Follow ChabadInfo & Never Miss an Update!

Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our WhatsApp status and broadcast Follow us on Tiktok Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on Google News Subscribe on YouTube

By Rabbi Shlomo Ezagui, RabbiShlomoEzagui.com  

In this article, I propose that we view light, quantum objects, and other larger macroscopic objects as “both” a wave of possibilities and a particle at every single level and layer of reality.

Wave-particle duality, a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics, suggests that quantum objects, including light, exhibit wave-like and particle-like properties “depending” on how they are observed. Louis de Broglie first proposed this idea in 1924, and it has since received experimental confirmation for a variety of particles, including electrons and photons.

Light is not “always” both a wave and a particle. Instead, it exhibits wave-like behavior in some situations and particle-like behavior in others. Light is never simultaneously a wave and a particle in the same context. Instead, it’s either a wave or a particle, depending on how it is observed and the experimental conditions.

Bohr’s theory of complementarity states that objects have complementary properties that cannot be observed simultaneously, such as position and momentum. Measuring one property precludes observing the other. Complementarity is a fundamental aspect of quantum mechanics and has been experimentally verified.

According to the complementarity theory, particles like electrons can exhibit wave-like and particle-like behavior depending on how they are observed. This is known as wave-particle duality. In some experiments, electrons may behave like waves, while in others, they behave like particles.

For example, in a double-slit experiment, light behaves like a wave, creating an interference pattern on a screen. But when observed individually, light behaves like particles (photons). How we measure light determines whether we see wave-like or particle-like behavior.

Schrödinger’s Cat is a thought experiment illustrating the seemingly absurd consequences of applying quantum mechanics to macroscopic objects. The idea is to show that if we follow the principles of quantum mechanics to their logical conclusion, we would have to consider the cat as being in a superposition of states (both alive and dead) until observed.

This thought experiment was meant to highlight the strange implications of quantum mechanics and the limitations of the Copenhagen interpretation.

However, I am proposing a new way to look at light and the universe (which can address many paradoxes in quantum physics for another article) where the wave of all possibilities is very much there, even at the cat’s macroscopic level, just as Schrodinger imagined incredulously. The wave and the particle exist simultaneously.

In Kabbalah, the light as a wave is contained (as the light it is) in a particle, and particles at their core are waves of light.

Let me use an example from stem cells.

Stem cells can be found in various tissues and organs throughout the body and harvested for research, medical treatments, and regenerative medicine. While they retain the ability to differentiate into many cell types, scientists prefer umbilical cord cells for research due to their high potential for versatility and lower risk of rejection.

Cells can be harvested from various sources, including bone marrow, cord blood, embryos (embryonic stem cells), fat tissue (adipose tissue), blood, dental pulp (in teeth), skin, muscle, liver, and brain tissue (certain areas). However, umbilical cord blood is preferred for research and transplants because its cells are more primitive and flexible, allowing them to be used for related and unrelated transplants before committing to a specific cell fate.

Stem cells retain a full complement of DNA, which contains the genetic information necessary for the development and function of all cell types. However, as stem cells differentiate (evolve) into specialized cell types, their gene expression profiles change, and they become less able to access the full range of cell fates encoded in their DNA. This is because cellular differentiation involves the progressive silencing of certain genes and activating others, which commits the cell to a specific fate.

Here is the compelling point: It is theoretically possible to reprogram even differentiated cells back to a pluripotent state through epigenetic reprogramming. At the core of cells, when and if reached, even after evolving and developing to a specific type cell all possibilities are again open to the researcher.

Now let’s apply those same principles to our discussion.

Quantum fields must come out of the vacuum, not just an empty space but a rich environment filled with the potential from which the universe is created and essential for describing the behavior of fundamental particles and forces in the universe.

This quantum vacuum is filled with “virtual” particles and constantly fluctuating fields, permeating the cosmos. These fluctuations give rise to fundamental particles and antiparticles that can be observed in high-energy collisions. These waves then transform into particles. The quantum fields are omnipresent and constantly emit waves, which can take on various manifestations and intensities. These waves can coalesce into particles at different points while, (at some level) maintaining their wave-like properties. Thus, all three identities – quantum fields, waves, and particles – exist simultaneously, but with varying intensity levels, throughout the universe.

(Here is a complicated note, highlighting the many layers, dimensions of energy and reality in the universe.) Sir Roger Penrose, in discussing the curvature tensor in the context of Einstein’s general relativity, explains how to understand why a part of the tensor, called the Riemann curvature tensor, is disregarded when deriving the Einstein field equations, which contain information about spacetime’s topology (its “donut-ness” or “wholeness”). The remaining part, retained in the equations, complements the discarded part and describes spacetime geometry.

Penrose draws an analogy between the relationship of the electromagnetic field and charges in electromagnetism and that of the curvature tensor and Ricci tensor in general relativity. He notes that the mathematical form of the “vile” curvature resembles the Maxwell field equations, with the Ricci curvature playing a role similar to charge. Essentially, the vile curvature is the “electromagnetic field” of gravity, while the Ricci curvature is the “charge” that drives it. This analogy highlights the similarities between the two fundamental forces of nature. The point here is that there are many distinct levels of energy, mathematics, etc., all the time.)

A person’s perspective and method of observation shape “their” reality. Due to their inherent limitations, the observer can only perceive a limited scope of what “they” observe. This subjective perspective, which can always change, be broadened and deepened, determines which level of the three realities (quantum fields, waves, or particles) they can connect with and, thus, what becomes their personal reality.

There is an objective reality that exists independently of the observer, we know that to be true because our Toras Emes, the Torah of Truth, tells us G-d created a very real world.

The quantum vacuum fields have their own source and origins in the spiritual realm from which they emanate. This spiritual undercurrent is the most powerful and expansive of the layers and fields above it. This spiritual undercurrent is everywhere all the time.

While things exist and are real outside the observer, the observer can always perceive and experience all four levels and dimensions of reality: quantum fields, waves, particles, and, deeper yet, the G-d within all creation that is always present in all materiality. When a person refines their perspective to one of spirituality and prayer, they can and will reach deeper to the first floor and beginning level, the spiritual level from which everything comes.

When the Holy Baal Shem Tov said that “Jewish physicality is in truth spirituality,” he said something much more profound than e=mc2. The Baal Shem Tov wants us to know and appreciate that at the root of the physical natural boundaries that appear at the surface of this physical world is the potential and possibility to see and experience spirituality in all its infinite full glory.

The daughter of Rabbi Chanina Ben Dosa once told her father she lit the Shabbat candles with vinegar instead of oil. The father responded. “He (who is everywhere and is the source and potential for everything) who told (and designed the world so that) oil burns (is right there in the vinegar, and this same G-d) can tell the vinegar to light like the oil.

The Talmud says a miracle occurred, and not only did the vinegar stay lit, but it lasted until the next day, long after the Shabbat!

Because of Rabbi Chanina Ben Dosa’s saintly nature, he could tap into the deepest level of vinegar liquid, where all possibilities reside beyond the limitations of vinegar’s characteristics.

The Rebbe would occasionally pray the afternoon services deep into the night after the cutoff time for those particular services. The Rebbe was reaching deeper than the spacetime limitations and boundaries on the surface. There, it is possible to find the afternoon services even when it is dark outside!

Kabbalah tells us that at every level of the confined, measured particle, at that very exact moment and place, there are infinite possibilities for the wave to be accessed at that exact moment. Even at the more evolved, differentiated levels, it might be more difficult, but it is possible to access the wave.

Kabbalah tells us that in the very real natural world of mathematics and natural rules, which we experience on the surface, nevertheless, with the power of trust in God’s infinite abilities, we can reach deeper inside the cosmos to a place where there are all possibilities, and at that point, anything can happen, even the supernatural.

Schrodinger’s cat has the wave of all possibilities, even as a mature cat. That is why anything can happen to anyone at any time. Nothing in this universe is ever stuck to its current pattern of structure because, even in the particle, there is always the wave of all possibilities.

***

Rabbi Shlomo Ezagui, director of Chabad of Palm Beach, Florida since 1987, has authored two books: Maimonides Advice for the 21st Century and A Spiritual Soul Book, and is now working on a third book, Physics of the Mystics. Additionally, Rabbi Ezagui regularly contributes to his blog on the Times of Israel. Find him online at RabbiShlomoEzagui.com

39