“Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose ... I suspect that ‘there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of, or can be dreamed of,’  in any philosophy.”

 (J. B. S. Haldane, Possible Worlds))

 Salon.com, the Internet equivalent of MSNBC has a lengthy article by a author of a book to be released next week entitled “Brain Wars.” It’s about Out-of-Body Experiences (OBE) and Near Death Experiences (NDE)

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/21/near_death_explained/singleton

 It is my position that the Shroud has a direct relationship to the issues raised.

I think its time that inveterate skeptics understand that existence is not a simple phenomenon and at our existences most basic level, is weird, and does not yield to logic and common sense. OBE  and NDE are windows to another level of existence. We interface with that level of existence at the quantum level.

 Here are some points about quantum mechanics:

 1. Reality is consciousness based. The existence of any object is not defined until it has been observed.

 2. Quantum phenomena are  electromagnetic waves. That includes all the constituent parts of the atom.

 4. Human consciousness is  electromagnetic waves derived of the human brain.

 5. Quantum phenomena can operate independent of time and space.(quantum entanglement)

 6. Quantum mechanics defy reason  and common sense, but all calculations using quantum mechanics work and achieve predictable results.

 7. If human consciousness is a quantum phenomenon than OBE and NDE are rational in the quantum sense.

 8. Religion and science do not collide and at the quantum level they will merge and coalesce

 My observation:

 The quantum level is the interface between material existence and the creative force. It answers to a higher logic that is beyond our understanding. OBE and NDE are glimpses of that existence and its promise.

So is the Shroud of Turin.

Science and the Resurrection

There is a great deal of controversy over a book by Thomas de Wesselow, The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection” Wesselow finds the Shroud of Turin to be the authentic burial cloth of Christ but denies that Christ was physically resurrected. The reported apparitions of Christ after his Resurrection were, in essence expositions of the Shroud. Wesselow is an agnostic who has stated that he doesn’t believe in miracles. I disagree but,

Those who claim the Resurrection was a miracle against the laws of nature have, perhaps, a limited view of the laws of nature. Atheist in chief Richard Dawkins writing in his epic screed against religion found the quantum theory of existence incomprehensible even though it works and was a factor in creation of the atom bomb.

“Perhaps there are some genuinely profound and meaningful questions that are forever beyond the reach of science. Maybe quantum theory is already knocking on the door of the unfathomable. But if science cannot answer some ultimate question, what makes anybody think that religion can?”

Quantum phenomena operate at times independent of time and space. Nothing is defined until it is observed. That’s what confuses so many and why they find it inexplicable. Two quantum particles can become entangled. What happens to one happens to the other simultaneously even though separated by light years..  Einstein called it “spooky,” I call it love.

Some believe that human conscience is  quantum phenomenon.  Beneath the quantum level of existence is another level of existence that defines the quanta.  None dare call it God. But as it seeks to unravel the mysteries of the quantum, science is staring God in the face, it's just that some scientists refuse to see it.

The Resurrection? Under these circumstances is not a mystery, but a piece of cake.
In October 2007, I wrote reflecting on the death of my adult son Michael. http://johnklotz.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html  

I used the scientific phrase “event horizon” as a metaphor for death: A black hole of such enormous gravity that even light can not escape its grasp. I also stated that those who love are joined in their psyches. At that time I was not aware of the concept of quantum entanglement except in a vague way.

I now believe that love is a quantum entanglement of two or more consciousnesses. Our path to the  entanglement with God is entanglement with others, but the straightest path is entanglement with Jesus Christ.
Dame Isabel Piscek has called the Shroud of Turin an event horizon of Christ’s Resurrection. I was unaware of that when I wrote in 2007. 

But as we used to sing in a hymn popular in the heady days of Vatican II:

We stand before your altar lord,
To share a common meal.
Love has brought us here today,
For love makes symbol real.


Amen and Happy Easter.

A question for Palm Sunday: Whose Son is he?

Richard Dawkins is refusing a debate challenge from William Lane Craig, a fundamntalist academic  at the Sheldonian Theater in Oxford http://shroudofturin.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/speaking-of-issuing-challenges-to-dawkins/

I think Dawkins has anointed himself as the "Atheist Pope." The jacket for God Delusion modestly described Dawkins as "the world's most prominent atheist." "The world numbers about eight billion individuals and climbing. What a terrible burden it is for Dawkins to be the foremost atheist among the eight billion.

That being said, when it comes to the slaughter of innocents in Canaan, I tend to agree that this was inexcusable barbarity. I remember watching a History Channel program on ancient generals two  or three years ago which recorded Joshua's slaughter of women and children in Jericho after "the walls came tumbling down." I was appalled. When I discovered that Joshua was acting on a divine command, I decided that I could not worship such a God. I was deeply saddened when a Jewish friend of mine gave the human reasoning behind that: Leaving the women and children alive would have resulted in the leaving the seeds of idolatry to blossom and grow. That came to mind a year or so later, when on another History (or Military Channel rebroadcast) I heard a Himmler speech to the German Generals as WWII ground to its close and the Third Reich was collapsing. “We had to kill the children,” he said, “because they would grow-up to seek revenge upon us killing their parents.”

Much of  Bible is rationalization for human endeavors. Of course, that argues against it not being history. Some of its history is sad.

But I highly recommend the direction of religion which is the basis of Richard Wright’s “The Evolution of God.” Jesus challenged the Pharisees” “What do you think of the Messiah [Christ], whose son is he?” Wright is somewhat dismissive of the universality of Jesus message adopting the “Paul did it view.” But I think the last paragraph of his book sums up not only the direction of religious thought, but of Christianity itself:

“Though we can no more conceive of God than we can conceive of an electron, believers can ascribe properties to God, somewhat as physicists ascribe properties to electrons. One of the more plausible such properties is love. And maybe, in this light, the argument for God is strengthened by love’s organic association with truth—by the fact, indeed, that at times these two properties almost blend into one. You might say that love and truth are the two primary manifestations of divinity in which we can partake, and that by partaking in them we become truer manifestations of the divine. Then again, you might not say that. The point is just you wouldn’t have to be crazy to say it.” *

Amen, Mr. Wright, amen. Wright is using the mysteries of quantum mechanics as an analogy to God and love. But, in my view it isn't just an analogy, its' an essential truth. Here I stand: Human conscience is a quantum phenomenon. Love is a "quantum entanglement” where two quantum entities develop a relationship that is independent of time and space. Einstein called the concept which as been scientifically demonstrated "spooky."

Einstein called it spooky, I call it love. 

*(Wright, Robert (2009-05-20). The Evolution of God. Little, Brown and Company, Kindle Edition.)