If
consciousness persists after we die, where might it be found? Recall that the
transmissive model of consciousness is consistent with survival precisely
because, even when the brain is alive, the source of consciousness exists
independent of it. Therefore, the question should be re-formulated: Where can
consciousness be represented other than the brain? Where is consciousness
stored?
The issue of
where a person’s consciousness goes when they die has always been of interest
to the human species as evidenced by our complex rituals associated with death
as well as the rich cultural narratives that accompany them. Whether the
beliefs were originally constructed to address grief, increase group cohesion,
or identify the veridical position of a person in space-time after their body
decomposes, the proposed solutions have typically shared thematic elements. In
our modern era, the idea of “returning to the void” is becoming an increasingly
popular belief, where in death, consciousness exists in the same space it
existed before life: nowhere at all. This view is logical if one assumes, as
most do today, a productive dependence of brain function. Because if
consciousness is generated by the brain, and it did not exist before the brain
developed, then it will not exist after it decomposes. In other words,
productive models of consciousness will leave you stranded at the gates of
Heaven – or Hell.
Other
well-subscribed beliefs about a “life after life” are consistent with the
transmissive dependence of brain function. For example, a mechanism for
“reincarnation” might involve the return of consciousness to a reborn version
of oneself or the transfer of consciousness into a new body. Concepts of
“ascension” and “descension” place consciousness in non-living realms, where
rewards and punishments may be issued.
There are also
notions of a “persistent” consciousness that may linger among the living as an
independent apparition263 or exist in unity with the consciousness of others.
It is, however, difficult to discern which model, if any, reflects reality.
Many have reported experiencing glimpses of an afterlife, apparently confirming
or disconfirming one or more of these popular beliefs. Because afterlife
beliefs are common and often conflicting, confirming any one of them will
depend upon which eye-witness reports are prioritized. However, for reasons
that I have outlined in a previous section, I do not think near-death and other
experiences commonly cited in survival research should be regarded as the best
available scientific evidence as they cannot be independently verified or
replicated. Even if near-death experiences are informed by genuine glimpses of
an afterlife, the burden of repeatability – for which exceptions should not be
granted in science – may be too extreme by dint of the transient nature of the
phenomenon.
Again, this is
not to say the experiences are fabrications or even confabulations. As a
method, science admits a weakness when it attempts to grapple with the private
contents of experience. Rather than rejecting experiences outright, I claim
that we cannot base an empirical case for the survival of consciousness
following death on these types of experiences alone due to an intrinsic
limitation of the scientific method. Nevertheless, themes of survival
consistent across cultural narratives and eye-witness testimonies have inspired
the formation of hypotheses toward more scientific approaches that are grounded
in objective measurement.
In the late
1800s, the notable philosopher and mystic H.P. Blavatsky borrowed from Vedantic
and Buddhistic thought to formulate her own narrative concerning, among other
things, the location of consciousness outside the body. Indeed, her theosophy
of Akasha – a term derived from the Sanskrit word for “space” or “sky” – places
all intent, consciousness, memory, thought, and will in a pervasive and
ethereal plane. Indeed, the Akashic record was also thought to be the place
from which radiates “the First Logos”, where logos refers, in context, to sound
or speech.
Blavatsky’s
idea is essentially a reformed version of the Hindu concept of Akasha as the
eternal and imperceptible substrate of the Universe – a sound or musical
vibration from which all else emerges. Artistic representations of it are found
in classical Indian music as the meditative drone of a single repeating note
played by instruments like the tanpura or shruti box over which all other notes
are played. Interestingly, one of the most ancient Indian stringed instruments
– the veena – began as a harp-like device called Akasa, which consisted of
strings tied to the tops of trees that vibrated with the wind – thus channeling
what was assumed to be the musical substrate of the Universe.
Inspired by
Blavatsky’s original interpretation of Akasha as an external but accessible
record of all minds, the philosopher Ervin László identified analogous
concepts in quantum mechanics that he claimed could accommodate evolutionary
and cosmological processes as well as consciousness in the “Akashic Field” or
“A-Field”. A recent paper even discussed the possibility of extracting information
from the Akashic records for military intelligence purposes. These ideas
parallel William James’ view of consciousness as being transmitted from one
“infinite Thought”, existing “behind the scenes, coeval in the world”, which he
reasoned avoided “multiplying [the] miracle” of de novo consciousness
production within billions of brains across the planet and over time.
But is there a
scientific basis for the storage of memory and consciousness in space? Or
perhaps, given the electromagnetic nature of the brain, one might ask: Is it
possible to store memory and consciousness in an electromagnetic field? The
survival of consciousness after death requires a space within which it can
exist independent of the brain. Here, I will demonstrate that the evidence
indicates it is stored all around us in our shared electromagnetic environment.
In a previous
section, I demonstrated that the brain is fundamentally an electromagnetic
organ. While I did discuss the effects of artificial EMFs on brain function, I
did not touch on the effects of their natural or environmental equivalents.
This section is reserved for a detailed exploration of natural EMFs, their
effects on human cognition and behaviour, and the possibility that they can
store and transmit information to and from brains – thus permitting its
survival beyond brain death.
The primary
reason why environmental EMFs demand our special attention is the following: If
brain function is at least partially dependent on the reception of transmitted
EMF signals, there must be at least one source in Nature that functions as the
transmitter or zeitgeber. Whether transmissive brain function was selected or
an incidental adaptation, the environmental source of the cue should be
physical and therefore subject to measurement.
The Sun’s
extended magnetic field – the interplanetary magnetic field – interacts with
Earth’s in several ways. When it carries plasma toward the Earth’s magnetic
field, the net result is an aurora – a light show caused by charged particles
moving along flux lines that ultimately excite particles in our atmosphere.
Another category of interaction is called the geomagnetic storm, which is
caused by a compression and energization of the geomagnetic field by a
colliding coronal mass ejection from the Sun. Incidentally, the frequency of
coronal mass ejections is cyclical and tracks solar activity over periods of 11
and 22 years as indicated by sunspot numbers. The net result of the collision
is an increase in geomagnetic field strength coupled with increased geomagnetic
current. A sufficiently intense storm has the capacity to wipe out satellites
and other electronic devices but there are also marked biological effects.
There is
overwhelming evidence that biological organisms detect and respond to Earth’s
magnetic field and its storms. The highly-cited works of Joseph L. Kirschvink
demonstrate that magnetoreception – the ability to detect and respond to
magnetic fields – is not uncommon among biological organisms. Indeed, bats,
honeybees, pigeons, species of bacteria, and fish, as well as humans and many
other animals display capacities to orient and navigate using the geomagnetic
field as a reference point. Kirschvink has proposed biogenic magnetite as the
primary receptor and transducing element for magnetoreception.
These
biologically precipitated particles of iron oxide can even be “magnetized”.
That is, the polar structure of the material can be re-aligned to become a
permanent magnet. Magnetite is also ferrimagnetic – which is to say it displays
a property called magnetic hysteresis. This unique property allows the magnetic
behaviour of the material to change as a function of the history of its
magnetization, holding a memory of its previous states. Incidentally, iron bars
with similar properties can be induced to display conditioned responses that
are operationally indistinct from animal forms of learning. Therefore, as a
material, magnetite is able to store and re-express electromagnetic information
as magnetic “states” or “memories”.
Magnetite
deposits were initially found to be homogenously distributed throughout the
brain. However, experimental magnetizations of these particles by exposures to
high-intensity fields from an MRI scanner recently enabled researchers to use a
MEG-based localization technique to identify increased concentrations of
magnetite within the limbic regions. In particular, there were high
concentrations of magnetite found within the hippocampal bodies, deep within
the temporal lobes. Incidentally, while the hippocampus is an important organ
for memory encoding and retrieval, it is also associated with spatial
orientation and navigation. If magnetite participates in human
magnetoreception, it may be a fundamentally passive process. Unlike heme iron
in the oxygen-transporting metalloprotein hemoglobin, magnetite is not clearly
coupled to any protein that opens an ion channel or performs some other active
function at the level of the cell. Magnetite may instead interact with brain
and environmental EMFs at a material level, though the precise mechanism
remains unknown.
As reviewed in
Persinger’s 1974 book “ELF and VLF Electromagnetic Field Effects”, as well as
Dubrov and Brown’s 1978 book “The Geomagnetic Field and Life:
Geomagnetobiology”, there is considerable evidence that the Earth’s magnetic
field influences living systems including the human brain. In the early part of
the 20th century, it was reported that psychiatric hospital admissions tracked
geomagnetic activity, which was independently confirmed decades later. The same
effect would later be observed in epileptic patients as the frequency of their
convulsions – usually within the temporal lobes – correlated with geomagnetic
activity. On the bases of these and other observations, it was predicted that
EEG rhythms and geomagnetic activity would also likely correlate. Since the
1960s, the effects of geomagnetic activity on synchronous brain activity as
inferred by EEG have been independently replicated by several research groups.
In 2007,
Babayev and Allahverdiyeva quantitatively demonstrated that right hemispheric
theta (4–7 Hz) and alpha (8–13 Hz) EEG power correlated with geomagnetic
activity. The changes were observed within the temporal-limbic regions and
typically marked by negative emotional responses, which is unsurprising given
the correlation between geomagnetic activity and population-level aggression or
war. The right hemispheric theta-alpha effect was quickly replicated by
Mulligan, Hunter, and Persinger in 2010 with data from quiet periods of
geomagnetic activity. The same authors later established a causal role by
experimentally simulating geomagnetic storm conditions. One of the most recent
examples of brain-based interactions with simulated geomagnetic field changes
was reported by Kirschvink’s group. Indeed, with Wang and colleagues,
Kirschvink reported a desynchronization of alpha rhythms (8–13 Hz) which was
associated with the static component of the Earth’s magnetic field and was
orientation-dependent. In addition to EEG changes and the well-documented
suppressions of the hormone melatonin, geomagnetic field fluctuations have
always been associated with reliable reports of post-mortem apparitions (i.e.,
ghosts), and other intense paranormal experiences.
All states of
consciousness are apparently affected by geomagnetic activity; however,
influences on sleep states are notable. Incidences of vivid and bizarre dreams,
as well as sleep paralysis are associated with geomagnetic activity. The
duration of rapid eye movement (REM) was also affected by the position of the
human head relative to the Earth’s magnetic poles, where the latency for East-West
orientation was significantly shorter relative to North-South. Recently, a
similar experiment demonstrated that low-frequency EEG rhythms – alpha in
particular – were significantly affected by sleep orientation. In 1996, Stanley
Krippner and Michael Persinger demonstrated that performance on a remote
viewing task involving the identification of target pictures by dream content
alone was enhanced by reduced geomagnetic activity. Incidentally, prophetic or
precognitive dream events are widely reported and have been linked to
geomagnetic activity as well.
There is
clearly a connection between the Earth’s magnetic field, brain activity,
cognition, and behavior. The mechanisms that relate them have not been fully
elucidated; however, repeating patterns in the data have revealed a likely
unifying candidate. Recall that the literature consistently reported that
synchronous neural activity with frequencies ranging from 4 Hz to 14 Hz (theta
and alpha rhythms) are affected by natural and artificial EMFs. If the
geomagnetic field oscillates with a similar frequency, resonance with the brain
may be possible. Resonance is a physical phenomenon associated with waves where
the frequency of an applied force can become amplified by a paired frequency or
wavelength-matched structure.
A tuning fork,
for example, will resonate with particular frequencies of vibrating air but not
others. Likewise, antennae will only receive particular frequencies of
electromagnetic radiation. In both examples, as the frequency of the signal
becomes less like the ideal receptive frequency of the system, resonance
potential decreases. Fortunately, the oscillations of Earth’s magnetic field,
which are driven by a resonance phenomenon involving lightning strikes, have
been under investigation for nearly a century.
There are, on
average, approximately 39 to 49 lightning flashes that occur between the
Earth’s ionosphere and ground surface every second. Lightning strikes interfere
with each other, perturbing the geomagnetic field with a predictable
oscillation pattern. The Earth-ionosphere cavity is effectively a resonance
chamber for lightning that generates a perturbation of the geomagnetic field with
a frequency mode of 7.83 Hz, which is called the Schumann resonance for its
discoverer W. O. Schumann. With his colleague H.L. König, Schumann measured a
peak frequency of approximately 8 Hz with harmonics which have since been
confirmed at 14, 20, 26, and 33 Hz.
König and
colleagues later noted the peculiar overlap of brain EEG rhythms and
Earth-ionospheric resonances – an observation that has received significant
quantitative support in recent decades. In particular, Kevin Saroka’s research
has empirically demonstrated the existence of a real-time coherence between
Schumann resonance and the frequency spectra of human EEG rhythms. That is, the
synchronized activity of brain cells and geomagnetic oscillations driven by
lightning occur simultaneously – presumably across all 7.9 billion human
brains. Whether or not they can be causally disentangled is unknown; however,
the possibility that they are fundamentally one unified process is promising
for the continuity of consciousness following brain death. Because if brain
activity is the transmitted product of Schumann-type signals, survival is
likely.
Interestingly,
Persinger noted several other conspicuous overlapping features between
lightning and the brain that point to a scale-invariant relationship. For
example, both action potentials from neurons and lightning strikes share pulse
patterns, refractory periods, current densities, and energy densities.
Together, these studies support the conclusion that the electromagnetic
patterns of the Earth and the brain are not only similar across several
parameters, but they are also functionally synchronized in time.
Nicolas
Rouleau, PhD, a neuroscientist and bioengineer, is an assistant professor at
Algoma University in Canada. He received an award from the Bigelow Institute
for Consciousness Studies "An Immortal Stream of Consciousness" in
response to its search for "scientific evidence for the survival of
consciousness after permanent bodily death." Footnotes and bibliography
are omitted from these excerpts from his essay, but the full essay is available
online at https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/index.php/contest-runners-up/.
