The QUANTUM of YOU

How Quantum Science and ‘String Theory’ may help to finally explain life, death and our role in the cosmos.

Explaining the unknown is important to science, religion and philosophy, which have been at odds for centuries on almost every major topic - is the earth flat, do species evolve, does life exist beyond Earth, who are we, why do we exist?

Science takes a purely objective approach by developing theories and then proving or disproving them through experimentation.?Much has been conclusively proven by science and accepted by?most?religions, though much more still remains to be explained.?Important things, like a precise definition of when ‘life’ actually begins and what happens when life ends.

Philosophy has used logic, reasoning and critical discussion to explain the questions of existence since the days of?Aristotle?and the ancient Greeks.?In 1637,?René Descartes?famously coined the expression?‘Cogito, ergo sum’?which translates to “I Think, therefore I Am”, to explain human existence.?This was later expanded to?‘Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum’ meaning “I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am.” Descartes basically argued that we are alive because we are aware.

Religions take a 'faith-based' approach to explaining existence.?The religion to which one belongs is largely determined by the region in which they were born and raised. If you were born in China, for example, you were likely raised a Buddhist.?If born in India, Hindu.?If born in Saudi Arabia, Muslim.?If born in Italy, you are likely a Christian, more specifically Roman Catholic.

Unfortunately, the world’s religions are generally mutually-exclusive, and teach that their doctrine is 'true' and all others 'false'.?If their doctrine was not ‘true’ then they would expect to lose membership.?This conflict of teachings has led to incalculable bloodshed and suffering over the centuries.

DO WE EXIST?

Most assuredly.?Let’s consider something fairly simple and take a close look at MATTER. ?Matter is a given, right? Solid, real, permanent.

WHAT IS MATTER?

The nature of Matter is well known, proven by science and broadly accepted. The physical world is constructed of?molecules and atoms.?One molecule of water consists of 2 atoms of hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen, and the formula for making water is H2O.?If you mix 2 parts hydrogen with 1 part oxygen, you will produce water every time.?This is considered ‘proven’ science because anyone on earth can create the exact same water over and over again when using hydrogen and oxygen in the same way.

Moreover, we have actually seen molecules with scanning tunneling microscopes, so at this point, no one in the modern world disputes that matter is made up of molecules and atoms.

WHAT ARE ATOMS MADE OF??

Atoms are much, much smaller and almost impossible to see, but we do know that each atom has a nucleus made up of one or more protons and neutrons, and that the nucleus is encircled by one or more electrons.?Electrons fly around the nucleus like planets orbiting the sun, but they move at the speed of light.?If you could see an atom with the naked eye, you would see only a soft white electron ‘shell’ that would look perhaps like a ping-pong ball. ?

Interestingly, atoms are almost entirely empty space - an outer shell with a tiny inner core separated by space.?Given the fast-orbiting electrons, atoms never actually touch each other, not even when they form a molecule.?They are attracted and repelled from each other by atomic forces, but they never ever actually touch.?Atoms do not touch each other. Molecules do not touch each other.

When you grab an object – say a hammer – and you strike a nail with the hammer, the molecules in your hand never actually touch the molecules of the hammer, and the hammer never actually contacts the nail.?The atomic forces that hold atoms and molecules together are extremely strong and very difficult to break.?The objects only appear to be solid, but at the molecular level, they are not.

THE ’SOLIDNESS’ OF MATTER IS AN ILLUSION.?WE UNDERSTAND THIS INTUITIVELY, BUT WE SIMPLY CHOOSE NOT TO THINK ABOUT IT.

Atoms and molecules are not the smallest unit of nature – there’s more.

WHAT ARE ATOMS MADE OF?

An Atom consists of a core of protons and neutrons and one or more electrons.?Electrons are elementary particles that carry an electric field, but the atomic core can be broken down into elementary subatomic particles called ‘Quarks’.?This is the realm of?Quantum Particle Physics.?

In the ‘Standard Model of Elementary Particles’, quantum physicists have documented 6 types or ‘flavors’ of quarks including up, down, bottom, top, strange and charmed.?Experiments with large linear particle accelerators (atom smashers) in Switzerland, Japan and the US have all produced clear evidence for all 6 ‘flavors’ of quarks.

WHAT ARE QUARKS MADE OF??

Quantum theory has been evolving, but one concept accepted by many particle physicists is called ‘String Theory’.?[see the TED talk, “Making Sense of String Theory”]?

String theory says that quarks are made up of miniscule vibrating strands of energy ('superstrings'), and that the frequency of vibration (or ‘note’) of each strand produces the 6 flavors of quarks.?These energy strings therefore are the smallest unit of matter that exists, and the effect of these vibrating strings is to create what behaves and appears to be mass.?

While String Theory is still a theory, it is the leading theory for particle physicists to explain quarks.?If we assume this theory is true, then all matter at its most elemental level is made of pure energy. We'll consider what that would mean in a moment.

E=MC2 ??MASS ENERGY EQUIVALENCE

You may recall the famous Albert Einstein equation E=MC2.?This is called the ‘Mass-Energy Equivalence’ equation and says that energy can become mass and mass can become energy.?String Theory therefore explains 'how' the Einstein equation manifests itself in our universe, because matter and energy are essentially, one and the same.

Why is String Theory relevant??If matter is not solid and is mostly empty space, and if matter is actually built from strings of energy, then?our conclusion must be?that …

"MATTER DOES NOT TRULY EXIST.?The solid nature of matter is an illusion to us.?Everything that we see in the universe including our own bodies is energy formed and fashioned to behave as matter!"

For a more information on some of these concepts, please see the additional material referenced at the end of this document.

Let’s set aside the nature of Matter for a moment and shift our perspective.?

Let’s contemplate life as we perceive it today in the ‘physical world’.?To understand what life is, you must first consider what life is not.

WHAT IS LIFE?

Life is not the molecules or atoms of the physical body.?It is not the cells, the proteins, the DNA or the genetic code.?These elements together provide a structure capable of hosting life and make life possible, but they aren’t the essence of life itself.?Both living and non-living persons have molecules, DNA and cells, so those elements cannot define what life is.

Scenario. Consider the patient who dies on the operating table in a hospital.?One moment, the patient is alive - he is breathing, his heart is pumping blood, his brain has activity, all systems are working.?Then his heart stops.?Is he dead??Perhaps not.?The heart has merely stopped.?The doctors may revive him with an injection of adrenalin or by applying electric shock to his heart.

Let’s say his heart stops and the doctors cannot restart it.?Modern medicine knows how to connect equipment that continues to pump blood and breathe for a patient.?Say there is some brain activity - is that patient alive??No one can say.

So, what exactly is death??What exactly changes at that moment??Some religions teach that a person’s spirit leaves his body at the moment of death.?Is there a spirit??Turn the question around and ask, what is it that “powers life”?

WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN?

Let’s look at this question by considering when life begins.?A fertilized egg that divides from one cell to two is not yet an independent living thing, nor is one that divides from two cells into four.?During the long process of gestation, a fertilized egg divides and re-divides and eventually begins to form differentiated tissues, organs, and body parts.?Tissues and body parts are not life.

Some religions take the position that the moment of conception creates a new life, but while the fertilized egg has future potential, is it truly a separate life from the mother??Others argue that once the fetus has a recognizable shape and exhibits human parts that begin to work it is a living human being - but could it really exist on its own??Or maybe when the heart begins to beat and electrical brain activity begins, is this the point?

The truth is, nobody knows when life begins because we are unable to detect that point when that spark of life energy powers the fetus to give it its own independent life.?Given all the uncertainty, we tend to assume that life begins ‘very early in the process’.

THE "ENERGY OF LIFE"

Every living being consists of two parts – a physical structure to serve as a framework for living, and some amount of life energy to power the body and keep it running.

Think of an automobile.?All the parts of a car may be in place, but if there is no battery to give it energy nor a driver to give it direction, the car is effectively ‘dead’, a collection of parts.?Hook up a battery and add gas for energy, and add a driver, the car now has the potential to do something.?What is the equivalent of a ‘battery’ for the human body??What kind of energy is required to power us?

We know from science that energy can neither be created nor destroyed – it can only change form.?Light energy can convert into heat energy.?What form of energy enables life in plants, animals and people??We do not yet know, but there must be energy in some form.

Scientists have tried to detect changes in human body energy levels at the moment of death to see if they can capture the moment that life energy leaves, but to date, they have not been successful.?If they could capture and measure the event of death, then they might have a basis upon which they could determine the exact moments of life as well.

If all of matter in the universe is a form of pure energy, and the universe and life within it is powered by energy, then we live in an energy universe or ‘Energy-verse’.?The entire universe is a vast sea of energy.?Some type and portion of that energy must be capable of intelligence and conscious thought.

HYPOTHESIS: Life Energy Makes Life Possible

Let’s begin with a?hypothesis:?the difference between a living being and inanimate molecules is some form of life energy that we’ve not yet been able to see or measure.?Let’s see where this idea takes us.

Assuming there is a form of ‘life energy’, then the moment of death would be that point when life energy leaves the physical body.?Life energy, then, must equate to what religions refer to as the spirit or the soul.?In this context, the spirit or soul, or life energy, can neither be created nor destroyed and therefore eternal.?That basic concept accepted by almost all religions.

If that hypothesis is true, then every other living thing is likely also powered by life energy.?Not just humans, but animals, plants, even bacteria.?The amount of life energy required may differ between life forms and the amount of intelligence contained by the energy may vary, but the essence of the mechanism and process would be the same.

If the condition of a physical body and the environment around it are conducive to life, and if an amount of life energy enters that body, then life happens. Conversely, when those conditions deteriorate, and the physical body and/or the environment can no longer sustain life processes, then the life energy leaves the body and “death” occurs.

Life energy enters the body like a hand going into a glove, and when life is no longer possible, life energy leaves the body in the opposite fashion.

A key tenant of science is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but only change form.?What happens to life energy upon death??If it is not destroyed, then by default it must continue to exist, so if at the moment of death, the life energy-spirit-soul leaves the body, where does it go?

DEATH EXPERIENCE: the ‘White Light’

There are many documented occurrences of people who have “died” for a period of time and miraculously brought back to life later.?These stories almost always follow the same sequence: the individual sees themselves on the operating table or wherever their body lies and they are drawn down a long dark tunnel.?From there they advance towards a blinding white light, and as they approach the light, many see family members who died before them and are filled with a sense of tranquility, peace, comfort and love.?Nearly all confess a peace that is so complete, they did not want to leave that place to return.

The white light experienced by those who have died and returned occurs when their life energy begins to leave their body and becomes aware of the vast Energy-verse around them.?Somehow, they are able to recognize the individual intelligent energies of family members who have died before them, perhaps even ‘seeing’ them as they appeared in life.?Remember, without the shackles of a physical self, your energy could in theory take any form, so the possibilities are magnificent and endless.

The conclusion then is that at the end of your life, your life energy will be drawn like a magnet from your physical body towards a great sea of intelligent energy that exists across the universe.?The Energy-verse is therefore what religions refer to as ‘Heaven’.

CAN KNOWLEDGE SURVIVE DEATH?

The ‘Energy-verse’ in which we live must be “sentient”, meaning it is both conscious (aware) and intelligent.?I think of it as a ‘Sea of Intelligence’.

A great deal of knowledge is accumulated during a person’s time on earth, so why couldn’t that knowledge be imprinted upon an individual’s life energy and retained after death??If true, then this vast Energy-verse would contain the totality of knowledge gathered over the eons of time.

Television and radio signals are a form of energy that carry intelligence across space every moment of every day.?Knowledge is effectively ‘embossed’ on radio energy and either transmitted or received.?If your life energy is able to retain some of the knowledge it gains during a lifetime, then why couldn’t it retain all of the knowledge gained during a lifetime.?The cumulative retained knowledge across the universe would be a form of ‘omniscience’, truly God-like.?The natural conclusion would be that the sum total of intelligent energy in the Energy-verse is what we refer to as ‘God’.

Along this line, there have been many documented cases of individuals who are born with certain skills or detailed memory of prior lives, people from earlier centuries with information they could not have known.?Past life memories are often exposed through hypnotic regression, and cases of past life memory have troubled theologians and scientists alike.?There are also people who are considered ‘savants’ because they are able to play a piano beautifully without ever having seen a piano before or can perform complex calculations in their heads with no background in mathematics.?The concept of an ‘Energy-verse’ or Sea of Intelligence may help to explain this phenomena.

REINCARNATION

Hindus teach that humans may be reincarnated many times on their path to ‘enlightenment’.?While this concept is contrary to the teachings of most western religions, the very notion of life energy suggests that some form of ‘energy recycling’ is not only possible but the most likely scenario.

The “Law of Conservation of Energy” states that total energy within a system remains constant and can neither be created nor destroyed, but can only be transformed or transferred “from one form to another”.?That actually sounds a lot like reincarnation.?Think about it.?New life is constantly being formed and old life transformed.

SCIENCE or RELIGION

Religion teaches that people have souls, and that souls (may) go to heaven.?We have already seen how the concept of life energy as part of a larger ‘Energy-verse’ also supports this idea.?A quantum universe suggests ‘Intelligent Design’ is involved here.?The universe seems a rather purposeful physical framework constructed out of energy, a monumental undertaking - so who was its Creator??

My personal belief is that the collective Sea of Intelligence created and formed the universe we see, so in this concept, ‘God’ is that collective intelligence. ?This collective God is omniscient, omnipresent, and we are all created in the exact image of God.

If we can get past the religious mysticism and sectarianism introduced by man, then Science, Philosophy and Religion should be able to find a lot of common ground here.

THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

If each living being is part of the collective intelligence of ‘God’, then in that sense we are like God on a smaller scale.?Each individual lives, grows, learns and progresses over his/her lifespan.?The purpose of life, therefore, should be to learn, develop and to become more ‘God-like’ over time.

This, I believe, is the purpose of every living being.?We chose to spend time on Earth to experience difficulties and to learn from them.?While on Earth we are exposed to a lot of randomness.?Physical challenges, mental challenges, difficulties just to survive – but every challenge we face is an opportunity to learn, to grow and to improve.?We existed long before we were born, and we will continue to exist long after our physical body has expired.?

Whether you choose to take another ride in the 3d hologram amusement park that is our universe, or to return to the vast sea of intelligence that is God-Heaven is not important.?What is important is that we exist today and that we will exist forever.?Life on earth may be difficult and transitory in the moment, but given our eternal nature, it will always be interesting!

QUANTUM THEOLOGY

“You do not have a soul ... you are a soul, wearing a body.”

Assuming we live in a quantum universe intelligently built from shaped energy, let’s consider how this might be viewed from a religious perspective.

·??????IS THERE A ‘GOD’??YES.?God is effectively the sum of all sentient energy within the larger ‘Energy-verse’.?This concept of God is omniscient, containing all of the knowledge ever learned across the universe, is omnipresent, existing effectively everywhere, and all-powerful, able to manipulate energy and create universes.

·??????DO PEOPLE HAVE ‘SOULS’??YES / NO.?Religions almost gets this right.?You do not have a soul – you are a soul, a soul wearing a body.?Your life began the moment your life energy entered the physical body, and you will ‘die’ the moment your life energy leaves the body.?Before, during and after, the essence of you is always a soul, not something simply attached to the body like a shadow.

·??????DOES ‘HEAVEN’ EXIST? YES. When life energy leaves its host body, it experiences the peaceful transition to the brilliant light of the larger ‘Energy-verse’ and it is able to recognize other souls that have gone before.?Your soul rejoins ‘God’ and you are therefore a part of God.

·??????DOES ‘HELL’ EXIST??NO.?This concept was developed by man to manage and control people through fear.

·??????WHY DO ‘EVIL’ THINGS HAPPEN? Each person ‘becomes’ when life energy enters a receptive host body.?That host body may be less than perfect, damaged in some way, mentally or physically. Damage occurs as a random consequence of the nature and physics of our 'physical' world, and damaged people can sometimes do profoundly negative and unexpected things.?This is not the work of a ‘DEVIL’ but random events from damage that cannot always be overcome.

·??????MUST WE ‘REPENT’ to be ‘SAVED’??NO. Your soul will return to the larger ‘Energy-verse’ regardless of what happens to you on Earth in this life. ?While you may have randomly received a defective mind or body which results in bad things, your soul is good and pure and indestructible. Notions of faith and repentance are concepts that were developed by man to manage and control the people around them.

·??????DOES ‘PRAYER’ WORK??MAYBE.?Prayer may open pathways of communication between individual life energies and the larger ‘Energy-verse’, or it may be a type of tool that can direct energy that benefits the physical body.?Much more to be explored and learned in this area.

·??????WHY WAS THE UNIVERSE CREATED? ?As discussed previously, the 'physical' universe we see is a construct of shaped energy.?It is not a solid thing, but an illusion, a complex 3D hologram in which we can share experiences not possible in spirit form.?Just as people love an amusement park with its thrill rides and mind-bending simulations, a 3D universe creates many opportunities to experience and learn not otherwise be possible.?There is no guarantee you will have a perfect ‘ride’ when you come to the physical universe.?Whether born into royalty or poverty or slavery, the objective must be to learn, to adapt and to seek the best possible outcome for that life, regardless of the situation and random defects.

?WHAT’S NEXT???Enjoy Living!!??Go out and enjoy the ride you’re on, make the absolute best of your circumstances, and don’t be afraid to look forward to what comes next.

ADDITIONAL READING:

I highly recommend the book?“The Physics of God”?by author Joseph Selbie.?The book deep dives into the mysteries of quantum particle physics, and concludes that energy is the building block of matter, and that our 3D universe is really more like a massive hologram of energy shaped as matter and not the physical world that we perceive it to be.

“Like the tiny dots that make up a newspaper image, ultra-tiny, subatomic, three-dimensional, pure energy “dots” make up the universe.

“This information exists as a hologram-like, dynamically evolving, two-dimensional energy template that continuously projects the entire physical universe into being.”???

Physicist?Brian Green?– TED Talk - Making Sense of String Theory:

https://www.ted.com/talks/brian_greene_on_string_theory?language=en

Physicist?Michio Kaku?- Explains Multiple Universe, Wormholes and String Theory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYAdwS5MFjQ

Wikipedia:?Super String Theory:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstring_theory

Discover Magazine: The Fall & Rise of String Theory:

https://discovermagazine.com/2016/june/7-fall-and-rise-of-string-theory