Victor Zammit: Quantum Physics and the Afterlife

“What are the implications for science of the fact that psychic functioning appears to be a real effect? These phenomena seem mysterious, but no more mysterious perhaps than strange phenomena of the past which science has now happily incorporated within its scope.”

Nobel Prize winner Professor Brian Josephson

and Professor Jessica Utts

There is a revolution going on in science. There has been a significant increase in quantum physics research in the last few years and innovative, unorthodox physicists tell us this important research has a strong bearing on our understanding of the validity of the paranormal and the afterlife.

These physicists are showing that there is no conflict at all between the most recent discoveries in physics and belief in the paranormal and the afterlife. Indeed they are showing that the phenomena we now call “paranormal” are normal and consistent with the laws of science. Quantum physics, the study of the characteristics and behavior of some sub-atomic particles, therefore adds to the evidence that non-physical energy accounts for the paranormal and afterlife.

Professor Fred Alan Wolf sums up this view when he writes:

“I believe that the findings of quantum physics increasingly support Plato [who taught that there is a more perfect, non-material realm of existence]. There is evidence that suggests the existence of a non-material, non-physical universe that has a reality even though it might not as yet be clearly perceptible to our senses and scientific instrumentation. When we consider out-of-body experiences, shamanic journeys and lucid dream states, though they cannot be replicated in the true scientific sense, they also point to the existence of non-material dimensions of reality” (Wolf 1998:245)

British scientist Ron Pearson, in his article Survival Physics argues that survival of death is a natural part of physics and efforts to discredit evidence of survival after death are misplaced:

“Since survival can be shown an essential and integral part of physics, the hope must be that the efforts still being made to discredit all evidence of survival will soon come to an end. This theory has achieved publication in Russian conference proceedings (1&2) of 1991 and 1993 respectively, and in the peer-reviewed scientific journal "Frontier Perspectives"(3) in 1997. Furthermore Prof. Peter Wadhams, Professor of Ocean Physics at Cambridge University, supported the theory during a joint broadcast on the American Radio Shows in 2001.” (Pearson 2004).

Paranormal not inconsistent with physics

For more than a hundred years many other physicists have seen no inconsistency between science and evidence of the existence of the so-called “paranormal”. Sir Oliver Lodge, one of the greatest physicists of all times, accepted life after death and used his scientific genius to prove it. He was one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research. I have a lot of respect for Sir Oliver Lodge and would like to give you just a short quote from his article Linking Life After Death To Subatomic Physics:

“If, then, we can adduce any evidence that life or mental activity exists in space, and only sporadically makes itself evident by some material activity, the state of our present knowledge of physics renders our acceptance of the fact entirely harmonious. We have to do no violence to our physical conceptions if we admit the fact of survival. Life and mind never were functions of the material body, they only displayed themselves by means of the material organism.”

Of the many other notable physicists who investigated survival or psychic phenomena, I include Dr Harold Puthoff, Professor Russell Targ and Professor Dr Ernst Senkowski.

Dr Harold Puthoff, physicist, is currently the Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Austin, Texas. He has made significant contribution towards establishing empirically the validity of psi particulary in the field of remote viewing a term he jointly coined to describe a form of psychic functioning historically known as clairvoyance.

Professor Russell Targ is a physicist and author who was a pioneer in the development of the laser, and cofounder of the Stanford Research Institute's investigation into psychic abilities in the 1970s and 1980s He has authored a number of books suggesting that the mind itself reaches to the far ends of the universe and it is this "non-local" quality, rather than any particular mechanism, that accounts for the remarkable data of parapsychology.

Professor Dr Ernst Senkowski, a professor of physics and electronics, had been doing intensive paranormal and afterlife research for over twenty years repeatedly obtained positive paranormal and 'afterlife' results (see Chap. 4 for more details).

Physicists urge paradigm shift

Several physicists recently have published books arguing that materialist science is incomplete and is not able to account for the evidence. They are urging the acceptance of a new paradigm or worldview which includes psychic phenomena and the existence of multiple universes including the so-called afterlife.

Dr Amit Goswami, a former professor of physics at the Institute of Theoretical Sciences at the University of Oregon, is now working as a senior resident researcher at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. His book Physics of the Soul- - the quantum book of living, dying, reincarnation and immortality defines consciousness, not materiality, as the primary reality.

Professor John Bokris in his book The New Paradigm--A Confrontation Between Physics and the Paranormal Phenomena (2005) discusses the evidence for the paranormal, including telepathy, near-death experiences, out-of-body travel, mediumship, reincarnation, apparitions, possession, distant healing, and other phenomena and concludes that other concepts such as the paranormal, theories about consciousness, and interconnectedness must be integrated into science to give us a much better understanding of the true nature of reality.

His central idea is that we are living in a "synchronized universe," one layer of which we see and interact with and are synchronized with. This is what we call the “real” universe. But alongside of this he argues there are other universes, just as real as this one which he says:

“begins to offer a way to understand how the soul, the center of human consciousness, can exist in a permanent form, surviving human death. It offers a useful beginning to a deeper understanding of the universe and of ourselves.” (Bokris 2005)

Another physicist Dr. Claude Swanson, has put together the "best evidence" showing that our present scientific paradigm is inadequate. In his book, The Synchronised Universe, he describes scientifically controlled remote viewing and ESP experiments, demonstrations of long-range healing, psychokinesis (mind over matter), scientifically controlled experiments in levitation, teleportation and out of body phenomena (OBE). He shows how in many cases these strange forces have been demonstrated under rigorous scientific statistics, with odds of millions or even billions to one against chance.

New discoveries being shared

Many top-grade scientists with impressive credentials are independently making discoveries in areas that challenge traditional reductionist scientific thinking in areas such as homoeopathy, bio-electrography, remote viewing and healing through prayer. Their findings support the new view of a world in which everything is interconnected in a pulsating energy field (McTaggart 2001). So far two international Icons of the Field Conferences have been held in which these latest discoveries have been shared (see Internet reference below).

In his new book Entangled Minds Dr Dean Radin argues that those who think that science has no place for the paranormal do not know what they are talking about. He writes:

“new discoveries in science are forcing an expansion to ideas of who and what we are, and that those who are most hostile to this topic know little or nothing about the evidence”. (Radin 2006).

The conscious universe

Rather than being lifeless matter subatomic particles are being shown to have consciousness. Dr Amit Goswami describes an experiment by Aspect, Dalibard and Roger (1982) which, he argues, experimentally disproved the notion that only matter is real.

What happens in this experiment is that an atom emits two quanta of light, called photons, going opposite ways, and somehow these photons affect one another's behavior at a distance, without exchanging any signals through space. Notice that: without exchanging any signals through space but instantly affecting each other. ( interview by Hamilton 1997).

Many other physicists are coming around to the view that rather than being made of inert matter and energy, the universe is essentially consciousness- as Professor Jacob D. Bekenstein puts it:

“a century of developments in physics has taught us that information is a crucial player in physical systems and processes. Indeed, a current trend, initiated by John A. Wheeler of Princeton University, is to regard the physical world as made of information, with energy and matter as incidentals” ( Bekenstein 2003).

Science not static

Science is not static. In the nineteenth century it was generally accepted that atoms were solid substantial particles that cannot be broken down any further. Quantum physics is showing us that what we think of as solid is mostly empty space and that “matter” is, to use Einstein’s term “frozen energy” (Ash and Hewett 1990: 16-26). As Professor Jessica Utts and Nobel laureate Dr Brian Josepheson state in the quotation that heads this chapter, science needs to adapt to accommodate the evidence (Utts and Josephson 1996).

As shown above and in the previous chapter, there are now many scientists from around the world who have demonstrated that there is evidence for psi and the afterlife. New discoveries in quantum physics are showing that these discoveries need not be at odds with science. I predict that in years to come quantum physics will be the revolutionary way to dramatically demonstrate that survival is part of the natural order.

On the Internet

The full German version of Professor Senkowski’s book on Instrumental Transcommunication is available online
http://www.rodiehr.de/

Icons of the Field Conferences
http://www.wddty.co.uk/thefield/noflash/index.asp