On Wholeness and Implicate Order in Crystals and its Implications for Consciousness Studies

Abstract

This paper is a collection of analogies on wholeness and the implicate order drawn from the field of materials science and engineering. The study of the polycrystalline materials has many applicable analogies in terms of understanding of wholeness, the implicate and explicate orders in consciousness studies. The author presents an analogy that describes the notion of wholeness in the context of behavior of a polycrystal under a uniaxial compressive load. A second analogy describes the notions of implicate and explicate orders in the context of a single, compressed crystal of magnesium examined in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The theories, experimental techniques and computational methods associated with each analogy are presented in a non-technical framework. A number of implications for consciousness studies are presented. Through the development and presentation of analogies in a science and engineering field, the author attempts in providing certain immediate perceptual insights into what is meant by wholeness as well as implicate and explicate orders, as the new paradigm in consciousness studies.