To quote physicist and Nobel laureate Niels Bohr (7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962), who developed our understanding of the atom:

‘There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we say about nature.’

That is, Bohr thought the fundamental world—particularly, the quantum one—doesn’t really exist in the way we describe it. Through language, we merely suspend our elementary concepts above it.

Arthur Koestler’s own researches into this phenomenon led him to the following conclusion:

“All the biographical evidence indicates that such a radical reshuffling operation as occurs in “creative originality” requires the intervention of mental processes beneath the surface of conscious reasoning, in the twilight zone of awareness. In the decisive phase of the creative process the rational controls are relaxed and the creative person’s mind seems to regress from disciplined thinking to less specialized, more fluid ways of mentation.”

Koestler implicitly assumes the prevalent (although not unchallenged) “conscious/subconscious” model to explain “creative originality.” But if we take conscious reasoning to be thinking in which thoughts are linked together in a series, and if the “twilight zone of awareness” is a twilight zone (cf: “a dreamlike state”) because there is no sense of a self directing the mental processes, then this passage can stand as a description of nondual “prajñā-intuition,” from which the more familiar vijñāna [conceptual] processes derive. This differs from “the subconscious” in that prajñā-intuition can be experienced more consciously, although not self-consciously.

New line of fidgets now up in my Etsy store: Atomic Model spinners!  These are 3d printed, modeled on the first 10 elements of the periodic table  (other elements available on request!)

The single ring atoms (H & He) are 1.75 inches in diameter, with the double ringed being 2.25 inches. Both easily fit in a pocket as well as your palm! (H & He are especially pocketable. I have forgotten to remove them multiple times after printing and wound up confused where they had gone :D )  With some squeezing and flexing, it is possible to "ionize" an element by popping off the outer ring. Just squeeze the sides of the ring again and you should be able to easily slip the rest of the atom back in place. I can print these things in any of about 80 colors, so if you don’t see a color you like in the drop down, just request one!  The samples were done up in bright green and bronze because I wound up with far too much of those colors, whoops.

And now for something a little different: Atomic Model Earring and Necklace sets!