When physicists extended the range of their investigations into the realms of atomic and subatomic phenomena, they were confronted with the limitations of their ideas and had to radically change some of their concepts of reality. But it was rewarded by deeper insights into the nature of matter and of the human mind. The universe is now no longer seen as a machine made up of a multitude of separate objects, but appears as a harmonious indivisible whole-a network of dynamic relationships that include the human observer and his consciousness in an essential way. Modern physics, the manifestation of extreme specialisation of the rational human mind, now has made contact with Eastern mystic philosophy- the essence of religion and the manifestation of extreme specialisation of the intuitive mind. One of the main lessons that physicists had to learn in this century was that all the concepts and theories used to describe nature are limited.
Scientific theories can never provide a complete and definite description of reality.
They will always be approximations of the true nature of things. Even scientists do not deal with the truth-they can only deal with limited and approximate descriptions of reality. Both the quantum theory and relativity theory, the two foundations of 20th century physics, force physicists to now see the world very much in the way a Hindu, Buddhist, or Taoist sees it. The effect on the physicists' view of reality is truly shattering. They make the parallels between modern physics and Eastern mysticism most striking.