This document provides an overview of idealist and panpsychist perspectives on how the universe works. It discusses the following key points in 3 parts:
1) Consciousness is proposed to be primary, with the material universe being dependent on consciousness. This view is called idealism. Several prominent physicists are cited in support of some form of idealism or panpsychism.
2) The quantum vacuum of infinite potential is proposed as the basis for consciousness. This passive field is likened to the "Void" described in mysticism. For infinite potential to be expressed, the universe must develop complexity like life and intelligence.
3) Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy and panpsychism is discussed as providing
2. *A Gödel Complexity Factor?
• Some (many?) scientist see a need to identify a “higher”
*context or framework for quantum physics to playout, a
context/source for the spontaneity of quantum
phenomenon and for observer initiated wave collapse
• Some call it “mind,” some “consciousness,” some simply an
“observer”
• “The Universe Is Not Locally Real” – 2022 Nobel Prize
Physics; A Aspect, J Clauser, & A Zeilinger
• Mathematician Sir Roger Penrose: “Consciousness must be
beyond computable physics… the presents of
consciousness is not an accident” – believes in panpsychism
• Link: Consciousness relies on quantum entanglement
• We will be talking more about mathematician Kurt Gödel
later
5. Entropy: Simpler math & hot uniform plasma to cooling,
differentiation, & complexity = mathematical “chaos.”
Mathematics ignores purpose & meaning in life/consciousness.
Math: Simpler &
More Uniform
Math:
Complex
Image credit: Rhys Taylor, Cardiff University
Actually a Negentropy (Entaxy)
Directionality of Time
Or Big Inflation
(Creation Event)
“…our cosmos must be a ‘participatory’ phenomenon requiring the act of observation--and
thus consciousness itself.” John Wheeler
6. The self organizing universe evolves towards ever greater
specialization and energy efficiency, so does life/human systems
Time as the sequence/process of causation unfolds new meanings
and purpose as it flows, the speed of causation = speed of light
Simple Complex (Teleological)
Evolution of Universe & Directionality of Time & Causation
Same “Ur” Pattern as Evolution of Life
& Evolution of Civilization
“Nothing in Nature is random”
IIya Prigogine: non-equilibrium thermodynamics
7. Self Organizing Negentropy (Entaxy)
1st Big Bang-Like Event (Torus?)
7th Leading
To Complex
Life
The universe is an open system with access to absurdly vast
energy to drive negentropy/organization. The universe has the
same evolution “Ur” pattern as biology & life, evolves from
simple to complex: With entropy (heat loss & complexity) the
universe gets more sophisticated and energy efficient.
2nd Hot Uniform Plasma
3rd Plasma Cools (Falls) To Hydrogen
4th Hydrogen Forms 1st Gen Stars
Creates Organics and Metals
5th 1st Gen Stars Explodes
6th Stars With Planets & Organics
More Stars Explode
Exploding stars
seed & spread
materials for
planets and life
8. We live in a world gone mad
• I hope this PowerPoint contributes to a more rational
understanding of the universe
– See the universe without theistic and atheistic delusions
– To invalidate radical theism that is perpetrating so much
pointless violence and intolerance
– To promote a better understanding of how the universe,
our world, our religions, and our civilizations work
• To understand this ppt you will need to have a basic
understanding of philosophical idealism, theological
theodicy (the problem of evil), and some familiarity with
classical mystical religious experiences – spiritual
“feedback loops”
• Yes, it is a little long, but it is “How the Universe Works!”
9. My little project book collection on my sofa, yes those are stacks of LPs behind them.
Idealism is a minority opinion in physics, but see the slide notes for physicist and other
Ph.D.'s that support some form of idealism. See notes for a complete list.
“The stream of knowledge is heading towards a
non-mechanical reality; the Universe begins to
look more like a great thought than like a great
machine… we ought rather hail it (mind) as the
creator and governor of the realm of matter” Sir
James Jeans
“No phenomenon is a phenomenon
until it is an observed phenomenon”
Niels Bohr
10. 4 Premise in 3 Parts
• Premise 1: The universe is nondual monistic idealism - “full
idealism” the entirety of the manifested conditioned universe is
ontologically based on the unconditioned/consciousness
• Premise 2: The quantum vacuum* of unconditioned (w/o
conditions or limits) infinite potential is the basis of consciousness,
the mystics refer to this conscious passive field of potential as the
Void, it is both scientific and experiential. The infinite potential
MUST express itself into the manifested conditioned reality.
• Premise 3: This reality must have the non-random complexity and
tools needed to express this infinite potential, e.g. life,
intelligence, etc. A (infinite potential) = B (expressed complexity)
• Premise 4: Idealism explains theodicy (systematic evil/suffering of
all/everything)
• Lastly, possible conclusions: The Void/universe is a conscious
complex system and has purpose or meaning (possible or
proposed conclusions to unknown or not fully understood Gödel
complexity factors)
*See Notes
“In a certain sense, everything is everywhere at all times.” Alfred North Whitehead
11. Part 1: Idealism
(A.N. Whitehead’s Panpsychism? See slide notes)
• Consciousness is primary (first), the material universe is
“as if” secondary (actually codependent)
– Observer needed for wave collapse & manifestation, as per John
von Neumann & Eugene Wigner, see notes*
• Idealism is a minority opinion in physics, but has had
many well-known proponents
• Idealism can explain “spooky” things, both spiritual &
quantum physics
• Can explain the religious theodicy problem
• Panpsychism is crazy, but it’s also most probably true
• Physicist Tom Campbell on consciousness
• Is The Universe Conscious?
• http://www.quantumgravityresearch.org
• Does Consciousness Exist Outside of the Brain?
Anaxagoras
12. Dean Radin’s Idealism (up to 35 min):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h9rUffjiow
A psychologist doing physics on consciousness, see notes*
Observer
“Nothing
in
Nature
is
random”
Is Consciousness the Unified Field? John Hagelin
13. Dean Radin’s Idealism:
A psychologist doing physics on consciousness
My thesis: The universe is nondual (dual aspect) monistic idealism,
Void = quantum vacuum of infinite potential + consciousness
See Slide Notes
Passive Void of Infinite Potential
Observer
Depth &
Transpersonal
Psychology
“Nothing
in
Nature
is
random”
14. John Hagelin Ph. D Physics Harvard; “Infinite Silence”
creates “Infinite Dynamism” YouTube Slide, see notes and
my slide 12
A: Infinite Potential, must be un-manifested
(unconditioned, see definition in slide notes)
B: Becoming (conditioned things, see slide notes)
A must = B
full expression
of potential,
italics my
added notes
on slide
Void = Infinite Silence
Quantum “foam” bubbling up “bubbles” of particles, manifestation,
& “disturbances” creating universes from the vacuum of infinite
potential
15. My Premise: The Universe is Nondual
Monistic Idealism
• Nondual, a single unified basis of being, possibly based on
the universal quantum entanglement of quantum monism,
with expressed/manifested polar aspects necessary for
creativity and innovation
• Monistic, a single unified basis of being that is NOT a
manifested (conditioned) thing, e.g. theistic God
• Idealism, consciousness (arises from quantum
entanglement?) is primary and necessary to manifest
phenomenon
• However, like panpsychism and Buddhist thought this should
not devalue the “reality” of individual minds and
experiences, it is mistaken to simply believe in “one mind”
• Consciousness being primary goes “all the way up and all the
way down” and is nondual, you cannot divide things that are
in and things that are not in consciousness
16. Quantum Monism
Heinrich Pas: blogs.scientificamerican.com
• “According to quantum monism, the
fundamental layer of reality is not made of
particles or strings but the universe itself—
understood not as the sum of things making it up
but rather as a single, entangled quantum state.”
• “Taking quantum mechanics seriously predicts a
unique, single quantum reality underlying the
multiverse…which indicates that our observable
universe can be traced back to a single quantum
state, usually identified with the quantum field
that fuels primordial inflation…”
Consciousness? Idealism?
Hegel’s Idealism sought to rationally explain The One (Infinity)
17. Andrei Linde, Professor Physics, Stanford
University:
“On the evidence, our universe was created not by a
divine being, but by a physicist hacker.”*
“Submission” to your “all
powerful” Advanced Being
(AB) Creator!
*Non-random physics & structure
required of infinite potential “birth”
18. But, Andrei Linde on Consciousness
“Without introducing an observer, we have a dead universe,
which does not evolve in time. Does this mean that an observer
is simultaneously a creator?” & “Is it not possible that
consciousness, like space-time, has its own intrinsic degrees of
freedom, and that neglecting these will lead to a description of
the universe that is fundamentally incomplete?” & “Is it possible
to introduce a ‘space of elements of consciousness,’ and
investigate a possibility that consciousness may exist by itself,
even in the absence of matter, just like gravitational waves,
excitations of space, may exist in the absence of protons and
electrons? Will it not turn out, with the further development of
science, that the study of the universe and the study of
consciousness will be inseparably linked, and that ultimate
progress in the one will be impossible without progress in the
other?”
Idealism
19. More Idealism/Panpsychism
• Physicist Gregory Matloff argues that a “proto-
consciousness field” could extend through all of
space. Stars may be thinking entities that deliberately
control their paths. Put more bluntly, the entire cosmos
may be self-aware. "In principle, some purely physical
systems that are not biological or organic may also be
conscious.”
• New York University philosopher and cognitive
scientist David Chalmers is a proponent.
• Physicist Sir Roger Penrose introduced a key element of
panpsychism with his theory that consciousness is
rooted in the statistical rules of quantum physics as
they apply in the microscopic spaces between neurons
in the brain.
Idealism/Panpsychism
20. Astrophysicist Bernard Haisch
Book: “The God Theory”
• He proposes that the infinite potential of the quantum
vacuum + consciousness = “God” (my passive “Void”)
• “Haisch proposed that the the quantum vacuum with
the quantum fields that permeate all of empty space
produce and transmit consciousness, which then
emerges in any sufficiently complex system with energy
flowing through it. And not just a brain, but potentially
any physical structure” (e.g. plasma,* star, etc.).
• My Note: Those who experience the Void in deep
meditation or death (N.D.E.) describe it as a state of
super consciousness (with no “self” or ego), see slide 101
Idealism *Universe 99% plasma
21. Physics Is Pointing Inexorably to Mind
Bernardo Kastrup: blogs.scientificamerican.com
“… (Max) Tegmark is correct in considering matter—defined as
something outside and independent of mind—to be
unnecessary baggage. But the implication of this fine and indeed
brave conclusion is that the universe is a mental construct
displayed on the screen of perception. Tegmark’s “mathematical
universe” is inherently a mental one, for where does
mathematics—numbers, sets, equations—exist if not in
mentation?”
“As I (Bernardo Kastrup) elaborate extensively in my new
book, The Idea of the World, none of this implies solipsism. The
mental universe exists in mind but not in your personal mind
alone. Instead, it is a transpersonal field of mentation that
presents itself to us as physicality—with its concreteness,
solidity and definiteness—once our personal mental processes
interact with it through observation. This mental universe is
what physics is leading us to, not the hand-waving word games
of information realism.”
Idealism/Panpsychism
22. Dr. Dan Siegel MD, Professor
Psychiatry: Optimal Psychiatric
Self-Organization
• Emerges with integration, the linkage of differentiated
parts (as seen with Hegel, Bloom, Berlin, etc.)
• Integration is the basis of mental health (as seen with
culture and society)
• Consciousness (subjective experience) is needed for
change (flow of time and consciousness needed)
• Consciousness is needed for energy to move from
potential/possibility (passive, “as if” unconditioned)
to actuality (active/conditioned)
– Dr. Siegel calls the field of possibility “A Plane of
Possibility”
Idealism/Panpsychism
23. Duality & A.N. Whitehead
Process Metaphysics & Panpsychism
• English philosopher from 100 years ago
• Argues for the immanent unity of mind & nature
• Consciousness/mind must go all the way up and all the
way down (coherent/holistic) to avoid the pitfalls &
conflicts of duality – “full idealism”
• All things exist in/of a unified field of consciousness, some
things are “disassociated” from the field others are not
• If you say some things are/in conscious(ness) and some
things are not (as just manifested nature/material objects)
you must be able to prove this duality – who can? Where is
the dividing line?
• All-In-Consciousness can be consistent with mystical and
Eastern religions that propose some form of nondual
monism, pantheism, and panentheism
Idealism/Panpsychism
24. The Middle Way
• In Buddhism it is taught that absolutes and extremes are
wrong – the universe operates in the “Middle,” thus…
• Extreme theism wrong, extreme atheism wrong
• With Scientific Pantheism*, panentheism, and non-
theistic religions in the “Middle”
• A non-theistic religion is one that has no personal God
and no god who is separated from us by dualism – a
“god nature” is in all, a step up from pantheism, e.g.
“buddha nature” or “christ nature”
• Mystical/experiential religions are often non-theistic
with a passive “Godhead” (Void of infinite potential)
who does not intervene directly * See notes
25. Buddhism & Unconditioned
• Buddhism teaches that there must be an unconditioned basis
of reality (nirvana, inclusive of the passive Void of infinite
potential) or there would be no escape from the conditioned
manifested world of samsara (suffering):
– “O’bhikkhus, there is the unborn, ungrown, and unconditioned.
Where there not… the unconditioned, there would be no escape for
the born, grown, and conditioned.” (Udana 8:3)
• “The spiritual life is the ‘noble quest’ of the conditioned for
the unconditioned,” see “What is the Dharma?: The Essential
Teachings of the Buddha” By Sangharakshita, Chapter 5 “The
Mystery of the Void”
• In Buddhism the Void (field of “Great Emptiness”) is called
maha-shunyata and also “asamskrita-shunyata” which is the
“voidness (emptiness) of the unconditioned” (empty of all
conditioned aspects of being)
26. Unconditioned & Conditioned
Spinoza’s Substance & Finite Modes
• Can also be described as,
– Absolute (Hegel’s Infinite) & Relative (Hegel’s Finite)
– Or Bohm’s Implicit hologram-like whole “all-in-all” (Esoteric) &
Explicit (Exoteric)
– Quantum vacuum (as infinite potential to be) & manifested
“conditioned” universe (born of prior causes and conditions)
• Non-oppositional & interpenetrated
• “Two sides of same coin,” if one exists the other MUST exist
• In normal life the conditioned/relative obscures or hides the
Unconditioned/Absolute
• Can be resolved as nondual, the process of resolving this
relationship has “spiritual power” and meaning
• A conditioned thing (a manifested “Creator God” or “God
Being”) cannot be Ultimate or Absolute
“Nothing in Nature is random”
See Slide 27
Notes
27. Unconditioned & Esoteric Buddhism
Must be metaphysically/ontologically “as if” (as brute fact)
– Infinite potential, an unconditioned thing can only be in potential
(quantum rest state - a moment of infinite potential) from our
“perspective” & not manifested, finite, or a god “being”
– As the only actual/existing thing (as quantum vacuum/fields), all
manifested conditioned things are impermanent (“empty”)
– Passive (non-personal)
– Eternal, “unborn of a cause”
– Nothing can be “outside” or separated from it (no dualism)
– Cannot be involved in “conditioning” cause and effect
relationships (involves choices, changes, & this or that)
– Cannot be defined by definitions, names, or any other limiting
qualities, e.g. this (good) but not that (bad)
“as if” = absurdly vast, non-conceptual (e.g. no time, nonlinear time),
or any actual or “potential” (theoretical) infinity to functionally be
enough (absurdly vast energy & space/time) to “power” our
universe/system, see slide notes
28. Greatest Possible “God”
• MUST be unconditioned, w/o conditions or limits and
can only “exist” as an un-manifested field of potential
– “unborn of a cause”
• All theistic “Gods” are conditioned or limited which
places conditions on their being, actions, and/or on
us;
– Manifested, a “being,” Jesus, old man in the clouds, etc.
– “Good” but not “bad” (a limitation)
– Acts with a purpose, reason, intent, will, judges, makes
laws, etc. based on conditions/causes
– Responds to causes and conditions, such as reward and
punishment, mercy or wrath, etc.
– Talks to and responds to prophets, such as Moses,
Muhammed, etc. (only a conditioned god can do this)
29. Summary of Conditionality
Theistic God, It only takes one aspect to make it conditioned, see notes
CONDITIONED QUALITIES* (LESSOR) UNCONDITIONED QUALITIES (GREATER)
CONDITIONED (BORN) BY PRIOR CAUSES1 “UNBORN OF A CAUSE”
LIFE, SUFFERING, AND DEATH1 - FINITE “AS IF” INFINITE & ETERNAL
EMPTY OF INHERENT EXISTANCE INHERENTLY EXISTING (ACTUAL)
REACTS TO CONDITIONS & CIRCUMSTANCES
SUCH AS LAWS, ANGER, MERCY, WRATH,
REWARD, JUDGEMENT, & PUNISHMENT1
TRANSCENDED OF THE PROCESS OF CAUSE
AND EFFECT (UNAFFECTED)
DIVISIBLE OR COMPOUNDED INDIVISABLE & NOT COMPOUNDED
CHANGING, ACTIVE, “ACTIVATOR,” & AGING1 UNCHANGING & PASSIVE
DUALITY/POLARITY, SUCH AS GOD AS OTHER
& GOOD VS EVIL (MAKES WAGERS W SATAN)
NONDUAL & NON-PERSONAL
RESPONDS TO CAUSES AND CONDITIONS1 PASSIVE POTENTIAL (TO BE ALL)
MATERIAL, FORM, MANIFESTED1 (WALKED IN
THE GARDEN OF EDEN)
NON-FORM AND NOT NON-FORM:
NON-CONCEPTUAL, TRANSCENDED OF TIME
PERSONAL GOD BEING1 (TALKS/INSTRUCTS) EXPRESSED IN ALL/EVERYTHING
CONDITIONED SALVATION1 (IMPOSSIBLE, SEE
NOTES)
UNCONDITIONED CONTINUITY (REQUIRED)
30. Hua-yen fivefold system of dialectic in Verdu’s
“Dialectical Aspects in Buddhist Thought”
See kuscholarworks.ku.edu
• Popular Buddhism (Stupa worship) – the affirmation
of both unity (mind) and multiplicity (nature) as
mutually exclusive (oppositional) and impenetrable,
i.e. as dualistic
• Theravada/Hinayana – the negation of unity
(subject/mind) and the affirmation of multiplicity
(dharmas-elements, objects)
• Yogachara – the affirmation of unity (subject/mind
only) and the *negation of multiplicity (dharmas-
elements, objects) – Idealism (*mind understood as
an absolute in itself &/or dualistically is an error)
From Steve Odin’s “Process Metaphysics and Hua-yen Buddhism,” my added italics
31. Buddhist Dialectic
• Madhyamika – the negation of both unity and
multiplicity. The negation of the negation, emptiness of
emptiness, leads to –
• Hua-yen – (Japanese Kegon) the affirmation of both
unity (One/Absolute/Unconditioned/whole) and
multiplicity (part/conditioned/differentiated) as being
mutually interpenetrated and harmonious (nondual
monistic idealism) – “Totalism"
Image: https://childrensyoga.com/indras-net-all-is-one-one-is-all/
The great Korean Hua-yen (Hwaom in Korean)
master Uisang in his work the “Ocean Seal” says:
“In One is All, In Many is One, One is Identical to
All, Many is Identical to One” (see notes)
32. Verdu: “Dialectical Aspects in Buddhist Thought” page 106, see slide notes
“Nondual
Monistic
Idealism”
Consciousness
(Idealism)
Primary
Synthesis
Rational Unity
Devine Syzygy
Path to Void =
Unconditioned
Unconditioned/Conditioned & Unity/Plurality: Interpenetrated
*Atheistic
Western
Buddhism
*Void = literal
“emptiness”
Yogachara
Tibetan Rangtong
Tibetan Shentong
Stupa Worship
Theravada
buddha nature = unconditioned
Tantra
Totalism
U/U -
self
C/P -
self
Non-Duality
Monism
33. “Wisdom Two Buddhist Commentaries” (WTBC,
see notes) On Shantideva’s “The Way of the
Bodhisattva”
• A single cause can only have a single effect that is of
the same nature as the cause (A = B) - a single cause
cannot result in something “other” than its own
nature - this implies a nondual relationship (WTBC -
pages 105, 107, 115, & 235)
• If a result is fully present in its cause then a causal
relationship cannot actually be said to exist between
them for they are of the same nature (nondual). In
this regard the cosmos is not the result of a “cause,”
but will be spoken of as if it is “caused” (WTBC - page
105)
34. Shantideva “Wisdom Two Buddhist
Commentaries” (WTBC)
An existent (unborn and unconditioned) thing cannot
become non-existent (born of a cause, empty, and
conditioned) - it cannot lose its unconditioned quality. If an
existing (unconditioned) thing could become (as if) non-
existent (conditioned), then it would possess the nature of
both the existent (unconditioned - buddha nature) and non-
existent (conditioned - empty) simultaneously - as if
“coexistent/codependent” (interpenetrated binary) natures
- for the unconditioned nature cannot be born, changed, or
uncreated (WTBC – Root Text line 148 & 149 and pages 117
& 118)
Note: Is this conservation of the unconditioned
by the universal quantum entanglement of
quantum monism?
Parmenides and the
“Goddess of the Night”
(Void mysticism)
35. Uncaused Universe
• The conditioned universe does not have a “cause” per se,
it is an intrinsic necessary state of the bimodal/binary
unconditioned/conditioned nature of reality – of the
quantum vacuum of infinite potential (quantum rest state
“0”) manifested into actuality/action/motion (“1”), just
like the other polar opposites (like night/day or
male/female) necessary for creative becoming
• We have two co-natures which are interdependent – a rest
“0” state and a “1” motion state
• The universe is simply required to exist, because one
exists the other must exist, “two sides of the same coin”
• There simply is NO “first cause,” no “mover”
• There is NO act of “creation,” intent, or will involved or
required
36. “0” Rest State
• In deep meditation and/or at death the active
noisy “monkey mind” stills and we “flash”
into the “0” rest state of infinite potential, pure
consciousness and unity of quantum entanglement,
see Bentov’s “Stalking the Wild Pendulum”
• This “0” rest state is experienced as a featureless
“void” of no sensory perception (darkness, night,
formless, the abyss, or watery abyss)
• Genesis: “…was without form, and void; and darkness
was upon the face of the deep”
• This can be utterly terrifying to those unprepared,
who grasp to a sense of self and ego
• If the self/ego is “let go” it transforms into a
wonderous super consciousness of infinite space-time
Plotinus
Idealism
37. Common Worldwide
Creation Story Components
• First there was Void, nothingness (potential)
• A wind blows across the waters of the deep (fluctuation in
quantum vacuum/fields), resulting in a disturbance, see notes
• Creation comes from this disturbance (Big Bang-like event)
often involving a “sacrifice” of one of the twins or one of a pair
• Other components, sea diver (into “water” Void, from which
“land” emerges), bird scouts, man made/from dirt/earth – see
notes
• A tree of life/world holds the world together and holds up the
sky, often man emerges from the tree base/roots (from earth)
• Meditative and N.D.E. experience of the Void noetically
informs of this process, expressed in cultural/worldly context
Creation image: https://pixels.com/featured/iroquois-creation-myth-ernest-smith.html
Egyptian Bennu
38. Common Creation Stories: Creator God
• The Void can be experienced as “good” (infinite space-time &
potential) or “bad” (terrifying, threatening, & chaos)
• A creator/wind/storm god defeats “chaos” and brings order and
rule to a manifested universe
• Most people, the human creators of these stories, will experience
the “bad” Void w/o training, knowledge, and wisdom
• Creator god myths are based on two realities; the “bad” Void as
“chaos” & the all pervasive systemic structural theodicy
(unfair/unjust/suffering) of all/everything – of the universe
• The creator god is supposed to save us from the bad/chaos, but
demands we worship him perfectly, devoutly, and correctly, no
mistakes, errors, or complaints allowed or you will be punished
harshly* see notes (as theodicy apologetics)
• If bad things happen it is your fault due to imperfect worship,
not your all-loving, all-powerful, & all-good god’s fault
39. A Modernized Neoplatonic Cosmological Proof
Similar to Greek Plotinus “creatio ex deo” –
“deo” god-like = “dynamis”
1. The quantum vacuum of infinite potential (Greek “dynamis”)
= mystical experience of the “Void” of infinite space-time
2. The quantum vacuum is metaphysically (logically)
unconditioned, eternal, infinite, unchanging, passive, non-
personal, etc.
3. The quantum vacuum being infinite potential &
unconditioned (without conditions or limits) is capable of
producing ANY necessary conditions for the universe to exist
4. The unconditioned MUST have a conditioned expression of
itself (universe) or else it would be limited or conditioned –
a self-contradiction*Notes (this is NOT a choice, e.g. of a “God”)
5. Consciousness (observer) and the directional flow of time
are required for there to be something (universe) rather
than nothing – they are intrinsic necessary conditions (see
Planck, Wheeler, Linde, Wolf, Goswami, etc.)
Idealism
40. But, Gödel’s
Incompleteness Theorem
• The complete governing patterns/rules of a system
cannot be seen from within the same system
• To see the “big picture,” you must be at least one
level above it – 3D (above) looking down on 2D
– Checkers & Chess looking down on 2D board
– Football coaches in towers looking down 2D field
• We often see a pattern on a small/local scale then
recognize it on a larger scale above us
• Our understanding of the patterns/rules of our
universe will be incomplete
41. 3D eye level above board
– able to look down and
see patterns
2D eye level same as board –
seen flat, edge on. Effectively
our view of the universe, we
do not see the pattern.
I use Gödel’s theorem to say that there is a *complexity
factor, “Gd,” that is “above” us that we do not see. We
will be coming back to Gödel later…
* Gödel proposed God as the answer to this problem in his cosmological proof of God
42. How Consciousness Affects The Universe
• Idealism implies that there is a common field of
consciousness as a component of the basis of reality
• Provides for an observer field for things to happen, for
potential to manifest
• All things are connected to this common basis for the
manifested universe
• Self-organizing complex systems display intelligence &
purpose
• This complex system is interactive and has self-
correcting or self-adaptive feedback loops
• The Void/universe/human consciousness field is a
complex system, complex systems have positive &
negative self-correcting feedback loops
• See slide notes for more info on the physics and
theology of the Void (field of infinite potential)
Idealism
43. Unity:
Ontologically “as
if” unconditioned
Void of infinite
potential
Range of
manifested
elements
(“dharmas”)
Unknown or
unrecognized Gödel
complexity factor
&/or purpose, Omega
Point?
Return
collectively or
individually
back to Unity
& repeat
Return Collectively:
Cyclical “Big Bang,” Big
Crunch, or Torus
Universe
Return Individually:
Mystical or Spiritual
Attainment
The range of expressed elements must
reflect its infinite potential source (A = B).
This range includes the polar opposites
necessary for creative becoming. This
includes the polar opposites of
unity/individuality.
The Universe is going somewhere, doing
something (directionality of time & causality), it is
“designed” (intended) for consciousness with life
(humans) being a “tool” in its implementation.
Thus, consciousness may not be limited to living
beings/things – Idealism.
“Nothing in Nature is random”
Human: Corrective Feedback Loops
Human: Spiritual Experiences N.D.E. “Heaven” & “Hell”*
*Temporary (nonlinear time) lucid dream-like
state of consciousness loop. Not an actual
place or thing, see slide 100 notes.
44. Cosmic Consciousness Feedback Loops
• There are several “classical” mystical experiences, one
being the Void of Infinite Space-Time (darkness) in deep
meditation (e.g. Ein Sof) and/or in death (N.D.E.)
• The “ground luminosity” (white light) in sacred (tantric)
sexual union and/or death (N.D.E.)
• Another is the Cosmic Consciousness of unity or oneness
with the universe (monistic quantum entanglement?), it is
– Noetic, it informs with a profound “deep” understanding
of the oneness & interconnection of all things (nondual
monism)
– Profound peacefulness (authentic saints and mystics are
typically “peaceful,” opposed to violence and war)
– Joy or bliss
• It informs us of all the things we would associate with our
best and highest consciousness and behaviors
Bertrand Russell on mysticism: “The inspirer of whatever is best in mankind"
45. Cosmology
• If the unconditioned void/quantum fields must
express itself into a manifested reality, then there
is more going on than just our observable/
manifested universe
• There will be additional complexity, such as
multiverses, extra dimensions, “buddha fields,” or
“consciousness fields,” etc.
• The levels of complexity could be (must be?)
astounding!
• Alan Watts on Cosmic Consciousness of Jesus
– The Jesus imagery added by poster; Watts was a Zen
Buddhist teacher (a “Totality” & buddha nature school)
46. Part 2: How Universe’s Non-Random Patterns
Play Out In Life
• This non-random structure is a consequence of a universe
born from an “as if” infinite potential birth – it must have
consciousness, life, intelligence, and non-random
structure, etc.
• Simply stated, the manifested universe born of an “as if”
infinite potential birth must have the conditions
(physics), “tools,” & complexity needed to express this
potential (A = B)
• Negentropy & directionality of time/causality are part of
the non-random universe’s patterns
• This applies not just to physics, but to how normal
everyday life plays out
• Seen in power laws, ratios, scaling laws, repeating self-
similar patterns, symmetry, “Big Data” analytics, etc.
“Consciousness is an information system, it evolves by lowering it’s entropy”
Physicist Tom Campbell
47. Howard Bloom in “The God Problem:
How A Godless Cosmos Creates”
• Non-random patterns & tools:
• G.W.F. Hegel “dialectic”: thesis + antithesis = synthesis
(rational unity of expressed polarity)
• The rational unity of polar opposites (repeating
pattern) plays a critical role in the creative process
• Self-similar patterns, repeat themselves over and
over, e.g. atom/solar system & fractals
• Applying old (“Ur”) patterns to new processes,
mediums, & materials = translation, can create
something new
“Nothing in Nature is random”
48. How the Universe Creates & Solves Problem
• G.W.F. Hegel “dialectic”: thesis + antithesis =
synthesis (rational unity)
• Rational Unity of Opposites, Synthesis: interplay
between opposite or opposing “forces” or opinions –
male/female, hot/cold, light/dark, good/bad,
alive/dead, conservative/liberal, for it/against it, etc.
• Polarity between opposites plays a critical role in the
creative process, classic example:
The universe really, really,
really likes synthesis/unity
creative magic, the
divine syzygy, see slide notes
49. Polarity of Opposites; Non-Duality
“Unity is plural and at minimum two” R. Buckminster Fuller
• Synthesis plays a key role in esoteric (mystical) religions;
non-duality
• Knowing and recognizing how polarity works important
to understanding the universe
• “Enlightened Duality” used in tantric practices as a
powerful tool to drive one to non-duality
• Ultimately duality is unified polarity, nondual,
this is an important realization in mystical
religions
• Can be used as a tool in marriage, i.e. female =
skill & male = means > skillful means Physicist Niels Bohr coat of arms:
Contraria sunt complementa
"opposites are complementary"
See slide notes
50. The Universe
• Synthesis (unity/integration), repeating patterns,
and translation play key roles in problem solving and
creativity in the universe
• The entire universe can be modeled as self-similar
repeating fractal patterns – iterations (lots & lots)
needed for patterns to emerge
Fractal z = z^2 + c
“Nothing in Nature is random”
51. Iteration
• Do something long enough something will emerge;
something new/large patterns/structures
– Lay enough bricks and you have an apartment
complex for thousands of people
– Samurai sword, months of folding and hammering
creating thousands of layers of steel which in turn
creates a new steel crystal with amazing
properties
“Nothing in Nature is random”
52. The power of
ratios, patterns,
and iteration in
the universe:
Humans are at the event horizon
between the very small and the very
large – allows us to see both ways.
Follows the “golden” phi ratio.
Scaling Law Ted Talk:
Sean_Gourley_on_
the_mathematics_
of_war
“Big Bang”
Atom
Sun
Galaxy
Universe
Graph: Nassim Haramein, Scaling Law for Organized Matter
phi ratio
1.618 symbol
“Nothing in Nature is random”
⍺ = 1/137 fine structure constant
Self-Organizing Criticality
53. Another scaling law:
Sub-linear means
that double size
requires only .75
more energy, promotes
efficiency
More Scaling Laws Ted
Talks: Geoffrey West,
The surprising math
of cities and
corporations
“Nothing in Nature is random”
54. Goes up approx 1.15 on
average, promotes
efficiency, for good & bad =
“Nothing in Nature is random”
55. Supercreative People
• As noted earlier: The systems of the universe evolve
towards ever greater specialization and efficiency
• The greater specialization and efficiency leads to
super-linear scaling allows more “Einsteins” –
people who are creative with their brains and not
labor – this cannot happen in small/simple villages
that need all of their labors to survive, that cannot
afford to support unproductive people
• Creative people often are non-conformist “risk
takers,” how are they accepted/integrated into
society?
56. Cites then the Universe: The first cycle collapses, the second cycle uses
the “waste” of the first to start higher up, then the third, etc.
When Islam “closed the book” in the 1300s no innovation was
allowed to adapt or rebuild – centuries of decline & poverty before oil
money allowed the adoption of Western technology to rebuild
People systems:
Evolving to
higher efficiency,
view as slide
show
“Big Bang”
Plasma
Cools
Hydrogen
1st Gen Stars
Explodes
Organics & metals
Leading to Stars with
Planets
Leading to Life - You
Each step innovates/creates using
the waste of the previous collapse
Cities
Example: WW II cites rebuilt using “waste” of destroyed remains
“Nothing in Nature is random”
Simpler
Complex
57. Even This: Mathematics of Love
Automatically reject the first 37% then accept the first
partner that exceeds the first 37%, this is observed in nature
by animals as well as humans.
Ted Talk: Hannah Fry,
The Mathematics of
love
“Nothing in Nature is random”
58. Other Ted: Mathematics & The World
Even In Normal Life We Live in a Computational Universe
• Hans Rosling: The best stats you’ve ever seen
• Hans & Ola Rosling: How not to be ignorant about
the world
• Michael Green: What the Social Progress Index
can reveal about your country (see notes)
• George Smoot: You are a Simulation & Physics
Can Prove It
• Max Tegmark: Consciousness is a mathematical
pattern
• Mariano Sigman: Your Words May Predict Your
Future Mental Health
“Nothing in Nature is random”
59. 1942: The premise of the series is that
the mathematician Hari Seldon spent
his life developing a branch of
mathematics known as psychohistory,
a concept of mathematical sociology.
Using the laws of mass action, it can
predict the future, but only on a large
scale. Hum… we are almost there.
“Nothing in Nature is random”
60. Is the universe random?
• Conventional physics says yes, but remember the cold
logic of math ignores purpose and meaning
• This may well be true with quantum physics and
theoretical physics, but
• In the actual universe of manifested phenomenon
patterns emerge as seen in “Big Data” analytics– e.g.
the “Laniakea” supercluster of galaxies
• The manifest universe does organize itself with
repeated self-similar patterns, more efficient than
chaotic randomness
• These patterns play a key role in the evolution,
purpose, and meaning of the universe
• Actual randomness at the quantum level is necessary
for creativity, allows creative “magic”
Image credit: “Interstellar” film, black hole in movie “Nothing in Nature is random”
61. Brain neural
network
Laniakea supercluster of
galaxies – does plasma
cosmology & electric
universe theory have
some merit? Hum…
have we missed
something?
VS
You are
here
In biology
structures form
along current flow
called the
“organizing field
of life”
“Nothing in Nature is random” - The universe is full of patterns, order,
and structure
⍺ = 1/137
62. Universe Random, Hum…
• “Jewel at Heart of Quantum Physics” geometry of
“jewel” simplifies calculation of particle interactions -
specifically the scattering amplitudes
Illustration by Andy Gilmore
Star Tetrahedron, the smallest physical
thing: the universe is not just
computational, but geometrical?
“Nothing in Nature is random”
63. So, if not random…
• Given that the universe operates using repeating self-
similar patterns with scaling laws could not this also
be applied to the qualities of life, intelligence, and
consciousness?
– “As above so below”
– Would these qualities be top down driven?
– Remember Spinoza’s “nothing in nature is random”
• The patterns of organization observed from top to
bottom of the universe points to this conclusion
• The universe has the “organic” quality of impersonal
“intelligence,” Scientific Pantheism, or “Spinoza’s God”
• Einstein’s “God” was the impersonal intelligence of the
universe (per David Bohm)
64. “Nothing in Nature is random” & Determinism
• Creativity & innovation leading to maximum order,
consciousness, & complexity a principal meaning of the
conscious universe (more on this later), so
• We have “local” (relative/open) free will/choice in the
manifested universe to be non-karmic or non-habitual
necessary for creativity & innovation within our “operating
system,” an asymmetrical relationship with…
• We do not have ultimate free will (absolute/closed)
• We have no choice but to go along with the flow of the
universe and its purpose in the long term. In the end there
is only one collective fate awaiting us, individual or
collective return to source/unity
– This could take a limited number of lifetimes for a mystic,
saint, or Buddha or drag out to the very end “Big Crunch”
65. Patterns of Evolution: Civilization
Howard Bloom in “The God Problem”
• As societies/cultures become larger they get more
sophisticated, complex, & differentiated
(specialized – just like the universe)
• Simple societies, e.g. tribe, may have two general
roles, male/female, and three or four specialized
roles e.g. chief, hunter, shaman, & healer, etc.
• A complex society differentiates & specializes – e.g.
Albert Einstein’s pants (see slide notes)
• The universe/civilization evolves towards greater
specialization, efficiency, and complex meaning,
NOT just mathematical entropy
66. Patterns of Evolution: Civilization
• The differentiation and specialization creates continuous
integration challenges and problems – tension between
groups, as seen in many modern issues, such as immigration
& LGBTQ rights
• Successful integration leads to “health:” MLK “…arc of the
moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” i.e.
integration for previously “out” groups
• Unsuccessful integration leads to separation and
fragmentation (disfunction/disunity)
• Societies/cultures respond like living organisms, if one part is
ill (disfunction) the health of the whole is affected
• Social science sees the same negentropy (increased
specialization & efficiency) in human systems as in the
universe
67. Sir Isaiah Berlin
• Modern British political philosopher
• There is no one solution to every problem, e.g.
private/public, capitalism, socialism, or Marxism
• Different problems/places require different types of
solutions/patterns; social, political, & economic
• The “best” society is one which can integrate the
greatest range of solutions and patterns, will be more
efficient (specialization/integration)
• The greatest range of solutions (e.g. marriage) allows
the greatest happiness – “different strokes for
different folks” – increases actual freedom
• Consistent with the pattern of the evolution of the
universe towards specialization
68. How Civilizations Works –
Behavioral Rules & Patterns
• All societies and cultures need rules (prescribed
patterns of behavior) to function
• These rules should reflect the cultural values
• These rules promote a common and standardized
bases for conducting its affairs/business
• An agreed upon cultural “reference point”
• These rules/patterns must be supervised &
enforced either formally or informally
• Formal supervision is by institutions &
bureaucracy
69. Society Change Management:
Conformity Enforcers vs. Risk Takers
• Howard Bloom; author, psychologist, & sociologist
– “Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind…”
• A basic principle of the universe is “creativity”
• The basic patterns we have seen promotes this creative
process
• Without creativity & adaptation (successful change
management) an organization or organism stagnates
and dies – it’s more successful competition will win,
e.g. Christian Europe vs stagnant (“closed book”) &
slowly decaying Islam up to 1900s
70. Change: Conformity Enforcers vs. Risk Takers
• Global Brain – a bacteria colony has the “brain” power
of a supercomputer
• Bacteria actively and intelligently engineer their own
DNA to respond to changes so their offspring will
survive
• Their response to risk & change governed by the
interaction of conformity enforcers and risk takers in
the colony – true of humans as well
• They survive by successful change
management between the conformity
enforcers and risk takers working together
71. Pattern of Change Management: Conformity
Enforcers vs. Risk Takers
• All societies/organizations/cultures have these two
types of role players (plus others)
• These roles can change based on issues
• The healthy role of conformity enforcers is to
ensure successful strategies are not abandoned
prematurely and new strategies are well thought
out – well chosen
• Healthy role of risk takers is to try new things,
places, and methods/strategies, find new solutions
to problems, especially threatening problems
72. Bee Colony – Model Behavior
• 95% conformists and 5% risk takers
• Risk taker “bohemian” bees are free of all work
obligations, they do what they want – they “chill out”
• They go out sightseeing, flying about, and come back to
the colony and do a dance about their adventure which
tells the others what they saw
• The unemployed conformist bees (yes this is correct) who
have run out of work are depressed, eventually they will
watch the bohemian bees dance
• The dance will communicate the pollen source distance
and direction combined with the floral odor, If they see a
dance they like they go out and start working
73. “Tail-wagging” and
dancing to excite
your observers…
hum, an “Ur”
pattern true of
humans as well as
bees
The bohemian bees are fully
supported by the colony, feed,
while the unemployed
conformist bees must humble
themselves and beg for food
(literally). The colony knows the
bohemian free thinker bees are
necessary for their survival.
74. System Failure:
Conformity Enforcers vs. Risk Takers
• Change/challenges are inevitable & unavoidable
• Overactive conformity enforcers leads to stagnation
and decline, unable to respond to change, e.g. Islamic
Taliban, stuck in Middle Ages
• Unchecked risk takers can make bad decisions leading
to systemic failure, e.g. Wall Street risky investments in
derivatives
• A healthy culture needs a balance “synthesis, rational
unity” to manage change successfully – checks and
balances leading to intelligent decisions & compromise
75. Conformity Enforcers vs. Risk Takers
World Wide Political Implications
• Cultural/Social/Personal Issues:
– Conservatives conformity enforcers (rules/thesis –
government rules, e.g. marriage & abortion)
• Financial/Political/Environmental Issues:
– Conservatives risk takers (free/antithesis – free of
government rules, unrestrained capitalism/markets,
“Citizens United,” Adam Smith, & “Laissez-faire”)
76. USA Politics
• The 1920s to early 1970s was a “golden age” in
American politics with successful “rational unity”
of “opposing” parties
• Watergate destroyed traditional Republican Party,
rebuilt moving to right in late 1970s
• Gap between the two parties is getting wider,
now NO “rational unity,” dysfunction
• Organisms/organizations that are stagnant and
unresponsive to change/challenge will decline
and die/fail
• The US is LESS politically functional now than
the average bacteria colony
• Gap widest since the Civil War, see slide notes
77. Pew Study
• Both parties getting more liberal until Watergate, then
Republicans “turn” to the “right” conservatism – gap too
wide now for “rational unity”
• Wide gap = high entropy = unstable = collapse/failure
The universe likes
integration, synthesis, &
unity, but punishes
disunity, separation, &
division – “divided we
fall”
78. Part 3: Idealism Explains Theodicy
• The patterns of the conscious/idealism universe
can explain suffering and theodicy
• But, lets start by looking at how Bloom’s
paleopsychology explains that the patterns of bad
“sinful” behavior predates humans, that
• War, greed, competition, domination, violence,
etc. predates humans, it is not our fault, we did
not cause “The Fall”
• The inherent theodicy of the universe explains
the resort to a harsh, judgmental, & wrathful Old
Testament God to make sense of the world
79. So, Bloom’s Paleopsychology, Universe’s Patterns
The following human characteristics all have precursors
in the simpler patterns of nature: persistence (iteration),
intention or will (universe self-organizing for life),
creative (new unexpected surprises), competition
(atomic particles, bacteria), war/greed (bacteria), love
(attraction/bonding/birds), hate/repulsion (like magnetic
charge), unemployment & depression (“conformist”
bees), dance (“bohemian” bees), choice & free will
(electrons & “bohemian” bees), separation/unity (light
both particle and wave, nondual), intelligence (bacteria
DNA, plants), cooperation (plasma, bacteria, bees),
synthesis (rational unity of opposites, day/night,
hot/cold, male/female), and others... see slide notes
80. Bloom’s “Lucifer Principle”
Natural Born Killers: Humans
• Competition, conflict, greed, killing, & war both
individually and between collective groups drives
the universe toward higher levels of creativity,
sophistication, & complexity
• This “Lucifer Principle” is inherent in the
universe’s “design” – from the beginning, from
the “Big Bang”
• No fallen angel, no failure of man, & no human
sin caused this design feature of the universe
from the beginning of time (literally)
81. NASA Our Violent Universe
• Throughout the universe “bad” things have been
happening from the beginning, pre-human
– Stars exploding and their planetary systems destroyed
– Gamma ray bursts
– Coronal mass ejections
– Black holes and stars eating other stars and planets
• In the planetary competition and battle for survival
and dominance mass, gravity, and velocity are
weapons used to determine winners and losers
• Humans did NOT invent war, greed, competition,
domination, etc. – all have precursors in nature
“Paleoastronomy” Universe’s Patterns:
82. Paleopsychology, Universe’s Patterns
• Both the “good” and the “bad” qualities of human
nature precede us in the universe, they did not start
with us – preexisting, woven into the basic fabric of
creation/universe itself, remember the polarity of
opposites plays a key role in creativity
– Example charity, fruit trees produce far more fruit
than needed for their own reproduction
• We did not cause “The Fall,” the “bad” is systemic in the
universe as originally created and still in us today
• What humans do is to bring ALL of these together into
one place: an intelligent conscience being
“Nothing in Nature is random”
83. Paleopsychology, Universe’s Patterns
• What makes us unique is that humans as conscious
beings reflect the full range of the universe’s polarity –
we can choose
• Most things in the universe only have a subset of these
qualities &/or in limited capacity, but not us
• It could be said, that we are made in the universes
image and the universe is both awesome and
dangerous, but
• The universe functions as amoral, while humans seek
morality, we seek justice – why? (a “Gd” complexity
factor in play, shared consciousness feedback loop?)
• The human struggle is to be less instinctive & reactive
(karmic) with more conscience choice of the “good” or
“higher” qualities – more “awake” or “enlightened”
84. History of Man & Universe
• At the time of the creation of the great religions our
only history and reference point was ourselves – thus
human center religion, apologetics, morals, etc.
• Now we can see 13.8 billion years of cosmic history, no
where do we see our human centered God in action
– We see NO human centered creation
– We see NO human-like morality in the workings of the
universe
– We see NO God intervention/action to make it moral/just
– We see at best an amoral, ruthless, and violent universe
• But, this amoral, ruthless, & violent universe is lush with
water, organics, amino acids, etc. and at the same time
it is “messy” in its implementation and often capricious
• The universe stumbles forward like a drunken man
85. Humans
• Humans are part of the natural system of the universe and,
as such, follow the patterns of the system
• However, human morals deem some patterns as “good” and
others as “bad”
• The universe itself functions as amoral from our
perspective (both good and bad, polarity), some would say
“ruthless,” as required for the dynamic to work its most
efficiently to promote innovation & creativity
• Creativity (thus diversity) is a core principle of the universe
• A “ruthless” amoral universe allows the greatest creative
freedom. A “good” biased universe would limit creativity. So,
how does a bad (theodicy) biased universe affect us? It
makes our struggle through life more difficult.
86. Humans
• Living in the ruthless universe creates problems &
conflicts as we try to resolve our desired good behaviors
from our natural bad patterns, e.g. greed, war, etc.
• We try to reject some aspects of polarity – we want the
best (good) and reject the “worst” (bad)
• We do not like living in an amoral “ruthless” universe, so
we find ways to cope – we create religions to construct
an artificial (make-believe) world systems to affirm,
justify, or comfort us
• How we cope with this conflict has VERY important
effects on us personally, socially, culturally, and globally –
as seen in Islamic teachings about unbelievers “Kafirs”
where they simply adopt the “bad” (banditry, pillage,
plunder, killing, rape, & slavery) and make it “good”
87. “Evil” the Theodicy Questions
Pope: “learn how to weep”
• The universe is a brutal and ruthless place
• Survival of the fittest, to include cheaters, liars, & thieves
• Poverty, the rich get richer – greed and corruption is
common & rewarded by “the system”
• Eat or be eaten
• Life feeds off life, something must die for others to live
• Injustice is common, justice uncommon
• Life is not fair
• War & senseless violence
• Disease, innocent children suffer & die
• False/inauthentic/erroneous religions
• False rigged economic and political systems
88. “Cosmological” Theodicy Questions
Tyson: “…the universe wants to kill us…”
• A polarity of opposites that runs in equilibrium or balance
has no theodicy problem – ideal/stable system behavior
• Natural systems that run out-of-balance, higher scientific
entropy, crash/collapse then recycle/rebuild “higher up”
on the evolutionary scale with more specialization – this is
a “Ur” pattern true of humans on a spiritual path as well
• Our world system is out-of-balance with too much suffering
& “evil,” Buddhist say “dukkha,” thus a theodicy problem
• The entire universe has this problem from the beginning;
nova, supernova, star CME, gamma-ray bursts,
asteroid/comet impacts, etc.
“Nothing in Nature is random”
89. Theodicy Questions
• The all pervasive systematic nature of this problem
& pattern highly suggests that it is “by design” – that
it serves some purpose in the universe’s “life”
• Is imbalance required to drive a faster evolution to
greater specialization & meaning? To what?
• Is the universe evolving toward an “enlightened”
balance point, like humans in similar circumstances?
• Can “Big Data” analytics give us any help
understanding the teleological “structural theodicy”
of the universe – is theodicy increasing or
decreasing?
• Structural theodicy = the original “original sin”
“Nothing in Nature is random”
90. Theodicy Questions
• Is suffering, theodicy, the price we pay for the
evolution of the universe to greater specialization &
meaning? For maximum creativity? Or is it just a
game/simulation of unknowable purpose?
• Is it Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s “Omega Point” of
maximum complexity and consciousness (see notes)?
• The directionally of time/causality & entaxy in the
manifested universe may indicate it is going
somewhere, doing something
• As the (multi)universe grows, expands, or replicates
(like a living organism) does it need to fill/promote
“consciousness vacancies” in its structural hierarchy
(per Buddhism and Bentov)?
“If the universe is about realizing its own mental potential… it’s
going to end up… a mental as well as physical phenomenon”
Physicist Paul Davies
91. Speculation
• The void/universe is a learning/information system
• Each iteration of the cyclical universe can be thought of
as a creative experiment or work of art (by drunken man)
• The system learns from prior cycles/iterations and…
• Uses waste of prior cycle to build better and more
sophisticated solutions
• Each expression/cycle of the universe moves to
maximum complexity and consciousness for that cycle,
while it tries to improves on the process in the next cycle
– This matches a “logical design” universe that has non-random
structure
– Has our universe benefited from an untold number of prior
iterations to get to this point of “logical structure”?
92. More Theodicy Questions
• Why is it that the material manifested universe is
amoral and ruthless, while Cosmic Consciousness
wants us to be moral and good acting via its
feedback loops?
• Why does the universe want us to manifest
behavior, morality, that it does not manifest itself
(at our level of reality)?
• Is this theodicy struggle needed to “grow”
consciousness it needs/wants?
• Does morality, justice, love, etc. promote the
desired outcome of maximum ordered (low
entropy) & purposeful complexity and
consciousness for the system/universe? See notes.
93. Possible Conclusions: Idealism With
Structural Theodicy For A Purpose
• The omnipresent nature of structural theodicy in the
universe suggests it serves some unknown purpose
in the universe’s life
• I will propose two possible solutions
• I also discusses the implications for normative
Abrahamic religions that incorrectly blame man for
the worlds faults when it is actually “built-in” &
structural
“Crazy as it sounds, the idea that the Universe is intelligent is compatible with all
we know so far” Sabine Hossenfelder
94. Why do we believe in God?
• A conscious self-aware (but non-personal) universe that
has a shared and interactive field of conscious with us
would be easily confused as a theistic “God”
• The interactive self-correcting feedback loops, each
unique to the religion and cultural beliefs of a
population, would look like the workings of a deity
• These feedback loops take on the “look and feel” of the
belief system they are operating with, e.g. Christian Holy
Mother Mary or Buddhist Tara/Kuan yin
• This may have been advantageous 1,000 years ago, but
now just causes confusion, misunderstandings, wars,
violence, and is outdated – we kill each other over who’s
feedback loop is the right one
95. Why do we believe in God?
• Do the cells in my body consider me to be their God?
• I miraculously provide food (organics) and water the
cells needs
• I provide correcting mechanisms – I am taking
antibiotics to help the cells defeat an infection
• Just because I can do god-like things in my body system
it does not make me God
• So it is with the living manifested universe and us
• A conscious universe may be struggling with “infections”
and problems just like us and have limited means and
resources to work with just like us – it is “conditioned”
• No conditioned thing can be “God” as Ultimate or
Absolute, only an unconditioned thing can be Ultimate
96. Possible Gödel “Gd” Factors
• Structural theodicy argues against the “good” theist
“God” – it turns “the design” argument around against
itself, it does argue for
– A universe evolving towards some unknown state “X”
with complexity “Gd” beyond our current recognition –
theodicy as an impersonal by-product, and/or
– Advanced Beings (AB) simulation, game, or experiment
with complexity “Gd” stress (theodicy) for a purpose
• The imbalanced structural theodicy of the universe
virtually eliminates a theistic personal good God –
where is he, why he doing such a bad job?
• Every sin, failing, & fault religion blames on mankind or
Satan had precursors or preexisted before us, it is
structural – it is not Eve’s fault!
“Nothing in Nature is random”
97. OK, OK, here’s what I think:
• I do NOT believe in the supernatural
• All phenomenon* can be explained naturally, BUT not
necessarily from within our perspective, you may need to
be a system level(s) “above” us to understand, in
“higher” dimensions/structures per Gödel
• Two options:
– We are in a living, conscious, but impersonal universe
evolving towards something unconcerned with our
small personal “cellular” fate (when I am optimistic)
– ABs control our universe/world “as if god” via
software simulations and/or actual physical realities,
we are just “lab rats,” could be multiple combos
(when I am pessimistic – most of the time)
Image credit: https://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=546604
“Nothing in Nature is random”
98. Living Universe – Nondual Monism?
• The first option is actually amazing, we may serve a greater
purpose – there MAY be meaning to our suffering
• It provides an “energy/consciousness/observer field” that
provides potential and opportunities for things to happen
• The living universe appears to function as an inclusive
nondual monism as opposed to “exclusive monotheism” – it
does not care what you call it, how many deities you have, or
how you pray, it is NOT a personal “Jealous God”
• Christianity is a prime example, Jesus as the “God” was
incompatible with the traditional Jewish theology it was
ascribed to, but the qualities of universal love, forgiveness,
and peace has made it successful in practice because the
name, “face,” history, and details do not matter
Idealism
99. Living Universe – Nondual Monism?
• Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, etc. all
can produce spiritually realized mystics & “saints”
• Thus the specific details are relative & flexible – somehow
influenced by human (observer) beliefs & interactive
• Each religion has its own communication Point-to-Point-
Protocol (PPP) with the shared interactive Cosmic
Consciousness
• As human consciousness evolves our PPP evolves
• This flexibility would not be true if the theist revealed
religions have a monopoly on truth – if their exclusive
monotheist God existed in fact
• Only an inclusive interactive (influenced by the observer)
monism produces this result – details are only a tool (PPP)
that makes no difference in the end result
100. Living Universe – Panentheism?
Panentheism = Pantheism + Gödel factor “Gd”
• All the crazy theistic religions are competing, fighting, and
killing each other literally over nothing that matters
• The normative monotheist religions each worship their
own small (defined/limited) exclusive version of “God,”
when in fact the universe’s living energy monism is an
inclusive BIG, but non-personal, “God” – it has “room” for
lots of stuff, often baffling, strange, or bizarre
• The experience and studies of N.D.E.s have proved this
point, that it does not matter which god you believe in, as
there is NO exclusive “Jealous God” – these N.D.E.
findings needs to be talked about more – “hello” the
universe is speaking!!!
• These N.D.E. findings are prophecy & witness in our age
101. Dr. Atwater N.D.E. Types
• Initial: Non-personal love & acceptance, adult 20% (“good”
people who need little correction)
• Unpleasant/Hell-like: Adult 15% (“bad” needs correction)
• Pleasant/Heaven-like: Adult 47% (mostly “good” but still
needs correction)
• Transcendent (Void): Adult 18% (potentially “highest” good)
• So, 85% are “good” and 15% “bad” – do the math, this
completely falsifies each of the theistic religions/sects
claims to exclusivity to being saved1
• The Void/universe wants to “save” you, conserve your
consciousness2 after feedback loop processing, without the
need for any theistic religion, you are already “saved” (a
nonsectarian “Universalism”)
• "All you may know of heaven or hell is within your own
self" - Edgar Cayce
102. Religions & Spirituality
• Religions and spirituality are about our interaction
with the shared “Cosmic Consciousness” of the
universe and its feedback self-correction loops
(prophecy, mystics, N.D.E., & “heaven & hell”)
• The big theistic normative religions have done a
horrible job of explaining and “managing” these
feedback loops – they obviously do not understand
them1
• Example: The teachings of Islam concerning Kafirs
(unbelievers) is the opposite (evil – Bloom’s
“Lucifer Principal”) of what the feedback loops
wants us to be (good) – it tells them to lie/deceive,
rape, steal, kill, enslave, etc.
103. Advanced Beings (ABs)
Twilight Zone “To Serve Man”
• If ABs exists other than our future selves, e.g. aliens,
then they will also be a product of imbalanced
structural theodicy and share our weaknesses and
faults - “Fallen” or amoral (like the universe itself)
• These amoral aliens would be like psychopaths
• As Stephen Hawking says, we should be afraid
• The universe is a competitive & hostile place
• Our only hope is that they have been more
successful in taming and controlling their negative
traits than we have – be more civilized, evolved, or
spiritually advanced (probably not)
104. Universe as Simulation
• Most likely by our future selves
• Possibly by our future selves who have
genetically enhanced themselves with higher
intellectual capabilities, making what is
impossible for us now possible for them (the Neil
deGrasse Tyson argument)
• Ancestor simulations, games, or social/biological
science experiments are possible reasons
• Most likely a one world anthropic simulation
scaled as it goes to match our awareness level of
the universe – detail only added when needed
105. Theodicy & Religion
• All theistic religions claim God is on their side and all the
others are wrong, but
• The cold reality is that poverty, disease, injustice,
earthquakes, floods, cyclones, volcanos, violence, etc.
affects all – just open your eyes & see reality as it is
• The ruthless injustice of theodicy shows no mercy to any
religion, none have God’s favor
• The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami showed no mercy to
Buddhist, Hindu, or Muslim alike – it made no difference
• If the revelations of the theistic religions were true it
should have made a difference, it NEVER does
• The conscious universe only cares about our consciousness
(as in N.D.E.), couldn’t careless about our material life/body
106. Theodicy & Jesus
• Most people deny or ignore the pervasive structural suffering &
death in the world around them, their eyes are closed
• In a universe of structural theodicy humans cannot be expected
to be perfect (sinless), they will be flawed
• A theological argument can be made that Jesus “Son of God”
came to us to live, suffer, and die as we do, to share our
condition (showing love and compassion), and
• To show these “sins” in a morally “flawed” universe/system
are not held against us (forgiven or corrected, see slide 100), &
• Our consciousness is conserved & continues after feedback
loop processing, “life” after death (reincarnation, “reborn,” or
“resurrected”), as required by idealism
• This theology of Jesus tells us “to hang in there” and keep
playing that there is purpose in our suffering
107. Salvation & Theodicy
• Seeing that “bad” behavior (“sins”) & structural theodicy is
systemic in the universe’s creation – pre-human, then
• Christianity’s claims that Jesus was crucified to redeem
mankind for our sins (our faults) that made things wrong
in this world makes no sense, it was wrong pre-human
• Evidence supports this conclusion, Jesus’s crucifixion made
NO difference in the collective human condition, theodicy
was unchanged
• If a “Redemption” took place it should be visible or
identifiable in our records, a change in the collective human
condition should have been seen, but
• All of the bad things continued unaffected: war, poverty,
disease, suffering, natural disasters, injustice, etc. – as seen
in todays world (same can be said about Muhammad or
Moses)
108. Theistic Religions & Theodicy
• This is NOT just a Christianity issue
• All the Abrahamic Religions share this problem, that the
imbalanced theodicy of the universe predates humans
(just ask the dinosaurs), thus “original sin” and “The
Fall” as human caused problems are invalid
• The human condition reflects the imbalanced (bad)
theodicy of the universe, it is effect, NOT cause
• Humans as a whole species has nothing to apologize
for, nothing to be redeemed, nothing to be forgiven
• We are a product of the environment/circumstances
that created us, we reflect its faults of structural
theodicy, e.g. greed, war, competition, etc. – as per St.
Augustine, he got the effect right but the cause wrong?
109. Theistic Religions & God
• All of the normative theistic religions have placed
“conditions” on being saved:
– Right religion, prophet, & God
– Right sect or denomination, correct praying &/or language
– “Born again,” converted, baptized, or “submission,” etc.
• Each imposed condition makes their God smaller and
smaller, more restrictive, and “lessor” – a “conditioned”
God
• A conditioned cause cannot result in an unconditioned
eternal “saved” heaven or condemned hell (impossible)
• The inclusive nondual monism has NO such conditions – it is
a BIG “God” with interactive details
• Theist error by worshiping a lessor conditioned god
• The mightiest “god” who directly affects us would be the
conscious Sun
110. Theistic Religions & God
• There is a Gödel complexity factor “Gd” at play
here, but the structural theodicy of the universe
informs us that it is not a personal theistic god
who cares about us individually
– Who intervenes in accidents, disasters, & illnesses
– Who choses sides in wars and football games*
– Miracle-like events occur, but are exceptions
– It is as if the cosmos considers our death in this world
to be of little concern, almost trivial, a non-event
– N.D.E. experiences shows that once dying we
transition to a state that interfaces with the collective
interactive consciousness – it then shows it (we?)
cares
111. Possible Cosmology
Spiritual
1. Transcendent Void of Infinite
Space-Time (unconditioned
basis of being, passive Ein Sof,
dynamis, etc.)
2. The unconditioned MUST have
a conditioned expression of
itself (process metaphysics)
3. Conditioned unenlightened
apparent “Creator God”
4. Spiritual experiences of man
5. Seeks harmony & a return to
origin/unity with “God”/Void
(as in the mystics and saints –
process metaphysics)
Science
1. Quantum vacuum of infinite
potential to be ALL (physics –
could this be more awesome?)
2. Expressed material universe
(“observer needed physics”)
3. Conscious self-aware universe
(observer physics & psychology)
4. Collective interactive self-
correcting feedback loops
(“spooky” quantum physics with
Jungian & Buddhist depth &
transpersonal psychology)
5. Universe seeks harmony & a
return to origin/unity? Torus?
(physics informed by process
metaphysics with depth &
transpersonal psychology?)
We need to form a coherent
science-spirituality on this (or
a better) process flow
“Nothing in Nature
is random”
112. If Buddhism & Bentov is right…
• Life is a competitive spiritual (consciousness) game
with winners and losers
• For every one winner there are millions (?) of losers
• The winners with more highly developed
consciousness are “promoted” to the next game
level (purpose of “Idealism-In-Action”)
• The losers are stuck going around and around in
samsara – endless suffering (theodicy as by-product
of idealism)
• A Buddhist bodhisattva declines the promotion to
help fellow suffering beings
113. So… bottom line
• I believe there is a complexity factor “Gd” that is in
play, but we collectively have not properly
identified it. We need to think “big picture” of the
entire universe, not just of the human condition.
• To Gödel a personal God was the missing “X”
complexity factor in the universe. However, It is
definitely NOT a personal “good” theistic God – the
universe itself gives witness to this.
• The “Gd” could be provided by software simulation,
but …
• The “Gd” could be “spiritual” in the nature of the
Wondrous Void with our “cosmic,” shared,
interconnected, & interactive consciousness …
114. And, if consciousness is intrinsic
and primary then…
• By definition consciousness is;
– Conserved (neither created nor destroyed)
– Shared (universal basis-of-being)
– Interactive (affected by experiencer/observer)
• Possible theodicy answer;
– The universe cares about consciousness – Idealism
primary (it is a perfect universe from this perspective)
– The violent ruthless universe does NOT care about the
material(ism); physical life, suffering, and death – just
collateral damage in its evolution of consciousness
– Human morality and justice may be part of our collective
self-correcting feedback loop and not “normal” for the
universe?
115. The Question
• Our task is to find complexity factor(s) “Gd” that can
explain both conditions:
– The “good” experiences (e.g. love), spiritual nature
of man (e.g. saints), N.D.E., and
– The ruthless, often violent, structural (imbalanced)
theodicy of the universe
• They are both inherent in our universe
• Is theodicy a by-product of Idealism?
• A “good” theistic God is excluded by definition
(structural theodicy) from this answer
According to Thomas Hertog, “Stephen Hawking came to the conclusion that the Universe is
an evolving system that operates according to Darwinian principles that drive the world
(universe) toward higher complexity…” bigthink.com/the-universe-may-be-a-giant-neural-network-heres-why
116. Logic Flow
• An unconditioned basis of reality is needed to avoid a first
cause problem or infinite regression of conditioned causes
• An unconditioned thing must have a conditioned
expression of itself
• The conditioned expression must fully represent its
unconditioned source/potential (A = B)
• The unconditioned is the source/basis of consciousness
• Consciousness is primary & required prior to a manifested
universe (observer needed)
• Consciousness, idealism, explains theodicy/suffering –
material things & physical life are a mere mechanism/tool
of consciousness, secondary
• Consciousness is the primary reason/purpose/meaning of
the universe, it is doing something; we need to figure it out
117. Conclusions
• The universe works in non-random patterns;
– Surprising creativity, core principle, water from fire
– Patterns, good ideas reused
– Translation, patterns applied to new circumstance
– Scaling/ratios/powers laws, phi ratio, & fractals
– Iteration, repeat enough patterns emerge (“Big Data”)
– Evolution “Ur” pattern, simple to complex
– Non-dual polarity of opposites with rational unity &
synthesis of opposites
– A “structural theodicy” drives the universe's evolution
– Cycles, higher levels of order built on waste of prior cycle
– Universe evolves toward specialization & higher
efficiency – a “Gd” complexity factor in play
118. Conclusions
• Humans fit into the patterns, we are not unique
• The way that the actual universe operates is at
odds with normative religious/spiritual/mystical
teaching and experience – ruthless structural
theodicy vs. good, with no explanation
• Does the mathematical nature/organization of
the universe suggest some type of intelligence
&/or data compression to conserve and
effectively use resources towards an unknown
complexity “Gd” plan or purpose?
119. Conclusions
• With the “data” that we now have it is impossible to
come to a conclusion as to the basis of being, which “Gd”
factor is at play: simulation vs. conscious universe with a
purpose
• Humans must be just, caring, and compassionate precisely
because the ruthless uncaring universe is NOT, we are on
our own (Spinoza: practice justice and loving-kindness)
• The only thing we can trust is each other, relationships
with other sentient beings trapped in this world system
• Do qualities like morality, justice, love, & compassion
promote a low chaos (low entropy) & high efficiency
solution to life, civilization, & the universe? Tom Campbell:
“love is the nature of low entropy consciousness.”
120. The End
• On slide 8 notes I list some wonderful books that address a
conscious universe, but
• They ALL fail completely on the structural theodicy problem; the
ruthless violent universe, a universe that does not give-a-damn
about the material/living, that feeds off of its energy
• At best they say we are “learning” and “growing” to advance
spiritually – some form of reduction to messy determinism, we
have no choice but to “play,” we are trapped in the game. Why
would the universe play this spiritual growth game?
• If we could start to figure out exactly what is going on it may
begin to make some sense, the price we pay may be worth it. We
currently live in remarkable ignorance about the “system.”
• But, the simplest answer (Occam’s Razor) to structural theodicy is
a simulation with theodicy for a purpose – a social science or
biology experiment, or worse a game
121. • “In a world where all is borrowed, and
time like elusive dust seems to just slip
through our fingers, all we really have
are these precious moments where we can
make fertile the soil in the garden of our
hearts, that here love may make its home
and here the mortal seed may flourish.
Only love can free us from the womb of
time for life like a magnificent
mysterious cloud holds its shape and form
only long enough for us to blink, and all
our precious memories are but shadows of
time that will drift away like fallen
leaves returning to the emptiness from
which they came. Thus we are, like
122. “If the doors of perception were
cleansed, everything would appear
as it is, infinite”
William Blake
For more on the Void see this presentation:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lwfmv13geq8ibyh/Void_Rev2.pptx?dl=0