AD INFINITUM
By
Edison Thomas
Published by Edison Thomas at Smashwords
Copyright Edison Thomas 2011
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I now wish to set out on the remarkably impossible, inconceivable task of attempting to provide a glimpse at what I have now come to begin to realize of INFINITY.
Over the last several months in particular, I’ve begun accelerating in the development of my consciousness towards… to quote one my favorite authors by the name of Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii… “The Search for the Miraculous.”
(Admittedly though, this is only according to my own perception of things… which, again… according to my own view of things… is all I, as well as everyone else, seems to have anyway. That is to say… all that each of us has is our own unique, individual perception and subjective representation of the phenomena and world around and within us… it’s all RELATIVE… contextual… and, though generally speaking this perception is very likely quite similar among some of us… among some particular groupings of us more than so than others largely depending on geographically resulting cultural isolations… and although this degree of separation is quickly dissolving with the ubiquitous spread of the internet…it… our own particular perspective and experience… is nonetheless highly specific… ineffably so, it seems… and, is ultimately… entirely unique…unique to each of us alone. Our consciousnesses… our souls… are like snowflakes… greatly similar in their beauty, and also entirely unique… entirely uniquely beautiful.
Or… so it seems to me… :)…)
This indeed must sound rather vague.
Another way to put this is to say that I’ve begun researching materials that deal heavily with theoretical physics, cosmology, and spirituality… which together have amounted to an investigation into the ultimate reality of… reality. (Again, I must be sure to say… to acknowledge that I fully know… that this all comes from only one of literally infinite possible perspectives concerning this indefinable matter. As you shall see, such is the awesomeness of the truth behind “Ad Infinitum”…). Not even so much with conscious intent, (at least initially,) have I begun this acceleration in my investigation of… through scientific study, religious inquiry, and philosophical reasoning… the ultimate reality of existence and Being. An ontological journey in the broadest sense possible, (though as I intend to show, there is no such thing as “broadest,” nor is or any other “-est” possible, for that matter… as such descriptors can only be relative in their meaning. It’s all RELATIVE… ad infinitum. Einstein said it best. :)…)
Well… who hasn’t, right? We’re all wondering what is going on. Why are we here…? How…? Where do we go… or, more accurately, where are we going…?.... and on and on and on. If were not, it means either we’re distracted with something else… such as our survival needs… or… some other less broad and grandiose topic of inquiry or endeavor. But nonetheless, at very least, from time to time, as we get older, all of us consider these things. Some more than others, and some much more than others… but it’s common to us all… to at least glance over these unavoidable topics of discussion.
Here in this essay I would like to discuss infinity. I will use, for the sake my purpose here, the term “eternity” interchangeably with “infinity.” I consider them the same. Like everything though, semantic definitions are relative, relative to me and relative to you. But now, here, let’s together relate to the same relativity.
Okay. So consider this.
Your life as you know it has consisted of a certain finite number of moments. That is, if we define “moments” as, say for instance, seconds, then you have experienced the reality… the experience… of yourself in the midst of the sum of these finite seconds. You have lived a certain number of finite measurements of time… (infinite though indeed, if we break them down into forever smaller units, but ignore this observation… at least for now.) As seemingly similar… in all their feel, emotion, lack of emotion, familiarity in surroundings and circumstance, etc… as seemingly similar as many if not most of these moments have been to one another… they, in fact, have all each been in themselves completely, entirely, and wholly… unique. Every single second of your life has been distinct from every single other second of your life.
Okay, big deal. Well… Now. Think of, every single “thought” you’ve ever had. These “thoughts,” these mental processes, are always taking place in a situational context, or, more easily put… they are always taking place in the uniqueness of each, unique second. Again, as seemingly similar and familiar as they may be… they are, in fact, each distinct… different… from all the rest. This too goes of your more or less unconscious “reactions”… or your more or less conscious “actions”… your action in and reaction to each second of your life. You can already begin to see that every second… every moment… has in fact been entirely new, different, unique, and… as far as our powers go right now… irreproducible. Every second with every thought and every reaction to every circumstance has been different than all the rest.
Now think of all these individualized seconds, and incorporate them into larger chunks. Days, weeks, years. You again see that, looking at them as unified wholes, of any duration you wish, you again perceive new “uniqueness” to the larger sections of your experience. No two days are alike, no two weeks or years, no one day is like any one year… and on and on… ad infinitum. It’s all a snowflake. Every nanosecond, every century, every millennium… each is new, unique, distinct… etc… and furthermore, considering the infinite ways of perceiving each, by grouping them into different and distinct units of measurement (or “time), you demonstrate an infinite variety of experiences and “measurements” or “accounts” thereof.
To continue, consider further every dream you’ve had. Think of every idea you’ve had. Think of emotions. On the surface, emotions seem to be at least a bit more ultimately the “same”… throughout our different experiences of them… during the undeniable uniqueness of every moment. But if we look closer we realize that these too are inextricable from the essential uniqueness of each moment… that is, they are fundamentally inherent and part of that one, single, unique and distinct second or moment of time. They too are completely contextual… inseparable from each unique second… each unique moment. Hopefully, by now it is clear enough that there has existed in one very short lifetime alone, an impossibly vast number of perceptions, thoughts, experiences, circumstances, dreams, etc… sounds, colors, tastes, smells… combinations of tastes, sounds, colors, smells, emotions, perceptions, thoughts, experiences etc… and on and on and on… ad infinitum. All taking place at the “forefront” of “time,” which is unfolding in ever new, unique, creative, and distinctive patterns… (patterns of energy, theoretical physics is beginning to understand.) And furthermore, and this last part is extremely important, each unique moment is composed of a unique combination of all of the above elements, plus the infinity other elements I am not able to list. That is, once more… to hopefully emphasize the unutterably amazing profundity of this reality…, each unique moment is made up of an infinitely unique combination of settings, surroundings, emotions, tastes, smells, sounds, feels, colors, combinations of colors, and on and on and on, ad infinitum. Even if you go into the same room, with the same temperature, with the same settings… even feeling the same as you did before… with the same mood and otherwise… and you thereby elicit some sensation of “déjà vu,”… even then, still, inherently, that moment is not the same as before. It can now be called the “second time”, or whatever, of that very similar, but not exact same experience. It’s still unique, taking place in the freshness, newness, and exclusivity of the Eternal Now…
But our lives are “finite,” as we know them. They appear to “end,” with what we call death. So to us, with this personal view, there is no such thing as infinity. The moments, which appear so similar, in this way can easily lose the indescribable mystique of what is inherently their eternal and never changing uniqueness. According to my experience of reality, throughout all of this life, which is all I personally [seem to] know at this unique point in “time”, the only thing that has remained the same is this… that nothing remains the same. Everything changes, and everything becomes something that has never been before. Every second… every moment… has changed and once again becomes… in the same instant that it is born and simultaneously dies… something entirely unique.
“God,” the ultimate consciousness of all that is, surely doesn’t see it this way…? God sees all things… past, present, and future, right? Well…
Up till now we have only looked at the personal view. Let’s now try to turn to the transpersonal… the “outside ourselves” consideration.
This is where it gets tricky. “God,” Who is the totality of all and Who is forever New and Expanding… Newness and Expansion itself… has no end, as I am now beginning to conceive of. That is, there is no “God” who sees the future, because that would mean there is never anything inherently new. All would be predestinated, in this case, so that, even if we could choose from a given set of pathways to journey on, we’d still be inherently limited to choosing from a fixed, and therefore finite set of realities/circumstances. Everything would already be here, and that would mean there is no such thing as infinity.
Let me try to take a step back and approach this from a different angle.
Let’s for now disregard accounts of and explanations for déjà vu as well as notions of eternal recurrence, in which a soul re-experiences its life exactly as it has before (though this is certainly possible, if we believe in the infinite possibility of all things). We recognize from a deeper level of reflection that indeed, our lives unfold ad infinitum, that is, each unique moment leads to the next inherently new, unique moment, and so on, until we die.
Here is one way to illustrate this. Imagine you are before a blank canvas, with only a paintbrush and one color of paint. Even under this markedly limited circumstance, you could still create an infinite variety of paintings. Similarly, if you were before nothing more than a word processor, you could create an infinite variety of words… either unintelligible… or intelligible… stories, discussions, discourses, etc. of some kind. Even if you had no materials at all, you in a room with your physical body alone, you could strike infinite poses and contortions… perform infinite varieties of stretches… ad infinitum. Infinity is built into everything… it is the essence of every moment and all of reality.
I’ve digressed a bit and these are rather basic, unexciting illustrations… but I do think they provide a needed framework. I’d like to provide one more, more concrete and fun illustration of the personal, moment-by-moment aspect of eternity before we move on to the communal, though this example will begin to blend the two together.
Imagine you are brought, or you bring yourself (which depends on whether you are running your life or you life is running you), to the presence of a beautiful woman. You decide that you would like to make her smile. There are theoretically infinite ways of doing so. Your thoughts may bounce you everywhere, as fast as the processing speed of your particular brain would allow. You could approach her fast, right away, or slow, after several minutes or longer. You could be brazen or timid. You could approach and start singing a song… you could draw an endearing cartoon for her… use appropriate eye-contact… make a playful gesture…ad infinitum. There are infinite possibilities… infinite approaches… built into the fabric of this situation. The complexity of this has been reduced drastically, with many factors eliminated for the simplicity of the thought experiment, such as the setting, prior relationship with her, all the factors surrounding the event, and so on. But the point is there is no inherent limit to how you could proceed… and part of the astonishment here is realizing the subtle intricacies and subsequent effects that will result from your actions…. the so called principle of “the butterfly effect.”
(Culture has defined a set of general guidelines for this type of engagement, so unless she herself is highly creative, artistic, or enlightened… at least to some extent so… she’ll probably consider it off-putting, bizarre, weird,… etc, depending on what chord you strike… [it’s all ultimately energy frequencies, theoretical physics is now saying… “String Theory,” it’s called… :)…]. In other words, the degree of “broadness” of her perspective on life… on the principle of ad infinitum… is the degree to which she’ll appreciate the degree of originality you have to offer. But likely, if you behave according to all but a few predetermined, standardized fashions that she has become familiar with… all of which is entirely relative to her culture, upbringing, etc., which compose together her own entirely unique perspective… she’ll be off put. Likely. It depends… on a lot of things… :)… ad infinitum.
Indeed I think the guidelines for our social interactions are extremely limiting, though for everyday purposes this is useful and how it must be. This is why romantics and story-tellers, those with the most wonderful and fascinating imaginations, have really only their stories to tell, which excite and entice us all, but that are so painfully rare in our everyday lives… in our “reality.” As wonderful as these imaginative creations are… founded in excitement and love… they can and do make us disillusioned. But this discord between fiction and reality is not so much because the stories themselves are impossible… it’s because we make them impossible. Or, more simply put… we don’t appreciate nor utilize the infinity that is build into the fabric of everything. In this example, at least, it definitely takes two to tango.)
I hope any reader can follow up to this point. I’m still kind of digressing, and have yet to really try to uproot the absurd enormity, complexity, seriousness, and absolute wonderfulness of what infinity really means… and, more importantly, have yet to show how it is an undeniable aspect of what Is… how it is an undeniable characteristic… the LEADING characteristic, even…of ultimate reality. I think the right logic and reasoning can demonstrate so.
My examples are pretty obvious… let me try to get to my real point here.
The dance of life extents in potentiality in every direction, until that potentiality is collapsed by YOU… by our choices… by our free will. This again may very well be what leading quantum theory is now suggesting. And this is where it starts to mean something. But first, let’s continue examining the inherent-ness of infinity before we arrive at that monumental conclusion.
Every moment contains infinite possibilities. But so far we’ve only considered our own personal selves, under very limited circumstances. Now, we must consider all conscious beings. Think of the limitless variety of creatures on this planet, and all the experiences each has had throughout the history of the Earth. Every insect, amphibian, reptile, bird, mammal… Think of all the different variety of pleasures and pains each has experienced, ad infinitum. It goes without saying much more. There exists an infinite spectrum of experiences lived out through an infinite variety of beings, extending in all directions forever… ad infinitum.
Eating and getting eaten. Feasting and starving. Chasing and being chased. Your imagination can do the rest. But now, to really extend this to the limitless reaches of infinity, we must establish that there is no such thing as time. Not as we think of it. There is no beginning and end, with existence resting there in the middle of these two arbitrary points… with only absolute nothingness on either side. There just is no such thing. This is illogical. There is what is, and what Is is Life. Consciousness. Eternal, forever… ad infinitum.
All these experiences of the animal and human kingdom… as real as they are, as horrific and as ecstatic as they are… all exist ad infinitum. That is, all these experiences are not only possible, but exist. Well, at least, so so so so so many of them that we do know about… that we can affirm… those that we’ve experienced, or we’ve seen or heard about… these we MUST admit exist. They cover a spectrum of such intensity and diversity that they might as well contain everything anyway. And all that is just our tiny, small, nothingness of perception on our tiny, small, nothingness of a planet… on our tiny, small, nothingness of a “timeline”.
Think about all that has necessarily taken place that you personally do not know about. Think about, even right now, all the infinite experiences that are happening on this planet... even just right now alone. It’s inconceivable. The only way to put this is… ad infinitum.
So, it’s not just that “everything” is possible… I think this word tends to imply still some overall discrete, finite limit to the possibility of all things. It’s more correct to say that, literally, anything… is possible.
I don’t mean to say that anything for you, right now, is possible. There are certain constraints… a whole slew of them… ad infinitum… at any given, particular moment and place. But considering the infinite potential of each moment, spread across an infinite universe with infinite beings over an infinite “time span”… playing out indefinitely… it sure does seem like anything and everything and all things are going on forever… ad infinitum.
I’ve read a few very thought-provoking books recently that have really helped open up my sense of what eternity really is… of what this all really means. I’m not sure that I’m doing that great a job here. It’s very difficult to convey the sense of magnitude… to convey a true sense of infinitely that is so utterly enthralling. Really the understanding is an accumulative effect (or substitute “belief” for understanding… if you think all this is only at best speculation… only at best one way of seeing things… which indeed it is… :)…). You have to meditate on these things.
There is infinite synthesis, analysis, integration… and evolution. Ascending forever… ad infinitum.
… every moment is always unique, new, different, and irreproducible. THIS is what is so astonishing. It goes forever. All things are possible… ad infinitum… and will continue as such… ad infinitum. There is no end.
I wonder… “Do events get… ‘stored’… in some kind of data archive system for everything that has taken place? In other words… does everything that has ever happened still exist?? This is a radical thought! Is it THAT connected? Or, are experiences and events all eventually lost… replaced by new ones…? Is everything expanding and growing… never to stop, in the sense that we could theoretically access the past somehow?” I know this train of thought is confusing, but perhaps someone can relate a bit. It’s probably most accurate to say that all is connected… past, present, and future. The inexorable law of cause and effect… so that the present and future are results and reflections of the past… and are so… ad infinitum.
Now, I personally believe that consciousness is indeed eternal… that YOUR consciousness… your’s and mine and all living things… the total sum of which IS consciousness itself…fragmented ad infinitum as individuals… is the very reality of this on-going, never ending, always perpetually creative continuum we are each personally experiencing an infinitesimal sliver of right now. This “right now” never ends, and is always changing… always new. This is beyond description. The excitement is uncontainable. If you see this, you’ll never be “bored” again, because you’ll realize you’ve never been where you are, and that you’ll never be there again. You’ll cherish all of it.
Just think! Think of all the love stories, the explorations, the discoveries, the community love, the delicious meals, the songs… all the music!!!... the art forms, the inventions, the creations, the ideas, the virtues… all of it… all combinations of it… any of it… forever… never exhausted, never running out… ad infinitum!
However…
As wonderful, marvelous, joyous, and utterly ecstatic as these realizations are…as this realization is … there is an equal and opposite… “other” side… to this undeniable reality. As infinitely joyful as the universe is… and increasingly so forever, it also follows suit also that it is equally…
Malevolent and vicious.
Ad infinitum.
When considering this matter, I shirk away from admitting the truth of it. But, it can’t be avoided.
The reality is… suffering and pain and craving and lack and fear and starvation and disease and jealously and hatred and violence and terror and poverty… they are rampant throughout history. Even in our own lives. The reality is… these things exist… no matter how far removed some of us are from them. This scares me, because if the universe extends forever in every direction, ad infinitum, so do these… so will these… forever.
Things in our small world are getting better, fast. At least on the surface they are. Technology is beginning to truly alleviate much of our toil. With it comes its own problems, of course, but nonetheless, things are seemingly improving quite rapidly. I have access to a food supply that is unparalleled in the history of man. I have access to information that is also unparalleled in human history. Our trajectory is quite impressive right now, if you ask me, and it is, I believe… going to continue as such… ad infinitum.
But as I was saying, our lives… our tiny little existences in their current form… which last but only a fleeting glimpse… are really nothing… when compared to the total of human experience, (not to mention all the other creatures.) A great deal of observable experience has been stressful, tiresome, difficult, and even horrific. Ad infinitum.
And here I pose a very striking question… how much control do we have? Or in other words… what do we choose? What aspects of our experience do we choose? How did we get here… and not there… amidst an infinite variety of possibilities? And why are we here, and they… there? Why are some of us cradled in abundance and prosperity and compassion, while others are eking out the best of a short, laborious, and cumbersome human life, fraught with hate and despair? Why are some of us cradled in love, while others in terror?
(Of course… of course of course of course… it is very much a matter of perspective. What I consider a short, brutish, and difficult life may indeed be far more fulfilling and worthwhile than my own life of… “technological” and “community-based” comfort. This might bring us into another discussion… the meaning of life… spiritual evolution… and what is conducive to such developments… but I wish to avoid this topic and focus more narrowly on the task at hand, which is the consideration and realization of the unfathomable depth and inevitability of infinity.)
Neale Donald Walsch, a profound thinker and contemporary spiritual writer, claims that we (subconsciously mostly) “choose” our realities… even everything of them. While Neale has helped me so much, in countless, countless ways, I have a very difficult time with this premise. I do believe this is true to some extent, all the more as society advances and we become more “free”… free of many kinds of constraints and limitations, namely those imposed by survival restraints, and increasingly more empowered by technology for artistic and social expression and communication. Free to choose our modes of expression, ad infinitum. But, in a larger sense, I’m just not so sure. It may actually be that souls, before birth, “choose” their “targets” for incarnation. But again, this is difficult to believe… some lives are so, so, so difficult and painful. Ad infinitum.
It’s so marvelous indeed, the sheer inconceivability of existence being played out indefinitely in infinite ways forever… there is SO much to think about in this light. It’s just... sheer eternity. Anything and all things going forever. But also… it’s terrifying. How much control do we have? In the next life, so to speak, could we end up again in some horrific situation… like having our bodies dissolved in sulfur gas… losing all our loved ones at once… adolescent-hood in the Mexican drug cartel… slow, habitual starvation… obsessive-compulsive disorder… alcoholism… drug addiction… paranoid schizophrenia… manic depression? … ad infinitum. I don’t need to provide that many examples to illustrate the endless possibility of frightening circumstances… so many of which actually have happened… have become reality for a particular conscious entity. God, Life, Reality… whatever you call it… has “allowed,” if that’s the right word… these things to take place… for living conscious beings to experience these experiences. So, across the infinitely expansive reality of infinity, it kinda feels like, in a sense, that there’s nothing… “protecting” us… from these horrifying circumstances.
To those of us living in this modern time… more specifically in certain places during this modern time, relatively unscathed by such realities… to us the above mentioned horrors don’t…seem real. We know they’re real… but we don’t really KNOW they’re real. I think we’d be a great deal more sober, compassionate, grounded, sensitive and concerned if we really did know. Certainly, so much of our energies and resources would not be expended as they currently are. (As a side note… it seems that fortunately, at least as it appears to me personally, the range of available technological comfort, and the relative “peace” it provides, is expanding quite rapidly at this point in “modern time”… but still, in this universe of inescapable relativity, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and this technology does indeed bring its own pitfalls… as we are beginning to see…)…
Personally, I believe that we DO have some degree of control. This I observe from the relative degree of control we experience in our small, personal realities. Indeed, if we are given a canvas and a brush, we can create infinitely. So too, I believe, given certain confines that we are born into and with, we can propel ourselves along a whole variety of trajectories during our current lives and then after, past them… even ad infinitum. And so, spiritually speaking, I also believe it follows that our lives now… how we live them, what we believe… all of it… specifically… what we become… I believe all this sets the trajectory and path for our consciousness here after. My reason for this is rather simple. In life, we observe an infallible principle: cause and effect. If we work hard and save, earn a good education and profession, we enjoy a healthy and secure financial life and retirement. If we squander our vigor and the energy of our youth on other things, we are less privileged later on. If we eat wrongly and excessively, we find ourselves suffering poor health in our advanced ages. Cause and effect, just like eternity and relativity, seems to be built in to the fabric of experience… the fabric of reality… and the fabric of consciousness… ad infinitum. This is simple. It can be argued against, sure… but really, it’s quite apparent and simple. Indeed, we can build for ourselves ever infinite trajectories (I like this particular word, as you can tell) into our eternal future.
Perhaps. Here is a quote from the introduction to the first complete translation of “The Tibetan Book of the Dead,” first published in Great Britain in 2005 by Penguin Books, and translated by Gyurme Dorje:
“The notion that there is a connection between this life and the events of both our previous existence and our future existence, follows from the Buddhist understanding of the natural law of cause and effect. For example, although we can speak of yesterday’s weather and today’s weather as distinct, today’s weather is inextricably linked with the weather patterns of yesterday. Even at the bodily level, in the case of our physical health for example, we know that events in the past affect the present and those of the present the future. Similarly, in the realm of consciousness the Buddhist view is that there is also the same causal continuum between the events of the past, present, and future.”
So if we have no concern for… spirituality… for development… etc., then perhaps we… stagnate. Or that is to say, we continue along a certain trajectory… a certain path. We’re reincarnated into another human form, again subject to all manner of pleasures and pains… another rocky, unsteady existence of drama… another cycle of birth and death… with all its sufferings and vulnerabilities… with all the balancing good and evil that comes with it. Perhaps if we are overindulgent in this life, eating animals and animal fat, or habitually indolent, always sleeping and lying about much, then we come back as an animal… a hunter… a carnivore, always eating meat… or a plant, moving not at all, always asleep… ad infinitum. It makes some logical sense. I find the idea of “karma” and “reincarnation” rather consistent with what we observe in our everyday lives.
My point here though is not really spiritual destinies, though this topic is very much related to everything being said. No matter, I think it’s sufficient to say that the realization of infinity is at once both startling in it’s sheer wonderment, incomprehensibility, and unlimited magnitude. Can reality really be so expansive as to have literally no limits… going forever and always in every direction without end? The more important question, though, is… how can it not be… given not just what we observe… but also given the very essence of what we innately have the capacity to conceive of?
I’d like to end with a discussion of some quite extraordinary material I recently read.
In the early nineties, Dr. Rick Strassman of the University of New Mexico conducted some remarkable research on a molecule known as DMT. DMT is a compound that is endogenous… that is, occurring naturally… in the human body. It is found throughout the body’s various tissues, but is produced in its highest concentrations in the pineal gland… found ironically… literally… in the center of the brain. He [Strassman] says of the Pineal… “It has ‘the best seat in the house.’ DMT is a psychedelic compound, the only known naturally occurring substance of this kind.
Over a period of time Strassman administered exogenous (synthetic) DMT to a wide array of research volunteers in various doses. He documented and reported extensive findings after concluding the project.
I wish to explain as briefly as possible from this what I wish to convey.
In short, Strassman found some highly unusual, unexpected results.
Firstly, however, he did find some of what he’d initially expected. Like other psychedelics, such as LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and others… DMT opened up for volunteers a variety of latent and hidden emotions, personal hindrances, difficulties, inner truths, etc., and provided a wide manner of psychoanalytically useful insights to its users. This was to be expected, more or less.
However, Strassman found himself encountering some other very unusual, unexpected reports, alarmingly consistent across many of the subjects, that he himself was not personally emotionally nor philosophically prepared for.
Many of the subjects, even a majority of them, reported encountering vivid and lucid experiences of alternate dimensions… inhabited by intelligent “beings.”
High dose DMT is an extremely fast acting drug. It’s peak effects come on quickly… immediately… and last only a few minutes. It is actively transported across the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier is a highly selective membrane that is designed, basically, to keep nearly everything out of the brain circulation, besides mainly only glucose. DMT, however, is even eagerly, actively transported past this highly protective shield. Strassman says that it is almost as if the brain “hungers” for this molecule. It is similarly broken down very quickly.
Many of the volunteers reported an internal mounting “humming/buzzing” sound, immediately following the injection. Shortly thereafter, this sound would crescendo and their consciousnesses would “break”… “explode”… past a sort of “membrane/threshold.” At this point they were literally “out of their bodies.” Their consciousness had fully separated from their physicality, like in sleep (but NOT dreamlike…. the reports claimed. Way more… “real”…) or like many of the descriptions of “near-death experiences.”
At this point, many of the volunteers found themselves in different worlds. All sorts of unimaginable realities, which were reported as being “more real than real”… as though these realities felt more real than our own. Most startling of all, however, is that these worlds were inhabited.
All manner of beings were reported. Insectoid, humanoid, stick figure… even saguaro cactus-like. All sorts of kaleidoscopic, geometric type shape movements and patterns also accompanied these worlds and realities… indescribable experiences of color and vibrancy… ad infinitum… all of these experiences were reported after crossing this “threshold.”
Now, perhaps most striking of all, and further reason for seriously considering the validity… the actual real, free-standing nature of these other dimensions… is how the interactions with the beings were reported.
First, these beings seemed to be a great deal more intelligent than us. Mostly, they were somehow “prepared” or ready, or even “expecting” the DMT user. Immediately, and consistently so among so many of the reports, these beings “got to work” on the “body” of the individual… performing tests and manipulations unknown to the subject. It was the consistency among so many of the volunteers in this particular regard that was most astonishing to Dr. Strassman and his research team… so many of the volunteers reported this similar phenomenon.
Now, of course, we would immediately attribute this to…”the biochemical effects of the drug”… and the psychedelic nature thereof. And Strassman too, initially, did exactly the same. However, as the reports continued steadily in this direction, Strassman was forced to confront the uncomfortable nature of these findings.
Furthermore, the research subjects, all of which had used psychedelics prior to the experiment, were INSISTENT that it was not a dream… that it was real. They reported being sober, lucid… not intoxicated… that they could pay attention to detail… that what they were experiencing was definitely… real. Not like there many other psychedelic “trips.” Here is such quote that does well to embody the scope of these claims…
“DMT has shown me the reality that there is infinite variation on reality. There is the real possibility of adjacent dimensions. It may not be so simple as that there are alien planets with their own societies. This is too… proximal. It’s not like some kind of drug… it’s more like the experience of a new technology… than a drug. You can choose to attend to this or not. It will continue to progress without you paying attention. You return not to where you left off, but to where things have gone since you left. It’s not a hallucination, but an observation. When I’m there, I’m not intoxicated… I’m lucid and sober.”
I find how he describes DMT as a “new technology” extremely interesting.
Strassman goes on to conclude that is at least possible, we must admit, that DMT is infact somehow “enabling” the brain to see… what is always here… but what it otherwise cannot. It can be likened to an infrared camera, for instance. Our eyes cannot see infrared light, but with technology, a whole new vista, even world is opened to us.
It this sounds interesting to you, (and indeed, I think it should), I would highly recommend Strasssman’s book. It’s called “DMT: The Spirit Molecule; A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences.” To me it’s most fascinating and pertinent to consider, in light of these findings, that DMT is endogenous… that is… is produced naturally by our own brains. There is tightly regulated control over the production and release of DMT, as it is a fully debilitating drug, and so would be very harmful to the organism during regular, survival activity. So then, the question is… why is it there at all? Well, Strassman provides some very good hypotheses in his book, which again I highly recommend. Basically, it appears that the chemical is released in high concentrations at certain, very specific times during fetal development (49 days after conception, to be exact… which is, incidentally enough, the time of our most important differentiation of all… our sexual differentiation. Furthermore, it is the period of time which Buddhist teachings give from the time of death to the reincarnation of the soul… interesting coincidences indeed) and is released in high concentrations during death. Strassman believes that, ultimately, DMT regulates the “soul’s” or “consciousness’s” movement into and out of the physical body.
Theoretical physics and cosmology are already beginning to show us that there are indeed very likely “alternate dimensions,” overlain with our own… here right now with us. Our current senses cannot detect them, but experiments can infer their existence. Scientists establish these premises by phenomenon known as “interference.” For example, when light passes through narrow slits in, say, cardboard, the patterns the light produces on a projector located on the other side are not as expected… they are not slits as was the passage the light went through, but are rather circles and other such unexpected outlines. By inference we know that the light interacts with some “thing” between here and there. Also, indeed, scientists believe that 95% of the universe’s mass is composed of what is known as “dark matter.” “In other words,” says Strassman in his book, “95% of all the matter in the universe is invisible. We cannot see it. It neither generates nor reflects radiation of any type, visible or otherwise. The only way we know it is there is by its gravitational effects. It must exist by virtue that the physical universe maintains its shape. Without this mass, there would not be enough gravity to hold the universe together. It would fly apart.”
Further experimentation is needed, in all manner of sciences, but namely theoretical physics and perhaps DMT… to more definitely establish the reality of these alternate dimensions.
Some of the volunteers would open their eyes during these experiments, and would literally see the alternate realities overlain with our own. In other words, they were seeing both, at the same time… especially as the effects of the drug were wearing off. This, and the immediacy of the effects, further suggest that these realities are all ready here… right now, along side us.
Perhaps, Strassman suggests, the other world beings have evolved technology or even their own senses to be able to “watch,” or observe us, even right now. Perhaps not. Strassman postulates that abnormally high levels of DMT in the brain can perhaps account for the reports of “alien abductions,” in which those claiming these experiences also report “out-of-body” sensations and being “probed/examined/manipulated” by the other-world beings. There’s a range of important questions here… like, as you may have already thought to ask… how is there also a “body” of the research subject, in the other dimension, when that subject’s original body is left behind… in the University of New Mexico’s hospital… room 531? Again, I would suggest reading Strassman’s book, because he does a very good job of attempting to explain these inexplicable matters. Perhaps, he says, the awareness… the consciousness which has been transported to the other dimension… the other energy frequency, or whatever it is… creates by the virtue of its awareness of and in that realm… a body in that realm. It sounds like a stretch, but it also sounds completely reasonable… to me at least. Check out the book, definitely.
Well… I say all this to return to my original point… ad infinitum. There is so much we don’t know… ad infinitum. It’s joyful, really, and it never ends. We’ll never be… bored… because eternity is forever new. Just think… if all these other dimensions really do exist… all infinity of them… think of all the wonderful, inscribable… COLORS… and landscapes… and patterns… and architecture… and loving beings… ad infinitum. Listening to the DMT experiences is so riveting, because you can begin to conceive of what I keep referring to as “ad infinitum.” You can begin to realize the true reality… the sheer, unutterable profundity… of eternity… of infinity. It’s so, so, so, so, so, so… there is no word. We ought make a new word. Ad infinitum.
But also, it’s terrifying. Just as the most grand, wonderful, terrific experience is impossible… ad infinitum… so is it’s opposite… in every direction… ad infinitum. The beings in these accounts were mostly “benevolent.” Others, though, were described as “professionally detached.”… or “conducting business as usual, uninterested.” And still others were not quite so friendly. The possibilities for states of being… for places of being… if infinity is indeed real (and how can it not be?)… are endless.
I’ll finally close by giving a bit of personal opinion. I believe that… for one… we are beings with free will… with true volition. I believe then, secondly, that the universe is knowable to some extent… that is… to the extent of cause and effect. The universe isn’t, at least altogether, “unfair.” You know that if you aim a certain way, you produce a certain trajectory. The laws of physics and biology are sturdy, more or less. If you eat too much, you gain weight. If you’re lazy, you become poor. Of course, these are gross generalizations, and things are really beginning to shift on this planet. But do remember that our lives here, at least as we know them now (which is to say that radical life extension has not yet been demonstrated as possible in humans, though indeed it might be… and even might be soon), are very short. If infinite trajectories are possible, in all directions throughout infinite dimensions with infinite types of experiences and beings awaiting… if indeed such an unimaginably endless spectrum exists, and so too does the reality of cause and effect (which is very difficult to deny, at least in a practical sense in our world as we know it), then we do have some control over where we end up and continue on… over where we go and in which direction we move forward.
It’s worth considering. Again, the idea of “karma” to me is quite logical. If you’re good in this life… I’d say most people are… and are satisfied with what this life is… then perhaps in the next you’ll get to relive a similar experience. If you’re bad… then perhaps your soul… becomes that. You find yourself inhabiting an environment that matches more closely… more directly… what you have become, by virtue of your living… by virtue of your spiritual evolution or devolution. Really though, these terms are not accurate… for they imply a very limited “bidirectionality.” These two terms juxtaposed like that are the same as calling something good or evil. These terms are merely relative, all a matter of perspective. Terms such as these can only be used relative to, say, a goal… something can only be good or bad relative to something that you wish to become or achieve. Rather than evolution and devolution, it’s better to say spiritual trajectory… which can take on an infinite variety of directions… of courses… and continuously occurs throughout all of time… ad infinitum.
Okay. Hopefully… to be continued. I personally feel the need to continue seeking, studying, researching… living. In Raymond Moody’s famous study of near-death experiences, published in 1975, one such report described something that has left a lasting impression with me. The “spirit being” who was “guiding” the recently “deceased,” when showing the instantaneous flash slideshow of her entire life laid bare before her (apparently everything is made transparent and visible at this point… there is no use hiding anything, in the final experience of death), she claimed this spirit was emphasizing two points. One is love… that we must always be cultivating a deepening love for all of Life. The second was the emphasis on learning. Even her most treacherous acts the spirit being, without condemnation, seemed to consider as “learning” experiences.
In fact, several of those who’d had these experiences indicated such, many returning to school to continue their formal education, and vowing to continue such education for the remainder of their lives. We must always be learning… ad infinitum. Indeed, if infinity is real (and, again… you guessed it :)!… how can it not be?), then there really won’t ever be an end to our learning. The very essence of our eternal experience will always be learning… always growing. We can learn, grow, and evolve… indefinitely! Always improving… ad infinitum!
In fact, experience IS learning, and learning IS experiencing.
I’ll close with the following three quotes. The first long one is how Strassman concludes his own book, the last DMT experience description he provides as his final word. The other two quotes are also from Strassman’s book that I find particularly interesting as well.
“… Let’s close with his [Saul’s] story…
A thirty-four year old married psychologist, Saul was wiry and energetic, with a wry sense of humor and an intense gaze. He had taken psychedelic’s about… 40 times… and had been practicing meditation for nearly 20 years. I did my best to recruit research subjects with a background in meditation. They seemed more able to deal with the initial anxiety of the DMT rush, and also helped me compare meditation and drug-induced states of mind.
Saul volunteered for the dose-response study because, ‘I’ve heard about DMT, and have always wanted to try it. Plus I like the idea of being able to try it in the hospital, under medical supervision.’
Saul’s low dose was mild, and he returned the following day for his 0.4 mg/kg session. Saul liked to write, and while my notes are rather complete, a note he sent to me latter that week does an even better job of describing his experience that day…
‘The empty space in the room began sparkling. Large crystalline prisms appeared. A wild display of lights off into all directions. More complicated and beautiful geometric patterns overlaid my visual field. My body felt cool and light. Was I about to faint? I closed my eyes sighing and thought, “My God.” I heard absolutely nothing, but my mind was completely full of some sort of sound… like the after effects of a large ringing bell. I didn’t know if I was breathing. I trusted things would be fine and let go of that thought before panic could set in.
The ecstasy was so great that my body could not contain it. Almost out of necessity, I felt my awareness rush out, leaving its physical container behind. Out of the raging colossal waterfall of flaming color expanding into my visual field, the roaring silence, and an unspeakable joy… they stepped, or rather… emerged. Welcoming, curious, they almost sang, “NOW do you see?” I felt their question pour into and fill every possible corner of my awareness… “NOW do you see?... NOW do you see?” Trilling, sing-song voices exerting enormous pressure on my mind. There was no need to answer. It was as if someone had asked me… on a blazing cloudless mid-summer afternoon in the New Mexico desert… “Is it bright?... Is it bright?” The question and the answer are identical. Added to my “Yes”… was a deeper, “Of course.” And finally, an intensely poignant, “At last.” I stared with my inner eyes, and we appraised each other. As they disappeared back into the torrent of color, now beginning to fade, I could hear some sounds in the room. I knew I was coming down. I felt my breathing… my face, my fingers… and I was dimly aware of an encroaching darkness. Were there flames, smoke, dust, battling troops… enormous suffering?? I opened my eyes.”
-From the DMT Project… DMT: The Spirit Molecule; A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences,” By Rick Strassman, M.D.; presented by audible.com: 2011.
(HOW?!... how… does a mere… “chemical”… produce… THAT. Produce that conscious experience… that conscious reality. Ecstatic… and… chilling. Utterly. Ad… Infinitum.
Indeed, as Strassman points out, the “holy grail” of neuroscience is determining how brain chemistry produces… accounts for… what we call “consciousness.”)
“The euphoria goes into eternity, and I am part of that eternity.”
–From the DMT Project… DMT: The Spirit Molecule; A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences,” By Rick Strassman, M.D.; presented by audible.com: 2011.
“The words, “Just because it is possible…” emerged out of nothingness and filled me…”
–From the DMT Project… DMT: The Spirit Molecule; A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences,” By Rick Strassman, M.D.; presented by audible.com: 2011.
If this “infinite variation on reality” is in fact real… if these infinite alternate dimensions really do exist… they that are right here with us, right now… and beyond… forever… (and how can they not, in a sense… ya know?)…
If so, the implication is TOO much to handle. I just can’t even stand thinking about it.
Ad infinitum.
(I would also like to say here, for the record, that I personally have never used psychedelic drugs of any kind whatsoever. Furthermore, I do not personally advocate their use, at this current time... though I do also acknowledge that ALL things are subject to change, including my stance on the use of consciousness altering substances. Besides though, definitions are murky anyway… is a video game… “consciousness altering?” Caffeine? And on and on… ad infinitum. Relativity. Still though, I neither advocate the use of these items… psychedelics or video games even… but, I do wish to make the point that it’s ever so difficult to determine “right” and “wrong.” It really is a matter of where we wish to aim… of what trajectory we wish to place ourselves on. Ad infinitum.)
LOVE, PEACE, JOY, AND HARMONY FOR ALL, FOREVER. AND RIGHTEOUSNESS, WITH THIS IN VIEW.