Searching For Proof of The Soul
Two of the greatest mysteries of man: Does the soul exist and what is time?
Are they related? I didn't think so until I began writing a paper on time and in the process of attempting to explain what time is I realized that I had stumbled onto evidence of the existence of the 'soul', or an entity that is separate from the physical body that we think of as "us". The argument for that hypothesis follows:
The basic assumptions for this "theory" are the following:
· The universe is multidimensional and consists of at least 4 dimensions that we know of and can sense, 3 spatial dimensions and 1 time dimension.
· Time is a dimension that is not unlike, mathematically, the other 3 spatial dimensions.
· Time is perceived to be passing and moving in one direction, the future.
· When the universe was created, it was created whole and complete, space/time-wise from the moment of conception to eternity.
All of the above, except for the last, are mathematical "givens" and are accepted by most mathematicians.
We perceive time as passing but what do we really mean when we say that. If we travel down a highway in a car the scenery is "passing" also, but is it really moving or is it we who are passing by the scenery. So the real problem of explaining time is "PERSPECTIVE."
We are used to thinking of the universe as being made of space which is 3 dimensional, and time, and that we, and all of the universe, are moving through time into the infinite future. We wonder why we don't understand what time is and perceive it to be something that is moving and taking us along with it. The problem is perception. Why would God create a 4 dimensional object and leave the 4th dimension uncompleted. Maybe He didn't.
Consider that time is a dimension and, like space, is not an entity that is 'moving' anymore than space is moving. We can't see time the same way we do space because we can't see in 4 dimensions. We just aren't equipped to do that. However if time is a dimension why do we assume that it is moving and is different from the other three dimensions that we interact with and move about in?
If the universe is a indeed a static 4 dimensional solid, then nothing that is a physical part of the universe can be involving in the 'movement' of time. We observe the passage of time and perceive movement and change because we ourselves are moving through the 4 dimensional universe.
We do the same thing at a movie theater. We move with the images from the beginning of a film to the conclusion, watching all kinds of movement, energy, and chaos, never thinking that all of it is simply thousands of individual still pictures moving sequentially through a beam of light. Nothing really moves in a 'movie' except the film.
What then is the "WE" that is doing the moving and the observing?
The first response would be to say that it is our body, but that answer can't be correct because our bodies are also "physical", and hence, is a part of the 4 dimensional solid whole we are speaking of. Our bodies are not moving through time because they are also 4 dimensional, and a part of the space/time/matter whole that make up the static view of the 4 dimensional universe. We see our bodies change in time but the effect of time on our bodies is because we are moving through time and observe the way our body changes as we go from the past to the future, like watching a movie, except a 4 dimensional movie.
What I am suggesting is something that has troubled me for some time.
I believe this constitutes an argument that there is evidence for the existence of an entity that is not physical, and is not a part of this physical universe. If true, is this proof of the existence of the 'soul'? If that argument is true then what is the mechanism that makes this possible.
It is now being discussed in scientific circles the existence of multiple universes. An article in the November. 2007 issue of Scientific American discusses the possibility of "Universes in Collision". This theory is being tested both theoretically and experimentally by physicists around the world today, as they search for ways to validate "String Theory".
My proposal is that time is not "passing" for any part of the universe except for the observers who are trying to understand why it is happening. WE are the observers. So what is happening?
Imagine that there are multiple universes, as predicted by the latest quantum and string theories. Each of those universes would have unique characteristics with its own physical laws, dimensions, and boundaries. Dimensions such as length, width, and height may be meaningless to a universe that didn't have those particular characteristics, but another set of dimensions. Likewise, similar characteristics in a neighboring universe would be meaningless to us.
If two universes did collide and intersect, the result would likely not be apparent to either 'bubble' if there were no common characteristics or dimensions. However, any external-universe entity that would be present in this universe would be "physically" invisible, but may manifest itself at the quantum level. Perhaps that is where the 'spirit' enters the body.
I say that because we know that at the level that quantum effects take place, physical laws don't behave the same as they do at 'macro' levels. If there is an entity present from another universe it wouldn't have size in any way because its physical laws and dimensions would be different. It would behave as a geometric "point" with no size or mass, as it passed through this universe.
If the "we" part of the question of time is the only thing actually moving, and is the answer for how time "passes", how is that taking place.
If two universes are actually colliding, they must be passing each other at a constant rate. I propose that this rate at which the two universes are "passing" is the one constant that is most mysterious in all time and velocity equations. That is the speed of light, or 300,000 Km/Sec. The two universes are intersecting at the speed of light. What would be the result of this phenomenon? All entities in the other universe would be moving at the speed of light in the direction of the time dimension of this universe, from the beginning of time to the end. As a 'pointlike' object a spirit would only see the exact instant it was occupying as it passed along the time line. Isn't that how we perceive time?
If the "we" is an entity that is a part of the other universe, it would "observe" the present universe from inside the 'host', or our bodies, and from the standpoint of someone standing on the sideline of the timeline watching the history of this universe pass by at a constant rate of 300,000 Km/Sec.
In other words, for time to pass, the observer must be dragged along the time line dimension by the intersecting universe in question. It would be like a person standing beside a railroad track watching a train go by. It would seem that the observer is moving from the front of the train to the back.
From the above discussion it would appear that I am advocating predestination, the idea that the future is fixed and can't be changed. That is not the case. It is a problem that I believe I can offer an answer to by using an analogy.
How can the "we" interact physically with this universe without changing the future, and thus the entire structure of this universe? The answer is we can't, but the universe is a HUGE place and our place in it is very insignificant. We can change the future structure of the 4 dimensional universe but our effect is insignificant to the whole.
Imagine that someone decides to put a boat on a large body of water such as a lake. While the boat interacts with the water, causing wakes and waves to spread out in its path, it seems that much change has taken place. However when the passenger goes back to shore and docks the boat, he/she looks back at the lake and sees no evidence that they were ever there.
The universe is large enough that the waves we make will not be significant.
Because an observer is actually seeing this universe from the vantage point of another universe "dragging" him/her along the time dimension, moving at the speed of light, he/she would imagine that time was passing at a very constant rate in the present universe. Thus we see that to the inhabitant of the external universe, the passing of time is an illusion caused by the relative motion of anything in this universe we see around us to the motion of the other universe as a whole.
While this may seem to be 'far out' to some, it provides evidence to my mind that the "we" of the above argument is our spirits, and provides proof that the brain and the soul are not the same, and that our spirits are separate from our physical bodies.
The book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, verse 7 gives us this verse concerning the fate of that entity when the body dies.
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."
For the paper "Time, a Mystery Explained" go to
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