Quantum Immortality the Hypersoul and Afterlife

By Rob Shelsky

Life immortal, an afterlife? Is there any scientific evidence that might support such a hope? There is and this book deals with the idea of quantum immortality, quantum suicide, the nature of consciousness, the power of the mind--what it is and what it can do. This book offers amazing insights into mainstream theories backed by scientists and researchers that show how the human consciousness might just be immortal, but in more ways than one! Is there more than one type of immortality possible? What are ghosts, remote viewing, Out of Body and Near Death Experiences? The answers to these questions and more lie in Quantum Immortality The Hypersoul And Afterlife.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rob Shelsky
• Release date: Sep 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005354138

Rob Shelsky

Rob Shelsky is an avid and eclectic writer, and averages about 4,000 words a day. He has several novels to his credit and two anthologies, with two romances out now, a Regency romance, Verity, along with the sequel, Faith, and soon to come, a time-travel romance.Rob has written science fiction articles for such magazines as The Internet Review of Science Fiction, numerous articles for AlienSkin Magazine, Neometropolis, Midnight Street (UK), Doorways, and other publications. Rob has had short stories published with Jim Baen’s Universe, Aberrant Dreams, AlienSkin, Gateway SF, Fifth Dimension, Continuum SF, Sonar4, Uncial Press, Planetary Stories, Pulp Spirit Magazine, Sex & Murder, and many more. He has a novella coming out in early 2010 with Aberrant Dreams Magazine’s first hardcover edition anthology, The Awakening. Rob’s novella, Avenger Of The People, will appear there alongside the works of such sci-fi greats as Alastair Reynolds, Ian Watson, Jana Oliver, Robert Madle, and just so many others. There is even an introduction by Jack McDevitt.Rob has a short story, Green Waters, now out with Sonar4’s Phase Shift anthology, and a paranormal story, Light On The Moor, coming out with Smashwords and Amazon.com.Now, Rob Shelsky is not only a writer, but a contributing editor for Currate.com travel articles, as well as being a reviewer for Novelspot. He is also a resident science fiction columnist for AlienSkin Magazine.Although widely traveled and continuing to travel, Rob now lives in North Carolina. He enjoys contemplating ideas for new stories while watching the sunsets over the mountains and sipping a glass of red wine, preferably a decent Merlot.Oh and check out this site for my Smashword books:Ebookswelove.com

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Quantum Immortality

The Hypersoul And Afterlife

By

Rob Shelsky

Quantum Immortality

The Hypersoul

And

Afterlife

PUBLISHED BY:

GKRS PUBLICATIONS

Copyright © 2021 by Rob Shelsky

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owners and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of nonfiction. The authors acknowledge the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of nonfiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. All quotations and/or related materials/images are referenced either in the body of this book itself, or referenced at the end. All images are in the public domain.

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* * * * *

DEDICATIONS

There is one person I would especially like to thank, because she has been such a good friend and loyal supporter for so many years:

Diane Elizabeth Powell

I wish to acknowledge you for your loyalty, dedication,

mountains of help, and always just being there for me.

Again, thank you, so very much, my darling woman!

~ And Always For ~

George Kempland

In Memoriam

1929—2013

I will never forget you. May we meet again,

somewhere, sometime…some when.

* * * * *

Introduction

Death, is it the end of everything? Once we die, is that it? Are we then condemned forever to oblivion? Do we just cease to be altogether, eventually to be forgotten by the rest of humanity, becoming just so much dust upon the ground for others to tread upon? That’s the question that has haunted humanity since we became conscious beings ages ago.

Down through the seemingly endless millennia since then, we have wondered about what might come after life, if anything at all. The mere thought of death scares us, frightens most of us. One of, if not the most important cries one will ever hear from another is: I don’t want to die!

The truth is we don’t. We don’t want to die, at least, not most of us. So we cling to whatever might promise us that there is something more, and so for countless generations, we have relied upon various religions, all of which, seem to promise an afterlife of one sort or another. Whether it is the fiery hell of brimstone or a cloud-strewn heaven, as with the Christian churches, or paradise, as with the Muslim religion, or simply the eventual and ultimate state of Nirvana, as with Hinduism or Buddhism, they all tell us that there is something more after we die, that we go on in some way or another.

As comforting as this approach may be, many now no longer choose to believe in these religions. We have a growing number of people every year who profess to be atheists or at least, agnostics and this is taking place in every developed country on the planet.

In America, for example, Christianity’s numbers are declining and quickly. In just ten years, they have declined over 11 percent. Christianity is shrinking, and not just here, but in almost every developed country. The same is true for many other major religions.

As countries move from being poor, third-world countries to developed countries, the percentage of those who profess strong religious beliefs always goes down. The United States, oddly, was one of the last to see this phenomenon develop, but we are catching up with Europe and elsewhere quickly! It is estimated that by the end of this century, only a minority of people will claim adherence to religions in general, and Christianity in particular. Again, it isn’t just Christianity that faces this now-constant erosion of its base population, but all the other religions, as well, except for a tiny few, and they are small in numbers of members to begin with and more often than not, as with Scientology are given only cult status, and not even that in some countries.

So what’s happening? Why are people becoming atheists and agnostics, where once they were church-going believers? Well, as education progresses, as people have more comfortable and high-tech lives, they just seem to let go of their belief systems with regard to religion. There are many reasons o-called experts give for this phenomenon, but one thing seems irrefutable. As standards of living increase in a country, the proportion of church goers goes down.

In England, for example, only 7 percent of the population still attend Church of England church services on a regular basis. That number is higher for Muslims and Hindus, those who still believe, but as second, third, and fourth generations of Muslim and Hindu young people mature, their attachment to their religion goes down, as well, with many paying little more than lip service to their faiths, and many others not even bothering to do that much.

So what is the current situation? A growing number of people who don’t believe in any god, and a shrinking number who do, seems to be the ongoing process we are seeing as a worldwide civilization. And with atheism comes a total disbelief in the afterlife, as well as any sort of god.

Or does it? Science now seems to be rising to the challenge of this disbelief, as more and more researchers are beginning to question just what consciousness is, the nature of it, what causes it, and what it might do or become upon the death of the individual host of such a consciousness. Scientists wonder if consciousness dies with the body, or somehow goes on, and whether there is more to the universe in that regard than we thought. Some scientists even wonder if consciousness creates the universe, while still others think the universe may be conscious!

So is the afterlife just an old belief system headed for the rubbish bin of history? Alternatively, is there something that happens after life to the consciousness of each of us? In the following chapters we will delve into this idea of a life after death. We will discuss quantum immortality. Does it exist? Is it real? We will also discuss new evidence that points in some other directions, as well, with regard to a number of other topics with dealing with an afterlife. Is there evidence for such a thing at all, for the continuation of our consciousness after our bodies have died? Well, let’s find out.

One last thing; try to keep an open mind with regard to some of these topics. At least consider them, because as William Shakespeare’s Hamlet mentions:

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’

PART 1—THE HUMAN MIND

Chapter 1—The Country of the Mind— Origin of Consciousness

"O, what a world of unseen visions and heard silences,

this insubstantial country of the mind!

What ineffable essences,

these touchless rememberings and unshowable reveries!"

— Julian Jaynes,

The Origin of Consciousness in the

Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

So where does consciousness come from? Just what is the country of the mind, is it an illusion, a mere byproduct of the brain, or is it real, and if so, how does it exist? What is it, exactly? That’s just a few of the questions researchers are trying to answer, yet nobody seems to know for sure at this point, just what those answers are. Before we get to trying to reach such answers ourselves, first we should try to decide what consciousness is. In this regard, there are three main theories for consciousness:

Idealist View of Consciousness. This is the idea that the human consciousness is an entity in its own right, compete unto itself and ultimately not dependent on the human body. Perhaps with regard to this approach, one should then better define human consciousness as the soul. As René Descartes stated, even if everything is an illusion around us and existence is not real at all, but just the phony creation of some demon, (or whatever), our consciousness is exempt from this. It is still not the creation of that demon or its plaything, and the human consciousness therefore, is not just a result of being another part of a totally false existence, even if the world around it is.

Even in the movie, The Matrix, though all reality was a sham, an illusion, the minds of the people involved were still real enough, although they had been tricked into thinking that all around them was real when it was not. Although there were demons (the machines) involved in faking of humans’ reality, there was still one thing that was real, the people and their consciousness’s were.

So in at least one respect, although the demon (or whatever agency—programmer of a matrix, perhaps?) can create a false reality, gives us a sense of realness and existence falsely through the use of tricking us with our five senses, there is one thing s/he cannot do. S/he cannot make us consider the idea of that existence. That is reserved for us alone, our consciousness or soul according to Descartes.

So, even though all reality, all existence may be illusion, how does that account for one’s inner ability to consider their own existence and place in the universe whether that universe is real or fake? Remember, Descartes and his, I think, therefore I am.

We can think. We can consider things, ponder issues. We can contemplate and then persevere for answers to various philosophical questions. We can even question if the demon exists, even as we can question everything about existence in general. So what does this mean? How do we resolve this idea of consciousness versus reality? Is it part of it? Is it separate from it? Is it just an illusion?

Well, Descartes answered this by saying that consciousness does exist and therefore, must be divorced from the physical existence, must be totally separate from the physical body in order to be able to achieve such capability as to contemplate the nature of all else. Descartes feels it is the only way that consciousness could then consider its own existence, its own or others for that matter. Remember, not only can you ponder your own existence, but you can even ponder the fact that you are pondering it!

Therefore, the physical part of us may be part of that existence, (real or contrived, as in The Matrix) but the consciousness is not. Thus, again, Descartes states that consciousness and the human body are two separate things, that there is a dual nature to humans, their physical selves and conscious selves.

Once more, whether you call it a soul, spirit, or whatever you wish, it is Descartes belief that based on logic, such a thing must exist in its own right. He points out that humans have or seem to have free will. Moreover, as we shall later see, the idea of a dual nature to humanity, goes very well with the idea of the dual