While wondering how to go about this piece, the main concern is on how to articulate it because as the name suggests, there is quantum. And quantum is not a subject that has a full stop. It's an endless pool of uncertain hypotheses which makes one rack their mind as they go around it.
Quantum as a subject and a topic of concern has started long back because without that, we don’t even know a lot of things in the world. It’s said that quantum is the world and that quantum is defined as a study of small particles and their behaviour. Considering that particles are what made up the entire universe and its twins and also considering that humans are also tiny particles in the world, one would say quantum is basically everything.
As one goes deep into this topic, thoughts about how this quantum is connected to humans and human behaviour increase. This world we are living in is a figment of the huge galaxy or one in multiple galaxies. An intriguing thing which everyone can wonder about is how we all relate to the human world. Also, how we all make up our thoughts, decisions and choices as we go about our daily lives and a realisation about how this quantum connectedness comes into the picture in various aspects we see everyday. The quantum connectedness is actually tampered with through the growing number of personalities and deep-rooted ideologies.
Some of the topics regarding that we can talk about are:
Relation into the world:
Wherever we look around there is mostly a new perspective, a new perception stemming from all around us. Even the things we’ve already witnessed sometimes bring on a new perspective. Human cognition and perception forms in an instant and it forms from the sense of who we are. Contrarily, it takes effort to change it, the level of which depends on the nature of perception. Negative perception of things, people and situations are harder to alter. And by this, the theory of projection and introjection becomes clear and comes more into light. Projection occurs when someone projects feelings or characteristics onto another person or into the world. Introjection takes place when someone internalises the beliefs of other people.
These two attributes are what makes us relate to our external and internal world mostly. And, how does that happen? That happens as we create terminologies; give a language to the metaphors we see outside and create perceptions. Language is a metaphor for experience from what I gathered. And, this world as we speak about, is a metaphorical universe to which we give life as we develop cognition.
Law of manifestation relates to that because it states that the object of our focus will itself manifest in our lives irrespective of its nature; positive or negative. Our thoughts and feelings are all mirrored in the world around us depending upon who we are communicating things to.
Human brain and its ability to cognitively perceive the world around us is one of the most powerful things the universe has seen. But that powerful tool now became an underrated general knowledge fact. Why do I say that? Give it a moment of thought and observe. We have known this world from what we have learnt or seen. But is it actually true? And if it is, how sure are you? The world we live in or consider a world is our mother Earth. But, it’s much more than that and it’s disheartening that we fail to realise it. The world we look at is a continuum with no end. The boundaries we make up are based on our cognition. For example, let’s say that the distance from Delhi to Mumbai is approximately 1400 km. That is what we made up through measurements in order to divide the world. If you’ve ever heard of divide and conquer, that is what we use the technique in multiple ways without even knowing it. For example, sorting out different papers in order to get a system, listing things to study so we can divide and complete them, making distances in order to divide and locate a place. Our overly cognitive minds fix a location for everything ranging from listing places, humans to feelings but that is not the real world.
Imagine a busy city setting where people are running around here and there. Now, imagine that all the hi-tech buildings, cars, houses and humans vanish and all you can see is the endless road going ahead. That’s what the world is about. It’s much more than the crossing distance from the Arctic Ocean to the Antarctic Ocean.
Blind Spots:
The way one views the world is different from person to person and it differs with the sense of self. When we start seeing the world in a different light, we see what we want or what we think it is instead of what it actually is. Stressing on that point, we can say it's due to a certain blind spot in our vision. Just as these blind spots don’t help us see a few things pertaining to our vision, the same way they make us blind to see things around.
They are the reason for our conflicts. What you don’t see is what you fight. What you don’t see is what you don’t want to recognise or you don’t recognise. There is information right in front of you often but you don’t look at it or look at it in a way that is false. This comes from our limited thinking. For example, let’s take the 4th dimension for suppose. We all know the theories of 1D, 2D, and 3D. Something we look at daily but the 4th dimension in particular is just a theory and not in the mode of practicality. Why is that so? It is because it stopped at the theory and nobody can see it. But, what if it’s in front of us and we are not able to see it? It’s a possibility, one of which is that it isn’t proven yet. We remain oblivious to certain things and aspects in life just the same way. We ignore possibilities and keep remaining ignorant to what could be there. These conflicts continue to build up and deter the chance of seeing another side to the information we seek. They can be caused due to any reason but are generally deep rooted.
Separated from nature:
We differentiate sane thoughts, insane thoughts, rational thinking and irrational modes. We, as humans, separate them all. But, this is not the nature of our reality, right? We are connected to nature, to the world and to ourselves. We are connected. Yet, why do we differentiate?
It is in the depth of human mind to differentiate one from the realms of nature as a norm of human being greater than all has become a trend in the latest century. We tend to get into a capitalist mode of taking what we want such as deforestation, our neighbourhood friendly example and polluting the fresh air we got blessed with. I mean sure, we get paper, we have an enjoyable mode of transportation in the form of cars but with how the human brain works, can’t we form an eco-friendly product? Think about it. Despite coming up with few eco-friendly solutions why are many of us still not up to following it?
We are mere mortals connected to the magnificent nature in more ways than we tend to actually think. From forming as a pea-sized zygote to a grown man who can certainly discover the next best thing in the world, we are connected to nature. According to nature-connectedness we have Schultz described three components that construct the topic of humans connected to nature. They are:
The cognitive component – Core of nature connectedness and refers to how integrated one feels with nature.
The affective component – Individual’s sense of care for nature.
The behavioural component – Individual’s commitment to protect the natural environment.
These three components aid us in understanding the basic human’s connectedness with nature. But the ultimate question is whether we are being connected to it or not. Whether these three components are actually working in our minds or not. The very perception of how we are separated from nature is what makes a human feel superior to it, when in turn we are just a minute part of it.
Mufasa explains to his cub Simba in The Lion King that “Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. As a king, you need to understand that balance and respect all creatures, from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope” and he continues it with another saying “When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eats the grass. And so, we are all connected in the great circle of life.” Indeed, we are. We are all connected from the grass to the sky and the stars above.
Potential to be more and Uncertainty in its whims:
This assumption that we are separate from nature cultures from the mechanistic thought where nature is a constituent of discrete particles which are separate from one another. But, in the quantum we are talking about, it's completely opposite. In the quantum world there are no separate modes as everything is interconnected.
The human as a whole, the world we live in and the multiple universes above are interconnected. Quantum is not about separation, but about interconnectedness and the potential of it all. Potential is the defining quality of the quantum world. And that’s interesting because when it comes to the quantum world, it sure is very vastly connected to potential because that’s how we build on the assumptions. There is a potential and a chance of more capability everywhere. And, with potential there is also uncertainty and now that’s the most favourite part. Quantum thrives on uncertainty. Remember Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle? Potential is the capacity to develop something in the future and that potential drives us. But, that potential also has a component of uncertainty because the world runs on it. The basic nature of things around us is uncertain and in the real world there is one constant truth that prevails. That is, it’s a death process and comes back again giving birth. Eternal truth of human life is death. What we write in between is what we can create in between and that goes with a flow and a continuum, not with created divisions and boundaries. But, that’s not how everyone sees things.
In order to know the uncertainty and own it people do ‘n’ number of things religiously. For example, people go to the modern age gurus and sages to get a prediction of their future. Why? This is because they know that the things are uncertain and that scares them. Uncertainty creeps people out to the extent where they go to lengths to erase it. The fear randomness brings is why sometimes people do illogical stuff so that they know where they are in life. Now the steps they take are not exactly proper but the goal is only one and that is to be certain.
But, if we breathe for a moment and ask, is it really necessary to be certain all the time? And, is the way we are trying to take that down ideal? We are trying to control the times by knowing everything we can and deem them certain. The fear of randomness is indeed creepy as we seek control and grasp on everything.
Collaboration missing with the insertion of division:
Since the starting of a civilisation there have always been some kind of division, a hunger for power strutting around has been noted including the Britishers, the Mughals and the Hindus and a division in the religion, caste, colour, place and language.
Why are human beings so divided? A question many would like to know the answer to. Divisions in the world have been a trend set long back and it's still continuing as it's being nurtured. In many parts of the world namely India too, there is always a segment of discrimination you see towards a certain group of people based on religion, caste and colour. This discrimination or judgement forms into distaste and sometimes strong feelings of getting reigns over the other arise. Discrimination, according to me, has always resulted in ill feelings causing arguments, fights, breakouts and war.
And this differentiation among people also resulted in humans turning into capitalistic mode where they own what they want. For example, look at the Taliban. They are power hungry orthodox and want to rule over Afghanistan and establish a traditional theory of Islam called “Sharia” and that is what they are doing now by adopting brutal methods in certain situations.
The nations, USA, UK, China and Russia, so against each other because of what? Their geographical locations which seem to be far away from each other and their citizens and culture which are entirely apart?
Why this hatred and where is this stemming from? The main reason could be gathered only from our ancestors who without realising that strength lies in unity has put a wedge over each religion and differentiated between what we call species. And that is the hatred we are carrying on as a legacy and that’s not something to be proud of.
Give less and take more?
We mine our resources from several mines and we keep doing it. Even though we have it sufficient we still do it. Why? The greed in humans to have more has been an age-old tale. And I describe these things as age old because these things have been in practice ever since we can remember and this doesn’t seem to change into a fresh perspective that we have could be enough. We go above and beyond just to make what happen? To make our greed filled to the brim of whatever it is we want. Why? When have humans become so filled with owning the wanting? When have we become so immersed in taking what we want and destroying it?
Keeping a check of how much we take from the world rather than giving it is alarming because there are so many people with few resources to take from anymore. Humans’ contribution in this is zero and it should be looked at. Why this greed? Well, I guess as sung by Imagine Dragons in their song ‘DEMONS’, no matter what we breed, we still are made of greed.
Sustainability or Economy?
Sustainability is the avoidance of the destruction of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance. And it is also the ability to maintain a sustainable economic growth. Regarding sustainability through the ropes of economical connotations is a trend. Why is it so easy to look at the economy of the world rather than the ecology? Economy is something through which we live but giving more matter to it is in the long run not fair to the human race nor to any other living race. It’s sad how we can’t look past that when we should.
Religion and politics:
Religion is said to be the source of some of the most remarkable political mobilizations of our times. And not just religion but caste and place has also played a significant role where voters are roped in through speeches of being a community together as whole forgetting that there are other people who are also the same as them.
Person’s identity is never defined by their religion or caste and sadly people fail to recognise that even in this period of time.
For example, during the state elections of my state, the voters got roped into the speeches of same caste and same religion and voted in herds moved by the communistic speech only to realise that they have voted for a person inadequate and insufficient of taking care of people’s needs. Where does sense go when it comes to it and why are people so attracted by the division of it all?
AI to replace us? How about a No?
Artificial Intelligence is one of mankind’s greatest inventions until it is set out to replace its own creator. The fact that countless numbers of people lost their jobs with the establishment of a robot human created in Germany is proof enough of how a human is being disposed of by another human nonetheless by a machine. And not just through robots, simple machinery we use in daily life is also taking over human tasks and how far do we let it reach?
Humans made machines to lead a comfortable life and now that machine is taking over mankind. How sad is that? A question nags in the back of my head. Are we really disposable?
Humans are not disposable or something anyone can get rid of. The fact that this world is even discovered right now is through humans and the fact that this article is being written is through a human. There is nature, humans and the smallest particles in every nook and crook of the world.
The real deal
The main objective for writing this is that our perception is the driving force of how we see and act in the world. And, that is messed up because today we are not seeing the world for what it actually is and are bringing in contaminated thoughts about things which are unbalancing and unsettling. From creating blind spots to controlling the uncertain, from owning everything we want to funding terror organisations, from using discrimination as a strategy to constructing human race as a disposable commodity. There is division and an either/or sense of the world. It's either that or this. But, the truth is that this is an AND universe where everything is connected and should be looked at that way. The main objective is to see how messed up we became tearing each other’s limbs apart and how that should be demolished. Nurture a change in the perception so everyone can become a whole and help each other out. That should be the real nature of humans. Because it is essential to defend the freedom of all species and the freedom of all living beings.
This article on 'How uncertainty impacts our behaviours' has been contributed by Parinitha Kodali who is a student of Clinical Psychology, from Amity University, Mumbai. and peer reviewed by Ishita Vashisht who is a psychology student from Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Delhi University
Parinitha and Ishita are both part of the Global Internship Research Program (GIRP), which is mentored by Anil Thomas.
Parinitha's future plan is in gaining knowledge from various fields including research. Fascinated with human behaviours and space and ancient mythologies.
Ishita hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in psychology and understand human behaviour, their attachment styles and clinical disorders through her own lens.
GIRP is an initiative by (International Journal of Neurolinguistics & Gestalt Psychology) IJNGP and Umang Foundation Trust to encourage young adults across our globe to showcase their research skills in psychology and to present it in creative content expression.
Anil is an internationally certified NLP Master Practitioner and Gestalt Therapist. He has conducted NLP Training in Mumbai, and across 6 other countries. The NLP practitioner course is conducted twice every year. To get your NLP certification