Over the past century, modern science has probed deeper and deeper into nature’s functioning, from molecular to atomic levels, from nuclear to subnuclear. This research has culminated in the discovery of completely unified field theories based on the superstring. These discoveries, supported by mathematics, reveal that underlying and permeating all the surface diversity and change that we see and experience around us there is a universal field of energy and intelligence.
The unified field gives rise to everything that exists
This unified field, dynamically interacting with itself, gives rise to everything in the cosmos—including us. Since the unified field exists at infinitesimal scales that are not directly accessible by objective observation or experimentation, it cannot be measured directly. Scientists infer its existence mathematically and verify its characteristics by how nature works at more expressed levels.
Quantum physics describes the unified field as an unmanifest field of infinite possibilities—the source of all the order, creativity, and intelligence displayed in nature and throughout the universe.
What does the unified field have to do with our TM practice?
These groundbreaking discoveries from the objective field of modern science have profound parallels with our subjective experience of transcending during the TM technique. Quantum physicist John Hagelin, whose contributions to quantum field theory and cosmology include some of the most cited references in the physical sciences, talked about these connections in a Huffington Post interview:
What we’ve discovered at the foundation of the universe is a universal field where all the forces and particles of nature are united as one. They are ripples on a single ocean of existence…
Our minds profoundly mirror the hierarchical structure of nature. We can dive within to deeper levels of mind, accessing more powerful levels of thought, and ultimately, the unified field itself, the most powerful, limitless, universal level of our own consciousness. —Dr. John Hagelin
When we practice TM, we effortlessly move from more expressed, active levels of mental functioning to deeper, quieter, more subtle levels of the mind. This is transcending, as the graphic at the top of the page illustrates. When we transcend during TM, we spontaneously experience a state of silent inner wakefulness, beyond thought. This is a field of pure consciousness, pure creative intelligence, which underlies and influences all the more expressed levels of our thinking and behavior.
The unified field and consciousness
During our TM practice, the experience of pure consciousness, in which we are awake to our own essential reality, brings with it deep rest and dissolution of stress. As extensive research has confirmed, transcending improves and transforms our brain functioning and our mental and physical health. The TM technique gives us access to the full range of our existence, from the more active, localized thoughts and perceptions, to the unbounded consciousness, intelligence, and creativity deep within each of us.
Analysis of the parallels between modern science and ancient Vedic science by researchers such as Dr. Hagelin has found quantitative and qualitative correlations between the objective and subjective approaches to describing nature and its source, as the chart below illustrates.
The objective approach of modern science can provide an intellectual understanding of the unified field, while the subjective approach of the TM technique allows us to directly experience the unified field as our own consciousness.
In this way, through our simple, effortless TM practice, we spontaneously begin to access and harness the limitless creativity, organizing power, and infinite possibilities of the unified field to support our intentions and aspirations.
The unified field chart is a visual aid used in Consciousness-BasedSM education to help us understand the connections between objective science and consciousness
RELATED TOPICS
The Influence of Group Meditation on the Collective Consciousness of Society
TM Talks: Bob Roth and Mario Orsatti discuss a 1984 interview with a Boston Globe reporter.
The Ultimate Reality That Unites Us All
“...It is a scientific truth, in this scientific age, that we are fundamentally one at our core.” —Dr. John Hagelin
What Is “Being,” and How Can We Experience It?
Ultimate truths from Maharishi’s classic, the Science of Being and Art of Living: Transcendental Meditation by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
The Ultimate Stage of Personal Growth: Supreme Enlightenment in Unity Consciousness
Exclusive excerpts from One Unbounded Ocean of Consciousness by Tony Nader, M.D., Ph.D., M.A.R.R.