Leaps of Consciousness

Idealism comes the Greek ‘Idealismos’ and Idea. Idealism is the Western world’s oldest philosophy.

It holds that thoughts create reality, and the only thing knowable is consciousness or its contents. The only real things are mental entities, or thoughts.

It includes many religious viewpoints, supernatural beings and life after death.

Thus, we can never be sure that anything outside of us truly exists, so physical things only exist in the sense they are perceived.

Plato was one of the first philosophers to discuss Idealism.

Idealism is the opposite of Materialism, which holds the only thing that can be proven to exist is matter.

Quantum physics shows that matter doesn’t exist. In Quantum Revelation, Paul Levy points out that matter is illusory. Only the quantum realm - where all possible states exist - is real. There’s the reassuring adage that ‘if you think you understand quantum physics you don’t, because nobody does.’

Two examples show why matter is not primary:

‘Matter’ or atoms flip in and out of existence so fast it seems they are solid - like in a high-speed movie - but they aren’t. Furthermore, when an atom flips out of existence and back again, it’s not the same atom.

Another basis is that ‘matter’ needs boundaries. However, since everything is energy at the quantum scale and an atom is 99.9999999% empty space, there are no boundaries separating things -There's just a continuous energy field. The ‘feeling’ of solidity is electromagnetic repulsion.

Oops, at the quantum level materialism falls apart.