“The universe is not only stranger than we suppose, but stranger than we can suppose,” popularized by Terence McKenna, and originally attributed to British biologist J.B.S. Haldane, encapsulates humanity’s eternal struggle to comprehend the cosmos we inhabit.
Throughout history, from ancient civilizations gazing at the stars to modern physicists peering into quantum realms, we have continuously discovered that reality defies our expectations and transcends our cognitive frameworks.
As physicist Richard Feynman famously remarked, “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics” (Feynman, 1965).
This essay explores how the mind-bending revelations of physics interact with ancient human beliefs, reshape our cultural landscape, and challenge our very modes of consciousness and being.
Ancient Cosmologies and Modern Physics: Echoes Across Time
“Every culture that’s ever existed has operated under the illusion that it understood 95% of reality and that the other 5% would be delivered in the next 18 months, and from Egypt forward they’ve been running around believing they had a perfect grip on things and yet we look back at every society that preceded us with great smugness at how naive they all were. Well, it never occurs to us, then, that maybe we’re whistling in the dark too! That the universe is stranger than you CAN suppose, and that that openness that that perception imparts is a great joy, a great blessing, because then you can live your life not in service to some fascistic metaphor but in service to the living mystery: the fact that you’re not going to understand it; it is not going to yield to logic; or magic; or any other technique that’s been developed…” — Terence McKenna
Human attempts to understand the universe date back to our earliest civilizations. Ancient Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks, and many others developed intricate cosmologies that explained celestial phenomena through myths and deities. These narratives weren’t merely primitive attempts at science—they represented sophisticated frameworks for integrating human experience with the cosmos. The Mayan understanding of celestial cycles, for instance, achieved remarkable mathematical precision while remaining deeply embedded in spiritual worldviews.
Carl Sagan observed this continuity between ancient and modern cosmic understanding: “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light-years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual” (Sagan, 1995). The awe that drove ancient sky-watchers persists in today’s astrophysicists and cosmologists.
Interestingly, some ancient intuitions about reality find curious parallels in modern physics. The Buddhist concept of interdependence resonates with quantum entanglement, where particles remain connected regardless of distance. Hindu cosmology’s vast cycles of creation and destruction echo modern concepts of cosmic inflation and potential universe rebirth. As Neil deGrasse Tyson notes, “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you” (Tyson, 2017)—a humility that both ancient mystics and modern physicists have come to embrace.
The Quantum Revolution: Reality Undone
The development of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century fundamentally challenged our perception of reality. The deterministic, mechanistic universe of Newton gave way to a probabilistic, observer-dependent reality that defies common sense. Subatomic particles exist in multiple states simultaneously until measured. Information appears to travel instantaneously across vast distances. Empty space teems with virtual particles popping in and out of existence.
Richard Feynman, one of quantum theory’s greatest minds, admitted its profound strangeness: “If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don’t understand quantum mechanics” (Feynman, 1967). This sentiment reflects not mere complexity but a fundamental incompatibility with human intuition—our brains evolved to navigate the macroscopic world of predators and prey, not the subatomic realm of wave-particle duality.
David Deutsch, pioneer of quantum computation, argues that this incomprehensibility is not a flaw in our theories but a feature of reality itself: “The quantum theory of parallel universes is not the problem, it is the solution. It is not some troublesome, optional interpretation emerging from arcane theoretical considerations. It is the explanation—the only one that is tenable—of a remarkable and counter-intuitive reality” (Deutsch, 1997). According to Deutsch, the multiverse interpretation—where every quantum possibility manifests in a parallel reality—resolves quantum paradoxes but demands we abandon our intuitive sense of a single, definitive world.
Cosmological Vertigo: The Expanding Mind
Modern cosmology presents equally disorienting revelations. Our universe appears to have emerged from an infinitesimal point in the Big Bang, expanded faster than light during inflation, and continues accelerating outward driven by mysterious dark energy. Galaxies rotate too quickly, requiring invisible dark matter to explain their motion. Black holes warp spacetime so severely that time itself stops at their event horizons.
“The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible,” Einstein famously remarked—yet increasingly, comprehensibility seems an illusion. The more we learn, the more the cosmos exceeds our conceptual grasp. As Neil deGrasse Tyson eloquently puts it: “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you” (Tyson, 2017). We find ourselves in a universe where 95% consists of dark matter and dark energy—substances we cannot directly detect and barely understand.
Terence McKenna, though primarily known for his ethnobotanical research, often commented on the mind-expanding implications of modern physics: “The universe is not running down; the universe is not sliding toward entropy. The universe seeks novelty. And the proof of this is found in human beings” (McKenna, 1992). For McKenna, the increasing complexity observed in cosmic evolution suggested an underlying principle beyond random processes—a view finding surprising resonance in some interpretations of the anthropic principle in physics.
Consciousness and Cosmos: The Observer Paradox
Perhaps the most profound implication of modern physics involves consciousness itself. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics suggests that observation collapses quantum possibilities into definite states. This raises disquieting questions: What constitutes an “observation”? Must it involve consciousness? As physicist John Wheeler proposed in his “participatory anthropic principle,” observers may be necessary for the universe to exist at all: “The universe does not ‘exist, out there,’ independent of all acts of observation. Instead, it is in some strange sense a participatory universe” (Wheeler, 1978).
This connection between consciousness and reality resonates with ancient traditions worldwide. Hindu Vedanta philosophy proposed consciousness as the fundamental substrate of existence. Indigenous shamanic traditions across cultures described reality as responsive to intention and awareness. As Terence McKenna observed: “The world which we perceive is a tiny fraction of the world which we can perceive, which is a tiny fraction of the perceivable world” (McKenna, 1991).
Richard Feynman approached these profound questions with characteristic humility: “I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong” (Feynman, 1999). This scientific humility parallels wisdom traditions that recognize the limits of human comprehension—from Socrates’ acknowledgment of his own ignorance to the Taoist recognition that the Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.
Cultural Transmutation: Living with Quantum Strangeness
How have these revolutionary scientific insights affected human culture? In obvious ways, technology based on quantum principles—from computers to medical imaging—has transformed daily life. More subtly, quantum concepts have permeated philosophy, art, literature, and spiritual discourse, creating what physicist David Bohm called a “quantum society” characterized by interconnection and indeterminism.
Carl Sagan recognized science’s profound cultural impact: “We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster” (Sagan, 1995). This disconnect between scientific understanding and technological dependence creates cultural tensions still unfolding.
Contemporary spirituality increasingly incorporates quantum language, sometimes appropriately, sometimes misleadingly. Films like “What the Bleep Do We Know!?” and countless New Age texts apply quantum principles to consciousness and manifestation. While scientists often criticize such applications as misunderstandings, they reflect a cultural hunger to integrate scientific and spiritual worldviews.
Neil deGrasse Tyson notes this impulse toward integration: “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it” (Tyson, 2011). Yet science’s cultural role extends beyond providing objective truths—it shapes our metaphors, narratives, and self-conception as a species. The realization that we are made of stardust—atoms forged in stellar explosions billions of years ago—has profound existential implications regardless of one’s spiritual beliefs.
New Modes of Being: Cognitive Evolution
If the universe exceeds our capacity to comprehend it, what possibilities remain for human understanding? David Deutsch suggests that explanatory theories, rather than mere observations, represent our best approach: “The majority of scientific realists nowadays tend to be instrumentalists in practice—happy to find theories that predict the behavior of the physical world, without probing too deeply into what they really mean, or worrying about their philosophical implications” (Deutsch, 2011). For Deutsch, this instrumentalist approach is insufficient; we must strive for deeper explanations even when they challenge our intuitions.
Terence McKenna proposed that altered states of consciousness might access dimensions of reality inaccessible to ordinary perception: “The psychedelic experience is simply a compressed instance of what we call understanding, so that living psychedelically is trying to live in an atmosphere of continuous unfolding of understanding” (McKenna, 1991). While controversial in mainstream science, such approaches reflect the recognition that our evolved cognitive apparatus may have intrinsic limitations.
Perhaps most promisingly, artificial intelligence and human-machine interfaces may eventually transcend biological cognitive constraints. As machines help us visualize higher dimensions, simulate quantum phenomena, and process information beyond human capacities, we may develop extended cognition capable of grasping aspects of reality currently beyond our reach. However, as Richard Feynman cautioned: “What I cannot create, I do not understand” (Feynman, notebook, 1988)—suggesting that even with technological enhancement, true understanding requires more than calculation.
Conclusion: Humble Cosmonauts
The universe’s fundamental queerness—its resistance to fitting neatly within human conceptual frameworks—need not lead to despair or mysticism. Instead, it invites an attitude of profound humility combined with boundless curiosity. As Carl Sagan eloquently expressed: “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known” (Sagan, 1994).
We find ourselves in a remarkable position—conscious beings emerged from the universe itself, capable of contemplating our own origins yet limited by the very cognitive structures that emerged from cosmic evolution. This paradox defines the human condition in light of modern physics.
Perhaps the wisest response comes from Richard Feynman: “I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned” (attributed to Feynman). In embracing the questions rather than demanding certainty, we honor both scientific rigor and the profound mystery of existence.
The universe may indeed be queerer than we can suppose—but in that very unsupposability lies an invitation to perpetual wonder. As we continue exploring the cosmos both outside and within us, we participate in a grand adventure of understanding that connects us with both ancient sky-watchers and future generations of cosmic explorers. In this ongoing journey, the limits of human comprehension are not walls but horizons, forever receding as we approach, revealing new vistas of the strange and beautiful cosmos we call home.
References
Deutsch, D. (1997). The Fabric of Reality. Allen Lane.
Deutsch, D. (2011). The Beginning of Infinity. Viking.
Feynman, R. (1965). The Character of Physical Law. MIT Press.
Feynman, R. (1967). The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Addison-Wesley.
Feynman, R. (1988). Personal notebook.
Feynman, R. (1999). The Pleasure of Finding Things Out. Perseus Books.
McKenna, T. (1991). The Archaic Revival. HarperSanFrancisco.
McKenna, T. (1992). Food of the Gods. Bantam.
Sagan, C. (1994). Pale Blue Dot. Random House.
Sagan, C. (1995). The Demon-Haunted World. Random House.
Tyson, N.D. (2011). Interview with Bill Maher.
Tyson, N.D. (2017). Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. W.W. Norton & Company.
Wheeler, J.A. (1978). “The ‘Past’ and the ‘Delayed-Choice’ Double-Slit Experiment.” In Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Theory, edited by A.R. Marlow. Academic Press.
Light Being ॐ 
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