Book Review: Quantum Implications: essays in honour of David Bohm

A passage from one of the essays (Renée Weber's 'Meaning and being in the implicate order philosophy of David Bohm: a conversation'):

Weber:........the key seems to be the Socratic maxim 'Know yourself, go inward and also 'Observe.'

Bohm: And also outward. The outward and inward are one part of one total meaning.

Weber: You are really saying our being is meaning. The whole world is meaning.

Bohm: Yes, the being of matter is its meaning; the being of ourselves is meaning; the being of society is its meaning. The mechanistic mew has created a rather crude and gross meaning which has created a crude and gross and confused society.

Weber: This view, your view, would make human beings feel rooted and have their dynamic place in the whole scheme of things. Bohm: At least they would have a chance to find it there. It's a view within which it makes sense to observe to find out where your place is.

Weber: Beautiful!

(pp436-50):

Yes, beautiful. David Bohm, one of the most highly respected and distinguished (yet often also maverick) theoretical physicists of our time died a few months ago. The contributors to this text, originally published in 1987 and now available in softcover, include some of the finest thinkers in physics (Richard P Feynman, J S Bell), brain research (Karl Pribram, Roger Penrose), and philosophers of science and language (Bernard d'Espagnat, Alan Ford).

I cannot pretend to have understood a great deal of the many issues raised throughout the text and the various charts graphs and equations that appear throughout the book remain as mysterious to me as those immense geometric shapes and lines that can be seen when flying over Nazca, Peru and which seem to provoke so much (often idle) speculation. Still, those parts of the text that I could understand were often stimulating, provocative and revelatory not only of Bohm's originality of thought but also of the very high degree of respect and affection that so many of the contributors felt for him.

I was lucky enough to meet David Bohm on several occasions when I was engaged in some research with one of his colleagues at Birbeck College. Initially not being aware of his reputation, I casually mentioned to a friend that I'd chatted to this self-effacing, even shy, Professor on topics such as mind and consciousness and how impressed (even jealous) I'd been of the points he'd raised and how they revealed the significant amount of prior thought and consideration that he'd given to them. I was soon put straight as to his significance. David Bohm had written one of the most influential books on quantum theory (Causality And Chance in Modern Physics; 1957) which had been both critical of the indeterminacy aspects of previous interpretations and, as well, had proposed an alternate interpretation which had argued for the consideration of the infinite totality of matter in the process of becoming as the basic reality (Bohm, 1957, p 170). These ideas were further expanded and became the main focus of Bohm's most well-known book, Wholeness and the Implicate Order which was published in 1980. Sharing a number of similar concepts to those proposed independently by Karl Pribram, the text gave rise to holographic (or holonomic) theories that, I submit, are of immense import to Phenomenological thinking. In 1987, Bohm, together with F David Peat, co-authored a text entitled Science, Order and Creativity which explored the evolution of scientific theories, their social impact and their implications for a deeper understanding of human being-in-the-world. It has become increasingly commonplace to ascribe the terms 'genius' and 'renaissance man' to all manner of unworthy candidates. David Bohm, on the other hand, as this text makes so clear, fully deserved such laudatory exclamations.

While quite properly emphasising Bohm's contributions to physics, Quantum Implications provides an excellent overview of Bohm's life and broader philosophical, psychological and linguistic interests. In addition, a number of papers follow up these broader themes and apply them to such diverse areas as dreams (Montague Ullman), artistic creativity (John Briggs) and meditation and dialogue (David Shainberg). Dip into this book, see what all the fuss is about, and be prepared to be entranced.

Ernesto Spinelli