David Bohm

Quantum Physicist and Philosopher

1917 - 1992

Theoretical PhysicsPhilosophyHolography

"The universe is not a collection of separate objects, but an undivided and continuous movement. The whole is implicit in every part."

One of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th century. His theory of the Implicate Order provides a fascinating scientific framework for understanding synchronicity and the interconnectedness of the universe.

Key Points at a Glance

Who is He?

Dissident physicist and eminent philosopher, former collaborator of Einstein, exiled from his country for his pacifist political convictions.

Notable Achievement

Rewrote quantum mechanics (pilot-wave theory) to mathematically demonstrate that particles are guided and interconnected at a distance.

Synchronicity

Theorized the Holographic Universe and the 'Implicate Order': the idea that everything in the universe (thoughts and matter) is connected in a hidden dimension, which rationally explains the phenomenon of synchronicity.

Biography

The Exile of a Brilliant Mind

David Bohm was born in Pennsylvania. A gifted student, he joined the University of California at Berkeley to work with J. Robert Oppenheimer (the father of the atomic bomb). Although he made significant theoretical contributions to the Manhattan Project, he was denied access to the Los Alamos laboratory due to his youthful political sympathies.

In the 1950s, at the height of McCarthyism, Bohm refused to testify against his colleagues before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He lost his position at Princeton University (where he was in contact with Einstein) and was forced into exile, first to Brazil, then to Israel, and finally to England, where he spent the remainder of his life at Birkbeck College, London.

The Quest for Wholeness

Bohm was never satisfied with the standard (Copenhagen) interpretation of quantum mechanics, which posited that particles had no defined properties before being measured. Strongly encouraged by Einstein, he developed an alternative theory in 1952: the pilot-wave theory (or Bohmian mechanics), which restored an objective existence to particles, guided by a mysterious 'quantum potential'.

But it was later, through his interest in holograms and Eastern philosophies (notably during his long dialogues with the Indian thinker Jiddu Krishnamurti), that Bohm developed his most radical vision: a universe functioning as a vast indivisible hologram.

Major Works

Bohmian Mechanics (Pilot-Wave)

A rigorous mathematical reinterpretation of quantum mechanics demonstrating the existence of a fundamental 'non-locality': particles can be instantaneously connected, regardless of the distance separating them.

Bohmian Dialogue

A method of group communication developed by Bohm, aiming to suspend judgments and explore collective thought (the 'proprioception of thought') to transcend social fragmentation.

Visions & Theories

The Implicate and Explicate Order

This is Bohm's major philosophical contribution. He proposes that our everyday reality, the three-dimensional universe we perceive (objects, space, successive time), is merely the surface of things: the Explicate Order (unfolded).

Beneath this surface lies a much deeper, timeless, and spaceless reality: the Implicate Order (enfolded). In the implicate order, everything is connected to everything. Just as each piece of a holographic film contains the entire image, each region of space and time contains the entirety of the universe 'enfolded' within it.

Elementary particles (and our thoughts) do not truly move through space: they unfold from the implicate order into the explicate order, then fold back again, an infinite number of times per second. The universe is thus a dynamic 'Holomovement'.

The Link with Synchronicity

Bohm's theory provides the perfect bridge to explain Jung's synchronicity. If human consciousness and physical matter both proceed from the same implicate order, they are not fundamentally separate.

A synchronicity (a striking coincidence between a thought and an event) is thus not a magical violation of the laws of physics. It is simply a moment when the underlying implicate order 'shines through' into our explicate reality. The thought and the event do not cause each other; they are the simultaneous *unfolding* of the same informational structure emanating from the whole.

Reference Works

Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980)

Bohm's foundational work where he presents his theory of the universe as a hologram and introduces the concepts of implicate and explicate order.

Science, Order, and Creativity (1987)