Misperceptions Shroud the Spiritual

Mental processes create our misperceptions that our world is made up of “things.” The gap between science and spirituality is bridged by understanding this deception.

How the brain deceives us

Human reality is an illusion, an incomplete representation of our world. But how could all that our senses and intellects record be a mirage? If everything is energy (I explained this in another article), what are we experiencing? The sight of my world around me, the feel of the chair, the sound of conversations, the aromas and tastes of the food—how do all of those things come about from energy transformed by information? The great mystery of reality is how space and energy become all we experience. Part of the answer lies in the "tricks" our brains play on us in representing reality.

A minuscule fraction of the space and energy out there (visible light) is received by the eyes. The brain represents the light’s information as things. The hearing apparatus receives energy waves and translate them into the impression of sounds. Feel, smell, and taste are from energy interacting with receptors and the brain portraying sensations. The bottom line is: it is energy providing our mental depictions of the world.

Our world is not things

The things we think we see are mere energy. What about a rock? The atoms in a rock are mainly space—only one trillionth of the volume of an atom is the nucleus, the rest is space (electrons are energy having no dimensions). But even the nucleus itself is only space with a bit of energy in it. A few light waves bounce off the energy of the atoms of the rock, reflect into my eyes, and my brain pictures energy out there as a rock. What about us?

Materialists would state that life is realized by the action of atoms and molecules. However, we are just space and a smattering of energy like the rock. Additionally, our energy (for the materialists: atoms and molecules) are constantly changing with the environment so that nearly all of you are different from the collection of energy (or atoms) of months ago. Finally, quantum theory explains that the components of atoms are energy waves appearing in many places simultaneously and disappearing into other worlds before reappearing!

The illusion of time

What about our sense of time? Is time also an illusion? Yes. Einstein said, “For we convinced physicists, the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, however, persistent.” Physicists interpret Einstein’s quotation by explaining that past, present, and future all exist in space-time. How can every moment of each of our lives be somewhere out there in space-time? It gets more bizarre.

Many scientists believe that we live in an infinite universe, and that all possible events are also out in space-time in parallel worlds. This seems like a fantastic statement. If all possible events exist, why couldn’t some of these be our being in heaven?

Scientists postulate multiple or parallel universes to explain the slippery concepts of science, such as the quantum paradox and the space-time conundrum of all possible events existing. Ironically, in their attempt to find a non-spiritual solution to these mysteries, scientists propose theories that might be impossible to test or verify, thereby embracing what some might call faith. Science prides itself in having explanations that are verifiable, either through experimentation or by predicting future observations. Yet, it is unclear if multiple or parallel universes can ever be verified.

Our world is spiritual and mental

Is science’s concept of time new? The ancient Eastern religions describe in their writings higher states of consciousness involving an experience of space and time similar to the teachings of modern physics. The Taoists and the Buddhists speak of awareness as an infinite, timeless, and dynamic present. Interestingly, both this spiritual perspective and the existence of parallel universes are unfalsifiable.

Our world is immaterial, and so are we. The immaterial bits of energy which make up us interact with energy from our world and create a video in our minds which portrays time, objects, and thoughts. We and our world are mental and spiritual.