David Bohm believed, as countless thinkers1 have, that true reality is different in some way from the reality we perceive. In his writings on the subject, Bohm distinguishes between actual and apparent reality with the terms Implicate and Explicate Order, respectively. The proposed Implicate Order is to be a metaphysical entity responsible for matter and energy as well as consciousness (which belong to different categories under his scheme). It is to be the fundamental underlying substructure of everything.
Particularly crucial to his scheme is the notion that objects which seem separated by great distances in the Explicate Order (such as a particular electron here on earth and an alpha particle in one of the stars in the Abell 1835 galaxy, the farthest galaxy from Earth known to humans) may actually be manifestations of a single object within the Implicate Order. It seems his motivation for this perspective is the room within quantum mechanics for the entanglement of such objects.
Bohm uses the term holomovement to denote occurrences within the Implicate Order, particularly those that manufacture the explicate order. He also uses the term unfoldment in this last respect. Bohm likens unfoldment to the decoding of a television signal to produce a sensible image on a screen. The signal, screen, and television electronics in this analogy represent the Implicate Order whilst the image produced represents the Explicate Order. Holomovement is the process taken as a whole.
In another analogy, Bohm asks us to consider a pattern produced by making small cuts in a folded piece of paper and then, literally, unfolding it. Widely separated elements of the pattern are, in actuality, produced by the same original cut in the folded piece of paper. Here the cuts in the folded paper represent the Implicate Order and the unfolded pattern represents the Explicate Order.
The term holomovement seems to be a double reference to (a) holism, the view that a whole cannot be reduced to its constituent parts (a view he insists applies to the Implicate Order), and (b) holography, Bohm's favorite analogy for the relationship between Implicate and Explicate Orders. In standard photography, each section of film only stores information about the section of image it corresponds to. However, in holographic photography, sections do not correspond in this way. Rather, information about the entire reproduction is stored at every point in the holographic film (effectively, what is stored is the particular point's view of the object being reproduced). Here the holographic film along with the light cast on it represent the Implicate Order while the hologram represents the Explicate Order. Holomovement would be the act of casting the light on the film to produce the hologram.
Many, along with Bohm himself, have seen strong connections between his ideas and ideas from the East. Some proponents of alternative religions (such as shamanism) claim a connection with their belief systems as well.
1A partial list: Immanuel Kant, John Locke, George Berkeley, René Descartes, holographic principle, unobservables, Bodhi, Mind's eye
The Implicate Order and Deism
Many Deists believe that the implicate order and other empirically analysed phenomena are strong evidence for a God-Mind consciousness which presides over the totality of reality. However, in contrast to religion, these people generally do not attribute personification, gender or belief systems to this Universal Mind. Rather, they regard it as the all-pervading consciousness, existing in a non-local, non-temporal state, which comprises the whole of all existence, similar to the Early Christian concept of God (Jmmanuel: "The hierarchy of God is not in the sky, the sea, or the earth, but within you and without you, pervading all"), the Buddhist concept of Oneness, the Hindu concept of Brahman, etc. Although the religious groups generally attribute laws, tenets, or reward and punishment of some kind to God-Mind, whereas Deists generally do not, regarding It as completely neutral.
Some examples of Deists throughout history include Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin (and most of the other United States Founding Fathers), Michael Faraday, Renes Descartes, Socrates, Xenophanes, Aristotle, and many, many others.
A major proponent of the idea of a God-Mind is Stewart Swerdlow, a mentalist who worked on the Montauk Project, and claims to bear knowledge of many scientific concepts and information currently not available to the general public.
See also
External links
- David Bohm's Vision – A sympathetic and more exhaustive presentation of Bohm's ideas.
- Interview with David Bohm – An interview with Bohm concerning this particular subject matter conducted by F. David Peat.