Friday, April 10, 2009

Mind, Soul and Reality

One of the most brilliant mathematicians (and physicists) who ever lived was a Hungarian born man named John von Neumann. He calculated that over the course of a human lifetime the brain stores about 280,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits of information. This is an incredibly vast number. Scientists have thought about the ways this immense amount of data could be both stored and retrieved by the brain. Could the holographic theory explain this? Remember that holograms have an enormous capacity for information storage, and as far as retrieving the information goes, with the part containing the whole perhaps this makes it much easier? I wonder if there is a law of the conservation of not only energy-but also information and memory. Maybe all of the things the billions of people (and other species too) have experienced down from the dawn of time are never lost. I wonder if there might be some truth to the universal library or Akashic records. The great investigator of the human soul, Dr Carl Gustav Jung had a fantastic "synchroncity" event that happened while treating one of his patients. The woman Jung was treating at the time had a very stern, materialist and rational approach to life. This was a woman who simply had no need-and maybe want of the ineffable and sacred dimension of human existence. The woman's attitude was severely hindering her progress in therapy.

She had a series of frustrating sessions with Jung, but one day told him of a dream she had that involved a scarab beetle. Jung knew a great deal about mythology worldwide and this was hardly the first time a symbol from ancient mythology came up in a patient's dream. In ancient Egyptian mythology the scarab was a sacred representation of rebirth. As he believed dreams were greatly influenced by the collective unconscious, Jung wondered if the dream meant that she was about to go through a psyhcological transformation-a rebirth. Jung had just started to tell her of his interpretation, but before he could he heard a tapping on the window from outside. He was astonished to see a gold-green scarab beetle on the other side of the glass. Keep in mind, he was in the mid-European latitudes and sightings of scarab beetles were extremely rare to non-existent in these climes. Jung opened the window and let the scarab fly in as he presented his interpretation of the dream. The entry of the scarab beetle both in the woman's psyche and then physically amazed her and she was able to let go of some of her excessive rationality. From this day forward her response to therapy improved.

Quoting again from Michael Talbot's The Holographic Universe: "Jung encountered many such meaningful coincidences during his psychotherapeutic work and noticed they almost always accompanied periods of emotional intensity and transformation: fundamental new insights, deaths, births, even changes in profession. He also noticed that they tended to peak when the new realization or insight was just about to surface in a patient's consciousness. As his ideas became more widely known, other therapists began reporting their own experiences with synchronicity." Talbot also gives another example of a synchronicity involving an associate of Jung's based in Zurich named Carl Alfred Meier. A woman surgeon, who had headed a mission hospital in China for twenty years was suffering from serious depression. She traveled from Wuchang, China to Zurich, Switzerland to be treated by Meier. In the course of her therapy she told Meier of a dream in which she had seen the hospital she worked in with one of its wings destroyed. She was originally from America but had become involved in Chinese culture and was an expert in Chinese philosophy. Meier thought that her dream meant she was losing her sense of self, her American identity and that this cultural dislocation was causing her depression. Dr Meier advised her to return to the United States, which she subsequently did. After her return her depression ended quickly. This woman had also given Meier a detailed sketch of the crumbling hospital in her dreams before she left. Years afterwards, the Japanese attacked China and bombed Wuchang Hospital. The woman sent Meier a copy of Life magazine that had a double page photograph of the partially destroyed hospital. The photographs and her drawing of nine years previously were identical!

I thought this synchronicity of the woman, the hospital, her dream and the eventual bombing of the hospital was a fascinating-though tragic in ways-example of a synchronicity that had a deep personal meaning (via the interpretation of the dream) and also because the dream image had gone beyond the boundaries of the woman's psyche and became a part of physical reality nine years later. "Because of their striking nature, Jung became convinced that such synchronicities were not chance occurences, but were in fact related to the psychological processes of the individuals who experienced them. Since he couldn't conceive of how an occurrence deep in the psyche could cause an event or a series of events in the physical world, at least in the classical sense, he proposed that some new principle must be involved, an acausal connecting principle hitherto unknown to science." The Holographic Universe, pg 79. Leaving synchronicity for a bit and going to some ideas I have talked about here before-how is 'reality' created? -does 'reality' exist independently of conscious observers? Most physicists ignore the implications of the theory of quantum mechanics. They accept the theory and standard interpretation of it, however, they also insist on the reality of quantum systems (in other words the deepest level of 'reality') even when they are not being observed. However, in experiment after experiment pertaining to quantum physics it has been shown that the best description of a quantum state when it is not being observed is an infinite superposition of states. Without an observer nothing is concrete. And of course you can go beyond these deep questions to ask-what constitutes an observer?

"Human consciousness may not be the only thing that participates in the creation of reality-fields. Remote viewing experiments have shown that people can accurately describe distant locations even when there are no human observers present at the locations. Similarly subjects can identify the contents of a sealed box randomly selected from a group of sealed boxes and whose contents are therefore completely unknown. This means that we can do more than just tap into the sense of other people. We can also tap into reality itself to gain information. As bizarre as this sounds, it is not so strange when one remembers that in a holographic universe, consciousness pervades all matter, and "meaning" has an active prescence in both the mental and physical worlds." The Holographic Universe, pg. 145.

In his book The Spectrum of Consciousness, Ken Wilber has some excellent thoughts and information about just who and what the 'observer' in all of us is at the very core of our beings. "Now in speaking of Reality as non-dual consciousness, most of us conjure up ideas of consciousness as somehow being connected with subjectivity. That is, we feel consciousness belongs not to "objects" such as this page but rather to myself as the subject who is supposedly "conscious" of this page. This is of course dualistic to the core. But since consciousness is Reality, and Reality is actually non-dual, it would be much more accurate to view consciousness not as a relative subject confronting objects but as Absolute Subjectivity above the dualism of subject vs. object. Consciousness, as Absolute Subjectivity, belongs exclusively to neither subject not object, but embraces both. In this sense, Absolute Reality is Absolute Subjectivity...Every individual habitually feels that his ego, his self, is the subject of his own experiences, feelings, and thoughts, that his subjective self is now reading the words on this page. And this he expresses by saying "I am aware of myself reading." But the fact that something in me can look at my subjective self, that is, the fact that there exists in me right now an awareness of my "self" reading this page, should show me clearly that my supposedly subjective self is really an object of awareness!" Ken Wilber, The Spectrum of Consciousness, pages 70 and 71.

I was going to say some extra things here about other aspects of our souls and personalities, things along the lines of how sometimes I wonder if the "dumbing down" of the world and also its surfeit of mundane sensual pleasures (such as the Oreo cookie I am eating now) are intentional? I wonder if there is some part of the human personality that some forces or aspects do not want to go any higher. Sound insane? Yes I know it must to a lot of people-and if you have an opinion against this -please by all means comment. Perhaps these thoughts are best left to be developed in the next post. I am a bit tired and I do not like to tread so much terra incognita when I am not 100 percent wide awake. I would like to leave you with this bit from the always magical and masterful William Blake: To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.

Thanks again everyone for your thoughtful and intelligent comments! I hope to have the next post here in two to four days. The image on top is Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World and the beefcake is Jae Garcia from stevo's Hot Men Appreciation Society blog. What a hottie! You have great taste stevo! I will try to include an image for my straight guy and lesbian readers next time;-)

20 comments:

Nina said...

I believe there are indeed other forces/energies/intelligent beings--in other dimensions and in this one--that are intent on keeping us dumbed down for reasons too many to list in just a comment. I also believe there are forces at work to assist us in the awakening from our slumber.

I once underwent an energy cleanse, so to speak. I was in an rapid eye movement session when suddenly I said "you don't understand. it is not just me keeping me down. there's something else!" and with that, my counselor took me through a series of "spiritual" cleansings where whatever was attached to me was told to leave. I could literally feel heavy energy crap coming off of me. It was like removing old coats.

Who knows. Determining--knowing-- reality is like trying to hold water in my hand. Some mornings, after I awaken, I feel as though I've been psychically attacked during the night. My hub has also experienced this. It began happening to me when I began to question the possibility of other dimensional beings f'ing w/humanity.

Thank u for the eye candy. : )

Devin said...

You are most welcome for the eye candy;-) and thanks as always for your wonderful comments! That was what I forgot to put down when I was closing out post-I am so glad you mentioned it -I also believe that as many bad forces there are out there-there is also a group of good beings, forces energies-what have you that are trying to help us-It is also kind of "synchy" that you mentioned psychic attack-In a series of private emails -O about a month or so ago -I was discussing this subject with another blogger-those were the mornings and afternoons I would awaken and feel denuded of energy-like something had sucked the life force right out of me. Thankfully this stage of things is apparently over-knock on wood-I never really came to an absolute decision about it but it "felt" different than just being tired-which is a feeling I struggle with all the time due to medications and the like-best to you as always and I will also let stevo know other folks like his taste in men!

One final thing-I could bring up in the next post or two some infor that sounds somewhat like the information I have heard you blog about-A native American friend that i worked with told me some things and attempted to show me some things (ritual, shape-shifting experiences) I kind of dismissed it at the time as him having a very active imagination-but ever since i got into the paranormal again a lot of it makes sense (also this involves one of my "maybes") as far as para experiences go.thanks again for stopping by!!

Anonymous said...

Endlessly fascinating.

Justin R. said...

The holographic reality notion is something I have to look further into Devin. But I do often feel these days that we, as physical beings in this material world, are like icebergs.

That is a tiny portion that is our mundane frames of meat and bone are mere protuberances above the surface of the collective unconscious, the great, deep sea of existence, and underneath the true magnitude of the berg lays in the fathoms. The surface of that vast ocean is the transmuting dividing line between the material & the immaterial.

The same for all the natural world too for me. We are material reflections of our true psychic/spiritual selves in this reality, perhaps (I say perhaps) diminished by the physical.

Cookies, oreos or otherwise, still taste good though. Yum.

Julie Ferguson said...

Lots to ponder here....love your posts as always. We love the eye candy too, teehee!

Chris Benjamin said...

looking forward to that straight guy pic!

love that william blake.

have you read niel postman? or david taras? you might like what they have to say about certain technology's dumbing down effects, most especially television. unfortunately postman died before the blog age; would have been fascinating to hear his thoughts on internet. roger waters of pink floyd wrote a whole album based on postman's ideas, amazing stuff. entertainment on the ills of entertainment, brilliant.

Sharon Day said...

Beautifully put together. I love this kind of discussion. As someone who reads objects and has precognition dreams of impending disasters, and has an ability to remote view, I have learned to give up my "logical" mind that says such things can't be weighed and measured and can't exist. I simply accept it without "proof" because I live it. What intrigues me is that the way I gather information about things is outside of myself. As hard as this is to describe, if I'm reading an object I hold in my hand, the information is outside my body in different planes and I gather it and pull it in and look at it and discard it back to its "space" this "space" could be time or dimension--don't know. I only know that when I pull up that person's reading later on, I not only remember the details, but I remember where it was stored in "space" around me. Professionals call this spatial manner I use "synesthesia." I believe it is key to my abilities. I store times, dates, and such in the same manner. The weekly and yearly calendar in my head is hilarious because it's stored outside my body in certain levels like a three-dimensional pathway. Now, does that mess with the mind, or what? I wish more psychics would explain the exact process they extract info. I think we all jump into this "spatial stairway." I'd love to see someone confirm that

Devin said...

Hi everyone and thanks for your wonderful comments. I am at my mom's lap top and really hard for me to type on. I really appreciate all of you stopping by and tomorrow I will come back and respond in more depth and look at any of your blogs that have updated. Thanks again so much for stopping by!!

Devin said...

i forgot to say dont let me ofrget about the straight guy pic:-) and i am glad others enjoyed the jae Garcia photo! i will have to look into niel postman and david taras-those names are completely new to me- i am also glad people understood this post which was oviousa from your comments-i re-read it 4 times last night and still was unsure how it sounded=peace and be well all of you!!

Alex Robinson said...

Hi Devin
I thoroughly enjoyed this series & your excellent asides along the way - hope you enjoyed your oreo cookie, I've just made a banana cake, care to pop round for some :)

I always feel so much more content & 'wholesome' when subjects like this are talked about as openly as we might discuss a book or movie.

Best to you as always

Middle Ditch said...

Wonderful piece of writing. Am fully awake now and could follow it. The brain is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

In Holland we don't have a word for 'mind' and I have often wondered what the difference is between mind and brain and if there is a difference.

Memories are great too. I find that, whilst thinking and plotting a new story for MD, I find something deeply hidden away in my memory file. Something heard, observed, lived and I then use that information.

It can be a memory years and years old.

Happy Easter Devin

Devin said...

wise woman and middle ditch thanks so very much for commenting!! I would love some banana cake wise-we call it banana bread in the states dont know why;-)
I agree so much with your thoughts on the brain and memory MD-that is fascinating that memory can help you with episdodes at MD-but now that I think of it -that is a lot of the way i do writing -thanks also for the compliment about my writing -but really I would be wrong to accept it -as I am so extensively quoting other authors-very little of this has been my writing-but I will try to use more of my own for next installment-best to the both of you as always!!

Michael Skaggs said...

Devin,

Devja vu! Or is it re-cycling repeating patterns I am experiencing? LOL ;) I just read that same Blake quote not but a day ago, and was remembering how Angelina Jolie quoted that in the movie Tomb Raider...

..movies aside, The Holographic Universe principle is extremely thought provoking. Gregg Braden gave a small example in "The Divine Matrix" on how a hologram works, let's see if I can remember it...he mentioned the 3D-Holographic Book marks that came out in the 80's and said if you cut one into smaller piece, and those pieces into smaller pieces, they all still show within them the "whole" that the original did, so basically the entire hologram existed in each and every smaller broken down piece in its entirety. So perhaps our brains store information in much the same way? But, I liked your idea on being "connected to the whole" that may account for such mass storage of info.

And in Nina's comment, I have to agree with her on the "its not just me that's keeping me down", ever since I was a child I had archetypal "nightmares" of Demons, granted, I was thrust into a strong Catholic family since birth, believe me it wasn't fun, but I do get a sense that there is something "behind the scenes", another alternate reality vibrating closely to ours or perhaps the multiple universe theory where when we reach peak levels of "loving compassionate consciousness" we weave and surf into alternate realities of our lives where things can be better or worse, depending on that timestream...sounds like a sci-fi story I know!

But, like Wise, I do enjoy when this kind of topic raises more questions and awareness.

Syncronistically the word verify for me today is "blesess" :)

Be well my friend.
Oh and by the way, Rebecca Linares makes great st8 eye candy! lol

Devin said...

Michael-blesses to you also!! I really must find a way to use some of the Braden info for this series-your comment about "surfing other realities" and your references to Nina's excellent comment really hit home with me! Will try to find Rebecca-haha-I believe that there are perhaps an infinite number of realities -what I would like to know is if some or all of them weave through and interpenetrate our reality? best to you as always!!

Anadæ Quenyan Effro said...

Deeply talented is Andrew Wyeth, Devin, and there's one particular male nude that he'd done, right around the time of his now infamous relationship with Helga Testorf, many life paintings (read: nudes) that he had rendered of her as well. I apologise for not finding a link.

This immediately, "Christina's World", made me leap in mind to a take-off, "Soulbot's World", that you can find in the photo albums of the brilliant Renaissance man, Eric Arthur Hammer, now going simply by Doc Hammer, here on Tom's Wreck, my smirkingly sarcastic rechristening for My Waste-of-Time Space. Mr Hammer is an accomplished realist painter, singer/songwriter/musician (whose current band Weep's profile page is now located here), an all around nice guy who'll never run from an impromptu conversation & the co-founder of a certain animated series with its own cult following.

I do hope that your back pain, variously a symptom of either stress, kidney disease, scoliosis, or an earlier injury, I hope leaves you soon. I'm happy to hear abt yr equating it w/t Buddhist praxis & outlook, though.

Happy music listening,
Anadæ Effro (:-)}

Devin said...

Anadae Effro-as always so lovely to see you here!! You of all people never have to apologize for finding a link!! I am one of the worst net searchers in the world -so I have a hard time finding comparitively easy things-thanks again for the new links -that Name "Doc Hammer" sounds extremely familiar -but I hope I am not getting my thoughts mixed up with fortean "Doc Shiels" -haha -best to you as always and so appreciate your thoughts about back -just got done telling others I am extremely reluctant to ask for more pain meds or different ones as I am on so many already-I need to find alternatives-but sometimes it seems so rough when you are literally in agony -like I was at times yesterday -best to you as always and thanks so much for stopping by!!

Devin said...

BTW Anadae I did know about Wyeth's affair -but had no idea about the male nude-very interesting -Christinas World has always provoked something in me -a mix of the mysterious -but also anxiety -and for the life of me I cant figure out why-its just a painting of a young woman facing a house -you can't even see her face -well enough of my prattling-all the best!!

Anadæ Quenyan Effro said...

Addendum ~ Well, I AM apologising again! LOL! The link to Doc Hammer's "Soulbot's World", a take-off of the Wyeth original, is sort-out-able here. Click on Pics & go to his first photo album (there're three) and you'll find it. Now d'ya Gno why his name's so familiar ???? (•:-)}

Devin said...

Anadae-thanks as always-and no need to apologize whatsoever -I really appreciate you stopping by! like I just got done saying above-I think I get more out of the comments than I do my own posts-all the best to you my friend!!-will check out link;-)

Devin said...

Yes -hehe Gnow I get it:-) Loved the takeoff-for a moment i thought my moronicity with all things puter (never had a myspace or anything) was going to prevent me from finding his gallery! I also thought Robespierre the cat and some other pics were cool too-thanks again for all of these heads up Anadae-best to you and your hubbs!!