Becoming God
or the past six or seven years I have become obsessed with the concepts that I have laid out for you. The Search for Schrödinger's Cat led me to countless other books about physics and quantum mechanics. I am not a scientist, so much of the material was very difficult for me to grasp, especially when described in the words of a physicist. I found myself reading the books over and over again. I spent countless hours at bookstores, libraries and online researching every bit of information I could get my hands on with regards to the subject. I found the theories to be both mesmerizing and awesomely profound.
How was it possible this stuff wasn't the topic of conversation everywhere? How was it possible that the general public wasn't being informed about this stuff? Here I was lying in bed night after night utterly blown away by these ideas and it seemed that nobody else in the world aside from a bunch of scientists and a few geeks like me were even aware of the implications of these theories. I just couldn't believe it. How could people obsess over UFO's, Bigfoot and other mysteries when the biggest mystery, the one affecting all of us and the one staring us right in the face was finally becoming knowable?
Even if the ideas where completely wrong they offered more supportive evidence than any other theory out there, which is the criteria in our society for matter of fact. People needed to know this stuff, I thought. I made a few attempts at having conversations with people about it. I discovered that people were either blown away just as I was, or just couldn't get past the rational of it all. For those people, I felt like they could get there, but it would take
Spiritually Tying It All Together
time and it would require more effort than what could be squeezed into afive or ten minute conversation.
One night I was lying in bed with an assorted array of science books and next to me was my wife Lisa, reading her “personal power” books. Lisa is highly intelligent and she prides herself on being a self-help guru. Zig Ziglar, Epictetus, Tony Robbins, Jim Rhon - she can't get enough. My wife can rant off the appropriate power line in a moments notice. I love to listen to her and I enjoy her enthusiasm. I also feel like, if it works for her, then great. I never really read too much into it, personally.
There have been a number of times when she would notice and comment on my obviously perplexed demeanor as I read. She would hear me exasperate myself in awe, which was then followed by a couple of Ibuprofen and a glass of water. A few times I would try to explain to her the concepts that I was studying but I never got very far with her. My wife is a little more than moderately religious and spiritual. At the time, Lisa was a practicing Baptist, but she doesn’t attend church, which probably has more to do with the fact that she is married to me than anything else. We have had a few vocal disagreements with regards to religion as well as the Bible, but we tend to not get too deeply entrenched in our arguments. For the sake of family harmony we often agree to disagree.
One evening I got a book from her as a present. It was called “The Power of Your Subconscious”. It had an ominous title and I said to her “great” in a very condescending tone of voice. I had absolutely no interest in reading this mumbo jumbo. She insisted
Becoming God
that I start the book before I picked up any of the other physics books that I had stacks of on my night-stand. I did my duty to please her even though I thought that reading the book would be a colossal waste of time. As I read through the first chapter, I realized that the stuff in the book, when applied in the context of the Multiverse, suddenly made perfect sense. I thought to myself, this must be why she wanted me to read this book! However, as I kept reading with new found invigoration, I was waiting for the author, who was a doctor and a scientist, to relay his philosophy back to the Multiverse theory, but to my extreme disappointment, it never happened.
I found the book to be incredibly insightful and knowing what I knew about the Multiverse theory made the books' ideas incredibly more intriguing. I felt like this ideology and the science theories went hand in hand. To me, the book had a fundamental flaw though; the author presented little concrete evidence to support his claims. There were vague references to old studies and countless testimonials but to me, testimonials are not credible evidence. Without credible evidence and scientific explanation, implementing the power of your subconscious mind is practically impossible, especially if you are the kind of person who cannot accept things on blind faith! I wanted to know how and why these techniques were working for all of the people in his testimonials, and my personal knowledge of quantum physics answered that question. I suddenly had an epiphany! Could I be the first person to ever put these two ideas together? How could I be that smart, or that lucky?
Spiritually Tying It All Together
had stumbled upon. Here I had one of the most insightful books that I had ever read in my life, which presented virtually no evidence or mechanical theory to support its claims, right next to a stack of books with all of the evidence and mechanical theory in the world, but with no ideology to go with it. This was the one thing that would drive me crazy when reading these physics books. The scientists writing these books seemed to have no imagination or intuitiveness to apply their analysis to a possible ideology. One theorist stated that offering a philosophical rational to the theory requires too much metaphysical intervention. The scientists would make suggestions, mind-blowing suggestions, but few if any of them would go a step further to explain how the theory philosophically applied to us.
I wanted to know how this knowledge applied to me and what I could gain or how I could better my life with this new understanding of my reality. I mean this is the point of all the research, right? Suddenly, I was reminded of a comment from a speech that I had read by a Nobel Prize winning physicist; the speaker made no bones about his displeasure with the physics community for not attempting to present these new advancements in physics and quantum theory to the general public. He was decidedly upset with the apparent arrogance of the scientists for seemingly keeping these ideas to themselves and not sharing their intellectual insight with the masses. Well, me too! Sure, they published books and papers and managed websites, but they speak their own language, and unless you have the patience and tenacity to drag yourself through it all with a Webster’s by your side, you never learn anything. I had no doubt that I was going to get
Becoming God
slammed by most of them for writing this book, but none of that mattered. What mattered was that these ideas were presented in an intriguing and engaging way for everyone to share. These theories and ideologies are just far too awesome and thought provoking not to be explored by the masses. It is in the consideration of these concepts that we can change the world. This is the conversation that unites us all.
My research eventually led me to the study of metaphysics and new age practices. Unfortunately, the closer I came to making the connection between metaphysics and quantum physics the more deeply I became disenchanted with it. At first, I began reading these fantastic new age books that were describing reality through the realm of the Multiverse and I started to get very excited. I couldn't understand how I could have missed out on all of this stuff. It seemed that I had finally found the philosophy that I had long been searching for. I thought to myself, “These people aren't crack pots, they really have it figured out!” Then, I would turn the page only to find references to Nostradamus, magical moonbeams, and angels and demons. Unfortunately for me, the metaphysical intellectualization of divinity usually came accompanied with passages about alien abduction, astrology, magic crystals, witchcraft, and ESP; all tied together neatly in a ribbon of spirituality and meaningless metaphors. To me there is no frustration greater than people who are unable to just speak plainly and to the point. Metaphors and parables are important tools for teaching awareness, but they are not the only tools in the shed. Frustratingly, it seemed that every single metaphysics book I dredged through was filled with flowery language and metaphors
Spiritually Tying It All Together
that did nothing but talk in circles. The metaphors were so convoluted by the time the parable had reached its conclusion; I had often forgotten what the topic was about. I had finally understood why the scientists would have reservations about hinting in any way the direction of the metaphysical thinking especially with their reputations on the line. But with that understanding, I knew someone had to bridge the gap. There are millions of people out there just like me looking for guidance and looking for a way to better their lives outside of the church but equally far away from the half naked gurus and metaphysical mystics. There needed to be a simple philosophy that tied it all together without a mountain of mathematics, personal power sales pitches, alien abduction, senseless parables and rhetoric from the church. I wanted to write the book that I had been searching for.
It was about three o’clock in the morning when I decided to start this project. I had no idea where to begin or even a clue as to how to structure a book. Naively, I just started writing. I didn’t have any plan other than to just get these thoughts out of my head and onto paper so I could manage them. Admittedly, this book began extremely cynical and at some level, I think my initial intention was to disprove God through science once and for all. I could have never anticipated that my research would inevitably sway me to the side of divine intervention. I think anyone can find the humor in this. I have since realized that the dualistic nature of providence wouldn’t have it any other way.
I can’t say that I am changing teams by any means however, I can clearly see now that there is far more in common
Becoming God
to this conclusion as I began to research chapter 7. I was trying to contemplate how some of these silly and ridiculous religious and metaphysical ideas could be taken so literally by an intelligent person. It then struck me that many of the scientific explanations are equally ridiculous and silly to the opposite extreme. If everything emanated from the mind then everything was a metaphor including science. If everything is metaphor, what makes one metaphor more correct than another? I realized that where there was common ground between science and spirituality there was absolute truth and where the two philosophies split there was only theory.
The scientists were trying to rationalize these strange occurrences in quantum science using the metaphor they are most familiar with, which is mathematics. Dualistically, the spiritual people were trying to rationalize the completely alien (or foreign) experiences they were encountering using the metaphors that they are most familiar, which is magic and folklore. Regardless of the metaphors being used, I realized everyone was describing the same thing.
I thought about this for a while and I came to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter what metaphor one uses to describe this incredible thing that is happening. The real trick is remembering that the metaphors are not the “thing” itself. They are only a symbolic representation of a shadow of the divine. Divinity, for lack of a better word, transcends all language because language itself is a construct of Divinity. If we allow ourselves to embrace these metaphors as the actual thing itself we will miss the entire picture. For example: Imagine there is an elephant in the center
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of a room with people sitting all around this stationary animal. Imagine that no one in the room has ever heard of an elephant before and each person is asked to explain what they are seeing. For the people in front of the elephant, they would describe a face with a long nose and big floppy ears. The people behind the elephant would only see two legs and a small tail. The people to the side of the elephant would describe a picture that looked completely different. Under the current philosophical approach to understanding anything divine in nature, the people in the back of the elephant would say that the people in the front of the elephant were “crazy” and that a long nose makes absolutely no sense in comparison to how they saw things. The people in the front would say that the people in the back just weren’t looking hard enough for the details. They would insist that the elephant has a trunk and cannot understand why the people in the back can’t see this obvious appendage. The point is our metaphors are based on our personal perspective. Just because our perspectives might be different, doesn’t mean that we are not all describing the same thing. We must respect each other’s metaphors and try to find ways to make them fit together to form a more complete picture. No single person can see the entire picture because divinity is the essence of everything and everyone. We are a collective unconscious each holding a piece to the puzzle. The puzzle when put together will reveal a picture, but even the completed picture will merely be a more complex metaphor. It can never be the actual thing while holding the perspective of the conscious mind.
Upon realizing this simple truth, I understood what this book needed to be. This book needed to be the conversation starter
Becoming God
to which all of the ideas about divinity can be presented in the simplest way and free of dogma. This book is the white flag of truce. It is the mechanism through which open and non-prejudicial dialog can take place, a conversation where each idea is considered with respect on the basis that the ideas are metaphor. It is through this conversation that commonality in metaphors can be met and a more complete picture of the divine mind can be deduced.
Since coming to this realization and raising the proverbial white flag, my wife and I have wonderful lengthy discussions about divinity, spirituality and the intricacies of quantum theory. We have each found a common ground, which has helped us understand this fascinating subject beyond anything we ever thought possible.
Understanding the nature of metaphor has helped me to find God and understand divinity in a way that suits my sometimes over analytical mind. It has allowed me to communicate with spiritual people without cynicism and has opened up this mystery above and beyond anything science alone could ever provide. I am in awe of my experiences most of the time and I am invigorated to find the meaning of life in the simple and even mundane things. Never in my life have I ever found such completion, appreciation and harmony with the surroundings around me.