by Bernd Zeiger (June 21, 2025)
The paperback "The Researcher Who Weighed the Soul" (Alfa Veda Verlag, 2025) summarizes in approximately 200 pages the original interdisciplinary research of Klaus Volkamer (1939-2022), which he began in the late 1970s, while working as a chemist in the research laboratory of BASF Ludwigshafen. When his work at BASF ended in 1985, he devoted himself entirely to his own research interests. These combine findings in physics and physical chemistry with the traditional knowledge of Vedic culture, particularly yoga and meditation. In 2007, K. Volkamer began compiling his observations and reflections in a book, which has grown in scope with each edition, as it incorporates increasingly fundamental insights from physics and increasingly extraordinary phenomena of real life. A conglomerate emerged, which he ultimately termed "Physics of Subtlety." In his book "Intuition, Creativity, and Holistic Thinking" (1st edition, 1991), Volkamer attributes what drove him to realize this transdisciplinary vision, despite having studied neither of the aforementioned fields—physics nor Vedic tradition—in depth to the consciousness-expanding effect of meditation. However, the high value Volkamer places on intuition and a holistic perspective over systematic scientific approaches makes access to his research difficult for anyone with academic training, as education at colleges and universities places emphasis on the systematic penetration, traceability, and reproducibility of intuitions. It is easy to have ideas; their scientific processing is a second, indispensable step toward the complete knowledge known as the Veda.This review attempts to derive a viable approach to Klaus Volkamer's complete works from the compact paperback version of his research. The guidance presented here is of particular interest to scholars, educators, and publicists, including publishers, who wish to further develop, classify, and evaluate his research. The strategy presented here was made possible because the publisher made both the compact paperback and the detailed book version of the complete works available to the reviewer in electronic form, which facilitated the identification of central themes through AI research. K. Volkamer leaves it to the reader to fill in the gaps in his argument through meticulous detective work.
To solve a problem, a strategy has proven effective in academic science, which Professor Bruno Buchberger describes as follows and which he offers everyone the opportunity to practice thinking.brunobuchberger.com:
1. Definitions of terms, 2. Description of the problem with reference to the previously introduced terms, 3. Formulation of the principles on the basis of which a method can be specified to solve the problem, 4. Description of a method that can solve the problem in every individual case using the previously formulated principles, 5. Arguments explaining why the methods solve the problem and thus why the choice of principles is correct.
Against the background of this five-step problem-solving strategy described by Bruno Buchberger, which can be described as an epistemic ideal model of scientific theory formation,
Klaus Volkamer intuitively follows the same scientific path in his work, but at every step he remains below the epistemic standard required by modern scientific inquiry. While he introduces original and immediately insightful concepts (Step 1), which allow him to address a cognitively relevant problem (Step 2), he lacks a precise naming of the directly and indirectly postulated principles (Step 3), as well as the systematic justification of the method he uses based on them (Step 4). His work therefore oscillates between visionary advancement and methodological vagueness. While his work has potentially paradigmatic significance, this can only be fully appreciated through a consistent scientific reconstruction, which will be addressed in the remainder of this review in the spirit of Step 5:
1. Klaus Volkamer's Key Terms
An AI-assisted search for Klaus Volkamer's central concepts in the paperback leads to the following terms:
Subtle Matter
A hypothetical substance that is not directly perceptible to the senses, but can supposedly be detected by weight changes during high-precision weighing experiments.
Field Body / Pilot Field
Synonym for the subtle body of every individual living being or object, which controls gross material behavior and is equated with the soul or life force.
Synonym for the subtle body of every individual living being or object, which controls gross material behavior and is equated with the soul or life force.
Consciousness
In the general sense, a "primary field," analogous to the "unified field" of modern physics and, in the specific sense, closely linked to the subtle field body.
In the general sense, a "primary field," analogous to the "unified field" of modern physics and, in the specific sense, closely linked to the subtle field body.
Neg-Entropy
A term from thermodynamics that K. Volkamer considers a property of subtle matter that supports order, health, and vitality. Through this interpretation of neg-entropy, K. Volkamer, following E. Schrödinger, attempts to establish the connection to physics, especially to thermodynamics.
A term from thermodynamics that K. Volkamer considers a property of subtle matter that supports order, health, and vitality. Through this interpretation of neg-entropy, K. Volkamer, following E. Schrödinger, attempts to establish the connection to physics, especially to thermodynamics.
2 Klaus Volkamer's Central Hypothesis
For Klaus Volkamer, the phenomenon referred to by scientific outsiders as "subtle matter" poses a fundamental problem for academic natural science because recognizing its existence requires a fundamental expansion of the physical worldview.
According to Volkamer, subtle matter is the mediator between consciousness and matter: that is, through subtle matter, the ordering impulses of a fundamental field—that "unified field" to which Volkamer refers several times and which, in both modern field physics and Vedic philosophy, is the epitome of unrestricted, absolute order—are transmitted into the experimentally and metrologically accessible world.
For the connection between consciousness as the source of every kind of order and the world of physics governed by natural laws to succeed, subtle matter—Volkamer assumes—must also have aspects that are experimentally accessible or metrologically relevant. Upon closer examination, subtle matter therefore has a dual function: on the one hand, it is the connecting medium between matter and consciousness, and on the other, it is the area of interaction in which spatiotemporally differentiated causes (e.g., emotions, thoughts, environmental factors) are coupled with the universal potential for order.
This dual function of subtle matter—as a mediator of the order inherent in consciousness and as a transformer of causal influences into measurable effects—corresponds exactly to the dual nature of Manas (mind) in the Veda. Manas is both a thinking mediator and a connecting projection surface of consciousness.
Because subtle matter and Manas have the same dual function: connection to consciousness and transformation of spatiotemporal causes into effects (thoughts, actions), this review refines Klaus Volkamer's hypothesis by stating that subtle matter is the measurable, substantial aspect of an independent reality called Manas, whose subjectively perceivable aspect is thoughts and feelings.
3. The Ordering Principle of Subtle Matter (Manas): The Third Law of Thermodynamics
For subtle matter, or Manas, to function optimally as a mediator between the absolute order inherent in everything and the material world, a principle is required that ensures that coarse matter actually and verifiably remembers the absolute order. This principle must be included implicitly or explicitly in Klaus Volkamer's book, otherwise the method of detecting subtle matter he describes would have no scientific basis at all. Only the precise naming of this ordering principle of subtle matter, or Manas, makes it possible to justify the measurement method he uses.
3.1 The Transformation Mechanis
Klaus Volkamer cites numerous examples from a wide variety of areas of nature, life, and consciousness—including insights from modern scientists as well as traditions of great thinkers of the past, including the Rishis and Maharishis of Vedic culture. In his view, many of these sources revolve around a central theme: the transformation mechanism of subtle matter.An AI-assisted analysis (ChatGPT) of these diverse statements shows that this mechanism often remains implicit in Volkamer's work and is hidden behind concepts such as attention, absorption and emission of subtle matter, or field coupling without physical contact. Occasionally, Volkamer also refers to the phenomenon of resonance, which he is familiar with as a chemist—albeit without systematically developing it. This review therefore proposes introducing resonance as a central organizing concept to characterize the mediating function of subtle matter. This results in the following relationships:
Resonance & Subtle Matter
Subtle matter only manifests in the presence of a suitable form, structure, and environment—that is, under conditions analogous to resonance. It can be understood functionally as a resonance coupling between field and matter, even though Volkamer does not explicitly use the term. Subtle matter appears or disappears depending on the form, frequency, or field coupling.
Resonance & Field Bodies / Pilot Field
Field bodies enter into non-mechanical interactions across distances—a description that corresponds to the resonance coupling between coherent fields. Resonance here is the implicit mediating principle between field bodies, which becomes effective through non-local superposition and form coherence.
Resonance & Negentropy
Volkamer describes negative subtle matter as negentropic, i.e., life-promoting and structure-building. This effect arises from resonant agreement with an ordered, coherent field. Resonance here becomes the structuring coupling between ordering patterns, thus the source of negentropy.
Resonance & Consciousness
For Volkamer, consciousness operates through field-based, non-local coupling. Resonance functions as a mechanism through which consciousness creates field states that ultimately lead to measurable effects.
Although the term "resonance" is not systematically introduced by Volkamer, it forms the invisible methodological background of his entire argument. Wherever he speaks of non-material interactions, form-dependent effects, mental influence, or long-range coupling, a resonance theory model is implicitly underlying it. The concepts of "subtle matter," "field body," "negentropy," and "consciousness" can therefore be understood as functions of a resonance system. An explicit resonance theory could structure his results more clearly and make them compatible with modern concepts from quantum coherence, field physics, cognition, and systems theory.
The concept of resonance allows us to precisely relate the terms "subtle matter," "field body (pilot field)," "negentropy," and "consciousness," which K. Volkamer only vaguely defined. They then appear not as isolated concepts, but as interrelated process stages that together provide an answer to the question of how consciousness becomes effective in matter—or conversely, how matter remembers consciousness.
Resonance is the structure-dependent coupling between consciousness and the material system. It mediates specific interactions, not through classical forces, but through form coherence, frequency adaptation, and field resonance.
Three-stage dynamics with resonance as a mediating principle:
- Pilot field / field body At the origin is the pilot field, also called the field body—a fundamental, non-material information field that is in direct proximity to consciousness. It has an ordering and controlling effect and is the actual carrier of subtle structure.
- Subtle Matter From this, subtle matter emerges as an intermediate phenomenon: not a stable substance, but a temporary manifestation of field information—visible in phenomena such as weight changes, long-distance effects, or light-like anomalies.
- Negentropy The third step is negentropy—the opposing force to entropy that maintains order, creates coherence, and structures life. In this context, negentropy becomes the signature of consciousness in matter.
3.2 Third Law of Thermodynamics
In the context of his scientific classification of the spiritual technique of Transcendental Meditation, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi explained in 1982 (in the inauguration brochure of the Maharishi University of Natural Law) the significance of the Third Law of Thermodynamics for the entire realm of the mind – both objective and subjective:The Third Law of Thermodynamics describes the universal formula that the greatest possible order is created by reducing the degree of excitation.Quantum mechanics is the basis of the Third Law, because the properties of infinite correlation and perfect order contained in the wave function at the quantum mechanical level are expressed as order at the classical level, the surface level of reality, when the degree of excitation is reduced.The Third Law of Thermodynamics—the universal principle of increasing order by decreasing excitation—is taught in schools and universities from an objective standpoint, but students are not taught the ability to reduce their mental excitation and thereby create order in their feelings, thoughts, actions, and behaviors. Nor are they shown how to escape the influence of disorder.It is very satisfying to see that in ancient Vedic science, the approach to reality always included both perspectives: the subjective and the objective.
Although the Third Law of Thermodynamics is of central importance for the relationship between consciousness and matter, or mind and body, it is only mentioned in passing in Klaus Volkamer's books. Therefore, here more details on the relationship between the Third Law and resonance as a mediating principle:
The Third Law thus describes not only the disappearance of thermal disorder, but also the possibility of a perfectly structured material order as a macroscopic resonance phenomenon resulting from the coherent interplay of individual quantum mechanical wavefunctions.
The connection between resonance and the Third Law is therefore based on coherence, quantum correlation, phase transition, and entropy minimization:
According to the Third Law, when the temperature approaches absolute zero, energy fluctuations and thermal disturbances disappear. The internal dynamics of the system become increasingly coherent, as there are no longer any distinguishable microstates. The remaining structure is phase-locked, allowing for maximum energy transfer with minimal loss.
Typical examples of such resonance-induced macroscopic states of order are Bose-Einstein condensates, superconductivity, and superfluidity. They all occur at low temperatures and are characterized by minimal entropy, just as the Third Law describes. Phase transitions near critical points (e.g., crystallization, condensation, solidification) can also be interpreted as resonance-driven self-organization: order arises because energetic and structural conditions allow resonance coupling at the molecular or field level.
The Third Law thus describes a situation that corresponds to the highest possible order, the ideal state of consciousness in matter. Matter remembers consciousness by entering a state of maximum coherence, created by "subtle" resonance coupling with a higher-order pilot field. Negentropy—the opposing force to entropy—is the organizing power of consciousness, through which matter is stabilized against the trend toward disorder. While the Second Law of Thermodynamics describes an inevitable increase in entropy in closed systems, negentropy represents the resistance to this decay. According to the Third Law, negentropy is the signature of consciousness in matter: the thermodynamic mirror of consciousness in the material world.
4. K. Volkamer's weighing experiments make sense
Having shown that the third law of thermodynamics, in conjunction with the resonance mechanism applicable to coherent systems, is capable of understanding the order-imparting role of subtle matter, it now remains to demonstrate that the high-precision weighing experiments proposed by Klaus Volkamer are indeed suitable for demonstrating this.In the weighing experiments, the weight change of suitable detector systems (samples) is measured under the influence of various internal and external factors (e.g., states of consciousness, attention, astrophysical influences).
The final interpretation of the observed weight changes requires independent replications under controlled conditions. K. Volkamer's experiments have, at best, the status of initial observations or preliminary investigations. Here, it is only intended to demonstrate that his methodological approach is actually sensible, i.e., that his method is a consequence of the Third Law of Thermodynamics and can therefore be used to measure the transition from consciousness to matter.
The central hypothesis that subtle matter has a structure-forming effect on material systems via resonance coupling can only be experimentally verified if a suitable measurement principle is available. Volkamer proposes highly precise weighing experiments for this purpose – and this approach is comprehensibly justified here by a chain of physical-statistical relations.
The starting point is the partition function Z of a thermodynamic system.
Z= N/n
where N is the total number of particles and
n is the occupation number of the ground state
This function describes the weighted sum of all possible microstates of a system. Its temperature-dependent derivative provides the average energy.
This formal chain shows that weight anomalies can be interpreted not merely as artifacts, but as a possible signature of a shifted state population—caused by non-thermal, resonance-mediated coupling to a structured ordering field.
The partition function of a scale-detector system therefore reacts sensitively to changes in the population structure of the microstates—precisely those changes that can be caused by subtle resonance fields. Since these changes manifest themselves in the form of measurable weight anomalies, precise weighing experiments are a suitable method for indirectly demonstrating the ordering effect of subtle matter via statistically sound thermodynamic quantities (such as energy, entropy, partition function).
Against this background, the scale can also be understood symbolically as a mechanical model of a balanced intellect: In perfect balance, it reflects the state of pure potentiality, in which all microstates are equally weighted—analogous to the structure of pure consciousness in the Vedic sense.
This analogy finds physical expression in a remarkable equation:
This equation combines thermal energy (kT), quantum mechanical oscillation (hν),
and resting mass energy (mc²) into a single expression. Their structural unity suggests that temperature, frequency, and mass are different expressions of the same fundamental energetic principle—depending on the perspective (thermal, field, inertial).
The scale functions here not only as a measuring device, but as a resonant mediating model between these levels—and thus as a bridge between physics and consciousness.
⟨E⟩ = - (∂ lnZ / ∂ (1/T)
Average energy <E> is the derivative ∂ of the logarithm of the partition function Z
with respect to the reciprocal temperature (1/T)
(The mathematical details of the argument are available upon request.)
According to Einstein's equivalence principle E=mc², every energy change Δ⟨E⟩ corresponds to a mass difference Δm, which appears as a measurable weight difference via the gravitational field. If a subtle resonance field changes the internal energy distribution of a system, e.g., due to a change in the mass distribution, the energy distribution changes. If, for example, a selective stabilization of coherent states changes, the partition function changes—and thus also the weight of the system. A sensitively adjusted scale thus becomes a thermodynamic detector of resonant ordering.
This formal chain shows that weight anomalies can be interpreted not merely as artifacts, but as a possible signature of a shifted state population—caused by non-thermal, resonance-mediated coupling to a structured ordering field.
The partition function of a scale-detector system therefore reacts sensitively to changes in the population structure of the microstates—precisely those changes that can be caused by subtle resonance fields. Since these changes manifest themselves in the form of measurable weight anomalies, precise weighing experiments are a suitable method for indirectly demonstrating the ordering effect of subtle matter via statistically sound thermodynamic quantities (such as energy, entropy, partition function).
Against this background, the scale can also be understood symbolically as a mechanical model of a balanced intellect: In perfect balance, it reflects the state of pure potentiality, in which all microstates are equally weighted—analogous to the structure of pure consciousness in the Vedic sense.
This analogy finds physical expression in a remarkable equation:
kT = hν = mc²
This equation combines thermal energy (kT), quantum mechanical oscillation (hν),
and resting mass energy (mc²) into a single expression. Their structural unity suggests that temperature, frequency, and mass are different expressions of the same fundamental energetic principle—depending on the perspective (thermal, field, inertial).
The scale functions here not only as a measuring device, but as a resonant mediating model between these levels—and thus as a bridge between physics and consciousness.
To say that Klaus Volkamer "weighed the soul" is justified because, from the point of view of Vedic science, mental activity is a characteristic of Atma (Self).
The mathematical details of the argument are available upon request.
The mathematical details of the argument are available upon request.