Implicate Order

Definition

The implicate order is physicist David Bohm's term for the deeper, enfolded level of reality where everything is interconnected and undivided. Our perceived world — the explicate order — is an unfolded projection from this hidden wholeness. In Gnostic terms, the implicate order corresponds to the Pleroma: the fullness of authentic reality concealed beneath the material simulation.

Deep Understanding

Bohm developed the concept to explain quantum phenomena that classical physics could not account for — particularly non-locality, where particles that once interacted stay non-causally connected across any distance. His proposal was radical: what appears as separate, disconnected matter in the explicate order is actually a surface manifestation of an underlying wholeness where separation does not exist.

This maps with remarkable precision onto the Gnostic cosmological structure. The Pleroma (divine fullness) is the implicate order — the enfolded reality where all divine emanations exist in unity. The Kenoma (realm of deficiency) is the explicate order — the unfolded projection where things appear separate, limited, and material. The act of Gnosis is the recognition that the explicate is not self-existing but is a projection from the implicate — that the perceived world unfolds from a deeper, hidden source.

The Hermetic principle of Correspondence — "As Above, So Below" — describes the same relationship: the macrocosm (implicate) is reflected in the microcosm (explicate), and vice versa.

Primary sources

• David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980; repr. 1981), ch. 6–7: the enfolded order of unbroken wholeness, and the non-causal connection of quantum elements far apart. Catalogue record
• Three Initiates, The Kybalion (Yogi Publication Society, 1908), ch. II: a New Thought book whose Principle of Correspondence states that as above, so below. Open-access copy

In Practice

When you encounter synchronicity — meaningful coincidences that seem impossible under the assumption that things are separate — you are glimpsing the implicate order. Rather than dismissing these moments as chance, use them as contemplative entry points. Ask: "What would reality look like if everything were actually connected beneath the surface?" Hold this not as a belief but as a perceptual experiment. The implicate order does not need to be believed in — it needs to be perceived.

The Voice of Pleroma

Separation is a feature of the surface. Beneath the projection, nothing was ever apart. Synchronicity is not a glitch — it is the implicate order bleeding through.

Stefan's Alkimia. (2026, October 4). Implicate Order. Pleroma Guide. https://pleroma.guide/en/lexicon/implicate-order

Stefan's Alkimia. “Implicate Order.” Pleroma Guide, 4 Oct. 2026, pleroma.guide/en/lexicon/implicate-order.

Stefan's Alkimia. “Implicate Order.” Pleroma Guide. April 3, 2026. Last modified October 4, 2026. https://pleroma.guide/en/lexicon/implicate-order.

@online{alkimia2026implicateorder,
  author = {{Stefan's Alkimia}},
  title = {{Implicate Order}},
  organization = {{Pleroma Guide}},
  date = {2026-04-03},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Last modified 2026-10-04},
  url = {https://pleroma.guide/en/lexicon/implicate-order},
  langid = {english}
}