The concepts of God and quantum mechanics (QM) have something in common that seems central to them, despite being at the frontier of two seemingly different areas of exploration, spirituality and rationalism: It’s possible to discuss both these concepts ad infinitum without ever reaching a conclusion. Could there be something about these, and other concepts, that makes them so? I think there is.
Carlo Rovelli’s Helgoland is a book that offers an interpretation of QM that I really liked, because it takes into account that observing is a form of interaction, a word that will appear again soon. It states very clearly that we simply cannot step outside reality to observe things in it. It got me thinking: If we are interacting with what we’re observing, we are changed by what is observed, and the actions that follow depend on what captured our attention. In other words, what we pay attention to matters.
Most people break down the rather vague idea of the good life into the parts that make it up, trying to then piece together that life using this set, which often includes money, status, beauty, pleasure. Now, because they are parts, each has to be chased one at a time, and very often chasing one thing interferes with attempts to obtain others. Some examples: Becoming rich takes the kind of dedication that interferes with dedicating a significant amount of time to one’s family, which is often a major factor in one’s status; chasing pleasure like there’s no tomorrow in an extreme way is likely to leave you destitute quickly; and so on. Note that money, thanks to intangibility and utility, is usually the star.
Focusing intently on a goal leads to tunnel vision, and tunnel vision results in the loss of relationships - not only human relationships but between other goals, too. Living well entails being completely open to the world and what it offers us, more so than imposing our goals on it. OK, back to QM and God.
It seems to me that QM and god are concepts that signify dazzlement by the complexity and unity of nature, respectively. They are both captivating because they are equally mysterious and incomprehensible to us, at least so far. Another thing they have in common is that the message they carry to me, the person who wishes to live well, has nothing to do with the fact they are logically impenetrable (again, so far.) The message is more like: “Hey, dude, don’t you think you should let this go and interact with something else?”
The fascination with the dazzling lightshow of QM or god makes us blind to things which actually have a bearing on our wellbeing. The fascination is the result of giving undivided attention to something that keeps surprising us because it defies logic, instead of viewing it like a Zen koan - a technique specifically designed to make us realize there is something ridiculous about being an non-interactive observer, and have us get up to participate in life.
It’s not just the concepts of God and QM that are like that, but these two are, I think good, examples (let me know if you think otherwise.) The point is to keep us attentive to what has a real bearing on living well, which is interacting in a fitting way with whatever is around us to be interacted with (in a fitting way!)