Action at a Distance

A question of viewpoint

by Josef Hasslberger, Rome, September 1998

Abstract

A philosophical description is proposed, of the basic mechanisms of physical universe and especially of the nature of matter, that is compatible with such phenomena as instantaneous action at a distance. It is proposed that material existence in physical space is conditioned and indeed dependent upon the existence of energy patterns necessary for matter to manifest and that interactions occur not between the material manifestations but between the primary energy patterns themselves.

Philosophies

Action at a distance would seem eminently possible if not probable, providing we integrate our purely physical picture of the universe with a concept of energies originating from a non-physical-universe source. As foreign as this may be to physics, we may need to start considering the possibility of a "spiritual ingredient" or "consciousness ingredient" in all things physical.

Eastern philosophic concepts have long held all material things to be filled with or interpenetrated by a life force (Ki, Prana). It would seem to me that our "scientific" denial of those things we are not able to measure is severely limiting our understanding and our ability to conceptualise existence in the material world. To be sure, there is a timid opening of western science to these concepts, witness books by Fritjof Capra and others, but by and large, anything that is not immediately accessible to measurement is still not welcome.

Shiuji Inomata has proposed to integrate the current scientific paradigm with a "consciousness" parameter. He outlines the necessary shift of paradigm in a paper entitled "Science of Consciousness and new scientific world view - we are in the midst of the second Copernican revolution"(1). Inomata proposes a triangular relationship between matter, energy and a consciousness parameter designated as "Q".

In line with the work of Inomata and others, I would like to propose here a concept by which instantaneous action at a distance could be explained and I am asking the reader to forgive me if I am requiring you to stretch your imagination into an area that would seem to lay outside the province of physics. Some may even experience the ideas put forth in this paper to be a bit "unsettling" to their understanding of universe, based on the conventional scientific view.

Dimensions

Our physical world is said to be three-dimensional, with reference to the basic three degrees of freedom of movement we find to exist in a right-angle-co-ordinated cube-based spatial reference system as first proposed by Descartes (up-down, left-right and forward-backward, to express this in simple terms).

Although I assent to use the word three-dimensional to indicate physical space, I have shown(2) that one could with profit describe physical space in a four-dimensional tetrahedron-based spatial reference system just by changing from 90 degree co-ordination to 60 degree co-ordination. The advantage of such a system would be an immediate orientability in physical space having to consider only four vectors, instead of six vectors (as above) of the Cartesian system.

The word three-dimensional, although in general use, is thus not an indication of any real physical properties inherent in space. It is merely a conventional way of looking at and describing space, based in Euclidean geometry. In fact, Euclid taught a progression from point (dimensionless) to line (one-dimensional) to plane (two-dimensional) and finally to space (three-dimensional). I propose that this system of geometry does not have any real physical significance and is merely an abstract way of conceptualising physical space.

We may however use Euclid's concept of the (two-dimensional) plane and it's relation to (three-dimensional) space as an analogy useful to the understanding of what follows here. As inhabitants of physical ("three-dimensional") space we would have an inherent advantage over a hypothetical inhabitant of a two-dimensional universe contained within our universe. We would in fact be able to observe, from our vantage point, any point of the plane and thus would be able to accede to any point of that universe without having to "travel it's space" like the inhabitant of the two-dimensional universe. This, to our two-dimensional friend, would be somewhat of a miracle, he would call it "instantaneous action at a distance" on our part.

In this same way, we should imagine a "four-dimensional" entity to exist, which contains within itself our "three-dimensional" universe and which has a similar advantage of being able to accede to and act at any point in our space, without having to traverse our space in the way we need to traverse space to arrive at our destination. I believe that one could call that "four-dimensional" entity hyperspace.

Motion

In an unusually insightful manner, Gian Piero Godone(3) has proposed his "Fourth Principle of Dynamics", adding to our concepts of motion and dynamics codified in the days of Newton. The principle was first presented in Fivizzano, Italy in October 1994 and reads:
  • "Motion of bodies through space is directly mediated, in a sequential fashion, by all those particular basic elements which permit the very existence of the bodies in the first place."
Subsequently, Godone has re-stated the principle in a more articulated way. The following is the latest (February 1998) version of Godone's Fourth Principle of Dynamics:

  • "Any possible motion of all bodies is due directly to the natural motion of their basic elements, which by their specific sequential behaviour ensure the stable existence of the bodies; such sequentiality being the consequence of constant interaction with ever new basic elements arriving in an orderly fashion from space and subsequently returning to it."
We are accustomed to consider matter as fundamentally different from space and from what might fill space. To some of us, space is empty, except for the matter it contains. Thus, to an observer within this universe it may appear that motion of material bodies is a moving of such bodies from one location to another, through basically empty space.

But if we reason with Godone, and I tend to agree with him on this count, there is really no such thing as motion in the way we imagine it, there is only an appearance of motion. Each material body consists primarily of a stable energy pattern, which is the cause of the manifestation we call matter. When in motion, the physical manifestation of the body is being successively re-constructed out of new "basic particles" each time it changes position.

An excellent analogy of this apparent motion would be our familiar TV. We see pictures in motion, but what really happens is that an electron beam lights up successive points of phosphorescent material on the inside of a glass screen, giving us the idea of a picture. By successively lighting up different sets of points, that picture on the screen seems to come to life, it seems to move.

Particles of Matter

As Godone succinctly implies with his principle of dynamics, a very similar mechanism is at work in our physical world. Particles are actually created and constantly re-created by an energetic pattern which is maintained and sometimes animated by what I would call "life force".

Space is not empty. It is a plenum. Matter is a special state of the plenum of space. It has recently been proposed by Paul E. Rowe in an interesting series of articles printed in 'Infinite Energy' magazine(4), that space is filled by kind of a Bose-Einstein condensate of hydrogen, that is, by a close-packed matrix, a "soup" of electrons and protons.

Rowe bases this conclusion on the fact that hydrogen can be created from space under certain energetic conditions, as described in his papers. "Rowe's soup", which in practice fills all space, supplies the "basic particles" that according to Godone are necessary for matter to exist and to move.

Energy

We are using electric energy in our daily lives without having a firm understanding of what this energy actually is. To be sure, we have a working knowledge of how electricity behaves, we can engineer applications of it, but ask anyone to explain the basic principles behind electricity or magnetism - if you dig far enough for a basic explanation, you will get an embarrassed silence.

Thomas E. Bearden explains, in a recent article,(5) that there is a great disparity between the energy that flows from a dipole and that actually captured and put to use in our electric or electronic apparatus. The energy flow from a battery or a generator is much larger; something on the order of 10^13 times the amount of conventionally used energy. According to Bearden, there are some basic flaws in our way of explaining and utilising electrodynamics. One might agree with Bearden or not, but to be sure, there are fundamental shortcomings in our theoretic understanding of energetic processes that are at the basis of what is generally called "free energy".

Torsion fields are another case in point. They are highly penetrative energies which have been demonstrated to "propagate" at superluminal velocities. Our knowledge of these fields is based largely on research done in Russia(6) by A. Akimov and G. Shipov. A recent summary of relevant research has been published by Donald Reed(7). We are still grappling to find a mechanism that allows such speeds in physical space and are theorising "wormholes" and "time reversal".

There may however be a much simpler explanation for these phenomena, if we can take the step and open our mind's eye to the possibility that the universe does not only consist of matter and energy located in and operating through space, but that at least part of that energy is resident in and operating out of what I described as hyper space.

Life force

I propose that all matter is created and continuously re-created by what I would call "life force". This force provides patterns of energy which "materialise" parts of the medium that fills space, coagulating it into what we perceive to be particles of matter.

There is a vast range of complexity of these particles from hydrogen to the heavy elements. There is as well a vast range of extension, from single particles to planetary and stellar masses. And there is another distinction, between what we call "dead" matter and what we call "animated" or "full-of-life" matter, such as plants, animals and human bodies.

The differences however are only quantitative, not qualitative. It is the same life force or life energy in different quantities and different degrees of mobility and individual consciousness that is responsible for the various manifestations of matter.

Interactions

Electric, magnetic and gravitational interactions between matter are mediated by energy. Patterns of energy associated with matter are postulated as being provided by life force. Consequently, the interactions would appear to be between the energy patterns, rather than between the particles of the bodies themselves.

Life force is not part of our three-dimensional space but, residing as it were in hyperspace it is, as discussed above, one step above the dimensionaltiy of space. It is not bound to travel "through space" and thus is capable of manifesting it's effects in distant and diverse locations at the same instant. Consequently, interactions that are energy-pattern interactions are not limited by speed of light.

We thus have not only a possibility of "instantaneous action at a distance" but also of particles disappearing in one spot and reappearing in another, which agrees with recent experimental evidence. From here it is a simple step to extend the concept and include phenomena such as telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation, which so far have been relegated to the margins of science. These will, one day in the not too distant future, become normal occurrences quite within the province of scientific investigation.

Bibliography:

  1. Shiuji Inomata "Science of Consciousness and New Scientific World-View" Journal of New Energy, Vol. 2, no. 2

  2. Josef Hasslberger "Tetra Space Co-ordinates" Proceedings of the International Conference 'New ideas in Natural Sciences' St. Petersburg, June 1996 and "http://www.hasslberger.com/phy/phy_6.htm"

  3. Gian Piero Godone, private communication to the author.
    See also Godone's website: http://users.masterweb.it/fisica-physics

  4. Paul E. Rowe, "Hydrogen from Vacuum", "A brief History of the Ether", and "Time, Mass and Velocity" talks delivered at a meeting of the NPA (Natural Philosophy Alliance), printed in Infinite Energy, Vol.3, No.17, pp 80-85.

  5. T. E. Bearden "Re: Philip Yam, Exploiting Zero-Point Energy" in Explore! Vol. 8, Number 5, 1998

  6. A. Akimov, G. Shipov, "Torsion Fields and Their Experimental Manifestations." Proceedings of the International Conference 'New ideas in Natural Sciences' St. Petersburg, June 1996

  7. Donald Reed "New Concepts for SpaceTime and Corroborating Evidence from Torsion Field Research" New Energy News Vol.6, Number 1, May 1998.