The Science of Consciousness Conference

APRIL 25-30,2016 TUCSON

LOEWS VENTANA CANYON RESORT

ART-TECH - HEALTH TECHNOLOGY EXHIBIT 

Gerard Blommestijn

Whole Mandala

Gerard Blommestijn received his masters degree in experimental physics in 1971 and his PhD in 1980, both from the University of Amsterdam. From 1971 till 1980 he was staff member in the Institute for Nuclear Physics. During that time he also studied the interpretation of quantum mechanics as well as oriental scriptures. From 1980 till 1987 he developed software. From 1987 he was first head of the Biophysics Department and later software engineer at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. He then also developed a hypothesis on the relation between the quantum mechanical reduction process and consciousness.

Abstract

Showing this mandala in the Art Exhibit serves two purposes: (1) to demonstrate how an ontological independent I of the mind can co-exist peacefully with what we have come to know of physical reality by means of biology, chemistry and quantum mechanics, (2) to emphasize our real identity, namely that we are in our essence, in the I of our mind, really the same as the One consciousness center of everything, the Self. The mandala is in mixed painting and mosaic-like techniques (size: 40 cm x 30 cm). Like in every mandala, the center (here the round white stone) symbolizes the I of the mind, the one essence of all consciousness. We could also call this essence: That which experiences in every being, or I-ness or Self. The light green circular area around this central point represents the unchanging Realm of the Perennial Now and is structured according to Vedantic and Platonic principles. It contains nine ray-like pieces of stone in 3 colors that represent the birth of all the concepts by the Fire of Intelligence (Agnim in the Rig Veda). A multi-colored string of beads represents these concepts or Platonic ideas. These concepts are not only the mathematical forms, pure love etc., but all other primitives of perception and choice as well: sounds, colors, feels, tastes, smells, emotions, thoughts, plans, visions etc. The mandala as a whole expresses the interaction between the I of the mind plus its Platonic ideas or concepts, and the physical world. This interaction consists of the Quantum Mechanical Reduction Processes at the border between the Perennial Now realm of I-ness and the Space-Time realm around it (the physical world). These reduction processes are represented by a circle of glass squares of different colors. In the physical world I have selected the in my view most mature, appealing and convincing approach to consciousness, namely that of Penrose and Hameroff. In this approach the quantum reduction processes reduce superpositions of different complexes of space curvatures to one outcome complex that represents the total of the perceptions and choices of an organism at a certain moment. These complexes of curvatures are in the mandala represented by triangles of blue waves. According to the Penrose-Hameroff paradigm these space curvatures originate from the mass distribution of particles in microtubules, particularly in the carbon rings of aromatic amino acids. London van der Waals forces between the electron clouds of these carbon rings, may form communication chains from amino acid to amino acid within and between the tubulin proteins of the microtubules. This electromagnetic communication is in the mandala represented by Feynman diagrams of virtual photon exchange, and the amino acids are represented by their molecular structure diagrams composed of colored bead atoms and golden bonds. We even see a microtubule and a surprised neuron represented by beads and a drawing respectively.