2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

FROM PARAPHYSICS TO COSMIC

CONSCIOUSNESS: THE ENDGAME
James E. Beichler, Ph.D.

Richard Maurice Bucke’s concept of a Cosmic Consciousness was a forerunner of

science s modern emphasis on studies in consciousness, but it was also an heir to an
earlier clash between science, especially physics, and modern spiritualism. His thesis that
the human race is evolving a new and higher state of consciousness is far more relevant
within the context of modern thought than it was during his own day and the science of
paraphysics, especially with the development of the single field theory, is close to
confirming his prediction regarding consciousness.

When Richard Maurice Bucke first put his book Cosmic Consciousness (published 1901) to pen, he
may not have realized that his own original thesis was a product of the long evolutionary
development of related ideas within both science and the general culture. His work was a direct
descendant of the popular movement of modern spiritualism which had evolved independent of,
and in some cases in spite of, the scientific establishment prior to the1850s. Yet the same historical
forces affected the scientific community both directly and indirectly, and, while Bucke s conclusions
that the human race was evolving a higher level of consciousness may not have been scientifically
rigorous, his conclusions can be supported at least indirectly by modern science, although rather
grudgingly in most cases. These truths are not meant to detract from the originality of Bucke’s ideas,
but rather to place them within a far greater context than he could have imagined.
While the modern spiritualism movement depended upon the progress of science, it was not a
scientific movement in itself. It evolved within the general culture as common people tried to come
to terms with popular superstitions, the new and highly successful advances in science and
technology as well as persistent questions regarding the role of established religions and spirituality
in an evolving modern society. Even though the movement was not scientific in the eyes of the
establishment, scientists did react to both the movement and the same historical pressures which
caused the movement by founding the Society of Psychical Research (SPR) in 1880 and similar
organizations.
In physics, Newtonian mechanics had enjoyed nearly two centuries of unparalleled success in
explaining the physical world and decoding nature. Both newly discovered phenomena and
traditionally unexplained phenomena were consumed under the banner of Newtonian physics,
giving birth to new sciences such as thermodynamics and electromagnetism. These were developed
by applying the scientific and Newtonian methods that had been so successful. These new areas
were equally successful in describing our world and rendering it logically understandable within their
own parameters. But success also breeds new questions, and the successes of physics engendered
questions by men such as Ernst Mach, Karl Pearson and Johann Bernard Stallo regarding just what
it was that physics described. Were the successful laws of nature products of the human mind,
1
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

literally how we as humans perceive reality, or did they actually represent reality beyond the human
mind s perception of reality? Were the laws of physics inherent in nature itself?
Such philosophical questions would seem outside of the realm of the modern spiritualism
movement, but were actually quite intimately related to it. They both involved the growing concern
to determine how mind related to the world of matter. Such questions were raised against traditional
religious beliefs that had recently been called to question and forced to cope with an older view of
earth than the literal translation of religious texts could support as well as an impressively
documented theory of evolution. Throughout the nineteenth century, advances in geology extended
the age of the earth into the millions of years and finally, in 1859, Charles Darwin published his
Origin of Species which explained how humans evolved from lesser living creatures. Darwin s theories
were rapidly accepted by the scientific community, but not without intense and sometimes
acrimonious debate, especially from the religious establishment.
Even disregarding the various debates over the age of the earth and universe, one large gap
existed in Darwinian evolution: Why and how did the human mind evolve? Darwin s theory
required the evolution of humankind through natural selection rather than teleological design, but
the randomness and chance that are inherent in evolution could not account for the recent
(geologically speaking) development of either mind or consciousness. So science as a whole seemed
to force humankind onward toward a new threshold regarding mind, a doorway, but would not let
science enter the house of knowledge regarding mind and consciousness. This fact allowed for a
great deal of speculation which fed the spiritualism community as well as science. It is no
coincidence that Alfred Wallace, the co-founder of evolution theory, was instrumental in the early
development of the SPR. He could not accept that the human mind just appeared randomly due to
natural selection and then just ended upon the death of the human body.
From these philosophical deliberations arose a new science, psychology, the scientific study of
the human mind. William James, an American scientist and founding member of the American SPR,
was instrumental in the early development of this newly evolving science. He was also a supporter of
Bucke s basic thesis. James was not only interested in the human mind and consciousness, but
telepathy and other psychic phenomena, thus emphasizing the close connections between these
endeavors during that early time period. In an attempt to explain telepathy, James developed the
concept of subliminal perception. Ironically, subliminal perception has become a common element
in modern psychology, but now has nothing to do with parapsychology in spite of its
parapsychological roots. This may be in large part due to the fact that soon after psychology split
from philosophy, as an independent science, it was given over to a different theoretical basis
independent of any general concepts of consciousness. The concept of consciousness was relegated
to an intellectual position behind another important aspect of the human mind, behavior.
In the preceding half century, thermodynamics was born as a new mechanical science of
material motions at the microscopic levels of physical being and reality. Since it would be impossible
to know each and every sub-microscopic motion, nor know how they would add up to give us
macroscopically measured quantities such as temperature and heat, statistical theory was introduced
into science as a tool for studying our physical environment. Thermodynamics was itself influenced
by questions regarding the relationship of human to physical reality and conversely influenced

2
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

speculations on mind and an afterlife. Two British physicists, Peter G. Tait and Balfour Stewart,
published a book which offered their own theory of an afterlife. They used thermodynamical
arguments to demonstrate the continuity of mind beyond physical death in their 1875 book, The
Unseen Universe: or Speculations on a Future State. Their theoretical speculations were conducted
independent of the modern spiritualism movement, and thus reflected the growing concern of
scientists to find other answers to questions regarding the relationship between the human mind and
material reality.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the new statistical methods had become so
successful and pervasive that their influence spread to the general culture and the other sciences,
including the newly forming science of psychology. The norm for this new science soon became the
study of human behavior which was far more amenable to definition, measurement, the scientific
method and statistical analyses. This change in approach came at the expense of any search for the
meaning of mind and consciousness and how they interacted with the world at large. Bucke s theory
had come at the zenith of the modern spiritualism movement, in the very moments before the new
scientific revolution which incorporated statistics into the scientific concept of reality and the fall of
consciousness to the psychological behaviorists.
Physics and the physical sciences were in a revolutionary state of directed chaos for the next three
decades, before things began to settle down with the establishment of quantum mechanics and relativity
theory as the new paradigms. So, it was the early 1930s before the effects of the changes in the
theoretical basis of the physical sciences began to trickle down to other scholarly endeavors. In
particular, modern spiritualism subsided during this period, and slowly gave over to the development of
parapsychology as a field of science. The development of a science of parapsychology began with the
experimental research of J.B. Rhine. Rhine and his colleagues instituted statistical and behavioral
methods of parapsychological research when they developed ESP (extrasensory perception) and PK
(psychokinesis) experiments for the laboratory. No longer was psychic science to rely solely on
anecdotal evidence. The new science was based instead upon the statistical analysis of laboratory
experiments. From a purely historical point of view, their work was relevant and completely necessary
to lay the foundations of parapsychology, but that necessity came at the expense of more general
concepts of mind and consciousness which were largely neglected for several decades.
In the scientific method, it is first necessary to closely observe nature and physical phenomena,
and thus identify events for study. This stage of scientific development occurred during the era of
modern spiritualism. It is then necessary to carefully and fully define the quantities which are to be
tested and measured, before patterns can be found which lead to hypotheses, experimental
verification and finally theories. The initial period of development in parapsychology, during and
after the 1930s, corresponds to the defining, measuring and pattern identification stage of
development. This period ended in 1969 when the Parapsychology Association was admitted into
the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and parapsychology was recognized by
the scientific community as a valid science. Theories of psi were proposed prior to this last event,
but they were woefully lacking and incomplete. They were no more than simple hypotheses which
could not be experimentally verified, so they did not lead to either complete or comprehensive
theories of psi. This period coincides quite well with the period of dominance of the behaviorist

3
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

approach to normal psychology as well as the absolute dominance of the Copenhagen Interpretation
of quantum mechanics in physics. No real generalized theories of psi, covering all the aspects of psi,
were developed. Such theories are a part of the present period of psi research, when general
statements and connections based upon previous research can be developed. So Bucke’s work has a
new relevance within the present cultural and scientific communities, at least more so than during
the middle decades of the twentieth century.
The generalized concept of consciousness reentered the world of western science and culture in
the 1960s and 1970s by many diverse roads. This reintroduction mysteriously coincided with new
advances and changes in parapsychology, the early development of a new paraphysics and new
emphasis on a physics of consciousness. Evidence of these changes can be found in the popularity
of books such as Robert Ornstein s Psychology of Consciousness and Fritjof Capra s Tao of Physics, both
written in the early 1970s. These books also illustrate the new influence of eastern mysticism on
western thought, which included Eastern concepts of consciousness and the holistic approach to
understanding reality.
At the same time, attitudes in physics and the quantum community also changed regarding the
relationships between the mind, consciousness and physical reality. But it had long been realized in
physics that consciousness could collapse the wave packet, so it would seem natural that
consciousness should find a home in theoretical quantum physics. However, it was not until the
1960s and 1970s that anyone seems to have recognized the significance of this simple fact, or that, in
turn, this change coincided with new advances in technology and the space program which
emphasized general relativity and the macroscopic universe rather than the microscopic universe of
the quantum. These events occurred simultaneously with the entrance of several physicists into the
science of psi and the development of a new secret government research program into remote
viewing for the purposes of gathering intelligence. But the new scientific emphasis on consciousness
was not limited to physics, parapsychology and popular culture alone. It affected all areas of science,
including normal psychology, so the science of consciousness developed into an interdisciplinary
scientific movement by the 1990s.
Under these circumstances, the central problem with developing a coherent scientific theory of
consciousness became the seemingly simple act of defining consciousness itself and this task has been
proved quite daunting. In spite of the best efforts of numerous scientists and scholars, no consistent
and universally accepted definition of consciousness has ever been put forward. Depending upon
their own background, training and prejudices, every scientist and scholar seems to have a different
basic notion of consciousness and mind. In particular, when a psychologist talks about conscious,
sub-conscious or unconscious states of the mind, he may not be addressing the same idea of
consciousness that a physicist invokes to account for the collapse of the wave function. This
distinction is all the more important because physicists are probing what seems to be a fundamental
quality of reality rather than just a temporary state of mind. In large part, the problem resides in the
fact that physicists deal (or attempt to deal) with very precisely defined quantities while consciousness
seems for all intents and purposes to be a physical quality rather than a material quantity.
The basic dichotomy represented in the psychologist s and the physicist s views is not unknown
in the science of consciousness. Robert Ornstein has determined that there are two major modes of

4
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

consciousness, one analytic and the other holistic. The two modes are complementary, each having its
own functional area. They can be likened to the rational and intuitive activities of the mind.
(Ornstein, 10) Other scientists are far less certain about consciousness. Thomas Natsoulas narrowed
his list to seven different uses of the term and there is no reason to believe that his choices exhaust
all of the possibilities. (Natsoulas, 906) Anthony Marcel and Edoardo Bisiach claim that the
proliferation of uses of consciousness stems from the domain or level of discourse for the term.
Sometimes consciousness is used as a functional term and other times it refers to phenomenological
concepts. (Marcel and Bisiach, 3) Whichever the case may be, their interpretation of the problem is
not all that different from Ornstein s two major modes. They have all discovered, without so stating,
what is essentially the same basic dichotomy in the use of the term.
Given these problems in the most basic understanding of the term itself, how is a physicist or
any other scientist to understand the concept of consciousness and its relationship to the physical
reality with which consciousness acts or interacts. The answer would seem to come from finding
the simplest differences between what is conscious and what is not. This course of action actually
suits physics quite well. For all of its complex theories, assumptions, attitudes and instruments,
physics is merely a logical study of the natural world which is conducted by reducing all events and
phenomena to their most characteristic and fundamental natural components. The fundamental
components utilized by physicists in this quest are matter and matter in motion against the
background of relative space-time. Nothing seems simpler than this methodology, but there also
seems little room for consciousness within this scheme. Many scientists have tried to reduce
consciousness to either electro-mechanical or physico-chemical interactions within the brain, but
they have met with little success. It would thus seem that consciousness defies reduction to either
matter or matter in motion in the sense that they are understood in physics, although this need not
be the case. It is informative to look instead at the types of matter which have the ability to move
themselves about in space to find the physical basis of consciousness.
For all intents and purposes, consciousness is at the very least linked to life, and then possibly
only human life. So a physicist would say that there is something special about life that allows for the
development of, or is required by, consciousness. Since consciousness collapses the wave function
to instigate our measurable physical reality, logical reasoning dictates that consciousness must exist
independent of, or even prior to the quantum reality. This line of reasoning thus means that
quantum physics can never account for consciousness. At best, it can only be the basis of a theory of
the interaction of mind (or consciousness) and the material brain.
However, there is an alternative theory for regarding physical reality, the general theory of
relativity. Here, matter itself can be regarded as the curvature of a space-time continuum. In this case,
reality is continuous rather than discrete as in the quantum theory. Consciousness recognizes the
concept of continuity even though our world is discrete, so continuity must exist as a principle of
nature and reality beyond our world of the senses. If our four-dimensional space-time is actually
continuous as assumed in general relativity, there exists the distinct possibility for an extrinsic
curvature involving a fifth dimension into which space-time actually curves. Such a hypothesis was
made in 1921 by Theodor Kaluza who successfully united general relativity and electromagnetism
into a single simple model. Kaluza hypothesized a rather truncated fifth dimension in which each

5
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

mathematical point within our four-dimensional space-time curved into the fifth dimension and back
into itself after only a microscopic extension.
In 1938, Albert Einstein and Peter Bergmann, and again in 1941, Einstein, Bergmann and
Valentine Bargmann proved that Kaluza s theory was equally valid if the extension of each
mathematical point in the fifth direction were not just microscopic, but of macroscopic proportions.
However, Einstein discarded the search for a five-dimensional theory because he could not justify
the fact that we cannot detect or sense the fifth dimension. Yet Einstein s objections can be easily
overcome by considering the validity of pre-relativistic concepts of a four-dimensional space
independent of time and applying those earlier models to Einstein s 1938 five-dimensional space-
time model.
The first such theory was proposed in 1870 by William Kingdom Clifford, but he died several
years later from consumption before he could completely explain and publish his theory. However,
enough is known of his theory through his published papers and secondary sources to conclude that
he would have reduced all of three-dimensional dynamics to a physical system of four-dimensional
kinematics by assuming that our three-dimensional world was a thin sheet curved in the fourth
dimension of space. Charles Howard Hinton described such a model in several books and essays in
the 1880s and later, but never fully developed a mathematical theory to support his claims. Similar
proposals were made by W.W.R. Ball and Simon Newcomb, but all of their ideas were unfortunately
overshadowed by the work of J.K.F. Zöllner.
Zöllner, a German astronomer, proposed in 1872 that spirits existed in a fourth dimension of
our common space. He used the magical tricks of an American showman, Henry Slade, to
experimentally prove the existence of such four-dimensional beings. To Zöllner’s everlasting dismay,
Slade s tricks were discovered to be no more than the products of mere prestidigitation and
chicanery, and Zöllner’s career as a scientist was ruined. These scientific mishaps turned the
scientific community away from legitimate speculations on the reality of higher-dimensional spaces,
although they remained popular among a few scientists and segments within the general public.
In 1919, the very year that Kaluza first began to develop his five-dimensional theory of space-
time, Robert Browns published a book titled The Mystery of Space: A Study of the Hyperspace Movement in
the Light of the Evolution of New Psychic Faculties and an Inquiry into the Genesis and Essential Nature of Space.
In his book, Browne developed the hypothesis that humankind would soon realize a new higher
level of consciousness that would depend on an actual realization of a higher dimensioned space.
After his own manner, Browne s thesis was similar to Bucke s, but more specific. And, like the
scientific concept of consciousness itself, work was seemingly lost until a few decades ago. Browne s
ideas certainly make much more sense, as does Bucke s contention, in light of recent theoretical
advances in physics. In particular, the development of a new theory of physics, the single field
theory (SOFT).
SOFT is a continuation of Einstein s work of the late 1930s. It utilizes a five-dimensional model
similar to that suggested by Clifford, Hinton, Ball and Newcomb. In essence, our four-dimensional
space-time continuum is actually curved in a fifth higher dimension, but it appears, for all practical
and material purposes, to consist of a four-dimensional sheet. The sheet has an effective width on
the quantum scale in the fifth direction, which therefore limits our material world to an existence

6
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

within four-dimensional space-time as well as defining the quantum and rendering our common
world of sensations discrete as interpreted by quantum mechanics. Elementary particles are folds,
bends and blips in the sheet and the psi function of quantum and wave mechanics is no more than a
five-dimensional volume. This last fact was demonstrated in a paper published by William Wilson in
1922. This mathematical model unifies relativity theory and quantum theory for the first time in the
history of science. It also provides a method of defining life, mind and consciousness within the
realm of the physics and our space-time reality.
Physicists normally consider only one type of matter in their deliberations on nature. In their
calculations, physicists consider all matter as if it were dead, non-living matter. Within the
perspective of modern physics, it does not matter whether a human or a ball is shot out of a cannon
at the circus. Under the same conditions, except for the fact that one is alive and the other is not,
they would both follow the same trajectory through the sky. The only distinguishable difference
between the two in the final analysis is the fact that the human made a choice to be a cannonball and
moved himself into the firing chamber while the ball did neither. Dead matter will always follow the
simplest path along a field gradient according to the laws and whims of nature, but a living being need
not follow the path dictated by nature. In other words, each and every living being is self-motivated
rather than motivated by the conditions within its local physical environment. Since consciousness
seems to be a property of living beings alone, or perhaps it would be better to say that life is a
prerequisite for consciousness, the distinction between living and non-living matter would seem a
good starting point to study consciousness and its physics.
Living matter can be further distinguished by another physical property which is intimately
related to self-motivation. Living bodies are negentropic systems of matter. Both dead and non-
living matter interact entropically under normal conditions as described by the laws of
thermodynamics. Under normal conditions, matter tends toward a greater state of disorder while
energy tends to dissipate. This rule seems to be true for both living bodies and dead bodies when a
macroscopically large system is considered, but it fails when the individual living being is considered
as the whole and complete system. Living beings absorb and utilize energy. Life organizes or orders
matter within the living body to build increasingly complex internal structures. Taken together, the
properties of negentropy and self-motivation are ideally suited to explain life, mind and
consciousness within the context of the latest developments in modern physics.
The physical background of all matter, whether living or dead, and its motion is the space-time
continuum as described by the special and general theories of relativity. In the general theory, there is
no need to limit the number of physical dimensions to four although that has been the custom
rendering curvature intrinsic to the four-dimensional continuum. The curvature of space-time has
nearly always been considered an intrinsic property of the continuum. However, Kaluza s addition of a
fifth dimension to Einstein s general relativistic structure and his successful merging of the
electromagnetic and gravitational fields into a single field structure has opened the possibility that the
curvature is actually extrinsic. However, the particular interpretation of the Einstein-Kaluza theory
used by most modern theoreticians is over-restrictive due to the limitation of the fifth direction to the
quantum level and this particular interpretation has been utilized become the basis of the modern
theory of superstrings. Modern theorists seem to be unaware that Einstein proved the over-restrictive

7
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

limitation of the point extension in the fifth dimension to the sub-quantum range of values is
unnecessary.
When this restriction is discarded, the alternative interpretation of a four-dimensional sheet of
uniform but minute width in the fifth direction becomes necessary to explain our physical and material
world. This fact was missed by Einstein, leading to his abandonment of the five-dimensional hypothesis
in the early 1940s. While the sheet curves locally in the fifth embedding dimension to create elementary
material particles, each mathematical point in space, including those corresponding to material particles,
is extended into the fifth dimension beyond the boundaries of the sheet imposed by its effective width.
Our knowledge and perception of the material world, learned by our material experiences within the
sheet, are limited to the four-dimensional continuum because of the extremely minute width of the
sheet rather than the minute total length of the five-dimensionally extended points of space as
suspected by Kaluza and the superstring theorists. Real physical curves in the sheet represent the
singularities in relativity theory and the divergences of quantum field theory which have classically been
interpreted as elementary material particles. However, they are not true mathematical singularities or
divergences because they are no longer infinite as in previous mathematical models, but curve
around the circumference of a Riemannian five-space to return to their points of origin in the sheet.
This structure provides the basis for a physical theory of consciousness which can be interpreted as
a strictly five-dimensional property of some forms of living matter.
The fifth physical dimension is filled by a pure continuous field marked by variations in density
corresponding to the elementary material particles, electromagnetic waves and, of course, the four-
dimensional sheet (our sensible universe) itself. We do not normally perceive or sense the fifth
dimension because our physical bodies exist within the sheet. However, everything in the sheet is
extended within the single field in the fifth dimension and thus every physical action, occurrence and
event in the four-dimensional space-time sheet affects local density variations in the five-
dimensional field and vice versa. When a material particle or body moves relative to other material
bodies within the sheet, it undergoes specific physical distortions as described by special relativity.
These distortions correspond to density variations in the field in the fifth direction which are
transmitted or felt (in a sense) through the whole of the fifth dimension. Living organisms have
some control over the motion of particles within their own bodies by a reversal of this process.
Living organisms order matter internally to build more and more complex chemical structures, i.e.
cells, organs and specialized functional bodies. Within the many cells in an individual body, the same
chemical interactions are repeated continuously throughout the whole life of the organism. To
physicists, chemical interactions represent the exchange of energy between elementary particles which
translates as varying speeds of those particles. When the speeds of a large number of particles vary in
the same manner, continuously through time, specific patterns or entanglements of field variations are
established in the fifth dimension.
In a sense, the vast number of patterns representing different repeating chemical interactions
and thus coupled field variations in the five-dimensional extension of a living body resonate or form
a common pattern. This coupling or entanglement of chemical compounds undergoing continuous
and repeated interactions is the quality that distinguishes living from dead matter. In fact, it is life
itself. This entanglement is the something extra beyond the Newtonian mechanism of the body that

8
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

philosophers and scholars have sought for centuries under such names as the life force, the vital
force or the elan vital.
All living organisms need some type of controlling mechanism to coordinate the internal
interactions of the body as well as mediate between the organism and its immediate environment. This
control organism, a simple brain, is either an electromechanical or physico-chemical device depending
on any one scientist s perspective. Like other material bodies, it is extended into the fifth dimension. In
more complex organisms, a more complex brain is needed to interact with the environment. At some
heightened level of complexity, a new secondary set of couplings or entanglements of density
variations emerges within the five-dimensional single field. These new entanglements are what is
commonly called mind. So mind is the common extension of the brain into the five-space, but it is
also the five-dimensional entanglement of that extension with the rest of the body. This entanglement
occurs at just the point when the brain becomes aware of its interactions within the body and between
the body and its local environment.
Before this change occurs, the brain and body would merely react to their environment. After
the change occurs they interact. Knowledge has increased to the point where the brain begins to
manipulate the local environment for its own purposes. The normal electro-mechanical manipulation
of body and environment affects the five-dimensional entanglements which are mind and thus forms
more complex entanglements which correspond to the knowledge which allows environmental
manipulation. But mind can also affect the brain directly as well as control the body directly via the
entanglements. The mind corresponds to brain, but it is not located within the brain nor is it confined
to the physical (four-dimensional) limits of the brain. So mind extends beyond the brain alone. It is
actually quite simple to demonstrate that mind is a five-dimensional entity. If mind is an awareness of
body and local environment, it must be associated with a higher physical dimension than brain and
body. In physics, awareness of a thing can only come from the next higher physical dimension. A
two-dimensional creature would not be aware of a third dimension, but a three-dimensional creature
would be aware of a two-dimensional space. This notion was explained quite effectively by Edwin
Abbott over a century ago in his short novelette Flatland.
The evolutionary and negentropic process of life does not end at this point. Brain and mind
continue to learn and continue to evolve more complex chemical structures within the brain. The body
s interaction with the local environment increases until the brain has an expanded knowledge of its
local and non-local environment, both in space and time. The new knowledge of the non-local
environment means more complex memories and thus more complicated patterns of the subtle field
density variations in five-space corresponding to the most complex memories in the brain itself. Once
again, a new higher level entanglement of patterns precipitates as the beginning of consciousness. So
consciousness is the mind’s awareness of a greater interconnection between the body, brain, local and
non-local environments. Consciousness is the growing entanglement or awareness of life, mind and
the interconnections of all things in the universe via the fifth dimension. Consciousness must exist in
the fifth dimension because only the physical perspective from the fifth dimension can overlook or be
aware of the totality of connections between the material body and its complete environment
stretching simultaneously across both space and time. Consciousness grows past this point of initial
awareness as knowledge of the world as a whole increases in any given individual s mind.

9
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

This physical model explains both Ornstein s modes of consciousness and Marcel and Bisiach s
categories of consciousness. Analytic consciousness corresponds to the growth of knowledge of
environment through the logical reduction that we know as science and philosophy. Ornstein s
holistic consciousness comes from the intuitive projection of local knowledge to complete the
picture of the whole world in areas that the brain and mind cannot directly reach through the normal
five senses. In many cases, this is how the mind gains knowledge of the non-local environment.
Analytical consciousness represents learning about the four-dimensional sheet by studying it from
the inside-out, while the second method of holistic consciousness corresponds to learning about the
sheet by projecting the image of mind across the whole sheet, from the outside perspective in the
fifth dimension inward to the sheet. The notion of awareness is fundamental to two of Natsoulas
definitions of consciousness. (Natsoulas, 910-911) His awareness and direct awareness correspond
to the intuitive and analytical modes of Ornstein. However, the evolutionary process need not end
here.
Just as brain begins to manipulate local environment to evolve mind, mind and consciousness
learn to understand and manipulate their non-local environment to evolve a super consciousness.
The super-consciousness would require a still higher-dimensional perspective of physical reality. It
would correspond to the direct awareness of a sixth physical dimension. A physical sixth dimension
was first discussed by Edward Kasner in 1921. He argued that the five-dimensional solar field
required a sixth embedding dimension. It is no coincidence that Kasner s and Kaluza s scientific work
was published at nearly the same time. Browne wrote his book two years earlier claiming that human
knowledge of higher-dimensional spaces marked the next step in human evolution. The notion that a
physical space (or space-time) of higher dimension actually exists had been growing for five decades
and, in spite of Einstein s momentary sidetracking of the idea by introducing a four-dimensional
space-time, the hyper-dimensional concept proved stronger and the four-dimensional space of
Clifford and others emerged as the five-dimensional space-time of Kaluza. These events marked a
growing conscious awareness of a new and unsuspected phase in the development of human thought,
and thus consciousness.
Humanity as a whole has not yet taken this last step toward super-consciousness, although
individuals may have done so as explained by Bucke. Yet this last step has profound consequences
for the human species and it is not without precedent. In physics and the basic sciences, we learn
about non-local connections within the world by our most advanced theoretical researches and
careful observations of nature. We extend our normal innate senses by invented mechanical and
electronic means into the cosmological, astronomical and sub-atomic realms of nature. Extending
our knowledge of the universe in this manner can be described as the hardware solution to evolving
consciousness through increased understanding of our material world. However, we can also learn
about our world directly from the alternative perspective of our mental being within the fifth
dimension itself. This situation represents the theoretical speculation of what constitutes the part of
the world outside of both our normal and extended means of observing the universe at large. This is
the software solution of science.
Science is in the process of discovering that it is possible to manipulate our non-local
environment by such methods as the tunneling effect and the non-local collapse of wave functions

10
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

by consciousness. We are also learning of the non-local interactions directly via intuition rather than
logical reduction. In science, non-local interactions and manipulations of our environment are called,
as groups, extra-sensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK). These phenomena are
paranormal because they occur beyond our normally perceived or sensed existence within the local
portion of the sheet. ESP and PK are combined under the single banner of psi which is just a form
of communication via the para normal or para physical connections that are entanglements in five-
space. As we learn more about the paranormal, we will actually gain knowledge about the five-
dimensional entanglements of our world and vice versa. We are thus moving toward super-
consciousness, but not quite there yet.
Super-consciousness marks the point where normal consciousness becomes aware of itself as a
connection between all of the points in a five-dimensional universe. It is this connection and our
growing knowledge of it that define Bucke s cosmic consciousness within the context of paraphysics.
But it also demonstrates that Browne s thesis that humanity is evolving a new consciousness based
upon recognition and realization of the higher-dimensional space is also correct. Super-
consciousness, Bucke s cosmic consciousness, begins when consciousness is no longer a mystery, an
unknown, which cannot be precisely defined. We cannot presently claim that we are super-conscious
beings, at least not until we can understand and define consciousness without the ambiguities that
presently plague the concept. However, individual human beings have already attained a state of
super-consciousness through intuitive leaps and intuitive introspection, what Buddhists and mystics
call enlightenment. Some of the stories of such events have been related by Bucke, but his list is
probably not correct in its totality, nor is it complete. While science uses the hardware method of
reason, logic and experimental verification to further the evolution consciousness and touches upon
the software method by intuitive speculation moderated by logical deduction, mystics stress the
purely intuitive and holistic approach to knowledge. Their methods reflect a purely software solution
to exploring reality.
The mystics, and especially the Buddhists, try to spark direct intuitive contact with our five-
dimensional extensions, connections and entanglements. In this manner, they hope to force the
understanding of the physical reality which corresponds to the higher-dimensional geometrical
structure of modern physics. Enlightenment is a direct and immediate knowledge of consciousness
through direct contact rather than rote deduction and observation. This corresponds to what some
Buddhists might call the high road as opposed to the low road to enlightenment. At the lowest level
of enlightenment which corresponds to a more complete understanding of normal consciousness,
mystics purportedly display psychic and paranormal abilities. It is within the fifth dimension that the
human mind can manipulate its entanglements with other material bodies and thus precipitate
paranormal events. Normal consciousness is a five-dimensional existent and the fifth dimension is
the realm of out-of-body experiences (OBEs), near-death experiences (NDEs) and other common
paranormal phenomena.
Buddhists teach their practitioners not to become enamored and trapped by these paranormal
abilities, but to strive toward a still higher level of consciousness. It might be possible to explore our
whole universe paranormally via our natural entanglements in the fifth dimension, using our minds
and normal consciousness to gradually increase patterns of consciousness until we could precipitate

11
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

a still higher level of entanglement and realize super-consciousness. On the other hand, it could be
easier to use the intuitive introspection of normal consciousness itself to realize the sixth dimension
and move more directly toward super-consciousness. That is the goal toward which Buddhists and
mystics move. The problem with the direct intuitive approach to super-consciousness is that a being
arrives at that level without the proper vocabulary or sufficient knowledge of the lower dimensions
of space-time to utilize, communicate or even fully comprehend the new found vision of physical
reality. That renders the intuitive approach a lonely singular journey. The newest step in the
evolution of science (if not the whole human race) could, or perhaps should, entail a unification of
the intuitive and analytical methods of consciousness.

Bibliography
Abbott, Edwin A. [A. Square]. (1884) Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. 2nd edition. Oxford:
Blackwell, and London: Seeley.
Ball, William Walter Rouse. (1891) “A Hypothesis Relating to the Nature of the Ether and
Gravitation.” Messenger of Mathematics 21: 20-24.
Ball, William Walter Rouse. (1892) Mathematical Recreations and Problems of the Past and Present Times.
London: Macmillan.
Beichler, James E. (1999) TOES, fingers and the nose on your face. Yggdrasil: The Journal of Paraphysics
1 (4). <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Paraphys>
Browne, Robert T. (1919) The Mystery of Space: A Study of the Hyperspace Movement in the Light of the
Evolution of New Psychic Faculties and An Inquiry into the Genesis and Essential Nature of Space. New
York: Dutton.
Bucke, Richard Maurice. (1901) Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind.
Capra, Fritjof. (1975) The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern
Mysticism. Berkeley: Shambhala.
Clifford, William Kingdon. (1870) “On the Space-Theory of Matter.” Read 21 February 1870.
Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 2: 157-158.
Darwin, Charles. (1859) The Origin of Species.
Einstein, Albert and Peter G. Bergmann. (1938) “On a Generalization of Kaluza’s Theory of
Electricity.” Annals of Mathematics 39: 683-701.
Einstein, Albert, Peter G. Bergmann and Valentine Bargmann. (1941) “On the Five-Dimensional
Representation of Gravitation and Electricity.” Theodor von Karman Anniversary Volume. Pasadena:
California Institute of Technology: 212-225.
Einstein, Albert. (1956) The Meaning of Relativity. 6th edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Gauld, Alan. (1968) The Founders of Psychical Research. New York: Schocken.
George, Wilma. (1964) Biologist-Philosopher: A Study of the Life and Writings of Alfred R. Wallace. New
York: Abelard-Schuman.
Hinton, Charles Howard. (1880) “What is the Fourth Dimension?” Originally published in
Cheltenham Ladies’ College Magazine and Dublin University Magazine. Published as a pamphlet with
the subtitle “Ghosts Explained” (1884); Republished in Scientific Romances. London: Swann and
Sonnenschein, 1884-1886. 1: 1-32.

12
 2001 ANNUAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS of the ARPR

Hinton, Charles Howard. (1888) A New Era of Thought. London: Swann, Sonnenschein. Inglis, Brian.
(1984) A History Of The Paranormal, 1914-1939.
James, William. (1960) William James on Psychical Research. Gardner Murphy and Robert Ballou. Eds.
New York: Viking Press.
Kaluza, Theodor. (1921) “Zur Unitätsproblem der Physik.” Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften 54: 966-972.
Kasner, Edward. (1921) “The Einstein Solar Field and Space of Six Dimensions.” Science 53: 238-
239.
Mach, Ernst. (1906) Space and Geometry in the Light of Physiological, Psychological and Physical Inquiry. Trans.
Thomas J. McCormack. LaSalle: Open Court.
Mach, Ernst. (1906) Analysis of Sensations. 5th edition. Trans. C.M. Williams. LaSalle: Open Court.
Marcel, Anthony J. and Edoardo Bisiach. (1988) A cautious welcome: An introduction and guide
to the book. Consciousness in Contemporary Science. Marcel and Bisiach. Eds. (Oxford: Clarendon
Press): 1- 15.
Natsoulas, Thomas. (1978) Consciousness. American Psychologist 33: 906-914.
Newcomb, Simon. (1891) “On the Fundamental Concepts of Physics.” Abstract in the Bulletin of the
Washington Philosophical Society 11: 514-515; a roughly typed copy of the complete talk can be
found in Box #94, Newcomb Papers, Library of Congress.
Oppenheim, Janet. (1988) Other Worlds: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850-1914. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Ornstein, Robert O. (1972) The Psychology of Consciousness. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.
Pearson, Karl. (1892) The Grammar of Science. London: Walter Scott.
Rhine, J.B. (1937) New Frontiers of the Mind: The Story of the Duke Experiments. New York: Farrar and
Rhinehart
Stallo, Johann Bernhard. (1881) The Concepts and Theories of Modern Physics. Ed. Percy W. Bridgman.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1960 (Reprint of
the 2nd edition of 1884).
Tait, P.G. and Balfour Stewart. (1875) The Unseen Universe or Physical Speculations on a Future State.
London: Macmillan; New (4th) edition. London: Macmillan, 1901.
Wilson, William. (1922) “The Quantum Theory and Electromagnetic Phenomena.” Proceedings of the
Royal Society 107: 478-483.
Zöllner, Johann Karl Friedrich. Über die Natur der Cometen. Leipzig: Engelmann, 1872.
Zöllner, Johann Karl Friedrich. (1878) Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen. Leipzig: L. Staackmann: Volume
3, Die Transcendentale Physik und die sogenannte Philosophie. Berlin: Verlag von Karl Siegismund;
Transcendental Physics. Trans. C.C. Massey. Boston: Colby and Rich, 1881.

13