Wholeness and the Implicate Order collects seven essays in which the theoretical physicist David Bohm — a Princeton-trained student of J. Robert Oppenheimer, known to physicists for the Aharonov–Bohm effect — develops his alternative interpretation of quantum mechanics and his philosophical project of treating reality as an undivided whole. The book introduces the terms that have travelled furthest beyond physics: the "implicate" and "explicate" orders, the "holomovement", and the "rheomode" — Bohm’s experimental verb-based language designed to discourage thinking in fragments.
The technical chapters on hidden variables and the new order in physics sit alongside more philosophical material drawn in part from Bohm’s late conversations with Jiddu Krishnamurti. Inside the philosophy of physics, the pilot-wave/Bohmian-mechanics revival has restored some of his standing (Maudlin, Goldstein). Outside it, the "holographic" reading of the book by Karl Pribram and Michael Talbot, and the wider use of Bohm in consciousness studies, owe more to him than mainstream physicists are typically comfortable with. The first essay’s opening line — fragmentation as the dominant mode of contemporary thought — is what most readers remember.
The new form of insight can perhaps best be called Undivided Wholeness in Flowing Movement.
p. 14 · Chapter 1, "Fragmentation and Wholeness"
First lines
The title of this chapter is "Fragmentation and wholeness". It is especially important to consider this question today, for fragmentation is now very widespread, not only throughout society, but also in each individual; and this is leading to a kind of general confusion of the mind, which creates an endless series of problems and interferes with our clarity of perception so seriously as to prevent us from being able to solve most of them.
Contents
Fragmentation and Wholeness
The Rheomode — An Experiment with Language and Thought
Reality and Knowledge Considered as Process
Hidden Variables in the Quantum Theory
Quantum Theory as an Indication of a New Order in Physics, Part A: The Development of New Orders as Shown Through the History of Physics
Quantum Theory as an Indication of a New Order in Physics, Part B: Implicate and Explicate Order in Physical Law
The Enfolding-Unfolding Universe and Consciousness
Reception
A genuine outlier — a book by a credentialed theoretical physicist that is read with equal seriousness inside contemporary spirituality and on the margins of foundations-of-physics discussions. The pilot-wave/Bohmian-mechanics revival has restored some of his physics standing inside the philosophy of physics community (Maudlin, Goldstein, Dürr). The wider "holographic" and "consciousness" uses of his work — Pribram, Talbot — owe more to Bohm than mainstream physicists are typically comfortable with. The Krishnamurti dialogues continue to draw readers from outside physics entirely.
Frequently asked
What is Wholeness and the Implicate Order about?
It is a collection of seven essays in which David Bohm develops an alternative interpretation of quantum mechanics and an account of reality as an undivided whole — the "implicate" order from which the "explicate" classical world unfolds and re-enfolds. The rheomode chapter proposes a verb-based experimental language designed to discourage fragmented thinking.
Is the book technical?
Chapters 4–6 are technical and discuss hidden variables and the foundations of quantum theory. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 7 are accessible to non-physicists and contain the material — fragmentation, the rheomode, the holomovement, consciousness — that has travelled most widely outside physics.
How does Bohm relate to Krishnamurti?
Bohm met Jiddu Krishnamurti in 1961 and held a long series of recorded dialogues with him over the next three decades. Wholeness and the Implicate Order reflects this exchange most directly in its treatment of thought, fragmentation, and the wholeness of consciousness; some of the late material in the book was reworked from those conversations.