Mind Atoms

I’ve come across the term “mind atom” in the discourses of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti many years ago. The Sanskrit term for “mind atom” is cittáńu. Since then, I have been thinking about mind atoms. I may be in minority. Majority of the students of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti are focused on researching microvita. I hardly hear any discussion on cittáńu. [1]

Hints given by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti

Cosmic Citta: Objective portion of the Cosmic Mind. The fabric of the universe comes into being in the Cosmic Citta.

Cittánú: Quantum of Citta. Shrii Shrii Anandamurti referred to cittánú as “ectoplasmic particles” or “mind atoms” in some of his discourses.

Abstract

The fabric of the universe is the substrate of all physical phenomena, but it is also the repository of abstract elements that can be described as mind atoms.

The physical universe is created out of the Cosmic Citta. All particles and forces, atoms and molecules are condensed states of the Cosmic Citta. Cittánú play a role in the process of condensation. I theorize that this condensation (emergence of space-time-matter) is facilitated by interaction among cittánú via microvita.

Roger Penrose

Roger Penrose would place cittáńu in the category of “Platonic mathematical world” shown in the image below.

“Platonic-mathematical, physical, and mental – has its own kind of reality, and where each is (deeply and mysteriously) founded in the one that precedes it (the worlds being taken cyclicly). I like to think that, in a sense, the Platonic world may be the most primitive of the three, since mathematics is a kind of necessity, virtually conjuring its very self into existence.” [2]

Piet Hut, Mark Alford and Max Tegmark proposed variations of Penrose’s “Three Worlds and Three Mysteries”. I wrote about those discussions here and here.

Cittanu as cellular automaton

One could imagine cittanu as cellular automaton (“rule” in Stephen Wolfram’s terminology, see here) (“beable” in Gerard ‘t Hooft’s terminology, see here).

Cittanu as primordial qubit

According to this perspective the fabric of the universe is a network of primordial qubits connected to each other by quantum entanglement. Space and time emerges from this qubit network. The ontological status of the primordial qubit is not known. Here, the “primordial qubit” corresponds to cittanu.

Classical

Platon’s “ideas”, Leibniz’ “monads” come to mind as concepts similar to cittanu.

Tendency to conceptualize cittanus as particles

There is a tendency to conceptualize cittanus as particles. My latest thinking on cittanu is closer to the classical concepts. In other words, I think that cittanus are abstract elements, more abstract than particles or field quanta, more abstract than cellular automata but less abstract than Penrose’s mathematical entities. Cittanu could be be closer in function to a computer code element. In other words, cittanu can contain fairly detailed code. Cellular automata on the other hand are supposed to be simple rules. I don’t think entangled primordial qubits can provide the power of expression cittanus supposedly have.

Hypothesis: cittáńu interact with each other via microvita

As far as I know, Leibniz’ monads do not interact. I am not aware of any discussion of interaction among Platonic ideas or mathematical elements either. Primordial qubits do interact, however (remember primordial qubits must be entangled).

I argue that mind atoms must interact with each other just like physical atoms interact with other physical atoms. It is plausible to assume that the interactions among mind atoms are facilitated by microvita.

There must be a limited variety of mind atoms but infinite number of combinations of these elements. This is not too different from the atomic elements of the periodic table. The entire physical universe is made up of various combinations of atoms listed in the periodic table.

In the physical realm, at the lowest level, interactions are facilitated by the force carrying quanta such as photons, gluons, W, Z bosons. In analogy, we can speculate that microvita induce interaction among mind atoms. This is the kind of interaction that eventually leads to the formation of cognitive cores which then leads to interactions among cognitive cores thus ushering the appearance of physical reality.

My hypothesis is that elementary physical particles emerge from confinements that originate in the citta codes (mind atoms). Elementary particles have cognitive cores. For example, (charge, spin, …) defines the electron cognitive core. How are the cognitive cores formed? I am leaning towards the idea that mind atoms are used to construct the confinements that manifest cognitive cores.

Interaction

soul <– mind (interaction agent) –> soul

cittáńu <– microvita (interaction agent) –> cittáńu

cognitive core <– physical dynamics (environment) –> cognitive core

Mind atom is the analog of the unit soul in the realm of the mind. Cognitive core is the analog of the mind atom in the physical realm. Microvita enable interactions among mind atoms. These interactions result in cognitive cores of the physical realm.

Categoric separation between the essence and the activator of the essence

Why do we have dual categories like “soul” and “mind”, cittáńu and microvitum, cognitive cores and dynamics?

No matter how sophisticated, no model or theory can represent the truth fully. Our models have limited explanatory power. We have to start with two explanatory factors and search for other explanatory factors as necessary. One factor only has zero explanatory power. We invent dualities to model Reality since the two-factor models are the easiest to construct.

Categoric separation between the two explanatory factors, the ‘essence’ and the ‘activator of essence’, is a useful mental aide.

Inference

Shrii Shrii Anandamurti sometimes referred to microvita as “inferences”. I interpret “inference” as a receiver-specific unit of transmitted knowledge.

In crude analogy, we could say that an “inference” contains information plus meta-information which is a model that interprets the information. As an example, we can think of Javascript codes accompanying web data over the internet. Data (information) and the Javascript code (meta-information) are transmitted in one package over the internet. 

Knowledge is a cumulative effect. When the package of information plus meta-information is received by the individual mind it will be a drop in the accumulated pool of information plus mental models of that individual mind. The marginal increase in the knowledge formed from the drop of unit knowledge will depend on the accumulated pool. Therefore “inferences” are receiver specific. The package of information plus meta-information in the form of a Javascript’ed web page cannot be received by our minds directly. That “inference” will only work when received by a web-browser application on a computing device. This is another reason why “inferences” are receiver specific.

Hypothesis re-stated

Interactions among mind atoms are facilitated by the exchange of knowledge-carrying microvita. The effect of the interaction via microvitum depends on the receiving mind atom. The transmitted unit of knowledge possibly modifies the receiving mind atom.

Language analogy

Interaction of mind atoms via microvita can also be understood as sentence formation. Mind atoms are similar to noun/subject/object and microvita to verb/adjective. Together they form sentences, paragraphs, stories (physical reality). What about semantics, the meaning? That requires the Cosmic Mind. Stories (all creation) take place within the Cosmic Mind.

Notes

[1] The works of microvita researchers I am familiar with (Richard Gauthier, Michael Towsey, Dhanjoo Ghista, Raymond Bates, Hans-Joachim Rudolph, Frank van den Bovenkamp) are focused on microvita. Please let me know if you encounter any article discussing the relationship between microvita and cittanu.

[2] Roger Penrose, “The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe”, Knopf (2005), p:1029