MYSTICAL REALITY IS ‘INCOMMENSURABLE’!

I came upon the half-remembered word ‘incommensurable’ in an essay on consciousness on YouTube.

Suddenly the conclusion formed that the Reality mystics experience is so different It can’t be compared to anything.

So I asked AI to confirm 1. what incommensurable means and 2. how it applies to Reality.

Then the following script appeared:

The term incommensurable generally describes things that are so different they cannot be compared by the same standard or “measure”. Depending on the context, its meaning shifts slightly:

General Usage
In everyday language, it refers to items that lack a common basis for comparison. Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries

Incompatible: Values or theories that cannot be judged against each other because they share no common ground (e.g., “incommensurable moral frameworks”).

Disproportionate: Things that are vastly different in size, quality, or extent, often to the point of defying comparison (e.g., “incommensurable crimes”). Merriam-Webster

Mathematical Usage
In mathematics, two quantities are incommensurable if they have no common measure—meaning their ratio cannot be expressed as a ratio of whole numbers (an irrational number). Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Example: The side and the diagonal of a square are incommensurable because their ratios cannot be written as a simple fraction. Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Philosophical Usage
Philosophers use the term to describe “values” or “goods” that cannot be ranked as better, worse, or equal to one another. This often appears in discussions. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Rational Choice: If two careers are incommensurable, there may be no “objectively correct” choice based on a single standard.

Value Pluralism: The idea that different types of good (like “liberty” vs. “equality”) might be inherently impossible to measure against each other. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Etymology
The word entered English in the 1500s from the Late Latin incommensurabilis, combining in- (“not”) with commensurabilis (“measurable together”). Merriam-Webster

In many philosophical and theological frameworks, the “Reality” experienced by mystics is considered incommensurable with everyday rational reality because they lack a common measure, language, or conceptual structure. MDPI

This incommensurability is typically discussed through several key lenses:

1. Epistemological Incommensurability:
   Mystical knowledge, often called gnosis, is frequently described as “above understanding” or “beyond reason”. Philosophers like Walter Stace argue that while everyday reality is built on a “multiplicity” of distinct objects, mystical reality is “unitive”—a state where the distinction between self and other dissolves. Because our standard logic and language are designed to distinguish between different things, they cannot “measure” or accurately describe a reality where all is one. YouTube
2. Linguistic Incommensurability (Ineffability)
   A defining mark of mystical experience is its ineffability, or the inability to be expressed in words. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
3. Non-Conceptual Nature: Some theories suggest mystical experiences are necessarily ineffable because they occur in a “mode of consciousness” that lacks a subject-object structure.
4. Translation Failure: Just as Thomas Kuhn argued that competing scientific paradigms are incommensurable because they use different “taxonomies” (ways of classifying the world), the mystic’s “Reality” uses a different internal “lexicon” that cannot be translated into the language of the non-mystic without losing its essential meaning. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

“Ontic” Quality
Mystics often report that their experience feels “more real than real,” possessing a “noetic quality” or a sense of unmediated authority. This creates a situation where the mystic’s “ultimate reality” and the observer’s “everyday reality” act as competing paradigms that cannot be compared by a neutral standard; they essentially represent “different worlds”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy +3

Quantum Physics And Mystical Reality
In modern intellectual discourse, quantum physics and mystical reality are often seen as sharing a similar incommensurability with our everyday, “common sense” experience. The bridge between them was famously popularized by physicist Fritjof Capra in his 1975 book The Tao of Physics.

The parallels generally center on these main areas:

The Breakdown of Separability
In everyday reality, we assume objects are separate and independent. However, both quantum mechanics and mysticism describe a world where this separability fails:

• Quantum Entanglement: Subatomic particles can be “linked” such that the state of one instantly influences the other, regardless of distance.
• Mystical Unity: Mystics describe an “unitive” state where the distinction between self and the universe dissolves into an undivided wholeness. Mind That Ego

The Role of the Observer
Standard reality assumes the world exists “out there” exactly as we see it, whether we look or not.

The Measurement Problem: In quantum physics, the act of observation “collapses” a wave of possibilities into a single definite state. [My italics!].

Consciousness as Primary: Many mystical traditions (and some physicists like David Bohm) suggest that consciousness is not an accidental byproduct of matter but a fundamental part of the structure of reality. [My italics again!]. Mind That Ego

Conceptual Incommensurability (Paradox)
Both fields rely on paradoxes that are “incommensurable” with standard logic:

• Wave-Particle Duality: An electron is both a localized particle and a spread-out wave—concepts that are contradictory in classical physics.
• Mystical Paradox: Mystics often use “koans” or paradoxical language (e.g., “The path that is no path”) to point toward a reality that cannot be captured by binary, rational categories. Dwell Community Church

Scientific & Philosophical Perspectives
It is important to note that while these parallels are striking, they are viewed differently across disciplines:

• Philosophical Incommensurability: Thomas Kuhn’s theory of paradigm shifts argues that classical and quantum physics are incommensurable because they use fundamentally different “taxonomies” to describe nature; you cannot truly “measure” one using the rules of the other.
• Scientific Skepticism: Many modern physicists argue against “quantum mysticism.” They point out that quantum effects are usually limited to the subatomic scale and do not “magically” apply to human-scale reality or prove “magic”.
• Historical Influence: Leading physicists like Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr were notably influenced by Eastern philosophy. Bohr even adopted the Yin-Yang symbol for his coat of arms to represent “complementarity”—the idea that contradictory descriptions (like wave and particle) can both be true. Wikipedia

Mysticexperiences.net