I Am the Walrus, and So Are You: Cosmic Consciousness

[The photograph shows the Antennae Galaxies in the process of merging.]

Here’s an interesting fact about holograms: take any section of a hologram, like a 3-D baseball card, and any piece of it, however small, will contain a picture of the entire baseball player when examined under a microscope. The same holds true for any hologram. The parts are contained in the whole, but the whole is also contained in the parts. The smaller the piece that is cut from the original holographic picture, the poorer the resolution of the whole, but it’s still there.

Physicist David Bohm and neurosurgeon Karl Pribram—heavyweights in the world of science—postulated that the entire universe is merely a hologram. If this is true, then you are naturally a part of the universe … but every part of the universe is also a part of you. (At this point, everyone can start singing George Harrison’s “Within You, Without You.”) But how is this possible? Research into quantum physics (too complicated for this humble post—film at eleven) indicates that the human brain is a holographic projector. Sound too weird? Go outside and look at the marvelous stars in the night sky. Their light enters your pupil, strikes your retina, and is then recognized and stored in your brain. So are the stars inside or outside of your brain?

This is intriguing—and disturbing. I do not want to be a part of my ex-wife, pro wrestlers, George Bush, the far right, rednecks, reality television, Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump, bimbos, reruns of Gilligan’s Island, or my sadistic eighth grade teacher in the ill-named Sisters of Mercy. (And that’s the short list.)

World religions and philosophers have hinted at the same idea for millennia. Taoism (and eastern religion as a whole) emphasizes the connection of all consciousness. So does the Gospel of St. John, albeit in a different context. Jesuit theologian Teilhard de Chardin believed that the universe was evolving toward universal consciousness at the end of time, which he called the Omega Point. Mystics from the Middle Ages, as well as near-death experiencers, have reported a sense of being part of “everything” during their ethereal sojourns.

Like it or not, we may all be part of the same energy, the same universal tapestry. Some of us pervert divine energy, while some of us channel and balance it. I don’t think I’d mind sharing some of the essence of John Lennon. It would make up for any connection to Rush Limbaugh.

Goo-goo-ga-cho or Om. Apparently there’s no difference.

Picture: Public domain