On Creation
Why is the book called ZERO IS ONE?
Here is a poem I wrote a while back.
THE ONE
There is only one
There is only one consciousness
There is only one life
There is only one being
There is only one presence
There is only one god
There is only one source
There is only one energy
There is only one light
There is only one true thought — I am
Imagine, if you will, that you are a singularity — a point of infinite energy of light of being of presence of consciousness surrounded by a VOID by ZERO, which is also you. You are alone. You are ONE — 1 you are also ZERO — 0.
For you, time and space do not exist. There is only you — there is only NOW — there is only the present — your presence.
You “seek” to know yourself.
You expand all of your infinite energy (potentiality) instantly — you explode — you big bang.
You create time and space and matter from your infinite energy — from you.
You create the universe — the multiverse — the OMNIVERSE.
The OMNIVERSE is you — there is only you — there is only ONE.
Now your “body” is composed of infinite universes, galaxies, stars, planets, moons, asteroids, comets observable as decimals/fractions of you between ZERO and ONE.
Looking more closely, all matter is composed of atoms — which are composed of smaller subatomic particles. At one point, all these subatomic particles can be viewed (observed) as waves as frequencies (vibrations) of energy — an infinite spectrum of energy, of frequency. In fact, everything is energy — is you — there is and always will be only you — you are the ALPHA and the OMEGA. The spectrum of frequencies of energy vary from undetectable (so close to ZERO as to be ZERO) and so high as to be INFINITE or ONE.
You are the only true WITNESS.
In you — in your body — in your OMNIVERSE — you have created beings with the ability to observe at least a portion of your creation of you.
Each being has senses allowing them to observe a portion of your infinite spectrum (a portion between ZERO and ONE).
Human beings, for example, observe what they call the visual light band, an infinitesimally small part of the infinite frequency that they see as colors and perceive as all of their visual reality. They also hear, touch, taste and smell — also infinitesimally small bands of frequency.
They have developed tools and knowledge that allow them to be aware that there exist other frequencies they cannot perceive with their senses, and they have learned to harness, use and indirectly observe some of these frequencies.
The OMNIVERSE can be described as an infinite hologram of INFORMATION which (by humans or AI, for example) might be inefficiently represented digitally. The digital representation could be most inefficiently represented in binary as a series of ZEROS and ONES. So EVERY-THING is just ZERO and ONE, but like time and space, it appears to humans as decimals/fractions between ZERO and ONE.
Now you know why the book is called ZERO IS ONE.
I like to say that when you see awakening, you see the ZERO. When you see liberation, you see the ONE. In both, you are WITNESSING the VOID/ABSOLUTE. You see its EMPTINESS and its FULLNESS.
You say we humans are creators like God. How?
In quantum physics, through the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, it has been shown that nothing exists in a state until it has been observed. In quantum physics, we humans are the observers, and the state of the wave/particle/reality is just an infinite potentiality until we observe it. Then the wave function collapses and becomes a fixed state.
Human beings are creating their observed reality all the time. We, like GOD, are creators.
On a different level, human beings receive and observe thoughts and emotions. We have used these to dream up and create thousands of universes, to name just a few, various hell dimensions, various heaven dimensions, multiple parallel Earth universes, the “Game of Thrones universe,” the “My Little Pony universe,” the “Marvel multiverse,” the “DC multiverse,” hundreds of other comic franchise multiverses, the “Dune universe,” the “Star Wars universe,” the “Star Trek universe,” the “Buffyverse,” the “Dungeons and Dragons multiverse,” all the other role playing game multiverses, and on and on.
Human beings are themselves part of THE ONE SUBSTANCE/THE POTENTIALITY as explained before, so when we create these metaverses, they are as real as we are in THE ONE SUBSTANCE. Ponder that, and maybe have a care what “you” personally dream up — not that it matters. The moment “you” conceive what not to dream of, it exists.
Yes somewhere “out there” Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack exist and are playing with the other ponies in the My Little Pony universe, for REAL. This thought story used to make Milla very happy indeed.
In The Prophet Returns, you give us many ways on how to live in the world. Why bother when you know that everything is meaningless?
If you desire yet another metaphor or story: THIS is the living dream LILA and THE DREAMER. Even though you are in truth THE DREAMER, you are also the living dream LILA. They are ONE. Your character is important in that dream. He/she is a character, and all characters are important. Everything is important as it is all you, THE DREAMER and THE DREAM.
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In essence, the tips on how to live life in The Prophet Returns, are for the characters in LILA. The characters do not have to read the book, and if they do read it, they do not have to heed the advice within. They can ignore it if they wish. The advice is seemingly good, and acting upon it would likely improve their character’s life as well as everyone else’s. Does that matter? As THE DREAMER, absolutely not, it is just a dream, THE DREAMER is WITNESSING an INFINITE number of them. But to the characters in the dream, for sure it matters. What kind of life do these characters want to portray? Do they want to portray the misery of a human, or the delight in the life of a human? Do they want the dream to be an awesome lucid dream, or do they want to be in an uncontrollable nightmare? I, as a character, wants to portray the nicest, most pleasurable life of a human, adding value to the other characters in the world. Hopefully, most characters want the same, and most characters who read this book and The Prophet Returns want the same.
Let your character live a lucid dream, not a nightmare! Catchy — the thought arises. Liking it — another thought arises.
You are an engineer and scientist. How can you reconcile LILA the living dream with the cold hard facts of science?
A lovely and tricky question, and one which I have seen no other non-duality authors answer. You may well have noticed by now that many answers end up sounding paradoxical when someone tries to answer from non-duality. This answer is no different. It can be quickly summarized that LILA and science (cosmology/physics/evolution/biology/chemistry/mathematics, etc.) are not mutually exclusive. In the same way, the VOID/ABSOLUTE, EMPTINESS/FULLNESS and ZERO/ONE are not mutually exclusive.
LILA contains the appearance and unfolding of science the same way it contains the appearance and unfolding of thoughts, emotions, perceptions, sensations, energies and EVERY-THING.
Currently, for our characters, there are various scientific theories about the origin of everything (TOEs). The most popular currently is the big bang theory and its various Big Bang Cosmological model derivatives. The most popular at the time of writing this book is the lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) or Lambda-CDM theory. Obviously, all of these models postulate a moment of inception that commences with a singularity explosively expanding outward to form our universe. The postulated age of our universe is 13.8 billion years old according to the latest research, and the universe has an accelerating expansion and is composed of dark matter, normal matter and dark energy. There are many other competing theories — the eternal inflation multiverse model of Andre Linde, the cyclic M-theory model of Steinhardt and Turok and so forth.
Does it matter if any of them are correct? Not really. Almost certainly, we are far from having a model that everyone agrees on and even further from having conclusive physical evidence for that model. Should it eventually happen would be awesome, but even if it were to happen tomorrow (let’s say one strain of the big bang theory is absolutely proved), it would not change the fact that what we observe is LILA. When you see liberation, there is absolutely no doubting that there is NO-THING and yet EVERY-THING. But how can there be NO-THING and proof that the universe originated from a singularity in a big bang? Why not? Within LILA, the stories of science, physics and mathematics exist, and their logic story is flawless within LILA. They prove the realness and inception of everything in LILA. The stories of the sciences and the stories of our characters are all real within LILA. THE CREATOR/THE POTENTIALITY can create EVERY-THING, and for the human observer in LILA, our universe, and whatever its TOE turns out to be, is real. At the same time, it is all a living dream for THE DREAMER.
THE DREAMER has created another LILA containing the universe which contains a planet with the land of Equestria and magical ponies, unicorns, pegasi, griffons, dragons and other animals. The famous characters in My Little Pony all live there. In that universe, the myth, or maybe reality, is that the unicorn sisters who rule Equestria (Luna and Celestia) in the city of Canterlot raised the Sun and the Moon. Clearly the laws of their physics, and likely of the rest of their sciences, bear little resemblance to those of LILA, which has the human universe. THE DREAMER can, has and is dreaming an infinite number of universes with an infinite number of operating rules/sciences/physical constants/magic laws, etc. None of the “conscious” characters in any of the OMNIVERSE of dreams is any more real than us human characters. EVERY-THING that appears in those dreams is a part of THE ONE SUBSTANCE/TOTALITY/THE DREAMER from the universes, the planets, the rocks, the cells, the atoms, the quarks, the magic particles, the unicorns, the superheros, the swords, the demons, the angels, the dragons, the quasars, the black holes, the white holes, the stargates, the dolphins, the bats, the super-villains, the elements, the stars and ANY-THING else.
Does your theory account for the powerful transpersonal experiences characters have?
The theory, or story, that I am relating is that EXISTENCE is the unfolding of every conceivable and perceivable universe in ETERNITY with every conceivable and perceivable set of universal parameters. In other words, EXISTENCE is the unfolding of the OMNI-VERSE in ETERNITY.
The OMNI-VERSE contains within it all conceivable and perceivable universes, for example, universes where magic parameters exist, universes where alternative rules of physics exist, universes where the conception is that magic is part of physics parameters exist, universes where no physical matter exists yet an abundance of life exists, and so forth infinitely.
In our universe, the prevailing concept is that there are scientific physical laws that explain almost everything. Also, in our universe, there is the concept that there are metaphysical laws that explain the remaining phenomena, which currently, the scientific physical laws have not explained. With the linear progression of human time in our universe, many of the previously inexplicable phenomena have yielded to explanation with scientific physical laws. Transpersonal phenomena are, for the most part, inexplicable by our scientific physical laws.
To understand why, it is important to describe these powerful transpersonal experiences that characters have. Dr. Stanislav Grof[ One of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology] most of these states holotropic states and describes them as the states that:
“shamans experience in their initiatory crises and use in their healing practice, those that native people experience in rites of passage and healing ceremonies, as well as those that were described in the reports of neophytes who underwent initiation in the ancient mysteries of death and rebirth. Holotropic states also occur in systematic spiritual practice of yogis, Buddhists, Taoists, and Sufis and they have been described by mystics and ordinary people[ Added by MGB] of all countries and historical periods. Modern psychiatrists and therapists encounter these states in psychedelic therapy, in deep experiential work without psychoactive substances (primal therapy, rebirthing, holotropic breathwork), and in the work with people in psychospiritual crises (‘spiritual emergencies’).”
Psychedelics and psychoactive substances that may induce these states include LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and tryptamine or amphetamine derivatives and plants, such as peyote, sacred mushrooms, salvia divinorum, ayahuasca, and kava. In holotropic breathwork, consciousness is changed by a combination of faster breathing, evocative music and energy-releasing bodywork. In ordinary life and sometimes spiritual emergencies, holotropic states occur spontaneously in the middle of everyday life, and their cause is usually unknown. Some therapists have developed and practiced powerful forms of experiential therapy, which induce holotropic states of consciousness as well.
Dr. Grof does an excellent job of classifying and describing the nature of some of these states. Let us start first with what he terms the perinatal holotropic states:
The Experience of Cosmic Unity (“Amniotic Universe”)
Transcendence of the subject-object dichotomy, an exceptionally strong positive affect (peace, tranquility, serenity, bliss), feelings of sacredness, transcendence of time and space, ineffability, and richness of insights of cosmic relevance (I have had this one more than a few times.)
The Experience of Cosmic Engulfment
Feelings of cosmic engulfment, overwhelming anxiety, and strong awareness of imminent death; the source of this danger cannot be clearly identified, and the individual tends to interpret the immediate environment or the whole world in paranoid terms, and not infrequently do individuals in this state report experiencing evil influences coming from members of secret organizations, inhabitants of other planets, evil sorcerers, or devices emanating noxious radiation (Fortunately, I have not had this one.)
The Experience of “No Exit”
Individuals feel caged, trapped in a claustrophobic world, and experience incredible psychological and physical tortures; existence in this world appears to be completely meaningless, and people in this predicament are blinded to any positive aspects of life (Thankfully, I have also not had this one.)
The Experience of the Death-Rebirth Struggle
The situation here does not seem hopeless, and the subject is not helpless; the individual is actively involved and has the feeling that his or her suffering has a definite direction and goal; while the no-exit situation involves sheer suffering, the experience of the death-rebirth struggle represents the borderline between agony and ecstasy and the fusion of both (Also a no for me)
The Death-Rebirth Experience
The experience of total annihilation is followed by visions of blinding white or golden light, peacock designs, and rainbow spectra; there is a sense of decompression, expansion, liberation, joy, and profound peace; the universe is perceived as indescribably beautiful and radiant, and individuals feel cleansed and purged; talk about redemption, salvation, or union with God (This is similar to the Cosmic Unity one, and I have experienced it as well.)
Then Dr. Graf describes three categories of holotropic transpersonal experiences. These can occur mixed with the above perinatal elements or completely independent of them:
“The first of these involves primarily transcendence of the usual spatial barriers, or of the limitations of the ‘skin-encapsulated ego.’ Here belong experiences of merging with another person into a state that can be called ‘dual unity,’ assuming the identity of another person, or identifying with the consciousness of an entire group of people (e.g. all mothers of the world, the entire population of India, or all the inmates of concentration camps). In the extremes, it is even possible to experience an extension of consciousness, which is so enormous that it seems to encompass all of humanity, the entire human species. Experiences of this kind have been repeatedly described in the spiritual literature of the world.In a similar way, one can transcend the limits of the specifically human experience and identify with the consciousness of various animals, plants, or even a form of consciousness that seems to be associated with inorganic objects and processes. In rare instances, it is possible to experience consciousness of the entire biosphere, of our planet, or the entire material universe. Incredible and absurd as it might seem to a Westerner subscribing to the worldview created by materialistic science, these experiences suggest that everything that we can experience in our everyday state of consciousness as an object, has in the holotropic states a corresponding subjective representation. It is as if everything in the universe has its objective and subjective aspect, the way it is described in the great spiritual philosophies of the East. For example, in Hinduism all phenomenal worlds are seen as divine play of Absolute Consciousness or Brahman (Lila), in Taoism all elements of material reality are described as transformations of the Tao, and so on. The second category of transpersonal experiences is characterized primarily by overcoming of temporal rather than spatial boundaries, that is by transcendence of linear time. We have already talked about the possibility of vivid reliving of important memories from infancy, childhood, birth, and prenatal existence. In holotropic states, this historical regression can continue farther and involve what appears to be authentic experiential identification with the sperm and the ovum at the time of conception on the level of cellular consciousness, But the experiential travel back in time does not stop even here and can continue to episodes from the lives of one’s human or animal ancestors, or even those that seem to be coming from the racial and collective unconscious as it was described by C. G. Jung. Very frequently, the experiences that seem to be happening in other cultures and historical periods are associated with a sense of personal remembering. People then talk about reliving of memories from past lives, from previous incarnations. These observations throw a new light on the problem of reincarnation, a concept of extreme spiritual and cultural importance, which has been pooh-poohed and ridiculed by materialistic science. T he idea of karma and reincarnation represents a cornerstone of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, the Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, and Taoism. Similar ideas can be found in such geographically, historically, and culturally diverse groups as various African tribes, native Americans, pre-Columbian cultures, the Hawaiian kahunas, practitioners of the Brazilian umbanda, the Gauls, and the Druids. In ancient Greece, several importan t schools of thought subscribed to it. Among them were the Pythagoreans, the Orphics, and the Platonists. This doctrine was also adopted by the Essenes, the Pharisees, the Karaites, and other Jewish and semi-Jewish groups, and it formed an importan t part of the cabalistic theology of medieval Jewry. It was also held by the Neoplatonists and Gnostics. The content of the transpersonal experiences described so far reflected various aspects of the material world and events happening at specific points of space and time. These experiences involved elements of the everyday familiar reality — other people, animals, plants, and materials. What was surprising about them was not their content, but the fact that we could witness or experientially identify with something that is not ordinarily accessible to our experience. We know that there are pregnant whales in the world, but we should not be able to have an authentic experience of being one. The fact that there once was the French revolution is readily acceptable, but we should not be able to have a vivid experience of actually being there and dying on the barricades of Paris. We know that there are many things happening in the world in places where we are not present, but it is usually considered impossible to experience something that is happening in remote locations without the mediation of a TV camera, a satellite, and a TV set. We may also be surprised to find consciousness associated with lower animals, plants, and with inorganic nature. However, the third category of transpersonal experiences is even stranger. Here consciousness seems to extend into realms and dimensions that the Western industrial culture does not consider to be “real.” Here belong numerous visions of archetypal beings and mythological landscapes, encounters or even identification with deities and demons of various cultures, and communication with discarnate beings, spirit guides, suprahuman entities, extraterrestrials, and inhabitants of parallel universes. In its farther reaches, individual consciousness can identify with cosmic consciousness or the Universal Mind known under many different names — Brahman, Buddha, the Cosmic Christ, Keter, Allah, the Tao, the Great Spirit, and many others. The ultimate of all experiences appears to be identification with the Supracosmic and Metacosmic Void, the mysterious and primordial emptiness and nothingness that is conscious of itself and is the ultimate cradle of all existence. It has no concrete content, yet it contains all there is in a germinal and potential form.”
In the first category, I have experienced the consciousness of the entire material universe, including being rocks, animals, grass, stars and galaxies simultaneously. I have sadly not experienced anything in the second category. In the third category, I have not experienced other dimensions with exotic lifeforms or beings but have experienced “the ultimate of all experiences” — identification with the supracosmic or metacosmic void. The VOID or POTENTIALITY, I agree, “has no concrete content, yet it contains all there is in a germinal and potential form.”
Is there a scientific explanation for these transpersonal phenomena? I postulate that in our universe, human beings appear to have central nervous systems (CNS), which act as sensory filters and interpreters of the signals that appear to them. The CNS acts as a receiver, almost like a radio or television. In other words, it receives and translates the signals that it is capable of given the apparent limitations imposed by our scientific makeup (biology, biochemistry and physics). For instance, the CNS of human beings is only tuned to pick up a microscopic portion of the entire electromagnetic (EM) spectrum through sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. We know that on our planet alone, different species pick up different parts of the EM spectrum. The nervous systems of each species usually filters out, or cannot perceive, anything not directly relevant to its ecological survival. We have talked about some of the EM signals that the human CNS is capable of interpreting. I postulate that our CNS also acts as a receiver for thoughts and feelings, so our CNS has at least two more “senses” we do not currently have a science for. Part of the reason for that is there are no obvious external organs for these senses. With the other five senses, the external organs are obvious: noses with olfactory nerves, eyes with optic nerves, skin with somatosensory nerves, mouths and tongues with taste nerves, and ears with auditory nerves. I postulate that we are simply overlooking the other senses because whole regions of the CNS and its associated cardiopulmonary system are acting in unison as the sensory organs for thoughts and feelings. Human beings, in the current paradigm, are under the mistaken assumption that the CNS generates thoughts and feelings, whereas, in actuality, it is only a receiver. This becomes absolutely clear in seeing awakening or liberation. Thoughts and emotions appear like other stimuli in the landscape, or dreamscape. They are not within the character, which itself simply appears in the dreamscape. With the character identifying with any stimuli (thought and emotion included) one can imagine invisible ropes of entanglement connecting the stimuli and character. I have termed these senses the thought sense (which receives thought signals from the thought field), and emotional sense (which receives emotion signals from the emotional field).
Transpersonal experiences we can think of as being associated with yet another sense, the sixth sense in popular culture. In my theory, it would be the eighth sense. This sense is tuned to receive signals from the Akashic field and is called the Akashic sense.
For each individual human being, these eight senses have a different range of signals that they can receive. For example, some characters are blind and do not receive visual signals in the visual EM band; some are deaf to the auditory EM band. Similarly, most characters are mostly blind to the Akashic band, and some have altered senses of thought and emotion (psychological and psychiatric symptoms or disorders). In the same way that televisions and radios have “dials” or settings that can be moved to pick up certain stations that are transmitting, these senses can also be tuned to pick up stations that they may not have been initially tuned to. Transpersonal experiences are the Akashic sense picking up Akashic signals. The tuning is altered or activated either through using psychoactive substances or following a physical or psychological induction method like a spiritual practice, meditation or breathing exercises. It can also occur in what appears to be the same kind of spontaneous way that a radio will all of a sudden pick up a station for a short while that it was not tuned to.
The realization that thoughts, emotions and transpersonal experiences are received by the brain has enormous consequences. It will alter our understandings in the fields of neuroscience and psychology. It turns these disciplines on their heads. Instead of looking at neuroanatomical correlates as causing the signals, it is realized that the same neuroanatomical correlates are the receivers of the signals. When we see neuroimaging (like fMRI or PET scans) light up in certain portions of the brain when someone feels or thinks something (be it “that is rewarding,” “that is painful,” “that is disgusting,” “that is pleasurable”), that area is the receiver not the creator of the thought or feeling. Pathology in the brain does not cause problem thoughts or emotions, rather pathology causes the receiver to misinterpret or mal-interpret existing signals. Attempting to fix a receiver is very different from trying to fix a generator.
In summary, the theory does account for the powerful transpersonal experiences characters have. They can receive signals from the Akashic field with their Akashic sense. There is currently some evidence that the neuroanatomical correlate of the Akashic sense organ (at least for picking up cosmic consciousness) may lie in the right insula and in the junction of temporoparietal lobes. The right anterior insula is significantly more developed in highly experienced meditators than in other humans.
Can you talk about the Akashic field and THE WITNESS field?
I, in attempting to reconcile and unify my scientific knowledge of the universe with my transpersonal experiences (and those of those of tens of millions of other individuals), formulated a theory. The theory was the existence of a type of field (not necessarily electromagnetic) that encompassed all manifest potentiality, including space and time, essentially, a field containing a record of all WITNESSING by THE WITNESS, THE WITNESS field or library, if you will. This field contains the WITNESSING of each rock being a rock, each crystal being a crystal, each star being a star, each atom being an atom, each neutrino being a neutrino, each demon being a demon, each dragon being a dragon, each human being a human, each elf being an elf, each leaf being a leaf, each tree being a tree, each Kryptonian being a Kryptonian, each unicorn being a unicorn, each devil being a devil, each God being a God, each Goddess being a Goddess, each Conan being Conan, each dolphin being a dolphin, each universal archetype being a universal archetype, each molecule of water being a molecule of water, each body of water being that body of water, each planet being a planet, each species being a species, each thought being a thought, each concept being a concept, each feeling being a feeling — EVERY-THING in what human beings would conceive of as now, the past and the future, in all possible worlds, dimensions, universes and metaverses.
Naturally, since this field permeates everything and everybody, it turns out that the theory was not temporally original. Nevertheless, at the same instant, everything is unique and original because it arises from a unique and original differentiation within the field, hence the point of registration of everything by THE WITNESS field. Upon the discovery of Ervin Laszlo, and his psi field, or Akashic field[ Laszlo describes it as a subquantum field, which holds a holographic record of all the events that have happened in the phenomenal world.], I felt like Wallace must have felt when he read The Origin of Species by Darwin. Naturally again, Laszlo himself has borrowed the concept of akasha (an ancient Sanskrit word, which in English may be loosely translated as “etheric plane”). Apparently, historically, the Buddha himself described the Akashic field. Obviously, it has also appeared throughout recorded history, in one form or another, from Plato’s ideals onwards. While the theory may be perceived as not even original to Ervin Laszlo, I credit him with giving it scientific credence in today’s world.
Coincidentally, my partner, Berenice, spent much of her childhood in the company of Laszlo and his family in Tuscany. The Laszlo family, it turns, out are very close friends of the Darbally family — the extraordinary within the ordinary once again.
I will continue to use THE WITNESS field in this book instead of Akashic field because, in my story, THE WITNESS field is contained within THE WITNESS, as well as simultaneously being THE WITNESS — the usual paradox of non-duality speak. The Akashic field in Laszlo’s scientific story has more the appearance of a separate field interconnecting everything. There is no separation in non-duality. Everything is just ONENESS or THE WITNESS.
What are memories?
Memories are thoughts arising in the landscape that are labeled “memory thoughts.” These thought balloons appear to contain images and stories about the character and maybe other characters in the “past.” Of course, the past, just like the future, is a story or thought that is appearing NOW or presently.
