AI Theology is about integrating different ways of thinking. Not just that but reflecting deeply on experiences even more than ideas or technologies. In this blog, I reflect on my spiritual journey looking for ways in which technology can help explain what at first seems unexplainable. Can that be so? In this post, I introduce the mystical qubit, how Quantum computers can help us understand Christian Mysticism.
Intrigued? Read on.
Christian Mysticism
My introduction to Christian Mysticism came in seminary. I honestly did not know this was a “thing.” My evangelical upbringing taught me that mysticism belonged to New Age and spiritists and had no place in the “true” religion. That is kind of ironic because as I reflect on my charismatic experiences of my youth, they turned out to be, well…quite mystical.
Some definitions are in order. After all, what do I mean by Christian Mysticism? Author Carl Coleman offers us this description:
“Christian Mysticism is the spiritual encounter with a sacred mystery that cannot be put into words, but may be embodied through feelings, conscious awareness, experience, or intuition – or even through darkness or unknowing.“
In short, it is the secret sauce of spirituality. The experiential unexplainable that has drawn billions of souls to religious practices through the millennia. It is often what we mean when we say we have had a spiritual experience.
To me it was less of a discovery but more of an unveiling. It was an awakening to recognize that throughout my life, I have practiced a type of CM. As I mentioned in the first paragraph of this section, my charismatic background is steeped in mysticism. I first encountered it as an 11 years old boy, while praying with a friend out in nature. That was when I had a deep connection with the divine reality, one that would carry me through the many valleys of doubt I would go through in the following years.
Quantum Computers as a Metaphor for Integrality
I imagine by now you have heard about Quantum computers. If not, suffice it to say that they are the next generation of computing that will revolutionize hardware for decades to come. In short, it uses Quantum mechanics to run calculations more efficiently than traditional computers. This increased capacity will open the way to a myriad of opportunities in AI and simulation currently not possible.
At its core, Quantum computers look at information differently. Traditional computers process information in bits. These bits are gates, or switches if you will, with two possibilities: 0 or 1. A bit can be either 1 or 0 at a time and the combination of these switches to the billions and trillions is what allowed our current revolution in digitization.
Quantum computer’s foundational unit is the qubit. Different from the traditional bit, it can be 1, 0, or both. Due to the phenomenon of superposition, the bit can simultaneously be 0 and 1.
Don’t think too hard about how that works as it is likely to give you a royal headache!
The point is, unlike traditional bits, the qubit is not either-or but both-and. In its foundational measure of foundation, it can hold different signals simultaneously without forcing them to resolve to one or the other.
Quantum computing is the non-dual thinking computer!
The Mystical Qubit
We inhabit a binary world where people and things are forced into either-or categories. There is simplicity and comfort in that. When translated into religious thinking, this creates the in-and-out dynamic of faith groups. A big driver of the Christian theological enterprise has been in the service of classifying “who is in” and “who is out.”
The allure of binary thinking is self-evident. It brings clarity and direction for areas that once seem complex and intractable. It is not that binary thinking is useless. However, it can be very counter-productive when it prematurely forces conflicting ideas to resolve. Here is the gift of the mystical quibit.
A mystical perspective is able to hold conflicting ideas without resolving them. This does not just apply to ideas but also how we perceive each other. The mystic does not rush to judge the other prematurely. Instead, she is able to contemplate the full complexity of the other being: seeing their beauty and shortcoming as a whole.
When we are able to hold each in the graceful gaze that is free from judgment, then we move closer to God. That’s the power of the mystic qubit and how quantum computers help us understand Christian Mysticism.
