Thoughts on the “ integrated information theory”

The integrated information theory (IIT) of the origin of consciousness has been labeled as a pseudoscience by some for reasons unclear, though the suspicion is that the theory is wildly popular in excess of its scientific merits. The writer makes clear that IIT still insists “that consciousness has a physical basis and can be mathematically measured.”  Still, I sense between the lines that the real scientists are afraid that the IIT folks are turning mystical.

So, how should mystics, meta-physicists, and genuine pseudoscientists react to being insulted by proxy? (For now, I’ll leave UFO researchers out of this.)

During near-death experiences, where consciousness literally separates from the physical body, experiencers often notice that there is a definite demarcation between physical and non-physical consciousness. Physical consciousness is centered in time and space, while consciousness out of the body does not track time or distance. There are two almost contradictory perspectives on consciousness: Physically-oriented consciousness is self-contained, reliant on the physical body for existence, and while there is no proof that it is physically generated, it is definitely influenced by the physical. On the other hand, when the “I” vacates the body completely, the body dies. The physical body cannot be animated unless something—however you define the “I”—is installed. Science would have to measure the non-physical to discover the true root of consciousness, and I don’t know this is doable by physical people using physical instruments.

Dreams as more than “just dreams”

 

In my readings of Robert Crookall, who I recommend, I ran across an interesting observation about dreams that set me on a small adventure: 

All make these statements. Mrs. Rhys Davids held—we believe rightly—“It is in the shifting from one body [the physical] to the other [the “super-physical” Soul Body via which the impressions are cognised] that we may find some clues to the provoking oddities in dreams”—i.e., it is in the intermediate “semi-physical” vehicle of vitality that genuine impression can be distorted and appear to us as mere meaningless fantasies. The “communicator” of Kate Wingfield similarly stated that most “dreams” are not, as they appear to be, mere fantasies, but are distorted genuine impressions and observations. “H.J.L.”, communicating to J. S. M. Ward (Gone West, Rider, 1917, pp. 156-7), gave the same reason for the distortion of out-of-the-body experiences. He said, “Experiences on the ‘astral’ [ = Hades] plane, being akin to earth, become distorted as the ‘astral’ [vehicle of vitality] re-unites with the physical body: it is as though the physical brain [with three dimensions] attempted to explain ‘astral’ [with four dimensions] phenomena by physical laws …” Later (p. 165) “H.J.L.” said, “Many people occasionally remember, in a distorted manner, fragments of their [Hades or Paradise] experiences.” (“What Happens When You Die”)

 I won’t say a lot about Robert Crookall except that he published several metaphysical books in the mid-20th century, all (except one, available from White Crow Books) out of print. The ones I’ve been able to locate independently seem very authoritative, with many references to Spiritualist books (also out-of-print, but in the public domain). It’s easy to lose a few hours tracking down his sources.

I think that Crookall may have been a Theosophist—or familiar with the teachings—which is reflected in his notion that all physically incarnated beings have “vehicle of vitality” that surrounds the “soul.” He goes into great detail explaining this “vehicle of vitality,” which he defines as:

Vehicle of Vitality. —This, ‘the nerve spirit’ of German communicators, the ‘vital body’ of the Rosicrucians, the ‘etheric double’ of the Theosophists, and the ‘Bardo Body’ of Tibetans, is part (the ‘magnetic’ or ultra-gaseous part) of the total Physical Body. If ‘loose’, it can give off ‘ectoplasm’ and produce such ‘physical’ phenomena as ‘raps’, levitation, direct voice, tele-kinesis and ‘materialisations’. (“The Supreme Adventure,” 1961)

I have patiently read Crookall’s detailed discussions of the “vehicle of vitality” throughout his books, neither believing nor disbelieving, since I don’t find many references to it in other books on this subject. I didn’t understand why we needed an additional body to contend with. But as I read more, it began to click. The “vehicle of vitality” is the only body that we (the physically incarnated) are able to observe. It is sometimes perceived as a mist, or like smoke, or sparkly, or as a light, or with what appear to be electrical fields. It also filters and translates information obtained from “higher” planes during OOBEs, and this information is reformatted into dreams.

This strikes me as an advanced concept, since it’s counterintuitive. Science holds that dreams are part of the brain’s housekeeping function, where memories of the previous hours are sorted and pruned and filed away (somewhere). But “Seth” also argues that dreams contain remnants of astral travels:

At certain depths of sleep, however, the soul’s perception operates relatively unhampered. You drink, so to speak, from the pure well of perception. You communicate with the depths of your own being, and the source of your creativity. These experiences, not being translated physically, do not remain in the morning. You do not remember them as dreams. Dreams, however, may later the same evening be formed from the information gained during what I will call the “depth experience.” These will not be exact or near translations of the experience, but rather of the nature of dream parables — an entirely different thing, you see. (“Seth Speaks”)

The nature of dream production is extensively covered in “Seth, Dreams and Projections of Consciousness,” which I won’t go into right now, except to mention that on numerous occasions, Seth suggests that the dream universe actually exists—it’s not a hallucination—and that it’s electrical in nature. I don’t know if the fact that the “vehicle of vitality” is also electrical is a coincidence. But this “vehicle” is the interface that translates these perceptions of higher levels.

My quixotic quest is my later years has been an attempt to comprehend what these other realities beyond the physical are. We who have been reared in the Western scientific tradition believe that there must be a measurable, objective reality, or it isn’t “real”—if it can’t be measured, or photographed, or smashed in a cyclotron, it’s a hallucination. It’s a bias that causes us to depreciate information that’s obtained “elsewhere.” But I think it’s possible to pick out bits and pieces of information from these elsewheres and to roughly speculate on the nature of that other reality. And if it requires a vehicle of vitality to comprehend it, I’ll take it.

Brief exchange between Robert Monroe and “INSPEC” concerning alien intelligence

 

Near the end of his third book of OOBE accounts, “The Ultimate Journey,” Robert Monroe recounts a “discussion” with his INSPEC helpers (revealed to actually be his “higher self” or oversoul) concerning non-human and non-earthly beings that he had encountered in the out-of-body state. Monroe mentioned the ET presence in the first two books of his trilogy without going into much detail.

INSPEC: Even the Earth itself. There are so many influences. And there are also the nonhuman intelligences. We have tried to steer you away from them, as much as we can.

RM: Why?

INSPECT: Some early encounters with some of us did not work out well. They do not regard humans in the way we thought they might. They have a sense of superiority because they have evolved in a different way.

RM: So there are no big brothers in the sky?

INSPEC: Not in the way we humans dream that there are. The difficulty is that these intelligences have abilities in the manipulation of energy that we cannot yet conceive of. And they use them without the restraints we put on ourselves.

RM: I’ve had several out-of-body events that seemed like contacts with these intelligences.

INSPEC: That’s what they were. But they lost interest when they realized you were too conscious to forget the incident.

RM: I see … Are there a lot of these intelligences?

INSPEC: Too many in the physical universe. Trillions perhaps. And there’s the other one.

RM: The other one? The other nonhuman intelligence?

INSPEC: Would you believe that in all of our history, ours and yours, we have encountered only one nonhuman intelligence with an origin not in time-space? There are others that seem to fit the category, but they are very rare—or hard to perceive. In any event, we have met only the one.

—The Ultimate Journey

There is a difference between meeting ET in the OOB state and in the physical; I’m not sure if alien intelligences have the same degree of control over us that they seem to have in the physical, or if we have some sort of protection. But the fact that Monroe had to be steered away from them suggests that there is a menace involved, and it’s possible that when we’re in the OOB state, we’re invisibly chaperoned. But it’s significant that in all the encounters with ET that INSPEC has had, not one was positive.

But there is a wall or border erected between earth-focused intelligences and non-earthly ones. There is no intermingling, no Federation, no intergalactic bonhomie. On the physical plane, ET invited themselves to meddle in Earth events after we developed nuclear weapons, but their presence in the non-physical plane seems limited, for now. The good news is that in all the NDE and ADC accounts I’ve read, ET is rarely, if ever, mentioned. There is no reference to mass human abduction. It’s possible that aliens are “stealing” certain souls—if it happens, no one has returned to give an account of it—but this is never discussed. I suspect that ET is very proficient at navigating the astral planes and has the technology to pull us from our bodies, but again, there are no warnings about this in reliable paranormal literature—unless you believe that demonic forces are really ET in disguise (which is possible). In other words, for every hint or half-answer that we’re given, a hundred unanswerable questions pop up. Which is why I think this brief mention of ET in Monroe’s OOBE trilogy is worth studying.

Speculation on predicting future events

In past entries over the years, I’ve regularly poked fun at some of the intuitives and “psychics” who’ve tried, and failed, to predict major world events. And I’ve pondered the paradox of why we sometimes receive clear images from the future, usually when we aren’t looking for them, but then fail when we try to deliberately receive them. I was reminded of this the other day when I went looking for a well-known Nashville psychic, who I met a couple of times in the ‘70s and ‘80s, though I never personally had a reading from her. I was surprised to find that she had passed away in 2015. She published one book years ago, now out of print. Her obituary included some publicity photos from her heyday, indicating that she had achieved a level of recognition, though I doubt that she ever got rich off being psychic. She was active long enough that there are still some online reviews of her services; there were a couple of “she is a fraud” ratings, though most reviewers said she was actually helpful and accurate.  Basically, I saw her as sincere and well-intentioned, through over the years as I thought about her, I wondered how, exactly, a psychic reads someone else’s future.

After pondering this conundrum for most of my adult life—how one can see a future that hasn’t happened—I’ve decided that the simplest explanation is the one put forth by Seth and numerous near-death experiencers: that time (at least on the physical plane) exists all-at-once, and we simply traverse events like a car driving down the road. The road exists, and our destinations are already there. Though precognition is rejected by mainstream science, I’ve proven it to myself, as have many others.

This does not make any particular future absolutely predestined. We can take a detour from the road, or end our trip prematurely. We can take alternate routes. We can go the long way or take shortcuts. But after a certain point, certain probable destinations jell, and we can reasonably predict them.

Considerable effort seems to be exerted on the “other side” to ensure that the gazillion probable paths that humanity takes mostly align with an overall plan, and this effort would make little sense if the future was not foreseeable—including telling near-death experiencers to “go back” because it isn’t “time.” Arguably, it’s the future that pulls us forward through time, influencing our current choices. No matter how irrational some of our choices seem, they often make sense in hindsight.

Additionally, specific events in our timeline have been chosen in advance and are usually unavoidable. Ironically, these future events are not usually disclosed to the individual and can’t be foreseen, probably because a knowledge of them would alter that future. If these futures are glimpsed in dreams, they are not presented as “future” experiences for the same reason. After-death communicants state that they know some future events but are prohibited from revealing them (though some cheat and do so anyway). Certain futures may be “accidentally” disclosed to convince the experiencer that there is a master plan of sorts, and our participation in it is essential.

None of this should detract from the general principle of free will. The human ego has choice in the conduct of daily events, while “greater” aspects of the whole personality can choose, and has chosen, certain meta-experiences.

Navigating through time is a complicated endeavor. I don’t think it can be “read” by a casual psychic. A gifted intuitive can read certain parts of it, but I think that guardrails are in place to prevent a widespread conscious revelation of it. Universal intuitive abilities were once part of our distant past and can be part of our future, as we choose to make it.

Speculation on “spirit guides”

For years I’ve pondered the question of so-called “spirit guides,” which go under various designations of helpers, “angels,” or teachers. It’s a favorite New Age topic with reams of speculation.  But in my daily experience, as I’ve encountered challenges and have paid attention to synchronicities, I’ve concluded that the basic concept—that each incarnated person has a guide of sorts—may well be a universal truth, part of the cycle, omnipresent, but invisible.

I’m convinced that I have a guide, or guides, of a sort. Over the years of my life I’ve had enough “interventions” when something, or someone, stepped in to fix a blunder I had made or prod me in a different direction. Still, I’ve never seen or heard my guide or know who they are. Their work is subtle, and if you don’t usually pay attention to these sorts of experiences, you will miss them.

With these caveats, here’s my speculation on spirits guides, accumulated from years of observation and research.

*Guides exist to ensure that we follow our life plan. I think that’s their primary duty. It’s not to give us everything we want or tell us every answer, but to make sure we stay (roughly) on our designated path. This obviously causes some frustration with people who think that it’s the duty of “God” or various spiritual entities to bend reality to our pleasing. Books have been written to explain why prayers are not answered or why bad things happen. But it’s not a guide’s job to give us what we want; it’s to make sure we learn from what we get.

I believe that a guide intervened almost thirty years ago when, seemingly stuck in a job and wanting change, I drove to a local park and “meditated” for a new job. A week or so later I received a call out of the blue from a supervisor that I vaguely knew, asking me to work for him. He had been struggling to fill a vacancy for weeks when my name suddenly popped into his head (his words). 

Per Michael Newton: “Guides assigned to different souls do work together relaying urgent mental messages for each other. People unable to help themselves in critical situations may find counselors, friends, and even strangers coming to their aid at just the right moment.” (Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives)

*We likely interact with a range of spirit beings throughout life, and guides are only one specialization. Since I have no working knowledge of the spirit world, I have no idea who these beings are or what they do, though I’ve seen evidence that they intervene. However, guides are probably our more regular contacts and also the least obtrusive.

I’ve read reports that non-physical beings have appeared to people during times of crisis or in emergencies, providing aid, and then vanishing.  Probably these are beings who have been alerted to a person’s predicament, or are otherwise monitoring our lives. These interventions may be by guides or other entities. It doesn’t happen frequently or regularly, but it does happen. Why are some people helped sometimes, but most people are not?  The answer is probably unknowable on our level, but it may come back to the life plans of those involved. Unplanned things happen, and some accidents can have far-reaching ramifications that aren’t easy to fix. The most vivid example of this is the near-death experience, where a potential death is prevented because the timing is wrong. Spirit interventions are often witnessed during efforts to prevent a premature death.

*Guides appear to influence us by seeding ideas and alternatives to our problems and challenges, working within the range of probabilities to find the “best” solution—and they do so by making it appear that we thought of it ourselves. One of the “rules” of guidance that I’ve noticed is that any help or influence has to be unobtrusive, and not appear to be from an external source. (In other words, “I thought of it!”) This requires a certain finesse on the part of the guide.

My experience: When I’m confronted by an problem with no obvious solution, I let it rest. A few days later, a possible solution will pop into my head, seemingly out of nowhere, one that I hadn’t really considered. How do I know that the idea is from a guide, and not my subconscious mind? I don’t know, and that’s apparently part of the game. Occasionally, however, the solution is so novel and original that I strongly doubt that “I” thought of it, even though the thoughts were generated by my neurons—mostly because I’m very process-oriented and keep a narrow focus.  During my IT years, this bailed me out of literally hundreds, if not a thousand or so messes.

Michael Newton: “During troublesome times in our lives, we have the tendency to ask for guidance to immediately set things right. When they are in trance, my clients see that their guides don't help them solve all their problems at once, rather they illuminate pathways by the use of clues.”

How often does this happen? I would go so far as to say daily, if we seek it out. While pondering a series of choices, I leave myself open for ideas and alternatives rather than jumping at the most obvious choice. I find myself deciding to take an action hours, even days later than I planned, of going to one store and avoiding another.  Is this simply neurotic behavior on my part (something I’ve never denied) rather than some imagined cosmic influence?  It is true that my anxiety quotient is probably diagnosable, but paradoxically I’ve been able to navigate all of my imagined dangers by following this inner guidance.

*Guides offer, but we’re free to reject. Although it’s always a good policy to accept any spiritual help offered, we don’t have to. We learn from any mistakes. We have the option of disconnecting from spiritual guidance for periods of time, or even for an entire life. What usually happens when we do is that we spin our wheels, make unnecessary mistakes, and waste time in our learning process. We have to make up for this in our allotted time remaining.

Guidance doesn’t end when we are “disconnected”—we just aren’t aware of it, and our guides have to work harder to get their information across—at least, this has been my experience, as I went through agnostic phases years ago.  We still have a life plan, with commitments, agreements, and learning modules, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Newton: “Our teachers really don't get perturbed with us to the point of alienation, but I notice they have a way of making themselves scarce when disgruntled students avoid real problem-solving. Guides only want the best for us and sometimes this means they must watch us endure much pain to reach certain objectives. Guides cannot assist in our progress until we are ready to make the necessary changes in order to take full advantage of life's opportunities.” (Journey of Souls)

Help is always proffered in a way that we are free to choose. The choice is always ours to make. This limits the nature of help that we get. We are presented with the best available information from which we make our choice, but we still must choose.  This is why we are allowed to (or not prevented from) making stupid choices.  Which leads to…

*Guides offer suggestions and information, but rarely influence us to take specific paths or give definitive answers to direct questions. We are meant to try different solutions to problems and to find many answers ourselves. To constantly rely on the decisions of others, even a spirit guide, defeats the purpose of living.