Here’s an odd contemplation: it was not my wife of fifty years who died last May, it was me. Perhaps a ghost of my consciousness has continued to spin out an experience of my reality, my Samsara, even though my body is now long gone. Is it possible to prove that’s not true?
From “cat in a box both alive and dead” Erwin Schrodinger’s quantum realm perspective, all probabilities are true until they’re not, each existing simultaneously in a non-obstructive way with each other across infinite dimensional timelines. That thought experiment is above my pay grade, but I’m contemplating a simpler version: I died, the life of my wife Norma has continued, and what I think is happening to me now is but a dream.
If consciousness is one quantum field among many, perhaps infinite fields, is it possible to “inhabit” a reality within a field that is comprised of pure consciousness? Consciousness remains a mystery, after all, and whether it is emergent or inherent remains an unanswered question. If what we experience as reality is entirely created by and filtered through consciousness, how is one to know if oneself is or is not an invention of imagination?
Finding my life to be pretty much as it has always been, although I’m alone, it’s kind of comforting to imagine that I’m dead and Norma’s still alive. I can imagine Norma in exactly the same situation I seem to be in, making the adjustments needed to adapt to life alone – paying the bills, preparing things to eat, going out to lunch with friends; in short, the notion that life goes on even when you’re dead feels both satisfying and ridiculous, but is it any more ridiculous than me thinking everything around me is absolutely real?
I guess this is where the idea of Heaven found its place, perhaps another dimension in the quantum field of consciousness. The prospect of the continuity of self is appealing, at least for those of us who enjoy life. My current estimate, based on an admittedly non-scientific survey, is that seventy-five percent of us would prefer to be dead when we die, “gone, gone, completely gone, completely gone beyond,” as we English speakers translate the Mantra of the Buddhist Heart Sutra, “Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate.” I’ve always found the use of the word “beyond” to be somewhat problematic; where is “beyond” and beyond what? But I digress.
Proof of Heaven, the continuation of individual consciousness beyond physical death, does not scientifically exist, and yet its appeal continues. And the crazy part is that it’s possible. If it absolutely does not exist, prove it to me. I dare you.
The universe is very forgiving. We can believe anything we want to believe even if nobody else shares it. It’s the non-obstructive field of consciousness at play. How we behave based upon our beliefs is where the obstruction begins and often remains. Human consciousness is grasping by nature, seeking attachment to bits and pieces of its preferred reality; the conflict we create with others is the result of them doing the same. When our imagined realities and attachments don’t coincide, we get into trouble. The vast history of humanity is one of getting into and out of trouble with each other’s reality.
Meanwhile, while I dream I’m writing this, I can imagine Norma is sipping a latte at Peet’s with an old friend.
