Introduction
to Author
Professor Whiteman (who also
wrote under
the name of Michael Whiteman) published six books and more
than 50 contributions to journals
on spiritual development, psychical experience, depth psychology,
mystical experience, and related scientific matters, including 20th
Century Physics. He was born in London on 2 November 1906
and died in Cape
Town on 5 February 2007, aged 100.
He taught in the Department
of Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town for 29 years
(General Relativity, Quantum Theory, and mathematical methods in
general). His doctorate was on the philosophical Foundations of
Mathematics. And later, with the help of Professor H.H. Price, a
long-standing friend, and other authorities in the field, he wrote his
volume on "The Philosophy of Space and Time", included in the Muirhead
Library of Philosophy in 1967. This involved correspondence with leaders
in Physics such as Heisenberg, and Dirac, with whom he was invited for
lunch and discussion of a draft paper which Whiteman had sent to him.
Along with the above
activities in mathematical Physics, and indeed
from
his fourth year until his death, Whiteman recorded a succession of
"other-world" experiences ones from 1930 onwards.
About 7000
experiences of various psychical or mystical types were diarised, all of them
being in some way released from the physical body .
Among the consequences of
this abundance of experiences was a close connection with leaders of the
Society for Psychical Research in London, and the publication of many
papers, the first in 1956. Whiteman was an
honorary life member of the Society for Physical Research in 1999, and was
awarded the Marius Valkoff Medal by the South African Society for
Psychical Research.
Whiteman also
contributed to the American Society for Psychical Research over the
course of many years. A paper on Quantum Theory and Parapsychology
published in the Society's Journal led to an International Conference in
Geneva on that topic. A long paper by him appears in the published
Proceedings. A rather similar Colloquium, on "Quantum Theory and Beyond"
was organised (by Bastin and Bohm) at Cambridge in 1968, and a paper by
him on "Phenomenology of Observation and Explanation in Quantum Theory"
appears in the published Proceedings (1971).
Soon after the publication
of his first book ("The Mystical Life", 1961) Whiteman was contacted by
a leading psychiatrist in the U.S.A, Professor Roland Fischer. This
began a regular correspondence and exchange of ideas, continuing till
Fischer's death some 35 years later. One of the chief fruits of this
friendship was the publication, in the Journal of Altered States of
Consciousness (Editor in chief, Fischer), on Fischer's invitation,
of Whiteman's long paper on "The Mystical Model for Psychopathology",
later included as Chapter 4 in his second volume on "The Meaning of
Life" (2000).
In the late 1920's a
beginning had been made by Whiteman with the study of ancient languages
in which mystical teachings are described. In the course of time he
gained proficiency in Vedic, Sanskrit, Pali (for early Buddhism), Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin (this was learnt at school). And eventually he was able
to study the classic texts in religion in the original languages. In due
time, he taught Sanskrit to a few small groups, one of them reaching the
level of classic Upanishad texts. A fruit of these Sanskrit studies is
his 339-page book on the Yoga Sutras (with entirely new translations and
commentaries).
Professor Whiteman
engaged in private instruction, conducted study groups, and
gave
lectures to various societies
-
regularly to the Theosophical Society, but also by invitation to a Roman
Catholic Priory, three Hebrew study groups, and the Buddhist Society of
Oxford.
All this enabled a
"Universal Theology" to be formulated, and published eventually as the
third in a series of books on "Old and New Evidence on the Meaning of
Life" (dated 1986, 2000, 2006).
In the second and third
books of this series, an application of mystical insights to modern
Physics (Relativity and Quantum Theory) was also set forth, showing how
three time-dimensions are needed. Only one of these is measurable; the
other two are for stopping or shifting in time. The
principles of Tensor Calculus then lead to a correct formulation of the
equations of Maxwell for the electromagnetic field (light, heat, radio,
etc.), and also an extended form of Dirac's equation and an explanation
of so-called "particle spin" (all this is concisely presented in Volume
2 of the series, and more fully in Volume 3)
Quantum Field Theory, the
mathematics of which is especially abstruse, must accordingly replace
Elementary Particle Physics. For the latter cannot explain "half-quantum
spin", the phenomena in 'two-slit experience", the complex form of the
field-equations, and other paradoxes in the particle theory.
In fact there is a very
basic confusion in conventional Physics, between what Galileo called
primary qualities (mathematically precise, for all observers, but
never observed precisely) and secondary qualities (actually observed,
but varying according to the observer's situation and state of mind).
Physics takes a kind of average of "secondary" qualities (observed) to
be their "primary" measures (unobservable and in fact unlocated
physically).
But when the three time
dimensions are admitted, one derives two 16-term creative cycles, the
one "subjective" (psychological, spiritually experienced) and other
"objective" (strictly logical, mathematically precise, universally
applicable). Such cycles are found in almost every ancient religion, but
usually "condensed" in simpler 12-fold or 4-fold forms. These last are
likened to the four stations of the sun (E S W N), corresponding to
psychological learning theory.
But the cycles apply to life
in any "world", not merely the physical one. A coherent logical
presentation of these mystical teachings, applicable in all worlds is a
primary aim in Whiteman's three books on "Old and New Evidence on the
Meaning of Life".
Consistently with the above,
soon after 1937, when he came to South Africa, Whiteman acquired the
status of a professional musician. He obtained a M.Mus. degree in
composition from the University of Cape Town, and a F.T.C.L. in
composition, He was trained, and performed in public, on the piano, the
cello and the French horn, this last both in a professional orchestra
and in chamber music. He was also trained as a conductor, conducted two
amateur orchestras, and won a competition for conductors.
For two years he was a
university lecturer in music at the University College in Grahamstown,
returning to the Applied Mathematics Department at Cape Town in 1946.
Assisting his wife with her very considerable piano teaching connection
for advanced students, he conducted a piano teaching method class for
licentiates from 1972, continuing till 1992, and also had successes in
teaching the cello.
He was appointed Editor of
the official journal of the South African Society of Music Teachers in
1941, and remained in that office for 55 years (till 1995), producing
110 issues. He was a member of the Council of the Society for 50 years
and three times President. His later Editorials have rather often a
musicological content, referring, for instance, to Mozart and 18th
century Freemasonry, or Wagner and his use of Teutonic mythology.
