The emergence of a Golden Age of Light has been discussed by both spiritual leaders and by scientists down through history. We also have reports from around the world, and from all ages, of extraordinary results from looking at the sun with the appropriate methods and preparations. Recently, European scientists have described the important roles of the light, called biophotons, circulated within and emitted by the human body. Some leaders in this emerging field: Fritz Albert Popp, Roeland Van Wijk, and Marko Bischof, to name a few.

The history of physics includes some remarkable concepts that relate to the possible interactions between living things and the stars, of which the sun is obviously the closest to us. Of course, the study of the way sunlight interacts with plants has gone on for a long time. This field has recently undergone a dramatic advance with a remarkable discovery by Graham R. Fleming and his colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley. We have long known that when a photon from the sun interacts with a chlorophyll molecule in the leaf of a green plant, an electron in the chlorophyll molecule is excited, and jumps from chlorophyll to chlorophyll until it reaches a particular molecule called the reaction center. Here the energy of the electron is trapped by the plant’s molecular machinery, which stores the energy in the form of a high-energy chemical bond in a sugar molecule. Using sophisticated electronic spectroscopy, Fleming and his colleagues discovered that the excited electron simultaneously “tries” several possible pathways to the reaction center and then selects the most favorable route. In other words, the electron is briefly in several places at once, until it has “decided” on the best pathway. Such multiple locations for an electron cannot take place in classical or Newtonian physics, but are explainable by quantum physics.

One of the most popular web sites for both philosophy and quantum physics is that of Milo Wolff, https://www.quantummatter.com/. Wolff’s controversial idea (most ideas in quantum physics are hotly contested) is that all matter is made of waves of energy. One of the most remarkable ideas Wolff discusses is the pioneering work of a German astronomer, Hans Tetrode, who was a colleague of Albert Einstein some 90 years ago. Tetrode had a far-reaching concept of how light is transmitted from a distant star to our eye.  He thought a great deal about the properties of the energy transfers carried by light and came to a surprising conclusion. Tetrode wrote in the Zietshrift fur Phyzik, 10, 317 (1922), “When I see light from a star 100 light years away, not only do I know that the light was emitted 100 years ago (before I was born) but also a group of atoms in the star knew that the light would enter my eye 100 years later, before I even existed!”  Privately, Einstein agreed with his friend but had no explanation for his bizarre conclusion.

Modern science does not like teleological and anthropomorphic statements, such as the atoms “knew” something. However, Tetrode’s ideas fit with Wolff’s wave structure of matter. Certainly we know that a molecule in the star loses a bit of energy (a molecular quantum state shifts downward) and later your eye gains it (a molecule in your eye shifts a quantum state upward).

There are many unsolved issues around the nature of light and photons and matter. Therefore, no concepts should be dismissed out of hand, and both Wolff’s and Tetrode’s ideas may eventually prove to be vital. Speculation and intuition are powerful processes in all scientific inquiry, as well as in religious life. At the time, Tetrode’s thoughts were just as puzzling as the electron and the photon!  Recently, using Wolff’s physics of the wave structure of matter, it appears that Tetrode had come closer to the mark than anyone of his time. We do know that the transmission of light from stars to our eyes involves electromagnetic resonance. Resonance is the tendency of any object to oscillate or vibrate strongly at certain frequencies, known as the system’s resonant or natural frequencies. A good example is “the tuning fork effect” in which striking a tuning fork for a particular tone, such as A#, will create a sound wave that will cause another A# tuning fork a distance away to vibrate.

Resonance is an amazing phenomenon. As an example, in 1983, Pioneer 10 became the first manmade object to leave the solar system. On the 30^th anniversary of its launch, NASA sent a message to the spacecraft, which was then 7.4 billion miles away. The message was sent from a radio telescope in the desert east of Los Angeles, and a radio telescope in Spain received a response 22 hours and six minutes later. Pioneer’s transmitter had a power of a few watts, comparable to a small flashlight. Before its battery ran out of power, Pioneer’s last, very weak signal was received on 23 January 2003, when it was 7.6 billion miles away.

I propose the following model to explain these phenomena. When the atoms in the star emitted a photon that will interact with my eye 100 years later, they send a “pilot wave” that interacts with the atoms that will eventually form the photoreceptor pigments in my eye. This pilot wave does not travel at the speed of light, it is instantaneous. Likewise, the radio signal from Pioneer 10 begins with an instantaneous message to the radio telescopes on the earth letting them “know” that a signal is on its way.

There is a basis for such instantaneous phenomena. The distinguished British physicist, David Bohm, described “the quantum potential” which is an instantaneous change in the properties of all space everywhere. It is not that a signal propagates from point A to point B. Instead, a change at point A changes everything everywhere, and thereby informs point B instantaneously.  This is an example of entanglement, a quantum phenomenon that provides a basis for prayer and distant healing.

Will Rogers said, “Why not go out on a limb. That is where the fruit is.” With this note and these ideas I go out on a limb, just as Hans Tetrode, Milo Wolff and David Bohm did years ago. These ideas may disturb some scientists, but they raise a fascinating possibility. That viewing the sun may involve a two way conversation involving resonant interactions with two components – one is instantaneous and the other takes place at the speed of light. Certainly we have reports from around the world, and from all ages, of extraordinary results from looking at the sun with the appropriate methods and preparations. Moreover, we have the concept, from the work of Fleming, that the energy absorbed by our eyes, and also by the sun, will quickly find the best pathways in both bodies to produce the optimal results. Resonance is a method of communication, and it works in both directions. Atoms and molecules in our bodies and in the sun can act as antennas for both transmitting and receiving messages.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Oschman was the keynote speaker at the 2nd Annual Conference on the Spiritual State of the World held in Reno, Nevada, September 8-11, 2011.