by Dr Manjir Samanta-Laughton | Nov 21, 2017 | Punk Science, Simply Divine
In terms of studying consciousness, the Near Death Experience or NDE could be giving us valuable evidence indicating that consciousness continues after death. Indeed, the phenomenon of the Near Death Experience leads us to face a fundamental question; does our consciousness exist beyond the brain and body?
The Reductionist view
To the reductionists, this question is an easy ‘no’, as they believe that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of the brain, emerging from neurons as a side effect of electrical firings. To them, all humans are simply mechanical apes who have developed a few special faculties to give them an evolutionary advantage. In the reductionist world, the brain and body are machines and the primary agents of life – nothing is animating them. When death occurs, this primary agent of life is destroyed, end of story.
Over the years however, evidence of people having a conscious experience during periods of zero brain activity has accumulated. The concept that consciousness can exist beyond the brain challenges the reductionist belief system that the body is nothing more than its constituent parts.
Beyond the Brain
It is important to note that it is still a belief system though. There is no absolute proof that consciousness emerges from the brain. Professor Gary Schwartz of the University of Arizona gives us a brilliant analogy. He compares the brain to a mobile/cell phone. Just because you can hear a voice coming from a mobile phone does not mean that your friend lives inside the phone.
If the phone gets damaged, you know that your friend is not affected; the phone was just receiving her voice. Schwartz says that the brain could be acting in a similar fashion – it is just a receiver and a conduit for consciousness, rather than the generator of it.
Hidden Science TV Special
As part of the Hidden Science series for The People’s Voice TV, I co-produced, wrote and presented a special on the Near Death Experience featuring guests:-
Dr Penny Sartori, A former intensive care nurse and the author of The Wisdom of the Near Death Experience.
Graham Nicholls who is an expert in out-of-body-experiences and the author of several books including ‘Avenues of the Human Spirit’
And Jazz Rasool a former physicist and molecular biologist who has created the Energy diamond Software.
Watch out for when we discuss black holes and the Near Death Experience. Enjoy!
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
If you would like to know more about the science of The Near Death Experience check out Simply Divine, an Easy Guide to the Science of Spirituality.
Image: Shutterstock
by Dr Manjir Samanta-Laughton | Sep 14, 2017 | The Genius Groove
In 2009, I caught up with one of my favourite wisdom teachers, Soleira Green.
Those of you who have been with me from the old days of 2004 and the Children of the New World Conferences will remember her fabulous talks.
Since then she has founded so many initiatives as a visionary coach and genius accelerator but most of all Soleira is so ahead of everyone else’s teaching that she is impossible to define.
If ever anyone is constantly evolving the ‘new’ it is her and her network.
In this interview, she gives a succinct explanation of genius a long time before the rest of the world caught up to this way of thinking.
She explains how true genius is the place where the inner and outer genius pool meet and that tapping into this meeting place can be taught.
Enjoy the interview. There is more about The Genius Groove here. Find out more about Soleira Green and Genius here.
by Dr Manjir Samanta-Laughton | Aug 31, 2017 | Paradigm Revolution, Punk Science
Harry Oldfield has been an important figure in the field of alternative health for many years. He is a scientist and inventor and his invention of the Polycontrast Interference Photography or PIP has allowed us to perhaps look into dimensions of the universe otherwise invisible.
I feel he is a real unsung hero. I am just so honoured to know this gentleman. On our very first meeting I was attending one of his talks. The organiser of the lecture had given Harry my paper – Quantum Bio-Cosmology and Harry had read it in the car on the way to the venue.
When I introduced myself and he realised I was the author he shook my hand and said that it was an honour to have me in his lecture.
And it has gone on from there with mutual respect for each other’s work.
So I was excited to have the opportunity to present the idea to the Hidden Science team of doing a special dedicated to Harry Oldfield and his work which indeed we did.
You can see the results in the video below. Enjoy!
Image: Shutterstock
by Dr Manjir Samanta-Laughton | Aug 17, 2017 | Simply Divine, The Genius Groove
In this article we are going to be talking about Forgiveness. Is there something in your life that you just can’t seem to let go of? Has someone in your life really bothered you? You know you should forgive them but you just can’t forget or let go of what happened.
This happens to a lot of people – they know that forgiveness is something they should strive for but can’t quite get there which makes them feel even more guilty.
It’s no wonder, as the way in which we are taught to forgive makes it difficult. I think we are taught to forgive in a way that is all wrong; we are told we should forgive and forget and it feels that we are letting that person off the hook.
This also makes us feel that anybody can do anything to us and we will say it is OK. This can make us feel vulnerable to being attacked again in the same way by that person and that we will just let them off the hook.
It is healthy for us to have boundaries and personal integrity so the usual advice on forgiveness can cause conflict within us. So how can we get peace from the memory of the situation without feeling like we are allowing someone to get away with it?
First – you don’t need to forgive the person or be open to them do it again. What they did was not OK by you, you don’t want that to happen again.
Image:Shutterstock
If you change your perspective and realise that it is not the person that you need to let off the hook, but to understand the situation, then you can move towards healing within yourself. You need to understand and process why the situation has come into your life. Once you get that ‘aha’ moment then the inner shift can occur so that you can move on from the emotions.
In Simply Divine we discuss how the Black Hole Principle implies that we have aspects of our consciousness out of space and time beyond the speed of light. This is what is traditionally called the Higher Self.
This is the aspect of us that chooses our lives and everything that happens in it. The key to our healing is to move towards an understanding of why our Higher Self has introduced a particular incident and the healing journey that this has engendered.
What has been this gift in this?
Just asking the question ‘what has been this gift in this?’ can shift the entire feelings about a situation. Sometimes this type of work is so effective that the situation will not affect us anymore and we will feel much more free.
For more information on how you can access Simply Divine click here.
Main Image: Shutterstock
by Dr Manjir Samanta-Laughton | Aug 3, 2017 | The Genius Groove
In this article, we shall be examining the science and quantum physics of Big Magic. In the book, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, she describes how she had an idea for a very specific type of novel with a particular type of plot and characters. Although she got a contract to write the book, she never got round to it as life intervened and she had the immigration struggle of her husband to deal with.
Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Big Magic
By Steve Jurvetson from Menlo Park, USA (Amusing Muses) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
When she got back to the book, the impetus had left and she didn’t write it. So it was with amazement that she hooked up with another writer friend whom she had just met and not shared her plot with and essentially this friend was writing the same book only the details such as location had changed.
They had not conferred and there was nothing that the publisher could have said. Gilbert concluded that the book itself had needed to be birthed and as she herself had not done it, the idea had simply gone to someone else. Gilbert elaborates throughout the book on how ideas exist somewhere waiting to be birthed in partnership with us.
She admits that she doesn’t understand how it works. In The Genius Groove, I outline how, with the scientific knowledge that we currently have, we could explain the creative processes that Gilbert describes.
This model flips the usual explanation of consciousness around. Instead of consciousness and information being produced by the brain, the whole universe is created from consciousness as posited by some quantum physicists.
Even mainstream physicists discuss how all we can really know about the universe is information. When we get down to the tiny subatomic level, we find that reality is more ethereal than we first thought. When it comes to an electron, for example, we cannot say why it always has a charge. We don’t know what is powering it. We can just say that the information of an electron is that it has an electric charge.
Science tells us that the universe is filled with information. Is this the source of our creative Big Magic? (Videoblocks)
So even mainstream scientists would agree that a fundamental aspect of the universe is information. In the new model of creativity the brain is not the generator of consciousness or information as the brain itself is made up of atoms. The brain is an organ that has a particular purpose to act as a conduit for information.
Concepts from Quantum Physics say that we are living in a dynamic field of light the Quantum Vacuum. From what we have discussed before – we know this field contains information.
We can now put the science behind Gilbert’s experiences. Projects, Poems and books can exist in the field, ready to come through the brain of a ready recipient.
So the idea for the novel existed as a wispy idea in the information field ready for someone to receive and download the full novel. Maybe we should change the name from ‘Big Magic’ to ‘Big Informational Field Brain Processing’!
But I don’t think it will catch on. Essentially Gilbert has written a detailed description of her experience of creativity without proving a mechanism. Why should she? Science especially paradigm revolutionary science is probably not her thing.
Luckily we have a The Genius Groove for a fuller explanation complete with scientific references.
Check out The Genius Groove here for more.
What are your thoughts? Do you think that in Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert is describing the Quantum Field? You can comment below.
Image: Pixabay
