First, let’s recap from Science Accidentally Discovers a Theory Of God, Part 2, where we learned what caused scientists in the early 20^th century to have semi-nervous breakdowns. The big discovery was that an electron doesn’t exist unless there is an observer.  An observer taking a measurement creates the electron inside space-time. No observer, no electron. No observer, no matter.

YOU are the observer. YOU create matter.

BIG TIME BAD ASS, you are, as Yoda would say. 

Therefore, the power of positive thinking isn’t some new age bullsh*t. You are literally pulling stuff out of the clouds of probability and into space-time.

It’s science, folks.

And it means even more than your now having a huge responsibility.

It means that matter cannot be the ground of all being.  Matter doesn’t exist until an observer acts on it, so matter cannot be the foundation of existence.  Because it’s not there. The electron isn’t there. There’s no there there, as Gertude Stein famously said of Oakland.

If matter is not the ground of all being, there is really only one other current candidate as the substance that is the foundation of existence, and that is the observer. But what is it about the observer taking a measurement that causes the electron to manifest in reality?

The madly brilliant mathematician John Von Neumann, who worked on the Manhattan Project and is considered the father of quantum mechanics, intimated in his work Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics that it is the “consciousness” or thoughts of the observer that bring the electron into existence.  Thereby, consciousness creates matter.

I know you are now really scratching your head. How can consciousness create matter if our brains which presumably create consciousness are made of matter? You are now officially a physicist, because you have stumbled onto what they call the “Quantum Measurement Paradox.” Congratulations!

The only problem with the Quantum Measurement Paradox is that it’s not scientific. A paradox implies we have scientific evidence going two different ways. But we don’t. We have scientific evidence that an observer (i.e. perhaps consciousness) is needed to create matter (math), but we have no scientific evidence that matter is needed to create consciousness. Scientists cannot locate the seat of consciousness in the brain, despite their continued best efforts. They are desperate to find it, of course.

So what does this mean for you and me?

It means that scientifically the fundamental substance at the bottom of everything is not matter; it is consciousness. Being made of consciousness is very different from being made of matter. Matter dies. Matter is temporary. You die, BYE BYE.  And all that’s left of you is a pretty horse urn and a memorial brick on the walkway to Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama.

(Yes, you can go find my brick the next time you’re there for a college football game. I’ve had a very big life.) Consciousness on the other hand, since it is different from matter, is potentially eternal.

Why? Well, if we need consciousness to create matter, this implies that consciousness had to precede the creation of this entire matter-filled world in which we live. (Well, not precede really once you understand the nature of time, but it doesn’t change the analysis, really, so stay with me. We’ll discuss the nature of time later.)

Consciousness has endured from the beginning, as matter has gone through its many life and death cycles. It had to, or there would have been no matter, no history, no fossil record.

Then if  everything is made of consciousness, we are, too. And we have potentially been here since the beginning and will continue to be here once the matter is gone. Because we don’t need matter to exist. We aren’t made of matter. We are made of consciousness.

Are you following me? 

I hope so. Because it’s a lot. And it’s a big f*ing deal.

So recapping:

YOU- power to create matter inside space-time out of a cloud of probabilities.

YOU- made of consciousness, not matter.

YOU- potentially eternal.

Understanding the discoveries in this way might give you an idea of why almost every scientist (maybe except Bohr) agonized over the new quantum physics. Einstein was so upset that the universe did not operate by pre-set rules but rather by probabilities for consciousness to choose from that he famously shook his fist at Bohr stating, “God doesn’t play dice!” Rumors are that Bohr quipped, “Don’t tell God what to do.”

Heisenberg recalled debates between Bohr and Schrodinger that would last for days, and one in particular where Schrodinger lamented that if he had to accept the existence of discontinuity (i.e. quantum jumps) (more on this later), he wished he had never gotten involved in science! Schrodinger thereafter fell ill at Bohr’s house and was in the bed receiving chicken noodle soup from Bohr’s wife as Bohr continued to press him that he must accept what the science showed.

Bohr was the least upset by these discoveries because he was a philosopher at heart, influenced by the philosophy of Kierkegaard and writings of William James. Bohr often declared: “Everything I say must be understood not as an affirmation but as a question.” Unsurprisingly, when Bohr was knighted, he requested a Yin and Yang symbol on his crest—the symbol of Tao. Bohr believed science and religion were not at odds and that all existence was a relationship between Yin and Yang, consciousness and matter, both and.

Now I know some of you Christians out there are starting to get a little uncomfortable. If our consciousness creates matter, that gives us almost God-like characteristics, and to Christians there is only one God, and it’s not us.

But not so fast.

According to Christianity, there is not only one God, but rather, three: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is the doctrine of the Trinity. This doctrine allows for more than one creative force in the universe: (1) The Father, who to the naked eye appears as a cloud of electron probabilities that exist outside of space-time—we’ll call them electron LOVE clouds, (2) the Son, who was the first man on earth to realize and potentiate his full creative abilities, and (3) the Holy Spirit, the creative force of God that flows in and through us, inside of space-time.

Holy Spirit is the dude we are interested in, because Holy Spirit is the creative YOU.

And for all of my friends who are turned off by the judgmental and false version of Christianity currently being practiced en masse, I want to assure you that this quantum physics version of the nature of reality can be squared with the mystical traditions of every major religion. In fact, pertinent to the moment, the Muslim faith has one of the greatest mystical, quantum physics worldview poets and thinkers in history in the person of Rumi, a 13^th century Sufi.

So don’t let Holy Spirit make you uncomfortable. She is the part of you that you forgot about. Who you REALLY are.

And so for today, I will close with a poem by Rumi, for any of my beautiful eternal beings out there who are struggling with some difficulty or who find themselves going around the same mountain yet again. Remember, the struggle to be free is the only thing that keeps us from being free. 

The Guest House by Rumi

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

 

Be guided, lovelies. And be grateful.

Until next time, joy and laughter to you. And triple sinks.

Even in the midst of pain.

Ashley