The Information Paradox et alia

In the last blog entry, I explained how the black hole physical is intimately connected with the “dark night” psycho-spiritual phenomenon and that much can be learned regarding each separate aspect through holistic connection with its complementary partner.

So relating directly to my own experience, I was thereby enabled to provide a more refined explanation of a crucial crisis point in the “dark night” journey, where orientation gradually switched from emphasis on the transcendent to corresponding emphasis on the immanent aspect of spiritual development.

I also saw the failure to highlight this point as an important limitation of the classic exposition of the “dark night” process by St. John of the Cross.

This problem of proper incorporation of both the transcendent and immanent aspects of spiritual development in St. John’s treatise on the “dark night” - though admittedly the issue is later indirectly addressed in a more poetic fashion in the “Spiritual Canticle” - is equally tied up with the failure to identify clearly what we would now refer to as the conscious and unconscious aspects of personality.

For example the first major purgation that St. John advocates is the “dark night of the senses”.

The earliest and most obvious way in which conscious life is mediated is through the senses. Therefore in removing undue attachment to such conscious understanding, a “dark night of the senses” is required.

However what is never clearly distinguished by St. John is that the senses also operate at the deepest level of the unconscious, where primitive desire - often repressed from early childhood - is indirectly projected through attachment to conscious symbols.

And because this area of instinctive behaviour remains so inaccessible, it is only at a very late stage of the spiritual journey that it can be properly uncovered.

Undue attachment to the sense phenomena through which this instinctive desire is expressed then requires another “dark night of the senses” which however is quite distinct to the earlier phase.

So properly understood “dark nights” properly apply to both real (conscious) and imaginary (unconscious) phenomena that are indirectly projected in conscious form.

In other words, as well as distinguishing as between both active and passive, we need also to distinguish as between “real” and “imaginary” nights.

And in distinguishing as between both “real” and “imaginary” aspects, a corresponding clear distinction must be made as between both transcendent and immanent directions of spiritual development.

So the “dark night of the senses” constitutes the first major phase of purgation with respect to the transcendent aspect; however in complementary fashion it represents the last major phase with respect to the immanent aspect.

And again a close complementary relationship exists in holistic terms as between the manner by which the immanent direction asserts itself (at a critical stage of the “dark night”) and Hawking Radiation.

However a great deal can also be learnt from the other side regarding the precise nature of physical black holes through reference to the psychological nature of the “dark night”.

For example it is widely accepted that human psychological behaviour entails a relationship as between both conscious and unconscious aspects of personality.

So in basic terms through conscious understanding, phenomena are differentiated in experience; then through the unconscious, phenomena are correspondingly integrated. 

Thus the conscious is directly associated - especially in scientific terms - with the analytic aspect of understanding (through the differentiation of distinct phenomena); the unconscious is then directly associated with the holistic aspect (through the integration of these same phenomena).

However, once we accept such complementarity, this then entails that physical reality possesses matching equivalents to psychological experience.

Corresponding to conscious reality we have the material phenomena that are investigated by scientists.

However because of the reduced nature of science there is at present no recognised equivalent in physical terms to the unconscious aspect of psychological experience. 

In other words the analytic approach to science currently dominates to an extraordinary degree. However properly understood there is an equally important holistic aspect to all physical reality (that currently receives no formal recognition).

So the utterly misleading notion of reality as composed of “building blocks” still dominates conventional thinking.

However such “building blocks” have no strict meaning in the absence of a holistic physical context whereby they can be related in various ways with each other.

Any proper philosophical attempt to understand the nature of sub-atomic particles quickly leads to the realisation that they do not in fact enjoy an absolute independent existence but can only be defined in dynamic relationship with other particles.

So the holistic interdependence - rather than the analytic independence - of particles is the key characteristic of sub-atomic behaviour, especially at ever more transient levels of existence.

Now of course it would not be appropriate to use the term “unconscious” as applying directly to physical reality. However a more neutral term such as the “holistic ground” of matter is required to preserve the true nature of material behaviour.

So all physical matter properly entails the relationship between identifiable physical components in analytic terms and a corresponding holistic ground (reflecting the relational capacity of such components). Though strictly true of all physical reality, this is especially the case at the deeper sub-atomic levels.

Furthermore, both analytic and holistic aspects must be understood in an interactive manner (as relatively independent and relatively interdependent with respect to each other).

And this equally applies to information with respect to physical matter.

Thus all information - properly understood - contains both analytic and holistic aspects that are relatively independent and interdependent with respect to each other.

So it is very important to grasp that it is strictly meaningless therefore to attempt to define information in a mere analytic fashion as composed of absolute independent units.

Again without the capacity to relate such units with each other in various ways - which pertains to the holistic aspect of interdependence - such units can have no strict meaning.

So notions of absolute independence with respect to information must be replaced by strictly relative notions, that entail both an analytic aspect (of independence) and a holistic aspect (of interdependence) respectively.

This point I believe is relevant to appreciation of the nature of the information paradox.

When one attempts to understand a dynamically interactive relationship in an absolute rational type manner, then paradox (in rational terms) is the inevitable outcome.

Furthermore - and this is very important - such paradox cannot then be satisfactorily resolved in the same rational manner.

So at the heart of the paradox of information - initially highlighted by Stephen Hawking - is the fact that it cannot be rightfully viewed in an absolute analytic type manner.

So what really happens with respect to information in the context of a black hole is that a dramatic switch takes place as between the two aspects (analytic and holistic) through which such information is manifested.

Again this can perhaps be understood more clearly with reference to the analogous situation of the “dark night”.

One of the chief characteristics of my own experience of the “dark night” - which is consistent with the account of St. John of the Cross - was the manner in which analytic type information became greatly eroded, especially during its most intensive phases.

This was equally associated with considerable erosion of memory contents making the carrying out of regular activities extremely difficult.

So what really happens here is that a significant change takes place whereby development switches dramatically from the analytic to the holistic aspect of understanding. And the holistic aspect in turn is directly associated with development of the unconscious!

One - literally - becomes unconscious at such times - sometimes to an extraordinary degree - of differentiated phenomena, operating at the conscious level of understanding.

Now, as I have stated before, this process strictly applies to the transcendent aspect of spiritual development.

Then later when the complementary immanent aspect asserts itself, a reverse process takes place, whereby what is unconscious, at a primitive instinctive level, now becomes projected into conscious experience.

So from the transcendent perspective, we have a process whereby the conscious (analytic) is made unconscious (holistic); from the immanent perspective, we have a complementary process whereby the unconscious (holistic) is made conscious (analytic). 

And this is the way by which a dramatic transformation therefore takes place with respect to understanding of information at a psychological level.

All going well, therefore later in development one can experience a remarkable growth in a holistic integrative capacity in terms of reality, while equally enjoying a new freedom with respect to a considerable refinement in the manner of recognition of varied differentiated phenomena - due to a marked erosion of involuntary attachment - at the conscious level.

We can apply a complementary interpretation in physical terms.

Remember we can equate the transcendent aspect with (macro) relativity and the immanent aspect with (micro) quantum theory respectively.

Thus the black hole causes an equally dramatic change with respect to both the analytic and holistic aspects of information.  

From a relativity perspective, information sucked into the black hole is denuded as it were of its analytic aspect; from the quantum perspective, corresponding information - in the separation of virtual particles at the event horizon - is denuded of its primitive holistic aspect.

In this way a dramatic transformation with respect to physical information takes place.

In dynamic interactive terms, it makes little sense to ask whether information is thereby irretrievably lost or preserved during this process, as this reflects the reduced scientific approach of interpreting information in an absolute analytic manner.

In relative terms therefore both perspectives can be considered to be both partially right (and partially wrong).

Thus with black holes, a significant change takes place (from both relativity and quantum perspectives) with respect to the relative composition of information in analytic and holistic terms.

However information - by definition - cannot be irretrievably lost (or preserved) in an absolute manner.