The Meaning Of Being

What I’m going to talk about today concerns some really deep thinking by some of our best scientists. Stephen Hawking is one of them. He was discussing black holes and said something to the effect they may lead somewhere, but this somehow brought him to thoughts about our being. He said since we know nothing about what happens to data in a black hole it leads him to believe we cannot be sure what we think we know is true. He referenced our memories and history and indicated these could be false. Hawking has made some startling statements in his time and unlike a lot of other scientists admits intelligent design may play a part in our creation. This is certainly surprising to hear and I am sure it gave the creationists a boost. He claims there is a scientific factor which at times does not agree with the laws of physics and he calls it the God factor which he thinks played a role in determining the form of the universe.

Hawking changed the way he thought about many things when his brother had a near death experience and was clinically dead for 43 minutes. He had a heart attack. Here is what Hawking had to say about him, “my brother has always been a role model for me. His rational, cunning and no nonsense mind has shaped my personality into the person I am today and has led me into the study of the fascinating world of physics. But since his accident last October, he has come back a changed man.” His brother told him there was another sentient being on a world we were unaware of and that being told him he was God. Hawking talked about how modern science believes consciousness comes from within the human brain, but what his brother experienced happened after he was dead. This makes Hawking wonder if our brains are only receivers for consciousness and it is transmitted in the form of a wave, like a radio wave. He believes if this is true it could change our view of the universe.

There have been some scientists who over the years have thought of the universe as a living entity. Some have thought about things and pondered whether our universe is just the inside of some giant living being and what are planets and such to us are merely the giant’s biology. There is a difference between saying something is alive and saying it possesses intelligence. We know plants are alive, but I don’t think anyone would call any plant intelligent. In years past many people have tried to make the case the earth is a living organism and every time we drill into it or traumatize it in any way, we are hurting it and this could ultimately lead to the death of the earth. Some of the ancient Greeks believed in Hylozoism. This is a theory which states elemental matter was animate and could be conscious. Could something be conscious and yet we don’t realize it? There is a process known as Kirlian photography. It reveals auras around living things, which is things we know are alive. Here is the kicker however, it can also show an aura around something which we think is not alive. Could it be everything in this universe has some sort of live force as some believe?

There was a Catholic priest who died for 48 minutes and he claims he met God and she was a woman. He had a heart attack and was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead, but the medical staff continued to work on him and were able to restart his heart. When he awoke about 2 days later he made an incredible recovery. He claimed to remember everything he saw after he was dead. He said he had a strange out of body experience and felt an intense feeling of unconditional love and acceptance and was surrounded by an overwhelming light. He said he went to heaven and met God who was a feminine, mother-like being of light. He said her presence was overwhelming and comforting, her voice was soft and soothing and her presence was as reassuring as a mother’s embrace.

I guess it is obvious to anyone who reads about this priest, that he could have dreamed about God in the two days after he was revived and thought he remembered this from when he was dead, but there are many other stories of people being brought back to life who were revived and became conscious immediately and remembered seeing God.

So taking all this in, what are we really looking at? There are those who say God exists, but not exactly in the way some of us think of him. They believe we are intelligent computer characters and God is a master programmer and has created a holographic world for us to live in. They base some of this on the fact there are some scientists who think the universe might just be a holographic projection. Let’s take a breath. If these same people would have lived about 500 years ago they might have said the universe is a painting and we are nothing more than characters from a painting brought to life by magic. What I am getting at is they are merely pointing to what they believe is the advanced technology of their time and claiming it is responsible for how things work. It does seem ridiculous on the surface of it.

What we really are, how our consciousness works and how the universe was designed, if it was, are questions we are not able to answer at the moment. I can almost be sure when we find out meaningful answers, there will be surprises for us. They may turn out to be pleasant surprises or not so pleasant surprises. Will we find out our universe it only contained in our brains and there is really nothing much out in space or will there only be holographic worlds waiting for us to discover? It could turn out as Hawking said, our memories and our history are all false. Maybe many of the people we think we are interacting with don’t really exist. Maybe Donald Trump isn’t really there, we just think he is. Okay so much for humor. My point is we are going to find out things and we may not be happy about some or all of what we do find out.