Rethinking The Beginning.

Deepak Chopra explores an alternative explanation for the origin of the universe, the “Consciousness Model.” It contrasts the limitations of the Big Bang theory, highlighting unanswered questions about its cause and the nature of things like dark matter and dark energy.

The Consciousness Model proposes that the universe began not with a singularity, but with pure consciousness. This consciousness, possessing infinite potential, then manifested itself as various “qualia” – qualities of knowing and experience. These qualia eventually became the universe as we know it, including atoms, stars, and biological life.

Deepak draws on Eastern philosophical traditions like Buddhism and Vedanta to describe the nature of this pure consciousness using terms like “Amrita” (immortal) and “Ananda” (infinite), and suggests that scientific thinking is just another mode of knowing within a species-specific consciousness.

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Rethinking The Beginning

A Consciousness-Based Model Of Creation

I’m going to share with you an alternative explanation of how the universe came into existence or the appearance of the universe came into existence. Before I do that, let me give you a brief synopsis of the current explanations. According to current cosmology, something called a Big Bang occurred about 13.8 billion years ago. No cause can be ascribed to the Big Bang. No theory exists as to why the Big Bang occurred and when it occurred.

Space time did not exist prior to the Big Bang. If you asked what was there before the Big Bang, then that question is meaningless and a cause becomes challenging. However, there are some people who suggest that it was quantum fluctuations. There’s also a theory called eternal inflation, which posits multiple universes, in fact, infinite universes. It’s consistent with string theory, but there’s no scientific evidence for that cyclical universe either. Quantum fluctuations or cyclical universe.

What happened is, according to parent science, there was a period of cosmic inflation where the universe expanded exponentially. That it doubled in size every trillionth of a second then it suddenly slowed down. This cosmic inflation is supposed to have occurred 10 to the power of minus 36 to 10 to the power of minus 33 seconds after time zero. No explanation is given for that either or is not available at the moment.

There was also something called the planck epoch from which occurred 10 to the power of minus 43 seconds post Big Bang. At that time, no laws of physics apply. It is presumed that the four forces, strong and weak interactions, gravity and electromagnetism, all fused. There’s no explanation for that either. I mentioned eternal inflation which suggests infinite universes but we have no explanation for inflation anyway.

From the cosmic wave background, we can see the remnants of heat that occurred and we can pause it large-scale structures of the universe from that, but it took about 380,000 years for atoms to appear and following that formation of stars and the rest of cosmic evolution then biological evolution all the way to human beings. The Earth is supposed to be about less than 5 billion years old and life began about 2.8 billion years ago on our planet with the emergence of chemolithoautotrophic hyperthermophiles on the rims of volcanoes.

Biological evolution started from bacteria to plants to animals all the way from animals in the sea to amphibians to then land animals. All the way to primates and human beings. As you can see, there are many gaps in this explanation and no explanation for the Big Bang. Nothing known about no laws of physics that apply to the Planck epoch 10 to the minus 43 seconds. Cosmic inflation, why is it so precise? When the universe doubles in size every trillionth of a second starting with the size of a period at the end of a sentence and up to a great fruit and in that cosmic inflation.

Now a universe that spans 95 plus billion light years in diameter and continues to expand. In this idea of dark matter, which is non-atomic, which is about 27% of the universe. We don’t know what it is, but it’s responsible for most of the gravity in the universe, then dark energy, which is another, say, dark matter is about 27%. About 70% is dark energy, which is the opposite of gravity.

We have no idea what it is. We don’t know what dark energy is, what dark matter is, what’s causing the inflation, the laws of physics are. In the Plank-Eek Park, we don’t know what caused the Big Bang. We’re left with about 3% or 4% of the universe which is atomic out of which 99.9% is invisible inter cellar dust and the remaining universe which is 2 trillion galaxies, 706 trillion stars, and uncountable trillion sub-planets planets is 0.01% of the universe and we are part of that. That is the atomic universe.

As you know, atoms are particles. It’s made of particles. Particles have a dual nature and wave. When particles are not measured, they become probability clouds and cosmic in mathematical space with no location clouds of probability. They collapse into the wave functions. It collapses into particles which appear as the visible universe that includes you and me.

The Consciousness Model Of Creation

While mathematically very precise and very wonderful, it has huge gaps. What would be the alternative explanation? The alternative explanation would be, prior to the Big Bang, as we say, then the singularity, which is a point of zero volume and infinite density. That singularity was pure consciousness and it was also zero volume, but infinite possibilities for manifestation. That cosmic consciousness of pure consciousness modified itself into the first qualia.

Tweet: Current scientific thinking has huge gaps. We don’t know what dark matter is, or dark energy, or what caused the Big Bang.

Qualia means qualities of knowing and experience. Consciousness wanted to know itself. Consciousness became conscious. In that moment, it knew itself as this infinitely hot experience, a qualia experience. A post creation, which is consciousness becoming conscious of itself. It knew itself as hard and dense. It knew itself in all these modes of knowing and experience. It knew itself in all these modes of knowing and experience without any biological experience.

The biological experience came much later, so consciousness knew itself as modes of knowing and experience that we as humans now call atoms, molecules, stars, and describe as the objective universe in the model of reality that we call naive realism. Consciousness knew itself as atoms, molecules and ultimately stars and the whole sequence that we went into just as cosmic evolution.

Later, biological evolution happened. As biological evolution happened, each biological organism was a mode of knowing for the original cosmic consciousness, but it restricted the mode of knowing through biological organisms. Microorganisms have their own modes of knowing and experience. Plants have their own modes of knowing and experience. Fish have their own modes of knowing and experience. Amphibians, land animals, primates and ultimately humans became a mode of knowing and experience in cosmic consciousness, differentiated from pure consciousness.

It is the human mode of knowing and experience that is giving the current cosmological model, but what was it that started all this? From deep introspection and deep inquiry which goes beyond the senses and even includes transcendence and self-reflection but also self-inquiry. The great wisdom tradition say that that pure consciousness is still appearing as the human universe, but also other species-specific universes.

That pure consciousness is indescribable. It is inscrutable, immeasurable, immortal, infinite, ineffable, irreducible, imperceptible, timeless, borderless, spaceless, and indestructible. It is not subject to decay. It is timeless and it is therefore incomprehensible. This infinite inconceivable and imperceivable makes the finite perceivable possible through species-specific modes of knowing and experience. I went and did some little bit of research and was looking at Buddhist texts and even Vedantic texts.

Tweet: Pure consciousness is indescribable.

Let me give you a little bit of terminology of these descriptions of the inconceivable immortal, eternal, and consciousness. Immortal means amar. In Sanskrit, Amara. Infinite is Ananta. Irreducible and imperceivable means beyond the senses, attentia. Unmanifest, avyakta. Ajra, ageless and timeless. Not subject to decay. Akshara, beyond all sensory experiences, is inherently incomprehensible, non-physical, amrita. These all describe how consciousness is differentiating. Also, recreating everything that was born in the incomprehensible past.

If you subscribe to the Big Bang Theory, then the Big Bang Theory is the description from the point of view of naïve realism. It is an objective description through human modes of knowing and experience. It starts with a singularity. A point of zero volume, infinite density that contains in potential all the matter, energy and information that will ultimately manifest in the universe. Turn that around to a consciousness model and the singularity becomes a point of zero volume.

Consciousness Model: The alternative explanation would be that prior to the Big Bang, the singularity was actually pure consciousness.

Infinite possibilities and consciousness knows itself. Without being embodied, it knows itself. As humans called atoms, molecules, and star scrapes and the whole thing. That’s a human description of a human mode of knowing and experience but the universe had modes of knowing and experience because it started with pure consciousness or cosmic consciousness.

That cosmic consciousness knew itself as modes of knowing and experience. We can call them qualia, qualities of experience without being embodied. The embodiment came much later. The embodiment created the multiverses that we speak of as modes of knowing and experience in organisms, a form of biocentrism. I know this is a little difficult to comprehend but as long as we understand that the consciousness model explains some of the gaps that we don’t know. Those gaps are modes of knowing and experience that are not comprehensible to the human mind.

Tweet: Consciousness knew itself as modes of knowing and experience that we as humans now call atoms, molecules, stars and describe as the objective universe.

The human mind is finite with the finite brain of the mind as its instrument for modes of knowing and experience. It cannot comprehend the non-embodied modes of knowing and experience which exist only in consciousness even prior to its modes of knowing and experience through embodied consciousness. Neuter of cosmic creation. Let’s call it the conscious model of creation.

Consciousness Model: Reality is not only stranger than we think. It is Stranger than we can think.

I’m speculating with you based on ideas that come from deep reflection and transcendence. Therefore, you may not find validity with current scientific thinking. Remember, scientific thinking is also most knowing and experienced in a species consciousness that we call homosapiens. Reality is not only stranger than we think. It is stranger than we can think. I sat down and wrote all these Sanskrit words that are already there, irreducible, attentia, infinite, Ananta, avyakta, non-physical, invisible, adetia, ajra, akshara, and indestructible. That is Oyaiya, imperishable. Ashisha, perfect complete symmetry. Others have thought about this as well. Take care.