Abstract

In the first part of the paper a new interpretative principle for quantum mechanics is applied to two kinds of experimental situation. Applied to situations involving distinctions between regions of space, it implies that the spatial differentiation of the physical world is incomplete. This makes it possible to rigorously define the term “macroscopic” and to attribute measurement-independent reality to the positions of macroscopic objects. Applied to situations involving distinctions between things, it warrants the conclusion that intrinsically each fundamental particle is numerically identical with every other fundamental particle. Reality therefore cannot be modelled from the bottom up. Quantum theory’s explanatory arrow points in the opposite direction: from unity to multiplicity. It is the manifestation of an intrinsically undifferentiated Being. In the second part of the paper the work of the Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo is made use of to explain how consciousness is present in this Being, how it is involved in each fundamental particle, and how it has evolved into our mental consciousness. The role played by the laws of physics in this evolutionary manifestation of Being is discussed, as is the evolution of free will.