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    Molecular Consciousness: Why the Universe Is Aware of Our Presence
    Molecular Consciousness: Why the Universe Is Aware of Our Presence
    Molecular Consciousness: Why the Universe Is Aware of Our Presence
    Ebook153 pages3 hours

    Molecular Consciousness: Why the Universe Is Aware of Our Presence

    By Françoise Tibika

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    About this ebook

    Mind and matter are connected through information at the atomic level

    • Explains how your state of mind is profoundly related to the flow of chemical information during the interactions of your molecules

    • Reveals how each atom of the universe is intrinsically linked with all other atoms through their memories and the information they carry

    • Explores the concrete manifestations of this “molecular consciousness,” such as intuition and the appearance of life on Earth

    The molecules of living organisms are in constant communication, storing and transmitting information both at the intracellular level as well as across vast distances. The mystery of how this communication occurs--whether through molecular structure, chemical reactions, entangled states, or some other method--has baffled biologists, chemists, and quantum physicists for more than a century.

    Revealing the intimate connections between mind and matter, Françoise Tibika explains that conscious communication exists all the way down to the very molecules of which we--and the universe--are made. Using the fundamental laws of thermodynamics to support her argument--especially the first law: “energy is neither created nor destroyed”--as well as modern scientific research in quantum physics and molecular biology, Tibika explores how each imperishable atom of the universe is intrinsically linked with all other atoms through their memories and the information they carry. She shows not only how each atom of your being is part of the greater whole of the universe but also how your thoughts, feelings, and state of mind are profoundly related to the activity of each of your molecules. Just as we are undergoing constant transformation by the molecules surrounding us, our own molecules are continuously transforming the network of which we are a part.

    Exploring the concrete manifestations of this molecular consciousness, such as intuition, Tibika reveals how, through effecting conscious change at the molecular level, our actions have far-reaching significance in a universe that is not blind to our presence.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInner Traditions/Bear & Company
    Release dateDec 14, 2012
    ISBN9781594775062
    Molecular Consciousness: Why the Universe Is Aware of Our Presence
    Author

    Françoise Tibika

    Françoise Tibika, a student of famed kabbalist and mystic Colette Aboulker-Muscat, has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Currently a lead researcher at the Institute of Chemistry at her alma mater, she lives in Jerusalem, Israel.

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    • 5/5
      This is one of the most clarifying books about this subject i have ever read. The authou is clear, the reading is pleasing and intesnse. I recommend that to all.

    Book preview

    Molecular Consciousness - Françoise Tibika

    INTRODUCTION

    Science is for those who learn; poetry, for those who know.

    Joseph Roux (1834–1905)

    Cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am. Can we be and not think?

    The power of our mind is such that it often makes us believe we owe our existence to it. We are, however, made of molecules and atoms, and they constantly remind us that our mind doesn’t have total control over our lives. Actually, we are completely subject to the demands of our molecules, which we cannot ignore without exposing ourselves to the worst dangers. Whatever the power and intricacy of our mind, we cannot exist without drinking, eating, and sleeping.

    Our molecules have their own rules, and they are obviously beyond the influence of the mind. When the time is right, once the signal has been given, our molecules, still following their own rules and principles, will alter their path and turn to another life and, in so doing, destroy our own. They will do so whether it suits our mind or not; it will perish anyway. Our bodies will be destroyed, while our molecules, made of imperishable atoms, will join others in a new destiny.

    It seems undeniable that we are made of matter ind, and we spend much of our lives torn between the miserable needs of our flesh, made of heavy and coarse matter, and the noble aspirations of our mind, which is fine and subtle.

    However, from the scientific point of view, this image is incorrect. No scientist can declare today that matter is heavy and coarse. Quantum physics teaches that matter on an atomic scale appears very different than it does on a macroscopic scale. As incredible as it might seem, in spite of all the knowledge accumulated since the beginning of civilization, from alchemy to molecular biology and the cosmology of black holes, the intrinsic nature of matter—which surrounds us and from which we are made—became, at the dawn of the twentieth century, one of the biggest enigmas of science.

    Each bit of matter is an unexplainable phenomenon: a subtle and mysterious mixture, a thing that sometimes behaves like a particle and sometimes like a wave. Imagine, for example, something that sometimes seems like a grain of sand and sometimes looks like a ray of light. Truly wonderful! Because no better vocabulary has been found to describe this phenomenon, we refer to it as the wave/particle duality of matter. But this term is inaccurate. It reflects the limits of our imagination. It can also lead to confusion, because it seems to mean that matter is a wave and a particle that cohabit, while the actual phenomenon is much more complex. Made of a countless number of these enigmatic bits of matter, what are we? A cluster of particles? A bundle of waves? Both?

    On earth, we generally distinguish between living and inert matter. Living matter includes animals and plants; inert matter includes all the solids, liquids, and gases of our planet. Inert matter forms the setting, more or less immutable, in which life, unceasingly renewed, unfolds. However, chemically speaking, there are no fundamental differences between living matter and inert matter. Both are made up of the same atoms and are animated by the same energies. Indeed, the Russian biologist Alexander Oparin (1894–1980), a pioneer investigator into the origin of life, summarizing centuries of research, declared in 1924 that the numerous attempts undertaken to discover some specific ‘vital energies’ resident only in organisms invariably ended in total failure.¹

    In other words, no form of energy recognized to date corresponds to that which we usually call vital energy. Vital energy is therefore a nonexistent concept in the scientific vocabulary. Its absence, however, did not prevent researchers from making remarkable advances in medicine. Surgical implantation of organs, artificial insemination, and the latest developments in genetics are all examples of such progress. However, in all these developments, vital energy remains outside of the equations. Vital energy is a superfluous concept in the vision modern science gives us of today’s world.

    The differences between a living organism and inert matter, which seem obvious to us on a macroscopic scale, quickly fade away at the atomic scale. Even the energies that animate living matter are not different from those that activate inert matter. In fact, most experts believe, as Oparin did, that living matter developed through a very long evolutionary process that began with inert matter. These first traces of life date back 500 million years to the emergence of the first bacteria.

    If, for practitioners of modern science, vital energy probably belongs to the world of spirit, its source was at the core of inert matter for their predecessors, the alchemists. Back in farthest antiquity, alchemy was born from the discovery of metals and the craft of metalworking. It was a secret practice, associated with obscure experiments and transcribed in a coded language. The alchemists feared exposing themselves to Divine wrath by revealing the science of which they were trustees. Their goal was to discover the philosopher’s stone, with which, they claimed, they could prepare the elixir of life and thereby become immortal. For alchemists, the source of wisdom and eternal life was found in the entrails of inert matter. Alchemists also claimed that the philosopher’s stone could transform lead or mercury into gold. Needless to say, alchemy attracted many frauds and charlatans, and was often associated with sorcery or swindling. In truth, even if the transmutation of lead or mercury into gold can be realized under very specific conditions and at very high cost, thanks to modern technologies, it is obvious that this could not have been achieved with the means available to the alchemists. This is why today alchemy does not seem very serious to us.

    Yet to summarily dismiss alchemy is to forget that this science, which was born at the same time as philosophy (circa fifth century BCE), was practiced in all the great ancient civilizations, among them Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia. Alchemy has fascinated philosophers and scientists of all eras, such as Avicenna (980–1037), Averroes (1126–1198), Roger Bacon (1220–1292), and Paracelsus (1493–1541), as well as the great Isaac Newton (1643–1727), who devoted much of his life to it.

    Employing hermetic texts composed of symbols whose meaning was hidden to laymen, true alchemists were interested in the metamorphosis of the soul. The quest of the alchemist was to study matter in order to understand his own being, thereby transcending it. The practice of alchemy constituted an inner journey, a path to supreme wisdom. Only humility and righteousness practiced over time enabled the student to walk this path, discover the philosopher’s stone, and achieve metamorphosis. For that purpose, he mobilized his entire being—his fears, his guilt, his anger, his doubts, and his passions. The interpretation of an alchemical experiment had direct implications for the researcher: in purifying metals he was also purifying himself. To make gold from lead or mercury was a mystical experience and this depended more on the researcher and on his human qualities than on the extent of his knowledge. A successful experiment would result in the transformation of one’s very being. From this ancient art, chemistry was born; in today’s laboratories we still use utensils (test tubes, crucibles, stills) and experimental techniques (filtration, distillation, and sublimation) developed by the alchemists. However, in order to respect the limits it imposed on itself, modern chemistry had to sacrifice the mysterious aspect of its past, however rich in promise.

    Did the alchemists, with their furnaces, do more than make a lot of smoke?

    Can we, as the alchemists believed, metamorphose by studying matter? In the pages to come we will look deeper into this possibility. The first part of this book gives a short description of matter and of the three fundamental laws that govern it. Science calls them the three laws of thermodynamics. Our molecules are implacably subjected to them, before our birth, during our lives, and after our death. We can’t escape them even for a fraction of a second.

    The second part of the book briefly summarizes the discoveries that gave birth, in the twentieth century, to the quantum theory, among others. These amazing discoveries revealed our unsuspected ignorance regarding the essence of molecules and of all that we call matter.

    The third part invites the reader to go beyond certain boundaries that modern science has, until now, refrained from crossing. In these zones where imagination prevails and where I intend to take you, you might perceive a closer connection between the state of your molecules and the state of your mind. In other words, you might find a bridge between your body and your mind. Will you cross it?

    PART ONE

    What's the Matter?

    1

    EVERYTHING MOVES

    In 1827, the Scottish botanist Robert Brown (1773–1858) was observing particles of pollen suspended in water through his microscope. Like others before him, he noticed the constant, chaotic motion of these particles, which never stopped. This motion could not be explained by convection or by any other known physical phenomenon previously observed. Initially, Brown believed that he had finally found an expression of vital energy and saw this movement as a characteristic of the living world. However, as he continued his research, he realized that this movement occurred with all kinds of particles, whether from the living realm or not. According to his observations, the motion of any suspended particles was observable as long as the size of these particles did not exceed a few tenths (or sometimes a few hundredths) of a millimeter.

    It was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that the origin of this mysterious phenomenon, now known as Brownian motion, was discovered. The interpretation was given by Albert Einstein (1879–1955) in 1905. Einstein is best known for his theory of relativity, but his explanation of Brownian motion was essential to the final collapse of the nonatomist theory that had reigned in science since the golden age of

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