Some researches of scientists, primarily specialists in quantum physics and quantum mechanics, shock the consciousness of people that is unusual for a sharp change in worldview.
It turns out that the experimenter's attention, drawn to the elementary particle under study, can radically change its physical properties. In particular, in Young's experiment with two slits, the observer's attention forces the electrons to change the physical properties of the wave to the properties of the particle.
Under the influence of the power of attention of the researcher, the materialization of wave radiation occurs. If we extend this pattern to macroscopic objects, it turns out that the entire physical world around us is a product of the interaction of our attention and a certain wave field or "quantum soup", as scientists call it.
Such views were held, for example, by the great physicist Niels Bohr. According to Bohr, without an observer, the surrounding reality is only a probabilistic form. Concrete reality appears only with the arrival of the observer. Simply put, we create our own world. Our entire world, or rather its unconditional existence outside of us, is just an illusion.
But in order to be convinced of the illusory nature of the surrounding reality, it was not worth waiting for the physics "hungry" for discoveries, "armed" with the latest technology, to look into the very depths of the matter of which it consists. One could simply comprehend the purpose and principle of the brain.
And this, too, is a kind of qualia, a thing that cannot be conveyed in words, because no matter what this text smelled like, it will never absorb that calmness obtained at the thought of a person who shares with you the same world, colored by the same paints.
A good example is the personal experience of one well-known American neuroanatomist Jill Bolty Taylor.
Jill Taylor has done a posthumous study of the brain of people with severe mental disorders. There were not enough samples, and she toured the country with performances in which she encouraged people to donate the brains of their loved ones to study at Harvard. On December 10, 1996, Jill Taylor herself suffered a stroke: a vessel that supplied part of the left hemisphere of her cerebral cortex burst. The neurons lost their nutrition, they just floated in the blood. Gradually, the hemisphere almost completely turned off.
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But not at once.
Feeling the first symptoms - paralysis in the right hand, lethargy, changes in the perception of the environment, Taylor made a non-standard decision. “This is a unique chance, how cool! I will be the first neurophysiologist to study a stroke from the inside.” The woman seemed to have taken popcorn and settled down more comfortably in the front row: to observe how rational thinking, speech, perception of time are lost. A few hours later she was hospitalized. On the way, she finally passed out.
Later, Taylor underwent surgery: a blood clot the size of a golf ball was removed. Then, within a few years, the brain functions finally recovered. And then Dr. Taylor was able to describe in detail what she remembered.
In fact, even before Taylor's experience, it was known what happens when certain areas of the brain are turned off: speech, verbal thinking and comprehension, the ability to read and control movements disappear. But all these observations were made by doctors when evaluating patients. Taylor's observations are from the inside and therefore invaluable. True, there is one problem here: at the time of the stroke, Taylor lost her speech, which means she could not formulate observations; her memories are a collection of images. The verbal description was born later. Working with a Gestalt psychologist, Dr. Taylor was able to recreate the events of that day (actually reliving them).
Suppose that now it is clear to us that all this time we were experiencing constant discomfort of our uncontrollable mind, and did not live a rich spiritual life - and we want to figure it out and make the brain work for us.
This time she was armed with words.
The main thing that she highlights in her experience is not the loss of certain skills and abilities. Taylor describes the kind of burden that falls off one's shoulders when the experience of the past stops hanging over a person. How he relaxes and what harmony with the world he finds when rational, speech, analytical perception fades into the background and emotional, holistic perception, living strictly "here and now", comes to the fore. A person goes beyond his personality and feels absolute unity with the world and people. "This is nirvana!" says Taylor.
The Brain is a super-powerful Computer and, performing some simple Operations, it simultaneously processes a huge amount of Information, which We do not even always record and remember. The question of Research Methods is always Sharp at the Institute of the Brain, "so as not to look where it is Light and how we are able."
Now Jill Bolty is promoting the idea of what kind of world people can live in if they realize the possibilities inherent in them by nature. As the main idea, Jill Taylor tells them: “I am sure that the more time we decide to spend in the quiet, calm internal“microcircuits”of our brain, the more peace and tranquility we will bring to this world and the more peaceful and calm it will be our planet. And it seemed to me that this idea is worth it to spread."
Everything, as they say, is in ourselves. From the point of view of neurophysiology, the world that we think is outside of us is simply a collection of electrical signals in the brain that cause visual, tactile, sound and all other sensations. At the same time, do not forget that our brain, just like all other accessories of our reality, is nothing more than a combination of our sensations. Here is such a vicious circle.
All matter is a product of our perception, not an objective reality. We can only talk about what we feel, what is and is happening inside us, but not outside, because our senses give us sensations conditioned by the qualities of themselves.
Moreover, the very concept of "outside" is born within us when signals from the senses arrive; the separation of oneself from the world “around us” is also part of the illusion.
It is interesting that not only the physical characteristics of the world, such as density, space, time, temperature, etc. are illusory. Emotional labels that we hang on our world and the events that take place in it are illusory.
We say: "This world is cruel!" or "There was a nuisance" or something like that, but these are just our estimates. Our reality depends on us. Why not try to make it the way we want it?