Between Space (excerpt) © 2014 by Gary Blaise

between space

the science of consciousness and eternity

gary blaise

between space

the science of consciousness and eternity

gary blaise

CRISP LETTUCE PRESS Between Space Š 2014 by Gary Blaise All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission, except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis.

ISBN-13: 978-1499370300 Library of Congress Control Number: 2014915413 Designed by charly brown + company Printed in the United States of America First Edition, 2014

contents foreword ix 1

time: an uneven flow 1

2

space: a partner with time 9

3

simultaneity: the mother of all “Nows” 19

4

particles: the smallest bits of “stuff” 35

5

your mind: your “account” in Consciousness 45

6

your thoughts: your “Now” in soft focus 63

7

Consciousness: perfect awareness 73 an afterword on afterlife 83 reference 87 glossary 91 explore 95 acknowledgements 97 about the author 99

vii

foreword

Making wooden instruments with hand tools can be a very contemplative way to carve out the most modest of livings.

Quietly alone in your workshop, you transform a tree which was alive in the woods but mute, into an instrument which is dead but sings sweetly. I mean . . . how deep is that? By keeping busy in this simple manner of little utility, one muses upon other mysteries as well. And so I mused, all the while cobbling together new ideas about consciousness and reality. To my surprise, the product of such rumination provided new ways to think about death.

As humans, we are able to anticipate the end of life and, whether we are aware of it or not, every aspect of our experience here is affected in some way by this bleak prospect. To comfort ourselves around the inevitability of death, we sometimes engage in practices which rely upon faith or wishful thinking. But these often fail to truly comfort us because they

ix

foreword

are based upon precepts which do not comply with reality.

Science, however, can be more satisfying and allows us to consider one of the most important features of ourselves, our individual consciousness, as an entity with a life of its own, unaffected by death.

Much of the science in support of this idea is proven or generally accepted while some of it is based upon observations which are well-established but still open to interpretation. All of it, however, is astounding because it describes amazing realities which are not part of our daily experience. Consequently, these concepts have been difficult to accept, let alone understand. So here are eighty-four pages which attempt to explain something of consciousness along with the supportive science, all presented in common language for the benefit of most of us who have little or no background in math or physics. If the writing seems too dense, however, you could first have a look at the synopses and summaries at the beginning and end of each chapter to get used to the ideas.

If we have thought about it at all, we have usually concluded that consciousness is an experience which is produced by our brain. With this as our premise, we might simply proceed with our investigation. But the workings of consciousness have been so elusive that we will begin instead with a description of time and space, the reality in which we have assumed consciousness to exist. In the first chapter we will talk about the unevenness of time’s passage. The consequence of this for consciousness will emerge in chapter three where we will also see that time’s very existence is questionable. The second chapter will talk about time’s special relationship with space. It will talk about potential places in space and time, the “quantacubicles,” and a realm of “non-space” which exists right here, in between the space and time with which we are familiar. We’ll talk more of these and how they alter the way we have thought

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foreword

about consciousness in chapter five. But, before that, chapter four will talk about particles and the amazing way in which our awareness of them appears to affect their behavior. The presence of consciousness in space and non-space and the surprising way in which consciousness interacts with our brain is the subject of the last three chapters. Towards the end you’ll find some speculation as to what might be going on.

If it is compelling at all, this little book is but an outline for an idea whose credibility awaits the rigor of much scrutiny.

Meanwhile, whether you believe in an afterlife or are a confirmed atheist, I hope it will at least enhance your feelings for consciousness, the universe, and your connection to everything in it.

xi

When things speed up, time slows down!

When things slow down, time speeds up!

And light travels so fast that time actually stops!

time an uneven flow

|

1

Time is a rate of existence. It's the rate at which existence is passing by. Your time, for example, is the rate at which you exist, the rate at which your physical existence is passing by.

This existential “rate of being� is a kind of motion through space and through time. It's easy to imagine that you are in motion through time, moment after moment, but you are in motion though space as well, even if you are sitting there perfectly still. So, whether it's moving or not, everything is in motion through space and through time simply because it exists in space and time.

Incredibly, the amount of your combined motion through space and through time is always equal to the speed of light, 670 million miles per hour! This is the maximum speed at which anything can travel through space and, though it may sound impossible to you, the total motion of your existence is

1

Space and time are inseparable and always affect each other, “space-time”.

So, if time is uneven, space is too!

Our reality is made up of unimaginably tiny bits of space-time suspended within a larger field of “non-space”, a realm between space, outside of space and time.

space a partner with time

|

2

Space hosts everything in our universe and exists not only between distant things like stars and galaxies, but between tiny things like the particles of an atom. There is, in fact, so much space between even the particles of an atom that, if an atom were enlarged to the size of the sun, each of its particles would be only the size of . . . an atom! Imagine all that empty space in between!

the smallest objects Everything in space consists of either matter or energy.

Whether it’s an atom of iron or a beam of sunlight, matter and energy are made up entirely of tiny particles. That is, matter and energy have been “quantized” into particles, the smallest possible bits of “stuff.”1 It’s unbelievable just how small parti-

9

In our reality time flows from the past to the future during which you experience only the events of your present moment, your “Now�.

But there is another, equally valid reality, in which past, present, and future events simply exist, right now, an eternal present moment.

16

16

simultaneity

the mother of all “Nows”

|

3

We feel that time is flowing from the past towards the future.

Yet, while we remember the past and can anticipate the future, here in the world of space and time we can only experience the present, one moment at a time. Your present moment includes you and every single thing, or “event,” in the universe which exists right now, at this moment. The events of your present moment make up your “time frame.”1

time frames and events Your present moment is the length of a human thought, perhaps a tenth of a second or so. During this time, many trillions of cosmic moments have occurred (chapter 2, Space) with just as many changes in space. For convenience, you, as a human, refer collectively to these trillions of cosmic moments as your

19

The tiniest bits of matter and energy possess some very strange qualities including . . . a responsiveness to conscious observation!

What could this possibly mean?

18

particles

the smallest bits of “stuff”

|

4

particle duality Much much smaller than atoms, particles are the smallest known bits of matter and energy. At this very small size, things have some very strange qualities. Particles, for example, have a dual nature. They can exist in both a “potential” and “distinct (real)” form at the same time.1 Particles always exist in their potential form as an idea throughout the entire field of non-space, the realm between qubicles of space-time. Here, as conceptual “things,” potential particles have only the probability2 of expressing themselves additionally in space and time as distinct particles. When a potential particle in non-space also occupies a quanta-cubicle of space-time, the potential space-time within that qubicle collapses into a distinct particle, a tiny bit of vibrating spacetime called a “string”3 (figure 5). The string’s existential vibra-

35

The responsiveness of potential particles to human observation suggests the presence of consciousness in their realm between space.

Is it that your mind exists

in this conscious realm as well, outside of space and time?

What, then, is your mind’s relationship to this consciousness and how does your mind communicate with your brain from this non-space realm?

your mind

your “account� in Consciousness

|

5

One thing we know for sure about consciousness is that it exists, simply because we are experiencing it as our mind, our conscious self-awareness. In addition, we should know that it exists throughout all of time because of Simultaneity (chapter 3) and throughout all of space because of Entanglement (chapter 4, Particles). While these unfamiliar realities have become generally accepted,1 they exist far enough outside of our human awareness that we are unable to experience them in our daily lives. And, although we at least know that consciousness exists, it is difficult to understand exactly what it is because it does not seem to be produced by our brain or made up of anything related to our world of space and time. Furthermore, it may be difficult or impossible to get outside of our own consciousness to have a look at it. Until we can, we will continue to wonder how something as rational and as material as our brain could

45

Each of your thoughts is a “Now� which requires just a split second of processing.

But, during this time, there are trillions of changes in space and you notice very few of them.

Consequently, the significance of what do you notice is unclear and incomplete.

Compared with your thoughts, the thought of Consciousness occurs in a single cosmic moment in which there are no changes in space so everything is noticed and its significance is completely clear.

22

your thoughts

your “Now” in soft focus

|

6

A creature with a brain, like you, has a mind. To have a mind, is to have thoughts. Your thoughts, however, have nothing to do with your brain because your brain is a thing in space while your thoughts occur in your mind, between space, in the larger field of Consciousness. A thought, then, is a perception in your mind of “what it is like” to experience something in space-time which has stimulated your brain through your body’s senses.

A thought can also be when your mind has been stimulated by itself. So, one way or the other, it’s all in your mind and not in your brain. Space-time creatures can have only one thought at a time and the most useful of these, despite the rational world in which we live, are of an irrational, emotional nature.

Thoughts are always occurring in your conscious mind such that there is a stream of conscious thought flowing all the way back to the beginning of your mind as a new “account” in

63

Consciousness is an irrational thing in an irrational realm outside of space and time.

While we would like to understand Consciousness rationally, we may only ever be able to experience Consciousness irrationally, through the emotional development of ourselves.

Consciousness

perfect awareness

|

7

While a very short thought length for creatures with brains might be a tenth of a second or so, the shortest possible thought length would be just a single cosmic moment, half a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second.

This is the quantized unit of thought, the “quanta-qualia.� The quanta-qualia is the only thought length in the larger field of Consciousness and, as Simultaneity shows, it is really the only time frame as well, the only NOW. All the events of space and time exist within this single cosmic moment (chapter 3, Simultaneity) of Consciousness. Here, in the quanta-qualia of Consciousness, there is no blurring of events because within this single cosmic moment there is no passage of time so there can be no confusing changes or movements in space. The meaning of everything is completely clear.

Although the events of your life which you happened to notice also occur within that same cosmic moment, you are not able

73