Afterlife - a myriad possibilities, now that the Magic has been brought back

Lent 2018 - Day 39

I mentioned David Eagleman's Sum - Forty Tales from the Afterlife in my last Lenten post. Written by a neuroscientist, it is another in a line of books which shows that the magic in our lives had not evaporated when Isaac Newton laid the foundations of classical physics. Building on the new panpsychism that Stuart A. Kauffman outlines in Humanity in a Creative Universe, I'd like to posit my current views on consciousness and the afterlife. This post follows on from the question left at the end of this post.

For many thinking teenagers brought up in traditionally religious households, there comes that 'Santa doesn't exist' moment when the comforting nostrums we grew up with are blown away by a confrontation with science, rational thought and logic. For me, I never really let go of a deep belief in a deity, though certainly not the deity that traditional (Polish) Roman Catholicism tried to instil in me. Unlike the great majority of my generation, I have not abandoned belief in an afterlife. And unlike that minority of my generation who still go to Mass regularly, my version of the Nicene Creed stops after 'I believe in one God, maker of all things visible and invisible'. Of course, what's meant to me by 'God' and 'maker' still needs a lot of shaping, and this is central to my spiritual quest for clarity and understanding. But God, a Lord, a King, male, two eyes, nose, mouth and beard - no.

And with that goes a rejection of an afterlife floating on a cloud with a harp. My own experiences of anomalous memories going back to childhood suggest that I am currently living what could be called somebody else's afterlife, although the feelings are not that powerful, they are consistent and ever-present. Entangled waves/particles interacting  across space and time?  I'm not ready to answer one way or another, but at least science is open to the possibility.

Kauffman's book promised the magic to re-enchant us, to show us what science can now consider possible with current interpretations of quantum mechanics. To bring back the magic that Newtonian physics had replaced by rationalism, dry and calculated.The conscious observer is required to determine the outcome of the quantum experiment. The conscious observer's will might affect it one way or another (though science needs to prove this). Even if this effect is weak, my belief is that it will grow, evolve. [The placebo effect is now reported to be stronger in humans undergoing clinical trials than it was half a century ago.]

But beware - moving forward from Newtonian certainties does not mean we can indulge in any sort of mystical woo - healing crystals, miracle cures, dream catchers etc - there does need to be a tangible bridge to scientific method. Repeatable and peer-reviewed experiments.

So can we will our afterlives? Many won't care; lacking the sensitivity to the vibes of the universe; agnostic whatever their background (people who go to church without really thinking about why); lacking the curiosity, insufficiently observant of the world around them. They who did not place a true value upon their consciousness will not be rewarded in the hereafter - and it won't unduly bother them to know that. But those of us  that do, those of us with that curiosity and sensitivity, those of us that want to live it all again but next time round at a slightly higher level of consciousness, greater sensitivity and awareness, just that bit nearer the unity of the eternal and infinite - "then if you will it Dude, it is no dream".


This time last year:
Warsaw photo catch-up (Rotunda going down)

This two years ago:
Conscious of being conscious

This time four years ago:
New road and retail

This time six years ago:
Warsaw's Northern Bridge - its name and local democracy

This time eight years ago:
What's Polish for 'commuter'?

This time nine years ago:
Four weeks into Lent