To Observe And Be Damned

The scientific method for investigating phenomena is simple. You collect information by observing stuff, experiment with that data and finally test various hypotheses by making predictions. If the predictions turn out to be dependable and others can repeat the whole procedure, and all the results are available for scrutiny by peers later, the investigation is complete (for the time being at least) and we have an explanation of what, for example, is thunder. Or light. Or whatever. 

An important aspect of this method is that the entire process should be objective in order to reduce the chance of a biased interpretation of the results.

However, there’s a problem with this methodology — namely, a built-in bias: the act of observation (or measurement) changes the nature of the phenomenon being observed. When a child has a fever, a parent plonks a thermometer in its mouth to measure the temperature. But the thermometer has to absorb some heat energy from the body to record a temperature which changes the temperature of the body. Similarly, when an electrician connects a voltmeter to a circuit to measure the voltage in it, the device puts an additional load on the system, thus changing the behaviour of the circuitry itself. Again, when the path of an electron needs to be observed a photon must interact with it. This changes the electron’s path.

In the case of sense perception and the mind the same thing also happens because there is an unconscious component there, becoming conscious of which inevitably affects it. For example, the knowledge of a dream subtly alters its function and, like other measuring observations, creates a new phenomenon. Meaning, psychological phenomenon, too, cannot easily be partitioned or deconstructed without affecting it in some way. To come to terms with overall significance, it must be viewed as a whole without degrading any pre-existing or prior to measurement properties.

Yet when it comes to our most inner being — our soul, our spirit or perhaps even the godhead that resides within us — we are constantly urged to contemplate it. As a result, a lot of us attempt to analyse and examine it using various methods such as mediation, visualisation and prayer, to actualise our existence and give it a higher meaning. Does this refined scrutiny not militate against the evidence for the wholeness that we are deemed to be not just part of but, indeed, are?

Mukul Sharma