Bohm. IO

 

🌀 Bohm’s Implicate Order

The Implicate Order is a concept developed by David Bohm to describe a deeper level of reality underlying the observable world.

He presented it most fully in his book

Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980).

🔎 Core Idea

Bohm proposed that reality has two levels:

1️⃣ Explicate Order

The unfolded, visible world:

• Separate objects
• Distinct particles
• Localized events
• Space and time as we experience them

This is the ordinary physical world.

2️⃣ Implicate Order

A deeper, hidden level where:

• Everything is fundamentally interconnected
• The whole is enfolded into every part
• Separation is only apparent

In this order, the universe is an undivided whole.

🌊 The Hologram Analogy

Bohm used the hologram as an example:

• In a hologram, each fragment contains information about the entire image.
• The whole is “enfolded” into every region.

Similarly:

• The implicate order enfolds the whole universe into each part.

⚛ Connection to Quantum Mechanics

Bohm developed this idea partly to explain:

• Quantum nonlocality
• Entanglement
• The inseparability of quantum systems

His earlier pilot-wave theory (Bohmian mechanics) already suggested:

• Particles have definite positions
• But are guided by a nonlocal quantum potential

The implicate order generalizes this into a broader metaphysical picture.

🧠 Quantum Potential and Enfoldment

In Bohmian mechanics:

• The wavefunction is not just a mathematical tool
• It carries “active information”
• It guides particles nonlocally

This active information reflects the implicate order.

🧩 Key Features

Feature	Implicate Order
Ontology	Holistic, undivided
Locality	Fundamentally nonlocal
Separateness	Emergent illusion
Time	Possibly emergent
Determinism	Compatible with Bohm’s deterministic physics

🧘 Philosophical Influence

Bohm’s thinking was influenced by:

• Quantum theory
• Holism
• Dialogues with Jiddu Krishnamurti

He aimed to overcome fragmentation in science and thought.

🧠 In One Sentence

The implicate order is a deeper, enfolded, holistic level of reality from which the familiar, separate world unfolds.

If you’d like, I can also explain:

• How implicate order relates to entanglement mathematically
• Whether it supports panpsychism or panprotopsychism
• Criticisms of Bohm’s view
• How it differs from Copenhagen
• Its connection to holographic physics

Where would you like to go next?