Since I am turning 70 today, I thought I would post a bold article on the possibilities and potential of expanded consciousness. I know I will not be able to maintain my current level of physical health for the next decade, but I’m hoping to grow spiritually in whatever time remains for me.
As one step on that quest, I recently read an article, “A Physics of Consciousness” (Jim Beichler, 2013) which explores how the brain and consciousness relate to one another. Carl Jung once said,
“In history, everything depends on consciousness.”
There are, however, many conflicting views on consciousness, how it can be defined, and its relationship to the brain.
Here are some statements from Beichler’s article that triggered a deeper exploration of consciousness for me:
- External information affects consciousness, which affects mind, which, in turn, affects brain.
- Fields are physical without being material.
- Life force goes beyond ordinary physiology.
- Mind consists of electrical field patterns.
- Consciousness consists of multi-level magnetic vector field patterns.
- Microtubules are magnetic induction coils for storage and retrieval of memories and recognition.
- Consciousness is not limited to the brain.
I believe all of those statements are true, but to be honest, I wouldn’t know a microtubule from a gazoobatuba. (Don’t google it; I made it up). I particularly like the idea of higher sources and forces informing our consciousness which, in turn, affect our minds and brains. I believe those forces and sources exist, and I’m beginning to learn through Energy’s Way how to tap them.
In “Physics of Consciousness,” Beichler discusses the implications of seeing “self” as 4- or 5-dimensional vs. 3-dimensional.
Upon further inquiry from multiple sources, I found that, in mathematics, four-dimensional space (“4D”) is a geometric space with four dimensions. It is typically meant to mean four-dimensional Euclidean space, generalizing the rules of three-dimensional models. It has been studied by mathematicians and philosophers for over two centuries, both for its own interest and for the insights it offered into mathematics and related fields.
Algebraically, it is generated by applying the rules of vectors and coordinate geometry to a space with four dimensions. In particular a vector with four elements. The space is a Euclidean space, so it has a metric and norm, and all directions are treated as the same: the additional dimension is indistinguishable from the other three.
In modern physics, space and time are unified in a four-dimensional Minkowski continuum called spacetime, whose metric treats the time dimension differently from the three spatial dimensions. Clearly, if mathematics and physics can’t present a precise view, how can we approach 4D and 5D space from a spiritual point of view?
There is agreement that these dimensions exist, we are just not sure what to do with them.
For me, the point is that, as 3D beings, we can’t see how the world might operate at 4D or 5D.
It would be the same as asking a 2D being to view the world in 3D; it can’t happen.
To get different perspectives on these issues, I sent Beichler’s article to a few friends of mine to get their reactions. Here are excerpts from 3 responses – (all of whom, coincidentally, are Harvard grads):
Friend 1:
“There is something like a divine satellite broadcasting across time and space. Human beings definitely have the capacity to receive the broadcast. However, when the message enters a person’s field, what’s in the field interacts with the broadcast to digest it and translate it into language. What is perceived will be unique to each person. What seems to be happening is that a person puts their own ‘signature’ on the message, such that it can be greatly distorted to affirm a person’s existing belief system.
Mystical experiences present enormous challenges for a 3-dimensional brain to behold, take in and describe to another 3-dimensional brain that is wired to process information differently. As I look at the scriptures across religions, I hypothesize that the ‘revelations’ of prophets are exposed to two types of human error: they can be misinterpreted by the prophet and distorted by the language used to retell it. Truth cannot be absolute when retold by brains.
As you may guess, I’ve been pondering to what degree one can tune-up one’s receiving abilities. Can one reduce the distortion created by one’s mind translating the broadcast into meaning and words? My guess is that when a person is not attached to any belief system, that person’s field may have the ability to perceive without imposing onto what is being seen and most likely what that person sees would transcend doctrine and dogma. The irony is that its rare for atheists to have mystical experiences because they are often not open to them.”
Friend 2:
“We can only understand any phenomena at the level we are at; the deeper truths are there all the time if our being and knowledge evolve. Magnetic fields and chi fields are in us and around us. These energy fields hold this world and the universal world. The challenge is to see them and tap them.”
Friend 3:
“Beichler unselfconsciously is proceeding as if a mechanics of consciousness is desirable and even possible. For me this issue was settled centuries ago on the grounds that wholes are not explained by parts or substrates. Those who believe otherwise, and that it is worthwhile to try all the same, as in explaining a higher order or emergent phenomenon (consciousness) in terms of its physical components, fields or substrates, are entitled to their path. But their notes to themselves are not interesting to me.”
You and I, on the other hand, might have a ‘meaningful conversation’ re: how it might be good and possible to proceed on this topic–beginning with how to translate this ‘thing’ thought of ‘consciousness’ in the light of ‘energy is action’ and the subtlest of all energetic doings, conscious-making, even more so.”
In essence, Friend 3 was saying that Beichler made a category mistake in trying to objectify a subjective experience.
The term “category-mistake” was introduced by Gilbert Ryle in his book The Concept of Mind (1949) to remove what he argued to be a confusion over the nature of mind born from Cartesian metaphysics.
Ryle alleged that it was a mistake to treat the mind as an object made of an immaterial substance because predications of substance are not meaningful for a collection of dispositions and capacities.
I found all three of these reactions more compelling and thought provoking than the article itself.
Friend 1 made me think about how we can fine-tune our receivers to be able to hear divine broadcasts more clearly.
Friend 2 made me consider ways to tap into the magnetic and chi fields that are in us and around us.
Friend 3 made me wonder how we can move from an explanation of consciousness to an experience of consciousness (energy is action).
I know that the line between genius and madness is notoriously thin. I am committed to continue looking for the genius without crossing the line into madness. This notion of consciousness brings out our truest possibilities and purposes as well as speculative nonsense with no scientific grounding.
I believe the possibility exists that we have astral bodies that contain both concrete and abstract levels of consciousness.
I believe that consciousness is the root and essence of the soul.
I also believe we have an etheric body that contains the chakra energy centers and an aura that can expand into the universe. Within the etheric body, the chakras can be activated and aligned. The astral bodies and etheric bodies contain our physical body and inform its development.
I realize I am walking that thin line here, but I have enough experience and I’ve read enough explanations to feel like I’m simply exploring possibilities instead of entertaining delusions. A recent book by Dean Radin, Supernormal, is an excellent review of what our possibilities may be and how conventional thinking has limited our ability to pursue them or even to open the conversation about them. May the conversation and breakthroughs continue.
Also published on Medium.
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