Entangled: A Father's Spiritual Quest Through the Mysteries of Mind

By Kevin Zarem

Katelyn and Hannah, here’s a line from one of your favorite movies, The Notebook: “You know what they always say, doc? Science only goes so far, and then there’s God.” In a nutshell, this is what my book is trying to say. I would add, however, that there exists an elegant bridge connecting the physical world of science and the metaphysical world of God, and this bridge is in our minds.

I think our true purpose in life is to find this bridge—to become aware—to be with God. To date, I have struggled mightily at this, but I know that my unconditional love for each of you has me moving in exactly the right direction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781450294256

Kevin Zarem

Kevin Zarem is the owner of a forensic appraisal firm. He earned a master of science degree from the University of Wisconsin Madison and is also the author of Entangled: A Father’s Spiritual Quest through the Mysteries of Mind. He and his wife, Jenny, have two daughters and live in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

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Copyright © 2011 by Kevin Zarem.

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ISBN: 978-1-4502-9424-9 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-9425-6 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 06/25/2011

To Katelyn & Hannah

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

—Jeremiah 29

Contents

PREFACE

1 TIME & CONSCIOUSNESS

2 GETTING TO THE POINT

3 NON-LOCAL MIND

4 A MAGICAL MYSTERY WORLD

5 ENTANGLED

ENDNOTES

REFERENCES

PREFACE

Katelyn and Hannah, let me give you a few pointers before you take this all on. First, keep an open mind. You won’t make it past the first few pages without one. Second, you are going to encounter geeky science stuff that will make you roll your eyes. Go ahead and roll your eyes, but keep on reading with an open mind. Third, the true nature of our conscious experience is a complete mystery. Science simply has no clue what it is. Rational thinking can only go so far. So when it comes to understanding your mind, keep an open mind.

As you read this book, you will, no doubt, find yourself thinking many times, Hunh? I don’t get it. Even though I have simplified (perhaps oversimplified) the science technicalities so I can make some sense out of them, I still don’t really get it. Quantum physics and the parapsychological phenomena discussed in this book just don’t make much sense, but they do offer meaningful and fascinating pointers toward the fundamental nature of reality. Please don’t get hung up on the getting it part; the important points are spiritual in nature.

I have a spiritual belief that I wish to pass on to you—not to convince you to choose my belief, but simply to help open your minds and, perhaps, serve as a catalyst for your own personal exploration. When I was a teenager, I intuitively believed that God somehow communicated through our minds and was always there if we only knew how to look. I still feel the same way, but now my intuition has been reinforced by a relatively thorough investigation of scientific ideas and experiments.

As you know, over the last several years, I’ve been reading a lot, usually late at night before I inevitably fall asleep in the incredibly comfortable leather chair in my den. Initially my explorations were focused on cosmology—the study of the billions and billions of galaxies that comprise our universe. Next, I ventured into Einstein’s world of thought, where the universe took on a shape, not just in space but in time. Seeing as though Jenny and I weren’t having any more kids and I had a good chunk of free time on my hands, I tiptoed into quantum physics and parapsychological research. What I found after getting knee deep in these waters is that the quantum realm is truly God’s domain.

This book addresses what God is in a metaphysical sense. For me, this question has to do with reality. There are two primary ways to pierce into reality: one is through scientific inquiry and one is through personal experience. Scientific inquiry examines the objective physical world on the outside, and personal experience examines the subjective world of consciousness on the inside. I have always discounted personal experience as irrelevant when considering the big questions, and so has science for the most part, but over the last several years, I have come to see how limiting this belief is.

Although the metaphysical speculations I address may seem way out there at first, these mysteries have been meditated upon by literally billions of people from all over the world for thousands of years. The major religions embrace the general concepts I discuss—particularly the ideas of the false ego, a greater consciousness, and the interconnectedness of all things. Where did these shared religious beliefs come from? Is there an underlying truth we know in our minds, but express in a variety of ways through different cultures and different times? I believe there is.

To start the discussion off, imagine what the world would be like without our observation of it. If you are like I used to be, you imagine a world just like the world of your regular experience. What other world could there be? Quantum physics very clearly says that this is not the case on the smallest of scales where elementary particles like electrons and photons hang out. Quantum physics indicates that these elementary particles that comprise all matter and force in the universe don’t really exist in the physical world until some type of observation occurs. Defining what observation is, however, has turned out to be a much more difficult task than one would think. In fact, science has not come to terms with what an observation technically is just yet.

As I see it, observation is tied directly to experience. Our intent—our will—in conjunction with observation forms our experience of the world. If observation has a direct effect on the way elementary particles manifest in the world, as quantum physics has shown, then, perhaps, observation and our will have a direct effect on how the macro world of our experience manifests, too. After all, the macro world is wholly made up of elementary particles.

I know it is difficult to believe, but highly controlled parapsychological experiments have shown human intent to have an influence on physical matter outside of the body. I am not talking about experiments by con artists and street magicians, but research by respected physicists and scholars published in professional, peer-reviewed journals. So these seemingly far flung ideas aren’t necessarily so crazy. For me these ideas have grown into a sturdy, spiritual oak.

We grow up believing that the world simply exists with or without our personal experience, as though we are completely separate from everything else in space and time. I believe another reality exists where everything is interconnected, including consciousness. From the perspective of this reality, the mystical parapsychological phenomena and quantum phenomena I reference in this book can take place.

I think our true purpose in life is to find this perspective—to become aware—to be with God. To date, I have struggled mightily at this, but I know that my unconditional love for each of you has me moving in exactly the right direction.

*     *     *

A hearty thank you to Kurt Chandler for deftly helping me through the difficult winnowing and weaving process of making this book. Thank you to Nate Reysen who synergized his