Since I
work so far from where I live (commuting is not for me, folks), I try very hard to
schedule my experiments only for weekdays.
I’ve gotten quite adept at it, but I do not like it. I much prefer to think on the fly and come to
work as I need (I'd work such long hours if I worked down the street!). Creativity and careful
thought don’t really follow a 9 to 5 schedule, but such is life. This past week, one of my experiments
involved cells and all my cells decided to die.
Not cool. In order to not lose a
day next week, I dragged myself to work this morning and I had some time to
finish reading the article I was discussing in my last post while waiting for
my train. This is when everything I
thought I understood about my brain was smashed to pieces.
What if
– just what if – your brain was a
radio? Radio waves are flying all around
us, right? We can’t see them or sense
them, but twenty four hours a day, they are transmitting voices, words, and
data. If we want to know what that
information is, we merely switch on a radio.
What if consciousness was like radio waves and our brains were
radios? What if consciousness was not
something our brains created because of its functioning neurons but our
functioning neurons allowed our brains to interact with this large,
all-encompassing consciousness that everyone else can tap into, as well? What if our consciousness can live on without
our bodies, but our bodies cannot live without our consciousness?
Seriously. Chew on that.
This is
a theory called nonlocal consciousness that has grown from the study of
near-death experiences and brain function.
Yes, agreed, it requires a little bit of brain (ha) power to accept. Or, at least, it took me some time to stop
squinting my eyes at the paper in half-hearted amusement. I’m not saying I’m welcoming this theory with
open arms, but I am saying that to understand consciousness, scientists may
need to begin thinking outside the box.
This is an excellent start.
One
problem with consciousness, aside from near death experiences, is found with
the use of EEGs, PET scans, and fMRIs.
They can easily show increased blood flow to certain areas of the brain
in response to certain thought-provoking stimuli, but these studies cannot
possibly tell us if the cells produce thoughts themselves. If you believe that consciousness is truly
the result of stimulating neural
networks in the brain, then you’d conclude that the same stimuli would always lead
to the same thought processes. Does that
happen? Not sure. Maybe so.
Maybe not. There’s no way to
measure how much we feel or think. So,
while one camp of people will continue to believe that consciousness is
directly tied to brain function, another camp doesn’t think it all adds up. Of course there is plenty of evidence for the
brain function-begets-consciousness crowd.
The nonlocal consciousness champions also have evidence and they turn to
various aspects of near death experiences to substantiate their claims.
The
hallmarks of a near death experience include an out of body experience
(typically described as the person viewing the scene from above), life flashing
before their eyes, visitation with passed relatives, and a return to the
body. Let’s look individually at each
one.
Life flashing:
Those that report these experiences say they saw and felt every moment from their
life and not only could they feel their own thoughts, but they also understood
the thoughts of those involved. It is
described as a connection amongst all beings and a place where time and space
have no meaning. One quoted woman said she
felt like she “…was in all places at the same time” and that she “…had the
thoughts of everyone involved in the event, as if I had their own thoughts
within me.”
Visitation with
passed relatives: Deceased relatives are usually recognized by appearance
and communication is through thoughts.
One related experience, which has similar aspects to another story I’ve
heard anecdotally, explains that the near death experience involved meeting of
the patient’s deceased grandmother in addition to another man he did not know,
but who looked at him “lovingly.” Years
following the near death experience, the patient saw a picture of the father he
never knew and who had died before he born.
This was the man he encountered with his grandmother.
Out of Body
Experience/Return to Body: Patients say it feels as if they have removed
their body the same as if they had removed a coat. They say perception, emotion, thoughts, and
clear consciousness continue once removed from their body. Most out of body experiences are described as
veridical. Scientists have hidden
objects in high places of hospital rooms as a way to “know” if patients undergo
true out of body experiences. Only when
high in the room and looking down at the scene can these objects be seen. However, no patient has ever reported seeing
one, but researchers feel that patients are more likely focused on other things
during the experience rather than checking out the hospital room. The return to the body, usually through the head,
is often accompanied by a “locked up” feeling or restriction.
All of
these experiences have a common thread of nonlocal consciousness: the feeling
of no space or time, the ability to encounter the consciousness of others, the
feeling of being detached from your body and yet still able to think, feel, and
communicate, but only among those within your consciousness plane (ie – those who
have passed). It was a bit unsettling to
think about at first for me, but has now morphed into something that could make
complete sense. It makes me wonder: if
mediums are real, then do they just have brains that act as stronger radios and tap
into this nonlocal consciousness far more deeply than others? Possibly.
It’s all a bit – well – mind blowing to think about, isn’t it?
****************************************************************************
ASIDE: Because I have three papers in various stages of
publication right now, I decided that I’d make a ticker for them. I quietly celebrate my papers because they
are not simple feats of accomplishment.
As you can see, finishing the work to write the paper and finally having
the paper accepted can take years. I’ll update the info for each with each
post. You can skip this if you want – I won’t
be mad. Sorta.
Original Research
Paper 1: Years of work (8), Years
trying to be published (2), Journals that have rejected it (3), Current
status: Revision, re-submission hopefully on 12/3/12
Original Research
Paper 2: Years of work (2), Months trying to be published (2), Journals
that have rejected it (0), Current status: favorable reviews, trying to do
one more experiment to appease a reviewer
Review Paper 1:
Requested by a specific journal, Current status: under review
****************************************************************************
REFERENCES
Van Lommel, P. “Near-death experiences: the experience of
the deal as real and not as an illusion.” (2011) Annals of the New York Academy
of Sciences 1234, pgs 19 – 28.
For the pictures, I just googled "Trippy pictures." Ha.
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