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    The Matrix Explained: Why the Information-Bit is the Missing Link between Science and Spirituality
    The Matrix Explained: Why the Information-Bit is the Missing Link between Science and Spirituality
    The Matrix Explained: Why the Information-Bit is the Missing Link between Science and Spirituality
    Ebook239 pages5 hours

    The Matrix Explained: Why the Information-Bit is the Missing Link between Science and Spirituality

    By Maxime Drouin

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    About this ebook

    It’s amazing how dominant information is in the modern world. In fact, it’s so dominant that it begs the question, “What if information does not only define and shape our world—what if it is in fact reality”? The 1999 film The Matrix and its sequels were predicated on just this idea.

    Of late, the sultans of Silicon Valley have become obsessed with this idea, which is known as the simulation hypothesis. Elon Musk himself has remarked, “There’s a billion-to-one chance we’re living in base reality.” Perhaps information doesn’t just define and shape our reality. Perhaps it’s entangled in the fabric of reality through the mind of the observer. Consider the philosophical thought experiment: if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? It takes a mind to experience reality.

    In this book, I chronicle the journey that led me to discover the missing link between science and spirituality: the information-bit. Legendary theoretical physicist John Wheeler’s “it-from-bit” theory and my own Quantum Mind model are ultimately rooted in the same thing: data. Wheeler suggested that the reality of physics —the “it”—is based on patterns of information, or “bits.” I theorize that our actions in the real world unfold in sync with the underlying information-thought blueprints that exist in our mind. Buddha once said, “The mind is everything. What you think, you become.” This bi-directional dialogue across the mind–body connection may well occur at the Planck scale, where the transition between quantum physics—the bit—and classical physics—the it—operates.

    But where do the mind and body meet? Purpose, which emerges from knowing oneself, unifies the wisdom of the East with the pragmatism of the West. The energy derived from what has meaning to the self is the fuel that allows individuals to manifest in the physical reality (via the body) the bit arrangement contained in the micro realm of their mind. If its point of origin is love, this route leads to inner peace and harmony and draws a vector unifying the mind, heart, and body.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGatekeeper Press
    Release dateJan 3, 2019
    ISBN9781642373097
    The Matrix Explained: Why the Information-Bit is the Missing Link between Science and Spirituality

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      Book preview

      The Matrix Explained - Maxime Drouin

      others."

      Introduction

      Iam from the Western world, but I have adopted Eastern tendencies. In the milieu in which I grew up, failure was never an option, and my achievements defined my identity. I received a Jesuit education from high school through graduate school, studying economics and finance in Canada, Holland, and America. This humanist teaching influenced every sphere of my life; the mantra "mens sana in corpore sano "—a healthy mind in a healthy body—became imprinted into my daily routine.

      After I left school, my studies there of Jesuit philosophy led me to seek purpose in my professional life by tackling climate change, and since I was always seeking challenges, I developed a passion for high-intensity sports. I joined the family business and together, we built, among other ventures, the first

      Canadian emission reduction project compliant with the Kyoto Protocol.

      During this period, I lived intensely, but not wisely, and it all took a toll on me—physically, emotionally, and mentally. Following a series of sports-related and life-altering injuries,

      I reached a point of complete exhaustion, and decided I needed to take a step back. Fortunately, my professional endeavors left me with an important gift: a good degree of financial independence. Seeking change, I put it to good use, immersing myself in a Buddhist environment in Thailand. There, meditative practices have been at the center of my life for the last few years. Today, I can categorize my life into three distinctive period: it’s all about owning, it’s all about experiencing, it’s all about meaning and purpose".

      In this book, I first provide a brief introduction to the primary concepts and terms related to the chronology of the universe, quantum physics, and information theory that are necessary to explain my ideas and provide a framework for the concepts I present later on. As the book goes on, I share the details of my journey of discovery: the cycling expedition across Asia, all the way from Istanbul to Beijing-covering about 12,000 km, or around 7,500 miles, over a four-month period that enabled me to experience firsthand the true meaning of mind over matter; the martial arts training in a rustic Muay Thai (a.k.a. Thai boxing) fighting camp in Thailand, where I endured a Spartan-like daily routine; the life-altering injuries and failed diagnoses and treatments; and, for several years, an immersion in a monastic existence in a southeast Asian temple, where Eastern meditative practices and healing arts were at the center of my life. More importantly, I discuss the ideas that developed as I underwent these experiences, ideas about the mind–body connection and its relationship with quantum mechanics.

      I believe that we as individuals are fractals of the universe. By elucidating the laws that govern our inner worlds, we can gain not only insight into the nature of the cosmos; we can also discover how to expand the boundaries of our consciousness, transcend ourselves, and pave the way to the end of suffering. These ideas are founded on two epiphanies that occurred during many long hours dedicated to meditating on the nature of the universe and the human mind.

      In my first epiphany, I saw a parallel between the way physical phenomena are described by quantum mechanics and the workings of the human mind. Theoretical physicist John Wheeler’s it-from-bit theory holds that the ultimate particle of the cosmos is neither energy nor matter, but instead a bit of data. In tandem with Wheeler’s ideas, I developed the concept that the bit is the fundamental particle of both the universe and the human mind: Our thoughts are the information that results from the association of two bits (or more) of data collected by our senses.

      The connection to the fundamentals of quantum physics don’t stop there. Whenever the self experiences an emotion, a mental representation takes place in the form of thoughts. In other words, our emotional states can be deconstructed into a set of thoughts, which are themselves built upon the connection of information-bits. A bit displays particle-like characteristics in the form of thoughts, and wave-like characteristics in the form of emotions. Consider how a poem is a collection of individual words and also a story. The poem relies on an observer (the reader) to translate the words into a relationship that gives meaning to the whole and thus creates the story. Both the words and story are built upon letters, and these can be represented as a string of bits using Morse code. Similarly, bits (the letters) are manifested both as thoughts (words) and emotional states, which have a holistic meaning to the self (the story). The subjective connections among the thoughts provide meaning to the self, and they can become associated with emotions.

      Interestingly, both particle-like thoughts and wave-like emotions display properties that are reminiscent of the descriptions of electrons Max Planck made in his groundbreaking study of black-body radiation, which is generally regarded as the birth of quantum mechanics.

      In my second epiphany, I develop key insights on the nature of John Wheeler’s theory of the participatory universe that built on the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics, in that both depend on the intractable relationship between the observer and his or her surrounding reality; things exist as we observe them because we observe

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