My Search For The Truth - Part 9 - Does The Soul Exist? - Continued

If all living species developed over a similar evolutionary timeframe, then why are humans unique? Did the emotion of love develop before the emotion of hate, or did all of the human emotions develop simultaneously? How can a brain acquire new characteristics - like emotions, thinking, and reasoning -- if scientifically provable harmful DNA mutations are causing brain degeneration with time (acquiring new characteristics should not be confused with improved brain functioning that may result from environmental influences)!

As previously mentioned, an evolutionist would say that it's just a matter of time when the dog will acquire the missing link in its brain. Really! If so, then we are not just talking about dogs; we are also talking about insects. Will insects become humanlike in time? I don't think so, but this is what you are being told by scientists who believe in evolution of the brain without the influence of God.

My contention is that the brain is nothing more than a biological computer with programming that allows it to have instincts and the ability to learn and adapt. Except for instincts and the existence of life itself, we can fabricate a computer today that learns and adapts, but instinct and biological life remain a mystery. You can be sure of one thing though, and that is that a computer will not have the desire or ability to have an original thought and will not have feelings and humanlike emotions. I concede that a computer can have new thoughts based upon a learned database, but not an original thought. And, what do I mean by an original thought? How about Albert Einstein's theory of relativity? If you think that the theory of relativity could have been derived from computer programming and learning, then the programming and learning would need to include mental imagery, spatial reasoning, image manipulation, and an active imagination. It would need to compile relationships between totally different ideas and derive a new and cogent understanding. And, what would inspire it to have an original thought in the first place? If you believe that this is possible, then you are placing a faith in science that rivals the faith that some people have in their religion.

Then what about reasoned logic? Although one could argue that a computer symbolizes the logic process, it cannot indulge in reasoned logic. If a computer were to be used as a judge in criminal trials, it would most likely look up the law regarding a penalty for a crime and impose the penalty without regard for circumstantial and extenuating circumstances. Since circumstantial and extenuating circumstances require an understanding of motivation, compassion, and other human attributes, the computer would be inadequate for this purpose. My form of reasoned logic is to compile a reasonable number of related facts from which I can form a conclusion. Although my conclusions may be wrong, they are - to the extent possible -- based upon a somewhat unbiased evaluation of both sides of an issue. While some issues can be represented scientifically, mathematically, and historically, many are not. In fact most significant issues - like the theory of macroevolution -- are clouded by misrepresentations and biases on both sides. They are connected to human feelings and beliefs that cannot be deciphered by a computer. Although reasoned logic is an inexact human process it is a human attribute that is not suited to computers. Is it a process derived from a soul?

Scientists are currently examining animal and human brains to determine what makes them tick. They see living cross sectional color renditions of human brain activity, and correlate this activity with emotions and bodily functions. They dissect deceased brains in an attempt to ascertain why some brains behave differently than others. They run tests to evaluate how brains respond to various stimuli. It is almost like they are trying to examine a computer microchip to determine the nature of the program that it is running. While we may be learning more about how a biological computer works, we are probably not ever going to understand the emotional function. While we know empirically that the emotion aspect is there, I don't think we will ever find it.

Probably the most telling of scientific experiments has been to measure weight differences before and after human death. In one instance six patients in a nursing home were wheeled onto a scale just before their death. The scale measured to within one gram, and the results were startling. In each case the weight before death and after death was reduced by an average of 29 grams (454 grams equals one pound). Similar tests have been conducted worldwide with similar results. If you are a scientist, you would have to conclude that something is leaving the body at the time of death. Could this be the soul? Could this be the undetectable invisible ingredient that creates human emotions? To me this test -- although rather bizarre -- is somewhat disappointing since I don't envision the soul as being comprised of matter that has weight. My reasoning is that the soul should not be bound by physical constraints.

The Basic Facts About X-Rays

An X-ray is an electromagnetic wave that is of a very high energy, and a very short wavelength. It can pass through most materials and objects, many of which are opaque to and impenetrable by light. The X-ray consists of photons which are hundreds, or even thousands of times more energetic that the photons of ordinary light. This is why X-rays can go through what light cannot. And by extending that thought a little further, we find that X-rays can penetrate through the flesh, blood and muscles of the human body.

The beginning: How the X-ray was discovered -

Interestingly, the X-ray was discovered by accident. German physicist Röntgen, while experimenting with electrical currents and cathode X-ray tubes, found that a compound of barium glowed even though it was encased in thick cardboard. He did further tests on the X-ray that caused the glow, and since it was not fully understood, it was dubbed as the X-ray, just like how any unknown quantity in mathematics is denoted by an 'X.'

His tests continued, until finally, he managed to discover that the X-ray could pass through human flesh undeterred, and thereby render an imprint of the bone structure. You see, the X-ray could not pass through the bones.

What are X-rays used for?

We are all familiar with the medical uses of the X-ray. Fractures, broken craniums, spinal injuries - you name it, it can be 'seen' with the help of an X-ray. But apart from this, here are some lesser known uses of the X-ray -

• X-ray methodology, known as radiology, can be used for examining paintings to determine their age, brushstrokes, and the techniques used in the painting. This helps in identifying the artist.

• Radiology is used in airport security, to scan through the luggage of passengers arriving and departing.

• X-rays are used in the industrial field as well, to inspect parts such as welds. This concept is called industrial radiography.

• X-rays can also be used for security purposes; to scan through any baggage that is likely to contain suspicious products.

• Radiography can be used not only to study damaged and broken bones, but also to study the movement of bones in a patient. This involves the placement of certain identification marks, and then using the X-ray to study the change in position of the bones over a period of time, with respect to those marks. This kind of radiography is especially helpful for conditions like scoliosis, where the bone is known to change position.

Nothrotheriops in the Rain: A Science Story About Ancient Life in the Grand Canyon

The details of the life of Nothrotheriops in this story are based on knowledge gained from study of the Shasta ground sloth's skeleton, preserved fur, and dung (showing what he ate). It is also possible to extrapolate his basic habits and physiology by comparison with his nearest living relatives, the tree sloths of South America.

Twelve thousand years ago, an ice age was ending. It was late summer, rain streaming down. The southwest monsoon had returned after almost 100,000 years. Nothrotheriops shastensis, the ground sloth, stood in the entrance of a cave that opened onto the Tonto Platform from the base of a limestone cliff. A puddle was filling from a steady drip in the ceiling. The sloth looked out disinterestedly at the overcast day, cool after a hot summer. The sun had peeked out between thunderheads. Swirling sheets of rain in the dark distance became individual falling diamonds in the sunny foreground, and all the rocks and cliffs were wet and glistening. The cave was a shelter, and its entrance room a gigantic brood chamber for the local sloth population. Mountain goats sometimes shared the shelter, which felt warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and always dim and comforting. The floor was soft with thousands of years of pungent dung-balls.

This Nothrotheriops was old for a ground sloth, slower-moving even than most of his slow tribe. He was about eight feet long with his sturdy tail, and he weighed 400 pounds. He was an herbivore. Right now his long tongue was sliding in and out as he tasted his mouthful of bitter joint-fir. He was always chewing, or waddling to his browse, or sleeping. Being a sloth, with a naturally slow metabolism, he was unruffled by the joint fir's heart-stimulating chemistry. Nothrotheriops was a primitive beast related to anteaters and armadillos, members of the Order Xenarthra, which have a reduced number of teeth.

Nothrotheriops was quite safe, the largest animal within Grand Canyon-contemporaneous mammoths and giant sloths were not designed for the steep terrain. The mammoth's chief predator, the saber-toothed cat, was absent as well. While a desperate mountain lion might attack the old sloth, few predators would eat flesh of such a strong odor. Also, Nothrotheriops had formidable claws on its front feet whose slashes could send any cat running, or dying.

The rain poured down, bouncing from the stones and creating a rising mist. Across the Tonto Platform, pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) and juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) trees were winter-pruned to the exact height of Nothrotheriops on his back feet with his long neck stretched out. The underbrush, which he also browsed, was joint fir, yucca, cacti, grasses, and numerous flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants.

He felt hungry, as he usually did while awake. His primitive digestive system was relatively ineffective, requiring him to eat proportionally more forage than the advanced mammals of his world. This took time, and he didn't have much of that, since he required many hours of sleep each day and night. So, walking on his front knuckles and the outside edges of his hind feet, he ambled down the slope to eat. Rivulets of rainwater were soon running down his reddish-brown fur. Between tree trunks, he could see the dark shapes of seven more sloths, four of them pregnant females. Modern female tree sloths, and so perhaps Nothrotheriops, give birth annually, and so they are pregnant for most of the year, often with a young sloth clinging to their fur. The female will abandon these in a few months, when they are big enough to fend for themselves.

Nothrotheriops stopped at a barberry bush (Berberis fremontii) that still had its dark blue berries. He ate the berries and all the youngest foliage he could find. The leaves were prickly and a little too tough for his few worn teeth. Perezia (Acourtia wrightii) and verbena (Verbena macdougalii) grew nearby. Using his prehensile lips, he plucked some of these up before his attention turned to a nice joint-fir (Ephedra viridis), one of his favorites. He didn't mind the rain as long as his body temperature was right. Sloths do not have an efficient temperature regulation system. Was his inability to regulate his internal temperature the cause of his extinction, and all his kind, as the climate warmed and then froze again? Or was it the Clovis people, 12,000 years ago, with their long spears, their fire, and their advanced hunting technology.

Perhaps both climate and humans can share the blame for Nothrotheriops' extinction in another thousand years, but Nothrotheriops didn't know about such things. His feet hurt from his advancing arthritis in the rainy weather, and anyway he felt sleepy, so he returned to his cave for a nap. He paused on the way for a long drink from a stream where fresh rainwater splashed over a rock into a pool. He entered the cave and settled down in the dung blanket. Paleontologists would awaken him in Rampart Cave, in western Grand Canyon, in twelve thousand years.

My Search For The Truth - Part 10 - Does The Soul Exist? - Continued

Here is another scientific investigation related to whether or not the souls exists, and it involves studies of people who have had near death experiences. Oncologist Dr. Jeffrey Long has done just that, and has written a book entitled "Evidence of the Afterlife." For over a decade, Dr. Long cataloged stories from over 1,600 people who have had the near death experience, and concludes that an afterlife must be real. Patients whose heartbeat and breathing had stopped and their brain had ceased to function, tell remarkably consistent stories that are generally lucid and highly organized. Dr. Long states that, "if these people had no brain function, like you have in a cardiac arrest, I think that it is the best model we're going to have to study whether or not conscious experience can occur apart from the physical brain. The research shows that the overwhelming answer is yes."

I find Dr. Long's statement about the brain not functioning to be quite fascinating. I find it fascinating because the skeptics of life after death always attribute the dying conscious or subconscious thoughts to a residual functioning of the brain. But, if there is no brain function, how can this be? My problem with the "out of body experience" is not that the soul leaves the body at death, but it's the claim that the out of body entity is able to see and hear what is going on. Perhaps the soul has a form of sight and hearing that doesn't require eyes and ears as we know them. In any event, Dr. Long's study does support what I have been saying to this point, that the soul is a separate and distinct entity.

Although I am reluctant to include extra-sensory perception testing and evaluation in my discussion to help prove the soul's existence, I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention it. My reluctance comes from my own skepticism, since the physical means by which thoughts are transmitted is not measurable by any known scientific means. But, like trying to find the soul, just because it can't be measured, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. In fact, despite many shortcomings in scientific rigor related to currently available paranormal data, there remains an element of uncertainty that cannot be dismissed at this point in time. I find it interesting that even though the vast majority of scientists do not believe in the paranormal phenomena, because they believe that the data is biased toward the investigators premise, they themselves are guilty of the same bias when it comes to their own premises.

Generally speaking the categories of extra-sensory perception testing are:

1. Precognition - knowledge a person may have of another person's future thoughts or of future events. 

2. Psychokinesis - a person's ability to influence a physical object or event, by merely thinking about it. 

3. Telepathy - a person's awareness of another's thoughts, without any communication through normal sensory channels. 

4. Clairvoyance - knowledge acquired of an object or an event without using the senses.

My opinion is that precognition is not possible because it assumes that future events have already occurred and that the free will of people living in current time cannot influence it. Well known psychic Edgar Cayce claimed that some of his predictions did not happen because people's free will prevented them from happening. I find it difficult to accept this argument since it assumes that all that will happen, has already happened. If this were so, then the our existence and the existence of the universe is like a game that has already been played, but the results keep changing based upon variations of the free wills of the players on the game board. Not only is this line of thinking confusing, it doesn't make sense when viewed from the perspective of purpose. I don't believe that God's purpose is to play a continual never ending game, and that the purpose of human free will is just a form of amusement.

I also don't believe in Psychokinesis, since measurable forces would be required to move objects. On the other hand if subatomic matter had intelligence that could be influenced by the use of access codes, we are into a whole new ballgame.

Telepathy and clairvoyance are not so difficult to dismiss. My own personal experience involved a magician who asked me to think of a playing card. When I thought of the five of diamonds, the magician picked that card out of the deck. I was astonished by this magic trick. How could the magician know what I was thinking? Perhaps there is a good explanation, if I knew how to do the trick, but it's not like picking a card from the deck and the magician guessing the card. This somehow involved my mind. Perhaps subliminal audio messaging or an imperceptive flashed hologram could have influenced my selection of the five of diamonds, but if so, it would be a great form of advertising or group brainwashing!

My thinking on the subject of telepathy and clairvoyance is that current researchers are probably "boxed in" by their effort to find a means of thought transmission. They assume that thought transmission is like radio waves that are transmitted by a sending and receiving source, but what if everything in the universe is somehow interconnected and thoughts are intertwined in a universal web of knowledge. Before you say that this is impossible, consider how radio waves and submicroscopic particles are currently being transmitted through the air and through your body. If this were not so then your radio, television, and cell phone would not work.

My Search For The Truth - Part 11 - Does The Soul Exist? - Continued

In my continuing search for evidence that a soul entity exists, I once watched a television documentary about a "savant" named Daniel Tammet. Daniel had the ability to solve mathematical problems as fast as a calculator. For example, he could solve Pi to an infinite number of decimal places - in one instance 22,514 decimal places. When he was asked how he did it, his answer was that he saw everything as an interconnected web. He claimed to see numbers and words as a landscape of shapes, sounds, colors, and movement. He also implied that everything in the universe is interconnected. Daniel's brain capabilities take the conscious and subconscious mind to a whole new level. Is Daniel Temmet's extraordinary abilities a result of an external link to the soul, or is it just an unusual brain or soul function?

But, let's not leave it there, let's discuss intelligence as it relates to the human soul. While a dog, primate, or android may seem intelligent, it doesn't mean that they have human emotion and intelligence as we know that it is.

To discuss intelligence as it relates to the existence of a soul I'll begin with these very famous words from The United States Constitution, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal." While it is clear that some mortal humans have different mental and physical abilities than others, it's my contention that God made all souls equal in capability, but unique in character. In fact, as mentioned in earlier commentary, I believe that the biblical implication of humans being made in the image of God means the image of the soul rather than the human body. However, mortal humans have brain differences that impose physical and mental limitations that an equally capable and intelligent soul probably cannot overcome - at least until it is released from the body during a physical death. It is also my contention that the soul is capable of developing unique types of intelligences with each unique physical brain --- including people with physical brain damage.

Too many times we judge people based upon their intelligence test scores, however, these tests tend to only measure a certain type of intelligence. It has been my observation that people with high intelligence test scores tend to be lacking in other areas of human intelligence - especially common sense. It is rare to find someone who, "has it all," but many have varying degrees of it all. So for an equally intelligent soul having to interact with brain differences, posses some challenges. In other words, the soul must deal with the hand that it is dealt. In some instances a person with a severely damaged or unusual brain type, may have remarkable capabilities. These people are sometimes referred to a savants - like Daniel Tammet. However, in most cases the ancestral history of a person determines their brain differences. As a result it appears that God has accommodated physical brain differences in a way that tends to level the playing field for mortal humans. In the process of leveling the playing field, intelligence can be broken down into more than one type.

Psychologist Dr. Howard Gardner claims that there are nine types of intelligence, but I believe that there are more. I believe that there are more because the words talent, common sense, intuition, and inclination should also be substituted for the word intelligence. Talent, common sense, intuition and inclination can range from compassion to generosity, and everything in between. But, for specificity I will quote from Gardner's summary of intelligence types:

Naturalistic Intelligence ("nature smart")

The human ability to discriminate among living things (plants and animals) as well as a sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations). Typical professions include being a botanist or chef.

Musical Intelligence ("music smart")

The ability to discern pitch, rhythm, timber, and tone. This intelligence enables people to recognize, create, reproduce, and reflect on music. People with this intelligence may become a composer, conductor, musician, and/or vocalist.

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence ("number/reasoning smart")

The ability to calculate, quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses, and carry out complete mathematical operations. It enables us to perceive relationships and connections and to use abstract, symbolic thought; sequential reasoning skills; and inductive and deductive thinking patterns. This intelligence is generally associated with mathematicians, scientists, engineers, and detectives.

My Search For The Truth - Part 12 - Does The Soul Exist? - Continued

For most of my life, I have been awed by these words from our constitution, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal." To me, these words imply all humans are created with an equal soul, but the soul needs to deal with different types of physical brains. My rationalization is that our God given soul appears to be capable of accommodating various brain types, in an effort to level the playing field for all humans. To accomplish this, our brains appear to develop different types of intelligences.

In my last article I described three of nine types of intelligences proposed by Dr. Howard Gardner. Here are the remaining six.

Existential Intelligence ("deep reasoning smart")

The sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here. Philosophers generally have this capability.

Interpersonal Intelligence ("people smart")

The ability to understand and interact effectively with others. It involves effective verbal and nonverbal communication, the ability to note distinctions among others, sensitivity to moods and temperaments, and the ability to entertain multiple perspectives. This intelligence is generally associated with salespeople, teachers, social workers, actors, and politicians.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence ("body smart")

The capacity to manipulate objects and use a variety of physical skills. It involves a sense of timing and the perfection of skills through mind-body union. Obviously this intelligence is associated with athletes, but could include surgeons, and craftspeople.

Linguistic Intelligence ("word smart")

The ability to think in words and to use language to express and appreciate complex meanings. It allows us to understand the order and meaning of words and to apply meta-linguistic skills to reflect on our use of language. This intelligence is evident in poets, journalists, novelists, and public speakers.

Intra-personal Intelligence ("self smart")

The capacity to understand one's thoughts and feelings, and to use such knowledge in planning and directing one's life. It involves not only an appreciation of the self, but also of the human condition. This is evident in psychologists, and spiritual leaders.

Spatial Intelligence ("picture smart")

The ability to think in three dimensions. Core capacities include mental imagery, special reasoning, image manipulation, graphic and artistic skills, and an active imagination - the previously mentioned aspects of original thought. We see this intelligence in sculptors, painters, inventors, and architects.

The reason why I have included the above list of intelligences in this commentary about the soul is to provide further evidence of the uniqueness of humans and the existence of the soul. And, as previously mentioned, it helps illustrate how God may have arranged for souls to level the playing field for mortal humans. However, I believe that intelligence and talent are closely linked. Furthermore I believe that talent, common sense, intuition and inclination are closely linked. A person is usually inclined to do what he or she is good at doing. Thank God for the people who have the talent and inclination to work for Hospice.

Before leaving the subject of intelligence, as it relates to the soul, I want to briefly discuss self image and how the soul can act to change lives. It's called the power of positive thinking or psycho-cybernetics. I consider this to be an important aspect of the soul that is often neglected in making the case for how the soul is separate and distinct from the brain. Stay tuned and I'll explain in my next article.

Some Thoughts About Quantum Entanglement

If I understand the concept of entanglement correctly, it basically means that if you know the state of one thing (via an observation or a measurement) then you automatically know the state (without an observation or measurement) of some other thing. The two things therefore are entangled. For example, if you know for certain that the top card in a standard deck of cards is the six-of-diamonds; then you also know for certain that the bottom card in the deck is not the six-of-diamonds. The cards in a deck of cards are entangled. But that doesn't mean of necessity that there is any kind of communication between the entangled things, or in this case between the top and bottom card in the standard deck.

Many however suggest that until an observation is made, every position in any deck of cards is in a superposition-of-state such that each position in the deck, like top card and bottom card, are simultaneously and equally a mixture of all fifty-two possible card values. When an observation is actually made, the superposition-of-state collapses (or the wave-function of whatever that superposition-of-state represents collapses) and the deck position so observed resolves itself from a mixture of fifty-two to a reality of one (which then tells you what the other deck positions are not so there is an entanglement).

Einstein railed against entanglement on the grounds that the two (or more) entangled things must of communicated with each other because both things were in a superposition-of-state and only an observation or a measurement of one or the other thing would collapse their wave-function and negate their superposition-of-state and since that happen instantaneously, it violated Einstein's speed of light restriction. Einstein was not amused calling that "spooky action at a distance". However, IMHO, Einstein's big error may have to blindly accept that there even was such a thing as superposition-of-state. If there is no such thing as superposition-of-state then there is no such thing as collapse of the wave-function and thus there is no such thing as spooky action at a distance.

Let's look at a few examples.

1) Some Thoughts About Jane.

Say you are Jane's husband and you know that she eats the following for dinner, and only the following for dinner, on these days and only on these days.

Eggs on a Monday; 

Lamb on a Tuesday; 

Beef on a Wednesday; 

Ham on a Thursday; 

Fish on a Friday; 

Poultry on a Saturday; and 

Pasta on a Sunday:

But say you lose all track of time for one reason or another (drinking binge; coma; overseas trip, etc.). In your state of uncertainty, Jane's choice of dinner and what day of the week it is are both in a so-called superposition of state. An observation is necessary to collapse the wave function. If you observe your wife Jane eating fish, well you know it must be a Friday. If you happen to find out it's a Friday, then you know for certain what your wife Jane will have for dinner. Thus, there is an entanglement between your wife's choice of dinner and the day of the week, but there is no communication or spooky action at a distance between Jane or Jane's food and the day of the week. It would be like Jane or Jane's food trying to communicate with something immaterial since the days of the week are just human invention - an abstract mental construction or concept without substance or structure.

2) Some Thoughts About Twins.

Say you and your identical twin start out at some point X and walk in opposite directions. It's well known in the community that one of you always wears a green shirt and the other one of you (your twin) always wears a red shirt (in order to told apart by those you meet and greet). Prior to some third party meeting up with and greeting one or the other of you, were both of you wearing a superposition-of-shirts? Were both of your shirts both green AND red at the same time or were you (and your twin) just wearing either a red shirt OR a green shirt? Its nonsense to suggest that the third party meeting one or the other of you collapsed your superposition-of-shirt wave function and thus there was an instantaneous faster than light communication between your various shirts sorting out who was wearing what colour shirt.

3) Some Thoughts About Electrons

Now what's wrong with this scenario (apart from nothing I mean)? Two electrons in the same 'orbit' get ejected from their parent atom and one is tossed east and other is heaved west. Obviously they are in different quantum states and so one is spin-up and the other is spin-down and thus they are entangled. Light years later and apart, you measure the eastern one and find it is spin-up so you now instantaneously know the other western electron is spin-down, and indeed, the other electron, light years away, is indeed spin-down as verified nanoseconds later by someone else. But there was no communication between the two. There was no spooky action at a distance because it's not a case of the eastern electron being spin-up AND spin-down prior to your interference (observation or measurement) but from the beginning when it was tossed out it was going to be either spin-up OR spin-down (in this case spin-up) and ditto for the western electron - it was spin-down from the beginning quite independently of any observation or measurement.

One needs to ask the obvious question which is what actual observational evidence is there for a superposition-of-state? IMHO there can't be any since by definition apparently any actual observation or measurement destroys the very existence of a superposition-of-state: BOTH collapses into ONE. You only ever observe the ONE, not the BOTH. So, using the principle that's part and parcel of Occam's Razor, wouldn't it be just more straightforward to suggest that there is no such animal as a superposition-of-state and that the observer or the measurement is 100% irrelevant to any state of reality so occupied by two or more entangled things.

In conclusion, if you observe the state of X that might also tell you the state of Y but there doesn't have to be any communication between the two. And while there might be entanglement of sorts or to varying degrees, there is no spooky action at a distance. Those who argue to the contrary and adopt the standard model, well, IMHO never have so many waxed lyrical for so long about so little.

Science librarian; retired.