Death

Dear Readers,

Today's subject is one that I feel it necessary to express my views about. It relates in great deal to how I see the world around me, why I hardly ever grieve over death.

I first got the idea of how to express and explain my understanding when a friend who I call Shorty asked me a question about death. At what point do we die? Is it when the heart stops? What happens after we die?

I replied that it was indeed a "difficult" question to answer, but as for my understanding, our spirits communicate with our bodies through our brains. Somewhere in the cerebral cortex are cells that are able to interact with our spirit. I am unsure if this is gray matter, white matter, or the basal ganglia. However, it is evident not only in science that the body is controlled by the brain, but it is by electrical impulses that cause such control through the nervous system, so also is the "head" (Christ) what leads the body (the church). (Colossians 1:18)

Now, what I understand about memories I will go into greater detail in a later post, but it will suffice me to say that one key distinction between a brain an a computer is the ability to "choose" what to think about, what memories to recall and how to recall them. A computer can be made to cause random stimuli or even "ideas" on a subject, however, a human brain can "choose" to think about something else.

Yet, like an individual sitting at a computer, that individual can choose which currents or electrical pathways to activate. Just as I am doing now, while typing my thoughts into script. Much in a similar way, our spirit interact with our bodies. The keyboard and mouse are like the parts of the brain that allow the spirit to interact with the body. Then the memory and storage for the computer is like the memory and storage of the brain. Unlike computers, biological brains are able to grow new connectors, and thus grow in storage capacity. It stores the history of things done, visuals, interests et cetera. Lastly there is the hard ware, like cameras, microphones, disk drives and the like. These the computer can use, but they are still controlled by the person at the computer. If there is something wrong with the camera (eye) then no matter how hard we push buttons we cannot get the camera to work until it is repaired or replaced. Such repairs to the body can be necessary, however, the greatest overhaul of all is the resurrection.

Now, because of a bioethics class I had a while back, I have thought about what is the decisive point of death. Indeed some people think that once the heart stops, then that is death, but then people can have their hearts restarted and come back to life. Thus the question, is that death? I don't think so, at least not in the definite sense. The heart stopping is like the power going out. No more oxygen and nutrients for the brain is equal to no more electricity to the computer. It shuts down and waits for the power to come back on. However, unlike a machine, cells die and cease to function if they are deprived for too long. Thus the spirit may linger hoping that the "power" will come back on, but when the brain itself dies, there is not much point for the spirit to linger at a "broken computer".

Therefore, death occurs, really, at brain death. Now, someone can be raised from the dead, as Christ did to Lazarus, like someone fixed the computer and the spirit came back to play. Yet, raising the dead is different from resurrection.

Comas, often times, still have brain activity only the brain is no longer in communication with the rest of the body. Kind of like if a computer freezes, it is still on, the person is at the computer, but they can not do anything on the computer. Sometimes whatever problem that caused the freeze is resolved and the individual awakes from the coma, but sometimes that does not happen and the plug is eventually pulled.

Also, there are cases of perfectly healthy people just dropping dead. This is also seen with old age, when the body is just so worn and used that the spirit simply walks away from the computer. With no more internal stimuli from the spirit, the system shuts down.

From what I have generally heard of near death experiences, and the religious aspects of it, which is mostly limited to my having watched movies like Dragonfly, Flatliners and similar media, most people find themselves in some kind of passage, a black tunnel, on a road, or at a train station like in Harry Potter. The visual symbolism is clear, of movement or transportation. Some places give you a choice to stay or move on. Often times it is the dark tunnel with a light at the end, and the individual moves or runs towards the light, but they don't make it. I would say that in these cases, the light would be God welcoming them home, while their not reaching the light is the re-establishment of whatever connection with the spirit and the body.

Sometimes there is also a guide, again similar to Harry Potter where Dumbledore was there and gave him advice, the guide may escort the spirit home, or advise them to stay. These spirits could be compared to angels of death, and can be friends, mentors, or even relatives who have passed beyond the veil of death.

These concepts work with scripture, particularly Alma 40:11 "...Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life." The emphasis I would like to add here is "taken" which could be synonymous with "escorted".

So, if physical death happens when the spirit has left the body, why are bodies "alive" meaning still breathing because of machines and other devices, even after brain death? It all depends on what you mean by life, if the spirit is connected, then it is a living soul (spirit and body together [Doctrine and Covenants 88:15]) otherwise, without the spirit, it is simply a living body. As far as I am concerned, keeping someone in this "alive" or living body state is only good for harvesting organs to help other people stay really alive. Though, I would like to emphasize that this is only in the case of brain death, not just being comatose.

Now, what about what happens after we die.

As I already quoted Alma 40:11, the rest of that chapter gives us the best straightforward insight I have found, "11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection... the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body... whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. 12... The spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where thy shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow. 13... the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil... these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity... 14 Now this is the state of the souls of the wicked, yea, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection." This return to God and then consigning ourselves to a state of happiness or misery we call the first judgment, where we either feel pleased by the life we lived and our relationship to God, or feel wretched because we remember all of those willing sins that we have committed.

These two states, paradise and prison, are both states of being in what Mormons call the spirit world. Catholics would refer to this state as purgatory. This spirit world is here all around us (Gospel Principles 41), and we cannot see those spirits because spiritual matter is more fine and pure "and can  only be discerned by purer eyes" (Doctrine and Covenants 131:7-8).

Science Company Image Link

There is a valid question, however, if spiritual matter and spirits exist, why can't we see it/them and how can they both be in us and yet interact with our bodies through the brain. There is a wavelength theory, that similar to how photons of ultraviolet ray wavelength can pierce through cells and destroy DNA which either kills the cell, or in some cases cause cancer, that spirit is photons or some other particle moving at a wavelength that can only interacts with certain depths or types of other matter.

Brian Greene's depiction of 4th dimensions from the video.

Though I like that theory, there is another one that I find more complete and intriguing. The idea of the 4th dimension. Most of the natural phenomenon can be predicted mathematically taking into account the 3 dimensions of space, and the dimension of time. However, the algorithm for electromagnetic fields require the abstract idea of a 4th dimension of space. This may seem absurd, yet let us think about this a moment. Brian Greene has endeavored to try to explain the running theory about this 4th dimension in his video Brian Green: The Search for Hidden Dimensions. In this, he describes how the dimension might be so small that as we look at them, they appear 3 dimensional when they are really 4 dimensional. Much like how a piece of paper looks 2 dimensional until you get a closer look at the edge and see some, not much, but some depth.

This idea of the 4th dimension would explain how spirit matter could be all around us in these dimensions, and yet we cannot see it, and it works with the scripture about spirit being too "fine" which could mean small, like fine grain salt or sandpaper. However, it is yet incomplete. This may only be personal preference, but I enjoy the idea of a larger 4th dimension that extends out like an actual direction. I go into this all in further detail in my blog post "Gravity, Science, and the Spirit World". It will suffice me to say that whatever means, likely a combination of directional 4th dimension, miniature 4th dimension, and wavelength frequency, our spirits interact with our bodies.

It is important to note that our own spirit looks like its owner, and the body grows, if not prohibited by genetic malfunctions caused by the fall, to grow in the likeness of the spirit body (Ether 3:16). As I already said, though the spirit is in the likeness of our bodies, or rather our bodies are in the likeness of our spirits, right now, here in mortality, our spirit only interacts with our bodies through the brain. Yet, as I recently discovered and talked about in my blog post about Quickening, Resurrection, and Ectoplasm, that when we are resurrected we will have spirit in our veins. Our spirits and our bodies will be inseparably connected. This would mean that our bodies would be quickened so that our spirit will connect with our bodies in the finger, in the toe, and every cell one to another. No longer would we simply control our bodies through our brains, but we will truly be one with ourselves. How glorious that immortal body will be will depend on our righteousness and how much of Christ's light we let quicken us.

Alas, that is after the resurrection. Until that time, post-mortal life will continue. The righteous, though at peace and rest, will continue to reach out to those in darkness and bring Christ's divine light into their spiritual lives. As with this scripture from 1 Peter, Christ taught spirits in prison who had lived in the days of Noah (1 Peter 3:19-20) and "for for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." (1 Peter 4:6)

Though Christ did not personally minister to those in spirit prison, they were taught, for in the three day slumber for His body in the tomb, He organized the missionary work, and the word was first ministered to those of Noah's day. (Doctrine and Covenants 138:19-21)

With this wonderful missionary work going on beyond the veil, we wonder what the point is and why it is going on. 1 Peter 3:21 gives some insight. "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:" That is to say, baptism cleanses the spirit of the guilt and corruption of sins and it is in the like image of the resurrection of Christ which cleanses our bodies into immortality. "...why are they then baptized for the dead?" (1 Corinthians 15:29) This is why the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints performs baptisms by proxy on behalf of the dead. Baptism for the dead allows a spirit beyond the veil to accept Christ's atonement and be cleansed and redeemed from spiritual death (separation from God). Alas, it does not force Christ's atonement upon them, it merely allows them to full accept Christ and feel His peace, enabling them to rise from prison to paradise.

God does not want His children to be left in darkness. Though there are certain things that we must do to return to His presence, He will not deny us from any of them, we can only deny ourselves. Death is not something to be feared, it is simply coming home to our ever loving, ever merciful Father in Heaven and waiting the fullness of Christ's redemption to come upon us.

Love,
Jacobugoth

Gravity, Science, and the Spirit World

Dear Readers,

To further my own personal education, in this case mostly informal, I have been watching several science videos on Youtube. Some of my favorites are by Brian Greene. I know he got some criticism on Big Bang Theory, but I am a firm believer in John Taylor's saying, "It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it." By this definition of intelligence, I do believe that Greene is trying to be intelligent, and we can benefit from it. In return, I am trying to explain my ideas as "intelligently" as I can.

Anyway, this brings me possible ways to prove the scriptures and that spirits do exist. Now, I am going to try to explain it as best I can in roughly the same manner it was explained to me.

XYZ graph Image Link

First up is time. Now, we are all generally familiar with the concept of space, up-down (Y), left-right (X), forward-back (Z). However, most of us do not think about the fourth "dimension" or coordinate of time.

Sheldon Cooper in his spot Image Link

The application of this coordinate was quite exemplified by the character Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory. He determined that the first moment he sat down on his "spot" on the couch it became the 0 coordinate on his time spectrum. From then on, his life was separated in what I call, BS (before spot) and AS (after spot). I know my acronyms might seem funny, but we have something similar today with a meridian of time. BC vs AD. Now, I am familiar with the way most of us remember BC and AD, (Before Christ, and After Death), however AD actually stands for "anno domini" which is Latin that is generally translated as "in the year of our Lord". I think it is important to point out that 1 AD is from Christ's birth to His first year of age, or usually considered that year in which He was born. There is no "year 0". There would be a zero coordinate on a graph, but there is no Year 0. For example right now as I am writing this, it is August of 2016 AD. August, being the 8th month then becomes 8/12 or 2/3 in the year of our Lord 2016. It is a decision of an entire year number 2016. Like August itself, it begins August first and ends August thirty-first. Thus, going back to our meridian of time, seconds before Christ's birth was part of 1 BC and seconds after Christ's birth was part of 1 AD. What does this have to do with anything? It was just semantics I wanted to get off of my chest.

How do we measure time, it all depends on how precise we want to be. It could be a Planck time, which is the smallest unit of time we have because it is the time it takes light to travel a Planck length which is the smallest unit of length we have. It is interesting how time is always measured from one "book end" to another. The beginning when the stop watch was first clicked to when it was clicked again at the end. I believe this is an important key element in what time is to us. Time is simply the measurement between to events. Christ's birth and now has been 2015 2/3 years, give or take a few months or days and hours due to the adjustment with the beginning of a year moved to January 1st at 12 o'clock AM.

Shutterstock selfie Image Link

Thus, though a Planck time is the smallest measurement of time, time itself is made of instants. Easily understood as photographs. Each of these is an instant in time, though, ironically, a photo is countless Planck times after the instant occurred because of the distance the light traveled whether it is a couple feet for a selfie, or miles away for a panorama.

Time Line from Brian Greene on The B-Theory of Time

So, let us pretend that we could actually capture a photo for every single one of these instants, then we lay them all out in a line. Of course, these instants are separated into "folders" or units of time: seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years. Yet, ultimately, these are all made up of instants. These are set under very specific requirements.

Because science has proved that time is relative usually in correlation to the speed of light. It is interesting how the speed of light is a constant speed throughout all space. The closer one approaches the speed of light, the slower time is experience and is. The slower one moves relative to the speed of light is the faster time passes. This has been proven with satellites moving quicker or slower relative to earth's rotation.

We can also see that light is affected by gravity, especially with black holes drawing in all light creating an absence of light. I will leave this here for now to address a comment from Brian Greene in The B-Theory of Time.

He mentioned that Issac Newton came up with the universal time theory, in essence that there is one time, it is not relative, and it continues to flow unceasingly. Then he mentioned that Albert Einstein with his B-Theory of Time was the first one who had ideas of time being relative. This is not the case.

Though I honorably testify that Joseph Smith Jr. was a true prophet of God, let us pretend for a second that he was not. Under this assumption that Joseph Smith wrote the books of Abraham and Doctrine and Covenants himself, it is interesting how he talks about "...Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord's time, according to the reckoning of Kolob." (Abraham 3:4). "In answer to the question -- Is not the reckoning of God's time, angel's time, prophet's time, and man's time, according to the planet on which they reside? I answer, Yes. But there are no angels who minister to this earth but those who do belong or have belonged to it. The angels do not reside on a planet like this earth; But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord." (Doctrine and Covenants 130:4-7).

This is almost directly correlated with how we understand time today, and with this B-Theory. According to this theory, time is set. Because someone's now could be someone else's future, those events that take place in between have to be set in time. Thus, if all time is set, all time could be continually "before the Lord". This would also explain how God, knows the end from the beginning (Abraham 2:8). Also, that time is relative to every "planet" which correlates because every planet spins and travels through space as different speeds relative to the speed of light. Here on earth, we are all very close to the same time, though technically none of us are precisely experiencing the same time. We are close enough to interact. This is congruent with both the notion of time being relative to the speeds, mass, and whatever of different planets and this B-Theory.

My point is that Joseph Smith Jr. if he was a fraud, must have been as much of a genius as Albert Einstein to have written these same ideas. One could argue that Joseph Smith stole these ideas, if it were not for the fact that Joseph Smith Jr. was murdered in 1844 while Einstein was not born until 1879. Thus, literally, either one must accept that Joseph Smith was a genius of Einstein's level, or that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and he did receive this truth from the only Being who has all knowledge and that this truth is a constant which Einstein was also inspired with.

Alien's perspective relative to speed and direction. B-Theory Video Link

Now, another aspect of this video I care to comment on is that time is relative not only to speed but direction. Greene uses the idea of an alien, perfectly still in space on the other side of the universe and a human perfectly still in space. In an instant, they are along the same instant photograph. However, if the alien gets up and move away from the human, that alien's time instant changes to a slightly diagonal slice into the past. While if the alien moves towards the human, that instant changes to the future for that human. This seems crazy in theory, but how can we see that today?

Imagine that someone is in a room with you. Right now they are in your present instant and for the foreseeable future they will still be there with you. However, if they begin to leave, moving away, soon they will be in another room. They are no long with you, thus not in you present, and you only have memories of them, thus they only exist in your past. However, if they move towards you and re-enter the room, suddenly they are are going to join you in the future. Like a friend saying they are going to come over to your house, you know they are coming, so they exist in your future, but they are not currently in your present.

Thus, and this is why I like this concept, when two people move towards each other, they are in each other's future, until they meet in the middle. Then, at least for an instant, they share that same time. They are one in an instant frozen in time forever. Yes, this is the romantic in me...

Anyway, mathematically we find that gravity not only effects space, but time as well. This is under a similar principle as that speed vs rotation. Though we do not know for absolute surety what causes gravity, there are the theories of gravitons which most scientist believe exist. These are particles that somehow affect space and time. I do not know if they exist or not, but it is an interesting concept. However, because of the correlation between speed and time, I am leaning toward the rotation and motion creating gravity, though I do not exclude graviton particles having some correlation to it.

Gravitational waves from planets around black hole. Gravity Waves Video Link

This was proven when scientists noticed two planets spinning around a black hole. The black holes' interaction causes gravitational waves.

Green explaining the earth's stretching in an over exaggerated visual. Gravity Waves Video Link

Now, in theory, when these gravity waves hit the earth, they would stretch and compress the earth.

laser experiment test. Gravity Waves Video Link

So, it came to how would we prove it? They set up lasers several miles apart. On this scale, minor shifts in distance change the light frequencies. Instead of matching up, they become inconsistent. This was proved to be the case, and we learned that gravitational waves do compress and expand space itself.

Space in cubes. Brian Greene Gravity Video Link

So, let us imagine the cubes of space. We have these four dimensions, XYZ with T for time just existing un-represented.

Fabric of space. Gravity Video Link

Now let us imagine this from a different perspective, from a two dimensional flat surface called the fabric of space.

Sun and Earth. Gravity Video Link

Around each planet or sphere in space, there is a welt or under cone. The earth spins around the sun's cone. This reflects the earth's actual orbit mathematically.

Earth and Moon. Gravity Video Link

Then the earth has its own cone or sag that the moon spins around.

Gravity effecting space. Gravity Video Link

This sag is actually bending those cube edges of space, compressing it around the earth. This space also transfers the waves of the gravity, again with the gravity experiment above.

Higgs Boson Discovered Video Link

Thus, I will now switch directions to the Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson is a particle I will compare to a water droplet. It is a portion of the Higgs Field which was, for quite some time, theoretical. Higgs Field was theorized first mathematically by trying to figure out why particles have mass. The only way mass could be calculated would be if the particles are constantly passing through a substance. This substance would have to quite unique in that it does not cause any friction.

With this theory, came the problem of how to prove it. As another function of the Hadron Collider, they documented that, extremely rarely, when particles collided and their components were flung out that there was a particle that lasts barely any fraction of a second before completely disappearing. Though I may not agree that this is the best science going on here for there could be several other reasons or properties not taken into consideration, simply because we do not know to think of them, that could explain it, I do like the idea of this Higgs Field being all around us.

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So, to put this another way, pretend we are trying to figure out what water is, when we are all under water. Thus we take two thing, like a submarine and a torpedo. When the two hit, there is an explosion with the particles creating a gap around a portion of the Higgs Field making a Higgs Boson, or a drop of water.

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Another example is like dropping a rock into a pond. Yes, there is the wripple, but sometimes, the force causes a drop of water to rise up and become temporarily severed from the body of water only to then re-combine with the rest of the water.

This would explain why that particle disappeared because it re-constituted back into the Higgs Field.

So, if this Higgs Field exists, which as far as science has been able to determine it does, then this field spans all of space and is likely space itself, rippling and flowing. Yet, again with Joseph Smith: "Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space--" (Doctrine and Covenants 88:12). Though it is not visibly seen as light, it is a substance that fills the immensity of space.

With Einstein's theories, the math words with gravity effecting all three dimensions of space as well as time, but there is something that is not explained by using these known dimensions. That is electromagnetism. For the math to work with electromagnetism, there is required a fourth, or if time is counted, fifth dimension.

Obviously, we cannot see this dimension, but its existence is the only way we can make sense of this electromagnetism. Now, I would like to point out my theories in magnetism, with a positive and negative pull which I talked about in my Gender post. Yet, to sum up, it was my theory that positive and negative polarization is caused by feminine or masculine intelligences on the other side of the veil. This veil could be considered the difference between our 3rd dimension and the 4th dimension.

tiny dimensions. Hidden Dimensions Video Link

Now, Brian Greene and other Theoretical Physisists are looking for this fourth dimension as tiny dimensions curled up microscopically.

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This would be the equivalent of having an XY graph, only the lines themselves, not taking up any distance left or right, were actually straws, hollow on the inside. The dimensional difference would be so tiny that we could not see it.

Futurama Season 7 Episode 5 "2-D Blacktop" Clip Link

However, I disagree with this concept. As with the Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions idea from Edwin Abbott Abbot, a true 4th dimension would not fit this criteria. In a 2D (two dimensional) plane, a being would only see lines, maybe colored lines, but still lines. However, that same world seen from a 3D perspective, the 3D individual would be able to see inside of the 2D beings. Like seeing the inside of a circle, or seeing the unborn chick in this 2D egg from Futurama.

What I really enjoyed about this episode of Futurama was how they explained how a 2D organism would live. They could not have a digestive system like ours, because it would split them in half.

So they would have to eat like a microscopic organism  creating a membrane around the object, break it down, and then transplant the nutrients.

Now, say, if a sphere were to enter Flatland, the inhabitants would only be able to see a line that suddenly grows and then shrinks as the sphere passes through layer by layer until it is gone. To the inhabitants, it would be a very strange phenomenon that none of them could explain.

So, in comparison, what would be a 4th dimension to us? The fourth dimension would be able to see inside of our bodies. What we could see from its interaction would be limited and confusing, like something appearing and disappearing.

This reminds me so much of the spirit world. The spirit world is all around us (Gospel Principles Chapter 41). Spirit can exist within us, around us, pass through us. "...for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7).

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Then we have ghosts, spirits appearing and disappearing and manifesting in any number of peculiar ways.

It seems to me that the spirit world meets quite well the criteria for a proper fourth dimension. If this is the case, then those positive and negative (masculine and feminine) charges would indeed be from intelligences from the spirit world.

human bio-electric field Image Link

This would explain why strong electromagnetic fields can cause sickness in some people, disrupting their connection with their own spirits. It would explain how and why our brains have their own bio-electrical field.

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This would explain why ghost are known for manifesting in strange electromagnetic fields, as expressed in Ghosthunters.

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This would explain why electronic devices are often correlated with other ghostly manifestations like EVP (electronic voice phenomenon).

Really, the spirit world being the 4th dimension would explain so much about science and in essence, prove scientifically that there is an afterlife. However, most scientists seem to be atheists and thus almost immediately dismiss ideas such as this. So, I am sharing with you my beliefs in the hope that you ponder these things out for yourselves. As always, I am happy to read any comments you might have.

Love,
Jacobugoth