Modern science, ancient wisdom now merging

By Steve Hammons

Some of today’s scientists are theorizing that the universe and our everyday reality may not be quite what we think.

These scientists join the ranks of philosophers, theologians and people around the world who have thought about views on heaven and the afterlife, angels, reincarnation and other metaphysical concepts.

The theory that our universe might actually be a “multiverse” seems to be gaining support.

According to these ideas, there may be several or many intersecting dimensions. Our everyday world is one part of this multiverse, according to these perspectives.

Other dimensions may be unseen and difficult for us to perceive, some of the theories claim. At the same time, there may be circumstances when we might become aware of these other environments and influences.

Like gravity, magnetic energy, invisible parts of the light spectrum and other known natural forces, there may also be similar natural dimensions that we cannot always perceive, according to some views.

Do these concepts help us explain things like near-death experiences (NDEs), extrasensory perception (ESP), unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and other unusual phenomena?

PHYSICAL, METAPHYSICAL IN TANDEM

Interestingly, these modern scientific perspectives are consistent with many traditional views and beliefs in cultures around the world.

For example, Native American Indians have traditionally valued the unseen in nature as an important aspect of reality and life.

According to the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture, for the diverse Indian traditions of the people of Oklahoma, “Native logic is guided by the knowledge that the metaphysical and physical forces both operate in life.” And, “physical and metaphysical dimensions work in tandem.”

This view is consistent with many other philosophies around the world. The unseen or spiritual and our everyday reality go hand in hand.

Our ancestors and loved ones may have passed on to one of these other dimensions. And, it is not clear what the connections or pathways are between our world and the theorized afterlife dimension.

How these possible unseen aspects of the universe or multiverse might actually work is currently being explored by physicists, mathematicians and other scholars.

An actual afterlife dimension may not be so far away. It may be closer than we think. Our ancestors and loved ones might be just around the corner or on the other side of some metaphysical door.

Of course, all of us living today will one day learn more about it when we, too, pass on.

Or, perhaps one day there will be greater integration of our world and the possible dimension in which our ancestors and loved ones may now live.

CONSCIOUSNESS AND DIMENSIONS

As we think about these kinds of ideas, the area of human psychology, consciousness and awareness comes into play. How do we, or can we, perceive or understand more about other dimensions, if they exist?

Intellectual logic can probably take us only so far. Then we might have to move to other kinds of perception such as our deeper mind, our unconscious, our intuition, our dreams and visions, and what is sometimes called “anomalous cognition,” which includes a kind of unconventional awareness or understanding.

This is also probably a nonlinear kind of consciousness. In other words, life and reality as well as our deeper mind may not always move in a line from point A to point B to point C. There are also cyclical and circular features as well as more constant forces.

The Oklahoma Historical Society’s Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture does a pretty good job of describing this kind of perception: “As nonlinear people, Indians are cyclical by nature. Day changing into night is a cycle, the full moon's monthly repetition is another cycle, and the seasons rotate as well.”

“Life itself, then, is a rotation of circles. Indian peoples' concept of time is that their stories, transmitted through the oral tradition, enliven the past, and that prophecies bring the future back to the present in a time continuum. This is Indian reality; this is the thought pattern of Oklahoma traditional Indians. Nonlinear reality is a powerful theme in the Oklahoma Indian experience.”

One of these cycles might include today’s modern scientists who are rediscovering connections between discoveries in physics and the ancient views of traditional peoples.

Maybe this circle or hoop is now being completed. Maybe today’s physicists searching for a primary force such as “zero point energy” will discover what the Great Spirit has created and the first Americans understood.

Maybe this is the path to other dimensions, including the place from where angels, ancestors and loved ones watch over us and protect us.