Through the looking glass

In my last post, I summarized the first part of chapter 12 of Kenneth Ring's book Life at Death (1980). This time I'll provide some excerpts from the remainder of the chapter, in which Ring deals with the later stages of a near-death experience. These later stages include traveling through a dark tunnel toward a bright light, encountering a spiritual presence, having a life review, and entering a paradise-like realm, which he calls "stage V" of the experience. (In the quoted material, all emphases are in the original text.)

Ring believes that these

stages of the core experience can be understood as initiating a transition from a state of consciousness rooted in "this-world" sensory impressions to one that is sensitive to the realities of another dimension of existence. When consciousness begins to function independent of the physical body, it becomes capable of awareness of another dimension -- let us, for ease of reference, simply call it for now a fourth dimension. Most of us, most of the time, function in the three-dimensional world of ordinary sensory reality. According to the interpretation I am offering, this reality is grounded in a body-based consciousness. When one quits the body -- either at death or voluntarily, as some individuals have learned to do -- one's consciousness is then free to explore the fourth-dimensional world.

These aspects of the core experience can be interpreted in scientific terms if one uses some of the postulates of holographic theory...

It has been proposed by Karl Pribram, the well-known neurosurgeon and holographic theorist, that the brain itself functions holographically by mathematically analyzing interference wave patterns so that images of objects are seen. "Primary reality" itself is said to be composed of frequencies only. Different cells of the brain respond to different frequencies, and the brain functions like a frequency analyzer, breaking down complex patterns of frequencies into their components. These frequencies are then converted into our familiar object world by a process analogous to the illumination of an interference pattern by a laser beam.

Let me pause here to say that this explanation highlights one of the problems I have with the holographic theory. To me, it seems problematic to say that the brain essentially creates our world of physical objects when the brain itself is a physical object. If physical objects don't exist in the absence of a brain, and if the brain itself is a physical object, then we seem to be caught in a chicken-and-egg dilemma. The problem might be solved if we were to assume that consciousness, rather than the brain, is the actual "frequency analyzer." Ring himself seems to move closer to this position later in the chapter.

At any rate, Ring continues:

To make the connection between near-death experiences and holographic theory, we must emphasize the properties of what Pribram calls the frequency domain -- the primary reality composed of frequencies only. Of this realm Pribram has said:

The frequency domain deals with density of occurrences only; time and space are collapsed. Ordinary boundaries of space and time, such as locations of any sort, disappear ... in a sense, everything is happening all at once, synchronously. But one can read out what is happening into a variety of co-ordinates of which space and time are the most helpful in bringing us into the ordinary domain of appearances ... [S]ome of the mystical experiences people have described for millennia begin to make some scientific sense. They bespeak the possibility of tapping into that order of reality that is behind the world of appearances ... Spiritual insights fit the descriptions of this domain. They're made perfectly plausible by the invention of the hologram.

Returning to NDEs, Ring writes:

I assume that the core experience is a type of mystical experience that ushers one into the holographic domain. In this state of consciousness, there is a new order of reality that one becomes sensitive to -- a frequency domain -- as time and space lose their conventional meaning. The act of dying, then, involves a gradual shift of consciousness from the ordinary world of appearances to a holographic reality of pure frequencies. In this new reality, however, consciousness still functions holographically (without a brain, I must assume) to interpret these frequencies in object terms ...

Access to this holographic reality becomes experientially available when one's consciousness is freed from its dependence on the physical body. So long as one remains tied to the body and to its sensory modalities, holographic reality at best can only be an intellectual construct. When one comes close to death, one experiences it directly. That is why core experiencers (and mystics generally) speak about their visions with such certitude and conviction.

Ring proceeds to analyze specific elements of the near-death experience in terms of the holographic theory. Drawing on the work of holographic theorist Itzhak Bentov, he explains the movement along a tunnel as indicative of a change of consciousness:

The tunnel or darkness is an intermediate or transitional zone occurring between levels of consciousness. It is as though one's awareness is "shifting gears" from ordinary waking consciousness to a direct perception of the frequency domain. The gap in time while this shift is being effected is experienced as movement through (a dark) space. What is actually "moving," however, is awareness itself -- or mind without the body -- and what it is moving "through" is the gateway to holographic, or four-dimensional, consciousness.

The bright light, in Ring's view,

represents the "light" associated with the state of consciousness one enters after death. At this level of consciousness -- where we are no longer constrained by the sensory systems of the physical body -- we are presumably sensitive to a higher range of frequencies, which appear to us as light of extraordinary brilliance and unearthly beauty. In many traditions, this is spoken of as the light of the "astral" world or plain, and it is said that, for most people, this is the realm to which one "goes" after death. Of course, there is no way of providing acceptable scientific evidence for such statements, but it is perhaps the least noteworthy that virtually every description that purports to convey a sense of the "the next world" depicts "a world of light."...

In this context, it might also be recalled that holographic theory also postulates a primary reality defined as a "frequency domain." One can wonder whether one level of this frequency domain might correspond to what has traditionally been called the "astral plane."...

[NDE researcher Raymond] Moody spoke of a "being of light," and though none of our respondents used this phrase some seem to be aware of a "presence" (or "voice") in association with the light ...

I submit that this presence/voice is actually -- oneself! It is not merely a projection of one's personality, however, but one's total self, or what in some traditions is called the higher self. In this view, the individual personality is but a split-off fragment of the total self with which it is reunited at the point of death. During ordinary life, the individual personality functions in a seemingly autonomous way, as though it were a separate entity. In fact, however, is invisibly tied to the larger self structure of which it is a part ...

This higher self is so awesome, so overwhelming, so loving, and unconditionally accepting ... and so foreign to one's individualized consciousness that one perceives it as separate from oneself, as unmistakably other. It manifests itself as a brilliant golden light, but it is actually oneself, in a higher form, that one is seeing ...

The higher self, furthermore, has total knowledge of the individual personality, both past and future. That is why, when it is experienced as a voice, it seems to be an "all-knowing" one (to use the phrase of one respondent). That is why it can initiate a life review and, in addition, provide a preview of an individual's life and events. At this level, information is stored holographically and is experienced holographically -- simultaneously or nearly so. In fact, the life review is a holographic phenomenon par excellence.

From here, Ring looks at the "decisional crisis" in the near-death experience -- the point when the individual must decide to return to Earth (or when it is decided for him).

If the higher self does indeed have total knowledge of the individual personality, both past and future, that knowledge must include the "programmed" time of death for the personality. Thus, when an individual is told that he is being "sent back" or that "his time has not yet come," this presumably reflects the "life program" of that person's life.

Ring acknowledges another possible interpretation of the being of light -- namely, that it is a guardian angel. He concludes, however, that what people regard as a guardian angel may, in fact, be a higher self, which the individual merely perceives as entirely separate from himself.

Ring goes on:

It may be helpful to make explicit one further aspect of the core experience that is easily understandable in holographic terms. I have in mind the perception of time and space ... The modal near-death experience is one in which the concepts of time and space have no meaning. This is precisely what we should expect if the experience takes place in a holographic state of consciousness.

He quotes Carl Jung's description of an NDE he experienced around the age of seventy:

I can describe the experience only as the ecstasy of a non-temporal state in which present, past and future are one. Everything that happens in time had been brought together into a concrete whole. Nothing was distributed over time, nothing could be measured by temporal concepts ... One is interwoven into an indescribable whole yet observes it with complete objectivity.

From here, Ring proceeds to the "last stage of the core experience," which "seems to fulfill the promise implied by the encounter with the brilliant golden light." His analysis is worth quoting at length:

Here one appears to move through that light and into a "world of light." At this point, the individual perceives a realm of surpassing beauty and splendor and is sometimes aware of the "spirits" of deceased relatives or loved ones.

What is this world?

In holographic terms, it is another frequency domain -- a realm of "higher" frequencies. Consciousness continues to function holographically so that it interprets these frequencies in object terms. Thus, another "world of appearances" (just as the physical world, according to holographic theory, is a world of appearances) is constructed. At the same time, this world of appearances is fully "real" (just as our physical world is real); it is just that reality is relative to one's state of consciousness ...

[This world] is often characterized as a world of "higher vibrations."

That such talk isn't a mere metaphor was suggested by the comment of one of our respondents, who, in attempting to describe the music of this realm, likened it to "a combination of vibrations ... many vibrations." Of course, music does consist of vibrations, but it isn't ordinarily spoken of in that way. Such observations again hint that those near-death survivors who reach this stage are responding directly to a frequency (vibratory) domain of holographic reality ...

I believe that this is a realm that is created by interacting thought structures. These structures or "thought-forms" combine to form patterns, just as interference waves form patterns on the holographic plate. And just as the holographic image appears to be fully real when illuminated by a laser beam, so the images produced by interacting thought-forms appear to be real.

There might appear to be a serious imperfection in this holographic analogy: The pattern produced on the physical holographic plate is, after all, only a meaningless swirl. It only becomes coherent when a coherent beam of light (that is, a laser) is used to illuminate the swirl. What, then, is the equivalent of the laser in the stage V realm?

The logic of my speculations seemingly leads to a single conclusion: It is the mind itself. If the brain functions holographically to give us our picture of physical reality, then the mind must function similarly when the physical brain can no longer do so. Of course, it would be much simpler if one merely assumed, as some brain researchers (for example, Sir John Eccles and Wilder Penfield) appear to have done, that the mind works through the brain during physical life but is not reducible to brain function. If the mind can be supposed to exist independent of the brain, it could presumably function holographically without a brain. If one is not willing to grant this assumption, one would seem forced to postulate a non-physical brain of some kind that operates on this "astral" level. At this point, we would have passed over the limit of tolerable speculation. In my view, it is preferable merely to assume that sensorylike impressions at this level are functionally organized in a way similar to sensory impressions of the physical world, that is, holographically.

If we can assume this (leaving the question of the "mechanism" open), then the attributes of stage V would fall neatly into place. Since individual minds "create" this world (out of thoughts and images), this reality reflects, to a degree, the "thought-structures" of individuals used to the world of physical reality. Thus, the "forms" of the stage V world are similar to those of physical world. However, since this is a realm that is also (presumably) composed of minds that are more clearly attuned or accustomed to this higher frequency domain, those minds can shape the impressions of the "newly arrived." The holographic result -- an interaction of these thought patterns -- thus tends to create a "higher gloss" to the perceived forms of this realm -- that is, they are experienced in an enhanced way. One is tempted to say that what is seen is, at least at first, largely determined by pre-existing schemata of near-death survivors, but that how (finely or beautifully) it appears is influenced primarily by minds used to that frequency domain ...

Presumably -- and this is an admitted and obvious extrapolation -- as one becomes increasingly accustomed to this holographic domain and to "how it works," the correspondences between the physical world and this realm grow increasingly tenuous. Eventually one would suppose that an individual's consciousness would become anchored in the four-dimensional reality of the holographic domain and the familiar structures of our world would be radically changed there in ways we can only surmise.

The holographic interpretation can obviously also be used to account for the perception of "spirit-forms," a common feature of stage V experiences in deathbed visions. Just as object-forms are, theoretically, from a holographic point of view, a function of interacting mind patterns, so, too, are encounters with "persons" in "spirit bodies." Such "entities" are, then, the product of interacting minds attuned to a holographic domain in which thought alone fashions reality.

At this point, Ring considers the phenomenon of hellish near-death experiences. Although he believes these experiences to be relatively rare, he thinks they are genuine. He notes, however, that in some cases a hellish near-death experience becomes more pleasant as it continues. He writes:

In my view, what is happening in these cases is that the individual is "passing through" a lower frequency domain (although he may occasionally -- temporarily -- "get stuck" there). This domain is also a holographic reality and is organized in precisely the same way as the realm we have already considered. The principal difference is in the nature of the minds that are interacting to create this reality ...

In my opinion... the near-death survivor is usually kept from having a direct awareness of this realm, just as, for perhaps different reasons, he usually has no recall for his "return trip." Hell may exist as a "lower frequency domain," but most near-death survivors never seem to encounter it and, if they do, only a tiny fraction seen to "get stranded" there. What may happen after the initial stages of death -- something this research cannot speak to -- remains an open question.

I think Ring's discussion constitutes a very useful and important summary of the "holographic" aspects of an NDE. Note, however, that most NDErs do not experience the sense of oneness with the universe that a few, like Carl Jung, have described. For the most part, the "holographic" aspects of the typical experience are limited to the life review, in which the events of a lifetime are perceived all at once and yet separately, in a way that language cannot adequately express.

It would appear that merging with the universe -- or with reality as a whole -- is an experience that awaits us some considerable distance down the line, if at all. For the typical person, the next life would seem to be a world of thought-forms similar to earthly reality, in which one still has a body, a personality, a particular set of memories, etc.

Note Ring's speculation that eventually one's consciousness would become acclimated to the holographic realm, at which point the environment would start to lose its resemblance to earthly life. This fits in well with channeled material, such as Geraldine Cummins'  The Road to Immortality, which asserts that the continued evolution of consciousness leads one progressively further away from the "plane of illusion" (i.e., the "paradise" environment).

If the holographic view is correct -- and it is, of course, only a hypothesis, as Ring repeatedly points out -- then it seems to me that it is not the brain, but rather consciousness itself, that must serve as the "frequency analyzer." Or we might speculate that the brain of the "etheric double" (discussed last time) performs this function. The exact mechanism remains unclear, and this is one of the weaknesses of the hypothesis.

In any event, Ring's summary of the holographic model and its relevance to afterlife studies is probably the best I've seen, at least in short form. People interested in this approach to the subject may want to seek out Ring's books, and also The Holographic Universe, by Michael Talbot.

Comments

[Art]

Well I'm glad that the other side will seem just as real to us as this side does. The thought of floating around in a vast "nothingness" where nothing exists didn't sound all that appetizing to me. I picture heaven as being somewhat similar to the Nexxus in the movie Star Trek Generations, where Malcolm McDowell is trying to get into that energy ribbon where all one's needs are met and everything works out lovely. I've had enough duality and separation and pain and suffering for several lifetimes. I'd like to win the lottery for once. And oh yeah, I still miss my mom and she died in 1968. Still haven't gotten over that one.

People are most reliable in their areas of expertise. When Pribram says the brain is a frequency analyzer I believe him implicitly. When he says "Ordinary boundaries of space and time, such as locations of any sort, disappear ... in a sense, everything is happening all at once, synchronously" I would have to understand it myself before I will take his word. I'm not saying he's wrong, I just say that being a neruosurgeon doesn't make him omnicient.

[sonic]

This info seems to fit with Einstein's view of time, "The distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, albeit a persistent one."
(This is a statement about his understanding of physics).

If the brain is a tool of consciousness, then the tool could be used for a while and eventually discarded. While using the tool, one could easily identify with it. (Look how many people think they are their cars, or jobs, or bodies, or memories...)

Currently we don't have any good mechanism to describe much of physics (double slit experiment, for example). While we may feel comfortable with a mechanistic explanation, the truer things we know don't have any.

[william]

“For the typical person, the next life would seem to be a world of thought-forms similar to earthly reality, in which one still has a body, a personality, a particular set of memories, etc.”

I have been doing what I call research, which is reading spiritualist books, and dialog on this blog and others, years in yahoo chat rooms on the paranormal, new age, Buddhist, Christian, and Hindu chat rooms, and during casual conversations for the past nine years on spiritualism. And the above quote is in line with what I have come to believe at this time. Although the memories may fade the longer we are on the other side.

One must keep in mind that there is as much variation in beliefs on the other side as there are in this physical world. There does not appear to be much concern in these other realms if any about politics or economic ideologies. That would be a welcome relief.

If the brain is a frequency analyzer, that fact does not require that the universe be a hologram.

I've read the "Holographic Universe". I think it is reasonable to say that the holographic paradigm is found in nature, but that doesn't mean the underlying structure of the universe is a hologram. The Fibonocci sequence is found in botany and that doesn't mean the fibonocci sequence reflects the underlying structure of the universe either. I think some people try to link examples of the holographic paradigm and make connections between them that are not really logical.

If someone wants to say that the univese is really a hologram, for example, that 3 dimensional space is really a 2 dimensional interference pattern, they have to say how that interference pattern is created. To make a holograph on photographic film, you normally have a real 3 dimensional object that you use to generate the holograph by illuminating with laser beams. So how does the hologram of the universe get created? It seems more parsimonious to say that space really is 3 dimensional than to say there are these waves interacting in 2 dimensions as if there were really three dimensions. What are the physical laws that explain that phenomena?

Double slit experiments show that light and subatomic particles are waves. Based on this, one can speculate that all those waves create an interference pattern and that information about parts of the universe, remote in space (and time?), may be gleaned from analyzing that interference pattern. In this case, the universe, while existing in all its full dimensions, might be said to be its own holograph.

[Stephen J. Valadez]

One of the best articles I've seen on your great site, Michael. If jives with everything I've studied over the years of looking at this field of inquiry. While I think even the physical plane is technically a substrate of the mind, and we can change it with the mind, it is highly and probably by design resistant to it (that's why things like "The Secret" are bound to have very limited experimental success). It's very dense in other words, as far as what we call "frequencies," which I'm not totally sure what they are...the vibrations of strings in String Theory? Etc.? Perhaps there are physical plane strings, astral strings, and on and on up, or each level are just higher vibrations of the same string set. Anyway, whatever happens after death is that we seem to be translated to a world that is more malleable to mind and will, and our localized mind interacts with others in a given strata on the (usually) "astral" plane to create an environment. The many minds interacting with each other perhaps at a subconscious "Higher Self?) level creates through a sort of dialectic an actual and seemingly "real" world, as real as the physical, which is mostly just spinning electrons anyway.

Stephen J. Valadez

[Art]

If the brain is a frequency analyzer, that fact does not require that the universe be a hologram. I've read the "Holographic Universe". I think it is reasonable to say that the holographic paradigm is found in nature, but that doesn't mean the underlying structure of the universe is a hologram. - anonymous
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I think my head is going to explode! He/she didn't even do me the decency of making up a name so I could direct my ire at it?

Then might one explain all the near death experiencers who describe their experiences in terms that can only be called holographic? Feelings of connectedness and oneness, 360 degree vision, feeling connected to the universe, feeling like they are literally everywhere in the Universe at once, time and space not existing, merely having to think of a time and place and being there, and during the life review replaying and viewing their entire lives in 3-D while literally feeling like they were the other people they interacted with, feeling their emotions, hearing their thoughts, and describing the other side as being more real than this side, more consciousness than normal? In the hologram itself there is a certain degree of blurriness inherent in the projection. It's exactly what one might expect of or in a holographic universe. If after we die our souls merge back into the holographic film from which this physical universe is projected (the hologram) then it all makes perfect sense.

[Art]

"Let me pause here to say that this explanation highlights one of the problems I have with the holographic theory. To me, it seems problematic to say that the brain essentially creates our world of physical objects when the brain itself is a physical object. If physical objects don't exist in the absence of a brain, and if the brain itself is a physical object, then we seem to be caught in a chicken-and-egg dilemma." - michael Prescott
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"Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real."
- Niels Bohr

"For if the concreteness of the world is but a secondary reality and what is "there" is actually a holographic blur of frequencies, and if the brain is also a hologram and only selects some of the frequencies out of this blur and mathematically transforms them into sensory perceptions, what becomes of objective reality? Put quite simply, it ceases to exist. As the religions of the East have long upheld, the material world is Maya, an illusion, and although we may think we are physical beings moving through a physical world, this too is an illusion." - excerpt from The Holographic Universe,
http://www.crystalinks.com/holographic.html

"I felt an understanding about life, what it was, is. As if it was a dream in itself. It's so very hard to explain this part. I'll try, but my words limit the fullness of it. I don't have the words here, but I understood that it really didn't matter what happened in the life experience, I knew/understood that it was intense, brief, but when we were in it, it seemed like forever. I understood that whatever happened in life, I was really ok, and so were the others here." - excerpt from Michelle's NDE, http://nderf.org/michelle_m%27s_nde.htm

"So, for a moment, you see. Relax. Don't take yourself so seriously! All is well. We are forever one." - excerpt from Riding the Dragon, http://www.issc-taste.org/arc/dbo.cgi?set=expom&id=00070&ss=1

[Ben]

I picture heaven as being somewhat similar to the Nexxus in the movie Star Trek Generations, where Malcolm McDowell is trying to get into that energy ribbon where all one's needs are met and everything works out lovely. I've had enough duality and separation and pain and suffering for several lifetimes. *Art

I love that film, too Art. But it's rather ironic you should cite it in view of the way the plot unfolds. Neither Picard nor Kirk want to stay in the Nexus (Kirk says that "nothing is real" there after he easily jumps the chasm on his horse 3 times) and chooses to go back to the challenge of real world where there is more than a frisson of fear and he can "make a difference". And when he dies for the second time, his last words are, "It was fun."

The suggestion is that there's no challenge or fun in your holographic reality. Maybe that's why there has to be... (sorry, I have to use the "r" word) reincarnation.

[Art]

Anyone else who thinks they might want to reincarnate is more than welcome to. As for me? No thanks! Once I get there I'm going to grab hold of something and hang on as long as I can. I've experienced enough pain and separation in this life. Perhaps everything is possible on the other side and there is room enough for both reincarnation and no-reincarnation.

[steve wood]

Me to, Art. It's great here if you're as hard as nails and as thick as pig's 'business' when it comes to dealing with others....THEN, one can GET ON with life, ripping other people off and accumulating the so called best things in life without a care in the world.

I don't want to come back,either...but I honestly feel that we are not given a choice.

[Art]

I don't want to come back,either...but I honestly feel that we are not given a choice. - steve
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Well, I'm going to hang onto that "something else is going on" scenario. Something that the folks that dreamed up the reincarnation theory didn't know about; the brain as reciever/transmitter and the universe as a hologram, oneness and connectedness, and memories stored in the Akashic records. Once kids start developing their own sense of self they start tuning out those memories and as soon as those hypnotized adults. If the whole purpose of life is to become a separate, unique, individual than reincarnation sounds like a recipe for schizophrenic souls to me.

[matt chait]

"To me, it seems problematic to say that the brain essentially creates our world of physical objects when the brain itself is a physical object. If physical objects don't exist in the absence of a brain, and if the brain itself is a physical object, then we seem to be caught in a chicken-and-egg dilemma. The problem might be solved if we were to assume that consciousness, rather than the brain, is the actual "frequency analyzer."

Beautifully and succintly said MP. Beings, not matter, initiate and experience things. The goal of intention is always to provide an experience for a being or beings. Matter, including brains, and energy are the medium through which these intentions are expressed, but they are neither the initiator nor the end result of intentions.