An Inquiry in need of answers to unhinge our doors of interpretation
Assume the following is true:
Consciousness exists beyond the body.
The body of work in regards to common anomalies such as near-death experiences, after-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, astral travel, shamanic journeys, psychedelic openings, and cases of reincarnation is as vast as it is deep. These included numerous documented events, cases of research, experiential knowledge, anecdotal accounts, and historical recordings seemingly at odds with the current limitations of science. The mystical and spiritual aspects of many of these events also transcend the limitations of religion.
We humans have many opinions of these matters. Many humans are quick to object to each other’s views and take offense in regards to such things. Both our history, our archaeology, and our current affairs demonstrate we humans are all too quick to kill others as well as die for our myriad and opposing belief systems. All demonstrate the oxymoronic qualities of being “common anomalies.”
Without evidence that is tangible and measurable, then all we have left are not facts but the competing truths of quarreling opinions and other belief systems all made up in our human minds by our brains. Yet by allowing ourselves to acknowledge what is intangible and nonreductionist, indeed immeasurable, we open to novel and transformative understandings of ourselves and the world we abide within. Such newfound presence and clarity may allow us to see hidden mathematical formulas.
Therefore many questions remain for us to answer. Among them are:
Is mind and personality distinct from consciousness?
If so, then are mind and personality merely expressions of neuropsychology and thus of the body? Underneath all biology and chemistry is physics, yes?
If information underlies physics, what underlies information?
Is the brain a receiver and transmitter of consciousness? Does the brain function as some sort of neuropsychic radio? Does the brain channel consciousness?
If so, is the expression of consciousness limited and determined by the nature, design, and health of such “biological radios?” The various species of living organisms would receive and transmit consciousness differently, yes? What then of non-sentient organisms? What of non-animal kingdom organisms? Are living plants, fungi, protists, and bacteria conscious? When trees communicate with each other, i.e. share in the relay of information, are they conscious? Are the instinctive actions of non-human animals expressions of consciousness? What of non-biological objects such as mountains, lakes, and mineral crystals? Of planets and stars?
Is consciousness synonymous with life?
Back to animals, including humans: brains damaged from disease and injuries would affect the expression of consciousness, yes?
Is consciousness universal? What is meant by terms such as, “universal consciousness,” the “collective consciousness,” or the “pool of consciousness?” Is there a “conscious universe?”
Can any consciousness existing outside the body or past physical death be aware and self-aware?
What relationships, if any, does consciousness have to the cosmic web? To dark matter? To dark energy? To the radiation of light? To spacetime and timespace? To other dimensions and densities?
Is there an anti-consciousness?
If we have souls and spirits distinct from our minds, personalities, and sense of heart, where are they? Where within our mindbodies and bodyminds are our souls and spirits?
Or is consciousness the same thing as souls and spirits? Is a soul or a spirit the same thing as consciousness, or can a soul, if souls exist at all, be unconscious?
What is the distinction between a soul and a spirit?
If what we call souls and spirits are indeed nothing more than the way our bodies channel consciousness, how can each soul or spirit exist independently of the body once death “turns off the radio?”
What is the relationship of universal consciousness to the Afterlife, astral planes, and other spiritual realms?
What are the relationships then, if any, to the inhabitants of mythical, spiritual worlds from spiritual parasites, elves, orbs, faeries, angels, demons, giants, ghosts, djinn, gods, goddesses, daemons, pixies, vampires, plasma beings, all the way to God? Or are they but extraterrestrial, cryptoterrestrial, or interdimensional entities our ancestors, armed with an excess of religion but little science, deified and demonized?
If and when scientists understand and measure what consciousness is, will scientists then be able to unlock the mysteries of the Afterlife, the soul, and indeed of all things otherwise deemed mystical, spiritual, and religious?
What is the relationship of consciousness to those theories we live in a holographic or a simulated universe generated by software codes?
If consciousness does indeed extend beyond a living or a dying body, how far out does it extend? If so, is consciousness constrained by physical factors such as distance, time, gravity, and radiation? If consciousness does exist beyond the body after the bodymind perishes, how long does it last? Is it eternal and infinite?
What effects do black holes, supernovas, and thermonuclear explosions have on consciousness beyond the death of the body? Is consciousness and souls are the same thing, can the soul survive encounters with such powerful disruptions?
If language does indeed reflect and to some extent create and destroy reality, what is the relationship of universal consciousness to human language including computer software codes?
As the mind emerges from the body to together generate emotions, thoughts, and feelings, at what point in the loop do all things spill from the Mind of the Divine to fill the Void?
What questions do you have?
What answers did you find?
What are you able to prove and disprove?
What are we, what am I, and what are you?
Who are we then?
William Dudley Bass
Tuesday 28 January 2020
Seattle, Washington
Earth
Sol
Copyright © 2020 by William Dudley Bass. All Rights Reserved by the Author & his Descendants until we Humans establish Wise Stewardship over and for our Earth and Solarian Commons. Thank you.