The mind and the material world

[M Winther]

Carl Jung has in his book "Answer to Job" suggested that God is
unconscious mind. In a similar vein, physicist Paul Davies has in his
book "Good and the New Physics" suggested that creation is a scheme for
the creator to become conscious of himself, through man or other
sentient beings. He got that idea from John Wheeler, who thinks of the
universe as a self-observing system. Wheeler's notion of the universe
as an enormous feedback loop, involving consciousness, is portrayed in
the following article. According to Wheeler, human consciousness shapes
not only the present but the past as well.
http://discovermagazine.com/2002/jun/featuniverse#.Uq6mFNJDt8E

Physicist Peter Russell ("From Science to God") sees close parallels
between the light of physics and the light of consciousness. Light is
very fundamental to the universe whereas consciousness is necessary for
our capacity to experience the world.
http://www.peterrussell.com/SG/index.php

The point is that there is a mysterious connection between the sentient
mind and the physical world, since consciousness is "world-creating" to
a degree. Science has no clue what consciousness is, nor have
philosophers been able to solve the quandary after grappling with the
issue for decades. The biblical notion that "God created man in his own
image", relates not to the physical appearance of man. What is signified
is "consciousness" or "mind". In our conscious function we resemble God.

It seems as if the very substance of mind (whether unconscious mind or
conscious mind) is an intrinsic property of the universe. Remember that
the unconscious mind is also consciousness, although it is outshined by
the more intensely shining consciousness. Cosmologists today rely on the
astonishing notion that the universe, at its inception, was in a state
of perfect order. Since then, the disorder has continually increased,
following the third law of thermodynamics, namely that entropy
continually increases in the total system. Only in subsystems can order
temporarily increase.

But the notion of a universe in perfect order (i.e. zero entropy) at the
moment of Big Bang is mind-boggling. What was the nature of this perfect
order? Was it an order of mind? It is reminiscent of the ideas of
Gnostics and Neoplatonists, namely that the material universe is the
result of the fall or the emanations of divine mind.

Anyway, it is clear that the divine concepts of theologists aren't that
foreign to the physicists anymore. Actually, few scientists are
atheists. Richard Dawkins belongs to the few exceptions. Einstein,
Newton, and Galilei were all believers. However, normally, scientists
try to work out *how* the universe works. They are too busy to take part
in the debate about *why*, *to what end*, *wherefrom* and *whereto*.

But again and again the scientists are stricken with a sense of awe
before the wonders of the universe. So they cannot help wondering. A
person who has lost his sense of awe is dead inside. Mark D. Roberts
says that such people are "like a boy I saw last summer in Kings Canyon
National Park, home of some of the largest sequoia redwoods in the
world...His attention was riveted to his electronic Game Boy." ("Jesus
Revealed")

He went past the trees and never saw them. Some modern people will pass
through life in the same way, missing the whole show.

Mats Winther
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73784/