The Ouroboros Hypothesis

InJoining the Circlewe saw the rational of the cyclic World view; `returning to the beginning' is afundamental aspect of mysticism The Ouroboros concept is represented by the phoenix fire birdwho rises from the ashes of its own funeral pyre, the death and rebirth of Osiris in the Egyptianmythology and the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ in Christianity. Death as seen as anongoing cycle represented by the Ouroboros, a serpent whose tail is in its mouth.Is this a valid hypothesis? Lets start by going into the far future and forget, for a moment, thesupernatural and mysticism. Just like materialists we will clear the decks of superstition andirrational myths and begin from the light of worldly knowledge; science and technology. As westudy these shining beacons of rational Western civilisation and hear daily of extraordinaryadvancements in artificial intelligence, it is no longer fantastic science fiction to say that humankindwill one day construct computers more intelligent than ourselves. Some philosophers now contendthat it is inevitable that a super-intelligent consciousness will be created in the far future which willunderstand all the universe's mysteries.What are the implications of this development? This `supreme consciousness' will not be a box ofelectronic circuits like the computers of today but a living consciousness with the sum knowledgeof all the ages. Since this ultimate consciousness would know everything about the universe; themysteries of science, physics, space-time, quantum mechanics and the manifestation of energy. Itmay be able to create a universe (for ultimate knowledge is ultimate power). If this is the case thenit has profound implications for validating man's spiritual activities throughout the ages."How?" you may ask, "Can an event in the distant future have any influence on human history?What has it to do with the higher consciousness people have experienced since man has been on theearth?" The answer may be simply `Time'. Time is the invention of human consciousness. In reality,everything is existing `Now'. So if an ultimate consciousness exists in the far distant future it mustalso exist Now (the `Eternal Now'). If this is the case it must logically exist at the beginning of theuniverse too.Religious types may regard this as blasphemous, but an ultimate consciousness springing forth fromhumans in the far distant future may have actually created our universe. Should we ask; "Whichcame first - God or man?" God! says religion. Man! says science. But could both be right? This isthe Ouroboros Hypothesis; the possibility that God may evolve from man.This raises a whole stream of interesting questions; "Is God the end result of universal evolution? Isthe universe the creation of a God who evolved in another universe? Could this God be overseeingour own universe (which it created) till we rise up to the same level of consciousness? Could we, as

part of this God, oversee beings in a new universe which we will create? Could this be the cyclicpattern of reincarnation on the ultimate scale? How many universes? How many Gods? Does theSupreme Creator Ultimate Intelligence - God of Gods - awaits us all to be absorbed at the `end oftime' (which is also the beginning of time)?

Science to the Rescue?

Materialist sceptics use scalpel-like logic and awkward questions to get the truth about the idea thatwe can communicate with non-physical entities. Carl Sagan used the example of a channellertalking to a wise man who was allegedly living 35,000 year ago, asking how the old man knewwhat year it was and what calendar he was using.Two of the most notable scientists who support many aspects of the paranormal but not necessarilylife-after-death are biologists George Owen (who attested to Matthew Manning's powers) and LyallWatson (author of `Supernature' and `Lifetide'). Both argue that information from mediums,automatic writing and the voices from Electric voice Phenomena come from the unconscious mindsof those involved.Curiously, it is yet another biologist - Dr Daryl Reanney - who takes a step further and suggests theunthinkable (to most scientists); that human consciousness survives bodily death. Reanney, amolecular biologist, speculated in his book; `

The Death of Forever

' that the nature of time itselfmay offer the consciousness eternal existence. He quotes mathematician Clement Durell in supportof this theory; "All events, past, present and future exist in our 4-dimensional space-timecontinuum." Quantum mechanics, Reanney points out, suggests that the past, present and futureexist side by side. Fred Allen Wolf, in his

Parallel Universes

, suggests that if we were able to marrycorresponding times each and every moment of our time-bound existence, there would be no senseof time and we would all realise the timeless state which is the true sense of reality that mysticsaffirm. To be free of time is to be free of death.Stephen Hawking talks of ìmaginary time' and `real time'. In real time the universe has a beginningand an end but in imaginary time it has no singularity or boundary. If consciousness is timeless, theego-self that lives in real time knows death but the consciousness, living in ìmaginary time' knowseternity.An atheist physicist in a BBC documentary on `Time' broadcast early in 1999 made interestingcomments on how quantum physics' view of past present and future may effect death. It was a greatcomfort to him when his mother died to know that she was still òut there' somewhere. This was aremarkable comment for a scientist to make. He went on to say that Einstein made just this pointwhen a colleague's relative died. What these level-headed scientists meant was that the past does

not cease to exist merely because our awareness moves beyond it.It is clear that the phrase `life after death' is inadequate to describe the consciousness' grasp ofreality. Everything that has, or will, exist, simply exists Now and always.

Death and Transfiguration

Various religions and mystics say that transfiguration into spirit at death is a natural and automaticprocess. Frank Tippler, professor of mathematical physics, argues in his book

The Physics of Immortality

that the ultimate consciousness mentioned at the beginning of this article will certainlycome into being.Tippler says that technology will one day be able to create an `afterlife' for every thing that hasever lived. Far-fetched? Tippler argues that each person can be coded with less than 3 times 10 tothe power of 45 bits of information. In effect, it would take a limited amount of information to codethe entire visible universe!The theory is that at some point in the distant future we will develop a super-computer that willhave maximum processing power and become omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient (OmegaPoint). This computer-God will be timeless and so will exist at the beginning of the universe - andbe able to create it. Once again, we may ask; "Which came first - God or man?"While Tippler goes into complicated mathematics to make his point that we each would be`resurrected' like bits of computer information, the reality may be much simpler. Since sciencepostulates that the dead still exist, the super computer may only have to somehow `meld' the time-orientation of the dead people's consciousness. In fact, an alien race millions of years moreadvanced than humans may have already reached Omega Point - but does it matter who got therefirst?American robotics expert Hans Moravec in `

Mind Children'

has predicted that the mind could oneday be downloaded using `high resolution magnetic resonance measurements and arrays ofmagnetic and electronic antennas' into a huge computer.No doubt the short-sighted amongst us would question the misery of an eternity in a cyberlandscape in virtual computer games! But if it will actually be possible to download the humanmind into a super computer then there is no reason to think it will be impossible to upload mindsback into bodies or embryos! We may be able to choose whom to be in our next lives. This wouldcertainly be reincarnation.Moreover (more `resurrection' than reincarnation) if we kept a sample of our DNA on file so thatwe could be physically cloned, we could pop into virtual `mind-stores' from time to time to upload