Bohm’s Implication
A Sideber
David Bohm’s Implicate Order: A Comprehensive Investigation
David Bohm (1917–1992) was a brilliant theoretical physicist whose work spanned concrete contributions to quantum mechanics (e.g., the Aharonov-Bohm effect, early work on plasma physics) and deeply philosophical explorations of reality’s foundations. Best known in alternative interpretations of quantum mechanics for his pilot-wave (or causal/hidden-variables) theory—now called Bohmian mechanics—he later developed a broader ontological framework in the 1970s–80s centered on the implicate order (or enfolded order) versus the explicate order (unfolded order). This is most fully articulated in his 1980 book Wholeness and the Implicate Order, with further development in collaboration with Basil Hiley in The Undivided Universe (1993).
The implicate order is not a specific equation or experimental prediction but a proposed new notion of order underlying quantum phenomena and, by extension, reality itself. It emphasizes undivided wholeness in flowing movement over the fragmented, mechanistic, atomistic worldview Bohm saw as dominant in Western science and thought.
Core Concepts: Implicate vs. Explicate Order and Holomovement
Bohm argued that the strange features of quantum mechanics—non-locality (instantaneous correlations between distant particles, as confirmed by Bell’s theorem and experiments like Aspect’s), discontinuity, and contextuality—suggest that our everyday notions of separate objects in spacetime are not fundamental. Instead, they emerge from a deeper reality.
Implicate (enfolded) order: The more fundamental level. Here, space and time are not dominant. Elements are connected in a holistic way where “everything is enfolded into everything else.” Each region of space-time implicitly contains the total structure of the whole. Bohm wrote:
“In the enfolded [or implicate] order, space and time are no longer the dominant factors determining the relationships of dependence or independence of different elements. Rather, an entirely different sort of basic connection of elements is possible, from which our ordinary notions of space and time, along with those of separately existent material particles, are abstracted as forms derived from the deeper order.” (From Wholeness and the Implicate Order)Explicate (unfolded) order: The manifest world we perceive—stable, separate objects, events unfolding in spacetime. It is a derived, special, and limited projection or abstraction from the implicate order. Particles, for example, are relatively autonomous sub-totalities that unfold temporarily.
Holomovement: The dynamic, underlying process—“undivided wholeness in flowing movement.” Flow (process) is prior to “things.” The universe is a constant enfolding and unfolding. Bohm described it as the fundamental ground of matter: an unbroken, flowing totality without borders, potentially of infinite dimensionality.
“The actual order (the Implicate Order) itself has been recorded in the complex movement of electromagnetic fields, in the form of light waves… The totality of the movement of enfoldment and unfoldment may go immensely beyond what has revealed itself to our observations. We call this totality by the name holomovement.”
Key Analogies (Bohm’s way of making the abstract intuitive):
Ink drop in glycerine: Stir a viscous fluid (like glycerine) containing an ink droplet. The droplet stretches into a thread and becomes invisible (“enfolded” or implicate). Reverse the stirring slowly, and it reforms (“unfolds” or explicate). The pattern was always present implicitly in the fluid’s movement.
Hologram: Unlike a regular photograph (where parts correspond to parts of the image), every region of a hologram contains the information for the whole 3D image. Information is distributed/enfolded. Bohm saw this as suggestive of how the implicate order works: total order enfolded in each region.
Folded paper with cuts: Multiple cuts through a folded sheet, when unfolded, create correlated patterns far apart in the explicate order—arising from a single implicate action.
Other images: Projections (e.g., fish in perpendicular TV tanks as 2D shadows of a higher-dimensional reality), seeds (life enfolded), or flowing vortices in a stream (stable patterns as sub-totalities in flow).
Bohm and Hiley explored formalizing this with pregeometry or algebra (e.g., Clifford algebras, symplectic structures) where spacetime and locality/non-locality emerge as explicate features from a deeper implicate algebraic structure. “Pre-space” carries the implicate order; representations yield the explicate world.
Roots in Quantum Mechanics and Motivations
Bohm was dissatisfied with the Copenhagen interpretation’s instrumentalism (QM as a tool for predictions, not a description of reality) and the fragmentation it implied. His pilot-wave theory (1952 onward) restored realism and determinism at a sub-quantum level via a guiding wave (quantum potential carrying “active information”). The implicate order generalized this: quantum non-locality arises because distant particles are correlated through their common enfoldment in the deeper order, not through signals traveling in explicate spacetime.
He sought to reconcile quantum mechanics’ discontinuity/non-determinism with relativity’s continuity/determinism by positing a deeper reality of unbroken wholeness from which both emerge as abstractions. Quantum mathematics, he suggested, primarily describes implicate structures and the unfolding into explicate order.
Particles are not fundamental building blocks but “abstractions manifest to the senses,” amplifiers of information in quantum waves. The quantum potential acts via active information, blurring lines between matter, information, and (potentially) mind.
Extensions: Wholeness, Consciousness, and Language
Bohm saw fragmentation not just in physics but in human thought, society, and the ecological crisis—rooted in perceiving reality as separate parts. His dialogues with Jiddu Krishnamurti deeply influenced this: thought itself creates fragmentation; true insight requires seeing wholeness.
Consciousness and mind-matter: No sharp division. Both are aspects of the same holomovement. The explicate content of consciousness (thoughts, memories) arises from enfolded processes, similar to matter. Memory may be distributed holographically in the brain (Bohm collaborated with neuroscientist Karl Pribram on holonomic brain theory).
“It follows, then, that the explicate and manifest order of consciousness is not ultimately distinct from that of matter in general.”Rheomode: Bohm proposed an experimental verb-based language (emphasizing process/flow over static nouns) to better express implicate order thinking, drawing from some indigenous languages.
The implicate order extends beyond physics to biology, psychology, and society—everything as sub-totalities in flowing wholeness.
Collaborations and Development
Basil Hiley: Bohm’s longtime collaborator (and co-author of the 1993 book). Hiley continued and formalized aspects after Bohm’s death, using algebraic approaches to pre-space and exploring how the classical (explicate) world emerges from the implicate. He viewed mind and matter as different aspects of the same process. Hiley’s work (into the 2020s) kept these ideas alive in quantum foundations.
Krishnamurti: Philosophical dialogues on fragmentation, observation, and insight.
Others: Influences from Whitehead (process), and resonances with Eastern non-dual thought (though Bohm arrived via physics).
Reception, Strengths, Criticisms, and Current Status
Strengths:
Provides a coherent ontological (realist) picture for quantum weirdness: non-locality as natural enfoldment rather than “spooky action.”
Emphasizes holism consistent with entanglement and relational views in modern QM.
Bridges physics with philosophy of mind and critiques of reductionism/scientism.
Inspiring for holistic, process-oriented, and non-dual perspectives.
Criticisms and Limitations (from physicists and philosophers):
The implicate order is primarily interpretive and ontological rather than a source of new, unique, falsifiable predictions beyond standard quantum mechanics. Bohmian mechanics reproduces QM predictions but adds trajectories; the broader implicate framework explains why QM has its features but is harder to operationalize mathematically for novel experiments.
Some mainstream physicists view it as speculative metaphysics or philosophical overlay rather than rigorous physics. It challenges core assumptions (reduction to elementary particles, primacy of explicate spacetime) but lacks widespread adoption as a research program.
Vagueness in formalization: While Hiley pursued algebraic pregeometry, it has not displaced standard approaches or other interpretations (Many Worlds, QBism, relational QM, etc.).
“Active information” and holomovement are intuitively powerful but difficult to define precisely or test directly.
It remains respected in foundations of physics circles and highly influential outside them (consciousness studies, philosophy, holistic science, nonduality communities).
Legacy and Relevance Today: Bohmian mechanics (the more concrete pilot-wave part) has seen renewed interest in some quarters. The implicate order continues to inspire thinking about wholeness, information, and the limits of mechanistic views. It directly relates to questions of consciousness as potentially foundational or co-emergent with matter—resonating with idealist or panpsychist-leaning views without requiring a retracted speculative paper.
In short, Bohm offered one of the most ambitious attempts to rethink the order of reality itself, grounded in quantum insights but extending far beyond. It is not “the answer” accepted by consensus physics, but it remains a profound, coherent, and challenging framework for anyone questioning fragmentation in science and thought. Its value lies in forcing us to examine assumptions about what is “fundamental”—particles and fields in spacetime, or something deeper, holistic, and process-like.
Primary Sources:
David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980).
David Bohm & Basil Hiley, The Undivided Universe (1993).
For deeper dives: Wikipedia’s clear entry on “Implicate and explicate order”; Hiley’s later interviews and papers on algebraic approaches; or Bohm’s dialogues with Krishnamurti.
If you’d like excerpts, comparisons to other interpretations (e.g., Penrose, or modern quantum information/holography), connections to specific philosophical traditions, or help locating texts, let me know! This is rich territory for truth-seeking inquiry into the nature of reality.