Some believe that a deeper integrated European Union (EU) would benefit us all, as we would strengthen our coordination on a broad range of policies within the EU. Greater coordination increases policy efficiency, enhancing our quality of life. In addition, we would be increasingly regarded as a coherent bloc of countries speaking with a single voice.
Yet, since its inception, there seems to be a constant dualistic struggle within the EU between nationalistic forces, which attempt to steer the EU away from deeper integration out of fear of losing sovereignty, and pro-EU movements, which support the credo that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts.
Such dichotomy is inherently democratic but can also be counterproductive in terms of both the development of our socio-political life and our security situation.
What if there is a way to look at the EU that dissolves such apparent dilemma and that leaves space for coexistence of both nationalistic forces and integrationist tendencies, while at the same time being conducive to greater internal coherence and integration?
Creating Social Reality
Why would such non-dualistic thought system enhance our quality of life or our security situation within the EU?
As our actions flow from our thoughts, it is not inconceivable that thoughts rife with opposition, agitation and strife give rise to behaviour that resembles such thoughts. In this way, we help manifest opposition, agitation and strife.
In the same spirit, if we maintain non-dualistic thoughts of inclusion, compassion, coherence and understanding, we build through our actions the foundations of a European society that reflect these thoughts.
All of us in the EU build up the EU as we know it today. We are its living constituents, which is why we can directly or indirectly influence how we want the EU to be through our daily actions, be they political or non-political.
Giving in to opposing and blame-based thought systems creates precisely the grounds for an unhealthy, unstable and insecure society in which we actually do not wish to live, regardless of our colour along the political spectrum. Our creative power lies in the attitude that we develop towards our life, which is evolving around us at every moment of the day.
The more we replenish our thought system with compassionate thoughts that nourish our idea of the best version of ourselves, the better we feel in our skin. What is more, we radiate this stronger integrated state of mind outwards, and it is palpable for our environment.
Unavoidably, how we feel impacts our actions. Feeling more content, coherent and secure thus contributes to manifesting circumstances that reflect greater security, coherence and contentment.
With a Little Help from Social Science
Constructing social reality as per our state of mind also finds resonance in the scientific community. One social scientist, Alexander Wendt, turns to principles related to the field of quantum physics as inspiration for his quantum consciousness theory, which postulates that human minds are connected to one another and that social structures emerge from a non-local state of consciousness.
Wendt roots the idea of construction of social reality into a framework embedded in the physical sciences.
Walking Fine Lines
Although in his book “Quantum Mind and Social Science: Unifying Physical and Social Ontology” he argues that ‘social life is not essentially different from that of sub-atomic particles’[1] in physics and that ‘human behavior in fact follow[s] quantum principles’[2], the laws of quantum physics are, however, only valid on microscopical levels.
We use a whole different set of physical laws to explain our macroscopic world.
Extrapolating principles of quantum physics to social life does not have much sense scientifically, unless we both come up with a mathematical description of our social life and are able to prove that such mathematics is congruent with those of quantum physics.
Until we have drawn up a coherent mathematical quantum framework for our social behaviour, Wendt’s quantum consciousness theory remains nothing more than an interesting interpretation of principles borrowed from the realm of quantum physics.
Theory Influences Our European Society
It is useful to make reference to these concepts, however, as they help to establish the foundation for our non-dualistic thought system, which could provide the EU with greater internal coherence. Theory allows for the creation of perspective, which, in turn, determines, as we have said earlier, our actions. A theory that corroborates non-dualistic principles, including coherence and coexistence of different mental states, contributes therefore to the creation of a non-dualistic thought system and, consequently, to a more coherent EU.
Wendt makes the claim that intentional, unobservable mental states underpin social structures. As a normative and civilizing social structure that geographically stretches out over 28 Member States, the EU intentionally suffuses the living environment of over 500 million people with both her values and policies[3].
How each one of us assimilates this fact, is telling for EU’s integration project. Therefore, the nature of the EU integration process reflects the degree to which the European society feels integrated and coherent.
If our personal objective is to both feel secure and have an integrated sense of agency in our daily lives within a prosperous and stable EU, then we have to continue to think creatively about how to foster EU integration.
Quantum Physics, You Say?
Before delving into Wendt’s quantum consciousness theory, let us glance at some of the main concepts within the domain of quantum physics, i.e. the physics of the subatomic world, so that the analogies and interpretations in his theory enlighten us.
Quantum Superposition and Decoherence
Quantum superposition refers to the situation whereby a particle finds itself in two or more potential states at the same time. In other words, in the quantum world, a particle can be in various locations or states at the same time.
Mathematically, this is the result of Erwin Schrödinger’s theory producing various probability waves (‘states’) for a particle, expressed in a wave function. This wave function communicates to us the various likelihoods of certain characteristics, which a particle is able to display upon the act of measuring.
As a result of Thomas Young’s double-slit experiment, we understand that superposition explains why electrons, light, atoms or other subatomic particles all exhibit both wave and particle characteristics.
In line with the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics, the attempt of measuring superposition of a particle results in the collapse of its wave function – this collapsing process is called decoherence. We then observe in our physical reality only one particular state of the particle.
Decoherence is caused by interaction of the superpositioned particle with its environment. In other words, the interaction of quantum systems with their surroundings is what creates our physical world.
Non-Locality and Quantum Entanglement
Objects in our macroscopic world can influence each other only through direct physical contact or via electromagnetic fields within a reasonably short distance, whereas quantum objects can manipulate each other even at large distances, without the need for physical contact. The latter characteristic of quantum systems is referred to as non-locality.
One particle knows instantaneously – and thereby exceeding the speed of light – what the state of another particle is, regardless of the distance.
This non-local connection is possible due to the concept of quantum entanglement, whereby the states of the two particles become intrinsically intertwined. A change in the state of one of an entangled pair of particles has immediate consequences for the state of the other particle.
An entangled pair of particles is thus also unavoidably in a state of superposition. When we look at the wave-like properties of particles, then we would speak of quantum coherence instead of quantum entanglement.
And Back to Social Science
By introducing such quantum principles into a social theory, Wendt cultivates a social ontology beyond Cartesian dualism that is embedded in a physical basis.
Cartesian dualism, a concept within the field of philosophy of mind, refers to the view that mind and matter pertain to two different worlds. It furthermore insinuates that the world still grapples with intentional phenomena, which presuppose consciousness.
In response, by referring to principles originating from a materialistic scientific discipline, Wendt devises a social theory that bridges this divide of mind and matter. Moreover, he puts forward his quantum consciousness theory, contending that ‘consciousness itself is quantum mechanical’[4] and that ‘subjectivity is a macroscopic quantum mechanical phenomenon’[5].
Wendt’s Quantum Social Ontology
At the constitutive epicentre of subjectivity sits the concept of quantum coherence, ‘a physical but non-material and unobservable life force’[6]. More importantly, given that social structures are superpositions of shared mental states, they manifest quantum coherence.
Correspondingly, EU citizens ‘enfold socially shared wave functions within their subjectivities, one of which concerns the state’[7]. Our mental states are quantum entangled, which is why they connect non-locally with each other throughout the superpositioned social structure. According to Wendt, that structure does not lie in a higher level of reality above us, but pervades our entire subjective sense of reality.
Interestingly, Wendt points out that, along the same line ‘[a]s quantum entanglement, the relationship of agents and social structures is not a process of causal interaction over time, but a non-local, synchronic state from which both are emergent’[8]. More importantly, he denotes that ‘the causal power of the social structure is […] one of […] final causation, or collective purposiveness’[9].
By integrating quantum principles into social sciences, Wendt submits the claim for a more vitalist concept of life.
The classical world of physical objects and the mental world of consciousness hereby complementarily congregate in a comprehensive framework that depicts social life as more holistic in nature.
In a way, it is intention itself that creates our social reality.
Why Would Wendt’s Quantum Social Theory Be Relevant to the EU?
If we apply the above theoretical concepts to the process of EU integration, it would basically translate into the idea that the EU is immanently interwoven throughout our mental reality. What is more, the stage of development of EU integration is a reflection of the degree to which we, as a European society, feel integrated and coherent.
Let us flesh out this potential relevance of Wendt’s quantum consciousness theory to EU integration in greater detail, and go through a couple of deliberations.
1. The EU as a Collective Space
Being a civilizing and normative social structure affecting the life of millions of people, the EU is characterized as a shared intentional phenomenon. And according to Wendt, ‘all intentional phenomena are quantum mechanical’[10].
Fittingly, professor in EU studies Thomas Risse mentions that ‘the EU not only increasingly regulates the daily lives of individuals in various aspects; it also constitutes ‘Europe’ as a political and social space in people’s beliefs and collective understandings’[11].
We find cross-disciplinary support for a collective and field-like understanding of life in the writings of biologist Robert Sheldrake, whose work on non-local morphic fields gives us another perspective on how habits are acquired across time and space[12]. Additional theoretical support is also garnered within the field of physics itself, including the theory of the implicate order, whereby the material world is deemed to emerge from of a deeper, fundamental dimension of reality[13], and the theory of a unified field of consciousness, connecting all of us through an extended physical framework[14].
Such supplementary field theories reinforce Wendt’s quantum social theory, especially in light of these remarks: ‘what look like separate organisms are just local decoherence effects of quantum fields; everything really is related to everything else’[15].
Not only is the EU a collection of individuals, physical buildings and written laws, but it is equally instructive to regard the EU as a field-like conscious presence permeating throughout our collective mental life.
2. Co-emergence Instead of Hierarchy
Concerning the debate in social sciences about emergentism and downward causality in the agent-structure problem, which discusses whether human behaviour is either steered by the individual itself or largely dominated by external recurring patterns imposed on the individual from a higher authority[16], Wendt proposes to move away from such descriptive accounts, because ‘the downward metaphor is misleading’[17]. As we have mentioned above, in Wendt’s quantum social ontology both agent and structure are co-emergent and mutually constitutive.
To further elucidate this point on co-emergence, Wendt draws on quantum field theory, which holds that ‘sub-atomic particles are not substantial individuals in themselves, but particle-like processes or vibrations in the universal quantum flux’[18].
Such description is reminiscent of the theory of the implicate order, as we have seen in the previous paragraph. In short, ‘social structures are not actual realities existing somewhere above us in space, but potential realities constituted by inherently non-local shared wave functions’[19].
That is, both the EU citizen and the EU in itself coherently co-emerge from the same subjective dimension of reality.
As EU integration also deals with the transfer of sovereignty between the national and EU level, a quantum social ontology that upholds co-emergence instead of downward causality may shed new light on multi-level policymaking[20] and the agent-structure problem in the EU more generally[21].
3. A Holistic View on EU Policymaking
Quantum superposition and entanglement form ‘the basis for the holism of quantum systems’[22]. This entanglement ‘gives reality a holistic dimension that is completely foreign to the atomistic classical worldview’[23].
Inasmuch as Wendt’s ‘social ontology […] is at once holistic and emergentist, yet flat’[24], and considering the holographic idea that the concept of both the state and the EU is enfolded within every citizen’s subjectivity, ‘then this holism would carry over into our dealings with the macroscopic world’[25].
Since the EU, as a social structure, is a quantum system whereby individuals’ minds are entangled, its ontological basis is holistic and non-local.
If the EU wishes to enhance its internal economic, social and territorial cohesion while at the same time respecting its cultural and linguistic diversity[26], it might well be useful to adopt a more holistic perspective towards EU policymaking, which is intrinsically collaborative.
4. Collective Consciousness
Not unimportantly, Wendt maintains that ‘social structures are mind-dependent’[27] and that a ‘state is a holographic organism endowed with collective consciousness’[28].
Consciousness seems to be the common denominator between Wendt’s quantum social theory, the notion of constructing our social reality and our attitudinal tendencies towards EU integration.
On consciousness in the political realm, it is instrumental to refer to political scientist Lawrence Alschuler’s holistic application of psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s individuation process onto philosopher Paulo Freire’s concept of conscientization, whereby the ultimate, never fully attained objective entails ‘the movement of political consciousness from dehumanization to humanization while the objective conditions of oppression, derived from the socio-political system, are gradually eliminated’[29].
Alschuler’s theory strikingly resonates with the aforementioned shift from dualistic towards holistic thought systems and its constructive consequences for internal coherence and integration.
The more we view the process of EU integration as occurring within a European-wide collective field of shared consciousness, the less space we allow for opposition, agitation and strife to grow.
5. Coherence, Integration and Final Causation
Finally, Wendt upholds that ‘quantum coherence is the physical basis not only of life but of consciousness’[30]. He furthermore argues that ‘quantum coherence requires shielding from the environment’[31], yet ‘organisms also need energy from the outside world’[32].
As a result, he concludes that ‘the interface where this duality is sustained is consciousness’[33] and, more importantly, that ‘the organism’s coherent state may be seen as an “attractor, or end state towards which the system tends to return on being perturbed.”’[34]. In short, attracting forces suggest teleological, final causation rather than efficient, mechanical causation.
Since the EU resembles an intentional and, thus, a quantum mechanical phenomenon, then it naturally flows from this premise that the EU moves towards a state of larger coherence. In other words, the EU inherently harbours a system of final causation. Moreover, she is naturally progressing towards a state of greater integration.
Again, we find strong reverberations with the abovementioned reference to Alschuler’s theory in that, by adapting a more holistic mindset to life, we evolve towards a state of less oppression and deeper integration. Appropriately, Wendt remarks that ‘what is indeterminate when viewed from the outside is, on the inside, purposeful determination in the final cause sense’[35].
Although a lot of debate exists on whether the EU is imploding, especially in the context of Brexit and refugee policies, these outer conflictual appearances may indeed conceal an inexorable integrating life force, fueled by our shared human wish for a stable, safe and compassionate living environment.
What Do We Take from All of This?
Viewing the EU as a separate social reality outside of ourselves creates duality in our thought system, leading only to more fraction, opposition and strife in our society.
What if, in contrast, we dedicate more attention to the creative power of our collective consciousness to establish a reality we wish to see? A holistic mindset engenders a coherent basis for greater collaboration and compassion through our actions, bringing about a safer and deeper integrated EU.
The deeper we embed the EU as a whole within our shared mental structure, the more we contribute to designing an inclusive, coherent and integrated European society. Such progress inevitably and constructively reflects back on the process of EU integration.
As we have recently witnessed on the climate front, it only takes one person to unleash an unrelenting butterfly effect. Making the EU whole again must start somewhere. What if your mind is that starting point?
[1] Wendt, A. (2015). Quantum Mind and Social Science: Unifying Physical and Social Ontology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.131.
[2] Wendt, 2015, p.283.
[3] To read more on the EU’s civilizing power, see for example Risse, T. (2004). Social constructivism. In: T. Diez and A. Wiener, eds., European Integration Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 144–160; Sjursen, H. (2006). What kind of power? Journal of European Public Policy, 13(2), 169-181; or, Zielonka, J. (2013). Europe’s new civilizing missions: the EU’s normative power discourse. Journal of Political Ideologies, 18(1), 35–55.
[4] Wendt, 2015, p.30.
[5] Wendt, 2015, p.283.
[6] Wendt, 2015, p.267.
[7] Wendt, 2015, p.268.
[8] Wendt, 2015, p.260.
[9] Wendt, 2015, p.266.
[10] Wendt, 2015, p.149.
[11] Risse, 2004, p.156.
[12] Read more on his work in his book Sheldrake, R. (2012). Science set free. New York: Deepak Chopra Books.
[13] Read more on this theory in the book Bohm, D. (1980). Wholeness and the implicate Order. London & New York: Routledge Classics.
[14] Hagelin, J.S. (1987). Is consciousness the unified field? A field theorist’s perspective. Modern Science and Vedic Science, 1, 28-87.
[15] Wendt, 2015, p.149.
[16] To read more on the agent-structure problem and its implications, see for example O’Neill, K., Balsiger, J. & VanDeveer, S.D. (2004). Actors, Norms, and Impact: Recent International Cooperation Theory and the Influence of the Agent-Structure Debate. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci., 7(1), 49-75; Elder-Vass, D. (2007). For Emergence: Refining Archer’s Account of Social Structure. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 37(1), 25-44; or, Caldwell, R. (2012). Reclaiming Agency, Recovering Change? An Exploration of the Practice Theory of Theodore Schatzki. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 42 (3), 283-303.
[17] Wendt, 2015, p.264.
[18] Wendt, 2015, p.257.
[19] Wendt, 2015, p.33.
[20] To read more on multi-level policymaking in the EU, see for example Scharpf, F.W. (1994). Community and autonomy: Multi‐level policy‐making in the European Union. Journal of European Public Policy, 1(2), 219-242; or, Hooghe, L. & Marks, G. (2001). Types of Multi-Level Governance. [Online]. European Integration online Papers (EIoP), 1(4). Available from: http://eiop.or.at/eiop/texte/2001-011a.htm.
[21] To read more on the agent-structure problem in the context of the EU, see for example Hooghe L. & Marks, G. (2003). National identity and support for European integration. [Online]. Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH (Ed.). Available from: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-111559.
[22] Wendt, 2015, p.166.
[23] Wendt, 2015, p.173.
[24] Wendt, 2015, p.246.
[25] Wendt, 2015, p.166.
[26] For more information on EU’s goals, see https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/eu-in-brief_en
[27] Wendt, 2015, p.24.
[28] Wendt, 2015, p.34.
[29] Alschuler, L.R. (2008). Jung and Politics. In: P. Young-Eisendrath & T. Dawson, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Jung (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge), p.308.
[30] Wendt, 2015, p.275.
[31] Wendt, 2015, p.139.
[32] Idem.
[33] Idem.
[34] Idem.
[35] Wendt, 2015, p.188.
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