Now that a jumping consciousness has rendered quantum physics the venue of connecting science with Ayurveda, Chopra has to fabricate his own quantum mechanics. This fabrication uses arrows, straight lines, and curves. If an event A causes an event B, draw a straight arrow from A to B. Hitting a billiard ball (A) causes another billiard ball to move (B). Letting go of an apple (A) causes the apple to fall (B). Chopra puts these cause-effect events in one category. This category belongs to the Newtonian world, the world of our experience.

What about pairs of events -- any pair of events -- that are not connected by cause and effect? Chopra creates an ad hoc category to accommodate such pairs of events and accuses quantum mechanics of explaining the relation between those two events. Since those two events cannot be connected by a straight arrow, he bends the arrow in the shape of a "U," puts the bottom half of the "U" in the "quantum world," and draws a horizontal line that cuts through the middle of the "U" to separate the world of our experience from the "quantum world."

How do you explain scientifically the Ayurvedic claim that mind creates matter? Easy! Just connect mind (A) to matter (B) with a U-shaped arrow. But first the connection must become microscopic to be more suitable for quantum physics. Chopra steals the scientific discovery (Ayurveda didn't know of such a discovery) that brain cells synthesize and release chemicals made up of small chains of amino acids called neuropeptides. So, matter reduces to neuropeptides. He then reduces mind to the activity of the brain, thought. However, he turns science on its head by reversing the relational order of the two and declares that thought creates neuropeptides. So, draw a thought (A) and a neuropeptide (B) and connect them with a U -- after all, they have to go through the "quantum world." That's it! Chopra has been able to connect Ayurveda to the most exact science available.

The following is an application of Chopra's "quantum Ayurveda" to the feeling of fear and the lifting of a finger. As the attentive reader can see, it is also an epitome of the fallacy in logic called circular reasoning. (I have colored the sentence containing the fallacy.)

The mind and the body are both above the line [see Figure below]. A is a mental event, or thought; all the other letters are physical processes that follow from A. ... If you feel afraid (A), then the other letters stand for signals to your adrenal glands, the production of adrenaline, the pounding of your heart, elevated blood pressure, and so on. These are B, C, D, et cetera. All the physical changes that take place in the body can be connected in a logical chain of cause and effect, except for the space after A. This is the point where the transformation from thought to matter first occurs -- and it must occur, or the rest of the events will not happen.

At some point in the lineup, there must be a detour. At that point the lineup breaks down, because mind does not touch matter above the table. If you want to lift your little finger (point A), a physiologist can trace the neurotransmitter (B) that activates an impulse that runs down the axon of the nerve (C), causing a muscle cell to respond (D), resulting in the lifting of your little finger (E). However, nothing a physiologist can describe will get him from A to B -- it requires a detour. ... What exactly happens in the ? zone is not known either in physics or in medicine.

There is no limit to how absurd pop-spiritualists' reasoning can be. I demonstrated the ludicrousness of the jumping consciousness earlier. Here is another example: I claim that my sneeze caused an earthquake in Mexico City and I can prove it using Chopra's reasoning and Figure above.

The sneeze and the earthquake are both above the line. A is the sneeze; all the other letters are physical processes that follow from A. All the physical changes that take place above the earth crust can be connected in a logical chain of cause and effect, except for the space after A. This is the point where the transformation from sneeze to the motion of tectonic plate first occurs -- and it must occur, or the rest of the events will not happen.

At some point in the lineup, there must be a detour. At that point the lineup breaks down, because sneeze does not touch tectonic plate above the table. A specific molecule exhaled in my sneeze penetrates the earth crust, sits on a tectonic plate and at an appropriate time activates a seismic wave, which runs to the fault under Mexico City, causing an earthquake there. A seismologist can trace the motion of the tectonic plate (B) that activates a seismic wave that runs to the fault under the city (C), causing a displacement of the earth crust there (D), resulting in the collapse of a building (E). However, nothing a seismologist can describe will get him from A to B -- it requires a detour. ... What exactly happens in the ? zone is not known either in physics or in seismology.