Good Elf
22nd October 2008 - 05:24 AM
Hi
did, Empress Palpatine, DocN, Fairy, Sinister Utopia et al
QUOTE
I was thinking about what it would be like if our consciousness did in fact survive after death. Now I do make the assumption that after death, our consciousness has no mass, as it is freed from the bonds of matter which is our physical body. Consciousness would behave like light and would perceive the universe the same as a photon does, traveling at the speed of light!
From an observers point of view, a photon takes a measurable amount of time to travel from it’s source to destination, say, the span of the visible universe (approx 28 billion light years). But, from the photons point of view, it takes no time at all, literally. The universe would appear compressed to a point where source and destination reside at the same location. And, it’s entire life span cannot be measured, it’s so short.
So, my thoughts are with consciousness surviving after death, that when you die, the universe you occupy, would shrink away and disappear as your consciousness reaches the escape velocity of the universe. I think that after that, the consciousness must obviously completely leave our universe and thus (and I hate to use the term) ‘ascend’ to a higher dimension or plane.
In this higher dimension, entire universes (i.e. like ours) would be like the quantum foam, particles that exist for a fleeting moment and then disappear back into the vacuum.
So, am I on drugs, or is this worth a discussion?
Every idea is worth a "crack" at as long as we are speaking about some kind of science. I am with you all the way about the photon bit... sure... the photon can exist in our time for billions of our years and cross many Galaxies and also may be considered as an object on a "null geodesic". Time and space according to Relativity "squeezed out of existence". However I would hasten to add that the photon is rather special and can only experience that one state. The limiting case of a material object close to the speed of light, "like you for instance", approximates that null geodesic (though a lot of energy would be required to accelerate any object to these speeds. Time and space would still exist for any material object it is just that relative to "our" time and space it would not occupy any significant role.
Lets accept for a moment that some kind of "life after death" exists "naturally" as some by-product of "Darwinian" Evolution. I am assuming that a "g*d" has no direct role in this process. It would need to exist at the same time as we exist and interact in some way with us to account for all those "spooky happenings" that occasionally go on. I would be the last one to deny that "these things occasionally do happen". Our "essence", whatever that means, needs to be "captured" and bound in some natural system for it to remain an "essence" of the way we were in life because "life" requires a "body" to experience things. It also seems (from the historical perspective) self evident that this "essence" seems to be bound to some aspect that contained or circumscribed it in life. It could be a house, some place or building. These all have one thing in common... matter. A human being is composed of matter and mass which expresses gravity and gravitational influence cannot be blocked and can pass through anything ... way out to the furthermost reaches of the Universe. It is also obvious since gravity and thus the influence of mater waves are constrained by he speed of light are diffracted and scattered but without dissipation like ordinary light is scattered and dissipated.
"Close in" it seems plausible that the strongest "impression" will be local to the physical objects while still in life (things you touched, were in contact with, were near you at the moment you died)... Sort of like the way plasticine takes the shape of a key when it is pressed into it. A hologram is usually formed using a photographic plate and no lens, a "scene being globally excited by a short exposure to some kind of "impressing source"... mostly a coherent laser. Holograms can also be made by embossing on a surface (you have seen these)... even with scratches in an optical plate, a scratch hologram, anything can make a "hologram".
Perhaps our "coherent message" or "essence" upon dying or during some traumatic event is impressed into the walls and floors and other objects around about in the same way a magnetic field can be "frozen" into a iron rod if the rod of iron is struck with a hammer while pointing due north-south at the time.. An "aligned" shock or impulse in life. This causes some kind of "impression" which is retained. This means when the residual "hologram" of this event is illuminated by an appropriate source of similar coherent energy it causes the original matter wave image to be played back. Since matter waves are not optical waves we can't actually see them unless the matter waves diffract and scatter light "indirectly".
Matter (wave or no wave) have matter like properties while
light has properties only of light. The former are capable of matter wave manipulations and act on "things" and traditionally cannot dissipate easily while light needs to have Orbital Angular Momentum to act on matter at a distance but is "easily dissipated". Permanence vs impermanence. It may be important to the formation of the original "image" to have some kind of "light source" but later the matter wave "impression" may not need light to exist but may need something to "switch it on".
That is the best I can do. The rest is "religion", burning of incense, ringing of bells, saying of prayers. self flagellation and hair shirts, rewards and punishments, heaven and hell, tithing, hellfire and brimstone etc... I have this magic bottle of "snake oil" I would like to sell you which works wonders on all cancers, bodily functions and wards off death or flatulence...

I do not think these "physical" things are directly associated with any deity... They are all part of the basic fears that motivate mankind and the stuff of our nightmares. They would be "natural", currently you will get no tenure if you want to pursue this line of scientific investigation. What is more important to you... Eternal Life or a well paying job in the Future's Exchange? Which "future" is more important... the markets will decide... he he he!
Maybe some future generations will find ways to preserve the "essence" and store them for many thousands of years in quantum computers in a simulation of our world in the space of a 5 cent coin so that "we" or our "essence" can enjoy a "quality" afterlife... for a "stiff" price of course!

Lucky stiff's eh? You may be playing endless rounds of CounterStrike "forever"... bliss or hell?... I dunno!... reboot!
Wikipedia: The Thirteenth FloorCheers