All human beings have similar organs, but each organ has qualities unique to itself and to the person it belongs to. Research has revealed that even some of the genes of monozygotic twins are different [1]. As opposed to the previous assumption that “when it comes to DNA, every cell in the body is essentially identical to every other cell,” it has been found that each cell has a DNA of its own [2]. This uniqueness originates from the fact that the order and number of molecules and proteins are different, which is valid for atoms and sub-atom particles as well. Having spent countless hours on microscopes and spectroscopes, a university professor of mine once said, “I witnessed different structures of iron atom each time I observed one. We even need to produce a separate periodic table for the iron element alone.”

We also witness that particles have been created uniquely, just like human beings are. From the micro universe (one millionth of a meter) down to femto universe (one quadrillionth of a meter), each particle is called a boson or fermion. When particles are examined to find out in what conditions they resemble each other in the femto universe, doors of a new world will be opened in terms of knowledge and contemplation. According to this new perspective, while the things and events are sometimes explained through mathematical equations and formulations, they are sometimes explained through experiments of thought trying to attain the truth behind them. Pauli exclusion principle is one such experiment.

Pauli Principle

There are around 380 sub-atomic particles [3]. In atomic and subatomic dimensions, two fermions (e.g. two electrons) of an atom cannot have the same set of quantum numbers. Wolfgang Pauli first explained this principle in 1925 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1945 after experiments proved that the theory was correct. This theory has gone down in history as the Pauli Exclusion Principle.

The motion equations of subatomic particles are expressed by their magnetic states. Pauli said that none of the electrons of an atom can share the same quantum state at the same time. In other words, two electrons in the same atom cannot share the physical features such as magnetism, motion, position and velocity in the same state [2].

In addition to the three quantum numbers (principal, subordinate, and magnetic quantum numbers) described so far, Pauli defined a quantum number for the spin of a fermion (e.g. electron). The spin quantum number is related to the rotation of the electron around its axis because an electron rotates around its own axis as it rotates around the atomic nucleus. According to the Pauli Principle, if an orbit has an electron with a spin of 1/2, an electron with a spin of -1/2 can be placed in the same orbit. If we assume that the spin of an electron rotating clockwise is 1/2 the spin of an electron rotating counterclockwise will be -1/2. Thus, with Pauli’s contribution, four quantum numbers were defined for subatomic particles and it was stated that even if the other three quantum numbers were the same, electrons with different spin quantum numbers could circulate in the same orbit.

The Pauli Principle shows that atoms are not identical. This principle also applies to solid crystals, that is, the materials we use daily. The Principle is also able to explain the fact that the ores that make up the element are different, and the fact that there are different elements in the periodic table. With this principle, important properties of superconductors have been discovered.

In 1927, based on the Pauli Principle, German physicist Karl Werner Heisenberg showed that it is not possible to measure the physical properties of a particle, such as the position and momentum, at the same time and that these results can only be expressed with uncertain probability and statistics [5].

This uniqueness also manifests itself in the space we call the macro world. Stars consisting of only neutrons are called neutron stars. A neutron star is very dense: its mass is 2–3 times that of the Sun, but only about 10 km in diameter. A neutron star should theoretically collapse into a black hole, but this does not happen. The reason for this, it has been discovered, is that neutrons that cannot share the same position prevent collapse and that neutron stars remain in balance [6].

The universe has been created with balance, and everything, from the minutest particles to the stars in the outer space, follows their particular courses to maintain the order.

References

1. scientificamerican.com/article/identical-twins-exhibit-d/
2. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090715131449.htm
3. lbl.gov/2017/listings/contents_listings.html
4. wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Pauli
5. phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/uncer.html
6. phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pauli.html

A small-scale blueprint of the universe, the human body is a miraculous work of art that manifests the beautiful divine names and attributes of God Almighty. A human body is made up of a set of hierarchically organized components: an organ system, organs, tissues, cells, organelles, macromolecules, molecules, atoms, neutrons, protons, electrons, and subatomic particles. In this biological organization, it is striking to observe a proportionately allocated space between components on each level for their efficient functioning. The size of human body would be reduced if these spaces between organs, tissues, cells, and atoms could be removed, and the entire human body would not be bigger than a small ball.

The structure of an atom explains a lot concerning the real size of our body, which is filled with space. An atom is comprised of protons and neutrons in its nucleus, around which electrons continuously orbit. The mass of neutrons is almost equal to the mass of protons. Electrons, however, are 1,837 times smaller in mass than neutrons and protons. That is, almost 99.95% of the atom’s mass is in its nucleus. The mass of electrons is almost non-existent compared to the nucleus.

Both the universe and our body are filled with more hydrogen than any other atom. In each one billion atom in our body, six hundred thirty million are hydrogen atoms. In a hydrogen atom, electrons rotate only 0.53 nm (one billionth of a meter) away from the nucleus, which makes the atom’s volume to be around 6.10^-28m³, whereas the volume of the proton is 7.10^-45m³, i.e., the nucleus is only as big as one hundred quadrillionth (100.10¹⁵) of the atom’s total volume. In other words, while the nucleus comprises almost the entire mass of the atom, its volume is of no considerable size. The density of protons in the nucleus is 2,3.10¹⁷ kg/m^{3 (where does the period go here??)}, which means that there is around a hundred trillion tons of matter in only one cubic meter. If we could gather all neutrons and protons in one spot, a man who is 69 kg would be only 3.10^-7 mm³ in volume. That is, the volume the total substance of our body takes up is around one ten millionth of a cubic millimeter. The human body, which is constructed of atoms with electrons rotating on an orbit quite far away from the nucleus, is in a way no different than an “inflated space.” For a comparison, the space between the earth and the sun can be filled with as many as 107 suns, whereas 450 thousand protons are needed to fill up the distance between the proton and electron in a hydrogen atom.

The subatomic world is even more amazing. In subatomic particles are found six types of quarks. A quark is considered a fundamental constituent of matter. Combinations of quarks in different shapes and numbers result in subatomic particles, the further combinations of which produce atoms, molecules, and so on. Quarks are considered to be without mass; that is to say, they are nothing else but energy. Humans have mass, but this mass consists of quarks that are without mass.

This incredibly vast space between atoms that make up matter teaches us that our true value does not lie in our physical structure, but in the artworks of no comparison designed by the Divine as manifestations of His most beautiful names. Thus, we, who are so little in material substance, should seek other gateways in the depth of our souls and attain some value with proximity to the Divine.

We may never have revolted against God Almighty in our entire life; yet still our material minority should free us from all kinds of pride and conceit. Our physical structure is very much like the number “zero,” for 0 is also nothing, and it is drawn by inflating.

But two important developments in modern physics during the 1930s gradually undermined their certainty. These developments were based upon experimental, intellectual, and theoretical observations. The experimental field revealed new particles, and the relevant tools and techniques became far more sophisticated. The results showed that subatomic components were not elementary particles, for they were not even elementary. And, the number of fundamental particles continued to grow: 6 in 1935, 18 in 1955, and more than 200 today.

Subatomic particles challenge old assumptions

Classical physics held that an object’s mass was connected to an elementary material that could not be annihilated or divided. But Einstein’s theory of relativity disproved this by showing that mass was not related to a concept like essence, and that energy was an expression of a quantity associated with activity, process, and movement. Since a particle’s mass is equivalent to a specific energy, the particle cannot be a static and stable object. Thus, a particle’s mass has to be considered a dynamic entity. This energy process shows itself as mass.

The theory of relativity’s most interesting aspect appeared when the process of extracting matter from pure energy was explained. Given that matter’s elements were considered indivisible and non-changeable units or compounds that could be reduced to their origins, could matter be fragmented ad infinitum or would the smallest indivisible unit eventually appear? The theoretical physicist Dirac (1902-84) answered this question by showing that when two particles collide at a high speed, they generally are smashed. However, the residual pieces are not smaller than their originals, for these remnants are constituted as the same particles via kinetic energy.

Subatomic particles are split by using high energy levels to crash them into each other. Thus matter can be split forever, and no particle so obtained can be smaller than its original. Such collisions result in new particles, for the two colliding particles’ energy is delivered between the particles so that new ones are formed. If there is enough such energy is produced, more particles are constituted than before the collision, meaning that subatomic particles are both divisible and indivisible.

As this is one of the best ways to study a particle’s basic features, this field is called high energy physics. The necessary kinetic energy is obtained by using particle accelerators, which are a couple of miles in diameter, to accelerate protons almost to the speed of light and then crash them into another proton or neutron. It is interesting that such huge super-microscopes are used to analyze infinitely small objects.

Since 1960, the number of known subatomic particles has grown. There were electrons in the nucleus, and protons and neutrons in an atom’s orbit. But what was in the proton? In 1970, Swiss researchers discovered a quark in the protons and neutrons. Its electric charge was explained by the charge value of protons and neutrons. But they could not explain what the energy was. Energy, which chained the quarks forming the proton in the nucleus, was called the strong nuclear force. But how could this energy bind the quarks together? Scientists postulated that energy was not an invisible force, but a feature formed by tiny granules and motes. Thus, these gluon (adhesive) particles bound the quarks together by pasting and clamping them in such a way that nuclear power was developed. In other words, the essence nuclear power was the gluon.

Photons, defined as particles carrying electromagnetic energy, were postulated to be the result of an exchange, a shifting between two particles. Thus, electromagnetism was a field of quantum, carried its energy through particles with no electric charge, had a spin value of 1, and was not radiating but rather perceived. Although photons had been known for a long time, scientists did not realize that they provided the force of attraction between protons and neutrons. Photons were the smallest energy packages forming the light. Now, the only thing left to be discovered was the weak nuclear force that controlled radioactive decay.

These forces had to be carried by particles. These particles (bosons), when discovered, were found to be of three types: positive (W), negative (W), and neutral (W). Thus, scientists learned that the universe’s three elementary forces were carried by particles. But the particles (gravitons) carrying gravity, the weakest force, remained undiscovered. 

Non-atomic particles

Non-atomic particles are depicted as objects having a mass in terms of space, and as events and activities having as much energy as the quantity of the mass. Given this, the matter found in space is unstable and changes due to continuous activity and movement. This is surprising, for it means that particles move and consist of movement. In other words, matter’s presence and movement are not different of each other, but represent different features of the same mechanical truth.

Based on these observations, particle physicists consider force to be an energy transition between matter, which it affects, and think that it is caused by the smaller particles’ diffusion and absorption. For instance, charged particle’s state of movement changes when it diffuses a photon. If another charged particle absorbs the photon, it gains energy and thus changes its condition of movement. Here, as the mutual movement changes between two particles occur as force, the change’s total effect is perceived as force. And so there are no external forces, but only interactions via some inter-particles between the particles. In this way, quantum mechanics adds an unusual approach to non-atomic events and engenders a completely different description for force. In fact, force does not exist, because it is no more than tiny particles, motes, and rays. So, the interaction and continuous communication between particles give rise to force, which has no reality or presence by itself.

This truth disturbed materialists and determinists, for it showed that matter and force, which brought forth and sustain this magnificent universe, are based on another existence that indicates omnipotence. According to Said Nursi, the existence of this power is more definite than the existence of the universe, and each visible item is a proof and the sign of the Holy Power of God, the source of all objects and forces. He states: Every creature, either on its own or altogether, is this Power’s solid word. Scientific names like ˜dynamic process,’ ˜energy form,’ or ˜effect mechanism,’ are given to this governing power. However, modern science is beginning to show that the effect mechanism, which cannot be associated to any reason and is reduced to one truth, is really the manifestation of the ˜Holy Power.’ Said Nursi further says The motion of particles is the vibration and motion from that writing and transcription, which occurs while beings pass from the World of the Unseen to the Manifest World, as they pass from knowledge to power. (The Words, Vol. 2, 30th Word, Second Aim, Footnote) 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the activities and creation of creatures are manifested as wave-vibration-movement passing from the field of knowledge to the field of power. Then, the pen of Divine Power writes its fate and ushers it into the world of material existence. 

References

• Hawking, Stephen, The Universe in a Nutshell, Bantam Books, Incorporated, 2001
• Penrose, Roger, The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics, Oxford University Press, 1990
• Weinberg, Stewen, The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of Universe, New York: Basic Books, 1988
• Hooft, Gerart T., In the Search of the Ultimate Building Blocks, Cambridge University Press, 1996
• Davies, Paul, God and New Physics, Simon & Schuster 1984. For other books by the same author: http://aca.mq.edu.au/pdavies.html

An exact science is expressed in the highly sophisticated language of mathematics, whereas Sufism is based on meditation and insists that the Sufis’ insight cannot be verbalized. Reality, as experienced by Sufis, is completely indeterminate and undifferentiated. They do not see the intellect as their source of knowledge, but merely use it to analyze and interpret their personal experience.

The parallel between scientific experiments and Sufi experiences may seem surprising due to the very different nature of observation. Physicists perform experiments involving elaborate teamwork and highly sophisticated technology; Sufis obtain their knowledge purely through introspection, without machinery, and in the privacy of dhikr (meditation). Repeating an experiment in elementary particle physics requires many years of training; deep Sufi experience generally requires many years of training under an experienced master. The complexity and efficiency of the physicist’s technical apparatus is matched, if not surpassed, by the Sufi’s consciousness, both physical and spiritual, while in deep dhikr. Thus scientists and Sufis have developed highly sophisticated methods of observing nature that are inaccessible to the layperson.

Dhikr

Dhikr seeks to silence the mind and shift awareness from the rational to the intuitive mode of consciousness. This is achieved by concentrating on one item, like breathing or focusing on the sound of Allah or la ilaha illa Allah. Even prayer, which is considered dhikr to silence the mind, leads to feelings of peace and serenity that are characteristic of dhikr’s more static forms. These skills are used to develop the meditative mode of consciousness.

In dhikr, the mind is emptied of all thoughts and concepts and thus prepared to function for long periods through its intuitive mode. When the rational mind is silenced, the intuitive mode produces an extraordinary awareness, for the environment is experienced without the filter of conceptual thinking. This meditative state’s main characteristic is the experience of oneness with the surrounding environment, a state of consciousness in which fragmentation ceases and fades into undifferentiated unity.

Insight into reality

Sufism is based on direct insights into the nature of reality; physics is based on observing natural phenomena in scientific experiments. In physics, models and theories are approximate and basic to modern scientific research. Thus Einstein’s aphorism: As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. (1) Whenever the intellect analyzes the essential nature of things, it must seem absurd or paradoxical. Sufis have always recognized this, but it has recently become a problem in science.

A great variety of natural phenomena belong to the scientists’ macroscopic environment and thus to the realm of their sensory experience. Since their language’s images and intellectual concepts are abstracted from this very experience, they are limited to describing natural phenomena. But since the atomic and subatomic worlds lie beyond our sensory perception, knowledge of them is no longer derived from direct sensory experience. Thus our ordinary language, with its images from the world of the senses, is no longer adequate to describe the observed phenomena.

As we penetrate deeper into nature, we have to abandon more of the images and concepts of ordinary language. By probing inside the atom and investigating its structure, science transcended the limits of our sensory imagination and thus could no longer rely with absolute certainty on logic and common sense. Quantum physics provided scientists with the first glimpses of the essential nature of things. Like Sufis, physicists now deal with a nonsensory experience of reality and encounter the paradoxical aspects of this experience. As a result, the models and images of modern physics are akin to those of the Sufis.

The problem of communication

Scientists realized that our common language cannot describe atomic and subatomic reality. With the advent of relativity and quantum mechanics in physics, it became clear that this new knowledge transcends classical logic and cannot be described in ordinary language. Sufis have always realized that reality transcends ordinary language and were not afraid to go beyond logic and common concepts. The problem of language faced by both Sufis and physicists is the same: Both want to communicate their knowledge, but when they do so with words their statements are paradoxical and full of logical contradictions.

The duality of light

In quantum physics, many paradoxical situations are connected with light’s dual nature or, more generally, with electromagnetic radiation. Light produces interference phenomena, which is associated with waves of light. This is observed when two sources of light are used, for the end result is bright and dim patterns of light. On the other hand, electromagnetic radiation also produces the photoelectric effect: when short wave length light (e.g., ultraviolet light, x-rays, or gamma rays) strike the surface of some metals, they can knock off electrons from the surface. Therefore, the surface must consist of moving particles.

In the early stages of quantum theory, physicists were puzzled by how electromagnetic radiation could consist of particles (entities confined to a very small volume) and waves (which spread over a large area in space) simultaneously. Neither language nor imagination could deal very well with this kind of reality.

Sufism has developed several ways of dealing with reality’s paradoxical aspects. The works of Attar (d.1299), Hafiz (14th century), Ibn al-˜Arabi (d. 1240), Rumi (d. 1273), Bistami (d. 875), and others are full of intriguing contradictions. Furthermore, their compact, powerful, and extremely poetic language is meant to throw the reader’s mind off its familiar tracks of logical reasoning. Heisenberg once asked Bohr: Can nature possibly be so absurd as it seemed to us in these atomic experiments?(2)

Our sensory experiences, whose realm is the macroscopic world, allow us to draw images and intellectual concepts and express them in a language. This language was sufficient and adequate for describing natural phenomena. The Newtonian mechanistic model of the universe described the macroscopic world. In the twentieth century, physicists verified the existence of atoms and subatomic particles, the ultimate building blocks of nature, through experimentation. As these particles are beyond our sensory perceptions, our knowledge of them is no longer derived from direct sensory experience. Thus we face the problems mentioned earlier when dealing with the essential nature of things.

Modern physics

Sufis say that the direct mystical experience of reality is a momentous event that shakes the very foundations of one’s worldview, that it is the most startling event that can happen in the realm of human consciousness, and that it upsets every form of standardized experience. Some Sufis describe it as the bottom of a pail breaking through.

Physicists in the early part of the twentieth century felt much the same way when this new atomic reality shook their worldview’s foundations. They described it in terms that often were very similar to those used by Sufis. Thus Heisenberg wrote: Recent developments in modern physics can only be understood when one realizes that here the foundations of physics have started moving; and that this motion has caused the feeling that the ground would be cut from science.(3)

The discoveries of modern physics necessitated profound changes in such concepts as space, time, matter, object, and cause and effect. Since such concepts are so basic to our way of experiencing the world, those physicists who were forced to change them felt something of a shock. Out of these changes, a new and radically different worldview was born and continues to be formulated. Quantum theory implies the essential interconnectedness of nature, thus forcing us to see the universe not as a collection of physical objects but as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of a unified whole. This is how Sufis experience the world.

Space-time

Sufis seem to attain nonordinary states of consciousness that allow them to transcend the three-dimensional world of everyday life and experience a higher, multidimensional reality. In relativistic physics, if one can visualize the four-dimensional space“time reality, there would be nothing paradoxical at all. Sufis have notions of space and time that are very similar to those implied by relativity theory.

In Sufism, there seems to be a strong intuition for the space“time character of reality. Sufis experience a state of complete dissolution in which there is no distinction between mind and body, subject and object. In a state of pure experience, there is no space without time and no time without space, for they are interpenetrating. Physicists base their notion of space“time on scientific experiments, whereas Sufis base it on Sufism.

Modern physics’ relativistic models and theories illustrate the two basic elements of Sufism’s worldview: the universe’s oneness and intrinsically dynamic character. Space is curved to different degrees, and time flows at different rates in different parts of the universe. As our notions of a three-dimensional Euclidean space and time’s linear flow are limited to our ordinary experience of the physical world, they have to be abandoned when we extend this experience.

Sufis talk of extending their experience of the world in higher states of consciousness, and affirm that these states involve a radically different experience of space and time. They emphasize that they go beyond ordinary three-dimensional space in meditation, and, even more forcefully, that they transcend the ordinary awareness of time. Insteadof a linear succession of instants, they experience an infinite, timeless, and yet dynamic present. The spiritual world contains no time divisions such as past, present, and future, for they have contracted themselves into a single moment of the present, where life quivers in its true sense.

Mass“energy equivalence

Einstein showed mass“energy equivalence through a simple mathematical equation: E=mc2. Physicists measure a particle’s mass in the corresponding energy units. The discovery that mass is nothing but a form of energy forced us to modify our concept of a particle in an essential way. Hence particles are seen as quanta (bundles) of energy and as not consisting of any basic stuff. But energy is associated with activity and processes, which means that subatomic particles have an intrinsically dynamic nature and are forms in four-dimensional entities in space“time. Therefore they have both a space and a time aspect: their space aspect makes them appear as objects with a certain mass, and their time aspect makes them appear as processes involving the equivalent energy.

When subatomic particles are observed, we never see them as any substance. All we see is continuously changing patterns of one to the other, a continuos dance of energy. The subatomic world’s particles are not only active in the sense of moving very quickly, but are processes. Matter’s existence and activity cannot be separated, for they are only different aspects of the same space“time reality.

In their nonordinary states of consciousness, Sufis seem to be aware of the interpenetration of space and time at a macroscopic level. Thus they see the macroscopic world in a way that is very similar to physicists’ idea of subatomic particles. For Sufis, all compounded things are impermanent. The reality underlying all phenomena is beyond all forms and defies all description and specification. Hence it is formless, empty, void. Sufis consider the world’s phenomena to be nothing but illusory manifestations of the mind and as having no reality of their own.

Conclusion

Modern physics’ principal theories and models lead to a view of the world that is internally consistent and in perfect harmony with that of Sufism. The significance of their parallel views is beyond doubt. Both emerge when researchers inquire into the essential nature of thingsinto the deeper realms of matter in physics and into the deeper realms of consciousness in Sufismwhen they discover a different reality behind the superficial mundane appearance of everyday life. Physicists derive their knowledge from experimentation, whereas Sufis acquire their knowledge by meditative insight. Sufis look within and explore their consciousness at its various levels. In fact, the Sufi’s experience of his or her body is often seen as the key to their experience of the world.

Another similarity is that both groups’ observations take place in realms that are inaccessible to the ordinary senses: the realms of the atomic and subatomic worlds for physicists, and the nonordinary states of consciousness, in which the sense world is transcended, for Sufis. For both groups, these multidimensional experiences transcend the sensory world and thus are almost impossible to express in ordinary language.

Quantum physics and Sufism are two complementary manifestations of the human mind’s rational and intuitive faculties. Modern physicists experience the world through the rational mind’s extreme specialization; Sufis experience it through the intuitive mind’s extreme specialization. Both are necessary for a fuller understanding of the world. Sufism is necessary to understand the deepest nature of things, and science is essential for modern life. Therefore we need a dynamic interplay between Sufi intuition and scientific analysis.

Footnotes

1. Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffmann, eds., Albert Einstein: The Human Side (Princeton University Press, 1981); Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics (New York: Bantam New Age Books, 1980), 27.
2. Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1958), 42.
3. Ibid., 167.

References

1. Capra, Fritjof. The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism. Boston: Shambhala, 1980.
2. Dukas, Helen and Banesh Hoffmann, eds. Albert Einstein: The Human Side. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981.
3. Einstein, Albert. Essays in Science. New York: Philosophical Library, 1934.
4. . Out of My Later Years. New York: Philosophical Library, 1950.
5. Ernst, Carl. Shambhala Guide to Sufism. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1997.
6. Heisenberg, Walter. The Physicist’s Conception of Nature. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1958.
7. . Physics and Philosophy. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1958.
8. . Across the Frontiers. New York: Harper and Row, 1974.
9. Karplus, Robert. Physics and Man. New York: W. A. Benjamin, Inc., 1970.
10. Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. Awakening: A Sufi Experience. New York: Tarcher/Putnam, 1999.
11. Schrodinger, Ewin. My View of the World. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1964.
12. Schrodinger, Erwin and Roger Penrose. What is Life? Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1967.
13. Wilber, Ken ed. Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World’s Great Physicists. Boston: Shambhala, 1984.
14. Zukav, Gary and David Finkelstein. The Dancing Wu-Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics. New York: Bantam New Age Books, 1994.