How is this so? Consciousness, and thus its observations/experiences of reality, can not be separated from the very specific and only point in space-time where their existence is made manifest, the ‘now’ moment in space between past and future. This point is described in Physics mathematically by the Lorentz Transformation and its non-linear adaptation in General Relativity. It is also represented in Minkowski space-time as the locus of a single point between past and future light cones in a Light Cone diagram depicting the space-time of Relativity Theory. These depictions describe the universe from the singular point of view of an observer, and is the place from which all measurements are made. It is understood in Physics that such observers can be anything real or imaginary that can take such measurements from this point. Professor Hillary Putnam, describing reality from this singular point of view of an observer to ‘prove’ that all points in space-time, both past and future, are as real as any ‘now’ moment for any and all other observers, put it best in his paper Time and Physical Geometry saying; “And, if we allow all physical systems (even electromagnetic fields, etc.) as “observers” (as why should we not?) and allow observers to use coordinate systems in which they are not at rest, then there are certainly “enough observers.” What is false about this statement is that physical systems, electromagnetic fields, etc, do not observe anything because observation, and hence the observer, is the purview of biology alone, ‘observation’ is not an attribute of reality, it is a byproduct of biology. These points in space-time as described by Physics, or for that matter by religion or mythology, are nothing more than biology’s anthropomorphism of reality as observed by consciousness. This ‘now’ point in space-time is something that is manufactured by biology within which the observer is constantly becoming manifest while at the same time creating the attributes of the universe that likewise is constantly becoming manifest according to the experiences of the observer. The observer and the reality the observer experiences spring from the same source, the bio sensory creation of a ‘now’ moment in space-time. Creating equations that describe such points do not make them real, instead this placing of the observer in the center of all activity is an anthropomorphism of reality, a projection of the need for all of reality to manifest in a ‘now’ moment because our very existence as consciousness depends on it. If we exist in a ‘now’ moment then so must everything else; this is a ‘fact’ we don’t even think to question. But we can question this interpretation of reality our biology creates for us if we come to understand it as an antIs creation of biology, a creation that completely pervades the very nature of the universe we experience as ‘real’, our antIs reality. This bio-sensory now moment, at the same time, ensures that actual totIs reality can never ‘manifest’ because this ‘now’ moment does not exist as a fundamental attribute of reality. The totIs universe does not ‘manifest’, it IS in a way that consciousness simply can’t experience or observe.
What is your theme as a writer?
My books, written in a narrative form, are an inquiry into the nature of reality. To explore such a subject, it is necessary to understand how it is that we come to know anything at all. This epistemological question leads us directly into the realm of conscious human experience. The short answer is that ALL conscious human experience is the product of our bio-sensory system’s interpretation of the signals sent to the brain. It is here where an interpretative process manufactures a bio-sensory experience of being that we take to be reality. It is not reality; it is an interpretation of something. As we know, an interpretation of a thing is not the same as the thing itself, just as a picture of a peach is not a peach.
What have you discovered about the nature of reality?
Firstly, there is a big difference between our conscious experience of reality and Reality, with a capital R. These are two different things. One is the product of a bio-sensory interpretation that is completely dependent on, but is not, Reality. The other, Reality with a capital R, is Source. Being source it is dependent on nothing else while all else is dependent on it. Secondly, we as conscious beings literally believe that our bio-sensory interpretation of reality is equivalent to Reality. It is NOT. It is our inability to understand that these two are different that feeds what Albert Einstein called the persistence of the illusion of Reality and that we continually believe is real. I have named the manufactured bio-sensory experience antIs reality. Actual Reality, as source, I call totIs Reality.
Why is it important to know the difference between antIs and totIs reality?
Of all the matter and energy in the Universe only biology has an experience of reality. Neither atoms nor snowflakes experiences anything, nor do they know anything. Knowledge is the purview of conscious biological beings. Such knowledge is a product of our antIs process as is the totality of our experience of being. Fully one hundred percent of our experience of reality is a bio-sensory interpretation manufactured from a bio-chemical-electrical process that creates for us a picture of reality. Our senses form a kind of screen. AntIs reality exists inside and totIs Reality outside the screen. Hot/Cold, Up/Down, Beautiful/Ugly, etc. exist only within the confines of the screen of our experience of reality. What cannot be created within the screen by the antIs process can have no existence for consciousness. Alternately, the attributes of totIs Reality existing outside the screen are not constrained to comport with the antIs attributes experienced within it.
Can we conscious beings have an experience of Reality, or what you call totIs Reality?
The short answer is NO. Because one hundred percent of our experience of reality is created by our bio-sensory system, by definition, that which the organism cannot manufacture as an experience we cannot have as an experience. The flip side is that those experiences that the bio-sensory system does create for us, even though they are only interpretations, we believe to be Real. What we, as conscious biological beings fail to take into consideration is that because our experience of reality is an interpretation, there can be other valid interpretations as well. This has immense significance for us. It goes to the heart of Einstein’s quote “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a persistent one.” A quote that is not hyperbole. He and many other Physicists and Philosophers understand this to be a truth of conscious experience.
What other significances are there for us as well?
When we think about our five senses, we can rationally understand that they can give us misleading or false readings of our environment. Our sense receptors report on only a small range of possible ranges that the phenomena in our Universe contain. Visible light is one such example. But there is a sense that we don’t even realize we experience. It is so fundamental to everything else we experience that it goes unquestioned. Imagine a play in a theater. You can remove everything, the actors, the sets, the music, the words, the action itself. But the stage is fundamental. It always remains. The stage for conscious experience, and consciousness itself is time. The now with its past, present and future of our experience is an antIs creation. Time is the stage upon which antIs reality depends. It does not flow as we experience it.
What is your interpretation for the experience of flowing time?
The now moment in time is an antIs fabrication of our bio-sensory system. It is fundamental to all of our experiences. It is the stage upon which all the others are acted out. It is also the mechanism by which the persistence of the illusion of reality is maintained. Relativity Theory shows that there is no, one, now moment in the universe as we experience such. My now may be in your past or future now. All are relative. If by walking down the street we all exist in each other’s past or future now’s, even for a micro second, then all bets are off on whatever flowing time may be. The now of our experience does not exist, as such, in Reality. It is another antIs product of our biology.
If time does not flow, then what is time?
Simply put it is a bio-sensory creation, like all our senses, for the benefit of the organism. The basis for time’s movement is the creation of a now moment through which time flows. How do we know? Because the only place in the universe where consciousness is found and from where observations can be made is the now moment. Consciousness, the bio-sensory creation that is the experiencer/observer is a manifest phenomenon. It only exists NOW. Without a now there is still a Universe. But that Universe is an un-manifest phenomenon. It does not need time to exist. On the other hand, without a now there is no conscious observer. Because conscious observation is a manifest phenomenon, we conscious beings anthropomorphize the entire Universe to likewise be a manifest phenomenon. “As I am, so too is the Universe.” But we cannot prove that it is. We can only prove that our conscious bio-sensory experience of it is. The great Physicist John Bell has shown us that.
What do your books have to offer the reader?
The two most salient ideas my books offer, among others, are a vista, an understanding, that can connect us to all creation in a way that is unavailable without the ability to differentiate between antIs and totIs realities. The Universe is simply not constrained to comport with the interpreted attributes imparted to it through our anthropomorphism of Reality. Separate objects changing state in space through time, what we call cause and effect, is an illusion created by biology. The totIs Universe is one inseparable Unity. That we think we are separate or that we can separate things out is illusory. Stuff doesn’t happen to us, stuff happening IS us. Additionally, it is not circumstance that makes us feel or act one way or another. We do that ourselves. We can be, and are, in control of the quality of our lives in and under all circumstances. By understanding the nature of our antIs experiences and the default reactions they engender we discover that we have a gamut of attitudes and reactions to circumstance available to us. As we feel and judge, thus does the world appear to us. Self-control is our greatest power. From the circumstances of our lives we fashion either Paradise or Purgatory.