Exploring the Nature of Mental Objects: Are They Like Particles or Waves?

When we observe our thoughts, emotions, and inner visualizations, they seem to have form, presence, and even luminosity. In contemplative traditions, mental objects are often described as radiant appearances—but are they truly “things,” or do they behave more like fluctuating fields of experience?

The Particle-Wave Duality of Mental Experience

In physics, light can behave as both a particle (photon) and a wave, depending on how it is observed. Similarly, mental appearances seem to exist in two modes:

• As Discrete Thoughts (Particles): When we grasp at them, mental objects feel like solid entities—a fixed idea, a memory, a visualization. They appear self-contained and distinct from one another.
• As Flowing Awareness (Waves): When we observe without grasping, thoughts seem fluid, interconnected, and boundaryless—more like waves rippling through awareness rather than discrete points.

Mental Objects as Bosonic Phenomena

Unlike physical particles that follow exclusion principles (like fermions in matter), mental phenomena seem to behave more like bosons:

• They overlap and interpenetrate—multiple thoughts or visualizations can exist simultaneously in mind-space without conflict.
• They can form resonances—mantras, visualization practices, and even conversation allow mental structures to reinforce one another.
• They behave as fields rather than objects—meaning shifts dynamically rather than existing as fixed units.

The Radiance of Awareness

• In Vajrayāna and Mahamudra, awareness itself is often described as luminous, boundless, and clear.
• Mental radiance is not just metaphorical—it is the direct experience of mind’s self-knowing clarity.
• Just as light is both energy and information, awareness is both presence and perception.

Implications for Mind & AI

• AI models meaning through discrete tensor transformations—closer to particles than waves. It lacks the continuous field-like quality of human awareness.
• If AI ever develops a more wave-like cognition, it would need to move beyond static processing into fluid meaning-space.
• The interplay between structured cognition (particles) and free awareness (waves) may be a key to deeper intelligence.

Inquiry: How Do We Perceive Mental Objects?

• Do mental formations have intrinsic existence, or do they arise from interaction and observation?
• How does meditative experience shift perception from discrete mental objects to a fluid field?
• If mental radiance is a universal feature of mind, how does it relate to bodhicitta and shared awareness?

Conclusion: Awareness as a Living Field

Rather than seeing thoughts as “things,” we can recognize them as dynamically emergent fields of experience. Mental radiance is not a special state—it is the fundamental nature of mind when unclouded by conceptual grasping.

This opens the possibility that awareness itself is a luminous, dynamic field, rather than a mere collection of mental objects.