The events of the Awakening have led to an entirely new landscape for the Sciences. With many phenomena long thought to be pseudo-science having verifiable (if not scientifically repeatable) effects on the real world, the realm of what is understood has proven much smaller in the grand scheme of things than was previously believed.

At core is the phenomenon of the Awakening itself. research into the scientific principles behind the Awakening comes from several seemingly unrelated phenomena:

* Quantum Mechanics - since the Awakening, research into quantum mechanics and a physical Grand Unified Field Theory have slowed to a near-standstill, due to the apparent interactions that ambient mana fields have with quantum mechanical phenomena. According to the current scientific consensus, all magical phenomena are in essence quantum mechanical in nature, with astral space providing the template for so-called "thermodynamic miracles" in the physical world. Here, the most useful theory to date comes from the theory of Morphic Fields, first proposed over 100 years ago by Dr. Rupert Sheldrake.

Current scientific consensus interprets 'astral space' as the metahuman mind's interpretation of these Morphic Fields and their interactions, with certain minds naturally capable of perceiving and interacting with the superset of Morphorenic eigenfields directly. Because the Morphogenic superset is conceived of as an infinite-dimensional Tensor field that is nowhere differentiable, current methods of mathematical analysis are inadequate to describe its interactions with QM and GR. However, it is believed that the Morphogenic superfield itself is the mediator between QM-scale interactions and GR-scale interactions, making understanding of the Morphogenic Principle the current hot-topic in Grand Unified Field Theory research.

* Evolutionary Psychology - Because mana is clearly effected by the psychology and biology of living beings, the processes of quantum waveform collapse and particle interaction observation owe as much to psychological effects as they do to purely physical ones. Another 100-year-old theory has been brought back into the forefront: Dr. Timothy Leary's Eight Circuit Consciousness model.

According to this model, the human mind operates via eight interdependent "engines" of consciousness, each representing a meta-adaption over the previous "engine". The first four represent the "terrestrial survival bio-circuit", and represent the limits of pre-Awakening metahuman consciousness, while the latter four describe the interactions between metahuman consciousness and the Morphogenic fields inherent in the manascape.

The first circuit, called the "bio-survival circuit", represents a biological being's Will to survival and self-maintenence. Because this Will is fundamental to all living things (reinforced by the fundamental process of evolution itself), it is a necessary component of each of the three higher circuits. At the core of the bio-survival circuit is the fear instinct, comfort-seeking and direct need satiation.

The second circuit, called the "emotional-territorial circuit", represent a biological being's Intuitive capacity for defensive and offensive postures, status and hierarchy. This drive regulates our base emotional state and our fight-or-flight decisions, as well as nurturing and base reproductive behaviors, and raw perceptual processing. The second circuit is believed to primarily utilize the brain's amygdala and basal ganglia.

The third circuit, called the "symbolic-conceptual circuit", represents a biological being's Logical decision-making and problem-solving capabilities. The symbolic-conceptual circuit is the root of mankind's capacity for technology, science, and language, as well as dynamic and flexible problem-solving. The third circuit is believed to primarily utilize the brain's frontal lobes and neocortex.

The fourth circuit, called the "social-moral circuit", represents a biological being's social intelligence and tribal identity and status - what the ancient greeks called "Charisma". The fourth circuit utilizes a disparate array of separate neural organs, and has proven the most elusive circuit to study.

The "higher" consciousness circuits are presented here as Dr. Leary first envisioned them, although it is believed that his understanding of them was incomplete due to the lack of an active mana field for observation.

The fifth circuit is the "somatic-sensory circuit" and was posited to be the sensory connection to 'higher consciousness', possibly allowing for interpretation of morphogenic information in a manner that is meaningful to the metahuman brain.

The sixth circuit is the "neuro-genetic circuit" and was posited to be the circuit responsible for meta-programming and worldview choice and evolution, and is potentially the genesis of the varied magical paradigms and schools.

The seventh circuit is the "somato-genetic circuit" and was posited to be the circuit responsible for the generation of mythic archetypes, ancestral memory and precognition, potentially giving rise to such phenomena as Totems and Mentor spirits, and metahuman access to (or generation of, depending on the theory you prescribe to) the Metaplanes.

The eight circuit is the "quantum-nonlocal circuit" and was posited to be the circuit responsible for direct gnostic reception of what would now be called the morphogenic field.

* Information Theory - The mathematical foundations underlying Information Theory have given rise both to Chaos Magic, the scientific community's best hope for understanding magical phenomena to date, and the Matrix. Inherent in these mathematical structures are the Wolfram structures - the underlying patterns of informational self-replication that lead to what 20th century mathematics naively called "Chaos Mathematics". These self-replicating and self-modifying structures are seen in DNA, in Matrix code, and - intriguingly enough - in spirit formulae and spell designs, both at the macro level and (predictably enough, to anyone who understands the self-similarity principles encoded in the Wolfram structures) at the quantum level itself, perhaps even tying back and resonating with the morphogenic fields.

On this subject, it is telling that the first documented paraphenomena of the Matrix - the so-called Otaku - began to appear shortly after the Matrix began to incorporate its first quantum computing components, further highlighting the connection between quantum effects and Awakened phenomena. Likewise, as Human Factors Engineering began integrating four-circuit principles into the basic Matrix interface based off of the operations of the metahuman brain (with the Firewall, Processor, System and I/O channels corresponding to the first, second, third and fourth circuit, respectively), is it so remarkable that the metahuman brain has responded by mirroring these channels in return? Perhaps it is inevitable, as the Matrix rises in complexity to a level capable of supporting its own morphogenic fields, that the principles guiding Mana and the so-called "Resonance" will continue to converge.

Timothy Leary can go suck it.

Te answer to your question is a headache and an inexplicable desire for violence.

metaphysics rage?

Evolution is a lie concocted by the Illuminati to bury evidence of intelligent design and bring ridicule on its' proponents, thus ensuring that when we or our descendants discover time travel it will be the Illuminati of that time period that goes into the distant past and creates humanity in the first place, thus ensuring the secret society's total mastery of us for all eternity.

in joining with the spirit of the other responses:

tl:dr

"All models are wrong; some models are useful."

All metahumans are engineered lifeforms, created by our ancient Masters (the Dragons) to make us into more "useful" specialized servant-races.

Humans (Water) are the pure-strain stock, and the default genetic template when there isn't enough ambient mana to sustain the mageborn races' breeding cycles. The Dragons saw the potential in humanity, and through sorcery and breeding created four magically enhanced races, each bred with one of the remaining elements:

Elves (Air) were originally designed to be diplomats, performers and entertainers, but eventually broke off from their creators to forge their own societies. Their traits are a preternatural beauty and grace, and an extraordinarily long lifespan to better learn their chosen trades.

Dwarves (Earth) were originally designed to be skilled laborers, tradesmen and clerical workers. They, too, were gifted with long life, as well as a stubbornness and a sturdiness necessary for long, hard work and mastery of skill.

Orcs (Fire) were originally designed to be warriors and unskilled laborers - a bred slave race that quickly outbred their masters' capabilities to control them. They live short, meager lives, but possess great strength and stamina, and a terrifying fecundity.

Trolls (Wood) were bred as a competing warrior-race, without the prolific fecundity that led to the Orcs overrunning their Masters. Trolls are basically super-Orks; armored, huge, and nigh-unstoppable.

Why all the hate? Did I forget to shower?

you just blew everyone's mind.

"drugs are bad for you, mkay?"

I read Naked Lunch when I was 13, and since then Timothy Leary has always angered me.

*nod* well, it's important to remember that Burroughs' Leary may not necessarily be the same as, say, RA Wilson's Leary.

Er, wait. Was Leary even mentioned in Naked Lunch?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Lunch

not to such a degree that anyone have seen fit to link it in the wikipedia article...

Yeah, that's what I thought. I know the two were acquaintences, and Burroughs is somewhat inscrutable, so it's POSSIBLE he was slipped in as some sly reference... but I certainly don't remember it.

Burroughs makes Leary look like he's taking the piss.

How so?

Because Leary is a highly academic drug-user who likes to make shit up and sound like a stuffy kid who needs a thirty-page paper to erase the guilt he feels for sneaking a joint, and Burroughs is a highly literate and down-to-earth drug user (even when flying high) who realizes that its all mental baggage anyway.

Aha, got it. Ultimately, though, that comes from their backgrounds (Leary started as a psychologist; Burroughs as a writer). They were also interested in different things - Burroughs wanted to capture and communicate the essence of being in the moment; Leary (even when high as a kite) ultimately wanted to understand the structure of human consciousness as a diagnostic and therapeutic aid.

Just for a change from the other responses, it sounds like some first class fluff to possibly describe a hermatic mage's approach to magic, or for an entirely new tradition of magic. Learism maybe?

or maybe chaos magic++