The atom is the window to reality. All physical phenomena are made of atoms, including the human body. It is mother nature’s building block. Atoms are impossible to describe with words as no one has ever seen one with his eyes. Existence is inferred. The best one can do is offer a description that stirs, like a poem, the imagination. There are 7,000 trillion, trillion of them in the human body. And, they are just a thought. Understand them and you will understand who you are and what life and reality are all about. Otherwise, you are mired in delusion.

Scientific inquiry reveals that atoms cannot exist in material form unless they are “observed” by a human being, whereupon they take on a solid character, detectible by a GPS device. Otherwise they exist in a non-material realm which physical scientists call wave. This material/non-material state of existence is known as duality of matter. Science has known of matter duality since the early 1800’s but universally dismisses it as a novelty of the atomic world without relevance in the day-to-day world of large objects. I know of no scientist to challenge the atom’s dual nature although the word “observed” draws considerable attention because it introduces the notion of consciousness into the human experience; a subject that is taboo in physical science. The word “observation” means more than simply looking at something with a set of eye-balls. It also imbeds the notion of intent and expectation. 

“Atoms cannot exist in material form unless they are observed by human beings.”

Human intent is a very subtle thing. Try this. Allow your right arm and hand to dangle naturally by your side. Now, clinch the hand into a fist. What caused the hand to change from its natural state of relaxedness to clinched fist? Because you tightened the muscles in your fingers, correct? No, that is not correct. The hand went to fist because that is what you intended for it to do. The tightening of the muscles is merely the nervous system’s fulfillment of your intent. Say you are walking and want to pick up the pace. You immediately walk faster. Why? It is because of intent. The pace quickens because your legs and feet move faster. But, your intent to move at a quicker pace is the driving force. Nothing happens without your intent. In other words, you are here, on the planet in material form because you intend to be here in material form. And that intent is subtly applied in everything you do.

Matter duality makes for lively scholarly discussion and cocktail talk but with no ramifications beyond. Then, along comes the rainbow body phenomenon where an entire human body transforms from the material into the non-material state. A composite anything can’t vanish into the non-material realm unless the things it is made of likewise transform into the same non-material realm. The Buddha called this strange, non-material realm emptiness. Those who enter into it are said to have acquired Buddhahood. Jesus referred to it (Gospel of Thomas) as spirit and those who enter into it are said to have acquired Christ nature. Progressive cognitive scientists refer to it as the universal mind or universal consciousness. New Agers refer to it as the akashic field. Hollywood called it the Matrix. 

You experience matter duality when you use a flashlight. Ever notice how, when you aim a flashlight at a wall and hit the on-switch, there is illumination at the tip of the flashlight and at the target wall…but nothing in between?  Light is made of photons. Photons are not atoms but they nonetheless behave to the principle of matter duality. In the flashlight thought experience I just introduced, the photons exist in a material realm at the tip of the flashlight and at the wall (detectable by GPS) but are in the non-material realm in the in-between space. And, while you think you are looking at an illuminated spot on a wall the fact is, the spot is there because you are looking at it. Say you were to connect the flashlight and a digital camera to an automatic timer such that the camera takes a snapshot of the illuminated spot on the wall immediately after the flashlight is turned on, recording the photo on a storage card. Say further, that there was no human around to observe the test. Under those conditions there would be no illuminated spot on the wall. The content on the storage card would be in an indeterminate state. The content only becomes determinate when a human “observes” it, at which time a picture of an illuminated spot on the wall becomes known. If you would like further proof of that conclusion refer to my video at my YouTube Channel, “The Truth About Matter and Why it Matters.

According to the internet, Albert Einstein said “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit it a persistent one.” Think about it. Everything is made of atoms and the atom can’t exist materially unless it is consciously “observed.” Remove the observation and the atom is no longer visible to the human eye. We know this to be the case by virtue of the rainbow body phenomenon and the yogic practice (called Dzogchen) that produces it. What do you call something, say, for example, a human body, that appears to be real but turns out to be not-real. You call it an illusion. The cloud in the sky appears real enough. Right? But, it is a conditional real. The condition is the humidity in the air. Remove the humidity and the cloud disappears. It was an illusion. So it is with reality. Everything in your field of vision is made of atoms which are conditionally real, assembled into form by the laws of nature and man’s ingenuity and skill-set. That which you perceive as material is conditioned on consciousness. Like the cloud, take away the consciousness and matter disappears.

That dream you had last night was but a dream in the larger dream called life. It is all an illusion. Persistent yes, but illusion nonetheless. Einstein was right.