DIVINE ENERGY QUANTUM MECHANICS PSYCHOTHERAPY AND WORLD RELIGIONS

DIVINE ENERGY: QUANTUM MECHANICS, PSYCHOTHERAPY, AND WORLD RELIGIONS (in reference to St. Gregory Palamas) According to D. M. Rogich Presentation by Liza Tanczyk Theology 3306 November 21, 2013

STRUCTURE OF PRESENTATION Follows reading chronologically. Slide titles simplified. Rogich ’s original titles in small print. n THE SCIENCE OF ENERGY § Energy in modern theoretical quantum mechanics (to p. 184) n THEOLOGY – PHYSICS DIALOGUE § Palamite energy and quantum theory. Dialogue on energy: Teilhard and Cobb n RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREATOR AND CREATION § Jesus: the divine personification of E = mc 2 n PALAMITE COSMOLOGY § Energy, time, space: hesychast christology and physics n CRITISICMS OF PALAMISM § Same title as above, plus “Aristotelian “created” categories” n PALAMAS RESONATES WITH MODERN PHYSICS § Quantum theory supports the divine energy concept n EAST-WEST DEBATE § Updating: Uniting the Greek East with the Latin West on (uncreated) grace n PSYCHOTHERAPY AND HESYCHASM § Same title n HESYCHASM VIS-À-VIS EASTERN RELIGIONS § The mysticism of world religions and hesychast christology

THE SCIENCE OF ENERGY Energy and mass are not two separate things – they interpenetrate. n E = mc 2 n c = speed of light; reduce c, and m increases n Wave-particle duality Distinction between matter and energy becomes fuzzy around speed of light Newton’s Laws of Motion: a body changes according to exterior forces. n Quantum mechanics: a body changes according to ever-present interior energy. n

THEOLOGY – PHYSICS DIALOGUE Some physicists are starting to recognize the need to factor “consciousness” into laws of physics n Theologians are also considering science parallels n e. g. Tielhard: n “There is a single energy operating in the world ” n – It occurs in two forms: 1. n n 2. Radial Tangenti al Causes physical effect Results in creation Zone of participation of creation in the Divine n Draws creation forward n Uncreated

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREATOR AND CREATION n n n Incarnation – duality of energy and mass reach their unified potential. Personal God works through uncreated energies on physical world God is not distant but co-mingling Created nature is not ontologically autonomous – it was created to participate in God K. Ware: “God did not set the universe in motion and leave it to tick on its own. Creation is continuous and present. ”

PALAMITE COSMOLOGY n n n God’s energy is converted to physicality. Part of it attaches to the creation. This is the “image of God” within. Human and divine energies co-mingle, bringing about theosis. Purpose of Incarnation was to re-activate divine energy in humans. Theosis is not brought about by an individual’s imitation of God. Because theosis is beyond space and time, it can start while still in this world.

CRITICISMS OF PALAMISM n n n Aristotelian “substance metaphysics”: God and creature are ontologically distinct, interact as separate autonomous entities. Man can be sanctified by created, not uncreated grace. Aristotelian view is from “Outside”, Palamite view from “Inside”. Critics of Palamas are uncomfortable because he is not being clear-cut. Palamas: Answers to existence are not in intellectual concepts but in “direct nonconceptual experience inexpressible in language and philosophical construct”. 9

PALAMAS RESONATES WITH MODERN PHYSICS n n n n Uncreated energy is changeless, appears in various forms, is real and indestructible (is conserved). It is the “consciousness of matter” that pervades the universe. Divine (radial) energies draw participant into encounter with God. There is no “gap” between them and God’s essence. Physical energy manifests itself in different forms that can be observed and measured (light, heat). But energy “writ large” – the source from where all the manifestations come – is not readily observable. This can be used as a way of understanding the difference between essence and energies in Palamite theology.

EAST – WEST DEBATE n n n The impasse between East and West is about the essence and energies of God. Divine essence is unknowable, yet energies are manifestations of the essence. If all beings can participate in God, He becomes multi-hypostatic. Palamas indicates that experience of divine light is temporary. Participation does not result in a permanent union with God. Hence the West (Aquinas) considers that the beatific vision cannot happen until the next life.

PSYCHOTHERAPY AND HESYCHASM n n n n Mind techniques can elicit physiological response of relaxation. The Jesus prayer is not a therapeutic method, but a means to go beyond the mind to experience the reality of God. Is consciousness physical; does it reside in the brain, or is embedded in other cells of the body? Is it a property of an independent mind / soul? Palamas: Soul gets immortality from the uncreated image that resides in the Nous Created consciousness is the neurophysiology of the brain Uncreated consciousness is the image of God within.

HESYCHASM VIS-À-VIS EASTERN RELIGIONS n n n Palamas on mystical ascent: “One does not ascend by reason or by transcendental meditation, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. The intellect listens to inexpressible words and sees the invisible”. In contrast to other Eastern religions, this process is not achieved by the meditator. Hinduism and Buddhism seek to attain a state of nothingness through the efforts of the meditator. The goal of the meditation is a union with the divine accompanied by a loss of personal individuality. In hesychasm the object of contemplation is God, nothingness, and does not end in impersonalism.