‘In the end all men will be saved, since all things come from God, and to God they must return.’
— Origen of Alexandria, c.185–c.253
“The total number of minds in the universe is One.”
— Quote attributed to Erwin Schrödinger, quantum physicist
“Every point in space and time is connected with every other point in space and time.”
— Ben Rich, former head of the Lockheed Skunkworks, according to Dr. Steven Greer
In my continual effort to promote the value and importance of spirituality and a broader definition of consciousness, here is my clumsy attempt to describe the earth’s spiritual system. A “spiritual system” is how consciousness comes into the physical and how it leaves. It’s a description – painting with the very broadest brush – of how life works.
Definition: Life is the ongoing interaction of consciousness with the physical universe. This statement leads us directly to the conflict between materialism and spirituality.
Materialism vs Spirituality
Materialism says that consciousness is nothing more than neurons firing in the brain. To a materialist, the entire concept of God (universal consciousness) is viewed as un-provable nonsense. Materialism leads directly to the idea that “when you die, you’re dead.”
Throughout history, a small minority of persons – those with self awareness, I submit – have stated that consciousness, or self awareness, exists independently of the physical body. Origen of Alexandria, almost 2,000 years ago, wrote that the souls of human beings existed even before the physical universe was created. Origen is, naturally, considered one of the greatest heretics of all time by orthodox religious figures. The scientific opinion of Schrödinger’s statement is equally dismissive. Rich’s quote is a modern formulation of the Logos, which the ancients defined as the rational creative principle that permeates the universe.
If consciousness does exist outside the physical, it would be undetectable with scientific instruments, because they only measure physical phenomena. Therefore, there is and has always been an unbridgeable gap between materialism and those who believe in spirituality.
I call the materialist conception of life the Consciousness is Meat theory. The meat theory of consciousness postulates that self-awareness originates from the meat brain. Even though it cannot be proven scientifically, it is accepted as Truth by orthodox thinkers and materialists. The spiritualist theory that consciousness exists independent of the physical, on the other hand, is only provable on a personal level: When you take your last breath you will discover the Truth.
The meat theory of consciousness is improbable, for where did the meat that created self-awareness come from? How does self-awareness – the awareness of being aware – come forth from meat? Matter, without the addition of the creative life force called consciousness, is essentially inert.[1] If you don’t believe this, try interacting with an inanimate object.
Here, in my view, are the elements of a spiritual system:
● The first element in any spiritual system requires the existence of consciousness – self awareness – with two attributes: (1) It exists independently of the physical body and the physical universe, and (2) It is the creative, animating principle of life.
In other words, anything that is alive is alive because it is infused with the animating principle.
● Every human being has a soul. A soul is defined as that greater part of YOU – a divine, immortal being with self-awareness independent of the physical body – that cannot “fit” into a human body. People in metaphysics sometimes call this the Higher Self.
● There is no such thing as death. This means that although the body stops breathing, the consciousness of the individual – that part of the soul incarnated in the physical body – returns to the fullness of itself in the higher realm of existence beyond the physical universe, which I will refer to as the Creative Source, or God.
○ Corollary: The true reality is the higher realm. Physical life is a temporary experience, a sort of divine vacation or life experiment.
○ Corollary: All souls return fully and completely to the Creative Source. There has never been a soul that is “trapped,” a la M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Sixth Sense.” (This is a great movie though, because it promotes the idea that there is life after death.) This means that all endings are happy endings, no matter how miserable your life is. After you take your last breath you will return, whole and complete and happy, into the loving arms of the Creative Source. In other words, consciousness is not interrupted by birth or death.
○ Corollary: All souls incarnate freely and voluntarily into physical bodies. There is no Great Dictator shoving you into a physical life or into a physical body.
● The Creative Source is benevolent. That which created the physical universe and everything in it has infinite power and capability. We give enough credit to this Power to say that it is not psychotic, and wants the best for everything it has created. Psychosis is a human trait, not a divine one.
● Everything that happens on earth stays on earth. This statement has enormous implications, for it means that every person, regardless of what they do in human form, returns to their divine Home upon death of the body. It follows that even mass murderers return fully to the Creative Source. No matter how evil you have been in a lifetime, no matter how many mistakes you made, you return pure to the fullness of your soul.
This is an outrageous statement that will more than likely offend many readers. “Why be good and do good if the evil ones are treated the same?” Well, because it feels better to do good, and you don’t have to work off so much karma! The physical experience is a temporary life experiment for the soul. The soul is immortal and the Creative Source (God) is benevolent. You always get a second chance, no matter how much you screwed up before.
○ Corollary. Original Sin is an understandable misinterpretation of the statement above, assigning to the soul what happens in a physical incarnation. In the Hindu tradition, original sin is called karma. I believe this is a more accurate concept, for it recognizes that the soul is immortal and reincarnates lifetime after lifetime in the physical universe. Karma can be resolved by doing good works in another lifetime, to wash away the sins of the past. When the soul (you) reincarnates for a new lifetime on earth, it picks up all of the activity it has accumulated over all of their previous lifetimes (the accumulated karma). When the soul leaves it “deposits” the new experiences from the most recent lifetime into the soul’s esoteric ‘container.” It picks up the accumulated karma from that container when it reincarnates on earth. Therefore the soul – the consciousness of a person – arrives and returns pure and whole to and from the physical experience every time. This is a great system because the soul is never stained. It remains pure and only sends a “piece” of itself into the physical body in order to have all kinds of experiences. And that “piece” returns, uncorrupted, to the whole. In other words, consciousness is unbroken and continuous, both inside and outside the body.
I would liken a physical incarnation to going on a carnival ride. It’s an adventure when you’re up there, but when the ride is over you go back to your “real” life,
● Free will is an inherent property of the soul / consciousness because it exists independent of the physical body. No one can stop you from thinking or deciding. Your physical body can be made uncomfortable, but consciousness itself never loses free will.
● Whatever happens to you in life is a result of the free will decisions you make as an independent consciousness / self-aware personality.
● You choose your gender and your family and your place of birth before you incarnate. This follows from the previous statement that you exist, continuously, both inside and outside the body. Physical families are the incarnated representation of your spiritual family.
● Last but not least! In order to play the physical game on earth, almost all of the spiritual system is hidden from you. For example, it is not obvious at all that you have a soul. The survival mechanism is built-in to physical life and biases every human being to stay on the planet in the physical body, no matter how tough it gets. The Game is to see if you can get beyond the limitations of the body and the five human senses to discover the greater game of the soul, and the soul’s mission on earth.
Why do this? Because if the human being even got a whiff of how great it was in the non-physical realm, almost everyone would leave. That would break the physical game of life. Fortunately, the physical existence is temporary, and the human being always returns to their permanent, spiritual Home.
What are the consequences of the metaphysical system described above?
· Responsibility. It is impossible to be a victim in this spiritual system, for the circumstances of your birth were freely chosen by you, and nothing can be forced upon you. Consciousness continues uninterrupted after death and during a physical incarnation, so you are always you and are always making free will decisions, whether in the body or out of it. So: what happens to you in your life is the consequence of all of the free will decisions you make over time. Ain’t nobody else responsible for you, except you. Not The Man, not the gummint, not the society or the conditions you were born in, not your mommy and daddy, not your gender or race, not the evil corporations or international bankers, not Donald Trump or Joe Biden, not nobody!
· Integrity. The physical body becomes less important for a person who understands that they are an immortal being having a temporary physical experience. As Dr. King stated, the “content of your character” becomes more important than your gender or the color of your skin. These attributes are just body characteristics, and are used by materialists to divide people. True diversity has nothing to do with the body, but only with the characteristics of your individual personality.
· Less fear. I don’t care what anyone says, the greatest fear of all is the fear of death. In our materialist society, death means the literal extinction of Self. That is a fate no one can confront (and it is, fortunately, a lie). It causes nervousness, particularly when faced with disaster or a daunting life situation. When faced with death, knowing that you can’t really die, and that all endings are happy endings, is a very comforting feeling.
· Independence. You are divine, you are immortal, you cannot die. Understanding this leads to a feeling of greater independence and self-empowerment. The fear of death is irrationally enhanced by materialist philosophies like Transhumanism, which is a misogynist, woman-hating and child-hating trap for all those who engage in it. Materialism is embraced by all those on the Dark Side, for they have deliberately turned away from the light. This is apparent to all those with self-awareness and who even casually follow current events.
Conclusion
Both materialism and this metaphysical system are coherent theories of life. Unfortunately, materialism represents permanent death and creates fear, which in turn leads to conflict and war. Understanding the permanence of the soul, that a human being is essentially a divine piece of the benevolent Creative Source, can lead to much a much happier worldview and more positive outcomes in life.
[1] The Panpsychists believe that consciousness is inherent in all things, even matter. The word is made from two Greek words: pan (all) and psyche (soul or mind). This implies that “all is soul or mind,” and that even matter is conscious on some level. Some interpretations say that matter comes forth from a universal consciousness. This is the theme of my short movie, “The Unity of Spirit and Matter.”
However, modern panpsychism says, according to philosopher Philip Goff, that “consciousness pervades the universe and is a fundamental feature of it. This doesn’t mean that literally everything is conscious. The basic commitment is that the fundamental constituents of reality—perhaps electrons and quarks—have incredibly simple forms of experience, and the very complex experience of the human or animal brain is somehow derived from the experience of the brain’s most basic parts. I should clarify that by ‘consciousness,’ I don’t mean self-awareness or the capacity to reflect on one’s own existence. I simply mean ‘experience’: pleasure, pain, visual or auditory experience.”
I agree with most of this, because it would be absurd to say that a quark or a rock has self-awareness. However, it also expresses the materialist idea that consciousness comes from the brain. In my opinion modern philosophy, in its attempt to be scientific, has essentially adopted the materialist view.