Quantum Entanglement of Soul

In quantum physics there is a theory known as quantum entanglement. Mel Schwartz writes in Psychology Today: “In the microscopic realm once two particles experience a shared state they are no longer separate entities but exist as one. This remains true even when they are separated by a great distance.”  This means that the state of each particle cannot be described independently of the state of the other, even when particles are separated by a large distance. This phenomenon has been demonstrated in experiments with photons, electrons and molecules. This shared state is greater than the sum of the two particles. This shared state is what I like to call soul. So! Soul is not an individual possession but more of a shared fabric – a fabric greater than the sum of its parts. In fact, this fabric is greater than all the particles and parts of the universe.

The poet Alice Walker has a poem entitled Lodestar that I would like to share with you  She writes:

Here is what I believe

Will be the hardest thing

To do:

To remember

That we have

A soul.

It is so quiet

The soul

And weighs

Almost nothing.

It might flash

Across

Our dullest days

Only once or twice

In a lifetime.

That it is there:

Just the certainty

Of knowing

Must be

Our lodestar.

Without  fully grasping all of the details of quantum physics, the notion of quantum entanglement inspires me to live more in possibility. Ms. Walker’s poem brings me great consolation. No matter how difficult my individual life may feel, no matter how discouraging the political discourse in our country gets, no matter how fearful we feel at planetary destruction, no matter how intractable nations can be in trying to solve global problems, no matter how intimate our losses – the death of a loved one or the devastation of a serious illness we need to remember that we have a shared soul. America has a soul. The planet has a soul. The universe has a soul.

Be well,

Bill