Lines Of Perception

Lines Of Perception
By Mark Spencer

The human brain is capable of comprehending only a handful of the infinite number of dimensions that exist. The physical dimensions perceived by the human brain are height, width and depth. Some believe time to be a dimension as well, and if that is so, then we are capable of perceiving four physical dimensions. Whether the number is three, four or twenty, what we can perceive is not even a fraction of what actually exists.

Color, for instance, is how our brain interprets light. The human eye can see radiation at a wavelength of 380 nanometers to 740 nanometers. This is called the visible spectrum. Issac Newton listed the pure spectrum of colors seen by the human eye as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Thomas Young, on the other hand, proposed that the human eye is only capable of seeing three colors -- red, blue, and yellow, while other colors were just combinations of the primary colors. Ewald Hering theorized that there are four unique hues: red, green, yellow, and blue, which, when mixed with each other, or with white or black, represent all possible colors perceived by the human brain.

Equally limited is our ability to perceive sound. We can hear sounds from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Cats perceive sounds up to 25 kHz, Dogs to 35 kHz, while dolphins and bats perceive sound up to 100 kHz. The point is this: the human brain is extremely limited in what it can process. Because of this, we are only able to perceive a micro fraction of a micro fraction of what is really there.

So what does exist? In an earlier paper, I discussed the probability of intelligent design, and the improbability of random happenstance. There is nothing random about creation, nothing accidental in its design. Consider that two possibilities exist: science claims that life is the result of a sequence of cosmic accidents, beginning with the big bang. Some speculate that the big bang is a recurring event. Matter collapses into an enormous gravitational singularity, explodes, and then collapses again. In between these events, life has the opportunity to evolve. Others theorize that this is the first, and only event of this nature. They believe that from the point of origin (the big bang), the universe will continue to expand until the energy that gives form and mass to matter is torn apart, and returned to it's original state. The other possibility is, in my opinion, a far more logical one. The building blocks of creation existed long before the first big bang ever occurred.

If you support scientific theory, you must consider one very important fact. Each theory, whether it be the big bang, expansion, the steady state, fractal, or string theory, follows a linear pattern. The starting point for the big bang, and expansion theory is the exploding singularity; both culminating in an inevitable cosmic conclusion. One collapses again, while the other dissolves into the eternal ether. Fractal theory follows a pattern of fractal inside of fractal, inside of fractal, in seemingly endless succession. String theory argues that many dimensions occupy the same space, like pages in a book stacked one on top of another. These too follow linear patterns.

The human brain is incapable of perceiving anything that does not conform to the laws of linear progression. The scientific symbol for infinity, the figure eight, is an excellent example. With an endless supply of fuel, a person could drive a car around a figure eight track forever...if he lived that long. However, once the car completed one lap, everything beyond that point would simply be repetition. That is NOT infinity. Even if the most extraordinary minds in human history imagined it, it would not be infinity. I actually heard a scientist naively state that infinity reaches in all directions, suggesting a starting point from which straight lines of perception reach out across the cosmos. Direction, however, requires space, and space requires time to go from one point to another. Time and space are entirely linear, infinity is not. Infinity, or rather eternity, is never ending...more importantly, it is also without beginning. And what has no beginning, and no end, does not conform to linear laws of time and space. Such constraints should not exist. Eternity would be both timeless, and boundless; therefore, most of what we perceive as real should not exist in the manner in which it is perceived.

Matter, for instance, is actually energy, bound by rates of vibration which give it form and mass. The foundation of all matter is energy; the very energy that forms the ether of creation. It is the essence of our perceived "reality." Yet, if this prime energy is the true state of things like matter, what caused it to take a form that is contrary to its natural state? Why not remain in it's true form?

Limited to linear trains of thought, the human mind is far from brilliant. Scientists would have you believe otherwise of course, however, these are people who believe in accidents, which, if traced back beyond the first big bang, start with nothing. This, of course is impossible. Nothing, like eternity, is absolute, having no beginning and no end. They cannot both exist. When you try to imagine nothing, you ALWAYS imagine something. And since something does, in fact, exist, it means that "NOTHING" was never part of the equation. That being the case, SOMETHING must have always existed. So, the next logical question would be: what is that "something?"

Some overzealous Bible thumper might use this opportunity to jump behind a pulpit and let out a triumphant shout: "It's GOD, and you're all going to hell if you don't follow me!" I, on the other hand, am only interested in the truth, wherever it may take me, and I have no desire to lead anybody anywhere. I simply ask questions, and when answers are found, doors to more questions are opened.

So the question on the table is: what is that "something?" If you look at it logically, the answer is simple. What is the opposite of nothing? Answer: EVERYTHING. I'm sure you've heard the term "all or nothing" before. If not nothing, then anything that could exist...would. Your five senses, however, prevent you from perceiving anything more than a finite, linear, three or four dimensional reality; a reality that scientists understand more and more with the passing of time. Go team! But if, in fact, everything does exists, which logically it must, and we are only able to perceive a fraction of it, it would indicate that perception is what gives this reality form. If our five senses didn't perceive it, it would simply be part of the forces that comprise "everything."

Science claims that what exists can neither be created nor destroyed, which would be the logical nature of eternity. If everything does exist eternally, then it cannot be created or destroyed. Perception exists...therefore it too must be eternal. In fact, it is my belief that perception is the key ingredient in the grand design. After all, what is perception but cognitive understanding of what is being perceived. In other words...sentience. It exists within you, me, and everyone else; to deny that would be naive. And what exists must be part of the eternal force. Perception makes the concept of everything possible. If matter is perceived to be solid, or fire is perceived to be hot, then that is what they will be to the observer. Keeping that in mind, is it really so difficult to imagine intelligence being behind the design of realities like ours? As a matter of fact, without sentience to perceive it, would anything exist? Think about it.

Take a look around the room you're sitting in. perhaps you'll see a television, a book or magazine, a stereo, a couch or a table. Were you aware that no subatomic particle within any of these objects touches another? Yet they all work together to maintain the structural integrity of the object. The same is true of your body. Your brain sends signals to the various limbs and appendages, telling them to move here or there, and they do. From our perspective it's perfectly normal. From a subatomic perspective, however, it might seem a little strange since no particle connects to another physically. Yet the signal generated by the clusters of individual particles that form your brain, manages to jump from particle to particle, until every last one receives the message and does what it's told. Now I don't know about you, but I for one appreciate a subatomic particle that does what it's told. And I'm extremely grateful that the prime energy that makes up ALL matter understands the message my brain sends. I sometimes wonder if matter could sustain itself, especially organic matter, if subatomic particles were simply lifeless objects. Would anything conform to our collective perception of reality, if sentient perception and the forces that shape our reality were not part of the eternal ether that is EVERYTHING?

To put it in simpler terms; every aspect of a dream is dependent upon perception. Because of this, a dream can appear as real as life itself. Everything within the dream conforms to the observer's perception. Matter appears solid, the sky looks blue, gravity exists, and other people interact with the observer. Since our waking minds are only capable of perceiving a minute fraction of everything, then, like a dream, reality is shaped by what the perceiving mind can understand and accept. And we are very accepting of what our five senses tell us is real. So much so, that a creative deceiver with the right tools could make us believe anything. For example: there are people who actually believe that Chris Angel walked on water. It was an excellent illusion, but it was hardly real. Any realistic illusion has the power to deceive the observer

To illustrate my point, let me pose a hypothetical scenario. At our present rate of technological progress, the Matrix, as depicted in the movie staring Keanu Reeves, will be achievable within 50 years. Think of it! Virtual environments so realistic that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between virtual reality and reality! If we can achieve that in 50 years, what do you think we will be capable of in 100, or 200 years? Imagine the possibilities for higher learning. How much more effective would the study of history be, if you could experience it first hand?

Keeping that in mind, let me introduce you to British Telecom's Soul Catcher chip. A computer chip implanted behind the eye that could record a person's every lifetime thought and sensation is being developed by British scientists.

"This is the end of death," said Dr. Chris Winter, of British Telecom's artificial life team. He predicted that within three decades it would be possible to relive other people's lives by playing back their experiences on a computer. "By combining this information with a record of the person's genes, we could recreate a person physically, emotionally and spiritually."

Dr. Winter's team of eight scientists at British Telecom's Martlesham Heath Laboratories near Ipswich gave the technology the name "Soul Catcher." It would be possible to imbue a new-born baby with a lifetime of experiences by implanting a Soul Catcher chip imprinted with another person's life, Dr. Winter said. The idea of digitizing existence is based on how much data the brain stores in a lifetime.

Ian Pearson, British Telecom's official futurologist, has measured the flow of impulses from the optical nerve and nerves in the skin, tongue, ear, and nose. He concluded that over a period of eighty years, we process approximately 10 terabytes of data, which, by today's rate of technological advancement, it will take less than thirty years to reach the point where we can record an individual's entire life on a single chip.

British Telecom would not divulge how much money it is investing in the project, but Dr. Winter said it was taking 'Soul Catcher 2025' very seriously. He admitted that there were profound ethical considerations, but emphasized that British Telecom was embarking on this line of research to enable it to remain at the forefront of communications technology.

"An implanted chip would be like an aircraft's black box and would enhance communications beyond current concepts," he said. "For example, police would be able to use it to relive an attack, rape, or murder from the victim's viewpoint to help catch the criminal."

Think of it! One hundred years from now, your great grandchildren could walk into a library of sorts, select an archive with your name on it, and jack into a virtual reality computer that lets them experience your entire life in a matter of minutes. All of your sights, sounds, tastes, smells, thoughts and emotions would flow through them. They would, virtually, be able to look through your eyes, and walk in your shoes. And since our lives are the product of our perceptions, the moment another consciousness "turned us on again," it would feel just as real the thousandth time around, as it did the first. Because everything you thought, felt, and hoped for, through each experience, is transferred to the observer in the same way you experienced it, the observer would, in all likelihood, believe that the life unfolding before their mind's eye was their own. And reality would not right itself again until the virtual experience had completed, or was terminated by an outside source. In the meantime, you would continue believing that this was your life, rather than the life of a person who died before you were even born.

The FACT that such a scenario is even possible, has got to make any open minded, logical thinker step back and truly consider all the possibilities. Of course, it also has to make you wonder if the person you think you are is really you, or the echo of a life that ended long ago.

Regardless of whether this is real, or a virtual simulation, the fact still remains that if perception exists then it is part of the ether of creation. If everything exists, and we are only capable of perceiving a tiny fraction of it, then we must acknowledge that our understanding of creation is severely limited. And betting everything on theories that are limited to our "understanding" of that tiny fraction, is unwise. There IS more to everything than meets the eye, and nothing is as it appears to be. Sentience is part of everything, and intelligence is responsible for what we are able to perceive. Without perception, most likely, nothing would exist. Like a house of cards, if you remove one card, the whole house comes tumbling down. Everything and nothing are absolute. Only one can be. Since we have the ability to perceive our micro-fragment of reality, we provide the evidence that sentient perception exits, in ALL possible forms...including GOD.