Aspects of Mind (full version)

This is a longer and slightly updated version of an article already on this blog. I wrote this original version in February 2011. I believe that the information remains relevant and will provide useful background for certain articles that I intend posting here soon.

1. All in the mind

Scientific evidence indicates that our entire experience is a construction in our mind (consciousness or awareness).¹ There is no external ‘reality’. It has been suggested, “Everything we know, including space, time and matter, manifests from consciousness.”²

2. Everything has mind

It has been proposed that consciousness is an intrinsic property of creation. Therefore it is in everything, from atoms through to creatures with complex nervous systems such as ours. This does not mean that simpler systems have thoughts or feelings, or any of the other mental functions that we associate with consciousness. It only implies that everything in the universe has the capacity for consciousness in some form, however faint.³

3. Same mind

An individual person’s core identity (our sense of self that is constant regardless of age, location and experience) is pure consciousness and it is the same for all of us. “The light of consciousness shining in me is the same light that shines in you.”²

4. Source of mind

Consciousness streams from the physically real virtual energy field known as the vacuum state (also called the vacuum),¹ called Akasha by ancient Indian philosophers and the Akashic field or A-field by Ervin László.^3,4,5 The vacuum is beyond time and space and the source of everything that exists. Other names for the vacuum include Allah, God, Jehovah and Collective Unconscious.¹

5. Nature of mind

The vacuum consists of a subtle sea of fluctuating energies that informs not just the current universe, but all universes past and present (collectively, the “Metaverse”).⁴ The vacuum can explain why our universe appears to be fine-tuned as to form galaxies and conscious lifeforms; and why evolution is an informed, not random, process.⁴ As the vacuum has the properties of a superconductor, information on all the particles, and all the ensembles of particles that exist and evolve in space and time (including those comprising all instances of personal consciousness with all subconscious thoughts) continue indefinitely in the vacuum in the form of superposed wave-patterns. In other words, the vacuum is the constantly updated holographic⁶ memory of the universe, holding the record of all that ever happened in life, on Earth and in the cosmos, and it relates this to all that is yet to happen.³ Further, subconscious minds can access the records of other minds, as seems to be evident in psi phenomena such as extrasensory perception (ESP).⁷

The records show events exactly as they were experienced, so the information in them begins raw – it is not clarified, understood and assimilated until a consciousness takes responsibility for doing so.⁴ Names for the records include Akashic Records, Cosmic Consciousness, Collective Unconscious, Collective Subconscious, Hall of Records, Matrix, Universal Supercomputer, Mind of God and Book of Life.⁴ The Bible refers to the records as the Book of Life in both the Old Testament (Psalm 69:28) and the New Testament (Philippians 4:3, Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 20:15, 21:27)⁸ We access our personal Hall of Records through archetypes (the dynamic principles that organize the material of the collective unconscious) and our genetic encoding.⁴

(i) Barcode access. It has been suggested that our genome serves a ‘barcode’ function: “a new organism opens an ‘account’ on the ‘Internet’ of the physical universe using the DNA structure as an access code …. In the course of an organism’s life its account is filled in with non-erasable information leading to irreversible ageing and death. Due to the activities of individual organisms the species data warehouse is transformed.”⁹ This involves epigenetic transfer of hereditary information, which contributes to transformation of species information and evolution.⁹

The effects of foreign DNA on a person’s consciousness support the barcode theory. In several publications^10,11,12 it has been reported that following a heart transplant sometimes the recipient experiences thoughts and feelings that are totally strange and new, and later it becomes obvious that they fit with the character and consciousness of the deceased donor. The DNA in the donor heart seems to give rise to fields of consciousness that are received by the organ recipient. Moreover, as bacteria in the digestive tracts of mice affect the animals’ brain development and behaviour,¹³ it seems that our consciousness might be affected by the consciousness accessed by any foreign DNA including that of the microorganisms living in and on our body.

If we think of DNA as spinning vortices of energy (“chakras”) and accept the view¹⁴ that the vacuum contains the DNA of the universe, then the barcode theory seems similar to the traditional Indian view in which consciousness flows through chakras in the soul, astral body and physical body¹⁵ and manifests in a field of subtle, luminous radiation (“aura”) surrounding all things in the universe.¹⁶ Changes in the flow of consciousness through the chakras (DNA) show as changes in the vibratory rates of colours in the aura.¹⁵ Further, as in this traditional Indian view we affect each other’s energy fields when we interact,¹⁵ we could have expected to see effects such as those reported by organ transplant recipients and those observed in mice. The apparent role of DNA in distributing light within the body has also been compared to the understanding in traditional Chinese medicine that the life force (“ch’i”) enters the body through acupuncture points and flows through a system of meridians.¹⁷

It seems that consciousness persists in our universe for some time in the absence of the energized DNA that accessed it. It has been found¹⁸ that DNA subjected to a laser beam manifests a specific electromagnetic field for up to a month after the physical DNA sample is removed. The DNA appears to have elicited subtle energy fields of the quantum vacuum. This phantom effect seems to be an example of a phenomenon that can be used to explain other observed phantom effects, including the phantom leaf effect and the phantom limb.¹⁸

(ii) Evolution. It has been suggested¹⁴ that the vacuum develops consciousness over the course of many universes that arise from and return to the vacuum, until eventually the vacuum’s consciousness will be fully developed. This concept of a self-renewing universe⁵ is well established in cosmology.¹⁹ As has been explained elsewhere,²⁰ this process necessarily involves suffering in the universe, as one region in the mind field perceives another and consciousness interacts with consciousness.¹ Further, the laws of “physics” can be thought of as “the laws governing the unfolding of a mental field” and “how perturbations in this field interact.”¹

(iii) Thinning of energy. The universe is much less energetic than the vacuum. Therefore the universe is not a solid condensate floating on top of the vacuum, but like a set of bubbles suspended in it. In terms of energy, the material world is a thinning of the vacuum.⁷

(iv) Light. The physical world and the world of mind share a common ground that we experience as light. Physical light has no mass, is not part of the material world, seems to be fundamental to the universe and does not exist in space and time (it is absolute). Similarly, the light of consciousness is immaterial, fundamental (without it there would be no experience), and originates beyond the material world where there is neither space nor time (it is absolute).² Mystics have spoken of this inner light as the Divine Light, the Cosmic Light, the Light of Light, the Eternal Light that shines in every heart and the Uncreated Light from which all creation takes form.² Similarly, according to the Bible “God is Light” (1 John 1:5) and “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12 and John 9:5).⁸

Award-winning biophysics researcher Fritz-Albert Popp said “We know now, today, that man is essentially a being of light.”²¹ Biophotons (Greek βιο meaning “life” and φωτο meaning “light”²²) are emitted spontaneously by all living systems. Popp theorized that one of the most essential sources of light and biophoton emission is DNA.¹⁷ He suggested that DNA is like the master tuning fork of the body. It strikes a particular frequency and certain molecules follow. The number of photons emitted seems to be linked to the organism’s position on the evolutionary scale — the more complex the organism, the fewer photons are emitted. It seems that wave resonance is not only used to communicate inside the body, but between living things as well and could explain ESP.¹⁷

(v) Beauty. The process wherein the vacuum clarifies, understands and assimilates the akashic records is beautiful as beauty characterizes truth, e.g. aesthetic considerations such as symmetry and simplicity are used in theoretical physics and cosmology to define truth, outside of empirical considerations.²³ This is consistent with numerous biblical passages indicating that God’s purpose is glory (defined in Christianity as “the beauty and bliss of heaven”²⁴), e.g. “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever!” (Rom 11:36).⁸

(vi) Love. This process involves love because beauty is associated with love. Plato explained that love is an appreciation of the beauty of the subject, or even appreciation of beauty itself.²⁵ Indeed, it has been found that the EEG patterns of a couple deeply in love are closely synchronized,⁷ i.e. the beauty of symmetry underlies their feeling of a deep oneness. Further, a view common in both Eastern and Western religions is that love is the ‘ground state’ or essential foundation of the entire universe,²⁶ e.g. “God is love” (1 John 4:16) and “If I have … but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).⁸

6. Continuity of mind

“You take the life inside you with you when you go” said cardiologist and near-death experience (NDE) researcher Pim van Lommel.²⁷ Research into NDEs indicates that consciousness continues beyond death of the body.^28,29 This consciousness is personal (the individual retains their sense of identity) and at least during the period within which a person can be resuscitated it can involve observations of their body and its environment (out-of-body experiences) as well as experiences of a heavenly nature (e.g. meeting deceased friends and relatives).^28,29 The clinically dead person’s continued awareness of their body and its environment seems consistent with the above-mentioned DNA phantom effect, i.e. the person’s continued consciousness in this universe could be due to the persistence (for up to several weeks potentially¹⁸) of consciousness independently of the DNA that accessed it.

Quantum mechanics can explain this continuity of consciousness as a transition between probability fields of consciousness in the vacuum and body-linked waking consciousness, which are two complementary aspects of consciousness. During life in the visible universe our consciousness has an aspect of waves as well as of particles, and there is a permanent interaction between these two aspects of consciousness. When we physically die our consciousness only has an eternal aspect of waves.³⁰

NDE research findings of continued consciousness are consistent with religious beliefs in an afterlife, whether it is in the soul’s existence in another world (e.g. Christianity, Islam and many pagan belief systems) or in reincarnation (e.g. many forms of Hinduism and Buddhism).³¹

Summary and Discussion

There are scientific reasons to believe that all reality is in the mind, everything has mind, everything has the same mind (in essence) and all mind is of the vacuum. This mind is holographic, accessible via our DNA, explains paranormal (psi) phenomena and represents a thinning of the energy potential of the vacuum. Mind and its evolution are of light, beauty and love, attended necessarily by suffering in the universe. Personal mind seems to continue beyond death of the body in a realm of rich potential characterized by light and love.

Pick ‘n’ mix spirits

If our DNA determines which elements of the vacuum records we are responsible for processing, it follows that consciousness arises in a pick ‘n’ mix process. This precludes the possibility of a ready-made, ‘off the shelf’ or ‘recycled’ consciousness (soul). Thus reincarnation as it is conceived within the majority of Indian religious traditions (a fixed entity – the soul – that comes back to life in a newborn body after death of another body) seems impossible. Moreover, if the vacuum is continuing to evolve consciousness through the universe, the nature of personal consciousness required by the vacuum during this process will necessarily vary. The idea of the same soul re-occurring in the universe is incompatible with the evolutionary process. Even in the event of genetically identical instances of life (identical twins or clones) the personal consciousness of these genetically identical organisms will be different. Supposed evidence (e.g. ‘past life’ memories) of reincarnation can be explained in terms of psi phenomena. Unsurprisingly, no research has demonstrated the existence of reincarnation and research that claims to have done so is criticized as pseudoscientific.³²

On the other hand, the Buddhist doctrine of rebirth does seem compatible with the idea of consciousness arising in a pick ‘n’ mix process. Early Buddhist texts explain that upon the death of a person their evolving consciousness or stream of consciousness contributes toward a new instance of consciousness as the flame of a dying candle can serve to light the flame of another. The consciousness in the new person is neither identical to nor entirely different from that in the deceased but the two form a causal continuum or stream.³² This analogy seems especially apt if we think of the vacuum elements processed by a preceding instance of consciousness as many candle lights available for new instances of consciousness to access according to the receivers’ DNA.

Supporting / not supporting evolution

As is indicated above, the purpose of the vacuum is to clarify, understand and assimilate events in its records through a creative process of evolving consciousness (light) that is characterized by beauty and love. As this is an evolutionary process, the vacuum could be expected to show a tendency to extinguish or support behaviour in the universe according to the behaviour’s compatibility with this process. Consistent with the concept of karma, there is indeed compelling evidence in our world that the vacuum does prefer caring (including self-care) behaviour. This evidence is (a) biological, e.g. the superior health outcomes of non-smokers versus smokers; (b) psychological, e.g. the superior psychological outcomes of assertive (respect for self and others) versus aggressive (respect for self but not others) or submissive (respect for others but not self) patterns of behaviour; (c) social, e.g. the importance of nurturance (love) in interpersonal relationship satisfaction and continuation; and (d) environmental, e.g. the increased risk of flood disaster in areas of deforestation.

Moreover, it is widely believed that spiritual awareness (i.e. awareness of the vacuum, “voice of God,” “cosmic intelligence,” etc), as can be facilitated through meditation for example, leads to more effective coping and improved mental well-being. In fact this view is supported by empirical research on meditation.³³ Conversely, behaviour which is at odds with vacuum evolution (i.e. a lack of spiritual awareness) could be expected to elicit a Divine response ranging in scope from the premature death of a substance misuser through to mass species extinction such as we see in the Holocene extinction (an accelerating ecological catastrophe happening now and caused by human destructiveness) and global mass murder in the name of a “pandemic.”

References

1. Russell, P. (2006). The Primacy of Consciousness. Chapter contributed to László, E., Science and the reenchantment of the cosmos: The rise of the integral vision of reality. Inner Traditions.
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8. The Holy Bible, New International Version
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16. Wikipedia: Aura
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23. Wikipedia: Aesthetics
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29. Fenwick, P. (2004). Science and spirituality: A challenge for the 21st century. The Bruce Greyson lecture from the International Association for Near-Death Studies Annual Conference.
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31. Wikipedia: Afterlife
32. Wikipedia: Reincarnation
33. Wikipedia: Meditation