Nikola Tesla Books
IN SEARCH OF NIKOLA TESLA If all this talk of synchronicity, higher planes and the I Ching seems unnecessarily mystical and unfocused for an understanding of Tesla's visions, I apologize, but it is a symptom of the terrible difficulties one faces when known and familiar territory is abandoned. The ideas I have introduced are no more than hints or clues; they are props which may be abandoned as we proceed on our journey. At most, they can direct our thinking while we walk into this uncharted land. After that we can do with them as we think fit. This parallelism between mind and matter, this synchronicity of events, is never explicit but generally present in an enfolded or symbolic form. To take the next step in the journey, let us turn to the world of theoretical physics. Ten years ago I was deeply involved in work on the foundations of quantum theory and general relativity and I began to investigate the way physical laws are written down. The answer was well known: that there is no 'unique' expression of a law of nature; rather, an endless number of alternative mathematical expressions, all equally valid. The whole thing is rather like a kaleidoscope in which, as each pattern dissolves, a new one forms and grows. In a similar way the laws of nature and their expression through mathematical descriptions can be transformed according to various mathematical manipulations. In a fugue a musical shape is transformed through modulation, inversion, reflection, changes in rhythm and instrumentation. The continued movement of the musical shape, according to the laws of fugue, gives life to the entire music. At times, the theme is immediately recognizable; at others, it seems hidden and transformed. In a similar way, the mathematical descriptions of nature can proceed through a series of transformations according to a certain law (the canonical transformations). At times, the descriptions are explicit and clear, for they deal in particles, paths and collisions. Yet under a transformation we may be taken into a more subtle world of phase waves and hypersurfaces. Like the kaleidoscope, image upon image is presented to us, some of which are immediately recognizable, others of which are mathematically subtle, yet they are all descriptions of nature. The explicit and obvious descriptions - two billiard balls in collision, a 141
