MATTER, MIND

AND

HIGHER DIMENSIONS

Bernard Carr

Esalen (2010)

Worlds Apart? Can Psychical Research Bridge

The Gulf between Matter and Mind?Proceedings of SPR, Volume 59, 1- 96 (2008)

• Why the bridge is opposed but necessary

• Overview of attempts to connect psi and physics (2nd session)

• New proposed paradigm (1st session)

Matter, Mind and Higher DimensionsPaper circulated before meeting, outlining recent developments in

• physics

• psychophysics

• philosophy

• psychology

• hyperphysics

• feedback from Eric/Ed

Network Review April 2010

A Brief History of Higher Dimensions

Not circulated but available upon request

UNIFICATION OF FORCES

ELECTRIC

MAGNETIC

ELECTROMAGNETIC

WEAK

ELECTROWEAK

STRONG

GRAND UNIFICATION

GRAVITY

M-THEORY electric

weak

GUT

big bang

MACROMICRO

strong

Pyramid of Complexity

M-theory Multiverse

Higher dimensions

Missing Jewel

Crown of Physics

Mind?

ELECTRIC

MAGNETIC

ELECTROMAGNETIC

WEAK

ELECTROWEAK

STRONG

GRAND UNIFICATION

GRAVITY

M-THEORY

CONSCIOUSNESS

?

THEORY OF EVERYTHING …. but half world missing!

Is psi a field/force?

Pyramid of Complexity

physical

living

mental

WHAT IS MEANT BY DIMENSIONALITY?

Newtonian picture assumes absolute 3D space (and time)

hypercube

Christus Hypercubus

Salvador Dali

Cube as square in square

Hypercube as cube in cube

Einstein “Special relativity” (1905): eliminates absolute space and time

Minkowski (1906): 4-dimensional spacetime

Kaluza (1919): 5th dimension unifies gravity and electromagnetism

Klein (1926): 5th dimension compactified on Planck scale

General Relativity (1916): gravity from curved spacetime

M-theory (1995): seven compactified dimensions => 11D

Randall-Sundrum (1999): 4D brane in higher-dimensional bulk

Calabi-Yau

Superstrings (1984): six compactified dimensions => 10D

3-brane

compactified

extended

QUANTUM

MECHANICS

GENERAL

RELATIVITY

6D5D

4D

3D

even

t hor

izon

log (R/cm)

log (M/gm)

Planck scale

revised

Planck

scale

-5

proton

LHC

-24 -20 15

-13

-18

-33

Com

pton wavelength

Black hole radius rS= 2GM/c2

Uncertainty Principle !x >

!

h

"p

!

"p

hGeneralized + lP

2

!MBH1/(n-2) if n spatial dimensions

=> R >

!

h

Mc

CLASSICAL

time

funn

y

space funny

PSYCHO-PHYSICS: THE PROBLEM OF TIME

Einstein “block universe” does not describe flow of time => need extra mental time

mystical union

religious epiphany

creative insight

distant healing/PK

gut feelings

mundane profound

telepathy

premonitions

clairvoyance

genius

saint

psychic

everyone

healer

rare

common

FREQUENCY

IMPACT

EXPERIENCESoceanic feeling

deja vuNORMAL

PARANORMAL

SPIRITUAL

mundane profound

rare

common

frequency

impact

EXPERIENCESRare experiences

beyond the reach of

science, but well

accepted

Common experiences,

amenable to scientific

study, but highly

controversial

Universal experiences,

amenable to scientific study

and uncontroversial

mundane profound

rare

common

frequency

impact

EXPERIENCES

These experiences

transform the

world

These

experiences

transform us

PARAPSYCHOLOGY AS A BRIDGE

MindMatter

Experiment Experience

3rd person 1st person

Science Spirituality

Double-bridge!

Science Parapsychology Spirituality

Paraphysics Transpersonal

New Paradigm

We need

A NEW PARADIGM

* consciousness

* transcendence of space and time

* mental phenomena in some radically new way

which incorporates…

“Parapsychology is littered with hypothetical structures to explain the

psi process, or some features of it, but no comprehensive theory…

Either psi does not exist or psi is so fundamental that it is intimately

interwoven into the very fabric of reality” (Jim Beichler 1998)

MATTER

External Internal

Objective Subjective

Public Private

3rd person 1st person

Real Imaginary

Experiment Experience

Science Mysticism

Outer

SPACE

Inner

MIND

TWO WORLDS

CONSCIOUSNESS

MIND ConsciousnessPerception

Emotion

<

_

Cognition

Volition

_

_

_

>

Meaning

PHILOSOPHY PHYSICAL PERCEPTS

4D view: 4D object " 3D object + 3D percept

• Broken circle " non-physicality because spatial and null slicings equally physical.

3D view: 3D object " 2D percept

• Multiplicity of cats is illusory since there is only a single 4D cat.

• Perceptual cat is not in the brain itself.

• Solid box = spatial hypersurface => object-percept relation reflects nature of time.

Phenomenal space for any consciousness is the part of spacetime

connected to worldline of its body and sensory extensions though

nexus of signalling worldlines.

4D EXTENDED MIND

Spacetime diagrams of various perceptual processes

(Whitehead/Weiss/Culbertson)

telescope photograph mirror neuronal signals

brain

world

tube

PHYSICAL MEMORY PERCEPTS

Memory C2B1 = C2B2+B2B1

Memory is not in brain but

channeled through brain.

Memories of physical events reflect direct access of consciousness to

spacetime which contains events => memory is re-experiencing of past.

4D spacetime provides extra information capacity

=> evolutionary role of consciousness.(James Culbertson)

NON-PHYSICAL PERCEPTS?

But brain can replicate nexus to some extent => both tag and trace

PARANORMAL PERCEPTS

ClairvoyanceTelepathy

or

or

==

A SPACE FOR MIND?

PHENOMENAL SPACE

Percepts associated with physical world (i.e. with external reality in standard view).

* Representative theory => phenomenal space is secondary (internal construct)

but development in physics => object is itself a representation.

* Naïve realism => percept is object => perceptual space is physical percept.

Difficult to uphold now but neuroscience only implies mapping between physical and

perceptual space when consciousness associated with brain.

* Phenomenal space is different from physical but just as real.

Intersecting hyperplanes with moving intersection associated

with flow of time (Smythies 1956).

* Object and percept are lower-dimensional projections

of single higher-dimensional object.

MEMORY AND VISUALIZATION SPACE

After-images akin to sensations - intermediate between phenomenal and memory space.

* All memories stored in the brain and derive from physical world indirectly.

Dream memories and reincarnation memories? All visualizations derive from physical world?

* Memories of physical events reflect direct access of consciousness to spacetime

which contains the events => memory is re-experiencing of past (Culbertson)

Brain can replicate nexus to some extent but nexus persists after brain dies.

4D structure never disappears!

Different types of memory: skill, episodic, semantic (Ed Kelly)

DREAM SPACE

“We inhabit two worlds simultaneously, the world of common experience governed by

physical law and another space, quite as real, which obeys other laws….continuous

dream-life goes on throughout our waking hours and occasionally we may catch a

glimpse of it.” (Price 1955)

“The distinction between the dream-world and nature is that the spacetime of the

dream-world cannot conjoin with the scheme of the space-time of nature, as constituted

by any part of nature. The dream-world is nowhere and at no time, though it has a

dream-time and dream-space of its own.” (Whitehead)

* Creation of brain. All dream images derive from jumbling up of images received through

physical sensors while awake.

Can be just as vivid as waking space (lucid dreams). Imagination can interact with dream

scene but different from visualization space. Obvious overlap with memory space.

* Different from physical space but may contain veridical information about past,

present and future of physical space.

* Physical events and dream events exist in different spacetimes

* Broad merges dream space into a single communal space of more than 3 dimensions

in which sensations of all kinds exist.

PSI SPACE

Core phenomena of ESP and PK but psi goes beyond this.

* Psi is delusional!

* Reductionist view in which brains communicate and observe/influence physical world

through some unknown physical interaction.

But psi associated with other phenomena less amenable to such explanations.

* Non-physical percepts have attributes of externality.

Telepathy => communal mental space.

Clairvoyance => contains physical space

(cf. Braude)

Link between psi and dream space.

Precognition => link with memory

APPARITION SPACE

* Hallucinations. But what about veridical or collective cases?

* Exist in physical space. But why no physical trace?

* Model 1: collective cases explained by telepathy and veridical

information by clairvoyance

“The visual solid constituting the apparition is provided by the percipient and in a

collective case each percipient is providing the aspect of the visual solid appropriate

to his own situation in space.” (Tyrrell 1943)

* Model 2: apparitions exist in some non-physical space (cf. Myers’s metetherial space).

But poltergeists imply some interaction with physical world?

Does psi create apparition space or does apparition space explain psi? Myers V Gurney.

SPONTANEOUS PSYCHOPHYSICAL INCIDENT

DATA ELECTRONIC RECORDER

Tony Cornell

THRESHOLD SPACE David Hufford

Pseudo-physical experiences on sleep/waking border, often associated with sleep paralysis

(hypnogogic/hypnopompic images, false awakenings, “old hags”, abductions etc.)

* Hallucinations associated with sleep paralysis. But experiences

are transcultural and not easily attributed to expectation.

* Real events in physical world since some features of

environment seem to be genuine. But would they be

physically recordable (cf. apparition/poltergeist)?

* Superposition of non-physical and physical space?

Obvious connection with apparition space and OBE space

OBE SPACE

* OBE space is mental construct with input from clairvoyance and PK if necessary.

* OBE space is the same as physical space. Physical detection?

* Duplicate of physical space. Higher planes suggest multispace model (Whiteman)?

* Physical space and OBE space different aspects of single higher-dimensional space.

WEIGHING THE SOUL (1969)

NDE AND SURVIVAL SPACE

OBE, tunnel effect, encounter with light and deceased love ones, life review, bridge.

Obvious link with survival space, where soul is supposed to reside after death.

* NDE space is mental construct of dying brain =>

nothing survives. Veridical information obtained from

mediumistic communications explained by superpsi?

* Space required for after-life is same as physical space but

occupies different frequency range (Spiritualist view)

* OBE space non-physical => survival space non-physical.

Associated with dream space in many traditions.

Obvious link with memory space since identity is associated with totality of memories.

Need some form of “mental matter” as container of memory after death (Stevenson 1974)

MYSTICAL SPACE Paul Marshall

“It's as though the meditator is adjusting the focal length of his mind and

encountering systematically different worlds depending on the settings achieved.

But what functional state of the brain could correspond to these adjustments of

focal length?” (Ed Kelly)

Extrovertive experiences include sense of unity and wholeness, transcendence of space

and time, eternal now/immortality, feeling of divinity/wonder/joy/beauty, deeper sense

of reality, ineffability, intellectual illumination etc.

* Delusory, result of cultural conditioning or even pathological. But many features hard to

attribute to Cultural Source Hypothesis (Hufford)

* Clearly not in physical world, although some mystical experiences triggered by nature

* Mystical experiences access higher level of reality or hierarchy of levels (Whiteman 1986)

Involve space but dramatic changes of specious present. Last plane may be state of pure

consciousness (“purusa”) transcending space or time.

NORMAL

(1) Phenomenal space. Generated by perception of physical space through physical sensors.

(2) Memory space. Replay of images and events experienced through physical sensors in the past.

(3) Visualization space. Generated and controlled by imagination, related to creativity.

(4) Dream space. Like memory and visualization space but more vivid and with other elements.

PARANORMAL

(5) Psi space. Involves both mental space and physical space, so directly links matter and mind.

(6) Apparition space. Different from physical space but with some aspects of externality.

(7) Threshold space. Pseudo-physical experiences on the threshold of sleep and waking.

MYSTICAL

(8) OBE space. Resembles physical space but is subtly different and changed by imagination.

(9) NDE space. Relates to OBE space but other space-like experiences are involved.

(10) Survival space. Where ‘soul’ dwells after death or between incarnations.

(11) Mystical space. Associated with various extrovertive experiences, including ‘higher planes’.

TABLE OF MENTAL SPACES Four views of relationship between physical and phenomenal space

CONCLUSION. We need a space which unifies physical space, phenomenal space,

memory space, visualization space, dream space, ESP space, apparition space,

threshold space, OBE space, NDE space, survival space, mystical space.

=> GRAND UNIFIED THEORY OF MATTER AND MIND

UNIVERSAL STRUCTURE

* Step 1

There exists 3-dimensional space in which are localized both physical objects

and sensors through which we observe objects. Each observer has only partial

information about this space but there exists a 3-dimensional configuration which

gives 2-dimensional projections concordant with those presented. Physical reality

is 3-dimensional structure which consistently reconciles our perceptions of it.

This gives controversy between naïve realism and representative theory

* Step 2

Relativity theory implies that physical world is 4-dimensional, with the objects

and observers being represented by world-lines and perceptual fields being

3-dimensional. Physical reality is 4-dimensional structure and this consistently

reconciles our perceptions of it.

This partly resolves naïve realism V representative theory controversy

* Step 3

Space required to accommodate mental experiences must be a reality structure

of more than four dimensions. This “Universal Structure” is higher-dimensional

information space which reconciles our different experiences of the world. It has

a hierarchical structure and incorporates physical space (past and future), as well

as non-physical parts accessed only by mind.

* Step 4

To accommodate the experience of time, memories, conscious intervention

In the 4D structure and quantum potentialities, physical reality must be a

5-dimensional structure.

Brane moves through 5th dimension in static bulk,

with Universe emerging from 5D black hole.

5D structure also contains memories and possible

futures and quantum potentialities

* Step 5

Universal Structure is identified with the higher-dimensional space invoked by

Kaluza-Klein paradigm. In particular, with Randall-Sundrum model, in which

4-dimensional brane embedded in higher dimensional bulk. This leads to

“extended physics” which describes both standard physics and mental interactions.

5th dimension only gives global consciousness,

need more dimensions for individual consciousness.

UNIFICATION OF MENTAL SPACES

PHENOM’

MEMORY4D STRUCTURE

5D STRUCTURE

6D STRUCTURE

SURVIVAL

7D STRUCTURE

MYSTICAL

APPARITION

THRESHOLD

OBE

NDE

DREAM

PSI

UNIVERSAL

STRUCTURE