This web site is a collection of historical and scientific essays as well as the first debut of some of my fictional stories.

James Hall December 2019

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A Philosophical Essay in Quantum Theory

 by James Hall

This material is now under copywrite in anticipation of a soon to come book publication by James Hall

 Imagine a great ape innocently venturing out of his zoo habitat on the edge of a modern city. Since birth, this creature had grown up in his enclosure which humanely replicates the image of his species’ native Africa. It has been his home and looks and feels as his home should, according to his evolution. Now, as he breaks outside, he looks into a far different landscape. Familiar green vegetation turns to alien forms of brick and concrete.  He can still reason, problem solve, and feel emotions. Yet how could any creature take in such a contrasting sight. He is conscious, very much so.  Certainly, while his situation is determined, he does have free will. However, venturing beyond his previously known world, how can he truly comprehend this vast new realm? Will he explore this new world or return back to his comfort zone, the only universe he has ever known. That world which he does know has always seemed to be his true home but in reality, has never been his natural birthright. It was just a simulated existence.

WHERE IS HOME FOR US?

In a physical sense, do we really know what and where our own home is? Can we ever learn the true nature of how and why everything around us works? Well there are clues.

Albert Einstein established mechanical formulas to understand how our vast universe works on a classical mechanical level. His most reliable calculations were very much on a macro level.  Yet when we look for the fundamental theories to understand why things work, we must turn to Max Plank and Niels Bohr, along with Einstein, to envision the micro, or quantum mechanical level. These two disciplines do not seemingly sync together according to Einstein’s mathematics.

The reason for this may be because we have always tried to see the world around us as a realm of physical matter in time and space. New theories in quantum mechanics provide a far different perspective.

Simply, there is a possibility that our universe is derivative of another. Another reality that projects. What it projects is pure information. In this theory, information is fundamental, not time and space. Information creates or “is” all we see. It may represent pure consciousness. The question is does the greater beyond create consciousness or does consciousness create the projection.

WHAT IS INFORMATION?

Visualize a Euclidean-like plane of existence that is pure consciousness. A realm without consideration for material substance. In this plane, souls thrive in eternal residence. In quantum mechanical terms, it is a two-dimensional world; however, the spirits that inhabit the ethereal plane live far from a flat-earth cognition.

They can assume any shape or form in which they wish to see themselves in. They can perceive sounds and colors that embody an art far beyond anything earthbound mortals can ever imagine. There are no worries about aging or money or collecting possessions or mishaps because time, space, and matter, as we understand, simply do not exist.                                                   
Such material concepts do nevertheless have some euphoric attractiveness and are thought important enough to be creatively and realistically simulated. Simulated as informative lesson plans for emerging and evolving beings. Also as a canvas for the overriding prime desire, creativit

y. The stage for those educational simulations are material dimensions. If you are reading this story you are a soul temporarily occupying one of those dimensions. However you consciousness comes and emanates from a base reality.

This mysterious base reality is Home. A home that is embodied by its conscious inhabitants. Those inhabitants are called souls. Souls are consciousness itself. Consciousness comprises many souls of varying maturity and development. Souls are constantly evolving, learning, and creating.

Sentient creativity is simply what they are or who they are. When they are connected, and they are always connected, albeit with a unique individuality, they form a great force. That force or consciousness is the power that creates and projects the 3-D temporal Earth-based Universe in which we perceive ourselves living in.

Thus, a vast Universe is crafted by great consciousness—emerging out of, but within or on the fabric of the Home world. Some liken it to a holographic projection or even a simulation although quantum theory now describes it more as “emergent information” from a more fundamental underlining reality or Home. As will be explained, the Home world is right here with us, all around us.

ARE WE A CODE?

The Home world emanates information to create all we perceive. We think it is solid matter in time and space, but it is simply bits of information like 1s and 0s in a computer program—a data structure if you will. Yet our Universe is not a true computer program but a program of sorts just the same. And it is quite real.

When modern physicists study the mathematics of quantum mechanics and that discipline’s theories on superstring/supersymmetry theory, they find something almost unbelievable. The mathematics and geometric modeling reveal actual computer codes or algorithms exactly like those that were developed in the 1950s to correct miscalculations in digital computer programs. These codes are called doubly-even self-dual linear binary error-correcting block codes and match the “check-sum extended Hamming code” created many years ago by Dr. Richard Wesley Hamming, a Manhattan Project veteran who left the field of nuclear weapons to develop modern telecommunications.

His self-correcting programs are used to this day in every internet browser program. This computer code keeps a computer program on track when minor errors are made in the processing of digital ones and zeros which invariably happen in modern computers. The Hamming code keeps the program working. Yet, apparently, the universe around us has a self-correcting code as well. So why would it need such a code? Supersymmetry physicist Dr. James Gates of the University of Maryland first discovered these specific Hamming correcting codes embedded within and resulting from supersymmetry equations. Dr. Gates has suggested that if this theory of a computer-like generated world (he uses the term simulation) is true, then it can break the barrier down in conversations between science and concepts of eternal life. Meaning, these specific codes found in physical equations can at least make the theory plausible that there is a universal type of consciousness/organizational structure that makes us more than just the physical/biologic bodies we now inhabit.

DO WE EXIST?  THE SCIENCE VS THE PHILOSOHY

A philosopher might now ask a key question. Are we in a computational universe, or are we in a simulation?

THE SCIENCE

Computational universe means that things are in a sense programmed with a set of “laws” or laws of physics. A simulation universe means the same, but with the addition that there is a force/intent behind the simulation. If the second theory is true, it could be a collective consciousness ruling it all. That consciousness means us. All of us. All of us as individual parts of a collective force/consciousness. This would also imply free will or at least a sense that the program has a reason behind it. So while life may be determined, consciousness gives us a choice or free will. A soul is thought to have a destiny or determined path. However free will is required and utilized to follow that path of determined destiny. For example, you may be born in the eventual path of a hurricane which is destined. Nothing you can do about that  although whether you close to prepare for such an eventuality is your free choice.

This scientific theory suggests a true field-force.  It is not, however, at some great distance above or below us. It is not distant at all.  It, in fact, is embedded in the fabric of all space around us. Of course, space and time and even matter are only pixels of information being projected. In that concept we are individual threads in a great tapestry, each of us contributing to larger patterns.

This vast quilt does not even exist until observed in our three-dimensional existence which we perceive as our Earth and surrounding Universe. There is simply no existing vocabulary to describe this duality adequately.  The only terms we can relate it to is that of the strange world of quantum mechanics.

Since the days of Albert Einstein and his contemporary and friendly adversary, Niels Bohr, quantum physics has transformed our world. The resulting discipline of quantum mechanics created the transistor, computer chip, and laser and represents inventions that make up one-third of our modern economy. And like it or not, current discoveries in quantum physics will change our lives again in the coming years with computing speeds and informational resources that are now totally unimagined.

Quantum physics is quickly becoming the focus of modern science. True artificial intelligence, not just the passive AI we have now, may also emerge from this science. Physicists who subscribe to quantum mechanics like to break everything down into finite pieces or quanta which in their theories make the Universe work on the smallest of scales.

As already stated, quantum mechanics is very much like computing in that computers break everything down to a data stream or quanta of 1s and 0s. The reason that higher or base Home world is believed to be two dimensional is because that is what the mathematical equations tell us. It is much as equations now tell us that a black hole can save matter (information) on the outer surface of its geometry

THE PHILOSOPHY

These quantum theories do not imply that this emergent universe in which we live, or think we live, is an illusion. It is real.

It is very real because we perceive it, and the element of consciousness qualifies it as real. In that sense, our Universe is conscious itself—a vast collective consciousness/energy field encompassing each one of us and including our unique individual conscious souls. 

We as authors use the word perceive because we are not living here. We are perceiving it via biological avatars, if you will, with our base consciousness on another plane, the Home realm. And that other plane is right here in the fabric of this emergent Earth and Universe.

We only use a percentage of our conscious energy on a given lesson or life in the Universe. Some, probably most, of our energy is always retained in reserve in the Home world. Yet it is a true pure consciousness that comprises the base fundamentals of the Universe which we see ourselves living and experiencing. (As will be pointed out in a monument, “experience” is a key concept.)

How many of us can relate to our college philosophy class when the professor said to us that today he would “prove that we exist.”  Cogito ergo sum, Rene Descartes’  epiphany “I think, therefore I am.” It is so simple yet so elegant. Descartes reasoned that the very act of contemplating served to prove the reality of our own mind. Skeptics will say anything can be an illusion, but many say even if it is an illusion, you have to be a sentient mind to be able to perceive it. We may not always fully understand what we perceive. Yet, we perceive therefore we are. 

HOW MUCH SPACE DOES AN IDEA TAKE?

A projected universe does not need to use physical space or time to create itself.  It is a mere projection of consciousness. The idea is there is no time where in the base reality where the consciousness resides so there was no original creation or end but eternity.

The essence of our soul can be retrieved on occasion because it does not physically exist in our brains but in our energy which we keep in the eternal Home plane. In other words, the brain is a receiver, not a storage device. Physics Professor Robert Jahn of Princeton University has theorized that consciousness can exchange information. Quantum physicist David Bohm, a student and friend of Albert Einstein, had a similar theory. He stated, “The results of modern natural sciences only make sense if we assume an inner, uniform, transcendent reality that is based on all external data and facts. The very depth of human consciousness is one of them.”[1] A more recent critical thinker and cognitive scientist and author, Donald Hoffman, is one more of a growing number of scientists advocating consciousness as a fundamental in his new paper “The origin of Time in Concisions Agents.”[2]

SO WE EXIST BUT DOES TIME EXIST?

Another argument for free will and a collective consciousness is demonstrated in a stunning new discovery in quantum mechanics. It is a given that past events form future events. Yet, it appears now that the future can affect the past. The implications are not yet completely clear. As in all of this essay, it is mind-boggling. But experiments now prove that at least on a quantum mechanics level, particles can change or interact with particles in our perceived past.

Some physicists view time as a phenomenon more of motion than one event following another. Einstein had already proved that time is relative, not absolute as Isaac Newton theorized. Early in his career he demonstrated that the faster a body travels toward the speed of light the slower time passes. This was proved when the Apollo astronauts flew to the moon. Time had actually passed slower for them than the people on Earth. The astronauts had truly aged less although the actual difference was a minuscule measurement completely imperceptible, yet it was recorded by the spacecraft’s on-board clocks in comparison to identical clocks running on Earth. Like everything in life there is a name for this. It is called time dilation.

The time dilation principle is valid and more dramatic for a theoretical spaceship traveling close to the speed of light. In that case an astronaut would experience only a few hours while a bystander back on Earth would simultaneously experience several days. In other words, the faster your motion, the slower time elapses. Space and time seem interwoven into a single continuum known as space-time. So, the same event could occur at a given time for one observer and at a different time for another observer. You can now see that time is not an absolute fundamental.

Perception is the key word here because if you advance the theory further with even greater speed, time would cease completely as it perhaps does in the Home world. You would have timelessness there. This is what is reported by people who have had near-death experiences, who convey a sense of time moving at a different pace than those still living. On the quantum physics level, their vibration or wave function is changing.

Richard Feynman followed Einstein with a theory known as Sum over Histories which suggests time is simply a direction in space with many paths. (Quantum physics now call Feynman’s sum-over-histories approach the Feynman Path-Integral Formalism.) So according to Einstein and Feynman, time is simply motion through space. It represents movement of particles reacting with other particles as they interact and move from point A to point B and so on. Coupled with this is the concept that there are many possible combinations along a path in space and thus many different timelines that are possible and all variations of a timeline may happen. It is not clear if different scenarios create different histories or perhaps parallel universes, but this is all being examined by quantum physicists.

THERE MAY ACTUALLY BE A REASON FOR EVERYTHING

Imagine a brilliant inventor who seeks to build a time-machine. He learns he cannot physically travel back in time; however, he can send a signal back. Suppose he sends a Morse code to captain Smith on the Titanic to “watch out for an iceberg,” not that Smith did not have a fair number of those already on his ill-fated voyage. Would the emergent Universe prevent this signal’s interpretation so that lessons could not be learned by a planned tragedy? Or would this and many other scenarios play out in parallel universes emergent from the Home world? Is it possible we all live many versions of lessons in our life?

There may be a reason for everything. Imagine yourself as an eternal soul in the Home world. You prepare for a Universe life lesson or just a creative venture to hone your skills. You’re not just jumping in blindly to this. That would be a waste of time. Not that we are going to argue the concept of time anymore.

Just as you would prepare to take a class in school, you pick a particular subject which you desire to study. You choose the lessons or skills you want to master better. If you think about this, it means that in order to be able to do that, the emergent Universe is somehow preprogramed to offer those specific lessons—or at least you would have to know when and where to emerge to get the experiences you want.  Some believe whole groups of souls plan an excursion together into the Universe to complement and be entangled with one another’s lesson or creative project. In most cases the point is to not to have a happy and effortless life. Souls already have that in the Home world, so what would be the point? Souls need challenge and conflict.  Earth might serve as a perfect place for that given our great diversity in cultures, religion, politics and races. 

Thus, a close soul mate in the Home world may travel with you into the Universe and voluntarily and by mutual decision become your worst enemy—simply to provide a challenge for your development.  You might actually choose an extremely difficult life to maximize your lesson or to stimulate your creativity.

Of course, the question is: How do you plan all of this or how would some great force or God plan a life ahead of time for everyone in sync in such a way that all these challenging lessons and opportunities are offered? Well, maybe it is programed or scripted. Or maybe just the big stuff is and souls have latitude to fill in the rest with a mix of determination and freewill.  Say that you knew that in a given scenario there was going to be a great war or natural disaster.  You could place yourself in that period for the big challenge and your soul mates traveling with you could prompt specific lessons for you via adversaries and friends. The big, preordained things ensure a challenging playing field, but there would be a lot of chance and freewill mixed in as well.

Afterall, who would want to go see a movie where everything was happy with no drama or comedy or love or hate or any sort of story at all?  You can sit at home and be happy and content but occasionally you need the creative spark and, or challenge. Another idea is that a soul’s journey to a material world is simply for the experience. If you never experienced the actual taste of a wild tropical fruit, how could you properly anticipate what it would be like. And how could you appreciatively create such an idea without physical experience. How can an artist become a painter until he has a full pallet of colors? So life is definitely a classroom but in the end it may just be more about the essence of the experience than the lesson itself.

HEAVEN

If there is a Heaven, then it must be Home. So in this idealist Home world, call it Heaven if you like, souls do not just sit around in paradise. It is not in the nature of who we are. We live to work, evolve, and learn. Above all else, we exist to create. Even in utopia we have work to do. Important work. And since learning never ends, souls need a experiential school. The Home world must create the Universe for learning and perhaps even artistic expression.  The learning in fact goes hand in hand to create such a masterpiece of what we perceive as nature.  It is Creation.

[1] David Bohm’s perspective is profound, believing that the universe is a unified whole, where everything is interconnected, and the understanding that reality must include human consciousness. His  book,  Wholeness and the Implicate Order, explores that idea that the universe is an undivided whole and our perceptions are part illusion.

[2] chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://sites.socsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/HoffmanTime.pdf.

 Book Review published in The Sword of Damocles, Our Nuclear Age, now available on Amazon in soft and hardcover and Kindle and premiering on Audible by Christmas.

Alas Babylon

By James Hall

“Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.” Revelation 18:10

As the last few years have dramatically impressed upon us, the old fears of nuclear war are once again with us. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, we have returned to a time of significant global tensions. The fighting has spread to the Middle East and may soon do so to Asia. These days of escalating nuclear rhetoric reminded some of us of one of the best nuclear war novels of the 20th century. This novel remains recognized at the top of its genre. It was written during the early days of the Cold War by Harry Hart Frank under the pen name Pat Frank and was published in 1959. It is certainly on par with the iconic nuclear war novel On the Beach by Nevil Shute.

Alas, Babylon deserves note because this sixty-five-year-old story is relevant to anyone living today. The book teaches a tale of the horrors inherent in nuclear war while also serving as a literary work of art. The story takes place in a small, remote, racially divided south-central Florida town in the 1950s. The writing style is not unlike that of Tennessee Williams, and every sentence richly conveys the flavor of American life seven decades ago.

The reader enjoys a diversionary trip back in time as the book's first chapters unfold. This is where Frank uses his literary talent to paint an engrossing picture of the old south of central Florida. Then, just as the reader is engrossed in how different life felt in the 1950s, the main plot kicks in as a series of world events are detailed, which chillingly mirror our present time of world tensions.

The book’s plot continues to introduce military and political characters who engage in rhetoric that is startlingly familiar to phrases we are now hearing daily on network news. As the novel descends into the holocaust of a nuclear exchange between the US and USSR, the event is simply described as “The Day.” All fictional characters' perspectives become based on life before “The Day” and life after “The Day.” The novel compares it to the Southerner’s perspective that once existed in the 19th century, which divided life between antebellum and postbellum times.

When I consult a recommendation on a book, I do not want to know specific details about the characters or the plot, lest the joy of later exploration be ruined. So, I will not elaborate more nor detail the intriguing meaning of the biblical reference “Alas, Babylon.” I will say that, as someone who grew up in Florida, the book provides an engaging trip to another place and another time that can be very well identified by anyone who knows the region. I can also say that this story is unique, unlike many apocalyptic novels in which characters lose their humanity in tandem with societal collapse. Instead of the all too typical and mindless Mad Max-like scenario of so many current post-apocalyptic works of fiction, the Alas, Babylon narrative explores how the American character, with all its flaws, can rise to great occasion of “community” at the darkest times. Even in a traditionally segregated southland, humanity finds common ground after the holocaust. The lines of black and white fade and are replaced by those of a far different nature. A distinction with a much more practical nature arises. After “The Day,” people are judged simply by those who can work with their hands and those who cannot.

The remarkable ingenuity of common people rebuilds the world in this novel as food, water, and neighborly cooperation become the only commodities of value. Thus, this is not a typical nonstop action thriller catering to the present generation’s addiction to constant stimulation and violence. Alas, Babylon is filled with carefully orchestrated scenes of human interactions and, more often than not, quiet, reflective, sober dialogue. The novel’s very message is sobering. In short, the story concludes that nuclear weapons make global conflict obsolete by making the repercussions of such a conflict unthinkable. The only problem is that the unthinkable did not deter rational leaders from making irrational decisions. In the end, the proposition of nuclear deterrence failed. That is a lesson better learned in fiction than in fact, yet it is a message we all need to heed today!

Book Review: “The Last Lion”

My name is James Hall and although my school closed due to COVID, I am still keeping up with my personal studies. So I wanted to recommend a relevant work from my readings. This is the three-volume biography of Winston Churchill by William Manchester which reflects historical events that very much remind us of our current times today. Insightfully, these books are therefore not just about the famous life of Winston Churchill as much as the changing times he lived through and the world in which we now live.

On September 1, 1898, the day before the Battle of Omdurman, Lieutenant Winston Churchill of the Queen’s 4th Hussars attached himself as a war correspondent to the 21st Lancers. They scouted villages on the west bank of the Nile opposite Khartoum and the site of General Gordon’s legendary defeat thirteen years earlier. A noted cavalry charge ensued and Major General Kitchener vowed to avenge and restore imperial order as the 20th Century dawned.

The greatest lesson in Manchester’s works is how easily the world found itself engulfed in a world war, not once but twice. We are all familiar with Churchill’s 1940 darkest hour as Prime Minister which lead to Brittan’s finest hour. However, he had seen the world go to war before in 1914 when he played a similar center stage role as First Lord of The Admiralty.Volume One of “The Last Lion” tells that first story of nations stumbling into war. No one could have then imagined what a modern war would look like, however, they did have foreshadowing hints. At the end of the 19th Century Churchill participated in what is considered the last great cavalry charge in British military history while he was part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force leading up to the battle of Omdurman. There he saw the coming effectiveness of modern weapons.

Churchill next experienced what modern Krupp artillery and machine guns could do to an army while serving as a Morning Post correspondent in the Boar War during 1899. In that conflict events oddly, but fortuitously smiled on Churchill when he was captured and then escaped from the Boars which not only made him a world-famous figure but catapulted him into a 60-year political career that matched none other in history. By 1911, when Churchill began his first term as First Lord of the Admiralty, the greatest weapons in the world were then the great Dreadnoughts. On the eve of war in 1914 Churchill had not only overseen, with Grand Admiral Jackie Fisher, the construction of the most advanced of the largely oil-fueled “Super Dreadnought,” but commanded two thirds of those mighty steal castles.

Kaiser William II Germany’s possessed the bulk of the remainder mega, coal fueled, weapons of mass destruction.  If ever a great war came, it was assumed it would be decided by a battle of Armageddon between these beasts which heretofore had proved extremely effective deterrents to such a war. That battle, Jutland, eventually happened. The results however were indecisive. World War One instead became one of stagnant immobility despite Churchill’s creation of armored cars and the first tanks, as well as the first use of aircraft from ships. Yet it was the machine gun and tens of thousands of artillery pieces that caused such great carnage. As soldiers chewed barbwire Churchill tried to force the Dardanelles with his older dreadnoughts to relive Russia and keep her in the war against Germany. It proved a failure that almost destroyed him. Forced out of the cabinet, he chose to go to the trenches in France leading a brigade as a major and then a battalion as a lieutenant colonel. His 700 men loyally followed him after they saw him routinely walk the frontline alone, on the outside side of the barbed wire defenses. And even more enthusiastically when he shared his portable bathtub with everyone for a “war on lice.” Churchill proved quite a novelty among the mud and horror of the front. During that war Britain and France lost a generation of youth which unlike Germany and America they could never make up for by 1939. Although, the pandemic of 1918 to 1920 contributed as well.

The outbreak of that first world war had surprised even Churchill who never really thought the great European powers would be so careless as to endanger their own growing economies and progressive social programs by falling into war. Momentous events had simply outweighed man’s ability to control them. War would prove far more expensive than peace. Volume two tells a similar story, illustrating how prior to the outbreak of the Second World War Neville Chamberlain and most Western leaders thought that Adolf Hitler, although clearly trying to reconstitute former German lands, would never be so careless as to start a general war and thereby ruin his great achievements in rebuilding Germany.

Churchill was a lone figure who could see the dangers of a then widely-popular policy of appeasement. Yet we tend to forget that Churchill, although holding almost every political office over the years, was not only the most successful political figure in history, but at many times the most controversial. He eventually proved himself right most of the time, but when he was wrong, it became disastrous. Yet he remained in his own words a “glow worm.” The 1930s was one of those many periods when he was a lone wolf in the wilderness. If not for his prophetic warning of Hitler’s rise, he may had been forgotten to history. Not until the eleventh hour did a majority appreciate his stand and allowed him to assume political power again, by then almost too late. Many still wanted to make a deal with Hitler even after Dunkirk. So assuredly, if not for this one brash, stubborn, often ill-tempered, but seasoned figure, England may have given in to a Nazi ruled Europe almost two years before America entered the war. Deposing National Socialism would have been impossible after that point and we would likely still be dealing with it to this day.

And as an interesting note, as early as the 1920s Churchill showed his amazing foresight of future trends. He even theorized of an “atomic bomb” in a 1924 article he authored in the Pall Mall Gazette called, “Shall We All Commit Suicide?”  He stated, “Might a bomb no bigger than an orange be found to possess a secret power.” Volume three showed how Churchill had yet another distinguished although controversial political career, returning as Prime Minister in the early 1950s when Britain became its own nuclear power. Of most significant note, throughout Churchill’s long life, he was above all else a prolific and highly paid writer, publishing 58 books and 1,100 articles. I am also a writer and hope to be like him, expressing strong vison with a passionate artistic style about past, present and future trends. Churchill even saw acclaim as a landscape painter and brick mason. Churchill exemplified a true Renaissance man of the ages, the like we will not see again!

Books like William Manchester’s three volume study of Churchill and his works clearly pose questions as to whether the Western powers are again becoming too complacent with potential threats or on the other hand ignoring the dangers of war. Edmund Burke stated: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” My father read Manchester’s books and Churchill’s own works when he was a young man. Now I repeat the education. I hope you enjoy this timely and fascinating three volume set which can be enjoyed on Audible and will soon be sold in limited quantities in the NATM Museum Store. Please send your favorite book reviews into my father for future e-blast editions at, michael.hall@natm-nv.org .    James Hall, helper to my dad

Shannon

My First Fictional Post, James Hall

Author anonymous Note: The following information is classified as a restricted documentation.

This is a true story that happened back in 2004 that wasn’t being brought to public awareness until now. Please keep in mind the people who went missing that you will learn about have not been recovered to this day dead or alive. And more importantly the snake.

Back in the early 2000’s I use to work in a shop down on Miami Beach that was dedicated to selling wild and exotic snakes form other countries while having a license to do so of course. In January of 2004, during a chilly day in south Florida I was approach by a savvy business man, let’s call him Jamie to protect his name. His current whereabouts are unknown. He offer me an opportunity to join a secret plain to introduce a huge asset brought forward to the public about a giant snake that would be the biggest ever found by humans. Now I was given the opportunity due to my background studying snakes, granting me the title herpetologist which is the name given to a scientist who studies snakes.

I signed the papers for it since it sounded like a really good thing to be the head scientist involved in the search for the worlds largest snake. I was told we would be looking for a species that was known to be hiding in Central Africa, particular the Congo district. Four days later I was on a plane from Miami to Cairo. Then I got on a small dingy, and then a very old small plane that flew me down to Ethiopia where we refueled and headend to our final destination. The Congo- Brazzaville. There I met with the rest of the team which consisted of the entire expedition. Here were quite some characters in that group I say’ll that much. The team had two hunters on the team. One from South Africa and the other all the way down from Australia. I got some good taste of Australian moonshine on the trip for sure. There was also an African film crew shooting a documentary on what would possibly be the biggest snake in history.

 Please note from this point on the names I give to the people who show up in this testimony will have their names changed for their protection, dead or alive. I won’t even give out my real name.

Now when I got there it was quite a mess. Our boat was in a dock that was swarming with full grown adult Hippos. We were leaving for the Congo River. We finally got on the boats and headed out into the wilderness. On the first hour of the expedition I got the pleasure of meeting the caption of our boat. Let’s call him Quinn just because its dramatic. He considered himself to be the most experienced white man to navigate the entire Congo Basin. He even said to me he could travel the river with his eyes closed. The first stop we made was a small village that had a tribe who claimed that a giant snake destroyed a part of their compound. As a person who did nothing but study snakes, I was skeptical of a snake doing that.

We pulled the boats up to the village where Quinn began to talk to the natives in their own language. They walked us around the area where this snake supposedly did damage to the village. To my amazement there were remains of structures, some even the size of a two story house which were torn down. I of course thought it just might have been a storm since bead whether is quite common in the Congo. However as I looked closely, I could see something in the middle of the collapsed structures. It was like a trail. Like a trail left behind by a snake. But way bigger than any snake that I knew of. Anacondas are known to leave big trails but none as big this. We measured this and it had to be from--I remember correctly--almost six feet across. I couldn’t believe that an animal that big could do something like this. But there was no denying it. I had to accept we were looking for an animal that had to be at least fifty feet or even more.

The film crew recorded everything including when a tribesman started to burst into tears while getting on his kneels telling the story to us in his language. Quinn later translated the entire story. Some of the crew men could understand parts of it since they were native around here and knew some words of their language since it was a variation of their own. As well as the fact I could see tears in some of their eyes indicating they knew what they were saying.  He talked about how the snake came through the village knocking down buildings on multiply occasions. It was even known to eat their cattle and some of the villagers themselves. He yelled that we would be the ones to get revenge.

The chief even gave Quinn the blessing to go after the snake. Quinn got along quite well with most of the tribes he had known on the Congo Basin. Quinn told us that the chief saw the snake eating a huge crocodile while out in the morning to catch fish. Probably the scariest story Quinn translated for us was about the chief’s mother being killed by the snake. The question of course that ringed in the back of our heads was, what kind of snake was this? It was obviously a huge constructer but what kind?  My initial theory was this was a larger cousin of the African rock python which is quite more aggrieves then the average python species. And because this seemed like a really aggrieve species from what I was hearing--then I figured it was a match. On the off chance there was another theory I should have considered. But I will get to that later.

We searched the basin for a few days. We left trail cameras on river shores to see if we could find any big snake, but no luck of any kind. It wasn’t until on the fifth day. It was night time so you can imagine it wasn’t the best of situations to find what we were looking for. We were anchored on the river bed. Quinn told us to be aware of big crocodiles that were in the area at that time. I could see them from the glow of my flashlight. It wasn’t until after forty minutes after we were dock on the river bank. Quinn was on a jeep that they unloaded from the boat. Besides him some of the film crew members’ were there. It was raining very softly. Almost to the point you could barely feel it. Now I don’t know if it was somebody from our team or from the documentary crew but Quinn said they saw a serpentine shape move through the water. It was said to be around fifty feet long and heading our way. Quinn came as fast as he could driving at top speed perhaps in the thick jungle.   

By the time he got there I was looking at the biggest snake I had ever seen in my life. It lifted up its body to show its mouth giving us an angry smile filled with sharp needle like teeth making a hissing sound. One of the hunters, I believe the one from South Africa, got out of the passenger side of the jeep where he lifted his dart gun and fired at him. He seemed to miss. The snake clearly had pretty colors around its side even with the obscurity of the night.

After a five minute standstill the snake slowly retreated back into the river. From what I could observe it seemed my theory on being a larger species of the Rock Python was correct since they are also known to give off quite an attitude when provoke by humans and other animals.

The next day we were bummed that we had not captured the snake. I in particular was quite dissipated. Quinn on the hand was quite happy. I asked him what he was laughing about. He told me not to take life too seriously since the next moment you could be dead. Yep, that was pretty much Quinn’s attitude. I remember it like it was yesterday, having that talk with him in the ship’s dining room which also served as the sleeping and common quarters for everyone That was our boat which they called the Messiah. The film crew was on the second boat called the Virgin Marry.

Anyway back to that talk. He said that once they finished with this expedition he would get back to what he did best. That was to search for an elusive dinosaur in the Congo known as the Mokele-Mbembe. I of course asked jokily who she was. Quinn told me I was getting good at being humorous. After the conversation I told him he might as well just find that big sauropod of his. That at any rate is what it seemed to be from the descriptions I’ve heard. To add a fun fact she’s the number 1 cryptic in Africa.

Our good talk ended just like one from the horror movies when a huge object was spotted moving in the river. The snake had followed us upstream from last night. To make matters worse it was about to pour like crazy on us so not great timing. When it began to rain it held no prisoners back. When I felt the first curtain of driblets fall on me events started moving fast. That is when the snake bumped against the boat. With no time at all it launched itself onto the boat trying to wrap itself around the vessel.

As you can guess, the snake was longer then our small little boat out in the middle of nowhere. Quinn was able get it off the boat by doing some fancy maneuvering. The snake wasn’t coiled up all the way around the boat so it was easy to push off the first time.

That was not the case the second time around. A few seconds later she came back with a vengeance by wrapping her entire body around the Messiah before we could figure out what happened. The front part of the snake was on the back part of the boat which made it difficult to move the boat any further ahead. We were all in big trouble. Quinn tried to dock the boat on the nearest river bank but it was almost impossible. The other boat had some people shouting at the snake to let go but it did no good.

The South African hunter started to fire darts at the thing although they either missed or were not working on the snake at all. I helped all I could by trying to physically lift parts of the snaked off the boat but with no luck.

The snake had many darts lunged into its body with no effect at all. In an intense tug of war with the snake, Quinn was trying to dock the boat while the beast was trying to get us out to deeper water. Finally, the Australian hunter came onto the top of the boat with his dart gun which had a stronger tranquilizer than the other South African hunter was using. It took six tranquilizers fired from his gun that finally settled the battle with the beast.

The film crew recorded everything. Once we got to shore we contacted the land base which Jamie had in the Congo over500 miles away. Eventually they got out there with the snake still in our position. It was good and tired from all the darts and the battle we had with it. A picture was taken that they would later publish in an African newsletter. I didn’t know what it was titled. However, it consisted of the front page showing everyone involved with me, Quinn, and everybody in the film—posing with the captured snake. In the photo the Australian hunter was smiling while to the left the other hunter just had a blank look and rather unimpressive expression on his face.

We decided among all of us to name the beast Shannon, since it was a female. Secondly, the name Shannon ironically means River. She was crated up and bound for a base in Florida. There, she would be kept until delivered upon the world.

Ok so where do I begin? When I got back to the states it was quite something to say at the very least. Jamie had a base in the middle of the Florida Everglades where the location is off the grid. For my protection, I will not say where it is. The base had a huge exhibit that was at least twice the size of the living area of a two story house. It contained palm trees with terrain found in swampy areas and a big pond in the center for our girl Shannon. At the time she was being transported to the states she was measured at exactly 49.5 feet long. A little short of fifty but much larger than the previous record which went to a reticulated python at 34 feet long.

Even though there are rumors of snakes that were much longer than Shannon but never officially verified. The thing that was noticeable about this species was its ability to move with such agility compared to other species of large snakes. Usually it’s the smaller ones that are the athletes in the snake kingdom. Larger ones like anacondas and pythons are usually sluggish.

Unless they are in water that is. Shannon was a different breed all together. She moved quite well on land. This made me reconsider if she really was a related species to the other known python species in Africa or any other kind of python.

Shannon was definitely a superstar. Jamie kept bragging how the world is going to fall in love with her and such. She had a diet of dead farm pigs and cattle which were ordered from farmers across the state while not giving the real reason why of course. This was all just to buy time until it could be negotiated as to which zoo would serve as the creature’s new home.

Speaking of which, we had many option such as The Tampa zoo, Clearwater, Saint Petersburg, but we decided it would be the biggest as well as hottest zoo in the state. That was of course Zoo Miami. The reason they chose this was because Jamie knew the zoo keepers there very well. He even contacted the head zoo keeper whose name won’t be mention for security purposes. They coordinated a plan to bring the snake to Zoo Miami by April 2004. The exact date hadn’t been chosen yet but that was the dream goal. Jamie had a contract not to disclosure anything to the public until the snake came to a zoo.

I would be the guide, basically to educate them on the snake. I remember one memorable moment from that time. I asked them to take their shoes and socks off. The reason for this was so they could ride on Shannon. Some of them were worried if this would hurt the animal. I told them that she is extremely powerful and muscular. We would simply feel like small, and I mean really small, ants on its back.

Shannon was in no pain what so ever. It was an experience I would never forget. Now there must have been at least close to thirty people in that group that Jamie brought down to the base. There had to have been a good five to ten feet left of Shannon when everybody got on her back to ride with her. They had nothing to worry about since a few days earlier she had devoured a huge hog. So she really wasn’t hungry for anything. Still people were nervous and shaking the entire time. Some enjoyed it though. Ironically it was the women in the group who enjoyed it the most.  Shannon didn’t move a lot during, but it was still quite an adventure to say the least.

I just wanted to make one thing clear. This is an animal. It’s not some mythical beast. I made it quite clear to Jamie and everybody else on that base that this is the most important zoological find in human history.

 I mean we were talking about the biggest apex predator on the planet! This imbodied a living fossil here for God sakes! I told them that we should rethink on the position of this being a larger cousin of the infamous African rock python. This was more like its own sub species of large constrictor. One that is very rare, most likely left over from prehistory. We don’t know how many are out there and we still don’t know. This was a new type of genius, a new family to be exact. This was the most remarkable animal on earth. To get to the point, I drilled into Jamie’s mind that no matter how much money he make’s off of this thing, that we are meant to protect Erath’s most awesome predator. Not to mention the most beautiful. She had green, brown stripes all the way down from her head to her tail which also gave me the impression she was not related to any known python. No other known python or any other snake for that matter. So if you happen to call this a monster, just remember it is a living creature—quite real.

I found out another thing while Shannon was in captivity. She was not the same snake who destroyed the village. Those trails I measured were around 6 feet wide. When Shannon was measured she only came at four feet and a half which is much smaller than the trails I measured.

There were even rumors passed down to the documentary film crew that this snake was much too small enough to wreak the village. I had the suspicions at the time, but really never thought about them until I was well back in the states. So what happened to Shannon and everybody in this story?

Well, It was the day after Valentine Day when I got a phone call from Jamie who said the scariest words I ever heard in my life. She escaped. “WHAT?!” I’m pretty sure that’s what I said. I screamed on the phone how the hell that could have happened.

Jamie calmed me down and said some of the workers who were cleaning the exhibit saw she had burrowed her way underground which gave her access to the Florida Everglades. I told him and everybody to stay put as I left my house in Miami. I drove to the base as fast as I could which was a few hours away When I got there I instructed Jamie to show me where she escaped.

I then told everybody on the base to organize a search party right away. Thankfully Quinn was there to get a paycheck from Jamie on that exact same day.

A disturbing fact worried me the most. Shannon was a female. Now we didn’t know  if she was expecting but if she was—God forbid she laid eggs in the middle of the Everglades which is already infested with three other different types of pythons running havoc on the ecosystem. To have a new species over twice the size of the other species being introduced would basically demolish the food chain within fifty years. So this is why it was so damn serious.

We had to find her as fast as possible. There had to be at least eight different teams. We figured, or at least we hopped, she hadn’t wandered too far. It was nerve racking for all of us since she hadn’t eaten in quite some time.

I was out with Jamie along with other workers at the base with dart guns. I could remember scolding him that this what you get for trying to create the first real life Jurassic Park. He didn’t really say anything. I wished I could had been a little bit easier on him. I say that because when we circled back around the base a slew of black helicopters showed at the base. Confused of course, Jamie ran up to see what they were doing on the base. He was greeted by men dressed in black getting off of one helicopter. They said they needed to talk with him. They walked him back to the chopper where he boarded it with them.

After that I never Jamie again. Not even a word. They also took several other people who worked with Jamie including researchers, scientists, and other people who I knew.  Never to be seen again.

A few hours later when it started to get dark, the maintenance workers no longer wanted to join the hunt. So they left. At that point in the dark of the night it was just me and Quinn. All just to add more mystery to the story, an hour before the people in choppers came for Jamie and, gang I got a phone call from one of the documentary film crewman that back in Africa the government came down on them and stole all of their tapes. You may be wondering—well what about the Newspaper? The government had all the copies burned. This was no doubt big brother. What were the intentions behind this? I don’t know. To this day I still don’t. And I may never know. As for the black helicopters, well this won’t be the last time they popped up in this story. 

Quinn and I knew we had to get the snake back before somebody else found it or worse—it had to feed. We went into the base to get the biggest weapons we could find. We found the same dart gun that had the exact same type of tranquilizers the Australian hunter used to bring the snake down in the first place. Still we needed to get the snake to come to us.

We knew it was only a matter of time before somebody would end up dead. Thankfully we had a plain. Shannon most likely fed on wild pigs back in the wild so we got a stereo that had different animal sound recordings. We turned on a tape of a wild hog and waited. Thankfully about an hour later she came. In her full glory she approached.  Now was the time it all came to a head. Quin yelled at the beast to come right at him. Quinn had five darts like we had which brought the snake down in Africa.  Of course then it took six darts to do the trick.

Now Quinn was on a high spot yelling at Shannon to come get him. She raised her body to face him. Quinn fired the five darts into her stomach. Miraculously she passed out. But not before squeezing around Quin and starting to shallow him whole. By the time Shannon had been knocked out, Quinn was in her throat.

To my horror he was moving in it. I could even hear muffled screaming. He probably shouted to be cut out. I thought about doing it. However there was also the thought I couldn’t harm this beautiful rare creature. I came to the decision that I had no choice. However before I could find a sharp object, those black choppers came back with men jumping down and strapping her to the chopper—all the while Quinn was banging on the snake’s body shouting for anybody to cut him use.

Nobody did that. I couldn’t do that since I was held back. The last time I saw he, she was being carried up by them choppers with Quin’s his screams growing louder by the second.

Into the night they went. Never to be heard or seen again. I had to sign a contract not to discourse any of this. Other government people came to pick me up in a S.U.V when they drove me off. I was told they were bringing the snake back to the Congo but who knows if that is true. It could at Area 51 for all we know. Anyway I have no idea who these people really were. I mean is it possible they were some rouge group in the government that not even our president knows about? 

I fear know they could be coming for me after this story gets out which is why I am to remain anonymous. I feel I should publish this because you have a right to know. I also fear troubling times are coming for us. I have to live with this tragedy till the day I die.

Please spread the story so not only can we bring this to light after it being buried for fifteen years, but also so we can find an answer to what happened to these people and Shannon.

Contact as many people as you know. Are the people still out there? Is Quinn still alive? Did they cut him open when they got back to whatever base? I doubt it since they didn’t do it there? What has become of Shannon? I wondered about these questions as I look in the night sky and every night since they took her. I can still see her in my mind.  

  Book Review” “1901”

This month I thank my son James Hall for a welcome contribution to our new book review section.  James grew up by my side in my museum jobs over the years, and he has developed an experienced eye on many topics of history. Writing is his all-consuming hobby, so this was a welcome assignment for him. We appreciate his help at the NATM this year as his studies at the Art Institute have been interrupted by the Pandemic. James and I often find ourselves reading the same books these days, and he has selected a very unique historical novel for this month’s review. I ask our members and followers to please share your reviews with us at michael.hall@natm-nv.org for next month and E-Blasts beyond.

My book review does not deal with a topic related to the nuclear age. Although it does tell a very relevant story of a war that never happened, not unlike conflicts that may have been prevented from happening during the Cold War. We may, in fact, never know how many potential storms we avoided. Some may have even been circumvented by nuclear deterrence.

The story of 1901, by Robert Conroy, was one such conflict that never happened. It was however a war scenario the German high command and Kaiser Wilhelm II intently planned out.

The German Second Reich had become concerned with the United States’ great victories and territorial acquisitions in the Spanish-American War. Germany coveted those oversee possessions and thought it unjust that America had won such far reaching territories. They considered the upstart Yankee nation an interloper on the world stage. The undertones of a master race were already growing in Germany along with the embryonic seeds that would sprout a Third Reich under Adolf Hitler many years later. So they sought justice and a correction of the natural order. The plan was simple. Germany’s new and modern pre-dreadnought fleet would land highly trained and well-equipped Prussian soldiers with Mauser rifles and Maxim machine guns on the shores of Long Island.

The mission—to force the naive American nation into relinquishing its newly gained Pacific bases and territories as well as Cuba. The accompanying seizure of New York City would be temporary, only to force Uncle Sam’s hand. This would be Teutonic diplomacy by force with no inhibitions in their eyes about holding such a distant and insignificant nation hostage. The action would be bold, decisive, and short. It sounds crazy to us today, but the invasion plan was seriously considered. The actual plans have been published. The whole idea may have just worked because the United States Army and Navy were then years away from matching the formidable German war machine. America’s modern friendship with Great Britain was then still undetermined, not to mention the British Empire being paralyzed by the Boer War.  North America was indeed very vulnerable, more so than anyone ever knew.  Fortunately, like a lot of would-be wars, this one never happened.

Nevertheless, in Robert Conroy’s creative and historically accurate novel, it does fictitiously transpire in the pages of 1901.This is welcome by us alternative-history fans. It makes an amazing story. As Conroy’s story portrays, the fate of the Kaiser’s carefully prepared plan was in the details which would fall to chance and the devil himself.

This book accurately depicts the state of the United States Army in 1901 which was then only a shadow of the structure of the Union Army of 1865. A fraction of its former size, regulars and national guard alike were still largely equipped with the same armaments used during the Civil War. True, the Navy was seasoned after its victories over Spain but far from the seagoing fleet Teddy Roosevelt would later build. Yet, American ingenuity under the pressure of a crisis always comes out whether it be in fact or fiction.

What I enjoyed about this novel is the historical accuracy of those innovative characters chosen by Conroy’s pallet to paint an action packed and realistic artful drama. These range from William McKinley, who dies early in the plot to allow his vice president Theodore Roosevelt to assume control. As the German invasion starts, Roosevelt is forced into modernizing the armed forces in a matter of months rather than years as he eventually did in actual history. Other historical characters are weaved into the plot, including Leonard Wood, John Pershing, and Frederick Funston. We even see portrayals of a young army lieutenant Douglas MacArthur as well as junior naval lieutenant Ernest King.

Without ruining the plot for you, the greatest twist in this story involves eighty-year-old Confederate General James Longstreet who Roosevelt calls upon to lead and reorganize the US Army. This unifies the country, still divided from civil war after so many years. In addition, the nation’s many German immigrants are recruited as resources instead of being condemned for their heritage. Even Native Americans are utilized for their skills demonstrated in the Indian wars and instinctive talents in guerrilla warfare. Roosevelt united the nation as it would not be again until the Second World War under his cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Kaiser had grossly miscalculated.

Included in this mix is the senior General Arthur MacArthur who is given a field command after being recalled from the Philippines. Longstreet’s commanders must learn how to fight the modern German army and contend with machineguns and Krupp mobile artillery. For those of you who enjoy naval history, there is also a fair amount of sea action in this novel that is very accurately based on the state of naval technology of the period.

I will not spoil this amazing story by telling you who wins. It certainly is undecided until the last pages of the book. Again, having read this alternative tale, I just wonder how many wars have been prevented in more recent history by our new age of nuclear deterrents. I do hope you enjoy this imaginative novel as much as I did. It is also available on Audible for a very enjoyable listening experience. The hardcover version of 1901 is now on sale in our Museum Store. So, enjoy this fascinating story and please send us your favorite book reviews for next time at michael.hall@natm-nv.org .

 End of The Western World

  An Essay in 21st Century Economics

By James Hall

Good as Gold

August 15, 1971 marked the beginning of the end of the Western world as we know it. The only problem is we just do not know it yet.

On that day President Richard Nixon took the United States dollar off of the gold standard by suspending the convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold. The measure was intended to only be temporary. Now, almost five decades later, it has yet to be rescinded.

The move reversed history and that is why it is so significant. In 1944 at Bretton Woods New Hampshire, the allied countries of the world had met and agreed that the U.S. dollar would become the free world’s reserve currency. The dollar was then directly tied to gold at a figure set at $35 per ounce.  This meant that using or trading in U.S. dollars was the same as physically trading in gold which was then the rather awkward way trade had previously been conducted. The U.S. dollar was literally as good as gold because every dollar printed had to be backed up not only by a valued amount but a corresponding physical weight of tangible gold. It also had to be held in an actual physical location that could be subject to audit.  New York and London served as the centers of these financial holdings.

Most of the nations of the world adopted the agreements of the Bretton World Conference as World War Two came to an end.  The system held until August 15, 1971. On that date the Bretton Woods system ended when the United States unilaterally terminated the convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold. Even though the dollar remained the chief trading currency, it marked the beginning of a long road to decline and fall of the Western world which is yet to fully playout in our lifetimes.

Fiat Currency

Therefore, the U.S. dollar remains the world currency; however, it is now considered a fiat currency. Derived from a Latin term, this simply means a currency with no intrinsic value even though the government proclaims or decreases it as legal tender. Such a concept is now widely accepted although it has never been the norm. Historically, currency has always had a true tangible value tied to it, not just an implied one.

In every historical example in which a nation experiments with fiat currency, the venture ends in absolute disaster. This lesson goes all the way back to Nero who began devaluating the silver content of the Roman denarius. The use of fiat currency has destroyed nations, over and over again and all without exception.

The United States went to the fiat currency model in 1971 because it had exceeded its gold reserves. The Cold War and the hotter Vietnam War as well as the Great Society social programs and the space race had literally bankrupted the country. Of course no one at the time would dare admit it nor use that word. The United States still had so much physical wealth in terms of infrastructure, and the U.S. dollar remained the world currency. So from a psychological stand point it simply could not fail and thus it was by default that the dollar decoupled from gold.

The U.S. had quite simply spent more dollars than it had in gold reserves and it had to start printing “new” money. This new money could not be directly linked to gold because other countries, starting with France, had slowly begun exchanging some of their dollars for gold and demanded physical delivery of that gold. (France had crashed its economy at four different times during its long history by using fiat money and it now knew the importance of value-bases currency.) So much gold was flowing out of New York by 1970 that President Nixon was forced by August of 1971 to officially take the dollar off the gold convertibility system. There was no alternative.

President Nixon had been sincere when he said it was a temporary measure because he knew, and his advisors knew full well, that no fiat currency could exist for an extended period of time. European powers had experimented with it to get through the First World War but could not continue the practice long. Even the debts of the Second World War were dealt with.

So in 1971 the intention to remedy the situation began with sincerity. Government would work to repay the national debt and strive toward sound financial accountability in the near future and then would return to a value-based economy.

The first can was kicked a few yards down the road.

Although we promised to straighten up our house, it never happened. Fifty years later, through both Republican and Democratic periods of leadership, the United States economy has accumulated a 22 trillion-dollar deficit. All the while the world economy continues to depend on the U.S. dollar.  Virtually every financial system has become heavily indebted along with the U.S. in fiat dollar-based securities.

Our Federal government has in fact gotten so addicted to deficit spending that it now has to pay almost 500 billion dollars a year out of an average annual budget of four trillion dollars just to pay the interest on the national debt. Of course there is not enough tax revenue to support that level of spending so the U.S. government has to continue the vicious cycle of printing more fiat money. They do this by issuing U.S. Treasury bonds which the banks must facilitate. Large sums have also been borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund to manage such a high level of debt.

Moving back to the gold standard is not even an option anymore even if the debt could be reconciled. This is because China, Russia and India have physically purchased so much of U.S. and U.K gold that linking the U.S. dollar to gold would now be impossible. In short, we have sold off so much of our physical gold over the past fifty years that it is not of much practical use anymore. Many young economists, who were not yet born when money actually had a value, have known no any other system than debt. They view gold as an obsolete symbol and debt as a normal component of any modern economy.

The issue is not even necessarily gold. The issue is that a nation’s currency must have something backing up its value. Gold has simply been the most practical system, historically speaking. The problem is modern economists do not understand that historically speaking means three thousand years of world economics, not just the last fifty.

Further complicating the return to gold is the fact that The United States and Britain have lent portions of their remaining gold reserves to gold brokerage banks who have in turn created fiat gold accounts. These are sold to multiple buyers at a time which means their accounts far exceeded their actual physical gold holdings.

Only China and Russia could now actually reconstruct an actual economy based on tangible gold holdings if a global collapse occurred. And there can be no doubt they have contingency plans to do so one day.

Inflation Versus Deflation

There are those wise men who give financial advice to Western consumers and urge them to buy gold, just in case an economic collapse does come.  Their vision of such a disaster involves inflation which all other countries, who have experimented with fiat currencies, have ultimately suffered.  And indeed, as we speak, inflation has steadily eroded the purchasing power for much of the Western world’s middle class.

However, when the system finally melts down to the point that it ceases to function, inflation may not be the problem at all.  On the contrary, the issue will be with the value of assets. Deflation may be the worst of all scenarios.  Those who have purchased gold will discover their accounts are as worthless as the U.S. dollar because gold investments are fiat themselves and are not tied to actual physical holdings for each and every troy ounce share sold. 

Those who have purchased gold or even silver and physically hold it in their homes, may have something to hold onto.  But those holdings will not likely be worth even close to the original value in which they paid for them. In addition, it will be very awkward to take a physical piece of gold or silver to a local market and say purchase a bag of groceries.

The Mechanics of Living Beyond Our Means

This is how it works.  When then U.S. government needs to finance more debt, it has the U.S. Treasury take a loan out from the Federal Reserve. “Taking a loan out” means the Congress authorizes the Executive branch to approach the Federal Reserve with an authorization from the Treasury to literally print more physical money. This newly printed currency is physically turned over to the U.S. Treasury just as if it were bars of gold.  The government uses these assets to pay its “obligations” and in turn sends an IOU to the Federal Reserve.  (Government “obligations” are the cost of managing the country such as building roads, paying social security benefits, maintaining a military and so on.)

The IOU they give the Federal Reserve is called a U.S. Treasury Bond. These government bonds must then be facilitated by banks and sold to consumers at auction. Foreign banks, pension funds and individuals purchase the bonds. Many willingly purchase U.S. Treasuries which has always been considered a safe investment with a guaranteed return on the purchase.

See, that is just the problem. The U.S. government has to pay interest on these bonds when they mature.  They do this but in order to do it they have to print more money and the cycle continues as more and more bonds circulate with more and more interest committed which the U.S. government promises to pay back.

Trade Deficit

We are literally borrowing our currency into existence on a daily basis with this system. Making it up out of thin air if you like. This becomes not just our problem but the world’s.

Since 1971 we have not only replaced a value-based economy with a fiat currency, but we have been buying more foreign goods than we are selling.  That is called a trade deficit. It is a problem for the whole world because foreign countries send us goods which we pay for in U.S. dollars. The foreign countries then take those U.S. dollars and purchase U.S. Treasury bonds with the dollars because they have no other efficient way of storing their U.S. dollars.

This all works fine as long as the system keeps working and the U.S. government can pay the interest on the bonds.  However, it all depends on two things.  First the bond holders, in this case foreign countries, must have faith in the system. Otherwise they could panic and sell all their U.S. bonds at once which would cause a complete meltdown.

Second, in order for the U.S. to be able to keep floating so many Treasury bonds, the interest rates must stay manageable. A significant spike in interest rates could cause the government to literally default within months.

So far this has not happened and since the 1980s interest rates have been unusually low based on a historical perspective.  We now even see a new phenomenon of zero or negative interest rates. This however is not all good because it discourages the consumer’s savings rate. When interest rates are low, there is little incentive to put money in the bank because low rates mean low return. This has had the reverse effect of over inflating the global stock markets because they have become the only viable places for investments to go.

This is all the more concerning with government deregulation which has allowed banks as well as insurance companies to invest in global stocks. Simultaneously, with low interest rates, it becomes easier for everyone to borrow more and more money. This is not only true of business but the everyday consumer who has accumulated as much debt on an average percentage as the U.S. government. It is symbolically reminiscent of the Dickins Christmas Carol image of Jacob Marley dragging his chain of sins which he has accumulated over a long period of time. Our chain of debt will doom the Western world just as it did that mythical character.

As the whole economic system becomes so interdependent, a contagion could become fatal. Having debt is not even bad per se nor fatal; however, if a disaster comes, debt can make what would otherwise be a simple cold into a deadly pneumonia.

Overextended

The danger now is that there is no margin of error left. There is no room for anything to go wrong. Only so long as the sun shines will this system keep working.  And honestly, we must admit it, the U.S. dollar and the system that maintains it, fits the exact definition of a Ponzi scheme.  So as with any Ponzi scheme, it is the rainy day we have to fear.  (I have a unique insight on this as my father had the opportunity to meet Bernie Madoff in 2006 while working in Palm Beach, Florida. Unlike his peers and superiors, he rejected him.)

There have been rainy days of late and we have so far managed to weather them. Unfortunately, they have only further compounded the massive debt hanging over the U.S. dollar.  The 9/11 terrorist attack led to a series of Middle East wars that added trillions to the national debt. Hurricane Katrina further added great debt. The 2008-09 financial crisis was the last canary-in-the-goal-mine and should have brought our system to a complete halt. Instead, the crisis was never dealt with and simply addressed by adding additional and absolutely tremendous levels of new debt which could have never even been dreamt of by 1930s Depression era New Dealers. As interest rates declined even further the stock market went into a decade-long surge, valuing assets so out of proportion to their real value that there is little sense of reality left anywhere in the financial world today.

Now we await a final triggering event. An event that will push our system beyond the point where we can borrow and bluff our way any further.

 Art of the Soul

By Michael and James Hall

Are we all attending a soul school?  Is our classroom a virtual reality-like digital holographic projection—all meant to provide a learning experience?  This is not preaching—so it’s not meant to challenge anyone's beliefs—just to stimulate the imagination. We hope you take this with an open mind to freely accept or not.

Part One, Soul School:

So it is just that, a theory. But what a concept! While this essay may sound like a religious perspective, it will focus on science, not theology. But let’s start with the metaphysics first and get that out of the way because it is a fascinating idea and hard science lays behind it. There is certainly more to this world than we can see with our eyes.

The theory goes like this. We are all part of one universal collective consciousness. Our perceived reality of life—this life here on Earth and the cosmos around us is but a type of interactive computer program or data construct being holographically projected to resemble a three-dimensional universe. The “program” is designed to help our true energy-self grow and learn as we define our own identity—as part of a greater whole.

Some may call this greater whole Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha and such. Others may just think of it as a spiritual realm or the true natural order of things. For many, God is not “he who is” but “that which is” and “that which is collectively all of us.” Albert Ernestine stated that "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

The theory expands and goes further. It suggests that another realm is the true base or primary reality, not this life here on planet Earth. In other words, “we” actually live in that other realm and are just temporarily sensing this life around us as an instructional lesson. A certain percent of our energy is transferred to this projection and our identity in it, but it is only a part of our whole which actually resides in another plane of existence. And it gets a whole lot wilder because our real plane of existence may be two-dimensional.

Emergent Universe.

Yes, that is right, somewhere we live in a different dimension and our life on Earth, which is in three dimensions, is just a projection of sorts or an “emergent universe.” Believe it or not, serious science is behind this theory. A recent article by Lawrence Goodman, talking on Physicist Matthew Headrick, provides more insight. It was published on March 1, 2019 in Brandeis Now:

The universe is a hologram and other mind-blowing theories in theoretical physics

Physicist Matthew Headrick explains the strange, weird scientific laws that suggest our reality is nothing like it seems.

Matthew Headrick

By Lawrence Goodman

What if there is a deeper reality out there? 
What if our universe is an illusion?
What if we are living in a hologram?

Or, alternatively, ask associate professor of physics Matthew Headrick about his research. Headrick works on one of the most cutting-edge theories in theoretical physics — the holographic principle. It holds that the universe is a three-dimensional image projected off a two-dimensional surface, much like a hologram emerges from a sheet of photographic film.

“In my view, the discovery of holographic entanglement and its generalizations has been one of the most exciting developments in theoretical physics in this century so far,” Headrick said. “What other new concepts are waiting to be discovered, and what other unexpected connections? We can't wait to find out.”

These theories do not imply that this emergent universe or emergent projection in which we live in is not real.

It is very real because we perceive it, and the element of consciousness qualifies it as real. In that sense the Universe is conscious itself. However, the three-dimensional Earth and Universe in which we perceive ourselves in now did not create our consciousness upon birth. Rather, a vast collective consciousness/energy field encompassing each one of us and including our unique individual conscious souls is creating this self-aware Universe which we are perceiving. That is a theory similar to the concept of “proto conscious field theory.” The following syndicated June 25, 2017 article by Philip Perry elaborates:

The universe may be conscious, say prominent scientists. A proto-consciousness field theory could replace the theory of dark matter, one physicist states. 

What consciousness is and where it emanates from has stymied great minds in societies across the globe since the dawn of speculation. In today’s world, it’s a realm tackled more and more by physicists, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists. There are a few prevailing theories. The first is materialism. This is the notion that consciousness emanates from matter, in our case, by the firing of neurons inside the brain.                                          

Take the brain out of the equation and consciousness doesn’t exist at all. Traditionally, scientists have been stalwart materialists. But doing so has caused them to slam up against the limitations of materialism. Consider the chasm between relativity and quantum mechanics, or Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, and you quickly start to recognize these incongruities. 

The second theory is mind-body dualism. This is perhaps more often recognized in religion or spirituality. Here, consciousness is separate from matter. It is a part of another aspect of the individual, which in religious terms we might call the soul. Then there’s a third option which is gaining ground in some scientific circles, panpsychism. In this view, the entire universe is inhabited by consciousness.

A handful of scientists are starting to warm to this theory, but it’s still a matter of great debate. Truth be told, panpsychism sounds very much like what the Hindus and Buddhists call the Brahman, the tremendous universal Godhead of which we are all a part. In Buddhism for instance, consciousness is the only thing that exists.

Such is the focus of the famous Zen koan, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” One must come to the realization that everything we experience is filtered through and interpreted by our mind. Without it, the universe doesn’t exist at all or at least, not without some sort of consciousness observing it. In some physics circles, the prevailing theory is some kind of proto-consciousness field.

In quantum mechanics, particles don’t have a definite shape or specific location, until they are observed or measured. Is this a form of proto-consciousness at play? According to the late scientist and philosopher, John Archibald Wheeler, it might. He’s famous for coining the term, “black hole.” In his view, every piece of matter contains a bit of consciousness, which it absorbs from this proto-consciousness field.

He called his theory the “participatory anthropic principle,” which posits that a human observer is key to the process. Of this Wheeler said, “We are participators in bringing into being not only the near and here but the far away and long ago." In his view, much like the Buddhist one, nothing exists unless there is a consciousness to apprehend it.

Neuroscientist Christof Koch of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, is another supporter of panpsychism. Koch says that the only theory we have to date about consciousness is, it’s a level of awareness about one’s self and the world. Biological organisms are conscious because when they approach a new situation, they can change their behavior in order to navigate it, in this view. Dr. Koch is attempting to see if he can measure the level of consciousness an organism contains.

He’ll be running some animal experiments. In one, he plans to wire the brains of two mice together. Will information eventually flow between the two? Will their consciousness at some point become one fused, integrated system? If these experiments are successful, he may wire up the brains of two humans.

UK physicist Sir Roger Penrose is yet another supporter of panpsychism. Penrose in the 80’s proposed that consciousness is present at the quantum level and resides in the synapses of the brain. He is famous for linking consciousness with some of the goings on in quantum mechanics.

Dr. Penrose doesn’t go so far as to call himself a panpsychist. In his view, “The laws of physics produce complex systems, and these complex systems lead to consciousness, which then produces mathematics, which can then encode in a succinct and inspiring way the very underlying laws of physics that gave rise to it.”

Veteran physicist Gregory Matloff of the New York City College of Technology, says he has some preliminary evidence showing that, at the very least, panpsychism isn’t impossible. Hey, it’s a start. Dr. Matloff told NBC News, “It’s all very speculative, but it’s something we can check and either validate or falsify.”

Theoretical physicist Bernard Haisch, in 2006, suggested that consciousness is produced and transmitted through the quantum vacuum, or empty space. Any system that has sufficient complexity and creates a certain level of energy, could generate or broadcast consciousness. Dr. Matloff got in touch with the unorthodox, German physicist and proposed an observational study, to test it.

What they examined was Parenago’s Discontinuity. This is the observation that cooler stars, like our own sun, revolve around the center of the Milky Way faster than hotter ones. Some scientists attribute this to interactions with gas clouds. Matloff took a different view. He elaborated in a recently published piece, in the Journal of Consciousness Exploration and Research.

Unlike their hotter sisters, cooler stars may move faster due to “the emission of a uni-directional jet.” Such stars emit a jet early on in their creation. Matloff suggests that this could be an instance of the star consciously manipulating itself, in order to gain speed. Observational data shows a reliable pattern anywhere Parenago’s Discontinuity is witnessed. If it were a matter of interacting with gas clouds, as is the current theory, each cloud should have a different chemical makeup, and so cause the star to operate differently. So why do all of them act in exactly the same way?

Though it isn’t much to go on, the unveiling of the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope, whose mission it is to map stars, may provide more data to further support or weaken this view. On another front, Dr. Matloff posits that the presence of a proto-consciousness field could serve as a replacement for dark matter.

Dark matter supposedly makes up around 95% of the universe, although, scientists can’t seem to find any. So, for the sake of argument, if consciousness is a property that arises on the subatomic level with a confluence of particles, how do these tiny little bits of consciousness coalesce?

Neuroscientist and psychiatrist Giulio Tononi, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, proposes a slightly different take on panpsychism, called integrated information theory. Here, consciousness is a manifestation with a real, physical location, somewhere in the universe. We just haven’t found it yet. Perhaps this heavenly body radiates out consciousness as our sun radiates light and heat.

Dr. Tononi has actually puts forth a metric for measuring how much consciousness a thing has. The unit is called phi. This translates into how much control a being can enact over itself or objects around it. The theory separates intelligence from consciousness, which some people assume are one in the same.

Take AI for example. It can already beat humans in all kinds of tasks. But it has no will of its own. A supercomputer which can enact change in the world outside of a programmer’s commands, would therefore be conscious. Many futurists from Ray Kurzweil to Elon Musk believe that day is coming, perhaps in the next decade or so, and that we should prepare.

Our collective consciousness comes from the base or primary reality where we eternally live. The earthly world around us is also real in the sense that a collective consciousness creates it. This reality is basically composed of or rather represents information. And information is data—all this data operating by a set of physical laws or code. Admittedly, it is all very overwhelming, but try to keep an open mind for now.

The theory actually comes from new scientific discoveries. It is why some quantum physicists now theorize we are living in a holographic-like computer-coded program or data stream of sorts. This controversial model was first proposed in 1997 by theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena. So this is no joke and quantum mechanics is a serious science.  A Scientific America article by Ron Cowen elaborates:

In 1997, theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena proposed that an audacious model of the Universe in which gravity arises from infinitesimally thin, vibrating strings could be reinterpreted in terms of well-established physics. The mathematically intricate world of strings, which exist in nine dimensions of space plus one of time, would be merely a hologram: the real action would play out in a simpler, flatter cosmos where there is no gravity.

Quantum Physics breaks everything down to quantized pieces.

Since the days of Albert Einstein and his contemporary and adversary, Niels Bohr, quantum physics has transformed our world. The resulting discipline of quantum mechanics created the transistor, computer chip and laser and represents inventions that make up one third of our modern economy. And like it or not, current discoveries in quantum physics will change our lives again in the coming years with computing speeds and informational resources that are now totally unimagined. So this is not fringe science.  Quantum physics is quickly becoming the focus of modern science.

Physicists who subscribe to quantum mechanics like to break everything down into finite pieces or quanta which in their theories make the Universe work on the smallest of scales. In fact, quantum mechanics is very much like computing in that computers break everything down to a data stream or quanta of 1s and 0s.

New theories reason that our perceived universe is projected by a higher or alternative plane of existence. That higher plane is believed to be two dimensional because that is what the mathematical equations tell us, but that does not mean our true existence is a type of flat earth. Life in the eternal plane may be even more liberating than a three-dimensional existence.  But it seems a three-dimensional model is a preferred teaching tool. This three-dimensional temporal program we perceive as reality functions as matter condensed into energy which equals information—synchronized or animated by a harmonic pitch of vibrating cords creating a frequency of quantized membranes—which make up the most basic building blocks of the Universe.  The term “information” means us and everything around us from animals to plants to rocks.  Shortly, we will go into the science in detail.

For now, the basic trend in quantum physics is a move away from materialism. Space and time are no longer thought to be fundamental, but derivative of a more fundamental construct emanating form an external plain or even the Universe mediating as a quantum computer. Information is the base fundamental which emanates from a distant two-dimensional data construct. A December 6, 2017 article by George Musser in HuffPost titled “Why Space and Time Might Be an Illusion” gives more insight:

A theory of gravity is also a theory of space and time. Whereas general relativity took a single genius a decade to create, that deeper theory — known as a quantum theory of gravity — has flummoxed generations of geniuses for a century. In part, physicists are victims of their past successes: when you accomplish anything in life, you raise the bar, making it that much harder to take the next step. But quantum gravity also poses difficulties that are unique in the history of science. A theory of gravity is also a theory of space and time — that was Einstein’s great insight. Yet physicists have always formulated their theories within space and time.

So, a theory of gravity swallows its own tail. It supposes, for example, that the passage of time varies, but the word “varies” connotes a temporal process. If time is varying, then the very standard by which it is varying also varies. The whole situation threatens to become paradoxical. This conceptual circularity creates weird mathematical difficulties. For instance, the little ‘t’ that physicists use to denote time drops out of their equations, leaving them at a loss to explain change in the world. To describe what happens, physicists need to go beyond space and time. And what is that supposed to mean? Such an idea forces us into (literally) uncharted territory.

String theory, loop quantum gravity, causal-set theory: these are just a few of the approaches that theorists have taken. Naturally, proponents of each are convinced the others are misguided or even downright unscientific. But when you take a step back from the dispute, you notice all agree on one essential lesson: the space-time that we inhabit is a construction. It is not fundamental to nature, but emerges from a deeper level of reality. In some way or other, it consists of primitive building blocks — “atoms” of space — and takes on its familiar properties from how those building blocks are assembled.

These “atoms” are clearly nothing like ordinary atoms such as hydrogen or oxygen. For one thing, they are not tiny, because the word “tiny” is a spatial description and these atoms are supposed to create space, not presuppose it. Yet many of the same principles apply. Water, for example, consists of H2O molecules. It can undergo a change of state — freezing or boiling — as those molecules rearrange themselves into new structures. The same might be true of space. If those atoms can assemble themselves into space, presumably they could also reassemble into other structures. And that might explain many of the mysteries of modern physics.

The ordinary laws of physics, operating within time, are inherently unable to explain the beginning of time. Consider black holes. If, God forbid, you fell into one, Einstein’s theory predicts your timeline would end. You would die, but that’d be the least of it. The atoms in your body would simply cease to be. Instead of ashes to ashes, you’d have ashes to ... nothingness. The new emergent space-time theories suggest a different picture in which space undergoes a change of state in a black hole. The black hole does not have an interior volume; its perimeter marks where space melts. The result is a new state that is no longer spatial and is scarcely even imaginable in human terms. If you fell in, you would probably still die, but the atoms in your body would still carry on in some new form.

Consider, also, the big bang. Like black holes, it has always posed something of a paradox. The ordinary laws of physics, operating within time, are inherently unable to explain the beginning of time. According to those laws, something must precede the big bang to set it into motion. Yet nothing is supposed to precede it. A way out of the paradox is to think of the big bang not as the beginning but as a transition, when space crystallized from a primeval state of spacelessness.

Finally, consider the mysterious phenomena of quantum nonlocality — what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.” Two or more particles can act in a coordinated way, no matter how far apart they may be, and they do so without sending out a sound wave, beaming a radio signal or otherwise communicating across the gap that separates them. The particles behave as though they are not, in fact, separated. And one possible explanation is that the particles are rooted in the deeper level of reality where distance has no meaning.

To be sure, this is all still speculation — but it is constrained speculation. Scientists didn’t dream up these ideas over drinks after work. They were driven to them by combining the principles of Einstein’s theory and of quantum theory and seeing where the path takes them. By the very nature of research, we don’t know what these ideas mean or even if they’re right. But we do know that humans have not yet grasped all there is to grasp about the universe. And when we do take the next step, the effects will surely propagate into our broader culture. Just as learning something new makes you a better person, so too will learning something new about the universe propel humanity to the next level.

Next, we will explore a spiritual interpretation of what these new discoveries in science may be telling us.

Reality is not space nor time.

We as individual souls do not create what we perceive. It is created by the whole continuum of souls for a worthy purpose. We and our collective energy emanates from another plane into and onto this plane or life here on Earth. Yet, only a part of each soul’s energy is devoted to this temporary life experience or projection “here”—all for the sole purpose to learn unique lessons which are more easily presented in a three-dimensional “Earthly” physical-like life—here.

We do this on and off over periods. Some call this reincarnation. It is not clear why our “souls” cannot learn lessons as easily in the supposed real and permanent realm of primary existence, but for some reason lessons learned in this projected computer-like program or data stream here on Earth leave a more formative impression on our souls—“soul” meaning our true energy or true self. And incidentally, the soul appears to be immortal although constantly evolving. Concepts like beginning or end, or death for that matter, are part of our projected life here on Earth and have no relevance to the permanent plane of existence in which we are actually based. Change is the only real constant, and we misinterpret change as a precedent for a beginning or end. It is simply an evolution which ebbs and flows. So “evolution” is really a better word than change.

To make this even more confusing and seemingly contradictory, there is evidence that new souls do continually come into being. So how does this happen if there is no real beginning or end?  Good question and that is not clear. As we will discuss shortly, the concept of time in the eternal plane is not linear; it is instead all encompassing. So maybe it is hard for us to understand the nature of creation because we can only think in linear time in our current incarnation here on Earth. It does appear there are many stages of soul evolution, and most souls who go through the learning process on Earth and in its surrounding Universe seem to be very young or almost child-like.

This may be taken as a great insult to many readers to think we are all just children.  The term children, however, is not meant as a negative connotation and indicates that if our souls are in a learning cycle, then we are just still evolving. Certainly, we are all still learning.

The meaning of life.

Let’s anaylize this concept of a “learning experience.” As elementary as it sounds, that is what everything is all about. It is the “meaning of life” if you like.  And yes, it is just that simple. We exist to learn and thus evolve. Let’s emphasize that: we exist to learn and in doing so we evolve.

Life in this world is likened to an exercise. In other words, as an analogy, few children can learn absolutely “everything” they need to know at home. They need to meet and interact with other people. They need to be social. They usually have to go to a communal school to have a well-rounded education. They also have to go out into the world on occasion to experience important lessons. No one can become truly appreciative of developing empathy until they experience hunger and then extravagance. We must understand failure before we can appreciate success. Joy and anger and hate and love cannot be appreciated without the spectrum of emotions in which they range.  How can an artist become a painter until he has a full pallet of colors? Painter Leonid Afremov with his painting Recolection of the Past might identify with that statement.

Rarely can lessons be completely learned in just one day. It takes continual schooling to mature and the universe serves as our college campus. But we commute. All the while we actually live just off campus in our real home/higher plane of base existence. Our many lives here on Earth seem like long ordeals, but they are simply minute fractions of time in the real plane of existence which is timeless.

We may incarnate many times, but it is always by choice and is simply a supplement to our overall growth as souls who live in a supposed eternity. We do learn in our real plane of existence as well, but it is more through digesting life experiences that took place in the earthly physical (or physical-like) projected realm.

Our Earthly world is an image of the eternal real world.

The very geometry of this three-dimensional universe we perceive around us is inspired by the plane of origin where we permanently reside. This geometry exists in the form of the comfortable images of libraries, places of worship, sanctuaries, marble halls and theaters and vast scenes of natural beauty. In other words, our lessons learned on Earth are not just moral, but artistically inspiring as well. Art, music, and literature are all at the core of what life is about. Thus, the design of the “projection” in which we sense we live may actually be modeled on base principles of the eternal plane. This would be translated through the science and mathematics which we already know of as geometry. Quantum physicists have long believed everything in our universe is broken down into individual crystalline pieces or a matrix—just like pixels on a television screen. This geometry of the most basic components must be inspired or mirrored from the basic or primary plane of existence if the holographic theory is correct. If so, certain iconic combinations involving such shapes as triangles and rectangles should be eternal and universal parts of the collective consciousness.

Maybe for that reason, civilizations on Earth completely isolated from one another independently developed pyramid-shaped structures in our early history. Certain types of buildings may just be programmed into our collective consciousness. In that way an image of ancient Rome with its myriad of shapes and designs could be originally inspired by the “otherworld” or true plane of existence which we permanently live in. I think of the Thomas Cole painting The Course of Empire whenever I think about such a constant.

Reincarnation.

The theory of reincarnation is of course as old as mankind. It suggests that through many incarnations we slowly mature into more advanced beings—more well-rounded if you like. Although it is apparently only through this incarnation in a physically projected world that our maturation can be expedited.  

Again, it is not totally clear why lessons are more meaningful in the incarnated states, but it seems to be so. We do, however, all eventually reach a point at which our souls do not need the incarnation lessons. So, our learning experiences in the three-dimensional universe may just be one stage in the long evolution of our souls. Other stages may very well include additional uses of the three-dimensional universe in ways we cannot now imagine. So again, it is not to say our Earth and our Universe is not real. They may simply be one of many components of our true lives, just as a library or dining room is only one useful area of a grand house which has numerous functions.

There is evidence that even advanced souls occasional chose to reincarnate on Earth or elsewhere in the vast Universe in order to perfect a particular lesson or talent.

One account from hypnotic regression indicated the impression of an advance soul who specialized over eons in becoming a healer. Although becoming a master in the art of healing, this soul wanted to learn more about the specific nature of empathy. To finally master this trait, the soul purposely placed itself in a life on Earth as a mother who succumbed to a situation in which she found herself unable to keep her child from dying of an illness.

 The experience of losing that child was of course extremely traumatic, but it gave the soul a lesson on, and better understanding of, empathy. It was a lesson that soul felt it needed and could only learn through such an experience in a three-dimensional situation here on Earth. And what of the soul of the child that died?  Seems like an unfair break for it. Well that soul may have very well been another advanced spirit who voluntarily agreed to help facilitate this lesson for the healer soul. In that way it is possible that all elements of earthly life no matter how horrible or how beautiful exist to serve as a lesson for someone. That is apparently why some souls volunteer to incarnate into difficult lives here, simply to play the role of a tragic figure so that someone else around them can learn from their example. In that way entire wars or horrific events may be orchestrated to provide learning experiences for whole classes of soul students. As trying as our world proves to be sometimes, this theory as well as many religions doctrines state that there is a purpose to everything.

 It is even possible some of the darkest figures in our history are advanced souls purposely causing extreme conditions so that masses of souls can face extremely challenging trials and lessons. It is believed Earth may actually be an extreme exception in the Universe. In other words, only very brave souls who want to expedite their development chose to incarnate on Earth. This is simply because life on Earth is so frankly horrible. Many other worlds in our Universe are said to have developed much less diversity of races and thus much less conflict and war which stands in contrast to what Earth has seen.

 Actors on a stage.

 So there may be much milder worlds on which to develop you’re soul if your less eager for rapid advancement. And yes, our eternal souls have emotions in the eternal base plane which inspire such feelings as competitiveness or cautiousness or any range of feelings. It’s the mastery of those emotions which learning is primarily about. So there is no suggestion nor shame in the fact that even in eternity we may not be without perfection, and all souls have distinctive character. Like a fingerprint, no two souls are alike but they are all connected to a great collective. That is what makes every soul a unique part of a whole consciousness.  In many ways our history and art of great rises and falls of civilization reflect the schoolroom that makes up our world. Like a Giovanni Antonio Canal “Canaletto” painting of ancient ruins, life is only one shadowy reflection of a greater world.

Those who have recounted near death experiences or successfully undergone true hypnotic regression commonly recount this “life” or perceived reality as simply a learning experience—akin to all of us being actors on a stage in a temporary play while our true self watches and matures from a higher plane. While in school, did you ever sit in a classroom and view an educational film from which you learned a meaningful lesson? Did you ever watch a film that became very distressing, yet at the same time it made you more appreciative or stronger in some way?

 It proved a good teaching tool, so why would the master universe not use similar tools—perhaps be a teaching tool in and of itself? It may not be that this three-dimensional universe is not “real” so much as it is a physical projection or extension or even partial reflection of an even more dynamic plane. In some ways we may be living in a very well written novel that while it is real, may just be a hint of higher consciousness. How many times in an advanced college course or work training session have you role-played to learn how to deal with a difficult situation? Playing a part is a true learning experience. In terms of the often quoted “actors on a stage” comment—that term is used by so many people from so many different cultures over centuries now who have engaged in past life regression or encountered near-death experiences.

 The term is used as an analogy. They, in fact, emphasize that analogy to explain how souls are born into a life akin to a true drama-like production. The actors they play and the characters around them are often from a core soul group that exchange roles many times over. These soul groups are part of close families but not families in the biological sense—rather role models who help complement each other’s maturation. Leonid Afremov works of art again paint the only visualization.

We are all part of a soul group.

 Yes, many times a close member in our soul group could be a father or mother or brother or sister or husband or wife, but also at times serve in the role of a friend or even an adversary. In one life your worst enemy may actually be your soul mate playing a role—forcing you to feel new emotions. The casting changes, but the soul group members largely stay the same—just playing different roles. Also, we often change gender roles many times. We meet many other characters from other soul groups, but those sole groups remain somewhat separated in the true or ethereal existence.  During your evolution as a soul your own soul group which number about 10 to 15 individuals, “hang” together in the higher plane. They also repeatedly “play” or incarnate together.  On the quantum mechanical level, soul groups and soul mates may literary be entangled particles. (Entanglement will be detailed shortly.)

 We stay in our soul group families for countless eons; however, there is evidence we all eventually evolve into higher states that do not need to experience this three-dimensional plane we call life. At that time, we will all eventually have to leave our soul mate fraternity and function on our own in a very high state of self-awareness or energy level. We may take on duties we have sought to master for many incarnations such as healers or teachers or explorers or even designers of energy itself.  Or we may become guides for others who are still growing and incarnating.  This is another commonly recounted impression across many generations and cultures. We all seem to have guides of sorts that help us go and come from the real plane of existence and debrief us after each adventure.

Guides and higher levels of guides or elders may also help us chose the physical bodies we inhabit in our lives on Earth or some other planet in the expanse of the Universe. Our own soul groups apparently plan and scheme together to chose lives that will interact with one another in our mutual incarnations.

 This choice to seek incarnation is felt to be entirely voluntary although somewhat of  an apprehensive choice all the same. I say apprehensive in the sense, or analogy, of choosing to take on a challenge—such as a highly demanding series of classes or exercises in personal development. You know it will be interesting, but you also know that it will be hard work—although you do know it will make you a better person. While you still may dread the decision to actually commit to the extra work, you do it. The very act of taking on a challenge is a sign of growth and evolution in itself.

 We tend to think of an advanced soul here on Earth as someone who is a great philosopher or perhaps an unselfish heroine living a life of poverty.  However, signs of maturity are not as grandiose.  The simple act of getting out of bed in the morning to go to work when you would like nothing else but to sleep in is a sign of maturity and soul evolution. Nor does soul development require single great acts of heroism or sacrifice. Soul advancement is not based on one single act, but millions of small gestures that signifies advancement when they become instinctive.

 The single great acts, in fact, add up to very little in terms of development. An insignificant act, on the other hand, may be far more representative. For example, automaticity picking up a nail out of your path—not because you worry that you may step on it—but that your neighbor may step on it, could be a sign of highly advanced development. Heroes, in other words, are not brave because they do one great deed, but many small ones. That spirit is depicted in a famous Sumerian stone carving depicting the hero Gilgamesh working with others to accomplish a goal.

 Such concepts may be universal in truth.  Impressions of our true nature or existence is not science fiction. University studies have researched such existential accounts for decades. They may be real or the stories may be imagination; although, if they are imagination they seem to be shared the world over by many generations.

 Methods of research.

The subjects of reincarnation, past life regression, and life between lives studies are very legitimate. Dr. Helen Wamback in the 1960s to 1970s led pioneering research into these theories with solid scientific method and statistical analysis. Reincarnation itself seems to have  overwhelming evidence the more it is researched. We do not know why, but a certain select number of people can legitimately recall information about actual people (presumably themselves or other souls) who have lived before with no clear previous knowledge of them in this life. The late Dr. Michael Newton is another professional who in more recent times spent many years documenting this phenomenon.

A team of psychologists and medical doctors (led by Dr. Berthold Ackermann and associated with the Technische Universität of Berlin) found evidence through clinical experimentation of the existence of some form of life after death. They based this study on the conclusions of an experiment using medically-supervised near-death experiences. The actual inducement of volunteers into a clinically-dead state and then bringing them back to life has been unprecedented and highly controversial.

Exactly 944 volunteers over a four-year period utilized carefully administered drugs including epinephrine and dimethyltryptamine. These allowed the body to survive the state of clinical death and the reanimation process without damage. The bodies of the volunteer test subjects were then put into a temporary comatic state induced by a mixture of other drugs which had to be filtered by ozone from their blood during the reanimation process which took about eighteen minutes. This ground-breaking experiment was only made possible by the development of a new cardiopulmonary recitation or “CPR” machine called the AutoPulse. These volunteers were subjected to clinical death for 40 minutes to an hour. In many cases the subjects experienced an out of body awareness and remembered conversations that occurred not just around their bodies but within other areas of the facility.

They recounted a sense of peacefulness and consciousness during their state of clinical-death. In most cases subjects experienced the presence of a tunnel of light suggesting a passage to another dimension where friends and relatives could be seen at a distance. Subjects felt a sense of time moving at a different pace or frequency. Consciousness definitely survives death according to that study.

Dr. Christian Hellwig of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, has done research into the area of the human consciousness itself.  He found evidence that information in the human central nervous system is “phase encoded.” This is a type of coding which allows multiple pieces of data to occupy the same time and space­­—exactly as modern quantum mechanic models can predict. Dr. Christian Hellwig stated; “Our thoughts, our will, our consciousness and our feelings show properties that could be referred to as spiritual properties. . . No direct interaction with the known fundamental forces of natural science, such as gravitation, electromagnetic forces, etc. can be detected in the spiritual. On the other hand, however, these spiritual properties correspond exactly to the characteristics that distinguish the extremely puzzling and wondrous phenomena in the quantum world.”

 The question in such studies is why we cannot all easily recall our past lives or our true realm of existence—especially if a part of our energy always remains in the eternal plane. Well, some do get glimpses. A few can recall small pieces through the act of hypnosis at the hands of qualified and professional practitioners. Some people have random images through their lives.  I always, for example, get cold chills when I see particular images of 19th century Prussian villages. Art by Tommy Scott especially evoke some sort of identification of images of classical Europe. I seem to sense at heart that I once lived in such a setting. But as a whole, our collective amnesia is another physical element that aids our learning.

Each physical incarnation is meant to create a unique and distinct learning experience and is not meant to be diluted by past memories that would overwhelm our physical body which serves as a means by which we experience the three-dimensional classroom. For some unknown reason, occasionally traumatic events from past lives can “leak” into our consciousness and cause us phobias and even physical pain. The treatment of such phenomenon is what first brought many prominent psychologists to concede the existence of reincarnation. Dr. Michael Newton, for example, counseled a patient who had reoccurring leg pain and under hypnosis he tried to use suggestion to ease his symptoms. Instead, Dr. Newton learned in his session that this patient under hypnosis was recounting leg trauma in a past life during World War One. Researching the particulars of his patient’s statements, he learned through careful and meticulous historical research that his patient recalled the life a very obscure but real person who had been killed during the First World War.

The brain is a receiver, not a storage device. 

 Our memories of past lives and the nature of our true selves can be retrieved on occasion because they do not physically exist in our brains but in our energy which we keep in the eternal plane and which is shared in our bodies here on Earth. In other words, the brain is a receiver, not a storage device.  Physics Professor Robert Jahn of Princeton University has theorized that consciousness can exchange information. He goes further and questions that if the exchange takes place in both directions with the physical environment, then it can be attributed with the same “molecular binding potential” as physical objects. That theory would be in line with the tenets of quantum mechanics. Ancient cave paintings, for example, have had many interpretations over the years, but it could be an early depiction of the first recognition of our own consciousness.

Quantum physicist David Bohm, a student and friend of Albert Einstein, had a similar theory. He stated, “The results of modern natural sciences only make sense if we assume an inner, uniform, transcendent reality that is based on all external data and facts. The very depth of human consciousness is one of them.” Somehow our collective memories and who we are and our very soul itself is downloaded, so to speak, onto a “field” or “force” which our brain interacts with. When our brain dies, “we,” our soul, continues. The “field” may be projected but it is projected from the true plane of existence which we permanently live in. In other words, our brain does not make us who we are. It is simply a receiver for a “wave field” that is all around us and cannot be destroyed.

 Scientists will use analogies to our own earthly technology and this wave filed theory would not be that unlike our personal computers storing and accessing information from the virtual cloud.

 Theoretical physicist Max Planck gave this wave filed theory a great deal of clarity. Planck was the pioneer of quantum theory and winner of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics . He stated in regard to consciousness:

 “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”

Dr. Hans-Peter Dürr, former head of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, theorizes that quantum particles “write” all of its information on a “wave function” or frequency domain, and the brain acts as a “floppy disk” to retrieve and utilize data from the spiritual quantum field. Dr. Dürr has also speculated that when we die “the body, or the physical disk, is gone, but our consciousness, or the data on the computer, lives on.” This again goes to understanding  the principle of “entanglement” which will be dealt with shortly and sheds more light on that theory.

Neuroscientist Dr. Karl Pribram said our brain was a holographic receiver and translator. Working with David Bohm, they theorize a model where cognition of the brain is a holographic storage device. Karl Pribram  suggests brain activity involves electric oscillations among the brain's fine-fibered dendritic webs. This is different than the standard focus on the action potentials involving axons and synapses.

Other researchers speculate our brains evolved to receive wave frequencies and to translate them into holograms which force us to react and respond. This concept can be seen in some Indian philosophy and art.

A theory exist that consciousness is tunable electromagnetic energy which “resonates” between two domains—this life and the eternal plane.

Those who are working to develop artificial intelligence in computers are specifically looking at electromagnetic frequencies. This is based on a theory that human consciousness interplays with the human brain producing an electromagnetic field.  This Daily Universal Science article details:

Professor Johnjoe McFadden from the School of Biomedical and Life Sciences at the University of Surrey in the UK believes our conscious mind could be an electromagnetic field.

“The theory solves many previously intractable problems of consciousness and could have profound implications for our concepts of mind, free will, spirituality, the design of artificial intelligence, and even life and death,” he said.

Most people consider "mind" to be all the conscious things that we are aware of. But much, if not most, mental activity goes on without awareness. Actions such as walking, changing gear in your car or peddling a bicycle can become as automatic as breathing.

The biggest puzzle in neuroscience is how the brain activity that we're aware of (consciousness) differs from the brain activity driving all of those unconscious actions.

When we see an object, signals from our retina travel along nerves as waves of electrically- charged ions. When they reach the nerve terminus, the signal jumps to the next nerve via chemical neurotransmitters. The receiving nerve decides whether or not it will fire, based on the number of firing votes it receives from its upstream nerves. In this way, electrical signals are processed in our brain before being transmitted to our body. But where, in all this movement of ions and chemicals, is consciousness? Scientists can find no region or structure in the brain that specializes in conscious thinking. Consciousness remains a mystery.

“Consciousness is what makes us 'human,' Professor McFadden said. “Language, creativity, emotions, spirituality, logical deduction, mental arithmetic, our sense of fairness, truth, ethics, are all inconceivable without consciousness.” But what’s it made of?

One of the fundamental questions of consciousness, known as the binding problem, can be explained by looking at a tree. Most people, when asked how many leaves they see, will answer "thousands." But neurobiology tells us that the information (all the leaves) is dissected and scattered among millions of widely separated neurons.

Scientists are trying to explain where in the brain all those leaves are stuck together to form the conscious impression of a whole tree. How does our brain bind information to generate consciousness?

What Professor McFadden realized was that every time a nerve fires, the electrical activity sends a signal to the brain's electromagnetic (em) field. But unlike solitary nerve signals, information that reaches the brain's em field is automatically bound together with all the other signals in the brain. The brain's em field does the binding that is characteristic of consciousness.

What Professor McFadden and, independently, the New Zealand-based neurobiologist Sue Pockett, have proposed is that the brain's em field is consciousness.

The brain's electromagnetic field is not just an information sink; it can influence our actions, pushing some neurons towards firing and others away from firing. This influence, Professor McFadden proposes, is the physical manifestation of our conscious will.

The theory explains many of the peculiar features of consciousness, such as its involvement in the learning process. Anyone learning to drive a car will have experienced how the first (very conscious) fumblings are transformed through constant practice into automatic actions.

The neural networks driving those first uncertain fumblings are precisely where we would expect to find nerves in the undecided state when a small nudge from the brain's em field can topple them towards or away from firing. The field will "fine tune" the neural pathway towards the desired goal.

But neurons are connected so that when they fire together, they wire together, to form stronger connections. After practice, the influence of the field will become dispensable. The activity will be learned and may thereafter be performed unconsciously.

One of the objections to an electromagnetic field theory of consciousness is, if our minds are electromagnetic, then why don't we pass out when we walk under an electrical cable or any other source of external electromagnetic fields? The answer is that our skin, skull and cerebrospinal fluid shield us from external electric fields.

“The conscious electromagnetic information field is, at present, still a theory. But if true, there are many fascinating implications for the concept of free will, the nature of creativity or spirituality, consciousness in animals and even the significance of life and death.

"The theory explains why conscious actions feel so different from unconscious ones ­- it is because they plug into the vast pool of information held in the brain's electromagnetic field,” Professor McFadden concluded.

The University of Surrey is one of the UK’s leading professional, scientific and technological universities with a world class research profile and a reputation for excellence in teaching and research.

A 2017 article by Meg Benedicte elaborates:

Neurological research is proving that memory exists beyond the brain, operating in a holographic system. The ground-breaking research by Karl Pribram during the 1970’s revealed that the visual cortex responds to frequencies of various wave forms, like the ear is a frequency analyzer of sound waves. Just as a television camera converts an image into electromagnetic frequencies which the television set converts back into the image, our brain operates in a similar way.

A hologram is a three-dimensional photograph made with the aid of a laser (photon light). Unlike normal photographs, every part of a hologram contains all the information possessed by the whole. If we try to take apart something constructed holographically, we will not get the pieces of which it is made, we will only get smaller wholes. Since frequency is a measurement of wave oscillations per second, this suggests the brain functions in the same manner as a hologram – a continual kaleidoscope of interference wave patterns transmitting information of the entire image into the mind.

In a holographic universe where nothing is truly separate from anything else, then the past, present, and future all exist simultaneously. According to Michael Talbot’s fascinating book, The Holographic Universe, “the superhologram has given birth to everything in our universe, at the very least it contains every subatomic particle that has been or will be — every configuration of matter and energy that is possible, from snowflakes to quasars, from blue whales to gamma rays. It must be seen as a sort of cosmic storehouse of “All That Is.”

Encoding and decoding frequencies is how a hologram functions. The brain acts as a translating device converting an infinite stream of frequencies into coherent images. The higher the frequency patterns the brain receives, the higher levels of consciousness the holographic lens converts into images.

Although we believe we are physical beings living separate lives in a physical world, this too is an illusion. Our perception of physical reality originates in our brain’s selection of certain bands of frequency patterns. We are living as radio “receivers” in a kaleidoscopic sea of frequency (3D, 4D, 5D, etc), and what we extract from this sea and convert into physical reality is but one channel from the totality of the superhologram.

 Art of the Soul

By Michael and James Hall

Part Two, The Science:

So, let’s move along further with the physics of this theory. Quantum physicists researching super string theory, now with the aid of advanced computers, are able to run mathematical and geometric modeling of atomic and sub atomic particles. Their findings are astonishing.

 To understand this, let’s give some background on the different theories in quantum physics. One is Super String Theory, also now known as Super Symmetry. There are actually many confusing variations of string theory.

M-Theory attempts to codify everything. In gross oversimplification, the theories attempt to explain all particles and forces of nature in one theory by modeling basic building blocks of vibrational super symmetric string-like structures or membrane-like harmonic cords. Such new theories in physics suggest to us that our universe is made up of structures much smaller than the atom. These structures may not so much be smaller building blocks of the atom as they are smaller exotic-acting particles that help make the atom function. In other words, they may be the gasoline that makes an engine run as opposed to being smaller parts of the engine.

These newly discovered sub-atomic particles get us to the very micro level of nature. At that level, and even the level of the atom itself, we find the laws of physics which Einstein understood turned topsy-turvy. His theory of general relativity is just not consistent. In other words, atoms and subatomic particles do not behave like planets orbiting stars—their motions are non-deterministic—defying traditional formulas.

Einstein worked on this problem the last 28 years of his life but could never come up with a theory unifying everything. In Super Symmetry—as we theorize about particles smaller than the atom—instead of finding objects we expect such as traditional matter, we find particles that are able to exist in different locations at the same time. This is a concept called “nonlocality.” In this theory, particles can become “entangled” and mirror each other, even at great distances. They do not so much communicate instantaneously, rather they reflect or retain each other’s information instantaneously or simultaneously.

Nonlocality and entanglement go hand in hand. Entanglement, in fact, causes nonlocality. When particles interact with each other they become permanently associated and dependent on each other’s physical state. They in effect lose their individuality and often behave as a single entity.

For example, the science of nonlocality suggests that a pair of electrons instantaneously know each other’s state. This would be just as true if the particles were near to one another or even light years apart. The world of sub-atomic particles gets even weirder.

The very act of human observation can change the behavior of a sub-atomic particle. “Wave-particle duality” is a fundamental concept of quantum mechanics. This theory proposes that photons and electrons possess the properties of both particles and waves. Einstein contributed to the discovery that light and any form of radiation, energy and matter are composed of discrete “quanta” or particles. It was discovered that light is a wave. Thomas Young created a famous experiment in the 19th Century that to this day still boggles the mind of any physicists. In a nutshell, this experiment shows light can be both a wave and a particle. It also shows the act of observation (perhaps human consciousness) can determine which it will be. When observed an electron can be a particle and when not observed a wave form of numerous potentials. Thus wave-particle duality means light can behave sometimes as a wave or a particle and an electron or even an atom can spread out as an information wave being in more than one place at a time.

The famous double-slit experiment which determined that light acts as a particle when we observe it, and as a wave when we don’t. This wave-particle duality essentially revealed that our consciousness affects the way light manifests. Quantum physics has also allowed for information to be teleported through quantum entanglement, a process once thought to be impossible.

Some quantum physicists extend this theory to the soul-body dichotomy. If there is a “quantum code” for “us,” then we are projected from another plain of existence—temporarily working and living (learning) in this dimension, yet being an eternal part of another dimension. A recent article in  Science & Nonduality, puts it eloquently:

M-theory, string theory’s most well-known version, posits that vast amounts of pure energy exists in extra dimensions beyond the four dimensions with which we are familiar (three dimensions of space and one of time). These dimensions and the high-frequency energies they contain are beyond our senses’ and our finest instruments’ ability to detect. In M-theory, the three dimensions of our already almost incomprehensibly large physical universe are the smallest dimensions in the cosmos. Our three-dimensional universe could be described as being like a saturated sponge submerged in an ocean of high-frequency energy.

If we are living in a simulation/projection of energy and information.

In quantum mechanics, particles do not have a definite state unless being observed. So if we are living in a simulation/projection of energy and information—then we as a collective consciousness are only seeing what we “need” to see when we need to see it.  Under that hypothesis, a pattern of information is making our reality around us here on Earth and in this Universe. Reality would thus adjust to our own experiences.  Intelligence/perception is therefore information which makes us self-aware.  As we will discuss in a moment, “we think therefore we are,” and we do have “free will.”

Entanglement is still the important concept that we need to understand better Chinese physicists have just made major breakthroughs in studying the paradoxical effects of entangled particles at great distance. In fact, science is now on the verge of a new age in computing which is already building on some of these discoveries. Einstein half-mockingly called this phenomenon of nonlocality “spooky action at a distance” Although, if he were alive today he would very likely be a super symmetry physicist himself because that is the new frontier of physics. Einstein established the concept of quanta, but did not believe in entanglement as his associate Niels Bohr did.  Both died, never having seen entanglement proved as a scientific fact; however, today it is part of mainstream science.

When modern physicists study the mathematics of super string now called super symmetry, they find something almost unbelievable. The mathematics and geometric modeling reveal actual computer codes or algorithms exactly like those that were developed in the 1950s to correct miscalculations in digital computer programs. These codes are called doubly-even self-dual linear binary error-correcting block codes and match the “check-sum extended Hamming code” created many years ago by Dr. Richard Wesley Hamming, a Manhattan Project veteran who left the field of nuclear weapons to develop modern telecommunications. His self-correcting programs are used to this day in every internet browser program. This computer code keeps a computer program on track if minor errors are made in the processing of digital zeros and ones which invariably happens in modern computers. The Hamming code corrects mistakes making the program work. Yet, apparently, the universe around us has a self-correcting code as well. Why would it need such a code?

Super Symmetry Physicist Dr. James Gates of the University of Maryland first discovered these specific Hamming correcting codes, embedded within and resulting from supersymmetry equations. Dr. Gates has suggested that if this theory of a computer-like generated world (he uses the term simulation) is true, then it can break the barrier down in conversations between science and concepts of eternal life. Meaning, these specific codes found in physical equations can at least make the theory plausible that there is a universal type of consciousness/organizational structure that makes us more than just the bodies we now inhabit—if one accepts the “simulation” hypothesis. It should be noted that Dr. Gates is not yet able to fully validate this theory.

A philosopher might now ask if we are in a computational universe, or are we in a simulation? Computational universe means that things are in a sense programed with a set of “laws” or laws of physics.

A simulation universe meaning the same, but with the addition that there is a force/intent behind the simulation. If the second theory is true, it could be a collective consciousness ruling it all. That consciousness meaning us.  Or, it could suggest a higher power made up of or inspired by all of our collective consciousness. In other words, if this is all a type of computer-generated matrix, it is not like the movie Matrix. That is Hollywood.  

The scientific theory on the other hand is potentially real. Real, in the sense that it has substance and, if a simulation, is generated with intent. In such a theory the master computer programmer is not some omnipotent teenager in another universe. Or at least we hope not. Rather, we would like to think, a force, perhaps of many parts, with some grand consensus or collective consciousness is the generator.

This theory is not so unlike the discovery of DNA in the biological arena of science.  Scientists learned that all biological matter has a basic DNA building structure or matrix. Maybe it should not surprise physicists that the universe has a code of sorts. It does, however, surprise many that the very code they see on the subatomic level is the same code in every laptop computer. And that is why some physicists are now making the outlandish jump to the theory that our universe is a type of hologram or sophisticated computer program generated by an even higher state of existence.  These are abstract concepts, but even abstract artists or even post-impressionists like Vincent van Gogh always had substance at the core of such works.

It’s just like the way a mechanism inside a computer reads data bits off of a hard drive. The atom is that mechanism reading sub atomic action, resulting in the making of higher and higher structures or elements. This is the matrix or DNA engineering schematic of sorts of the universe—or at least the universe being projected from a higher field or plane of existence.

Some quantum physicists think the higher plane is a two-dimensional realm or membrane that stores information as well as projects a three-dimensional universe. The three-dimensional universe is what we perceive living in. If the entire universe is a type of projection of sorts, then that is how connectivity arises because even particles that are light-years apart can be instantaneously entangled because they come from the same projection or realm. The nature of that projection we liken to a digital hologram, and for now that is about the best word or analogy we can come up with even though there are actual signs it may truly be a projected digital image.

That by no means suggests the hologram or projection is not real.  Everything perceived has a basis in reality. Holograms are very real. Or, at least they are based on real information. All information exists by its own definition. We as souls do not need physical bodies to be “real” because we are information. All matter can be defined as information because the seeming purpose of all matter is to combine and to convey a specific design or purpose. Everything becomes a building block or part of something.

We can throw up our hands at such notions because there is not conclusive proof of any of these suggestive theories.  However, an apt analogy is the story of what we now consider the basic building block of our physics, the atom. The concept of the atom existed long before proof of it came. The idea existed with the ancient Greek philosophers Leucippus and his student Democritus. The mathematics finally told us there must be an atom, and Albert Einstein building on Robert Brown’s observations finally created a persuasive argument along with analysis by French physicist Jean Perrin. Thus it took several thousand years to prove what many instinctively knew must exist.

So let’s dig just a little deeper. Where does this specific, rather crazy idea, come from that we are in a projected “holographic” universe?  That we are just data bits of information existing for a higher purpose?  Well, it comes from the latest research in astrophysics.

Understandably, this jump to a digital holographic universe projected by a computer-like program is a big one. However, as an example, quantum physics now understand from mathematics and observation—via the help of astronomy—that black-holes in space actually retain coded information on their surface. Black-hole modeling mathematically shows that they get codes on their surface when objects fall into them. While the matter of objects sucked into the black holes is dissipated, the information carried by that matter is retained as a type of “projection” on the event-horizon or surface of the black hole. That is not easily understood, but the physicists and the mathematicians, including the late Stephen Hawking, have confirmed it.

Wave theory, a new foundation formula of the universe?

This discovery leads to the bigger theory which is that the entire universe may be an electric force wave projection of sorts from a higher plane of existence. The “projector” that projects or plays the “movie” of our current life/universe is actually an electric-based wave form. We now know gravity waves do exist just as Einstein predicted years ago but could not then prove. Gravitational waves transport energy as gravitational radiation. Other waves may exist as well which transport information via digital code. Quantum physicists theorize this particular theory as using a “vibrational wave form information field”—possibly a new foundation formula of the universe.

People have a big problem reconciling how we and all matter could all be part of one universal program or consciousness. Yet, entangled particles prove information can exist everywhere and at the same place and time. Two entangled particles, whether they be inches apart, or light years apart, instantly retain the same information.

When a holographic laser image or even the newly developed holographic digital image is broken down, it still retains an image of its entire projection. In other words, you cannot cut a hologram into half or into fourths because every part of it retains the overall image of the program. Particles making up the hologram function as we are now finding our universe functions. This is a radical idea, and it merits consideration and should not be meant as an insult to those who have different beliefs.  It is all too easy to just join the crowd. It takes more to stand up to the crowd—to explore new ideas objectively.

Holograms are now actually a new form of art. The images are very real, even though they are projected. They are real because the conscious mind perceives and appreciates them.

A recent article in New Scientist gives a good perspective on these theories:

Could our cosmos be a projection from the edge of the observable Universe?
Sounds like a silly question, but scientists are seriously taking on this idea. As it happens, a gravitational wave detector in Germany is turning up null results on the gravitational wave detection front (no surprises there), but it may have discovered something even more fundamental than a ripple in space-time. The spurious noise being detected at the GEO600 experiment has foxed physicists for some time. However, a particle physicist from the accelerator facility Fermilab has stepped in with his suspicion that the GEO600 “noise” may not be just annoying static, it might be the quantum structure of space-time itself…

We could be on the verge of one of the biggest discoveries mankind has ever stumbled across. And in this case we would have, quite literally, stumbled over it. A detector, designed to search for the very big (i.e. gravitational waves propagating from supernovae, spinning neutron stars and colliding black holes), will have accidentally probed subatomic scales, revealing the limits on the fabric of space-time. Alternatively, it could just be noise, so in which case, gravitational wave-hunters can get back to work once they’ve tracked down the mysterious source in instrumental static. However, scientists are at a loss to explain the noise, and have turned to an expert in the quantum world to help them understand what might be going on. The implications could be revolutionary.

The German-British GEO600 is a 600 meter-long gravitational wave detector in Hanover, using lasers to converge on a highly sensitive interferometer. Apparently, it is the most sensitive instrument of its type. Gravitational wave detectors are set up to detect the slight fluctuation in the distance between two points as a ripple in space-time passes through local space. In the case of GEO600, it can detect a fluctuation of an atomic radii over a distance from the Earth to the Sun. Craig Hogan, director of Fermilab’s Center for Particle Astrophysics, believes that GEO600 may have reached the limit on its precision, it might be limited by the quanta of space-time. The smooth, constant interpretation of Einstein’s view of space-time may need to be modified, as it too may be composed of quantum-scale “points.” As with subatomic particles, the detection of this space-time fine scale could lead to quantum fluctuations in the GEO600 results. “It looks like GEO600 is being buffeted by the microscopic quantum convulsions of space-time,” says Hogan.

But what does this have to do with holograms? For the quantum model of space-time to be confirmed, scientists would need to probe down to Planck length-scales (that’s a distance of 10-35 metres). Gravitational wave detectors may be able to detect tiny distance fluctuations, but they certainly are not capable of probing down to Planck length-scales.

Actually, this may be possible if the holographic Universe theory is correct.

This theory is born from other well known interpretations of the cosmos, in particularly the black hole paradox. As something falls into a black hole, passing the event horizon, the quantum information held in the event horizon can be encoded to reveal information about the interior. Therefore, the information inside the black hole’s event horizon is not destroyed (for details on this, see the Thorne-Hawking-Preskill bet). If the information about the interior of a black hole is encoded in its event horizon, scientists have come forward to point out that perhaps the information inside our Universe is encoded in the Universe’s horizon (a.k.a. the limit of the observable Universe, 13.7 billion light years away).

If the information is encoded in the horizon of our Universe, could it be that everything within this boundary is simply a holographic projection of this outer “shell”? In which case, the information encoded into the horizon will be held in Planck length-scale bits, and the projection (i.e. us and the space-time we know and love) will be a 3D representation of the Universal Horizon.

Going back to the GEO600; it could be detecting the “quantum fabric” of space-time after all, as the horizon projection will be of scales far larger than the Planck length, possibly up to 10to the 16th meters. When talking about gravitational wave detectors that can probe down to proton scales (<10-15metres), suddenly we see that these powerful detectors could be affected by the quantum fluctuations of space-time itself. As the projection is of scales significantly larger than the encoded horizon, the projection would appear “blurry” according to Hogan.

It is hard to understand what this actually means, and physicists are currently trying to interpret these findings. If space and time are simply a rendition of encoded bits of information, projected from the horizon of our Universe, does that mean actions carried out in “local space” (i.e. here) are actually actions being carried out 13.7 billion light years away (and therefore 13.7 billion years ago) on the inner shell of the cosmic horizon?

On the other hand, it could just be noise…

  Art of the Soul

By Michael and James Hall

Part Three, Now that we have solved almost everything, what about Time itself:

All of this speculation of what is true energy and matter—which we are theorizing is simply the representation of information or “us” —begs a new question.  What is time?  How does that come into play?  It is an important question because if you study the accounts of a true or eternal plane of existence where our core energy resides or emanates from, you then run into something called “timelessness.”  In other words, in the afterlife—which is not really the afterlife but the true-life existence—time is characterized as the future, present and past all as one whole. This is substantiated by numerous case studies spanning decades—all from around the world from those who have had near death experiences or have been regressed in hypnotic trances and have impressions or visions of the “after-life.”.

So, what is Time?  This is the question my son James asked me a long time ago.  It lead me to start compiling a very complete annotated scrapbook of his life which we have continued to work on together for years. It all started one evening when he was around four years old. He took great exception one night when a stray kitten, which we had befriended out on the back patio, had suddenly died. The cat’s name was Pluto, and aptly so at a when time James was intently learning about the planets.

Certainly, it was quite a shock for such an impressionable little boy—to have this fascinating young kitten just stop living.  However, instead of getting sad, James became very reflective. He went on to insist that I build him a time machine to reverse this unfortunate series of recent events. He understood full well the cat no longer lived.  So he reasoned we should go back to a time when it did.  Made perfect sense.

However, try as I did I could not make it happen. Then James asked, “Why not?” “What is time anyway?”  Pretty good question for a four-year old boy I thought. 

 A writing project followed that has spanned many years now compiling a book we call James’ Time Machine.  Yet, I have still to answer his question. What is time?

 In the last year of his life, Albert Einstein theorized that the past, present and future all exist simultaneously. All time is affecting all time, all the time. It sounds like a Salvador Dolly painting. Yet we now know our natural perception of a linear timeline is wrong. That is—it’s wrong if you view it from the standpoint of a “now.”  “Now,” Einstein argued, is an illusion. He came to completely dismiss any division between past and future.

Time dilation.

 Einstein had already proved that time is relative, not absolute as Isaac Newton theorized. Early in his career he demonstrated that the faster a body travels toward the speed of light the slower time passes. This was proved when the Apollo astronauts flew to the moon. Time had actually passed slower for them than the people on Earth. The astronauts had truly aged less although the actual difference was a minuscule measurement completely imperceptible, yet it was recorded by the spacecraft’s on-board clocks in comparison to identical clocks running on Earth. Like everything in life there is a name for this. It is called time dilation.

 The time dilation principle is equally valid and more dramatic for a theoretical spaceship traveling close to the speed of light. In that case an astronaut would experience only a few hours while a bystander back on Earth would simultaneously experience several days. In other words, the faster your motion the slower time elapses. He found that space and time were interwoven into a single continuum known as space-time. The same event could occur at a given time for one observer and at a different time for another observer.

 Perception is the key word here because if you advance the theory further with even greater speed, time would cease completely. You would have timelessness. This is what is reported in the after-life or eternal plane of existence—just as people who have near-death experience report a sense of time moving at a different pace than those still living. On the quantum physics level, their vibration or wave function is changing.

Richard Feynman followed Einstein with a theory known as Sum over Histories which suggests time is simply a direction in space with many paths. (Quantum physics now call Feynman’s sum-over-histories approach the Feynman path-integral formalism.)

So according to Einstein and Feynman, time is simply motion through space. It represents movement of particles reacting with other particles as they interact and move from point A to point B and so on.  Coupled with this is the concept that there are many possible combinations along a path in space and thus many different time-lines that are possible and all variations of a time-line may happen. It is not clear if different scenarios create different histories or perhaps parallel universes, but this is all being examined by quantum physicists.

Can we save the Titanic?

Let’s try and bend our mind around such a concept. In our perceived reality the RMS Titanic sank in 1912.  In another perceived time-line it may have never struck an iceberg. Or, it may have struck an iceberg and sank, but in a different way and on a different date. Yet, whatever other scenario played out, it did not happen in this time line or path but another. To make it even more mind boggling is to theorize that every possible scenario that can happen, does happen and at the same time in the same space.  Believe it or not this is a theory proposed in quantum mechanics. It is all really hard to wrap one’s mind around.  But, let’s explore the idea further—that time is one constant and has no past, present or future but is merely motion through space. How can our minds even process a thought like that? 

The concept that we are all in motion is certainly correct.  Even lying in our beds at night we are traveling at great speeds because we are living on a planet that is traveling at tremendous velocity around a star that is in motion around a spiral arm of a galaxy that is also in motion as it expands out into a great universe. Everything is in constant motion. The motion which we are in is like a harmonic frequency which may be unique. Our harmonic amplitude is the extent of a vibration or oscillation of our mass.  This “frequency” may determine or define our perceptible universe and other bodies at a different vibration or oscillation may represent other universes which cross over or occupy the same space as ours. These multiple universes may represent the many possible paths matter can take as it travels through space. So in theory, almost any possible time-line could play out in many multiple universes. The one we perceive would just be unique to us. In our time-line universe, the Titanic sank in 1912. In other dimensions, there are many other scenarios. In one maybe the Titanic was saved.

However, how can the past, present, and future all represent one constant whole? Time certainly has temporal markers.  For example, we did have breakfast at a certain time this morning. That is a fact. However, was that breakfast a measurement of time or was it a measurement of motion?

Are we living in a pixilated Universe?

In 1925 Werner Heisenberg in association with Max Born and Pascual Jordan proposed a Matrix Theory or matrix mechanics in which space and time are divided into units of plancks (As theorized by Max Planck in 1900) and that space time is thus pixilated—just like a modern two-dimensional computer screen uses pixels to form images. Time and space are pixilated into three dimensional planck length units that form a measurement of “quantum” or the minimal element of the energy. The theory thus views particles as matrices in the equation of time and space. On the other hand, there is no experimental proof for non-pixilated space time (also called smooth) which was a concept Einstein never could agree with. Einstein felt space time must represent a “smooth” form that he could never quite reconcile this in his equations. Although despite all this, Einstein had to concede the planck length unit must be the smallest most basic quanta in the mathematics of space time.

The future can affect the past.

Recently a new theory has arisen supporting the concept that time is all one constant. It proposes that the future can affect the past.  This idea is also found in theories of quantum mechanics. In quantum mechanics you have something called “nonlocality.” We mentioned this before. Nonlocality is where two or more particles exist in entangled states— which simply means they are interrelated or have a connectivity to each other. Although they are interrelated or entangled, they may not be in close proximity to each other, but they can be parallel to each other as well. The amazing thing is their relationship to one another is not determined until they are observed or measured. The sheer act of observation by a sentient being determines entanglement. This may be, as discussed, another indication to a computer-like generated digital holographic universe principle.

By the way, you may not believe in any of this, but in the practical world this physics of entanglement is leading to amazing technological advancements in computing and cryptography. So it is all very “real” science, and it is already part of your daily life in what we consider the real world.  But what does it have to do with time and how can the future affect the past? Again, art in the form of the works of Leonid Afremov come to mind when trying to visualize such impressionistic images of what that path might lead to.

Free will.

Science tells us, in certain circumstances, when you measure or observe particles in entangled states, the act of measurement of the states of the particles can be shown to affect the states that the particles were in at an earlier time.  Now that is about as mind-blowing as the idea that we are living in a computer-generated holographic universe.  But what does it mean?  Can we change the past? Maybe we can build a time machine.  This is what started my son’s quest!

It may indicate something even more profound. It may mean that there is “continuous interaction” between past and future events. The bottom line here is that if this is true, it also means we have free will.

This concept of time is very important if you believe that our lives are just a holographic project program designed to give us a learning experience.  In other words, in such a theory, you would think that everything you are going to do is already preordained (determinism)—but it is not.

In other words, you can change the program—somewhat at least and that means events are not predetermined (non-determinism).  And it makes sense because if you cannot make choices, how could you learn? If you could not make choices the program could not be interactive and being interactive or conscious-driven is the whole point of the theory.  So we very much need to prove free will.

The big question I guess is—is there such a thing as a temporal time? Or, is it an illusion that our physical brains create to help us process information?

Here is another example physicists give. When any of us read a book, we read it one page at a time. Yet, by the end of the book we have a complete story.  That story is by then a constant and not just one or two or however many pages.  “IT IS.” It is a whole or one. Even if you are one of those people who skips to end of a book to find out who murdered whom, you still come up with a constant regardless if you know every fine detail or page that got you there. Again, the sum total simply IS.

How many of us can relate to the days of our College philosophy class when the professor said to us that today he would “prove that we exist.”  Cogito ergo sum,  René Descartes’ epiphany “I think, therefore I am.” It is so simple yet so elegant. Descartes reasoned that the very act of contemplating served to prove the reality of our own mind. Skeptics will say anything can be an illusion, but many say even if it is an illusion, you have to be a sentient mind to be able to perceive it. We may not always fully understand what we perceive. Yet, we perceive therefore we are. 

In other words, as Einstein theorized, time is all one whole and it simply is. Individual pages detailing that whole are just place markers. Now there may be many versions of a given story, all playing out just a little differently each time. Perhaps many universal dimensions occupy many slices of space—all occurring at once as we move through space.  But that movement is not a movement through time.  It is a movement that represents the dimension of motion.

We are all in motion. According to quantum physics, we are composed at the very basic level of vibrating membranes or strings.  The vibration creates the environment for atoms to do what they do and make things out of combinations of elements.  That is how the computer program runs, but we also have the ability to observe, and that act of observation can make changes to the program. We have free will—in a reality—and we are sentient.

 Understanding the physics of it just requires an open mind.

 Physicist John Wheeler said “Reality is information created by observation by a conscious observer.” Quantum mechanics proposes particles only exist when observed.

In my mind music is a perfect analogy. Music exists but it is only relevant as it is being played. The music has physical laws behind the molecules in motion which creates it.   The musical cords create  emotion which is appreciated by a conscious mind.

 I am taken by numerous accounts of people who have had near death experiences sensing harmonic tones or music.  We may all have our own literal harmony. This symphony which makes up our own unique energy may be “us.” We may never understand the physics. We may never understand any of this.  It is our nature, however, to seek to understand.

I hope one day I can build James his time machine. Yet, if we are all in soul school—well then, we are already living in a time machine speeding along on our way.

 Michael and James Hall