Looking Twice at a Heisenberg Quote

“What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” That’s a quote attributed to the physicist Werner Heisenberg. He also gave us Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle which mentions specifics like photons and electrons. However, this quote is far more general. This newsletter will explore why I think so. What’s more, it will hopefully answer the question “So what?” It will also make connections to the Tao Te Ching. Let’s get started.

Here's what the quote makes me think: Can we observe without questioning? And I think the answer is that, most of the time, no we cannot. Does that mean every time we “observe” we have a question in mind? Yes, I think most of the time it does. But perhaps not always. Okay, what does observing something with no question in mind look like?

Let’s step back, way back. To observe implies a separation between the observer and the observed, doesn’t it? Obviously, we are not the thing we are observing. Whatever it is, we are “here” it is “there” and we are observing it. There is a gap, a separation, between us.

So, from across our side of the separation, we can ask questions like: What is it? How big is it? How heavy is it? We can ask: If it’s an electron and we know its speed, can we pinpoint its position? And all these questions have potential real-world answers. (By the way, the answer to the last question is no.)

We might also ask: Are there any types of answers other than real-world answers? Hmm, what if the answer is yes? Okay, let’s try this.

What if there were no separation between the observer and the observed? Huh? What if there were no “here” and “there”? What would we observe if we backed off to the level where everything is just Oneness/Wholeness no longer consisting of any so-called “parts.”

I say “so-called” because we should not forget that we are the ones doing the calling. In other words, we are the ones who identify and name the parts. We are the ones who then go on to ask questions like: What is this part? How is this part different from this other part? I think this is why Heisenberg says “What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” It seems we just cannot observe without questioning. I think he’s right; they go together. But is this true all the time?

When might they not go together and what would that look like? It would look like observing with no question in mind at all. Would that even be “observing”? I don’t think so. It would be just “being at one with” everything. Okay, so what does that look like?

“Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe” (chapter 42). “The Master keeps her mind always at one with the Tao; that is what gives her her radiance” (chapter 21). “The Tao is ungraspable. How can her mind be at one with it? Because she doesn’t cling to ideas” (chapter 21). (Aha, that’s how she does it – in case we were wondering.)

We keep hearing the phrase “at one with,” don’t we? Questions are ideas. “What is this part and how is it different from that part?” That’s an idea. For that matter, so is the name I just gave to this part to distinguish it from that part. They’re ideas too. They’re all ideas. Useful in our temporary “real” world, to be sure, but not real in any eternal sense. We’re back to chapter 1 “The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things.”

Unnamable means no names. No names means no questions. No questions means no observing. No observing means no separation between this and that, between you and me, between anything and anything else. We’ve zoomed back to the level of the Oneness/Wholeness that is everything. We’ve now gone way beyond names. This is why Lao Tzu is careful to say “For lack of a better name, I call it the Tao” (chapter 25).

So, back to my earlier question. Can we observe without questioning? No, I don’t think we can. I thought we might be able to, at least occasionally, but now I don’t think so any more. You cannot “be at one with” something and observe it at the same time.

Well, that was a wild ride. Okay, so now it’s time for the big So What?

What if instead of living at the level of “particular things” we lived at the level of the Tao? What if Oneness/Wholeness was the point and everything else was beside it? We would no longer live at the level of this and that and the other. We would be aware that, in an eternal sense, they do not exist. What’s more, there would be no such thing as big or small, or right or wrong, or to-be-desired or to-be-feared. At the level of the Tao there simply are no “parts.” There is only the Tao. So what is our part (pun intended) in all this?

Here’s Lao Tzu on the subject. “The Master views the parts with compassion, because he understands the whole. His constant practice is humility. He doesn’t glitter like a jewel but lets himself be shaped by the Tao, as rugged and common as a stone” (chapter 39).

When we observe, we stand apart, we ask questions, and we care about the answers. Differences matter to us. We seek what glitters. The Master “…cares about nothing but the Tao. Thus he can care for all things” (chapter 64). Well, that’s certainly one answer to the big So What?

So, let’s return to where we started. It seems we asked a question and we got an answer. What happened there? Did we make one of Heisenberg’s “observations”? Did we just observe “nature exposed to our method of questioning”? You know, I think the answer is that yes, we did. And what did we learn?

I think we learned three things. First, that observing requires a separation between the observer and the observed. Second, that we cannot observe without questioning. Third, that compassion and caring come from a place that lies beyond questions and differences. When we start from Oneness/Wholeness, instead of starting from “particular things,” then differences simply disappear. What is our part in all this? I think the answer is to respond by making our unique contribution, viewing the parts with compassion because we “understand the whole.”

Well, what if our unique contribution is to be a good scientist, to stand back from what we observe, and make useful distinctions between things by asking good questions? If so, then that’s great. And there would be nothing wrong with it. Science has many useful applications. (We won’t split hairs like good, wrong, and useful.) Then again, maybe our unique contribution is something completely different. Who knows? (Personally, I think we are here to find out - but that’s a topic for another newsletter.)

In the meantime, I think it’s helpful every once in a while, to zoom out to the level of the Tao and not ask any questions at all. If “What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning” then let’s try being silent. Let’s ask no questions, make no observations. Let’s just listen to “nature itself” and respond with trust. “Open yourself to the Tao, then trust your natural responses; and everything will fall into place” (chapter 23).

What do you think? How might your experience of life be different if you questioned less and instead listened, responded, and trusted more? Oops, that’s another question.

If you have any thoughts you’d like to share, you can get in touch with me by:

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Thanks for reading. Please feel free to share this newsletter.

Francis

IN OTHER NEWS...

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In Harmony with the Tao: A Guided Journey into the Tao Te Ching is available here. There Is No Somewhere Else: Insights from the Tao Te Ching is available here.

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