How deep is the rabbit hole?

Consider the following experiment.

Imagine your brain is hooked for a neural scan. An object is shown to you, and the neural behavior is recorded. Then, you are asked to remember the same thing, and the doctors re-record the neural behavior.

The most exciting case here is that neural behaviors were the same when you saw the object (using your eyes) and when you remembered it (neural behavior will be the same even if you remember it in your dreams).

So, what is the role of the eyes then? Why is the neural behavior the same when the input comes from two different sources?

The brain processes and tells us the interpretation of the (same type of) electromagnetic signals it receives. In the above experiment, the brain similarly treats the signals from the eyes or the internal memory region. We are in the matrix – jacked in!

The brain processes billions of bits of information per second. However, we know only a few thousand bits of that information, which means we filter (brain blocks it without our knowledge) the rest of the information out.

Does this mean we cannot see things our brain ignores (or blinds us)?

Conversely, we should be able to see things we feel are impossible (usually) and cannot see because that is what our brain (us) believes in. Remember Nostradamus, who could see into the future or hear about the Hindu Sage (in the epics Mahabharata & Ramayana) who had a vision into the future!

If we are part of the 'Whole,' then there is no difference between what is out there (which we see through our eyes) and what we think (our thoughts). It all should be the same (part of the 'Oneness').

Does that mean there should be no concept of what we can see and think?

Why does the action always affect the future? Why cannot it affect the past? Is it because we think about a timeline in a cause-and-effect model and feel it can only move forward?

Does the universe exist if there is no consciousness or if there is no observer to observe the universe?

As per quantum physics, an electron can exist simultaneously in more than one place. It collapses into one (a single state) when it is observed. As per Roger Penrose, the collapse (Road to Reality) happens due to gravity.

Here are the three models which explain the observer and the observed in quantum physics.

 

1. According to Copenhagen's view of quantum physics, a system does not occupy a definite state or location until it is observed; it exists anywhere in space, and you have a set of probabilities to find the place.
2. Parallel Universe interpretation proposes that all the probabilities exist in parallel universes, which means one possibility per universe, which constrains us to see two states in a single (this) universe.
3. According to Roger Penrose, gravity collapses all these states into a single state, which we observe.

Reality

This forces us to rethink reality. What is the reality? Is that what we see through our eyes? Or is it something that our brain tells us to believe?

One should know that nature is an illusion ('Maya'), and the Brahman is the illusion maker.

- Svetasvatara Upanishad

The mustard seed is larger than the kingdom of heaven

– Jesus Christ.

We were parted many thousands of kalpas ago, yet we have not been separated even for a moment

- Hinduism

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Further reading

Internet

1. Discover Magazine - If an Electron Can Be in Two Places at Once, Why Can’t You? (June 2005 Cover story)
2. Physics Web - Quantum theory: weird and wonderful
3. Thomas J McFarlane - The Illusion of materialism
4. NeuroQuantology – A Journal of Neuro Science and Quantum Physics
5. Nostradamus – Life and Prophecies of Nostradamus
6. Bleep – What the Bleep do we know?
7. Times Online – No Miracle Cure for Junk Science: By Simon Singh

Books

1. Roger Penrose – Road to Reality
2. Amit Goswami – Self Aware Universe
3. Masaru Emoto – The Hidden Messages in Water