need mindfulness, hypnosis and/or NLP to remove or replace this unconscious program that runs in your mind. Therefore, something that initially was triggered by a positive intention can lead to behavior that does not look like positive intention.

Something else to keep in mind is that the term "positive intention" is Milton language. "Positive" is a judgement and every judgement is relative. What is positive for someone can be perceived as negative for someone else. I personally prefer the term "People work perfectly" as it comes closer to a non-judgmental interpretation. People work perfectly does not mean that everybody makes the best choices but it does mean that everybody makes their best choices based on the resources and belief system they have.Mindfulness and NLP can change the resources and the belief system. This can create a broader amount of choices and resourceful states of mind.