If you’ve taken a moment to read my recent blog article: What is consciousness?, then you already know that I believe there is a higher state of consciousness which exists as a fundamental part of the universe. There is no way for me to prove cosmic consciousness exits. I happen to believe it exists for a wide variety of reasons. Firstly there are compelling theories that resonate with me. Secondly humanity has a history of experiencing phenomena of a subjective nature, which we have tried to recreate and glorify in mythology and art. So much so that some would argue the substrate of subjective imagery has integrated with our DNA, recognized internally from amongst our supposedly—newly evolved collective unconscious, to then be projected haphazardly upon reality. This idea which originates from Jungian psychology theoretically helps to accelerate the maturity of our brains by providing a template for integrating with society. Thirdly I have lived long enough to experience my own fair share of life-altering psychic phenomena. Those experiences forced me to reexamine my preconceived notions of reality. The other reasons for my beliefs are stacking up as I continue to research the nature of consciousness.
One of the reasons people might be prone to dismiss the existence of cosmic consciousness has to do with the lack of observable data. If a theory on consciousness can’t be scientifically measured it’s easier to just label it woo-woo and move on. Yet historically as scientists continued to dissect reality into smaller and smaller particles we discovered that there was no such thing as matter. Quantum mechanics took it a step further to suggest that the exact positioning of particles can only be estimated within the realm of its wave function which is subject to change when we attempt to observe it. Reality therefore only operates unadulterated when we hesitate to make predictions and or act upon them. In the East those types of actions are historically known as Karma.
Regardless of our rather limiting observational capabilities, certain configurations of differing particle wave functions, coincide with vibrations, which vary from the activity of other particle configurations, and so on and so forth until eventually you end up with a symphony rather than a solo. Knowing all of this about the structure of the cosmos, in my opinion it doesn’t take much of a leap to consider cosmic consciousness as being just as elusive as an atom. Yet unlike the particles that make up our universe, cosmic consciousness has something to do with the spaces in-between. It is a vibration to be sure but also a vibration that begets other vibrations of an altering nature, both in purpose and intensity.
At the beginning of the universe there would perhaps have been a vibration that coincided with the cosmic dance of hydrogen and helium atoms. So how important is it to discover whether or not there was some sort of divine self-awareness present when the universe was in its infancy? In my opinion it is pointless to speculate. Many people can’t get past this part because they attribute cosmic consciousness to the existence of a divine being. I happen to believe otherwise so whatever sprung our cosmos into being is of less interest to me. We currently have a working reality and I’d rather focus on what makes it tick so that we can utilize that data to enhance the human experience. So then, as the universe expanded and evolved the particles that finally made it to our neck of the woods originated from an exploding star. The formation of our galaxy therefore included the stardust necessary to create life. This is the stage where cosmic consciousness becomes relevant to theorize upon.
Now remember that cosmic consciousness differs from simple consciousness, which is the measurable activity of our brains. Animals also possess a slightly less developed simple consciousness which is why they are capable of such things as dreaming, strategy, play and emotions. Cosmic consciousness on the other hand is an integral part of an animal’s life as well because the quantum vibrations of cosmic consciousness act as an animal’s software for instinctual behavior, the hardware being the animal’s brain upon which the software is operated. To better understand this theory it is important to think of a brain as not only being able to compute and store data on its own but that the brain also functions as an antennae to receive external data from cosmic consciousness. Although cosmic consciousness is utilized by both humans and animals, it is only the human experience that begs further contemplation because of the more advanced way in which humans experience qualia.
Qualia can be understood as the subjective experience of objective reality. Because of this our own personal subjective experience most likely varies from others on an individual basis. Luckily the differences between our personal subjective experiences are slight enough not to disrupt our collective experience of reality. I may judge an apple as being ripe by its color while someone else might experience the color of the same apple slightly different and therefore disagree with me on whether it is ripe or not, however the actual physical properties of the apple remain the same. The difference between a human experiencing qualia versus an animal experiencing qualia is that humans can think of the apple outside of reality. Humans are able to envision the apple as it will look the next day, the next month or even into a far off future where the seeds of the apple grow into a full size tree.
Qualia experiences aside, the stardust that humanity emerged from also emerged from a previous star exploding which was the result of yet another star exploding and so on and so forth back to the beginning of star explosions. Because the composition of stardust remains the same we can imagine what other galaxies might look like with a lot of help from modern telescopes. As more and more planets continue to be discovered, humanity searches hungrily for worlds that appear similar to our own. Alongside this endeavor rides an inkling of hope that we may connect with intelligent species such as ours. Unfortunately the distances are so vast that even if we did find evidence of sapient lifeforms, such as the wreckage of an alien space probe, there is most likely nothing we could do about it. The universe is simply too vast.
Despite this knowledge humanity now endeavors to leapfrog from Earth to Mars to Titan and so on, building up tiny outposts along the way in order to branch out from our small planet in the event that Earth becomes unlivable. Yet I ask you this, barring nuclear disaster, how could Earth ever become more uninhabitable than Mars? Perhaps I’m just guilty of not seeing the long game. Yet even the most ardent explorer has to admit there is a noticeable potential of futility in colonizing space. It’s true that we may be in reach of planets and or moons that hold the resources necessary for terraforming, yet there might be more to colonizing the cosmos than just out-engineering the lack of water, atmosphere or even sunlight. Cosmic consciousness, which I believe is synonymous with vibrations all the way down to the quantum level, should not be ruled out as being just as bound by gravity as we are. Taking it a step further, higher cognizant sapient life forms such as our own might only be able to exist long term on planets that are similar in size and gravity to Earth. This makes some sense if you consider the negative effects scientists predict space travel will have on cognition. Yes we may be able to reach Mars but that doesn’t equate to realizing a planet that could someday grow humans.
Oddly enough the building blocks of life on Earth may in fact have originated from Mars. After all Earth was once a planet hostile to life while Mars is thought to have been covered in water. If Mars had water and the potential for life was there, why aren’t we Martians? The age of our early galaxy was certainly a factor among other reasons yet, as we now know, the recipe for Mars flopped. Cosmic radiation may have played a part, it is after all one of the biggest obstacles to space travel. So if early Mars lacked an atmosphere, radiation would have been a nail in the coffin to life emergence on Mars. Earth eventually provided the optimal conditions and perhaps just enough rocks from Mars survived the decent into Earth’s atmosphere to scatter the seeds of life.
When considering my theories about cosmic consciousness it’s important to note that I do not consider myself to be a separate entity from Earth. Yes it’s true that I am not connected to our world by an umbilical cord but that does not change the fact that I am still a product of my environment. Humans possess acute senses, yet it is not possible for us to observe everything in our surroundings. We are bound to our reality in ways we may never fully understand. Part of this may have to do with the existence of other dimensions. If other dimensions exist and we have no way of detecting them, then it would be fair to compare our experience with that of a lifeform whose reality manifested in only two dimensions. We, like them, are only getting part of the picture.
Why would our perception of other dimensions be impossible? The answer is quite simple. Just as you are limited to what you can see of your own body, unless of course you’re standing in a house of mirrors, the object of a knower can never fully be self-discovered. Humans are an integral part of the cosmos on a quantum level and as such we cannot be aware of everything because even on a quantum level we cannot grow eyes on the back of our heads.
New scientific data suggests that if more than three dimensions exist the extra dimensions would leak-in gravitational waves causing those waves to weaken. Yet so far there is no observable-weakening of gravitational waves. This means extra dimensions, if they exist, would be a relatively local phenomena. If cosmic consciousness is integral to space-time geometry, part of the reason it may be so undetectable is that it is just so very small and nearby, probably even flowing through us just as blood flows through a heart.
Bound by the laws of physics in the ways I have suggested, cosmic consciousness should resemble a river rather than an ocean. In need of a specific cosmic environment in order to be relevant, the river of cosmic consciousness would pool and eddy around planets having similar gravitational properties to Earth. Unfortunately this would debunk the theory that cosmic consciousness can exist outside of time and space. On the other hand it is very exciting to consider because the flow of a river can be predicted, dissected, modeled and replicated. Indeed the natural spiral that a trickle of water forms while running downward on a smooth surface is very close in appearance to the models we have of human DNA. Wouldn’t it be fascinating to discover that we are an inseparable component of an actual stream of cosmic consciousness that essentially resembles our very own genetic structure? I certainly think it would be.
So for the moment I’ll dub my new idea as the QRT, or Quantum River Theory of Cosmic Consciousness. It’s not an actual working theory, just a rambling stream of consciousness for a blog article. But I had fun writing it and I hope others will enjoy reading it.
Thanks,
Conan De Moe
