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In investigating human consciousness, orthodox science has, since the enlihtenment era, conflated the human brain with the mind. Because sciencetits are profoundly conservative, tunnel visioned and always close their minds to ideas that challenge their dogmas and creeds we have been stuck with this view in spite of a growing mountain of evidence that the mind and the brain are two very different things. Because mainstream science remains trapped in the prison of orthodoxy, the idea of near death experiences has always been sneered at and dismissed as
supernaturalism and 'magical thinking' and any serious researcher who tried to suggest there might be something it these reports worth investigating was subjected to the usual witch hunt orchestrated by The Science Inquisition. Near-death experiences, according to those who have studied the phenomenon , occur when the soul leaves the nervous system and enters the universe, claim two quantum physics experts. Their ground-breaking theory holds that quantum states form what people have always called the soul or spirit: they are thus part of the fundamental structure of the universe The theory proposes that when patients have a near death experience their quantum soul is released from the body and re-enters the cosmos, before returning when they are revived According to a recently published theory a near-death experience happens when quantum substances which form the soul leave the nervous system and return to the universe. This remarkable theory has been proposed by two scientists eminent in the field of quantum physics and are know in particular for their work on Quantum Entanglements sometimes known as The God Theory. Dr Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose suggest consciousness is a program for a quantum computer in the brain which can persist in the universe even after death, explaining the perceptions of those who have near-death experiences. Dr. Hameroff, Professor Emeritus at the Departments of Anesthesiology and Psychology and the Director of the Centre of Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, has advanced the quasi-religious theory which is based on a quantum theory of consciousness he and British physicist Sir Roger Penrose have developed which holds that the essence of our soul is contained inside structures called microtubules within brain cells. Together they argue that our experience of consciousness is the result of quantum gravity effects in these microtubules, a theory which they dubbed orchestrated objective reduction (Orch-OR ~ this is a lousy page layout, this one is better to read but very academic).
Thus, the theory goes, the mystical or spiritual part of our beings, our minds or souls (an undeniable concept) are more than the interaction of neurons in the brain as previous researchers have concluded. They are in fact each individual's interface with the universe itself, are constructed from the very fabric of the universe and each soul may have existed since the beginning of time. The concept is similar
Human Beings: A brain in a bottle or part of the universe
to the Buddhist and Hindu belief that consciousness is an integral part of the
universe and that it is really all there may be, a position similar to Western philosophical idealism. Taking these beliefs as a paradigm Dr Hameroff writes that in a near-death experience the microtubules lose their quantum state, but the information within them is not destroyed. Instead it merely leaves the body and returns to the cosmos. Now most of this could be classified as biophysics and as such goes over my head but I am very familiar with Hindu and Buddhist ideas of the 'oneness'. And as a fiction writer I have been very engaged by the ideas behind Quantum Entanglements (Quantum Metaphysics) so this work grabbed my attention. Let me say at this point I do not believe this theory to be true or untrue, it is interesting and does offer some potential explanations for previously unanswerable questions. The subject of ideas about the afterlife and the attitude of the science community to it have been in the news recently when a top brain surgeon , (Dr. Eben Alexander talked about a near death experience) that convinced him our psyche somehow surives physical death. Dr. Alexander insited that prior to his experience he had been dismissive of the idea of an afterlife. In an interview with Newsweek magazine earlier this month (October 2012) to promote his book Proof Of Heaven, Dr. Alexander says he encountered beings that were more advanced than ourselves,
higher forms. To a non - believer like myself that is hard to accept as it is too close to the Christmas Card view of what heaven might be like. To be fair to the Doctor says that what he encountered was so far beyond any previous experience it was difficult to describe it in words. Asked about Near Death experiences Dr Hameroff told the Science Channel's Through the Wormhole documentary: 'Let's say the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing, the microtubules lose their quantum state. The quantum information within the microtubules is not destroyed, it can't be destroyed, it just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large. If the patient is resuscitated, revived, this quantum information can go back into the microtubules and the patient says "I had a near death experience".' He adds: 'If they're not revived, and the patient dies, it's possible that this quantum information can exist outside the body, perhaps indefinitely, as a soul.' The Orch-OR theory has come in for heavy criticism by more empirically minded thinkers and remains controversial among the scientific community. MIT physicist Max Tegmark is just one of the many scientists to have challenged it, in a 2000 paper that is widely cited by opponents. Nevertheless, Dr Hameroff believes that research in to quantum physics is beginning to validate Orch-Or, with quantum effects recently being shown to support many important biological processes, such as smell, bird navigation and photosynthesis.
RELATED POSTS: Quantum Metaphysics or The God Experiments The noise from militant atheists is
becoming unbearable as they scream and shout about superstition and magical thinking. So what if science came up with something that turns upside down everything we thought we knew about the nature of the universe. Well it has, twenty years ago. Quantum entanglements, non - separability, oneness, once it enters the public perception we will suddenly have to see ourselves differently.
Can Your Body Sense Future Events Without Any External Clue?
Psychics and fortune tellers have been claiming ability to see the future for years and sensible people have always taken their claims with a very big pinch of salt especially if those claims were accompanied by offers to part you from your hard - earned cash. When serious neuroscientists at respectable universities start claiming
fanatics look silly. The brain can be rewired after traumatic injury, meditation can change the way we think, prayer, ritual and superstition are all beneficial and the placebo effect is a powerful healing tool.
Science cannot provide all the answers, there is room for faith
Why, in these days when the militant atheist supporters of Richard Dawkins and his fellow travellers are so ready to decry and belittle religious faith and claim science has proved God does not exist, do so many eminent scientists still believe in God, including a number who have made carers in science but are very active in their respective churches?
Clear Night (metaphysical love) Atomic Verse Religion, Faith, Belief Science and Technology The Weird Side