On quantum entanglement and lucid dreaming

SCIENCE | THE WRITER'S LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING (PART 2)

I wondered at first if I should include this in my recent essay, 'Lucid dreaming and the quantum human soul', my attempt to explain life, the universe and everything, in accessible writing, and backed up by science. In that article, I explained in my own words, how I understand quantum physics to mean that the human soul is immortal. After that, the concept of lucidity shouldn't be difficult for the mind to grasp, and I tried to explain how being able to lucid dream can take the explorer into the quantum universe. I thought that, after taking on board the scientific facts that the human soul exists separately from the body, and that it's possible to experience what that feels like, quantum entanglement might be a bit difficult to take on board. But it's just a logical step beyond, so I've written a post script to that blog entry.

Einstein theorised quantum entanglement, and it's later been proven by science. It's actually quite easy to explain, now that I've thought about it.

We know the old traditional science: Once, the holy grail was splitting the atom. We've done that, and in doing so, we have unleashed the power of the nucleus. At the moment, that can be used to build nuclear weapons of mass destruction, or to fuel exploration craft to the stars, surely the destiny of any technological race. We've made it that far, and now we find ourselves and our planet on a pivot, between destroying ourselves, or co-operating to populate other planets and expand our race. It's in the nuclei of atoms that the chemical reactions of fusion and fission happen, to produce the power we now have.

The universe began with the Big Bang. Even if it didn't, there are nuclear reactions taking place, all over, all the time, and the universe has been doing that since it began, however that was. Our earth wasn't always here, and neither therefore, were we. Ancient aliens theories which posit that we were left here by supreme beings aside (or not), we were all created somewhere, and from something. It is a fact, that all of the matter in the universe was created at the start. Ergo, we are all made of stars. Inside every one of us, are sub-atomic particles which existed and which were split by nuclear reaction at the beginning of time.

Just as things exist in parallel states in quantum physics, quantum entanglement suggests that when a sub-atomic particle is split, it retains a link (a communication channel) with its counterpart, regardless of their distance apart. This has been proven by scientists on Earth, where a reaction in one sub-atomic particle was observed to be reacted to by another.

So if we accept that the universe is roughly 14 billion years old, and that everything in it came from the same place, it gets a bit brain fart. Because every single one of us is made of cells, which are made of atoms, all of which have nuclei, containing sub-atomic particles. Those particles fused together at some point, after they were all blown apart by the nuclear genesis of the universe. Therefore, every one of the trillions of sub-atomic particles in your body, has counterparts, somewhere in the universe, to which they are still attached, in a quantum telepathic way. We are all part of the living universe.

Given the almost infinite possibilities out there, as a science fiction writer, this throws up many thoughts. It is now scientifically proven, that every particle in my body is connected to another, somewhere in the universe. So I might have connections with ancient extraterrestrials, who have the other half of those particles. Some of me may be in some vast ocean, on a planet in a galaxy billions of light years distant. The possibilities are only limited by imagination. And just as science fiction often becomes fact, those possibilities are most likely probabilities. I know for a fact that I'm connected to trillions of things in the universe, I just don't know what or where they all are.

Even as a science fiction writer, I keep my scenarios and ideas at least plausible, because a lot of them have their basis in contemporary science. I read a lot of scientific texts, and I make sure I understand them, by doing extra research if necessary. This is why many of my sci-fi stories carry so much weight: because they have firm foundations in science, and like other sci-fi authors, my imagination can see futures, and expand on accepted wisdom.

So in my previous essay, I attempted to explain how the quantum universe works. Then I described how I'd achieved lucidity through dreaming, and how I'm able to use that to explore the universe in my sleep. What I'd missed out, is how we're all connected, and a part of it. Counterparts of trillions of parts of the universe are within each of our bodies, and if we can meditate, we can connect them.

This may sound new age, spiritual, or insane. But it's the basis of many religions, and proven scientific fact. This is the piece of the jigsaw which allows me to reconcile science and religion.

If you can achieve lucidity through dreams, or some other meditative state, you can start to join the trillions of dots and see the bigger picture.