We are altogether a physical body, a conscious mind and, according to some, a spiritual soul. To make sense of this threefold essence of ours (in a somewhat conventional, rational way), a first step could be to seek out a better understanding of the relationship which links up body and mind. Once this is reasonably well understood ( if it is possible), we may then tread more safely towards the wilder shores of spiritual speculations. (A full grasp of spiritual matters can only be reaped from a mystical journey, which reaches much farther than intellectual cogitations. However, it hardly lends itself to a spoken account; and so I shall restrain myself here to a mere "word-friendly", outward outline.)
Brain awareness is a mind-boggling phenomenon indeed. Some dare even think (as I do) that it may eventually lead to the downfall of materialism - which arguably seem poorly, if at all, geared to deal with subjective experience. Cartesian dualism, on the other hand, doesn't fare much better. It is demonstrably wide of the mark, if only because it fails to account for the acknowledged neural underpinnings of consciousness.
So is there any alternative theory to fall back on? I believe there is at least one such theory, and a promising one at that. It is panpsychism, an age-old outlook according to which the (nonphysical) seeds of the mind are sown in matter - these seeds would lurk in any speck and chunk of it. Put starkly, plain matter would actually be psychomatter...
Taking this insight on board, I developed a strain of panpsychism which deserves the slightly unwieldy name of crypto-proto-panspychism. (I'll nevertheless call it panpsychism, for simplicity's sake!) It posits that the 'psi' content of psychomatter is overwhelmingly latent. It also surmises that consciousness proper is spawned when the 'psi' sheds its latency and is welded into forming wide-scale macro-psychic clusters.
The first idea - that the 'psi' is wont to be latent - explains why it is unseen (and so, why it goes unheeded). The second idea - about its "clustering" ability - goes hand in hand with the assumption that the 'psi' can be bound together, as though by 'psi'-threads. (These 'psi'-threads - that I really call the supral links - are as hidden as the 'psi' itself, as long as the latter remains latent.)
So, the 'psi' parts of psychomatter are typically latent: in this lethargic state, they are unconscious and inactive, and cannot be detected. However, the conscious brain strongly suggests that, given the right circumstances, this 'psi' can be stirred or kindled out of its latency; whereby it becomes active. It is thus awoken, and turned if you wish into 'psi'-sparks (that I dub parallings , or paral phases ). (Quite simply, it is like an unlit candle, that can be kindled into a lit one!)
'Psi'-sparks and 'psi'-threads are the cornerstones of my panpsychic approach. Its linchpin is the understanding that awareness arises when whole swaths of 'psi'-sparks, duly interwoven by skeins of 'psi'-threads, glow concurrently. If so, the brain is the organ of awareness because it yields and kindles an ongoing stream of 'psi'-clusters. Herein would lie its utmost secret... which is thoroughly invisible, as any secret worth its salt.
My approach leads to definite facts and features, and can be put to the test. One of these bear on our conscious recalls. As of to-day (and despite immense efforts), neuroscientists still lack a real understanding of memory. They know a lot about some of its underlying processes (e.g. the role of the hippocampus; the role of the Creb - a.k.a. cyclic response element binding protein; and so forth), but they fall short of getting to the bottom of it.
Appealing theories have been framed (e.g. K. Ashley's mnesic engram and, more recently, D. Hebb's learning rule); but none, thus far, withstood close scrutiny. And there we are: for all our hard-won findings, no full-blown theory of memory is forthcoming.
The nature - material or otherwise - of our recollections is of paramount importance. They are, as it were, frozen shards of awareness: Herein lies the likely root cause of our failure to work their origin out. Unearthing their essence will speak volumes about the very nature of the mind. This may be a good reason why, memory-wise, we should try and stretch our imagination beyond the bounds of ideology and reductionism, beyond the "scholarly correct" materialist blinkers that prevail to-day.
Now, my panpsychic insight regarding our conscious (a.k.a. declarative) memories is (very roughly) as follows. The key idea is that the 'psi'-threads knit the 'psi' into patterned field-like fabrics, into tangles and webs of sundry shapes and patterns. Most importantly, these 'psi' patterns encode and store data; they are information-laden. (The information at stake here belongs entirely to the 'psi' level.)
This affords a straightforward panspychic explanatory framework for our memories, which hinges on the earlier insight that these 'psi' patterns cannot consciously give off their information load unless the 'psi' is kindled into 'psi'-sparks. On being kindled (or paralled , as I'd rather say), the matching data - to wit, memory traces - are forthwith released in the mind. In short, they are recalled. They become conscious again, and conjure up hitherto forgotten glimpses of the past.
I am drawn to the conclusion that our memories are not precisely in the brain. Instead, they are in the mind (i.e. they belong to the 'psi' level). What's more, due to their thread-like character they are not only hidden, but inherently nonlocal and associative. The encouraging news is that these features are borne out by the weight of experimental evidence.
So far, the focus has been on the conscious mind, and kindred issues. Now I want to find out whether it seems possible to broaden our scope, and touch on spirituality; while still remaining faithful to the panpsychic approach. I already presented a stab at this in Ref.[2]. In what follows however, I shall restrict myself to a very quick overview. My aim is just to give an inkling as to how (crypto-ptoto-)panpsychism may (or may not) chime in with certain aspects of spiritual research and way of thinking.
To start with, it appears that sentient lifeforms - be they human wights, animals, and what have you - are not separate, fragmented entities. They are not islands unto themselves. Or rather, they are islands: seemingly standing on their own; in isolation, but really interconnected - deep underneath, well below the surface of tangible realities.
Any lifeform is part and parcel of the big whole, of the cosmic community that is held together by a universe-wide tangle of 'psi'-threads and webs. These are beaming and powerful webs of kinship with the world at large. On acknowledging them, we elicit and feed a heightened sense of sharing, of relationship and interconnectedness. This may give a new, radiant meaning to our life, and change it hugely.
This is consonant with the mystic intuition that "everything is connected; all in one." Going one step further, we realize that what holds everything together, over and above these unseen threads, is the unlimited, radiant force of love - of free, unconditional love, that works wonders in our lives when we let it shine through.
Owing to the unseen 'psi'-threads which run through us and spread well beyond our physical bodies, we are just nodes, so to speak, in the seamless (and patterned) network of the overall 'psi' field. This is nothing short of stunning. We belong to an untold pool of shared 'psi' resources; that we can learn to tap and harness. We can access - hopefully for the shared benefit of mankind - the immeasurable treasure trove of knowledge that it contains.
Carrying on slightly farther afield, we stumble on the so-called paranormal phenomena. (They are substantiated by a compelling body of evidence nowadays - see for instance the landmark works of R. Péoc'h on chicks and of A.-M. Vexiau on autistic children, in France.) My suggestion here is that our psychic powers are likely to stem from our very ability to empathize and resonate with the all-pervasive 'psi'-pool.
(The 'psi'-threads are distance-blind; they can be thought of as telepathic bonds, and may give rise to telepathic events. By the same token, they can be harnessed to foster healing processes, again regardless of the physical distance.)
A step towards reclaiming our hidden powers would therefore be to sharpen our living, heartfelt awareness of the 'psi'-field to which we belong. The practice of, say, meditation and threading (Ref.[3]) can help a great deal in this respect.
It is worth stressing that the 'psi'-pool is in the main unconscious (since the 'psi' is wontedly latent). It is therefore akin to Jung's collective unconscious. Furthermore, being as we saw fraught with data and memories, it is reminiscent of Hindu Akashic records. (This strikes me as amazing!)
Needless to say, a lot more could be said. However, given the scope of this introductory paper, I shall stop here. By way of partial conclusion, let me just highlight three points:
- We (unwittingly) bask in a powerful and wholistic 'psi'-pool that we all too often tend to overlook. This world-wide pool can be likened to a world-soul, to an indwelling divine energy which permeates anyone and anything.; to the effect that things and beings alike are expressions of the divine. We can all develop the ability to connect to this shared inner light, and harness it for our common benefit. This is what spiritual awakening is for.
- This boundless and fathomless pool is the wellspring of our egoless nature. It makes us much larger than life! To reclaim the truly awesome powers that go with it, we must learn to hush the ego, to let go of our narrow conscious self. Only then can we embrace the deeper layers of our unconscious self - and dance with life, dance with Gaia, dance with the whole world!
- As we move towards this enlightened awareness, we become more attuned to the treasure troves of knowledge that lay dormant, mostly unconscious, in the world-soul. In a way, we thus become both ego-less and all-knowing. It is a if we had reached the blessed state of buddhahood, or of buddhist illumination!
This last remark is yet another hint that the panpsychic approach brings with it a number of insights that seem to chime with many teachings of various time-honoured traditions. Henceforth, far from being discrepant with spirituality, panpsychism may ultimately add its little voice to this infinite melody....
[1] RANSFORD, E. (1998), ' Panpsychism, the Conscious Brain, and Exo-biological Awareness ', Proceedings of ANPA 19
[2] RANSFORD, E. (1996), 'The New Physics and the Wholistic Self.' The Scientific and Medical Network Review, N° 61.
[3] RANSFORD, E. (1994), 'Mind, Body, and Healing'. The International Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (J.A.C.M., November issue)