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The next part examines the implications -- moral, ethical, personal etc. --
of the theory of Universal Awareness in your life. Now you may have some doubts and scepticism
about the theory, or you may reject it altogether; perhaps it is incompatible with your religious
faith or you own worldview or philosophy on life. For present purposes I am asking you to adopt a
'What if it's true?' approach and then see what you come up with. So why not spend some
time thinking along these lines before moving on to the next section?
IMPLICATIONS OF UNIVERSAL AWARENESS FOR YOU
Most religions, whatever the size of their following, are ways of addressing 'the big
questions' of life: First, there are what philosophers call existential questions: How did the
world begin? How did life, in all its diversity, start off? How did human life originate? Is there
an ultimate purpose to the universe, life and humanity? What happens to us when we die? What is the
ultimate fate of the universe itself? Then there are 'big questions' about morality: What
is good and bad or right and wrong? What makes a good person? How does one lead a good and
fulfilling life? What happens, or should happen, to someone who behaves badly? Why is the world so
unfair -- why do people suffer so much while others enjoy such great fortune, regardless of whether
they are good or bad?
We can seek answers to these questions by consulting religious texts and reading and listening
to what religious teachers say. But even if we commit ourselves to a particular religion, and even
if we accept wholeheartedly the doctrine of that religion, ultimately it is our choice how we
answer those 'big questions'. The same goes for non-religious philosophical world
views.
In fact, even people who do describe themselves as adherents of a particular religion may still
be selective in what answers they accept and what they do not.
Many people reject religion as a basis for seeking answers to 'the big questions' and
turn to what logical thinking and rational and scientific study reveals about the world and
ourselves.
Finally, many people are not particularly interested in spending time thinking about these
'big questions' but they still live their lives quite contentedly!
Even including the last-mentioned group, I have been talking about what we often call one's
personal philosophy on life, one's answers to those 'big questions'.
What is your personal philosophy? If you would like to think about this by considering all these
'big questions' in turn and how you would answer them, I have devised a scheme entitled My
Personal Philosophy to help you, which is available at https://mypersonalphilosophy.com/.
As I say on that website, making explicit your personal philosophy on life may be helpful to you
in 'guiding you through the ups and downs of everyday life, conflicts that arise, uncertainty,
moral and ethical challenges, and so on. Remaining true to your personal philosophy-being more
conscious of and committed to those ideals and principles which are important to you and which you
trust and value-may provide you with greater inner strength and self-reliance and enhance your
self-respect and sense of self-worth.'
Now let's consider what would be the implications for you were you to adopt the Theory of
the Soul as your personal philosophy on life. Whether or not you truly believe the following
premises, imagine that you do so, absolutely. Then consider what each one would mean for you.
Whether or not you truly believe the following premises, imagine that you do so, absolutely.
Then consider what each one would mean for you.
(Note: For present purposes, the pronoun 'I' is used in the everyday sense of the word,
while 'I' is 'I' in the special sense of your 'awareness of being', what
the theory defines as your Soul. The expression 'the person I am aware of being' is
abbreviated to 'the person I am' or just 'me' and is your personal identity.)
Reality
The universe exists in reality, whether or not I or any sentient being exists.
I have no reason to believe in the existence of any kind of intelligence or divine being that
created the universe and has a presence within or separate from the universe.
I have no reason to believe that the universe exists to fulfil some ultimate plan, purpose or
intention, likewise life, including human existence.
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Some people argue that believing that the world was created by an intelligent being such as a
god is irrational and that religions are simply stories that we invent to explain what do not know
or understand. But is it really irrational to look at the world -- the galaxies, stars, planets,
our planet and the natural world-and think that there must have been a beginning to all this, that
it can't just have come about on its own? Surely there must have been a creator with the
know-how to construct everything that we see about us. And if there were, then in doing so,
he/she/it must surely have a plan, a purpose, an intention? After all, when I look around me now, I
see the contents of the room I am presently in and, through the windows, my garden, my
neighbours' houses, and their gardens. I probably wouldn't ask the question how all these
things came to be in place, but if I did the answer would be that they are the results of the
activities of intelligent beings with their ideas, purposes and plans, and the know-how to realise
these.
Even some scientists who are not religious have put forward ideas of an intelligent designer or
creator (e.g. the notion that the entire universe is a computer programme). So you may find the
premise that there is no creator very difficult to accept.
I only ever experience reality as represented by my mind
As with any other sentient being, the universe as I experience it at any time is a
representation constructed by my mind. It is akin to a map, but unlike an everyday map, I cannot
compare it with the territory that the map represents. All I can say is 'the universe
is.'
However, I can improve on the accuracy of my 'map' by exploring the universe in a
rational and logical manner; this includes studying the accounts of others who do, and have done,
likewise.
Thus I accept the consensus accounts of scholars and scientists of the origins, history, and
nature of the universe and of life, including the species to which I belong. Even so, these can
only ever be 'mental maps' of reality.
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Not all people will agree with this philosophy, but again I ask you to imagine that this
represents your way. Think deeply about this. What are, or would be, the consequences for you? Does
it make sense to you? How do you feel when you think like this? What difference does it make to how
you think and feel about your life? How might it influence the way you behave?
There are no right and wrong answers to these questions, as these are personal to you. One thing
that comes to my mind is that even though I accept this philosophy, I don't necessarily go
through life thinking this way all the time. Like most people, for everyday purposes I manage best
by accepting reality as I perceive it! But now and again, I find it helpful and instructive to
remind myself of the above premises and to consider that they are true for everyone, even though
not everyone would accept them.
The person I am
Sentient beings like me occur at those part of the universe where its structure and composition
allow it to be self-aware; that is, to be aware of its material structure and its activity.
Physically, the person I am is a minute part of the universe. That is,
my body, including my brain and the rest of my nervous system is entirely composed of elements, all
of which exist in the rest of universe. All the atoms and molecules of which I am constructed are
drawn from the environment around me and are recycled by returning to that environment to be used
by other life forms. Indeed, it has been calculated that a person's body at any time contains
atoms that were once present in every person who has ever lived.
Universal Awareness I use the metaphor of the universe as a huge ocean and you as a
minute part of this. How does it feel to think of yourself as a tiny bit of the physical universe
in this way?
----0----
Some people believe that life is only possible by the presence of some special entity or process
(e.g. a 'life force') that cannot be explained by the laws of physics. Similar ideas are
expressed concerning consciousness. You might think it demeaning to think of yourself as 'a
tiny bit of the universe' whose existence is not part of some ultimate purpose or plan. But
remember that you are one of those rare and possibly the most extraordinary bits of the universe
where consciousness and self-awareness is possible. So maybe you, along with everyone else, are
allowed to celebrate your existence, whatever you are doing in your life!
I am an activity of the universe
Concerning my personal identity, what I understand as 'the person I
am' is an activity. It is not just an activity of my body; at any time it is part of the wider
activity of the universe and not separate from it. It is something the universe does. This activity
is subject to the same physical laws that govern the activity of the rest of the universe.
----0----
Once more, the above premise runs contrary to our everyday way of thinking (the usual mental
'map' that we use to understand the world and make our way around it). And again it is our
everyday way of thinking that stands us in better stead for most purposes. But what does it mean to
you to think in this new way, namely that you, as with every other person, are physically a part of
the universe that is constantly changing in its structure and composition, and the person you
identify as yourself is an activity of that object, interacting with the world around you? Think
deeply about this (the ocean metaphor may help here) and explore what kind of feelings it evokes
about yourself and other people. Again there are no correct or incorrect answers.
When I die
When my body, including my brain, ceases to function, the person I am
aware of being ceases to exist. This is my fate when the person I am dies
and applies to every sentient being. Hence, there is no afterlife, such that the person who I was
exists somewhere else, say in heaven or in the 'spirit' world. The material of which that
person was composed at death remains part of the universe, but it is not organised in a manner that
enables the universe to be aware. In a manner of speaking, the universe 'can no longer engage
in the activity of being me'.
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It may be that, like many people, you believe that the person you are now will continue to exist
in some form after death and you may feel that you have experienced evidence of this with respect
to other people after their death. (Note that we are not including here the idea of
reincarnation as another person.) And you may find the above assertion unbearable. We all mourn the
death of loved ones, and it is a great comfort to believe that we will be reunited with them when
we ourselves die. This may be especially so if the deceased person is a child or someone who has
endured a life of great suffering and 'has gone before their time'. Hence, comfort also
comes from believing that they have 'gone to a better place' where they have eternal life
without suffering.
It is for these reasons that I myself would never insist to anyone that we only live one life
and that's it-no afterlife of any kind. Many people accept this, but across the world and for
most of our history, so many people's lives are, and have been, stunted and blighted by
suffering owing to malnutrition, poverty, disease, enslavement and war. In contrast, I have had a
long and relatively comfortable and fulfilling life and you might say that people like me are
privileged to entertain the belief that when we die, that is the end and there is no going to a
better place, no being reunited with loved ones, no eternal life. Compounding this is the rejection
of any kind of intelligent being such as an all-powerful and merciful God, who has created the
world and each one of us with a plan and a purpose in mind. How could life be so cruel and unfair
that all you are getting is just one life when that life is blighted by pain and misery?
Perhaps the belief that the person we are has only one life gives us added incentive to make
that life a good one and to help others to have a good life too.
But I have only been talking about one of the implications that follow from the theory of
Universal Awareness when we are thinking about death. There are two more that, if you accept the
theory, radically alter the way you answer that fundamental question 'What happens to me when I
die?' and that, in each of their ways, provide some hope and comfort that many would find
lacking in the simple rejection of an afterlife.
Every event exists
I believe that the people whom I have known live on with me after their death in my imagination,
in the way they have shaped and influenced me and the world around me, and my memories of them.
However, no communication now is possible between us in the same way that there was when they were
alive.
But there is more. Every conscious experience, past, present and future, that I have in my life
exists. I can think of what I am experiencing now as happening 'here' and any event that I
have consciously experienced in my past as still happening 'over there'. The same applies
for everyone else. So I may think of all the events in the lives of those people who have died as
happening 'over there', though again no communication is possible between me 'here'
and those people 'over there'.
Moreover, I believe that conscious awareness is eternal. There is no fixed universal timeline
that brings an end to all of this.
Once more, I invite you to think deeply about this and what it means for you when you
contemplate your life. What are the implications of believing this for how you feel about your own
mortality? And what are the implications for how you feel regarding the people in your life who
have meant so much to you, but are no longer with you? Does it bring you comfort, distress or
mixture of feelings?
----0----
Speaking for myself, I have mixed feelings when I think in this way. Yes, it brings me comfort
to believe that the people I knew (and myself too) are enjoying all those happy, fulfilling moments
of their life that are in my past (before my present 'now' experience) 'over there'
and will be forever. But I have to accept that this also applies to the sad, distressing and
painful ones too.
There is a loose analogy that might be apposite here. Consider a great work of art such as a
painting, drawing, or sculpture, or even a magnificent construction such as a palace, a cathedral
or a even a bridge. Suppose that this was created in your past but still exists in your present. We
may say that the artist or architect concerned has created something that is positive and
permanent-that is, the pleasure and delight that it brings is not confined to the moment it was
created and then it's all over.
Now think of the good moments of your life in a similar way to those artistic creations. Once
they cease and are in the past, rather than sadly thinking that they are over and will never
return, think of them as everlasting, like those works of art, still giving the same pleasure, even
though you as you are now can no longer consciously experience them (except of course [but not
always] in memory, which itself is usually a pleasurable experience). Perhaps this will help you
when you are 'mourning the past'. Perhaps also it will give you an incentive to create as
many good moments for yourself and for others as you go through life, thinking of yourself like an
artist creating permanent works of art, and the enjoyment that they bring as everlasting.
We now come to the second of the two additional implications the Theory of Universal Awareness
has for the question 'What happens when I die?'
I am always aware of being someone
I believe that I-my soul (meaning my awareness of being)-is not limited
to me, the person I am. Awareness of being is a universal activity, such
that every sentient being has, in a manner of speaking, the same Soul, the same awareness of being.
However at any moment I can only be aware of being one person, the person
I am that is living one life as a continuous stream of conscious events
along a timeline from past to present to future. So when the person I am
aware of being ceases to exist, I does not do so. I
am aware of every conscious experience of every entity that is capable of self-awareness.
At this juncture some uncertainty in the theory of Universal Awareness must be acknowledged.
What is meant by 'a sentient being'. Are we just speaking about human beings? Or do we
include other creatures, and if so what other creatures? How about robots possessed of artificial
intelligence? And do we include entities that are self-aware in every locality of the
universe? The theory of Universal Awareness provides little guidance on these questions.
Whatever the case, I invite you to think deeply about all of this and what it means to you.
----0----
This may be the most challenging of all the implications of the theory of Universal Awareness,
one that may be very difficult to get one's head around. It is saying that
I am aware of being of every sentient being who has ever lived before,
during and after the person whom I am aware of being right now. Now, there
are people I (here meaning the person I am now) would love to be and people who I would hate to be.
So again you may contemplate this aspect of Universal Awareness with a mixture of feelings. And
remember again that it is an eternal process; there is no point when all of this comes to an
end.
Perhaps believing this gives us an added incentive to do what we can to maximise the happy and
pleasurable events in our lifetime and minimise the unhappy and painful experiences, both for
ourselves and others. So we should keep in mind the Golden Rule, namely treat other people as we
would have them treat us.
Further exploration
There are many more implications of the theory of Universal Awareness for your understanding of
yourself and others and how you think of and react to the world, including the world of people.
There is one more that you may like to think about now and which I find very profound. It concerns
what in Universal Awareness I call 'the unlikeliness of you'. Consider all the events and
conditions (going back indefinitely in time) that were necessary for the person you are to have
been born. To get an idea of just how many of these there are, bear in mind that as far as we know,
you are the product of one unique sperm fertilising one unique egg. A different sperm and/ or a
different egg would mean a different person. If you think about this, you must conclude that only a
vanishing small number of people are ever born! Yet one of them was you. Need this astonish you?
Not really. Some people must be born just as some people must win a lottery prize. When I think
about this, what really astonishes me is that my I, my awareness of being, exists at all. That is,
I think about the myriad of events and conditions required for me to experience conscious awareness
of the universe, the absence of any one of which would deny me this, according to our usual way of
thinking about the world. But when I am doing this I am attaching my awareness of being to the
person I am, However, according to the theory of Universal Awareness, my awareness of being does
not depend upon a particular unique individual coming into existence against all probability. There
is only one awareness of being (which we may call the Universal Soul if this does not sound too
mystical). So there is nothing to be astonished about.
One could probably write a sizable book entirely on matters such as these that arise from the
theory of Universal Awareness. But not now! I encourage you to continue exploring for yourself all
the implications of accepting the theory. This can be very challenging because it requires you to
think about the world in ways that are very different from how you normally do, so you will need to
continually remind yourself of the basic tenets of the theory. But above all, see how much you can
live your life according to the humanistic values and principles that arise from the theory that
have been summarised here