In my research the past month, I have dealt three phenomena which I believe are related: consciousness, Near Death Experiences (NDE) and the Shroud of Turin. Among other things I discovered a Renaissance painting of astonishing relevance.
A. Consciousness
There is a heated scientific dispute as to the nature of consciousness and its relationship to the brain. The philosophical battlefield for this dispute is the application of materialistic reductionism. The reductionists hold that all worthwhile scientific inquiry must be aimed at reducing any phenomena to its physical components at the simplest level. Thus to the reductionist consciousness is merely the sum total of physical processes of the brain. On the other hand there is a large body of thought by some scientists that perceive consciousness not only existing apart from the processes of the brain but being the basic fabric of not just human existence but all existence.
Quantum Mechanics (QM) poses unique problems for the reductionists. QM deals with existence at its most elementary levels and grapples with the problems posed by the apparent role of conscious observation in determining our existence.
Sir Roger Penrose and Dr. Stuart Hameroff have written:
“Consciousness implies awareness: subjective experience of internal and external phenomenal worlds. Consciousness is central also to understanding, meaning and volitional choice with the experience of free will. Our views of reality, of the universe, of ourselves depend on consciousness. Consciousness defines our existence.” (Emphasis added)
B. NEAR DEATH AND OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES
There are two phenomena which have been studied that specifically relate to the issue of whether the consciousness is merely a process of the physical brain or can exist independent of the brain. One phenomenon is Out of Body Experiences (OBE). The other is Near Death Experiences (NDE). OBE have occurred during surgical procedures when the patient suffers a crisis and seems to have died by reason of a cardiac arrest and apparent cessation of brain function.
The classic example of an OBE is a sensation of the patient that she or he is observing the doctors from a position above the operating table. The patient sees and hears things that due to her unconscious state she could not hear or see.
The NDE goes several steps further. The individual is projected into a different stage of existence and although the experiences may very depending upon cultural or religious backgrounds there are repetitive observations that occur across a broad cross-section of the NDE experiences.
For this brief outline of where I am heading I will concentrate on two of them which are widely reported among the hundreds (if not thousands) of individuals who have had NDE experiences. The first is progressing through a tunnel and the second is the seeing of a bright light at the end of the tunnel. If you were to Google as I have the phrase "light at the end of the tunnel" on May 20, 2016 the program would report 77 million hits. If you were to modify the search request to "light at the end of the tunnel death" you would receive merely 24 million hits.
I believe that is one example of the pervasive nature of the tunnel – light observation of the NDE. I am not writing that there are 77 million tunnel and light experiences only that the 24 million hits indicate extraordinary interest in the phenomena.
There is in the matter I have reviewed one illustration of the light at the end of the tunnel in death:
It is from a painting by Hieronymus Bosch: Ascent into the Empyrean, circa 1500. It has been identified by one recent NDEer has an accurate representation of what he saw in his NDE experience.
It's difficult to draw a definitive conclusion about the inspiration for Bosch's painting. Did he have an NDE? Was he told about an NDE by a third party. How could hundreds if not thousands of individuals relate an NDE that contains the Bosch vision? I believe that most people today, if they are familiar with Bosch's work at all, are familiar with his visions of Hell rather than his vision of the light at the end of the tunnel. There can be no doubt if you are familiar with NDE studies that Bosch's vision was inspired by an NDE or NDEs.
Those who have related the tunnel – light phenomena as a part of an NDE go on to recite that the light was a warm welcoming presence but before they become immersed in the light they are drawn back to reality. Christians have identified the light as God or Jesus.
Throughout Scripture Jesus is identified with light. How apropos is that to the NDE experience and beyond that to the mysterious image of the crucified Christ on the Shroud of Turin. Is the Bosch vision part of Carl Jung's "collective unconscious" or Teilhard de Chardin's "Noosphere?
C. The Shroud of Turin
There have been significant hypotheses that the Shroud image may have been created by collimated light which resembles but obviously is not a laser beam. May we not say at least metaphorically that through the scientific study of the Shroud, He is coming again. That is my query from the Introduction of my book: The Coming of the Quantum Christ.
In this Apocalyptical time, when the extinction of humanity now appears to be a real possibility as soon as 2101, do we not need Him more than ever?
SOME RESOURCES:
The authenticity of the Shroud
A grave Injustice: An investigation into "The First Selfie"
http://www.shroud-enigma.com/
Consciousness
Roger Penrose, PhD, OM, FRS1, and Stuart Hameroff, MD, “Consciousness in the Universe: Neuroscience, Quantum Space-Time Geometry and Orch OR Theory,” Cosmology of Consciousness: Quantum Physics & Neuroscience of Mind (Kindle Locations 681-683). Cosmology Science Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Global Consciousness project
http://www.noetic.org/research/projects/mindatlarge
The Tunnel Experience
"I also came across a very interesting work by Hieronymus Bosch, the famous 15th-century Dutch painter. In a painting entitled Ascent into the Empyrean, he had depicted what looked like a typical NDE: a passage down a tunnel toward a bright light, with people being taken there by angels ….I wondered whether Bosch had experienced an NDE himself or whether someone else had described one to him."
Parnia, Sam. What Happens When We Die?: A Groundbreaking Study into the Nature of Life and Death (p. 9). Hay House. Kindle Edition.
van Lommel, Pim. Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience (p. 27). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Dave Hines
Dave Hines who is producing a video of Shroud of Turin as witness to the Resurrection has created an adaptation of the tunnel-light phenomenon as an introduction to the video. Interesting work in progress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d2e62RCPFo
Can you identify the theme music? Think Peter O'Toole.
A. Consciousness
There is a heated scientific dispute as to the nature of consciousness and its relationship to the brain. The philosophical battlefield for this dispute is the application of materialistic reductionism. The reductionists hold that all worthwhile scientific inquiry must be aimed at reducing any phenomena to its physical components at the simplest level. Thus to the reductionist consciousness is merely the sum total of physical processes of the brain. On the other hand there is a large body of thought by some scientists that perceive consciousness not only existing apart from the processes of the brain but being the basic fabric of not just human existence but all existence.
Quantum Mechanics (QM) poses unique problems for the reductionists. QM deals with existence at its most elementary levels and grapples with the problems posed by the apparent role of conscious observation in determining our existence.
Sir Roger Penrose and Dr. Stuart Hameroff have written:
“Consciousness implies awareness: subjective experience of internal and external phenomenal worlds. Consciousness is central also to understanding, meaning and volitional choice with the experience of free will. Our views of reality, of the universe, of ourselves depend on consciousness. Consciousness defines our existence.” (Emphasis added)
B. NEAR DEATH AND OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES
There are two phenomena which have been studied that specifically relate to the issue of whether the consciousness is merely a process of the physical brain or can exist independent of the brain. One phenomenon is Out of Body Experiences (OBE). The other is Near Death Experiences (NDE). OBE have occurred during surgical procedures when the patient suffers a crisis and seems to have died by reason of a cardiac arrest and apparent cessation of brain function.
The classic example of an OBE is a sensation of the patient that she or he is observing the doctors from a position above the operating table. The patient sees and hears things that due to her unconscious state she could not hear or see.
The NDE goes several steps further. The individual is projected into a different stage of existence and although the experiences may very depending upon cultural or religious backgrounds there are repetitive observations that occur across a broad cross-section of the NDE experiences.
For this brief outline of where I am heading I will concentrate on two of them which are widely reported among the hundreds (if not thousands) of individuals who have had NDE experiences. The first is progressing through a tunnel and the second is the seeing of a bright light at the end of the tunnel. If you were to Google as I have the phrase "light at the end of the tunnel" on May 20, 2016 the program would report 77 million hits. If you were to modify the search request to "light at the end of the tunnel death" you would receive merely 24 million hits.
I believe that is one example of the pervasive nature of the tunnel – light observation of the NDE. I am not writing that there are 77 million tunnel and light experiences only that the 24 million hits indicate extraordinary interest in the phenomena.
There is in the matter I have reviewed one illustration of the light at the end of the tunnel in death:
It is from a painting by Hieronymus Bosch: Ascent into the Empyrean, circa 1500. It has been identified by one recent NDEer has an accurate representation of what he saw in his NDE experience.
It's difficult to draw a definitive conclusion about the inspiration for Bosch's painting. Did he have an NDE? Was he told about an NDE by a third party. How could hundreds if not thousands of individuals relate an NDE that contains the Bosch vision? I believe that most people today, if they are familiar with Bosch's work at all, are familiar with his visions of Hell rather than his vision of the light at the end of the tunnel. There can be no doubt if you are familiar with NDE studies that Bosch's vision was inspired by an NDE or NDEs.
Those who have related the tunnel – light phenomena as a part of an NDE go on to recite that the light was a warm welcoming presence but before they become immersed in the light they are drawn back to reality. Christians have identified the light as God or Jesus.
Throughout Scripture Jesus is identified with light. How apropos is that to the NDE experience and beyond that to the mysterious image of the crucified Christ on the Shroud of Turin. Is the Bosch vision part of Carl Jung's "collective unconscious" or Teilhard de Chardin's "Noosphere?
C. The Shroud of Turin
There have been significant hypotheses that the Shroud image may have been created by collimated light which resembles but obviously is not a laser beam. May we not say at least metaphorically that through the scientific study of the Shroud, He is coming again. That is my query from the Introduction of my book: The Coming of the Quantum Christ.
In this Apocalyptical time, when the extinction of humanity now appears to be a real possibility as soon as 2101, do we not need Him more than ever?
SOME RESOURCES:
The authenticity of the Shroud
A grave Injustice: An investigation into "The First Selfie"
http://www.shroud-enigma.com/
Consciousness
Roger Penrose, PhD, OM, FRS1, and Stuart Hameroff, MD, “Consciousness in the Universe: Neuroscience, Quantum Space-Time Geometry and Orch OR Theory,” Cosmology of Consciousness: Quantum Physics & Neuroscience of Mind (Kindle Locations 681-683). Cosmology Science Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Global Consciousness project
http://www.noetic.org/research/projects/mindatlarge
The Tunnel Experience
"I also came across a very interesting work by Hieronymus Bosch, the famous 15th-century Dutch painter. In a painting entitled Ascent into the Empyrean, he had depicted what looked like a typical NDE: a passage down a tunnel toward a bright light, with people being taken there by angels ….I wondered whether Bosch had experienced an NDE himself or whether someone else had described one to him."
Parnia, Sam. What Happens When We Die?: A Groundbreaking Study into the Nature of Life and Death (p. 9). Hay House. Kindle Edition.
van Lommel, Pim. Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience (p. 27). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Dave Hines
Dave Hines who is producing a video of Shroud of Turin as witness to the Resurrection has created an adaptation of the tunnel-light phenomenon as an introduction to the video. Interesting work in progress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d2e62RCPFo
Can you identify the theme music? Think Peter O'Toole.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is not a promo for my book "The Coming of the Quantum Christ" but if you are interested: but if anyone is interested: http://johnklotz.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html
No comments:
Post a Comment