Frozen Time Theory
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By Jack H Hiller, PhD, JD Nov 3, 2011 (Updated Nov 15, 2014, 4/30/2016, 2/5/2017)

Abstract

The theory presented uniquely integrates findings and principles from:

  1) Relativity Theory (e.g., time does not run for entities traveling at light speed),

  2) Quantum mechanics (e.g., paired particles demonstrate a mysterious form of communication instantly at any distance, called by Einstein "spooky action at a distance" when he spoofed the possibility, and "quantum entanglement" by Erwin Schrodinger), and

  3) Analytic geometry in which ordinarily perceptible space (3D) includes time as a hypothetical 'physical' 4th dimension (see next follow on paper below). A multi-dimensional universe existing beyond 4D may explain why visible material and energy account for less than 5% of the universe (based on gravitational effects observed, i.e., so called dark energy and matter may exist in the higher dimensional realms beyond direct observation),

with observer reports about time, principally from the Near Death Experience (NDE) literature:

  A) Time does not run on the "other" side, so that past, present, and future may be accessed together (visualize an observer located high over a road with the road conceptualized as the time dimension);

  B)  Perception and consciousness experienced before having an out-of-body experience (OBE) may continue uninterrupted when consciousness leaves a dying body,

  C) Perception is enhanced during the OBE to be able to see, not by reflected light, but "directly" at any measurement scale, sub atomic to galactic, and at any location, termed "mindsight," and

  D) Matter on the other side exists at frequencies far higher than ordinary matter, implying super strings on the other side vibrate faster than in the material realm and may provide the basis for dark energy and matter.

Scientific credibility has been established for the reality of OBE perceptions from a substantial number of cases in which information, that was acquired during the OBE that could not have been accessible to the dying body at its location or while brain activity had measurably ceased, had been verified by independent fact checking ( Holden, J.M. (2009) Veridical perception in near-death experiences, in Holden, J.M., Greyson, B., and James B. (eds.) The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC). An excellent case is made for consciousness operating without a functioning brain by Dr. Greyson    ( http://dharma-documentaries.net/bruce-greyson-is-consciousness-produced-by-the-brain  ).

Introduction

It will be important to recognize the distinction between the context of discovery or hypothesis formation and the context of verification -- unlike speculations about an other side or spiritual realm that cannot in principle be empirically explored, the theory presented here provides for empirical testing; for example, brain waves, which are rather slow, may be tested to communicate with higher frequency electromagnetic waves hypothesized to emanate  from the other side by using the superheterodyne process we now routinely use for radio reception and amplification of  signals broadcast at higher frequencies than the carrier waves used in radios, a signal mixing process. 

The 2011 Discovery Channel program on, "Did God Create the Universe?" stimulated by the views of Stephen Hawking,  provided one perspective on the nature of the universe and its creation which eliminated any need to include the concept of God, as the traditional uncreated Creator. My own analysis making reference to Relativity and Quantum theories comes to the opposite conclusion. 

 The sum of energy and matter in this universe (positive and negative energies and matter) could be zero, so that the material universe starts out from nothing; however, there needs to be a catalyst to trigger the creation of balanced positive and negative states of material substance, and of course that would be God. But that yet leaves open the issue of how God came into being from nothingness. Described here are speculations about the nature of Creation based on Relativity Theory, with its provisions that time is frozen at light speed, and General Relativity with its provision that infinite gravity also freezes time. 

With time frozen, the situation prior to the Big Bang may rule out the meaningfulness of the question of causation before the universe was born, because when there is no time, causation ceases to function. In other words, from accepted theories of Relativity, physics shows that it is possible to meaningfully conceptualize a state of existence in which time is frozen, so causal analysis is futile. 

However, whereas Hawking takes the logic of that result (i.e., that causation becomes a meaningless question when time does not function prior to the Big Bang) to eliminate the need for including the uncreated Creator, this logic is flawed. His explanation conveniently presupposes an eternal existence for quantum mechanical rules, but that presupposition is no more plausible then presupposing God to have created quantum mechanical law. 

 Hawking also relies on equating the ephemeral existence of quantum particles (e.g., protons coming into and out of existence randomly, the uncaused quantum flux) with the Big Bang involving an immense conglomerate of mass/energy in contrast to isolated bits of quantum level elements. Surely the huge mass at the core of the singularity would not precisely follow the identical quantum rules for the behavior of "separated" quantum particles, just as the behavior of the macro world of everyday existence is radically different from the ephemeral quantum flux; the fact that reductionism has failed to generate macro-level world theory from atomic and subatomic science is well explained by physicist Robert Laughlin ( Laughlin, Robert (2005), A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Down, Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-03828-X ), who argues for the philosophy of emergentism. 

Frozen Time Theory (FTT) proposes a different line of analysis from Hawking's quantum mechanical explanation for creation in the Big Bang.  Contrary to Hawking's explanation based on an eternal existence for quantum principles, FTT addresses features of quantum theory (for example what came to be known as Einstein's "spooky action at a distance," now commonly termed entanglement), Relativity Theory (as mentioned for timelessness and elimination of causation),  includes findings from study on Near Death Experience (e.g., Ken Ring's work being an especially good source from folks who were congenitally blind, but had a form of seeing in their NDE  ( http://near-death.com/experiences/experts04.html ), as well as Reincarnation study findings (principally studies by Prof Ian Stevenson ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson ) and Carol Bowman  (  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Bowman).  A set of well documented cases of reincarnation, complemented by You Tube videos, is at this website: (http://www.victorzammit.com/evidence/childrenwhorememberpastlives.htm  ), including a worthwhile interview of Jim B. Tucker, MD,  who was mentored in this field by Dr. Ian Stevenson.  Pim Van Lommel, M.D. has published an excellent, comprehensive review on the NDE research literature which is valuable as a basic reference, 'Consciousness Beyond Life,'

( http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_9_5?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=van+lommel&sprefix=van+l%2Cstripbooks%2C189  ) . 

The Frozen Time Theory addresses one of the great curiosities reported by seers, and by ordinary individuals who had the NDE -- that time does not run in the spirit world -- by hypothesizing that our 3-D material world, with time as an adjunctive dimension, operates in the spiritual domain as a four dimensional, or higher, spatial existence in which time exists as a fourth spatial dimension. One particular NDE report directly supports the conjecture that time in the spiritual world corresponds to a form of spatial dimensionality, of location in a higher order space. One with the Light: Authentic Near-Death Experiences that Changed lives and Revealed the Beyond by Brad Steiger (Sep 1, 1994) Chapter 22, page 145, The Extraordinary Near Death Experiences of Two medical Doctors, is recounted. The source reported by Steiger is a paper presentation of Sir Auckland Geddes, MD, to the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh, Feb 26, 1937. In one of these two cases of MDs having NDEs, Geddes reported the following for a doctor experiencing an out of body experience (pages 146 and 148): 

"... he became aware of the presence of a guide, or "mentor," who explained to him he was, 'free in a time dimension of space wherein now was equivalent to here in the ordinary three-dimensional space of everyday life.' With the new understanding related to him by his guide, the doctor next noted that he was able to see things in four or more dimensional places. At the same time, he could see equally well in the three-dimensional space of everyday life." 

This NDE report characterizes time in the spiritual world as being represented--not by a clock-- but by spatial location. Thus, time on Earth may be mapped to a spatial location in the spiritual realm, and that may explain how valid premonitions are possible; premonitions may be reconciled with free will by allowing that what is located at any time in the future may be changed as events unfold. 

Philosophical Perspectives on Existence and Creation

The foremost question for the ontological branch of metaphysics is -- how did beingness come into existence and what is its nature ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology )? Conceptualizing any process that can introduce matter and energy into what had been a perfect void confronts the issue of where this matter and energy came from to begin with (so reference to such materiality in the singularity preceding the Big Bang begs the question in a circular manner), and ponders further about the process by which materiality was incorporated into the primordial void. Modern Big Bang Theory avoids consideration of how the material at the core of the singularity was created or where it came from, and speculates only about the nature of physical law explaining the singularity explosion process; or alternatively, the Big Bang Theory of creation is replaced with theory attributing creation to collision of preexisting brane universes, the ekpyrotic scenario (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekpyrotic_universe). 

This quandary about how to conceptualize the origin of a material universe traces back to ancient Greek philosophy, with no substantive progress after the issue of creation was formalized. This short note defining Frozen Time Theory explains how an illogical application of the concept of time, which forms the foundation concept for understanding and applying the concept of "causation" to explain origins, blocks resolution of the ontological quandary. Frozen Time Theory applies Special Relativity Theory to explain the ontology of creation and spiritual beingness.  

Special Relativity Includes a Condition of Timelessness 

* Time as we understand and measure it according to Special Relativity slows for increasing speed; more specifically, an object traveling at light speed exists in frozen time, e.g., a photon does not age. 

* Thus, when existence corresponds to light speed with its time stopped, asking what preceded or comes after that existence has no meaningful answer for the context of that existence. 

* The dimension of time is constructed by Frozen Time Theory as a 4th dimension of a Cartesian-like 4-D space; in other words, different times in 3-D may be mapped to different spatial locations of 4-D space. This analysis can actually be visualized by imagining 3-D chunks of space placed at different points along a dimensional axis representing time, just as x, y, and z dimensions are usually represented in Cartesian graphing for spatial locations. The resulting 4-D spatial graphing will later be employed to explain how spatial dimensions higher than 4-D may be conceptualized. 

The NDE Phenomenon with Perception During OBE Verified

The NDE reports encompass observations made by consciousness, while it is detached from an individual's dying body, about events taking place in the Earth realm, and beyond.  Observations made by individuals during their OBE may be usefully classified as occurring while consciousness focuses on events within the Earth plane of existence, and, for relatively extensive NDEs after consciousness has moved beyond, usually thru what appears to be a tunnel, to focus on a spiritual realm, typically corresponding to the concept of Heaven for its beauty and the experience of feeling loved, but infrequently corresponding to a Hellish environment.  

OBE observations about events transpiring on the Earth plane may readily be tested for reporting accuracy by checking on the facts known to participants in the NDE event or bystanders. However, it is has also been possible to test selective observations made during Heavenly visits. There are a few cases of NDE reports made about relatives who were unknown before meeting them on the other side, such as siblings, or other relatives (see, for example, cases reported in Dr. Lommel's text at pages 32 and 33).  Dr. van Lommel's thorough NDE summary of an extensive research literature on OBE perceptional reality concluded: 

"  [The] out-of-body experience is of scientific importance, because doctors, nursing staff, and relatives can check and corroborate the reported perceptions and the moment when they were supposed to have taken place. [ Dr. van Lommel quotes here from the Holden OBE chapter cited in the Preface: "In a recent review of  93 reports of potentially verifiable out-of-body perceptions  (or 'apparently nonphysical veridical perceptions') during NDE it has been found that 43% had been corroborated to the investigator by an independent informant, an additional 43% had been reported by the experiencer to have been corroborated by an  independent informant who was no longer available to be interviewed by the investigator, and only 14% relied solely on the experiencer's report.  Of these out-of-body perceptions, 92% were completely accurate, 6% contained some error, and only 1% was completely erroneous. And even among those cases corroborated  to the investigator by an independent informant, 88% were completely accurate, 10% contained some error, and only 3% were completely erroneous. "]  This [review] proves that an OBE cannot be a hallucination, which is a sensory perception that is perceived as real by the hallucinating person, but does not correspond with reality..." Pages 19 and 20 from the cited text of Dr. van Lommel, with following pages in his text presenting compelling cases of verified OBE perceptions, otherwise impossible from the position and condition of the dying body. It is only reasonable to conclude, from the many verified cases, in which individuals "perceived" events out of possible view from their dying body and "heard" audible conversations or unvoiced thoughts, that OBE perceptions have occurred by out-of-body consciousness -- and this conclusion has been well authenticated by checking on factual accuracy.  

Universally consistent observations from individuals returning from near death experience (stopped heart and no brain activity http://www.near-death.com/  ) are that time as experienced in our material world does not exist in the spiritual world. 

* After death, relatives and friends, angels, and Christ all appear as made from or glowing with light. 

*  After death "on the other side," ordinary time as felt here is reported not to exist. 

* Past, Present, and Future are unexplainably observed to coexist. 

* Earth and its material world, the universe in which it exists, are said to exist at a much lower frequency than beingness in the spiritual world. 

Philosophy of Science Perspective on Time and its Role in Causation

* Causation is defined according to actions tied together across time

( http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/ap85/papers/CausationAndArrow.html ). Time at the macro level is conceptualized and measured as a continuous, uninterrupted flowing sequence. Quantum Time Theory speculates that time takes the form of a discrete quantum existence (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=splitting-time-from-space  ). Regardless of the preferred theory, the concept of directional time underlies the concept of a series of connected events happening along a dimension of time. 

* Given that time does not function, so that time is frozen, then "causation" loses its operational meaning, and to search for causation is meaningless-- the quest to comprehend how the world originated becomes meaningless. 

Psychology of Perception and the Scientific Problem of Qualia in Perception

 Conscious perception of the real world delights in varieties of colors seen, sense of fragrances as when a rose is breathed, and the richness of music heard ( a good summary review of the concept of qualia is provided by "Mind & Brain," Jeffrey Schwartz, MD, Harper Collins, NY, 2002, pages 36-41).  However, microscopic examination of the brain neurons, and their cortical layers involved in perception, fails to identify any features capable of "seeing" different colors, or experiencing fragrances, or differentiating sounds to appreciate the patterned sound of music. This problem has long been appreciated in philosophy of perception as the problem of qualia

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia) .  Prof Alva Noe states his conclusion about the nature of consciousness in clear, blunt language, ' Consciousness does not happen in the brain. That's why we have been unable to come up with a good explanation of its neural basis.'  Chapter 1. An Astonishing Hypothesis ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/0809016486  ). 

Erwin Schr'dinger, one of the pioneers of quantum physics, offered the following perspective on conscious perception contrary to any materialistic explanation of conscious perception: "The sensation of colour cannot be accounted for by the physicist's objective picture of light-waves. Could the physiologist account for it, if he had fuller knowledge than he has of the processes in the retina and the nervous processes set up by them in the optical nerve bundles and in the brain? I do not think so."  The eminent neuroscientists Charles Sherrington and John Eccles, and the pioneering neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield all came to the conclusion that the brain does not itself  originate or propagate consciousness, but instead  serves the function of a transmitter between materialistic sense-perception and mind'soul.  Even with today's special tools for examining brain activity, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), conscious perception remains a mystery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_perception ).  

For the sake of argument, let's say we attempted to explain consciousness of color perception by hypothetically locating different specific colors in different places or in specially integrated neuronal circuits of the visual cortex-- but that would not serve to explain color perception, because we would then have to suppose a homunculus to be viewing the color representing regions, and that would lead to reductio ad absurdom, for the conscious perception by the homunculus would also need explaining. 

This problem of how to explain conscious perception was tackled by Rene Descartes in his dualistic theory of mind (soul) and brain, with the quaint idea that brain and mind communicated through the pineal gland. Placing this gland point connection aside, mind as the source remains a possible explanation, and is consistent with those having NDEs who report that, when leaving the body, perception is continuous from within the body to out of body, thus implying that ordinary conscious perception is reliant on mind or soul ( see Mindsight, by Ken Ring:  http://www.amazon.com/Mindsight-Near-Death-Out-Body-Experiences/dp/0966963008 and a BBC TV production on the NDE that concludes with solid evidence for spirit, but of course no proof positive

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uuf-xct2sHk  

There is a possibility that conscious perception does not need to be explained by reference to mechanical brain processes, if consciousness and conscious perception are not culminating functions of brain processes, but are instead found in soul attached to brain, as theorized by Descartes. Theoretically, locating perception in soul then merits an explanation for how the soul works perception, so, at first blush, the issue of how perception works remains when the site is shifted from brain into soul. The recently reported NDE by Eben Alexander, MD, ("Proof of Heaven" Simon and Schuster, 2012) offers inference of an elegant solution, really an Occam's razor-like solution, that soul directly perceives information, both perceptual and conceptual. Alexander describes his spirit's perceptual experience while in God's "core" realm: 

" Seeing and hearing were not separate in this place where I now was.  I could hear the visual beauty of the silvery bodies of those scintillating beings above and I could see the surging, joyful perfection of what they sang. It seemed that you could not look at or listen to anything in this world without becoming a part of it-- without joining with it in some mysterious way.  Again, from my perspective, I would suggest that you couldn't look at anything in that world at all, for the word at itself implies a separation that did not exist there.  Everything was distinct, yet everything was also a part of everything else, like the rich and intermingled designs on a carpet...or on a butterfly's wing. " Pages 45/46.

In other words, spirit and its "sensory" and conceptual surround integrate as a coherent whole, so that perception does not need to be specially created, but is instead a seamless aspect of spirit existence. 

Frozen Time Theory

The proposed theory of frozen time postulates that the spiritual world is the original and dominant form of existence. Many seers claim that the Earth realm functions at a lower frequency range than the objects of the spiritual realm. In terms of current super string theorizing, the strings and loops of the spiritual world would vibrate at much higher frequencies than objects in the material world. However, as described in the quote from Alexander above about the holistic nature of experience in the spiritual realm, the Reductionist program in physics ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductionism ) is likely inapplicable in the spirit realm, and all phenomena there are best characterized from our material perspective as Emergent in nature ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergentism ). 

Frozen Time Theory  speculates that time in the Earth realm can be mapped to coordinates of a fourth spatial dimension in the spiritual world where time does not exist as a moving arrow but as different places. Thus, in the spiritual world, beingness exists all at once for past, present, and future. Alexander acquired this understanding of time during a visit with God, and reported about time as a spatial dimension." From these higher worlds one could access any time or place in our world " Page 49, and see  the next section below for further explanation. This theory resolves the paradox of Predestination (in the sense that God knows the future) and Free Will in which the future must be able to accommodate unpredictable behavior. A four coordinate spatial realm (wherein different Earth time existences are located in different places) always exists, but the contents may change as events unfold in the material world. The theory thus also accommodates paranormal instances of precognition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition ). Perhaps what exists at the four dimensional locations corresponding to future events may be thought of as similar to quantum superposition states (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_superposition ) in which an infinite flux of potential states exist with only one culminating when an operational interaction (observation or measurement operation) takes place. 

Frozen Time Theory can be applied to explain how particle entanglement (spooky action at a distance), as first proposed to refute quantum mechanics in 1935 by Einstein in the EPR Paradox paper ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPR_paradox ), and later demonstrated first by Alain Aspect in an  experiment in 1982, to be a valid quantum theory prediction  ( http://www2.cnrs.fr/en/447.htm ), can create apparent instantaneous communication across unlimited distance. In ordinary 3D space, the two paired particles that can be made to demonstrate entanglement are observed as distinct entities separated in space. In Frozen Time Theory, the separately appearing particles would be observed as a single particle and could be located in 4D space at a single point in the time dimension. 

Higher Dimensional Worlds in the Spiritual Realm

Conceptualization of time as a spatial fourth dimension provides a framework for conceptualizing higher order dimensions, as required by M theory's needing eleven.

Consider the process of encapsulating a 3-D cube of ordinary material space, and placing it at a point on a time line, with time as a single dimension. Visualizing the material world cube at any point in time presents a 4-D spatial image. Now, take the time line and cross it with another line to form a two dimensional Cartesian graph; if the cube were displaced off of the original time line to any point in the new graph, we then have a five dimensional coordinate system imaged. Next, run another dimensional line thru the graph of the 4rth and 5th dimensional Cartesian graph (for 4 and 5 D), and the 3-D material cube may be moved into a higher order 3-D space, with six dimensions represented. With the original 3-D cube as a reference, we may encapsulate its position in the new 3-D higher order space (6-D space), and then place it in yet another higher order 3-D space, achieving conceptualization of 9-D. This process of moving into higher and higher dimensions is limitless.

 

Dr. Alexander mentioned above stated that God communicated to him that the spirit world does exist in many dimensions:" I saw that there are countless higher dimensions, but that the only way to know these dimensions is to enter and experience them directly. ... The world of time and space in which we move in this terrestrial realm is tightly and intricately meshed within these higher worlds." Pages 48 and 49.  Similarly in a report here on NDERF.Com, a multidimensional world was reported:

'This place was an expansive forever and yet the room was there, like in a glass cube. The cube is the dimension we live on earth and it is but a tiny fraction of the reality of existance. We on earth, in our lives, only see with these few little senses. Meanwhile, in REALITY, and that's what I had the sense of, is that true REALITY consists of far more than the small dimensions we have on earth. We have our 5 senses on earth and it is upon this that we build our entire sense of what we are and who we are and what we are doing here. In REALITY, there are far more elements and far more senses that our soul beings have. Now this sounds insane, but if you can imagine this, to a theoretical physicist or to a Jewish Mystic, it almost makes sense I suppose. I have been studying these things to try to make sense of the information I received. ' NDERF, com reference: 4288. Heather V NDE 1/29/2017. NDE 23192.

 

The mystery of dark matter and energy, estimated from gravitational effects to include more than  95% of the universe, with observable energy and matter less than 5%, may be explained by a multidimensional universe in which the 'dark' energy and matter, although not directly observable,  exist in the higher dimensions. Research is underway to map the locations of dark energy and mater (http://www.nature.com/news/cameras-to-focus-on-dark-energy-1.11391  )

 

 Mechanisms Enabling Mind-Brain Dualism to Function

A feature of this theory that is entirely common to reports of seers and NDEers is that our soul, existing in a spiritual realm without material bodies, is joined to a body at some time after fertilization of the human (or higher animal) egg, and before birth.  

The joining of soul with brain functionality has been a traditional problem in philosophy that was made clear by Descartes Dualistic theory that distinguished between mind/soul and brain. In Descartes theory, somehow brain and mind communicated in the pineal gland; regardless of the site of communication, the mechanism was not itself explained.  Recently, Dr. van Lommel has hypothesized (text earlier referenced, page 248) that consciousness operates according to the principles of quantum theory that enable non local communication, e.g., entanglement, and further that wave resonance between information in non local space with long (a meter) DNA molecules (acting as an antenna) may explain brain-consciousness communication ( page 275). However brain and mind communicate, it is clear from the lack of any interruption of consciousness when soul departs body during traumatic NDE experiences, that mind/soul operates while soul is attached to brain/body to inform conscious perception.  

Seers across the ages and contemporary folks who experience a Near Death episode commonly report that the material realm has a frequency range that is much slower than spiritual "substance." In terms of modern super string theory, we can hypothesize that the strings in the material world vibrate at a much lower frequency than the strings in the spiritual realm. 

It is the case that the superheterodyne technology, earlier well developed for radio broadcast reception and amplification (  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterodyne ), offers a potential explanation for the means of communication between brain and mind. The basis of the technology is the use of an oscillator in the radio to provide a lower frequency carrier wave form that is then mixed electronically with the higher frequency broadcast signals by simple sine wave merger of the two signal sources. The brain has been measured to create electrical (electronic) wave forms that correspond to different modes of brain wave activity, such as occurs during sleep, wakefulness, and meditation. By use of a superheterodyne mixing of soul and brain wave forms, each could be made to communicate with the other. The so called "God Helmet" apparatus might provide a means for testing this hypothesis   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet). 

Normal Consciousness and Conscious Perception Do Not Require a Normal Brain

Frozen Time Theory concludes that conscious perception cannot be found in the electrochemical workings of neurons in the brain, because there is no way to explain differentiated qualitative states, such as seeing red or green and hearing  music and experiencing fragrance; and because the NDE reporters frequently mention that when they experienced leaving their bodies, conscious perception from the body state to the out of body state was continuous, with no interruption, strongly implying that conscious perception was from the soul and not the brain.  There is also striking evidence that conscious perception may take place routinely in individuals who not only lack the normal brain structures believed to be required for consciousness and conscious perception, but essentially have no brain at all. Prof John Lorber has found from some of his hydrocephalic patients who have suffered a massive loss of normal brain matter that they are able to function normally without the normal brain lobes (e.g., missing their occipital cortex for processing stimuli from the retinas and w/o the frontal cortex http://www.rifters.com/real/articles/Science_No-Brain.pdf  ).  Lorber cites one extreme case of a normally functioning university student with a recorded IQ of 126 who was at the time of research by Lorber earning an advanced degree in math. 'In place of the normal cortical lobes that are about 4.5 cm thick, there was a thin layer of the mantle measuring about a millimeter thick, with the cranium filled with cerebrospinal fluid in place of the normal brain.' 

Conclusions

 Our current understanding of physics, incorporated in both Special and General Relativity, establishes that time is frozen under light speed velocity or extreme gravity (black hole conditions), so the concept of frozen time is compatible with modern physics. Reports by individuals having had NDEs and by seers across centuries state that time in the spiritual realm does not run as experienced in our material world, but instead they are able to simultaneously view past, present and future. Frozen Time Theory conceptualizes time as experienced in the material world as capable of mapping to a 4th dimension in the spiritual world as a form of spatial location. By freezing time in the spiritual realm, the search for explanation of when or how the material world (or spiritual realm) was caused loses meaning, as causation requires time to inform its meaning. The EPR Paradox from quantum mechanics for spooky action at a distance is explainable by hypothesizing that the entangled particles separated in 3-D in the material world are collocated in the spiritual world, so action on one particle naturally instantaneously affects the "other." A 4-D spatial model of reality that replaces a 3-D model, with time added as a spatial dimension, has no trouble explaining reports of precognition, as well as reports about spirit ability to perceive past, present and future at will. 

Note of appreciation for Dr. von Lommel who kindly provided review and key reference. 

Jack H. Hiller, PhD, JD, is a retired applied scientist and engineer.

He earned the PhD from UConn, Storrs, Conn. in 1968 specializing in research design, applied statistics, and computer sciences.

He earned the JD from George Mason School of Law in 1995.

He has worked as a professor at S Ill U, and for U Maryland and George Mason U.

His primary career was as research scientist in the Dept of Army for 25 years from bench scientist (GS 13) thru Lab Director (Fed Gov SES4, from 1974-1995), and he retired from the Army HQ Staff in the Pentagon as Director of Personnel Technologies overseeing Human Factors Engineering design in all major systems, and setting policy for all Army R&D involving man-machine systems design (1995-1998).

After retirement from Army R&D, he worked for Northrop Grumman Corp as a Chief Scientist providing program management for PhD Physicists and Electronics engineers (1999-2010).

Retired as Fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the American Psychological Society.

Past member of American Mensa.

Email: jh7138@gmail.com

 

 

Possible enablers and barriers to dimensional perception

Jack H Hiller, April 22, 2016

The purpose of this analysis is to frame an understanding of how human perception forms for lines (1D) and planes (2D), and 3D spaces, but appears to be absent for 4D and higher dimensional perception. Reports from the Near Death Experience claim that the world has many higher dimensions, even if unseen in the material body. Super string theory makes use of multiple dimensions, only they are defined as curled so tightly around an origin as to be imperceptible. Reports of Out of Body Experience, associated with the Near Death Experience, report time as ceasing to flow, with past, present, and future all accessible from consciousness (corresponding to the theory of Eternalism in which the past and present always exist, and perhaps the future as well ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternalism_(philosophy_of_time) ). So, the main question addressed is why we do not see in 4D time as a real dimension on par with the three spatial dimensions that we do "see."

In Abbott's clever Flatland satire ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland ), he portrays the perceptual limitations of dwellers in a flat plane (2D world) who may be points, line segments, or two dimensional objects, and pokes fun at their difficulties in seeing, or even imagining three dimensional entities; while the frustrations of these zero, one, and two dimensional entities in seeing or understanding higher dimensions is satirically funny, Abbott nevertheless created a metaphorical treatment of dimensionality that may be helpful in conceptualizing four and higher dimensions.

Analysis. Fundamental concepts include the dimensionality of a perceiving entity, the dimensionality of the entity's sense-receptor and perceptual systems, and the assumption of perceptual capacity inherent in the perception system. As an aside, it has been argued that human perception is not possible by brain function alone, but requires a consciousness that may receive sense-perception information from the brain ( https://www.nderf.org/NDERF/Articles/frozen_time.htm ), which is to say that some form of Descartes' mind-brain dualism is required to explain perception.

Point (0D), line (1D) and plane (2D) entities.

Sensor system A dimensionless point may theoretically receive light from another point by using a point sense-receptor, except that a mathematical point is dimensionless (it only offers a location designation). If we take the innovation of superstring theory to expand a point to a circle with the radius of a Plank length ( 1.616199 '10−35 meters ), then a Planck point may receive the light from the multiple points of a line by rotating or moving to receive light from different points along a line, or by employing an arrayed line of point sensors. The sensed line energy points may be processed to create data storage enabling some form of re-creation of the original line point observations; in other words, light rays can be transduced to "data" representing the original light impinging on the sensor system, and the data can be stored for retrieval and processing as individual points or as a line array. However, a point entity yet has only a single point for perceiving the data created by sensing. It is interesting to note that a point sensor with approximately 0 dimensionality is able to collect data from higher, 1D, energy sources.

Perception system Data constructed from sense-reception can be processed to enable perception of a single point spot or line segment. In the human perceptual system, there are more neurons providing feedback to the primary visual cortex (V1 or striate cortex) than come from the retinas; the primary visual cortex gets feedback from higher level visual cortical areas up thru to the hippocampus and its neocortex, implying that memory is used for the sensory data recognition and interpretation that support perception. Thus, the memory system directly supports elementary feature recognition that contributes to perception. In fact, Hubel and Wiesel have found ganglion structures in the retina itself that facilitate detection of a range of features (lines at a variety of angles and movement ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_detection_(nervous_system) ) and the feature detection output maps directly to associated areas of the primary visual cortex ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2718241/ ). It is important to note that the sense- perception system does not act as any kind of veridical transmission system for retinal images that might otherwise be thought of as functioning like a simply camera copier for stimuli. The retina is itself a complex organ, and the visual cortex even more complex in managing input from the retinas and from long term memory to process sensory information. Note too that there is no structure or function known in the frontal lobes which register conscious perception of any eye-like receiver. The nature of perception associated with the frontal cortex remains a mystery ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4168671/ ).

Plane (2D) and spatial (3D) entities

Sensor systems The retina, as a planar entity, can use an array of points (connected as a ganglion) to detect a line segment. A single retina exists in a slightly curved plane, so it is inherently slightly in 3D space; however, the use of two spaced retinas separated in 3D space achieves a distinctive capability to receive and process stimuli that reveal 3D spatial cues, such as reduced size and displacement of objects as they extend away from the fovea (there are additional cues such as haze and amount of haze with distant objects suffering additional haze distortion).

Perception systems It is clear that the human perception system constructs a complex neural registration of sensory information that in no way provides a simple, direct "copy" of objects and spatial cues stimulating the retinas. The brain is thus responsible for creating information that is somehow "interpreted" and supports spatial perception. The retinas do exist as 3D entities (humans) in 3D space, so it ought not be surprising that spatial perception is achieved, even if principally from two planar retinas. However, the retinas also exist in a temporal dimension, but no extension of time is directly perceived, only inferred (granting there are neural structures that serve as time keepers in the brain, as clocks ( http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4757-4131-5_11#page-1 ).

Hypothetical 4D entity (time defined as a fourth spatial dimension)

The hypothetical 4D entity, i.e., a normal human, does not directly perceive a spatial 4D world view in which past, present, and future are available by looking at different points of a physical time dimension. But we do see 3D, and 2D, so what is the barrier? One possible explanatory hypothesis would be that we do not in fact perceive any 3D or 2D spatial realities either, that, instead, our perception is entirely a construct or fabrication'the human visual system is not in any way constructed for veridical copying or modeling of its environment the way ordinary film cameras or tv cameras function. Starting with the retinas, the visual system selects cues, such as light intensity gradients and edges according to orientation, for transmission and processing, and that processing importantly includes long term memory guidance, with perceptual expectations generated both by unconscious memory and consciously held expectations. In other words, we do not directly perceive the world, but actively fabricate a representation that appears in conscious perception ( http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Bruner/Cards/ ). So then, why does conscious perception stop at 3D?

Common sense holds that we see three spatial dimensions, not four. But we do experience time as a continuation of objects in our perceptual environment. So, in a real sense, we do perceive continuation, or the existence of time by instant perception and near term memory of percepts, with an ability to detect changes in object perception over time, e.g., a pitched ball to a batter, the batter's swing, and the ball flying away when struck. In other words, Eternalism theory for past and present temporal states corresponds to actual perception, with the future alone missing. Given that the future exists as an infinity of possible states, a quantum superposition ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_superposition ), any construction of such perception of the future would create some form of a useless, bewildering blur. Presumably brain evolution has continually screened off any emergent capabilities to image any such useless blur.

A question may be raised about why we do not perceive higher order dimensions, such as a 5th or 6th, etc.. An answer may be found in the metaphor employed in Abbott's Flatland. Higher order dimensions may exist, but as 4D entities, we lack the sensor systems required for observation into the higher dimensions, e.g., 3 or more retinas. One might consider how sensors could be arranged to capture 4D and higher spatial images. However, with regard to 4D, we actually capture such routinely now any time we view or take a picture of an real physical object that was made possible by the sensor and object viewed "existing" together for more than the Planck length of time (10 to the minus 43 seconds, defined as the time it takes a photon traveling at light speed to cross the Planck length, 1.616199 '10−35 meters). So then, an issue becomes why we do not ordinarily regard our viewing the real world in 4D when we do so.

The conceptual trap of imposing mathematical concepts on interpretation of the real physical world

In the text above, we refer to points as dimensionless location in "space", line segments as 1D, planar area as 2D, and spatial objects as 3D. We also wonder about not "seeing" a hypothesized 4th dimension. However, the dimensions referred to have been implicitly defined as idealized mathematical concepts (eternal Platonic ideal forms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Forms ) such that any real, physical world object's persistence in time is ignored as a form. However, Abbott's creatures, for example, to possess definable character and activity, must persist, and by conventional terminology, they exit or persist in time. So, Abbott's point creatures to be placed into the real would not be 0D, 1D, and 2D, but 1D, 2D, and 3D to acknowledge their temporal existence. By this reckoning, we do have direct awareness of time as persistence, and also as change (e.g., movement and alteration).

We might then inquire about the perceptual differences for physical world spatial dimensions and time, with time thought about as a dimension of persistence. We think there is a difference in quality between time and the spatial dimensions , because we can see, for example, a real ruler as an edge or planar object (ignoring its thickness), but we cannot see time as such'or can we? If we think about time as the persistence of any real world object, then we do indeed see the effect of "time" when we see any object either persist statically or change. We do perceive the effect or result of time by seeing persistence or change in observed objects. In point of fact, we do NOT see ideal spatial dimensions either, as they are only mathematical objects that cannot be "seen." For example, it would be impossible to see a mathematically defined point, as it occupies no tangible space, but merely is assigned a location in an idealized multidimensional space ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_(geometry) ). The same is true of any of the ordinary dimensions of length, height, and width. What we can see are real world objects, with spatial dimensions'but only if they persist in time.

However, even when seeing real world physical objects persisting in time, we do not really "see" such, in the sense that a camera senses reflected energy from any object and fairly directly transduces the acquired energy into some data set or image in a film or viewing screen. The energies collected by the retina are complexly woven by cortical processing, aided by long term memory elicited by "similarities" recognized consciously or subconsciously for the object of vision. Our perception is a construction, and as too often revealed by witnesses at trial, is subject to substantial error ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyewitness_testimony ) that goes beyond mere problems of memory retrieval. Human perception does not create any veridical copy of any viewed object, but instead relies on a mental representation'but we do not yet understand how that representation is fully constructed and then perceived in consciousness. The conclusion here is that perception of spatial dimensions is no more substantial in quality then the perception of persistence and change. Spatial extensiveness is an abstract concept as much as time is an abstraction.

Tangible 3D objects require temporal existence, but not quantum particles

However, it may yet be argued that, while the ideal mathematical constructs for 3D space may be intangible, and idealized space is likewise intangible, physical objects in space do manifest the three dimensions, and spatial objects are observable. While we do not "see" the spatial dimensions as such, we see objects from which we can usefully impose a 3D coordinate system. That is true enough, but it also follows that any such objects, and their tangible frame works or environment, must also persist in time, i.e., without temporal existence objects do not exist. Thus, time, as represented by observed persistence (including change), must persist for any physical 3D object. In other words, without time, at least as long as the Plank time constant, objects do not exist, so time is a required companion of spatiality. We cannot properly think about real objects without also including time, or potential real objects would not last long enough to observe, much less behave according to any laws of physics.

It might be argued that real world objects are not simply a constructed illusion of any brain constructed visual perception of them, because we can also include correlated tactile perception of objects, we feel them. However, it is just as true for tactile perception that it must also persist in time, so persistence is also required for tactile perception. Without persistence in time, there is no perception of objects in space possible in our material world.

In the realm of quantum phenomena, however, persistence in time is not required for entities to "exist," as elementary particles routinely "disappear" into the quantum flux ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_fluctuation ), while quantum entities also pop out of the space vacuum into existence. So, there is a difference for quantum phenomena and the macro level matter we commonly experience regarding persistence.

A conjecture about material space-time and consciousness

Ordinary space-time, as experienced in the material world with time moving in a direction from past to future, is well signified by entropy in the second law of thermodynamics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_(arrow_of_time) ), and it includes an assumption of regular change, or progression automatically operating as a universal law. The real world we experience is subject to ongoing change. In contrast with the material world, reporting from individuals experiencing the OBE is that there is no sense of time running, that change is in no way automatic, and that, while time does exist, it corresponds to different locations in a true 4D space where the past, present and future all exist concurrently and are accessible instantly by thought. During the OBE, individuals also report that they have "bodies" that glow, as if made of light, and that all other entities likewise glow; if the realm of consciousness is populated by photons, then time does not run as held by Special Relativity.

The ability to think in the realm of consciousness with instant results, and to instantly access different locations along a time dimension, is reminiscent of quantum entanglement in which the collapse of the Schrodinger wave function for any particle is somehow instantly communicated to a partnered particle --regardless of their separation distance (Einstein's complaint of spooky action at a distance). Thus, quantum entanglement shares its instant mode of operation with descriptions of how consciousness operates during the OBE when mind is separated from the material brain. Furthermore, the popping into material existence of quantum entities from the vacuum of space implies that, if such particles are coming from somewhere that is unseen, it may be from the field of consciousness as their home, with the ordinary material world existing as a subset of a higher order multidimensional space (a claim made by some reports from the Near Death Experience and from seers across the ages).

Conclusion

Primitive concepts, initially defined unto themselves, include "location" in "space" and extensibility in space. Extensibility includes the four dimensions we refer to as space-time. We have culturally regarded spatial extensibility to be directly observable in real world objects, but not time, with time considered a mysterious abstraction. The argument has been made here that the three dimensions of spatial extensibility, and space itself in which extension may be present either in mathematics or real world physics, are abstract concepts equivalent in their intangible character with "time" as an abstraction. However, Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity in fact links the primitive concepts of space and time together as interdependent concepts. "Time and space cannot be defined separately from each other. Rather space and time are interwoven into a single continuum known as spacetime. " ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_relativity )

Human consciousness is required to comprehend the abstract ideas of space-time, and human conscious perception is required to conduct space-time observation and measurement for real world environments. While ordinary visual perception is not itself culturally regarded as mysterious for ordinary everyday living, or even regarded as strange by those accepting their NDE with it's associated out of body experience, consciousness and conscious perception remain true mysteries for science.