Paradigm shift, time and trauma

Paradigm shift, time and trauma


"Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it,
is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it,
parted from it by the filmiest of screens,
there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different".
William James. The Varieties of Religious Experiences (1971:374)







Introduction
As we saw in our last meeting, lead by Marita, when talking about trauma we seem to be stuck dealing with the concepts of time, memory, history and representation. Therefore I think a revision of the concept of space-time could help us in trying to grasp a notion of trauma beyond linear time.
Allow me to refer to Susana's article as an introduction to this topic and to our reading:

"The Notion of Paradigm Shift and the Roles of Science and Literature in the Interpretation of Reality". Susana Onega.
As Susana explains in her article, the rise of relativity and quantum mechanics at the turn of the twentieth century problematized our sense of perception, as well as our concepts of matter and time (492). As she further states, "[t]he fragmentary, polycentric, multicultural and chaotically arranged conception of society now emerging [in Postmodernism], parallels the shift from the notion of a single expanding universe to that of multiple worlds inhabiting different dimensions in the time-space continuum, postulated by superstring theory. The central idea of quantum mechanics (and general systems theory) is that things exist through their relationship and that everything is connected, so that every component of a system has the potential to affect all the other components" (496). "Similarly, the idea of the arrow of time pointing towards the future, sanctioned by Newton's Second Law of Thermodynamics, which granted scientific validity to the Hegelian and Biblical notions of world history, is now replaced by Einstein's notion of space-time continuum in a relativistic universe" (497).
So, if contemporary science does no longer contemplate time as something cyclical or linear, maybe other branches of knowledge, such as psychology, consciousness studies, literature studies or more specifically trauma studies, might have to adapt to this paradigm shift and incorporate other ways of viewing the space-time continuum.
Further down, meditation and transcendent knowledge appear linked to the new physics. As Susana has been telling us for the last years, Jeanette Winterson's Gut Symetries is an example of the juxtaposition of scientific and transcendent knowledge, and she then refers to Dalai Lama's The Universe in a Single Atom: "[t]he paradoxical nature of reality [is] revealed both in the Buddhist philosophy of emptiness and modern physics" (499).

It has occurred to me that meditation offers us a different state of consciousness that defies linear thought/emotion/perspective, and I wanted to analyze the connections between the new science, the different states of consciousness and Eastern mysticism to see if we could find a way to incorporate non-linear space-time perception to trauma studies. Hence, my choice for today's meeting:

Dr Fritjof Capra (1939) is an Austrian-born American physicist and founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California. He has written popular books on the implications of science, such as The Tao of Physics, which asserts that both physics and metaphysics lead inexorably to the same knowledge.

The Tao of Science. An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism. Fritjof Capra.

Preface
As Fritjof Capra comments seven years after the publication of his book: "The reaction of the scientific community, predictably, has been […] cautious; but there, too, the interests in the broader implications of twentieth-century physics is increasing. The reluctance of modern scientists to accept the profound similarities between their concepts and those of mystics is not surprising, since mysticism —at least in the West— has traditionally been associated, quite erroneously, with this vague, mysterious, and highly unscientific. Fortunately, this attitude is now changing" (14).
This was written in 1982, and I believe that the above-mentioned attitude has kept on changing and that the interest in both the new physics and mysticism has increased spectacularly in the last decades.

Chapter 1: Modern Physics-A Path with a Heart?
The book starts with a statement quite similar to that in Susana's article: Descartes' cogito ergo sum "had led Westeners to equate their identity with their mind, instead of with their whole organism. […] The mind has been separated from the body and given the futile task of controlling it, thus causing an apparent conflict between the conscious will and the involuntary instincts. Each individual has been split up further into large number of separate compartments, according to his or her activities, talents, feelings, beliefs, etc., which are engaged in endless conflicts generating continuous metaphysical confusion and frustration" (27-8). As Capra further explains, "[t]his inner fragmentation mirrors our view of the world 'outside' which is seen as a multitude of separate objects and events. […] The belief that all these fragments —in ourselves, in our environment and in our society— are really separate can be seen as the essential reason to the present series of social, ecological and cultural crises" (28). So the paradigm by which we understand the world has obviously come to a point of crisis.

Chapter 2: Knowing and Seeing
In chapter 2, Capra approaches our processes of perception and representation: "[W]e construct an intellectual map of reality in which things are reduced to their general outlines. Rational knowledge is thus a system of abstract concepts and symbols, characterized by the linear, sequential structure which is typical of our thinking and speaking. In most languages this linear structure is made explicit by the use of alphabets which serve to communicate experience and thought in long lines of letters" (35)

Is the linear structure of language an impediment for the expression of non-linear experience such as a traumatic event?

As he further states, "[b]ecause our representation of reality is so much easier to grasp than reality itself, we tend to confuse the two and take our concepts and symbols for reality. It is one of the main aims of Eastern mysticism to rid us of this confusion", as they are concerned with a direct experience of reality which transcends not only intellectual thinking, but also sensory perception (35-6).

Is this "direct experience of reality" possible? How?
Can art also express itself at similar state of consciousness?

From The Upanishads, we read:
What is soundless, touchless, formless, imperishable,
Likewise tasteless, constant, odourless,
Without beginning without end, higher than the great, stable—
By discerning That, one is liberated from the mouth of the dead.

- Chapter 3: Beyond Language
Sometimes I have the feeling that language is understood as an inferior code to grasp and communicate reality (vs. maths, for example): "The notion that all scientific modes and theories are approximate and that their verbal interpretations always suffer from the inaccuracy of our language was already commonly accepted by scientists at the beginning of this century, when a new and completely unexpected development took place. The study of the world of atoms forced physicists to realize that our common language is not only inaccurate, but totally inadequate to describe the atomic and subatomic reality" (53).

Is common language accurate enough to describe psychological realities?

"The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language to communicate our inner experience which in its very nature transcends linguistics". D.T. Suzuki (53)

What are the limitations of 'common' language? Is it important to know them?

As Capra further states, "In Eastern mysticism, on the other hand, it has always been realized that reality transcends ordinary language, and the sages of the East were not afraid to go beyond logic and common concepts. That is the main reason, I think, why their models of reality constitute a more appropriate philosophical background to modern physics than the models of Western philosophy" (54).

Is the problem of representation then a matter of language or about models of reality?

- Chapter 12: Space-Time
"Whenever we expand the realm of our experience, the limitations of our rational mind become apparent and we have to modify, or even abandon, some of our concepts" (177).

How can we modify or abandon them? Can this process be healing?
What is it exactly that has to be modified?

"Our notions of space and time figure prominently on our map of reality. They serve to order things and events in our environment and are therefore of paramount importance not only in our everyday life, but also in our attempts to understand nature through science and philosophy. […] The profound modification of [the concepts of space and time] brought about by relativity theory was therefore one of the greatest revolutions in the history of science" (177).
However, this discovery was nothing new, as ancient Eastern philosophers and scientists already has a similar attitude: "The Eastern mystics link the notions of both space and time to particular states of consciousness. Being able to go beyond the ordinary state through meditation, they have realized that the conventional notions of space and time are not the ultimate truth. The refined notions of space and time resulting from their mystical experiences appear to be in many ways similar to the notions of modern physics" (180).

The obliged question here would be: Can we attain those mystical experiences and experience the four-dimensional space-time world with our senses? Or do we have to translate our experience all the time?

Capra claims that the Eastern mystics "seem to be able to attain non-ordinary states of consciousness in which they transcend the three-dimensional world of everyday life to experience a higher, multidimensional reality" (188).

Can traumatized people also attain that experience or can only Eastern mystics achieve it?

Well, here a glimpse of what this experience might feel like, in the words of D.T. Suzuki: "a state of complete dissolution where there is no more distinction between mind and body, subject and object… We look around and perceive that… every object is related to every other object… not only spatially, but temporally… As a fact of pure experience, there is no space without time, no time without space, they are interpenetrating" (189).

I am sure most of you have encountered similar passages in Modernist and Postcolonial texts, haven't you?
Therefore, I strongly believe that art can express those different states of consciousness, even if it's by means of translating the experience into words. Hence, the mastering of language seems to be a key factor, don't you agree?

As the chapter advances, we are finally offered an understandable description of the new-physics concept of space-time processes by means of some diagrams: Space-time diagrams should been seen "not as chronological records of the paths of particles through time, but rather as a four-dimensional pattern in space-time representing a network of interrelated events which does not have any definite direction of time attached to it. Since all particles can move forwards and backwards in time, just as they can move left and right in space, it does not make sense to impose a one-way flow of time on the diagrams" (204).

Isn't the novel then irremediably attached to Newtonian linear-time? How can a novel express space- time in four-dimensional patterns?
Is it necessary to express or represent reality? Is then poetry, for example, or painting, a more adequate medium?

- Epilogue
Capra concludes that among the ways to understand the mystery of life, "there are the ways of poets, children, clowns, shamans […]. These ways have resulted in different descriptions of the world, both verbal and non-verbal, which emphasize different aspects. All are valid and useful in the context in which they arose. All of them, however, are only descriptions, or representations, of reality and are therefore limited. None can give a complete picture of the mind" (335-6).

We can ask ourselves now if we can use the organic view of the universe to understand trauma better results than with a mechanistic view. And how.


Coda
More food for thought or meditation:
"During meditation, the subject typically starts off with high Beta brain waves (12-30Hz), then experiences more Alpha (7.5-12Hz), followed by more Theta (4-7.5Hz) and finally Delta (0.5-4Hz), the deepest level, associated to deep healing and regeneration. After some time, the reverse process takes place, bringing the person back to beta feeling awake and refreshed, sometimes with new insights."

Can art work at those subconscious levels to heal more effectively?








René Magritte. La trahison des images (1928–29).
The Upanishads are a collection of Vedic texts which contain the earliest emergence of some of the central religious concepts of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. They are also known as Vedanta ("the end of the Veda"). They are considered by Hindus to contain revealed truths concerning the nature of ultimate reality and describing the character and form of human salvation. (Wikipedia)
Kena Upanishad, 3.
Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a Japanese writer and translator, author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in spreading interest in both Zen and Shin (and Far Eastern philosophy in general) to the West. (Wikipedia)



9

Research-Team Meeting – 21st November 2014
Jessica Aliaga Lavrijsen