Physics Week 2: Quantum Mechanics

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”  -Rainer Maria Rilke

The Uncertainty Principle explains the limitations of predicting a quantum particle's exact future trajectory since we cannot measure both its position and momentum simultaneously. Though we can get pretty darn close to a prediction, it is only a probability and depends on which aspect is measured.  The more we focus on momentum, the more the position is unclear. The same works vise versa.  When we expand beyond the quantum range, as originally explained by Isaac Newton, we seem to have the capacity to measure position and momentum with precision and thus predict where it will be at a future time.

So, the quantum world holds an unpredictability that seems to appear- on a conceptual level- in everyday life. In Macro vs Micro terms, could becoming hyper focused on one aspect of a complex issue make us oblivious to the larger picture?  Inversely, can looking at the broader scope disable our ability to tune into the details.  Though we can never exactly assess our world, it seems that a balance of Macro and Micro awareness or the ability to oscillate between the two may give us the most accurate idea of the world around us. This reminds me of watching a dance performance and having to make a conscious effort to observe both individuals and the collective.  If I focus on each dancer individually, I see subtle nuances but miss the larger shapes created by the group. Both perspectives have value and neither can be fully captured at the same time. So, by interchanging my observation scope, I gain broader sense of the choreographic vision as a whole.

The word uncertainty also makes me think about the western attachment to knowing and the cultural intolerance for excessive ambiguity. With this in mind, it makes sense that we discuss Quantum Mechanics as we embark on a career in Eastern Medicine. The Western model discourages the lingering in pockets of uncertainty as the word has become synonymous with anxiety and danger. It seems the greatest failure is getting lost in a sea of questions.  We must be clear-headed, focused, rational and goal-oriented.  This linear attitude aligns with Newton's take on causality as it suggests that each effect occurs as a result of a past cause. In this sense, each calculated choice we make has a direct impact on our determinable future. This is reassuring and easier to make plans around.  Of course Quantum mechanics throws this theory for a loop revealing the universe as strange and unpredictable. The future therefore becomes indeterminable and something we cannot fully protect ourselves from. We then have several choices. We can reject these 'new age' theories, baste in worry, or learn to surrender to the uncertain spaces.  By "liv[ing] the questions" as Rilke suggests, we may gain access to some valuable and otherwise unavailable pieces of information.