This is the recording of the Closing Keynote Conversation (Session 14) at the International Conference on Consciousness-Based Leadership and Management, May 21-23, 2021 Hosted by Maharishi International University - College of Business Administration and Cosponsored by the Academy of Management (AOM) / Management, Spirituality & Religion (MSR) miu.edu/cba/consciousness-conference

Speakers:
Dr. Subhash Kak, Professor of Computer Science, Oklahoma State University, USA.
Dr. Christopher Laszlo, Professor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, USA.
Dr. Anirban Bandyopadhyay, Senior Scientist, National Institute for Materials Science, Japan
Dr. Kathryn Pavlovich, Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship, University of Waikato, New Zealand
Moderator: Dr. Anil K. Maheshwari, Professor of Management, Maharishi International University.

Dr. Subhash Kak recently proposed that space is not three-dimensional as we consider it to be but e-dimensional; 'e' here is Euler’s number and its value runs 2.71828… Since our cognitions are based on counting, we associate the nearest integer space of 3 dimensions to space which leads to our normal sense about its nature. The three-dimensional view of physical space is merely a convention and we can’t really check this easily at either the local or the cosmological levels. Newton took space to be absolute and to be three-dimensional. This was an extension of the Aristotelian view of the universe as a container in which the sun, the moon, planets and stars are embedded in perfectly concentric crystal spheres that rotate at fixed rates. In the observer-centric Indian physics that goes back to Kaṇāda, physical laws must be based only on substances, their properties, and their motion, but the experience of time and space is a consequence of the relation between the observer and the world being observed.

Dr. Chris Laszlo will speak about Quantum Worldviews: Convergence of Ancient Scripture and Quantum Sciences. The synthesis of quantum science and eastern spirituality, with the addition of “other ways of knowing” that go beyond rational-empirical analysis, creates a radically different ontology and epistemology capable of exercising huge, but often hidden, influence on how managers think and act. We aim to show that a transformation in mindset, at the level of the paradigmatic assumptions held by managers about the nature of reality, is key to accelerating individual and organizational behavior as a “force for good.”

Dr. Anirban Bandyopadhyay will speak on Maharshi Gautama's doctrine of doubt and time polycrystals. More than 300 years before the British scientists claimed for inventing logic (1901, Bertrand Russel), even in the villages of Bengal, logical fight was one of the prime cultures. Even now we could see the remnant of that great culture. I would like to describe 2600 years old Maharshi Gautama's work, where he proposed the brilliance of scientifically arranging the confusion and finding more confusions to solve a problem, not facts. This is just opposite to the logical understanding. In logic, we ask people to find facts to solve a problem. However, in the doctrine of doubt one is asked to find the biggest confusion, and then find more confusions inside, until they find facts. The resultant architecture of confusion (sandehakriti) is the solution of the problem. In this architecture of confusion, AOC, the facts lies at the bottom surface, and local plays and entertainments were organized as "logic fight". While discovering scale free temporal relations between the molecular protein, to their filament to neuron cells in the brain we found the AOC and that told us to consider Gautama's way to make decisions.

Dr. Kathryn Pavlovich will present the idea that it all comes down to vibration. It has been long understood that contemplative practices cultivate a form of inner wisdom that transcends the intellect/ego and in turn enhances a stronger connection to the divine. The need to better understand this connection between the inner life of contemplative practice and the interconnected whole is important as it dissolves boundaries between the self and the Other. We can integrate insights from quantum physics and neuroscience that may assist us in understanding the role that contemplative practices play in accessing this central spiritual order of things as it assists in a) transcending the ego, and b) taking us into a space that is vibrationally relational, interdependent, fluid and systems-connected. I argue that quantum empathy is this vibrational frequency that is both a wave and a particle and enables us to transcend self to engage with Others in a relational form.