{"id":3002,"date":"2025-05-05T09:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T13:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/?p=3002"},"modified":"2025-05-05T09:15:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T13:15:20","slug":"physics-geometry-and-consciousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/physics-geometry-and-consciousness\/","title":{"rendered":"Physics, Geometry, and Consciousness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A brief attempt to define consciousness and relate it to geometry and physics<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Geometry of Life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For millennia, humans have wondered about what consciousness is. The debate essentially comes down to two opposing camps: The belief that consciousness arises from  physical processes, versus the idea that consciousness exists independent of the physical body. Neither has been proven because, like physicist Richard Feynman\u2019s comment on energy, \u201cno one knows what [consciousness] is<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say that consciousness is self-awareness. Most people could agree on that. But consciousness is more than that, IMHO. It is the ability to have the awareness that you are aware.  Understanding that you are self-aware allows for self-reflection and the ability to discern on a nuanced level. The level of discernment reflects the level of intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven an insect can discern objects and food and danger from predators,\u201d you say. \u201cThat\u2019s not intelligence.\u201d Well, the ability to be aware that one is aware is a peculiar and distinct ability of consciousness. In order to have this ability consciousness must be aware that it is independent of the physical world, just as we are capable of saying \u201cmy body\u201d as opposed to \u201cme.\u201d Who or what is the \u201cmy\u201d in \u201cmy body?\u201d Consciousness. That which is aware that it is aware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This distinction can also be reached by answering the question, \u201cWhat happens to me after my body takes its last breath?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer to this question separates the materialists, skeptics, and rationalists from those with a more nuanced metaphysical awareness. Fortunately, everyone will eventually discover the answer, because no physical lifetime lasts forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reincarnation<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Reincarnation is also a mystery because it involves consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A simple and understandable geometric analogy to reincarnation can be found in Edwin Abbott\u2019s book Flatland.<\/em> Abbott describes a world inhabited by two-dimensional beings who exist on a flat plane (like a sheet of paper). They have no conception of \u201cup\u201d and \u201cdown\u201d because they can only see things on the surface of the paper. The main character in Flatland<\/em> is a pentagon, a plane figure with 5 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would a two-dimensional Flatlander perceive a three-dimensional being like a sphere? I imagine this as analogous to the animating principle entering the body at birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All kidding aside, let\u2019s imagine the \u201cbirth\u201d and \u201cdeath\u201d of the soul personality as something similar. Just like Sphere to the Flatlanders, a soul is invisible to us before incarnation. We don\u2019t know where the soul comes from, but it must be from a higher dimensional area outside of the perception of human beings in the three-dimensional universe. Some refer to this as the \u201cbetween lives area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The baby exits the womb, the soul enters, and the body takes its first breath. Everyone can see that there is something animating the body that keeps it alive. When the body takes its last breath the death of the body occurs, and the soul returns to the between-lives area and is again invisible to human eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 99% of humanity, the between-lives-area is hidden from us. There are, I\u2019m sure, highly advanced teachers who are consciously aware of it. Many of us, in our meditations, can get to a place of serenity and higher awareness for short periods of time. But then it wears off. In our daily lives the higher planes of awareness are hidden from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sphere\u2019s passage through Flatland is a geometric representation of a lifetime in two dimensions. What could represent the soul\u2019s life path in our three-dimensional universe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Life Path<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A human being\u2019s life path could be geometrically diagrammed as a circle. Birth and Death are at the same point on the circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say that the circle and everything inside it represents the physical universe. Outside the circle is the higher plane of existence that is outside of time and space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As the soul\/conscious personality travels around the circle it interacts with the physical universe. It gets further and further away from the between-lives areas from which it came, becoming fully immersed in the physical lifetime. As the person reaches middle age and then beyond toward old age, he or she begins to approach the birth\/departure point again. At that stage of life a person begins to contemplate what will happen after they die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWill my self-awareness be terminated, or do I continue?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a sort of forced self-reflection for those who never did any of it during the physical experience. Everyone \u2013 even materialists \u2013 will be forced to confront this question in the end. I imagine the dilemma of a materialist when confronted with his or her mortality to be something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Physics of Life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How long is the life path of the newly born soul? We explain longevity primarily as a crapshoot of genetics. If you have \u201cgood\u201d genes you will live a long time, even if you don\u2019t eat right or exercise. If you have \u201cbad\u201d genes you won\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no way to determine at birth the length of any lifetime. We can say that the \u201caverage\u201d human being might live 75 or 80 years, or that a cat might live to be 15 years. However, there is a concept in physics that can be applied to describe the energy of the soul before it incarnates, the span of its physical life while it inhabits the body, and the energy of the soul in relation to the physical universe after it leaves the body. We can use this concept because during the time an incarnated being (human consciousness) is part of the physical universe, it is subject to its physical laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potential and kinetic energy<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the physical universe the total energy of any system is its potential energy plus its kinetic energy. Potential energy is essentially stored but not released energy as a result of the position of an object. Kinetic energy, on the other hand, is the energy of motion: the falling rock, the turbine that turns to generate voltage in the mains of your apartment, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is easy to calculate how much time it takes for a ten-pound rock dropped from the fifth story of an apartment building to hit the ground. (It takes about 2 seconds from 60 feet in the air.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the rock is held steady just before it is released, 100% of its energy is potential energy, because it has the potential to cause some damage if it is dropped. Its kinetic energy is zero because it isn\u2019t moving yet. As the rock falls its potential energy decreases and its kinetic energy increases because the rock is being accelerated downward due to the force of gravity. When it hits the ground it releases all of its kinetic energy, makes a loud sound, and cracks the concrete. At this stage its potential energy is zero and its kinetic energy is 100%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the dust settles the rock\u2019s potential and kinetic energy are zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before birth the soul\u2019s potential energy is 100% and its kinetic energy is zero. The incarnating soul has great potential for the coming physical lifetime, but it hasn\u2019t gotten started yet. As the soul lives its life in the physical body, the person\u2019s potential energy gets gradually converted to kinetic energy \u2013 lived experience \u2013 as the body ages. At the end, the result is that (hopefully) the soul, or conscious personality, gains wisdom from its life experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The physics of potential and kinetic energy, applied to consciousness, helps me to better understand concepts like reincarnation, birth, and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What happens after the body takes its last breath? Does a person\u2019s consciousness continue, or is it snuffed out like a candle flame?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a question materialism cannot answer. Only when we expand our awareness beyond the physical \u2013 when we utilize the peculiar and inherent ability of consciousness to be aware that it is aware \u2013 can we hope to explain fundamental concepts like birth, death, and reincarnation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A brief attempt to define consciousness and relate it to geometry and physics The Geometry of Life For millennia, humans have wondered about what consciousness is. The debate essentially comes down to two opposing camps: The belief that consciousness arises … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,19,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-and-living-from-a-higher-perspective","category-science-and-the-big-picture","category-thoughts-about-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3002"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3015,"href":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3002\/revisions\/3015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjmaclean.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}