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the logical extension of which meant that we live meaningless lives on a meaningless planet doomed to eventual extermination in a universe also ultimately doomed.
Quantum theory collapsed all that. It states there is no certainty, only probability. It therefore leaves room for choice, for free will, for a God who cares. It proves none of these things, simply leaves the subject open. And although it cannot "prove" the existence of a "Universal Intelligence," it can produce evidence that is consistent with the concept--and impossible to refute.
What do the Urantia Papers have to say that might help us to understand mind and consciousness? Dispersed throughout its pages, it describes a hierarchical structure with the mind of the Infinite Spirit at the apex.
We are told that consciousness and self-conscious are, to some extent, properties of mind. However, subjective self-consciousness derives mainly from personality which is a direct gift from the Universal Father. What we normally think of simply as mind is actually a complex. It is in partnership with our personality which adds its own inherent properties to the partnership. Our minds also interact with divine spirit, directly with the indwelling spirit of the Father, and also with the Spirit of Truth representing the combined spirits of the Father and Creative Son.
Another aspect of mind is non-teachable or mechanical mind. It is the "mind" of primitive creatures and comes under the direction of the Master Physical Controllers--who may also be responsible for supervising the quantum rules?
When the Papers were received in the 1920-35 period only a handful of physicists had any real knowledge of the conflict between the classical materialist-determinist view of reality and the probabilistic view held, and later confirmed experimentally, by quantum theorists. So what do the Papers say?
"These three Absolutes of potentiality must be the presences abroad in the universe which render it impossible for physicists to predict with certainty." (55/6)
"The agencies of the Third Source and Center are the levers of intelligence which motivate the material level and inject spontaneity into the mechanism of the physical creation." (101)
"Since mind co-ordinates the universe, fixity of mechanisms is nonexistent. The phenomenon of progressive evolution associated with cosmic self-maintenance is universal. The evolutionary capacity of the universe is inexhaustible in the infinity of spontaneity." (482)
"The finite universe of matter would eventually become uniform and deterministic but for the combined presence of mind and spirit. The influence of the cosmic mind constantly injects spontaneity into even the material worlds." (2078)
From which it may be discerned that whoever wrote the Urantia Papers was fully aware of these fundamentals long before science and its empirical evidence commenced its revelation of experimentally demonstrable facts.
References
1. Horgan, John, "Quantum Philosophy" Scientific American 267 (1) 72 (1992)
2. Albert, David Z. "Bohm's alternative to Quantum Mechanics" Sci. Am. 270 (5) 1994
3. Yam, Philip, "Bringing Schrodinger's Cat to Life" Scientific American 276 (6) 104 (1997)
4. Zurek, Woj. "Physics Today," 44: 36. (1991)
[addendum: An analogy that may assist our comprehension of the mind problem is to think of cosmic mind as a 'field,' (similar to the electromagnetic fields that can be made visible with iron filings). The cosmic mind field permeates the whole universe and, like an electromagnetic field, it can be manipulated. It is the Universe Mother-Spirit who manipulates the interaction of cosmic mind with the neuro-anatomy of our brains in ways that permit us to think and to experience self-consciousness and God-consciousness.]
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