Chapter 22 – Superposition and Collapse: The Dance of Choice and Becoming

Creation is not a frozen script, but a living play of possibilities. At the quantum level, reality does not exist as fixed entities waiting to be discovered—it exists as superpositions, states of “may be,” “could be,” “shall be.” A particle before observation is not one thing or another; it is many things at once, carrying the fragrance of infinite futures. But when collapse happens—when an act of choice arises out of the silent field—one possibility is plucked from the garden of infinity and becomes the reality of this moment. Thus, superposition is the womb of creation, and collapse is its birth.

Imagine a child standing in front of a shelf of storybooks at night. Before choosing, every book is a possible story for the night — all the adventures, mysteries, and fantasies are equally open. It’s like a whole library of possible nights even though the child will read only one. But the moment the child picks a book, that story becomes the night’s reality, and all the other stories fade back into the shelf. This is exactly how superposition and collapse work: many possibilities exist at first, and one becomes real when the choice is made.

The sages of India intuited this mystery long before the equations of quantum mechanics. In the Upanishads, Brahman is described as “neither this nor that, yet also this and that”—a description that mirrors the quantum superposition. It is the realm where all attributes are held simultaneously, but none is bound. Collapse then is like the act of Ishvara Sankalpa—the divine will choosing to manifest a particular form from the unbounded potential of Brahman. Every event, every form, every particle we see is thus a frozen decision within this eternal game of becoming. That is why the Upanishads declare eko’ham bahu syām—“I am One, and I shall become many”—the divine will at the beginning of creation. Why not see this cosmic will as the very first collapse of pure potential into actuality, taking the form of fundamental fields and particles with specific properties such as form, charge, position, spin, and momentum?

Superposition: The Silent Ocean of Possibility

Imagine standing at the ocean early in the morning. The water is very calm, but that calmness is full of hidden possibilities—waves could rise in any direction at any moment. This is like superposition, where many outcomes exist together before anything is measured. In this “possibility state,” an electron is not spinning clockwise or counterclockwise—it is in a special quantum state that contains both possibilities at once, just like the calm sea contains all the potential waves before any one wave actually forms. Nothing is fixed yet; everything is only potential, waiting for one specific outcome to appear when observed.

In Sankhya, Prakriti before disturbance is completely calm — the three gunas are balanced, nothing has taken form, and nothing has begun. It is a state of pure potential. This is just like superposition in quantum physics, where all possibilities exist together but none is chosen yet. It’s called Prakriti in samyavastha or equilibrium. Prakriti waits for the presence of Purusha before anything moves or evolves. In the same way, a quantum state waits for measurement or interaction before one outcome becomes real. The moment Purusha’s attention falls on Prakriti is like the moment of collapse in quantum mechanics — the instant where potential becomes creation, and one definite reality appears. It’s called kshobha or disturbance in Prakriti. Why not call underlying fields as prakriti in samyavastha and particles born from them as kshobha in prakriti.

Prakriti is like sugar syrup. Within it, the sugar particle in it represents sattva; its dispersed presence throughout the syrup represents rajo guna through constant but unnoticeable movement; and its dissolution, where the particle no longer exists in solid form, represents tamo guna or destruction of particle form. Means in mool prakriti, all the three gunas remain in unchanging amount equally dispersed everywhere. It’s samyavastha. But when sugar particle is separated back from syrup through crystallization etc., then sattva guna varies at different locations as sugar particle has more concentrated sattva than rest of the sugar syrup. Similarly rajoguna also varies as sugar particles shows more concentrated motion than rest of the sugar solution on heating. With this tamoguna also varies for destruction or dissolution back of sugar particles contains more concentrated tamoguna or destruction than the uniform tamoguna in rest of the sugar syrup. If we replace the sugar particle with a quantum particle, the sugar syrup becomes the quantum field. The formation of a particle then expresses sattva as form, rajo guna as motion, and tamo guna as the particle’s eventual changing form, destruction or dissolution back into the field. It proves the same quantum fields were experienced by ancient sages with inner eyes which scientists are discovering as quantum fields through physical experiments. Brahma can be called as cosmic quantum field and soul as individualised quantum field as it has individual’s hidden impressions made from its countless lifetimes. Soul reborns again and again from this individualised quantum field. Liberation is like dissolving of even this field back into pure void space that’s nothing at all and is the background of grand quantum field aka prakriti. It’s only practically possible through nirvikalp samadhi, the top achievement of yoga.

There must exist a grand, all-encompassing quantum field from which every known quantum field arises. Science has not yet detected it, but logic strongly points toward its existence, because everything in nature moves toward unification. Just as diverse particles emerge from individual fields, all fields themselves must emerge from a deeper, singular foundation. In philosophical terms, this is the modern reflection of Prakriti—one source field from which all forms arise and into which they dissolve. Although string theory and few other scientific theories are speculating it.

Collapse: The Birth of Form

Collapse is not destruction; it is birth. When superposition resolves, a particular outcome is chosen and becomes the world. It is like the sculptor striking a block of marble: infinite shapes are hidden within, but one form emerges. Collapse is the act of manifestation, the narrowing of infinity into one thread of reality.

The Nyaya Darshana speaks of pramana, valid means of knowledge, where perception crystallizes the uncertain into the certain. Collapse is a cosmic pramana—it validates one outcome as the “real.” But this validation does not cancel the unseen others; they remain as shadows, as unseen branches in the cosmic tree, perhaps flowering in parallel universes.

Thus, every collapse is like an act of cosmic decision-making. The world is not predetermined; it is continuously deciding itself into being.

Choice as the Engine of Creation

Why is collapse so central to creation? Because collapse is the very engine of becoming. Without collapse, everything would remain an undifferentiated soup of potentials—silent, formless, directionless. Superposition is the clay, but collapse is the potter’s hand.

The Yoga Darshana explains creation as a process of sankalpa-shakti, the power of intention, arising from consciousness. The yogi is taught that by stilling the modifications of mind (chitta vritti nirodha), one returns to the ocean of possibility; but by focusing thought and intention, one collapses possibility into reality. In this sense, collapse is not only physical but also experiential. Each thought we entertain collapses infinite ideas into one lived reality.

In human life, collapse appears as choice. At every moment, we hover in superposition: Shall I act or refrain? Shall I love or withdraw? Shall I see the divine in the other, or reduce them to an object? Each decision collapses countless options into one stream of destiny. Thus, collapse is the bridge between freedom and form.

Quantum Collapse and Indian Metaphysics

In Vedanta, the play of Maya is described as veiling (avarana) and projection (vikṣepa). Superposition mirrors the veiling: the true state of things remains hidden, undefined, unmanifest. Superposition also veils the self luminous soul when it’s ready to collapse. Actually soul doesn’t collapse and can never collapse as it has nothing inside. It is perfect zero. It’s a perfect void. When soul of Brahma takes the form of prakriti, then it becomes full of all potentials. Although basic supreme soul remains fully void as such always. It means the soul of Brahma needs to become veiled to entertain the Collapse. Veiled means there is everything or every outcome in prakriti or bound soul in hidden or veiled or potential form without anything yet expressed through collapse. Collapse mirrors projection: a specific form is projected into consciousness of Brahma or human whatever level. What is hidden becomes revealed, what is possible becomes actual. The cycle repeats endlessly, each collapse weaving the fabric of the manifest.

The Bhagavad Gita proclaims: “I am the gambling of the gambler, the chance among things.” This chance, this sudden crystallization of one possibility among many, is none other than collapse. It shows that creation is not mechanical necessity alone—it is also play (lila), spontaneity, surprise. The universe evolves not by rigid design, but by the freedom of collapse.

Collapse as Sacred Fire

Consider collapse as Agni, the sacred fire. In the Vedic sacrifice, offerings are placed into fire, and fire transforms them into smoke and flame that rise to the heavens. In the same way, the infinite offerings of potential are cast into the fire of collapse. From that fire arises one reality, glowing with form and direction. Every collapse is thus a yajna, a cosmic sacrifice where possibilities are consumed to give birth to actuality.

This yajna continues ceaselessly: electrons choosing orbits, galaxies forming shapes, cells dividing, humans making decisions. All are flames of the same sacred fire.

The Pulse of Becoming

Superposition and collapse together form the pulse of becoming—the systole and diastole of the cosmic heart. Superposition is expansion into infinity, collapse is contraction into form. Together they beat, again and again, generating time, space, and history.

The Kashmir Shaiva philosophers described creation as the pulsation (spanda) of Shiva’s consciousness—an eternal throb between stillness and manifestation. Modern physics echoes this ancient intuition: reality is not a frozen block but a dynamic dance of probabilities collapsing into certainties.

Collapse and Evolution of Complexity

Each collapse does not occur in isolation; it feeds into the next. A particle’s collapse shapes its neighbor’s potential, like ripples overlapping in a pond. Over time, these ripples build into patterns, and patterns into structures. From hydrogen atoms to stars, from DNA to consciousness, the universe evolves because collapses accumulate into order.

In this sense, collapse is not merely local but evolutionary. The cosmos learns from each decision. Diversity emerges because collapses never follow a single path but branch into endless variations. Unity emerges because all collapses occur within the same underlying field. Creation is thus diversity in unity, and unity in diversity.

Collapse as the Mirror of the Self

Collapse is not just a physical event—it mirrors the movement of the Self. The Self is simply that which chooses, that which says, “I am this.” Means it ignores all of its hidden potentials and selects only a single outcome to identify with. In deep meditation, when thoughts fade, we rest in a state like superposition—pure being, without any identity. But the moment a thought appears, a collapse happens: the mind claims, “I am this body, this person, this story.” In this way, life becomes a continuous series of collapses happening on the still, silent ocean of superposition.

The Advaita Vedanta reminds us that behind all collapses, the Witness remains untouched—the pure consciousness that neither chooses nor becomes, but allows all choices and becomings to appear. To know that Witness is liberation, the transcendence of collapse itself. Probably it is this very same detachment and non-duality by whatever means, out of which quantum darshan can be a good one.

Quantum Collapse: The Engine of Creation

If we look at the grand picture, superposition provides the infinite palette, collapse paints the stroke. Together, they are the engine of creation. Without superposition, no possibility; without collapse, no actuality. Creation is thus not a single event but a continuous unfolding, driven by the rhythm of superposition and collapse.

This engine powers not only physics but life, mind, and spirit. Every breath is a collapse of air into lungs, every word a collapse of thought into sound, every act a collapse of freedom into destiny. The universe is not a machine, but a living story—authored moment by moment by the choices of collapse.

Copenhagen interpretation says the collapse is real and that no outcome is determined in advance—and many experiments support this. I also appreciate pilot-wave theory, where a particle is guided by a wave. It fits experimental results quite well. However, it claims that every outcome is already determined, which aligns with Indian philosophy that says everything is predetermined—even the movement of a leaf—and that humans are merely puppets.

If we think logically, when the probability distribution already tells us where a particle is most likely to be found, then perhaps the exact position is also predetermined; we simply do not know it yet.

Many-worlds theory is philosophically remarkable as well. In it, there is no collapse of superposition into a single outcome. Instead, every outcome manifests in parallel worlds. This resembles the human mind: one person may perceive a tree as tall, another as short; one may see it as more green, another as less green. A single object gives rise to multiple subjective outcomes. Many-worlds, in a sense, implies many minds—because the world is nowhere but within the mind.

Yet, among all interpretations, the Copenhagen interpretation—superposition and collapse—fits experimental observations most directly. That seems to be how nature operates everywhere. It is a kind of Darwinian quantum evolution: the peak of the amplitude is the most likely outcome, and nature consistently evolves toward it.

De Broglie was right: everything has a wave nature, whether electron, photon, atom, molecule, mountain, planet, or galaxy. Development occurs through survival of the fittest, and the “fittest” option is simply the option with the highest amplitude. This reveals a deep non-duality, where everything—physical or mental—operates through similar underlying patterns.

At the foundation of reality lies the pure quantum world, an impersonal field that performs the entire cosmic play without any capacity to feel. It creates, transforms, and dissolves everything effortlessly, yet it remains completely non-experiential, untouched by emotion or awareness. From this arises the quantum-human, a subtler layer where feeling and experience do appear, but with complete detachment and nondual clarity. The quantum-human experiences all sensations, thoughts, and perceptions generated by brain-wave dynamics, yet never mistakes them as “mine,” and therefore remains inwardly free. The mistake happens at the level of the macro-human soul, the ego-sense, which identifies with these brain-wave activities and assumes, “These thoughts are mine, these feelings are mine, this world is mine.” This misidentification creates duality, attachment, and ignorance. The quantum-human represents the middle path—a state in which a social human aka macro human being can still feel, relate, think, and live, but without falling into attachment and ignorance. Unlike the purely non-feeling quantum world, which no embodied person can emulate while living, the quantum-human offers a balanced model: fully feeling, fully aware, yet inwardly liberated. This is the practical ideal that Quantum Darshan points toward—living in society while maintaining the detachment and freedom that arise from understanding the deepest quantum game.

In nutshell, the main point of the story is that mystics discovered the ultimate truth and perfect peace by practicing seeing everything in the world as equal to themselves this way or that way that I also feel—meaning the inner working of everything is similar to that of a human being. Experience has already revealed this, and science will also reveal it fully one day. The division between living and non-living is superficial; at a deeper level, the functioning of all things is astonishingly similar. Call it the collapse of potential thoughts into specific thought or thoughts into a decision or something else—experience can never be denied simply because science has not yet fully explained it. Experience reigns higher than science. First comes experience; science only later affirms it so that even laypeople and non-believers can understand and believe it.

Conclusion

Superposition is the silence of infinite potential; collapse is the voice that speaks one possibility into being. Together, they form the essence of creation: freedom held in balance, then released into form. The Indian darshanas recognized this in their own tongues: as Purusha’s glance upon Prakriti, as the projection of Maya, as the pulse of spanda, as the divine will of Ishvara. Modern physics recognizes it as the quantum wave collapsing into measurement. Both are describing the same mystery: reality is not found—it is chosen, moment by moment.

Creation, then, is not behind us as a past event, but within us as an ongoing act. With every collapse, the universe is reborn.