Mind Power News No. 172: Is the Universe More Like A Dream or a Computer?

Mind Power News
Issue No. 172 / Saturday, June 23, 2007
www.MindPowerNews.com

In this issue:

IS THE UNIVERSE DREAMING ITSELF? When you begin to awaken to the dream-like nature of things you realize that waking reality doesn't exist in the way you thought it did, as something separate from you. Saying it is a dream, your own projection, reflection, etc. is the same thing as saying it is nothing other than your own mind appearing in a convincing, externalized display.

IS THE UNIVERSE A MASSIVE SUPERCOMPUTER? The legendary Konrad Zuse was the first to suggest that the entire universe is being computed on a computer, possibly a cellular automaton. He referred to this as Rechnender Raun (computing cosmos or computing space), which in fact started the field of "Digital Physics."

THE NEW SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS: The term “new science” was first introduced in 1964 by the late Nobel neuroscientist Dr. Roger Sperry. It is based on the premise that your consciousness can create physical effects in your brain as well as the other way around.

HOW TO BE HAPPY RIGHT NOW: Gratitude is one of the most powerful emotions a human being can experience. It alone can put you in a state of Bliss (contentment). A grateful mind is a content mind. A grateful mind needs nothing. When you are in a state of Gratitude, peace and overall contentment follows.

THE 8 MISTAKES MOST INSOMNIACS MAKE: As a result of “Learned Insomnia”, people usually try to recuperate by taking actions to work around their Insomnia. All these actions actually make Insomnia worse by drastically weakening the sleep system and perpetuating it instead of solving the problem; because they do not attack the ”cause” of Insomnia, only its symptoms.

Is the Universe Dreaming Itself?

By Paul Levy
Source: ResonateView.org

When you begin to spiritually awaken, it is like waking up inside of a dream and recognizing that everything you are experiencing is nothing other than a very convincing projection, or display of your mind. The boundary between inner and outer, between dreaming and waking starts to dissolve, and you begin to realize that the same dreaming mind that is dreaming your dreams at night is dreaming your life. You realize that there is a Deeper Dreaming Self that is having a dream and we are it!

This Deeper Dreaming Self is active in us at all times and is continually seeking to express it itself. If we recognize the dreaming process that is happening right now, we can step into it and help it unfold consciously. It will activate our own inherent process of awakening and reconnect us with ourselves.

It is as though there is a dream that is trying to be dreamt through each and all of us -- both individually and collectively. The universe is seen as a field not separate from and through which this deeper, dreaming process is continually expressing it itself.

Recognizing the deeper dream, or archetypal myth that we have been unconsciously acting out in our waking life reconnects us not only with the deeper ground of the psyche but also with other people, as everybody is seen to be fellow actors in a divine drama. It takes one's life out of a purely personal framework and gives it a deeper sense of meaning, which makes suffering so much more bearable.

When you begin to awaken to the dream-like nature of things you realize that waking reality doesn't exist in the way you thought it did, as something separate from you. Saying it is a dream, your own projection, reflection, etc. is the same thing as saying it is nothing other than your own mind appearing in a convincing, externalized display. Everything that happens is seen to be the unmediated expression of your mind, which you now understand can just as easily express it itself in outer events as it does in inner feelings, dreams or intuitions.

This is related to Jung's idea of synchronicity, those "meaningful coincidences," where an inner situation gets mirrored through an outer event. They are examples of where there is a fissure in reality and one gets a chance to glimpse the underlying unity.

By saying that our waking reality is some sort of a dream, which is the same thing as saying that it is a projection of your mind, the implication is that how you view it actually effects how it appears. This is very clear in lucid dreaming, where the dream is realized to be the unmediated manifestation of your mind.

Once you realize this, you don't become conditioned by, and react to, the reflections as something solid, real, and autonomous (as a kitten would looking in a mirror), you just recognize them as your own energy appearing externally. Your relationship to the universe changes dramatically.

Read the full story here...
http://www.mindpowernews.com/DreamingUniverse.htm

Is The Universe A Massive Supercomputer?

By P.A. Wahid
Source: The Hindu

The latest thinking that is doing rounds in scientific circles is whether the universe is a computer. The legendary Konrad Zuse, a German scientist who built the first programmable computer, was also the first to suggest in 1967 that the entire universe is being computed on a computer, possibly a cellular automaton.

He referred to this as Rechnender Raun (computing cosmos or computing space), which in fact started the field of "Digital Physics." The tremendous advances made in computer science and technology during the last couple of decades have also made a sea change in the quality of our thought process. What has been done manually before the advent of modern computer technology can now be done unmanned more efficiently and rapidly by the use of a computer.

Nature has always been a wonder and a source of inspiration for intellectual activity to man. Apart from the physical components of the universe, there are the natural phenomena and a whole variety of rules and mechanisms that are responsible for the entire universe to function as a single system.

The fact that phenomena like natural cycles, planetary movements and a host of others occur with clockwork precision and accuracy leads to the obvious conclusion that our universe is a programmed system.

Nothing happens in this universe in an arbitrary manner but only according to certain eternal laws and that is why we are able to formulate principles based on our observations that can reflect the natural order.

Every aspect of the universe is mathematically describable. We find sequences in every natural phenomenon, be it a chemical, physical or biological reaction or the development of a plant or an animal from the zygote, to cite but a few. All these are proofs of the demonstrations of execution of programmes existing in nature. Further, we also know that every organism has a programme stored in its cells. The brain is a computer and it has memory. A living cell can be likened to a biochip.

Read the full story here...
http://www.mindpowernews.com/MassiveSupercomputer.htm

The New Science of Consciousness

By Laurie Nadel, Ph.D.
Author of Sixth Sense: Unlocking Your Ultimate Mind Power

The term “new science” was first introduced in 1964 by the late Nobel neuroscientist Dr. Roger Sperry (1913-1994). It is based on the premise that your consciousness -- your point of focus which can be compared to a cursor on your computer screen --can create physical effects in your brain as well as the other way around.

Like most great ideas, the core concept of the new science is simple, but its ramifications are staggeringly complex. Although as few as an estimated 5 percent of scientists accept its basic tenets, the new science is taking hold in the behavioral and social sciences, particularly in cognitive psychology, which emphasizes the importance of such abstract mental processes as intuition, insight, and visual intelligence over external behavior.

Whereas behaviorists believe that they can treat behavior without addressing the mental state, cognitive psychologists say that mental states organize and control behavior.

Evolutionary theorists working in biology and related sciences are beginning to accept the new science, too. Because it believes that consciousness can cause physical change, the new science is also referred to as “the consciousness revolution.”

Mainstream scientific thought is based on three primary assumptions:

Objectivism, which believes that the universe and everything it contains can be quantified.
Positivism, which believes that only that which can be physically observed is real.
Reductionism, which, as its name indicates, reduces phenomena into smaller elements.

The consciousness revolution differs radically from reductionist scientific thought because it contains the belief that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Read the full story here...
http://www.mindpowernews.com/ScienceOfConsciousness.htm

How to Be Happy Right Now

By Urayoan Paz
Author of The Gratitude-Bliss Meditation Handbook

I will ask you a simple question...

DO YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY?

Really, think about it. Do you really want to be happy? Do you deserve to be happy? Are you doing everything in your power to be happy?

Or do you think happiness is something for the wealthy, the good-looking, royalty, and the spiritually advanced?

Well, guess again. I have developed the perfect way for you to be happy. It's called Gratitude-Bliss Meditation.

But first, If you think happiness is not for you then stop reading this report right now. You might not be ready for this powerful technique. But if you are ready for happiness, then read on.

Being Happy

From the beginning of human history we have been searching for happiness. Most of our daily functions and overall desires all revolve around "being happy." Being satisfied is a key goal in our current "materialistic society."

But something that the spiritually advanced noticed quickly was that everything material is impermanent. Like beauty fades, and youth withers away, so does everything material. So happiness cannot depend on the material.

So as this revelation was made clearer, many ancient traditions focused on the opposite, the spiritual. And thus, if you begin studying ancient texts and modern sciences, you'll notice their complexity. The more you learn the more you get confused. Eventually, the main goal, happiness (or personal contentment), is lost in the haze.

Some, the very adept, are able to reach that state of pure happiness through spiritual ascension, via ascetic practices. Going on retreat to the middle of nowhere and living in a monastery devoid of life's simple pleasures, does not seem like a practical option for a normal human being living in the 21st Century. For us, the normal human beings, spiritual ascension is a goal we might want but not at the expense of "living life to the fullest."

For most of us, our time is our most precious commodity. We love to live life in the moment and we enjoy life more when we are in action. We like doing, evolving, learning, interacting, being, moving; this is who we are.

Sitting in a room