Creative Practice Research/Professional Practice
I have been doing some soul searching about why I seem to be so interested in quantum physics and the most ostensible reason that I can deduce is that it relates to something my Dad used to tell me when I was growing up. We used to discuss what I had read about Lobsang Rampa who was a Doctor that grew up under the supervision of the of the Dalai Lama (not this Dalai Lama, but his predecessor) in the mountains of Tibet. He was taught the old Chinese medicine and then went on to study orthodox medicine. It goes without saying that his books were about metaphysics and he wrote about his experiences in the monasery amongst which are about monks walking through walls and were able to do so by raising their vibration and controlling their breath. He spoke about people who can see the aura and what the different colours in a person’s aura indicate as well as people who disappear or appear at will (teleporting).
Rampa explained the science behind the walking through walls and If I remember correctly, he said ‘man’ is made of matter and through training, we can project our mind over matter and disperse our atoms by increasing our vibration enabling the atoms to become very finite that they can mingle with and pass through other atoms, hence one can walk through what the ordinary man considers to be a solid object.
This has stuck with me since then because I found it very intriguing and incredible so I used to discuss it with my Dad who in return would talk about the lost African art of disappearing and teleporting. Apparently, the ancient warriors were well versed in the secrets of nature and knew how to bend the laws of the universe. They would disappear during warfare to evade the enemy or surprise them. Amongst the Yoruba tribe of modern day Nigeria, this was called “Egbe” with an accent on the last ‘e’. I was even more intrigued although somewhat skeptical when he said he was going to research it and discover that lost art again as this was quantum physics. Whether he would have succeeded, I would never know.
These sort of practise to those who don’t understand it, he used to say label it as black magic or Juju. But I concur with my Dad that the ancient Africans were tapping into the science of quantum physics here except that they didn’t understand what it was and attributed it to the power of the gods that is only bestowed onto someone who has been ordained by them. When we now look at science fiction like Star trek or Space 1999 were the characters can disappear, be invisible or transform, at the time it seemed so far fetched, but with what we now know today and still discovering, this is all possible.
“Invisible textiles do exist – even if only in fiction, mythology and fairy tales. The concept of invisibility may seem to be stuff of science fiction, but the belief was held in the age of Antiquity. In Greek mythology, Hades (meaning the ‘unseen’) possessed a helmet capable of making the wearer invisible. Invisible fibres were first referenced in the Middle Ages, when a belief in invisible fern seeds was widely held. Since ferns reproduce from microscopic spores rather than seeds, they were believed to possess magic powers. The fern cloaks of faeries prevented them from being seen, and the magical tarnkappes worn by dwarfs made them completely invisible”. – Quinn, B.Textile Futures (2010)pg 66-67
This excerpt corroborates what I stated earlier on but he only talks about Greek mythology and the beliefs in the Middle Ages as it applies to Europe. I can’t blame him though because nobody seems to know that much about the beliefs and practises in Africa as there are no documented evidence that attributes these sort of thoughts to the people of the region and instead we only have fragmented oral mythology and folklore which are passed from generation to generation. I happen to know that the Ancients of Africa used a lot of specific herbs for different things ranging from treating ailments to performing rituals and reciting of incantations to unlock these natural secrets in order to do what they want it to do because I grew up there and helped my Dad with his research into herbal medicine and the use of herbs and roots to create favourable conditions that ‘help to unlock’ natures hidden secrets which to reference Quinn again, he said they believed the herbs possessed powers.
According to Quinn, the laws of science states that solid “objects cannot be rendered 100 per cent invisible, but the development of metamaterials may enable them to be temporarily cloaked…….for a metamaterial to work, the fibres that structure it must be smaller than the wave length it targets” -Quinn 2010(pg 67).
This statement seems to confirm exactly what Lobsang Rampa has stated as well about ‘man and matter’. Matter cannot be made completely invisible, but as I mentioned before, in the case of humans, they have to increase their vibrations to disperse their atoms which renders them to be more finite than the “wave length” of the object, in his case, a wall in order to be able to pass through it. Although, Quinn is talking about the manufacture of a “metamaterial” that can be used to encloak an object and render it ‘unseen’ for a short time, but in order to succeed at this at all the fibres (atoms) that constitute the object have to be more finite that the “wave length” (vibration) of the target.Rampa and Quinn, in my view are saying the same thing but in very different contexts.
In addition to this Quinn discussed colour and well-being in his book where he postulates that the healing power of colour is so strong that it has puzzled physicians throughout the ages. He talks about the art of treating physical and psychological symptoms through an ancient form of Indian medicine called Ayurveda. Chromotherapists, he alleges, claim that colours create physical and emotional reactions in people which is why they treat people by administering colour and light to specific areas of the body.
The punchline is that he states; “colour therapy is based on the premise that the human body is made up of vibrations, which create interconnected fields of energy throughout the body” – Quinn, 2010(pg 103).
The relevance to this essay is that Lobsang Rampa was carrying out research in this area of medicine during his life in the sixties/seventies and I remember as young as I was then from his writings that he said it is possible to diagnose and treat ailments just by using colours. But it was crucial to be able to see the human aura as each colour depending on its intensity connotes different meanings which would give the trained person a clue about an affliction and therefore a diagnosis and treatment. He tried to devise a mechanism to help with this sort of medicine which required him to study women volunteers in the nude, because they have the purest auras. The reason for the nudity was that clothing interferes with a clear perception of the aura.
I have gone to this great length to make these analogies and quotes for the simple reason that the first time I was able to link quantum physics with Ancient practises in Africa, I was a teenager who’s liberal father allowed to read books that were beyond my years (talking about metaphysics) and I was able to ask questions and make my own summing up. There were so many questions that I wanted answers to and lots of thoughts about what was possible which followed me into adulthood. Then during my Bachelors degree, reading books like Bradley Quinn’s Textile Futures and coming across all these developments in the fields of science and textiles brought all those things I had learned so many years ago back to the fore because I had first learned of these possibilities as a young boy through Lobsang Rampa. It has rekindled my interest in this area and inspired me as a textile designer to want to apply not just the science of quantum physics, but all kinds of sciences to my discipline of textile design. Some people may probably say I’m off my head, but regardless, this is what intrigues and inspires me and therefore would like to pursue.
