Ever had that moment where you’ve thought, “That’s it! I’ve got it! I understand now!” That is when the penny dropped and you had that Eureka moment. Well, the same can be said of enlightenment.
In Zen, there is something called Kensho, which is basically the moment when you experience ‘minor enlightenment,’ also known as the Eureka feeling. Everything just clicks into place. You understand.
So how do we achieve this? The best thing to do is:
1. Observe and consider the problem you face. Think of ways you could solve the problem.
2. Distract yourself with menial work, everyday tasks and above all do not focus on the problem.
3. Come back to the problem and consider new approaches to solving the problem.
Problem solving, and enlightenment, does not need intelligence, it just needs divergent thinking. To encourage divergent thinking, you need to
· embrace changes to routine, unexpected experiences
· meditate more.
When one experiences enlightenment, or Satori, (feeling awake, awakening, etc.) the process has been ongoing since the minor awakening, or Kensho. The process is the same as above, but enhanced. One is given a problem, they then solve it using the technique and when the person gives the solution, they are told, “Yes you are right/wrong, but don’t stop there.”
Now the science bit. When you have an insight, you experience what Zen thinkers call, sightless seeing. The Visual Cortex causes the brain to ‘blink’ switching off your sight momentarily thus sending alpha waves through your brain which causes gamma waves to erupt in the Anterior Superior Temporal Gyrus (ASTG) in the right hemisphere of the brain.
To encourage your brain to gain insight, you need to experience new things, change routines and meditate. If you do these things, you encourage improvisation, divergent thinking and creativity. This is because the Pre-Frontal Cortex needs to step back, turn itself down and enable the brains wiring, White Matter, to form new pathways, or dendrites. It is a slow process. When you relax the monitoring of your conscious self, the Pre-Frontal Cortex enables you to lower your inhibitions, be creative and improvisational. This is known as Transient Hyper-Frontality. People who are naturally lacking in inhibitions and impulsive tend to be good problem solvers, because they are Hypo-Frontal.
When we meditate, we ‘thicken’ areas of the brain called, Insulas. The Insula helps us process emotions, feel & anticipate pain, gives moral intuition, empathy, guilt, atonement, pride, lust, disgust; feel hunger, cravings, listen, feeling shunned in social settings, decision making, listening & giving an emotional response to music, and judging peoples’ facial expressions. Some professionals believe it is where the body and mind integrate. We also relax the Amygdala, which governs fear and anxiety.
So meditation encourages White Matter to grow and our sensory inputs to be lowered, as well as lowering our monitoring of the conscious self. This means that our brain can ‘think freely’ and enable a feeling of ‘temporary sleep’ in our Pre-Frontal Cortex, even though we are awake. This sensation could also describe a state known as ‘loss of self’ and interconnectedness.
When you consider all these things, the method of problem solving is the same as Satori, Kensho, awakening, & enlightenment. The sensations are the same. When the Eureka moment occurs, one’s eyes are open, as if for the first time. Zen thinkers have been trying to explain this for years, by using koans: a problem that seemingly has no answer, is given to a student, who contemplates and meditates over an answer. There are minor moments, like Kensho, and major revelations, like Satori/Enlightenment.
So when you wish to solve a problem, like how to ease the worlds’ suffering, think about it, leave it, then come back to it. If you wish to cultivate empathy, a listening ear and moral intuition, do the same. When you think about it, it’s kinda spiritual really!
Observe. Distract. Come back.
Sunday 9 August 2015
The Conscious Universe
The more I look into the idea of the universe being conscious, the more I find the arguments for it quite compelling.
Alot of the arguments stem from the realms of quantum physics and Vedic philosophy. People, including myself, often refer to the double split test in regards to many areas of quantum physics, including the idea of the universe being conscious. Recent double split test results imply the future affects the past, making our idea of time, appearing linear as in past to future, only one possible facet.
Biocentrism also suggests that time is merely a device to assist us and make sense of things. Promoters of biocentrism also perceive consciousness being able to migrate after the death of our bodies, that our consciousness is uploaded to another realm or parallel universe, indicating an afterlife.
Furthermore, some quantum physicists consider the universe to be similar to a brain; the electrical firing between brain cells is similar to the shape of expanding galaxies.
The results of the double split test, indicate a relationship between the observer and observed, questioning the reality we observe, hence biocentrism questioning if time is a concept needed by us to understand, process and learn. So I'm wondering if we are caught in time's web, due to gravity, moreover our movement around a sun. Potentially this could indicate that outside a galaxy, there is no time. Black holes create rotation also and like the one at the center of our Milky Way, keep solar systems in place. Essentially, we are living on a small cog within the gears of our galaxy.
Consciousness, which ostensibly is hard to define, implies awareness. I am conscious of others in my life, my pets and my interactions with them. So if we are consciously aware of the universe, is it fair to say that the universe is conscious of us? And does this mean the universe also needs time to make sense of things?
The curious thing about time, the past and future, not necessarily the present, is the aspect of time lag sometimes referred to as propagation delay. This is the length of time needed for a message, instruction or packet of data, to be sent from sender to receiver, or A to B. The further the distance, the longer it takes. For instance, if NASA sent a message to New Horizons, the spacecraft sent to take pictures of Pluto, they have to take into account a significant delay regarding the craft receiving the instruction. If there are no obstructions in-between, the reception is slightly quicker, as communication travels with light. If any quick response is needed by the craft, the length of time to send it has to be factored in. So messages and information are integral with time, from our perspective.
Consider this; a message only ever exists in the past. For example, as soon as I say something, that moment has gone. You receive the information from that previous moment. Now, imagine that you are 5 million kilometers away, somewhere in space. There will be a delay in you receiving the message. When you receive the message from the past, you then reply. As you reply, our earth has journeyed a day, so the response you send is from your moment which is now in the past. However, to myself it is from the future, even though it's your past. So in a sense, the future and past are interchangeable and 'two sides of the same coin.' It's a little like the light of distant stars that we see, their light has taken years to reach us. That star may have expired, but it has taken ages for us see that light fade. Therefore can we confidently say, all communication exists only in the past? So using this example, when we look at quantum physics' double split test, regardless of whether or not the photon is observed, the photon lands and communicates back to the past telling itself in which state it should use, either as a wave or particle. The past has been affected by the future and vice versa. So again it suggests that past and future are interchangeable, existing at the same time. The question that remains though is why do photons not like being observed?
One other idea that intrigues me is sonoluminescence. This is when light is generated by sound, usually in a bubble. Various gases have been used in the experiment where a bubble is created and sound is used at various frequencies to stimulate a light. The bubble appears to shrink rapidly then expand to almost bursting, and at this point photons are emitted. This process baffles scientists. They do not understand how or why it happens.
If you have ever had a bubble bath, then I'm sure you have noticed how the mix of soap and water creates the bubbles. It may sound strange but bubbles like to be together. If there is an expanse where there are no bubbles, when you place some there, they try to reach the bubbles nearby. Some clusters are happy on their own little island, but most try and find a group to join. So I'm wondering if the universe is similar.
With sonoluminescence, a medium such as water is required, a container and something that generates sound. These three requirements bring forth the light. If the universe is like a bubble and dark matter the possible medium, and sound stimulated it, then the "first light" could have been generated this way. It may well be that the universe, atoms, cells, wombs, et al are all examples of the same process. From whence the sound and container has come from would still need answering though. It may also imply other forces and energies exist outside our universe.
The multiverse theory or the idea of membranes that exist parallel to our universe may point to an answer. The membrane theorists posit that two membranes flex and if they have touched each other, then it may have created our membrane/universe. There could be any number of universes or membranes and speculation over these reflect ideas similar to string theory; the idea that vibrating strings propagate through space and interact with each other being either matter, gravity, etc at a one dimensional level. There also could be a certain amount of dimensions. Some quantum physicists consider there to be 11 dimensions.
So how does all this relate to the possibility of our universe being conscious? We observe the universe and are conscious of it, so can the opposite be said and be true?
I've come to realise that everything is impermanent except the creative flow of the universe. People call this various names according to belief. I am part of this flow. We all change and are part of this change. Some of us don't realise this, sharing a delusion. Quantum physics is slowly realising this as well. Science is gradually proving what the ancients thought thousands of years ago, without the aid of technology. So, although we have changed as the human race; although the world has evolved over thousands of years; although the heavens have seen suns die and born, the creative instinct of the universe has been permanent. It is as if it is conscious and a constant.
The 'first light' of the universe carries a message, possibly created by sound, as in sonoluminescence. We communicate using radio, which is a form of light. So I believe that the universe is indeed conscious and that it communicates. In our little galaxy, time helps us filter the message and understand it. The message is the same in the future as it is in the past. Even more interestingly though is that it is two way communication; it speaks to us and we speak to it, this permanent, creative force.
Here is what I think occurred at the inception of our universe. Two membranes rippled and touched each other. Where they touched, a little of each membrane stuck to each other, forming a bubble. The vibrations of the two membranes stirred photons in to existence, as in sonoluminescence. The universe expanded, then retracted and began to expand again. As it did so, light emerged, photons dispersed and interacted with the sea of quantessence. This sea is an unknown quantity, dark energy and dark matter. Gases and elements formed as the bubble flexed between expansion and retraction. When light came in to being, not only did it help create, it also had a vibration, a message, "live." At this point there were many vibrations and time was created from one of the vibrations emitted by the 'first light.' This vibration was gravity and it began to gather momentum. The vibrational wave resonated outwards and as they travelled, gathered mass from the elements they passed. With mass it slowed down and formed galaxies. Each rotation of each galaxy began to form its own vibration, its own resonance. The sea of quantessence is a medium, like the water used in sonoluminescence. The sea is moving due to its nature, being the same or similar to the membranes. It flexes and moves. And like waves of a sea, grinding shell and stone in to sand, the sea of quantessence does the same with galaxies in our universe. Gravity may attract galaxies to one another, but if a wave of quantessence is approaching, it will push them apart.
In my opinion, our universe is like a fluid and moves as such, rippling like water in a bottle. I also suspect that universes are created by ours flexing against other universes / membranes. It also suggests we may have universes within our own. As for the constituents of the sea of quantessence, I believe it is made of the same thing that is at the heart of every particle, as yet an unknown, undiscovered property which is neither mass, energy or otherwise, yet it is in everything.
Therefore, I believe that all things have a vibration which is a form of communication. Furthermore, this is an indication of consciousness. We have come from this quantessence and it is in us and everything. It enables us to communicate between each other. It also retains information, such as our memories and consciousness that are uploaded when we experience corporeal death. Hence, when we die, our consciousness shifts from this bodily experience to being with the consciousness of the universe. Due to lack of mass it is not restricted by the constraints of time.
This process of creation is inherent in all things and can be represented at many levels, such as the way a cell forms, how a galaxy forms, how a child forms in a womb, how a cell knows what type of cell it is. The memory of creation is downloaded to every thing. The message is, "Live." Plus, we can communicate with it. This is more than likely how faith works; communication between two or more conscious entities seeking to create, change and heal. The communication is not confounded by time, as described earlier, and this is most likely why when you are involved in an act of faith, if you believe and know it will happen, it will indeed happen.
Is the universe conscious? I believe it is. Yet the question and answer remains the same, "Why?"
Alot of the arguments stem from the realms of quantum physics and Vedic philosophy. People, including myself, often refer to the double split test in regards to many areas of quantum physics, including the idea of the universe being conscious. Recent double split test results imply the future affects the past, making our idea of time, appearing linear as in past to future, only one possible facet.
Biocentrism also suggests that time is merely a device to assist us and make sense of things. Promoters of biocentrism also perceive consciousness being able to migrate after the death of our bodies, that our consciousness is uploaded to another realm or parallel universe, indicating an afterlife.
Furthermore, some quantum physicists consider the universe to be similar to a brain; the electrical firing between brain cells is similar to the shape of expanding galaxies.
The results of the double split test, indicate a relationship between the observer and observed, questioning the reality we observe, hence biocentrism questioning if time is a concept needed by us to understand, process and learn. So I'm wondering if we are caught in time's web, due to gravity, moreover our movement around a sun. Potentially this could indicate that outside a galaxy, there is no time. Black holes create rotation also and like the one at the center of our Milky Way, keep solar systems in place. Essentially, we are living on a small cog within the gears of our galaxy.
Consciousness, which ostensibly is hard to define, implies awareness. I am conscious of others in my life, my pets and my interactions with them. So if we are consciously aware of the universe, is it fair to say that the universe is conscious of us? And does this mean the universe also needs time to make sense of things?
The curious thing about time, the past and future, not necessarily the present, is the aspect of time lag sometimes referred to as propagation delay. This is the length of time needed for a message, instruction or packet of data, to be sent from sender to receiver, or A to B. The further the distance, the longer it takes. For instance, if NASA sent a message to New Horizons, the spacecraft sent to take pictures of Pluto, they have to take into account a significant delay regarding the craft receiving the instruction. If there are no obstructions in-between, the reception is slightly quicker, as communication travels with light. If any quick response is needed by the craft, the length of time to send it has to be factored in. So messages and information are integral with time, from our perspective.
Consider this; a message only ever exists in the past. For example, as soon as I say something, that moment has gone. You receive the information from that previous moment. Now, imagine that you are 5 million kilometers away, somewhere in space. There will be a delay in you receiving the message. When you receive the message from the past, you then reply. As you reply, our earth has journeyed a day, so the response you send is from your moment which is now in the past. However, to myself it is from the future, even though it's your past. So in a sense, the future and past are interchangeable and 'two sides of the same coin.' It's a little like the light of distant stars that we see, their light has taken years to reach us. That star may have expired, but it has taken ages for us see that light fade. Therefore can we confidently say, all communication exists only in the past? So using this example, when we look at quantum physics' double split test, regardless of whether or not the photon is observed, the photon lands and communicates back to the past telling itself in which state it should use, either as a wave or particle. The past has been affected by the future and vice versa. So again it suggests that past and future are interchangeable, existing at the same time. The question that remains though is why do photons not like being observed?
One other idea that intrigues me is sonoluminescence. This is when light is generated by sound, usually in a bubble. Various gases have been used in the experiment where a bubble is created and sound is used at various frequencies to stimulate a light. The bubble appears to shrink rapidly then expand to almost bursting, and at this point photons are emitted. This process baffles scientists. They do not understand how or why it happens.
If you have ever had a bubble bath, then I'm sure you have noticed how the mix of soap and water creates the bubbles. It may sound strange but bubbles like to be together. If there is an expanse where there are no bubbles, when you place some there, they try to reach the bubbles nearby. Some clusters are happy on their own little island, but most try and find a group to join. So I'm wondering if the universe is similar.
With sonoluminescence, a medium such as water is required, a container and something that generates sound. These three requirements bring forth the light. If the universe is like a bubble and dark matter the possible medium, and sound stimulated it, then the "first light" could have been generated this way. It may well be that the universe, atoms, cells, wombs, et al are all examples of the same process. From whence the sound and container has come from would still need answering though. It may also imply other forces and energies exist outside our universe.
The multiverse theory or the idea of membranes that exist parallel to our universe may point to an answer. The membrane theorists posit that two membranes flex and if they have touched each other, then it may have created our membrane/universe. There could be any number of universes or membranes and speculation over these reflect ideas similar to string theory; the idea that vibrating strings propagate through space and interact with each other being either matter, gravity, etc at a one dimensional level. There also could be a certain amount of dimensions. Some quantum physicists consider there to be 11 dimensions.
So how does all this relate to the possibility of our universe being conscious? We observe the universe and are conscious of it, so can the opposite be said and be true?
I've come to realise that everything is impermanent except the creative flow of the universe. People call this various names according to belief. I am part of this flow. We all change and are part of this change. Some of us don't realise this, sharing a delusion. Quantum physics is slowly realising this as well. Science is gradually proving what the ancients thought thousands of years ago, without the aid of technology. So, although we have changed as the human race; although the world has evolved over thousands of years; although the heavens have seen suns die and born, the creative instinct of the universe has been permanent. It is as if it is conscious and a constant.
The 'first light' of the universe carries a message, possibly created by sound, as in sonoluminescence. We communicate using radio, which is a form of light. So I believe that the universe is indeed conscious and that it communicates. In our little galaxy, time helps us filter the message and understand it. The message is the same in the future as it is in the past. Even more interestingly though is that it is two way communication; it speaks to us and we speak to it, this permanent, creative force.
Here is what I think occurred at the inception of our universe. Two membranes rippled and touched each other. Where they touched, a little of each membrane stuck to each other, forming a bubble. The vibrations of the two membranes stirred photons in to existence, as in sonoluminescence. The universe expanded, then retracted and began to expand again. As it did so, light emerged, photons dispersed and interacted with the sea of quantessence. This sea is an unknown quantity, dark energy and dark matter. Gases and elements formed as the bubble flexed between expansion and retraction. When light came in to being, not only did it help create, it also had a vibration, a message, "live." At this point there were many vibrations and time was created from one of the vibrations emitted by the 'first light.' This vibration was gravity and it began to gather momentum. The vibrational wave resonated outwards and as they travelled, gathered mass from the elements they passed. With mass it slowed down and formed galaxies. Each rotation of each galaxy began to form its own vibration, its own resonance. The sea of quantessence is a medium, like the water used in sonoluminescence. The sea is moving due to its nature, being the same or similar to the membranes. It flexes and moves. And like waves of a sea, grinding shell and stone in to sand, the sea of quantessence does the same with galaxies in our universe. Gravity may attract galaxies to one another, but if a wave of quantessence is approaching, it will push them apart.
In my opinion, our universe is like a fluid and moves as such, rippling like water in a bottle. I also suspect that universes are created by ours flexing against other universes / membranes. It also suggests we may have universes within our own. As for the constituents of the sea of quantessence, I believe it is made of the same thing that is at the heart of every particle, as yet an unknown, undiscovered property which is neither mass, energy or otherwise, yet it is in everything.
Therefore, I believe that all things have a vibration which is a form of communication. Furthermore, this is an indication of consciousness. We have come from this quantessence and it is in us and everything. It enables us to communicate between each other. It also retains information, such as our memories and consciousness that are uploaded when we experience corporeal death. Hence, when we die, our consciousness shifts from this bodily experience to being with the consciousness of the universe. Due to lack of mass it is not restricted by the constraints of time.
This process of creation is inherent in all things and can be represented at many levels, such as the way a cell forms, how a galaxy forms, how a child forms in a womb, how a cell knows what type of cell it is. The memory of creation is downloaded to every thing. The message is, "Live." Plus, we can communicate with it. This is more than likely how faith works; communication between two or more conscious entities seeking to create, change and heal. The communication is not confounded by time, as described earlier, and this is most likely why when you are involved in an act of faith, if you believe and know it will happen, it will indeed happen.
Is the universe conscious? I believe it is. Yet the question and answer remains the same, "Why?"
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