THE SUBSTANCE OF SPIRIT
By Don Roberts
Part 1
There Is No Material Universe
This statement, although seemingly ridiculous, can be seen
as true and vital if you carefully examine what follows:
_____________
One
of the most controversial questions that have plagued mankind in recorded
history is, “If in the beginning, there was nothing, how can one possibly
conceive of how a something could come from this nothing?” Since it appears that we are totally aware
of ourselves, and that we are able to sense the world around us, then there
must be a rational answer. Science has
wrestled with this question and has produced some very questionable
answers. The best that physicists and
mathematicians have been able to come up with is that a beginning void
can be defined as a Quantum Vacuum that contained fluctuating virtual
particles. Then by applying the
principles of quantum dynamics to this idea, they postulate that virtual
particles fluctuate from a virtual state to a real state and back to a virtual
state before they have time to exist as matter. They claim, if you have a virtual something, then there is
some probability that a real something also exists. This is the explanation given for the
existence of our material world.
The
problem with this supposition is that a beginning void is a location, a
space, a something, and if there is a fluctuation in this void, then time
must exist. But if before the
beginning, nothing existed, then neither time nor space
could exist. Consequently, since you
cannot get something from nothing, then there simply is no
possible way that even a beginning void could exist. In the final analysis you are left with the
notion that the universe we all sense is merely an illusion.
According
to the principles of Quantum Mechanics all matter exists in a wave state, and
then upon observation (measurement) is seen in its particle form.
John
Von Neumann and a number of prominent physicists claimed that matter is sensed
when a consciousness transforms it from its wave state to its matter
state; the majority of theoretical physicists today reluctantly accept this
explanation. However, some attempt to
prove it wrong by inventing such concepts as hidden variables and ‘many
worlds’ theories. Most others
faithfully follow the mathematics of quantum theory and continue along with a don’t
worry about it attitude. The notion
that all matter is an illusion until a consciousness actualizes it into a
material existence, is always something to be put off in the back of their
minds.
Quantum
physics is not voodoo science, it is absolute and immutable, and as I go along
with this explanation, it will become very clear that our universe can only be
of a spiritual nature and can be described as a sort of Thought-Space,
or maybe even the Substance of Spirit. In other words, Quantum
Physics can be interpreted as the entire universe is actually an illusion.
It
is easy to see what the average person may think of this. You might say, “It may be that science says
all of this, but who’s kidding who?
What do you mean that there is no real world out there? How can I relate to anything if everything
is an illusion? After all, this is the
only world I know and I cannot conceive of another so-called spiritual world
existing along with the one I am familiar with. It just doesn’t make sense to me.” Please listen carefully to what follows:
The
concept of existence is a dichotomy because there are two modes of it. One is called the Matter of Fact World
and the other the Relationship of Ideas World. In philosophy these are termed the a priori and the a
posteriori. It has been logically
proven that a concept in the a priori world cannot transform into the a
posteriori world. They are both
mutually and totally exclusive, meaning that a consciousness cannot
transform the a priori wave nature into the a posteriori material
nature. It is logically impossible.
This statement totally contradicts the Von Neumann principal where it is
consciousness that manifests material reality.
The
fact is, that the only way that Von Neumann’s theory can hold water is if
one considers the material world as an illusion that is never actually
transformed from the spirit or wave nature. It instead remains as a mental image, never existing in a
material form, yet we recognize it as a unique representation of the matter
that we intimately interact with.
You
probably believe in the concept of a God who watches every detail of the
universe and who at the same time listens to you on a personal basis when you
think about Him or pray to Him. In
fact, you probably call Him a Him and speak of Him as rational thinking
being with a mind that reacts with logic and reason somewhat similar to how
yours and mine do. Or you may have a
concept of Him as an energy level or force.
Then again you may have rejected the orthodox description of God as so
much nonsense and consider yourself an agnostic, or even further, an atheist;
much of today’s Europe falls into this category.
You
don’t have to go back 20 centuries ago to an age that had no science and was
steeped in superstition, where illiteracy was prevalent and the mystery of
hypnotic suggestion convinced others of miracles—where the game of telephone
was the popular means of passing on information from one generation to the
next. We all know about the accuracy of
that game. Within the last hundred
years, science has become very sophisticated due to the advent of quantum
mechanics. The abstract notions of this
new science have proven to be a fertile source for the philosophical premises
that are used in this discussion.
If
you believe in the Spirit Concept, but find yourself completely unable
to explain what you mean by it, then what I am about to explain to you is a
very rational and scientific explanation of what Spirit can be. Even more important, this explanation will
prove to you that there is a life after death where you will exist for eternity
in an environment of self-awareness and bountiful opportunities. Out of this explanation, the purpose for
your existence also becomes apparent, in fact, the purpose for the entire
existence of our universe and how it all started also becomes apparent.
Have
you ever given thought to how you become aware of your surroundings? How do your senses pick up sight, sound,
smell and taste such that you create mental images of what is out there? Did I just say create? Do I mean that in your mind, you
continuously create a reproduction of what is out there¾that you are able to reproduce all the
intricate lifelike attributes of what you sense? In other words, what you feel and touch and smell and taste is
what you create in your own mind and is an exact image of what you
assume is real. To you, what you sense
is the only reality you are aware of, and you assume that what is actually out
there is in truth, the real thing.
But,
if you examine it closer, in order to see something, light has to travel from
that object to you eyes, and then your mind scans the images created on your
retina and processes them into electrical data that activates certain neurons
in your brain that will eventually turn into mental images.
As
this data is being processed, sound waves from the object you are looking at
arrive at your ears and cause the hair cells in the cochlea to generate further
electrical data that circulates in your brain and combines with the optical
information already there. Your mind
then processes this data along with other sensory information and eventually
you are able to reproduce a mental image of the object you are looking at, and
you assume that this image is what is real, even though it is only a mental
image. An interesting aspect of this is
that it took time for all that sensory information to be processed¾that the mental image you constructed is an
image of what used to be, and now it is changed into something slightly
different than what was,¾time moves on.
Now
the question arises, does this mental image actually represent what is out
there or is it merely an illusion?
Because you can touch and smell it, you feel convinced that it is real.
The fact is, that is that you cannot actually prove that what you sensed is a
real object. All the evidence you have
is determined by the mental image you constructed. Is it possible that it can only be an illusion? How can the objects we sense not represent a
part of the real world we live in?
Obviously quantum mechanics goes a long way in telling you how.
How
did all of this start? How is it
possible that a universe as intricate and as complex as ours can be functional
if everything is an illusion? The
intriguing aspect of the a priori is that, like Spirit, it doesn’t
require time or space to exist. All a
priori notions are timeless and consequently exist, even the notion of pi
and arithmetical relationships have infinite existence. Among these a priori notions are
those that are called probability scenarios. Our universe, before the advent of thinking beings, can be called
a probability scenario. This scenario
includes the notion of time and the evolution of cosmological phenomena
including all celestial objects and our sun and earth; they haven’t happened
yet, but the absolute and total detail is there as a spiritual concept.
Now
here is where everything becomes interesting.
Within this scenario existed the notion of the DNA/RNA molecule, which
included the notion of replication, the reproduction of living matter. Also within this notion the evolution of
complex forms existed. In this
complexity, the scenario of living cells interacted in such a manner that the
first primitive elements of communication became actualized.
Up
until now this scenario was strictly an a priori notion, intricately put
together and following the laws of physics and probability (part of the
scenario) to a point where a remarkable transformation occurred. In this
process the first concept of a thought evolved when the mutual awareness
of interacting cells spawning a sense of self-realization. For instance, all it takes is for a single
cell to send out an ionic charge to another cell that reacts to the charge, and
this interaction can be termed a primitive thought. Prior to this transformation, the scenario
consisted of nothing more than a passive a priori notion; but now within
this process of time, the replication of living things began to
proliferate.
Your
imagination can now reconstruct the details of what followed as the entire
evolutionary process marched ahead towards the present.
Before
the advent of thinking beings, thoughts did not exist and consequently value,
the essence of thought, had no existence.
This first innocuous event that started with these primitive cellular
interactions, produced in the final analysis a plethora of interacting
thoughts, creating value, the new Substance of Spirit.
Value
can only exist if it is actualized by a thinking being. These thoughts, or
elements of value, along with the wave states of matter (matter waves), all
live in the only real abode there is, the abode of the Spirit, or
Thought-Space. Living beings, with
their ability to think, have created this arena of value. Consequently we in actuality, along with
everything we sense are the expression of value, or in other words, we are God
in expression. Now this is the first
definition of God in this writing and what more could you ask for when you
define God as the sum of all value?
It
should be obvious now that your purpose is to create value in the
universe. You do this by merely
observing and thinking about what you see and interact with. The greater the understanding you have of
any subject adds to this expression of value.
You don’t need to slay dragons or become an international leader to do
this, all you have to do is learn, love and create and you add immeasurably to
the substance of God.
From
the moment of conception, you were born into this world to become who you
are. Creating your total identity
including speech, appearance, knowledge and love of life, and expressing them
to the fullest is the purpose of existing in this material world. But the beautiful thing about all of this is
that the a priori never dies. In
the world of Spirit, in which you are a part of, everything is eternal. Your character, once created, will always
live on, carrying and expressing the values that have become the real substance
of you.
____________
(Part 2 of this discussion investigates the ramifications of using the principals of Part 1 in our daily living.)
Part 2
Life In The Spirit Lane
If you have read Part 1, your reaction
probably is “So What? What does it matter if I now know that there is no such
thing as a material universe?” What
follows is an opportunity to learn about a marvelous and awe inspiring world
out there, and that you have a unique opportunity to dwell in it for ever in an
atmosphere of contentment, gratitude and fulfillment:
_____________
Before we can get into the process of living a
spiritual life, we need to understand how sensing a material world can be
possible if that material world is merely an illusion. From Part 1 we learned that the material
universe is purely spiritual, and exists only as a part of a probability
scenario, and that it took the element of thinking beings to manifest it
into the reality we sense.
Everything we sense, including ourselves and our
thoughts, consist of matter waves (some call vibrations) that live in the
timeless land of Thought-Space and make up the Substance of Spirit. Matter waves are mathematically understood
in physics and are sometimes called DeBroglie waves, named after the person who
discovered them, Louis DeBroglie.
Thought-Space consists of the totality of everything, because anything
else (including matter and time) is merely an illusion.
One of the elements of confusion is our concept of
time. Since time does not exist in the
Spiritual world of Thought-Space, how can we sense the passage of time?
— If you take a drum or cylinder of photographic film and rotate it as you
expose it to two coherent laser beams, one that illuminates an object in motion
and the other that illuminates the film, you will record a hologram of that
object in motion. Motion takes time,
and what is stored in the hologram is a fixed image that doesn’t include
time. However if you process that film,
you can reproduce that object in motion when you shine a light through it. But if you look at this hologram closely,
all you can see is a menagerie of curves and swirls that make up the
information in the form of phase waves.
This example is pictorially similar to how matter waves and the concept
of time become a part of Thought-Space.
Now how does this work?
The matter waves of our thoughts and our senses interact
with those of other persons and objects, and as this happens, we ‘interpret’
this interaction as the physical world in all of its detail, beauty and
majesty.
One thing that needs to be understood, is that
brain waves, sound waves and electro-magnetic waves are totally different than
matter waves and are actually a part of the material world we sense; matter
waves, however, belong uniquely to the world of Spirit or Thought-space.
Now it is time
to grasp the fact of what being spiritual means, so here is an exercise.
Look around you
and notice how you are related to the various objects you can see. If there are people present, try to get a
glimpse of how they, like you, are looking at you and the objects around
you.
Concentrate on
the fact that your true reality is spiritual and that everything around you is
also of a spiritual nature. As you
think of yourself as a pure spiritual being, imagine that everything within
your vision has its own unique spiritual essence.
Understand that
as you harmonize with the spiritual nature of your surroundings, your physical
interpretation of this essence is recognized as a truly magnificent physical
reality.
Close your eyes
and concentrate on these thoughts for a minute and individually focus your
attention on as much detail as you can recall, keeping in mind that all of this
detail is uniquely spiritual.
As your eyes
begin to open, sense the new spiritual presence of what you see. Notice that a feeling of calmness and
oneness begins to dominate the scene, and feel the spiritual pleasure you sense
from everything and everyone.
This must happen
because life in its regenerative nature will begin to resonate with your
being. This is why the law of attraction
works.
Now this has
just been an exercise, but what it has shown is that the principles of
attraction have been magnified. Your
focus on the spiritual nature of everything has enhanced the attraction for
those things. When you add your goals
in life to this attraction, you influence the probability of future events. This must happen
because Spirit in its regenerative nature will begin to resonate with your
being.
The purpose for
this exercise is to learn how to make a habit of it; to constantly seek the
spiritual essence of everything you sense—to have constant awareness of you and
your surroundings as being completely spiritual.
Some individuals
are already practiced at doing this; they typically are very pleasant to be
around and have a positive attitude on most events in their life. Quite often some individuals have a kindred
relationship with a religious or ethnic group and relate freely and harmoniously
with them. Only a few of these people realize is that this harmony they have
with life is because of its spiritual nature.
It really
doesn’t make any difference what your religion is or if you are religious at
all; no matter what convictions a person has, the true nature of your state of
being is clear and rational. The practice of spiritual awareness may seem
strange for those whose lives have been along a very bumpy road. Some of you;
who have experienced severe states of depression or even violence, may find
that it is very difficult to imagine others, especially strangers, as loving
and caring people. When you have been
accustomed to distrusting others, you set up barriers that tend to block the
warm and sentimental thoughts that are so necessary for your peace of
mind.
If you have some
of these barriers, the exercise needs to be practiced more intensely,
especially in group gatherings.
Meditation will also help when you use the word ‘spirit’ as your mantra. Doing this several times a day will help you
focus on your spiritual nature.
The next step is
to learn how to establish this spiritual awareness as a natural part of your
daily living so that you are constantly aware of how the true reality is not
material but spiritual.
To start this
process going, focus on how the interconnection of everything in your life
harmonizes as a part of your state of being.
Concentrate on your spiritual oneness with everything. Take daily walks with this thought in mind
or if possible, walk with others who are of the same state of mind.
Make the
awareness of others a ritual when driving a car. When you do this, it is obvious that the awareness that other
drivers have is totally unrelated to your existence. Understand that others, like you, have a lot of thoughts on their
minds and are busy coping with their daily routines. You are almost always unaware of their thoughts, but believe it
or not, your awareness of them as spiritual beings can be unconsciously sensed
by them. The result of this is that an
unconscious sensing can take root in their character and have a subtle effect
on their attitude. Smile first when you
see strangers, but be unconcerned if that smile is not returned to you.
Take the time to
meditate on the spiritual nature of everyone and everything before you begin
your day. Plan your first interactions
with others as a spiritual encounter and strive to keep it going throughout the
day.
Even when your
loved ones are under emotional stress and seem to be having a bad day, think of
them first as spiritual beings. Have
patience and let their stress dwindle before directly interacting with
them. Afterward find a loving way to
understand their feelings. If there is
a discipline problem with children, first cloak yourself with a spiritual attitude,
then hold firm and carefully explain the situation.
The principle of
spiritual awareness is a powerful tool in learning how to approach all of the
detail and persons in your life. A
diligent practice of these exercises can provide a sense of enlightenment and
fulfillment right on through to the end of your life and provide a harmonious
transition when your life continues on into the next.
_________________
Part 1
established the principles and the logic of how everything is spiritual, and
that the material world is merely an illusion.
Part 2 established how the principles of Part 1 can be applied to your
life, and provided a means for practicing these principles. Please email me on your opinion, your
thoughts and your experiences concerning in practicing these exercises.
Don Roberts
don@thought-space.net