Consciousness As A Research Tool

Amrit Sorli, SpaceLife Institute,

Podere Petraiole, 53012 Chiusdino (SI), Italy

spacelife@libero.it

What we observe is not nature itself,

but nature exposed to our method of questioning.

(Werner Heisenberg)

Abstract

Current scientific experience of space-time is rational. Space-time is experienced through the mathematical models created by the mind. Human consciousness has the capacity to watch the mind functions and to become aware of how mathematical models influence experience. This awareness leads to conscious experience of space-time.

Key words: watching the mind, consciousness, conscious experience, time-space

Introduction: In current scientific experience, space-time is first perceived by the eyes, then elaborated by the rational mind, finally experience occurs.

perception (eyes)+/- elaboration (mind) = experience

In the process of elaboration the mind describes physical space-time with different mathematical models. For example in the Special Theory of Relativity physical space-time is described by Einstein-Minkowski space-time. One experiences them through this model, one does not experience physical space-time as perceived by the eyes. Mind's elaboration creates an "information gap" between perception of physical time and experience of it (1).

Einstein-Minkowski space-time

Human consciousness has the capacity to watch the way mind functions. Watching it one becomes aware that Einstein-Minkowski space-time is only a mathematical model and not physical space-time itself. By having conscious experience one experiences physical space-time as being perceived by the eyes. The “information gap” that exists in rational experience is gone.

One can imagine the mind as an optical prism. The prism is bending the light ray, the mind elaboration is bending the authentic information. In rational experience, one experiences physical space-time through the prism of the mind. In conscious experience one experiences physical space-time authentic as it reaches the eyes (2).

One can imagine the eyes as a digital camera which registers the world. The information of the world registered by a camera is authentic. Mind is a software that elaborates authentic information. Einstein-Minkowski space-time is consistent part of the software. When the observer does not know how to use consciousness as a research tool he will remain unaware of the software, he will not distinguish between physical space-time (authentic space-time) and mathematical space-time, his experience of the world will be rational. When the observer knows how to use consciousness as a research tool he will be aware of how software elaborates authentic information. His experience of the world will be conscious. He is aware of the difference between mathematical space-time and physical space-time.

Materials And Methods: Put a pendulum in front of you and observe it. You perceive the pendulum as moving in space only; about your experience that the pendulum is moving also in time there is no experimental evidence.

How is possible that you experience the movement of the pendulum in time without perceiving it? Let's analyse the rational experience. The movement of the pendulum that you observe is irreversible – movement A transforms into movement B, B transforms into C and so on. When B is in existence A does not exist anymore, when C is in existence B does not exist anymore. You experience the irreversible movement of the pendulum through the Einstein-Minkowski space-time, so you experience movements A, B and C as past, present and future. The movement of the pendulum is irreversible, it has no duration. The sensation of "time running" enters during the elaboration where Einstein-Minkowski space-time is a mental form through which the movement of the pendulum is experienced.

Discussion: By having conscious experience, one experiences physical space-time as perceived by the eyes: as an irreversible stream of material change in physical space (physical space is considered as a space in which material objects exist). Material changes that run in physical space have no duration. We give them the sense of duration by comparing them with clocks , which are mechanisms with constant speed; all material changes that we measure are compared with the speed of clocks.

In the universe, matter that is in continuous change can’t exist separately from physical space. Together, they are one physical reality called “space-time“. Time exists only as an irreversible material change; physical space itself is A-temporal. From this point of view it is more correct to understand physical space-time as A-Temporal physical space in which irreversible material changes run.

In the universe there is no past, no present and no future. These concepts exist only in the mathematical models of physical space-time. Material changes (physical time) have no direction, they run in A-Temporal physical space. "The arrow of time" exists only in mathematical models and not in the universe itself. The universe is an A-Temporal phenomena.

In Newtonian physics, physical time is an independent quantity (absolute time), running uniformly throughout the entire cosmic space (absolute space). In the Theory of Relativity, time is no more an independent physical quantity - it is linked with space in four-dimensional space-time. Here space-time is understood as a stream of irreversible change that runs through A-temporal physical space. Space-time has developed into an A-Temporal physical space within which changes run (3).

Mathematical Description of A-Temporal Physical Space: When Euclid was creating his geometry he was simply following the fact that – for describing the position of a material object relative to another material object in physical space – three coordinates are needed. If for describing the position of a material object four coordinates would be needed, Euclid would have developed four dimensional geometry. It is important to understand that Euclidian geometry describes positions between material objects in A-Temporal physical space only and does not describe A-temporal physical space itself.

In rational experience one experiences A-temporal physical space through three dimensional Euclidian space. Having conscious experience one becomes aware that A-Temporal physical space is not three-dimensional, but is formless; it can be compared with what in Buddhism is called "true vacuum": “The Buddhist contemplative science, in parallel to Western physical science, describes two types of vacuums: (1) The false vacuum, or bhavanga, is the relative ground of becoming, out of which each individual mind-stream emanates; and (2) the true vacuum, or Primordial Awareness, the absolute state of phenomena out of which space and time, mind and matter, everything in the universe, emerge” (4).

Near-Death Experience And Awakening of Consciousness:

When people are close to death, the mind loses control and sometimes there is a sudden awakening of consciousness. One can discover "true vacuum", one can have conscious experience of A-temporal physical space: “This year at professional conferences at Oxford, Paris and Prague, as last year at academic gatherings in Germany, Italy and Greece, European astrophysicist Metod Saniga explained to his scientific colleagues how the NDE research of Raymond Moody, Kenneth Ring and PMH Atwater has helped him to develop a mathematical model of time that seems to offer solutions to problems that have vexed scholars since Einstein. In brief, Dr. Saniga takes seriously the testimony of NDEs when they describe being in a reality where "time stops", and where some "see the past, present, and future all at once." To this occurrence of what he calls "the Pure Present", Dr. Saniga adds the experience of mystics, clairvoyants and others who're experienced suddenly being in the future, and still others who describe being drawn involuntarily back into past” (5). “The Pure Present” here would be ‘Conscious Experience of A-Temporal physical space’.

Regarding “being in the future or the past”, the understanding here is that mystics and clairvoyants enter into the collective unconscious that exists as a memory of the human mind. It is not possible to go into physical past or future because they do not exist (6).

Research done by Penrose and Hameroff suggest that the force of quantum gravity acting on the mass of neurones within the brain may be responsible for the emergence of consciousness. The process is fundamentally related to the influence of quantum gravity on microtubule networks within the neurones (7,8).

Consciousness is not only a product of the brain, it is carried also by the gravitational force of A-Temporal physical space. This idea opens new perspectives into understanding of conscious experience and NDE of time and space. In both cases awakening of consciousness gives experience of “timelessness” and “spaciousness” because consciousness is carried by the gravitational force of A-Temporal physical space. This view is close to the Buddhist understanding of consciousness as a “true vacuum”.

Conclusions: Scientific knowledge of the universe and of life is relative, theories of the world are improving continuously. Consciousness as a research tool can be of a great help in this process. In current science, mathematical space-time is more real than physical space-time. Using consciousness as a research tool one discovers that physical space-time exists only as material change in A-temporal physical space.

References:

1. Sorli A. Sorli K. Conscious Experience Of Time And Space. Spacetime & Substance, International Physical Journal, Vol 4, Num 5 (20) p. 235-238 , (2003), http://spacetime.narod.ru/5-20-2003.html

2. Sorli A., Sorli I. K. The Scientific Basis For The Development Of Human Consciousness. Episteme, Perrugia, Italy, Number 8, (2004). http://www.dipmat.unipg.it/~bartocci/ep8/ep8-sorli2.htm

3. Sorli A. Sorli I. (2004). Mathematical Time And Physical Time In The Theory Of Relativity, Electronic Journal of Theoretical Physics (EJTP), Vol 1, Num 4 http://www.ejtp.com/articles/ejtpv1i4p25

4. Alan Wallace. The Potential of Emptiness: Vacuum States in Physics and Consciousness, The Scientific and Medical Network Review, No 77 (2001)

5. Bernstein P. Physicist Uses NDEs to Clarify The Nature of Time, Vital Signs, Vol 22, Num 2 (2003) http://www.astro.sk/~msaniga/pub/ftp/intw-vs.pdf

6. Sorli A. (2004). Physical Time And Psychological Time. Frontier Perspectives, Vol 13, Num 1

7. Penrose R. 'Shadows of the Mind' (Oxford), 377-391. (1994)

8. Hameroff S. 'Quantum Coherence in Microtubules: A Neural Basis for Emergent Consciousness?' Journal of Consciousness Studies 1 (1), 91-118. (1994)

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