It rained hard off and on during the night, but when Luna
stepped out onto the deck in the morning the sun was out and ducks were playing in the foot or so of
water that had collected in the pond. She particularly enjoyed watching the ducklings as they
submerged themselves and frantically kicked their little legs trying to stay under the water,
sometimes popping to the surface upside down with their legs furiously beating the air.
After a light breakfast she made notes about her conversation
with Koda the night before, drinking tea and enjoying the warmth of the sun on her face. Winter was
still trying to hold off the full onset of spring in New Jersey and it had been months since she had
been able to enjoy being outdoors. Birds were calling everywhere and now and then she heard the
bleating of a few sheep next door. Then came the sound of footsteps crackling loudly as Koda
crossed over the recently spread cinder between the building and avocado tree behind her. The
footsteps were so loud it sounded like he was walking on popcorn. He invited her to do the
interview on the lani (covered porch) of his house where they could sit in the shade and she
reluctantly agreed.
As Luna followed Koda up the grey carpeted steps she noticed
the front pond was nearly empty. The driveway wasn't paved and there was no wall or fence or row of
palm trees across the front, no waterfalls and probably no lighting. The bushes and rolling lawns
were still there but the ground was uneven with rocks protruding through the short grass here and
there. She knew everything she had seen the night before was an illusion, but she didn't know how
that illusion had been created, and now, as she saw the lani and deck and french doors her dream
came back to her. This had to be the same place she had seen in her dream, but it was different in
some ways.
The lani faces west and is roughly10-feet wide and 35-feet
long, plus another 10-feet in length where it extends out beyond the roof and wraps around the
kitchen on the north side of the house. The floor is covered with light brown tile, with 3-inch
squares of dark brown tile placed about every 3-feet in a simple pattern which extends into the
entry of the house. As she came up the stairs at the southwest corner of the building she looked
through the railing on her right and saw that the same tiles had been used to make a chessboard
right in the floor. Plastic chess pieces, the tallest 6 inches high, were set up for a new game.
The white, wood railing encloses the lani and deck. The vaulted ceiling has white beams supporting
light brown boards under a metal roof. The wood walls of the building are painted dark brown with
white trim, and the french doors with their many beveled-glass windows are also white.
When Luna looked into the house through the same french doors
she saw in her dream it sent a sudden shock through her and she felt that her grasp of reality was
slipping away. She leaned against a post extending up from the railing and waited for her vision to
stop spinning, having to stare at her feet on the floor because everything else seemed to move like
images in a dream. Koda watched her carefully, then invited her to take a seat. Luna turned on the
audio record function in her smart phone and set the phone on the small table in front of her. At
the same time, Koda pulled one of the patio chairs away from the wall and positioned it so he could
sit facing her.
"I remember this place from my dream," said Luna. "I didn't
actually see out here but it is the same house, only the artwork inside is different. Being here
makes me feel like I might be losing my mind."
"Whenever you experience something that seems out of place
like that," said Koda, "the first thing to do is check to see if you are dreaming. If you realize
you are having a lucid dream, then you can take conscious control and do anything you want, like
fly, have sex with famous celebrities, anything."
Luna pinched her leg and Koda laughed.
"You aren't dreaming," he said, "but then again this whole
universe is nothing but a highly organized dream."
"You sound rather sure of yourself when you say that."
"That is because all the evidence leads to that conclusion,"
said Koda. "The facts indicate that we all live in a world where nothing is solid and there is no
space and time. Theoretically we should be able to shape shift and walk through walls, because our
bodies and walls and everything else don't actually exist in the way we think they do."
"This all seems very real to me," said Luna.
"That's why you just pinched yourself to see if you were
dreaming," he said, grinning broadly, "but I know what you mean. All this is very convincing, but
then again, we have all had dreams we thought were real till we woke up. I have been trying to wake
up from this dream since I did LSD as a teenager."
"Don't you think it is possible that the drugs messed up your
sense of reality?"
"Absolutely," said Koda. "Prior to doing psychedelic drugs I
thought this universe was exactly what it appears to be. The drugs made me aware on an intuitive
level that we are all God, though I don't like using that word because it means different things to
different people. What I realized is everything is connected to everything else, that we are all
part of one huge consciousness and our existence as individuals is a fleeting illusion. As we get
older and closer to death we begin to understand how temporary existence is because we know that one
day soon it will be over, like it never happened at all."
"Just because we die that doesn't mean the universe isn't
real."
"Well," said Koda, "at first I wrote off the drug inspired
ideas as nonsense, but then I started experiencing psychic phenomena and could find no explanations
for how such things could be possible. Mainstream science was telling me that things I actually
experienced, like telepathy and telekinesis and leaving my body, were impossible. I knew mainstream
science didn't have the answers so I started reading books on metaphysics. The preface 'meta' means
'beyond,' so metaphysics is the study of things beyond the realm of physics. Actually, I think
physical phenomena are a result of metaphysical processes, that it is all linked together."
"So what is this evidence that points to reality being an
illusion," asked Luna.
"It is everywhere when you look deep enough into the nature
of existence. I would say the most direct evidence is the fact that the boundaries of the physical
universe are infinity. From the infinite past to the infinite future, from the infinitely small to
the infinite vastness of space, everywhere you look the universe ends in infinity. Infinity can not
exist physically. It is nothing but an idea. If the universe is contained inside an idea, then
everything inside it must also be an idea."
"Science says that time started with the big bang," said
Luna.
"So what happened before the big bang?"
"Nothing. Time didn't exist before then."
"So how was time created?" asked Koda. "Science currently
believes that all of time, space and matter came out of absolutely nothing. I think any rational
being knows that is impossible, and when you press the question even physicists admit that the laws
of physics break down at the instant of the big bang, or at the center of a black hole, because all
their equations result in infinity. There it is again, infinity, at the boundaries of our
understanding of existence."
"I don't know much about this stuff," said Luna, "but I don't
see why infinity can't be a valid answer."
"Because infinity is an impossible condition," said Koda.
"How many infinitely small points of space does it take to draw a one-inch line? Even an infinite
number of infinitely small points of space is not enough to reach even one-billionth of an inch.
How many infinitely short periods of now does it take to make one second of time? Same answer.
"A list of all the even numbers -- two, four, six, eight,
etc., is infinitely long. The list of all even and odd numbers has to be twice as long, but it is
the same length, which is impossible. Anything involving infinity is physically impossible. The
boundaries of the physical universe are an idea, a concept we think we understand but don't."
Luna seemed to be confused.
"I know this may seem pointless at first," said Koda, "but
the observation that the physical universe must be inherently non-physical could lead to the
greatest breakthrough ever in science, and the guys working in quantum mechanics seem to be getting
closer to that conclusion all the time."
"I don't think any scientists believe the universe doesn't
exist," said Luna.
"Of course the universe exists, or we wouldn't be here
talking about it," said Koda, "but it only exists because we are looking at it from the perspective
of someone inside the illusion. We only have to shift our point of view a little bit and the
universe goes 'poof.'
"Imagine I have a lighted candle sitting here on the table.
Can you tell me how long the candle will be five minutes from now? What if I blow it out or break
it in half between now and then? You can't take a ruler into the future, or the past, to make a
scientific measurement, and that means there is no way to prove either the past or future actually
exist. In fact, it takes light about 4 billionths of a second to travel from me to you and even
longer for your brain to recognize the image you are seeing, so by the time you see me you are
perceiving an image from the past, which as I just explained, can't be proven to exist. It is the
same illusion as looking at a star hundreds of light years away. The light we see left the star
hundreds of years ago but the star may have exploded between now and then, so just because we see it
now doesn't mean it is actually there."
Koda paused while he waited for Luna to process what he had
just said. She scooted back in her chair to sit up straight and seemed to be struggling for words.
"This isn't as pointless as it might seem," said Koda.
"Physicists study how physical processes work and eventually they come up with mathematical formulas
which precisely describe how everything in the universe behaves. Gravity causes objects to fall
with a precise amount of acceleration which can be expressed as a mathematical formula. Chemical
reactions can be expressed mathematically. The rate at which the intensity of a sound wave
diminishes over distance can be precisely predicted. Basically, every physical process follows
mathematical rules, and those rules always apply. Nothing ever breaks those rules. Gravity never
stops sucking and farts don't go backwards."
Luna laughed.
"Well, I guess that isn't always true. A friend of mine once
told me that his x-wife could suck air into her butt and play the national anthem by controlling the
air as it came out."
Luna laughed so hard she spilt some of the tea she was
holding.
"Ya gotta be careful," said Koda. "Once you get me talking
philosophy I can go on and on forever.
"The point I am trying to make is… matter is too stupid to
know how to behave according to mathematical rules most humans can't even comprehend.
Mathematicians do not invent formulas in order to describe a physical process, they discover the
math that already exists. Mathematics is a purely intellectual phenomena without any physical
substance whatsoever. Math is non-physical. Another way to say that is mathematics is a
metaphysical phenomenon. There is no time, space or matter, there is only the illusion of reality
created by a metaphysical structure which operates according to mathematical rules."
"I can see that you really believe what you are saying," said
Luna, "but has that knowledge helped you in any way?"
"Damn," said Koda, smiling with an exaggerated sigh, "You
would have to go and make a valid point.
"The answer is both yes and no. It helps to explain the
psychic phenomena I have experienced, and how the law of attraction works, where one uses
visualization, emotional energy and belief to create "coincidences" which result in the experience
of desired events or conditions. I talk about all that in my book, Rational Spirituality. I know
the so-called law of attraction works because I sometimes get great results. I only missed finding
a great parking place one time in about 90 attempts before my faith suffered a set back and I could
no longer do that consistently. Long before I knew anything about metaphysics I wanted to grow just
a tiny bit taller than my older, asshole brother so I could kick his butt and I ended up being a
quarter-inch taller than him. As a kid in middle school other boys used to call me baby face, so
one day I told myself I wanted a rough completion like the tough guys in movies and a week later my
face exploded in zits.
"So yeah, there is a ton of evidence that our beliefs create
so-called coincidences we later experience. Theoretically, knowing the physical universe is an
illusion should enable me to walk through walls or do anything else I can imagine, but I have been
trying to shape shift for more than 30 years and have yet to experience convincing results. The
lack of success is due to being too rational, because reason tells me physical bodies don't suddenly
become completely different. At the same time the problem is not being rational enough, because
reason tells me I can become any person or object I want simply by believing that is what I am.
Reality is what we truly believe it is. The metaphysical structure provides information to us on
unconscious levels which enables us to perceive the same world, but that information can be
deliberately altered simply by changing what we truly believe. If I believed I were a duck right
now, I would be a duck."
"I'm sorry," said Luna, smiling sarcastically, "but I simply
can't believe what you are telling me."
"You just used the magic word -- belief," said Koda. "A
professional hypnotist can get a large crowd of people on a stage to believe they are surrounded by
chickens and those people will chase after the imaginary birds while the audience roars with
laughter. If a deeply hypnotized subject is made to believe that an ice cube is actually a hot
iron, when the ice cube is briefly touched to their skin a blister will develop. Psychotic people
actually see and talk to people who aren't really there. There are thousands of reported cases
where people with incurable diseases have been instantly cured by faith healers. A few centuries
ago, when people were less rigid in their denial of magical phenomena, nuns in a state of spiritual
rapture were reported to levitate while others had to hold them from floating away, and many people
displayed what is called stigmata, or bleeding from the hands and feet similar to what Jesus
experienced on the cross. Jesus supposedly enabled a blind man to see again.
"In every case the only thing that changed was what someone
truly believed. When you change your belief, you change your reality. Mainstream science can not
explain things like people being instantly cured of disease, nor will they accept obvious proof of
telepathy, telekinesis and other psychic phenomena -- because the evidence goes against their
fundamental beliefs -- so they simply ignore the facts and any scientist who takes this stuff
seriously risks destroying their career. That will all change when physicists finally accept that
physical reality is essentially an illusion."
"I don't get how knowing that is going to lead to some huge
scientific breakthrough," said Luna.
"The greatest scientific achievements occur when someone
figures out how to explain an obvious thing in a very simple way. Here's another Koda Quote for ya:
The truth is always staring us right in the face.
"Right now there are three fundamental forces which remain
completely unexplained: gravity, dark matter and dark energy. Their effects can be observed and
predicted mathematically, but the forces themselves can not be detected. The most obvious
explanation for why these forces can not be detected is that they do not physically exist. Their
effects are caused by mathematical rules that exist on a different dimension, the metaphysical
dimension, and there may be many such non-physical dimensions.
"The missing piece is discovering how the
metaphysical/mathematical rules interact with what we perceive as matter. The math operates in a
dimension we can't perceive physically yet it controls all physical phenomena. Conscious awareness
can affect the metaphysical dimension, so future scientists might learn mind control in order to
conduct experiments in quantum mechanics and other processes. Even average people can cause random
number machines to become less random just by thinking about it.
"The breakthrough could also involve the use of psychedelic
drugs like LSD. I am not sure how such drugs actually work, but from my experience they seem to
interfere with the brains ability to focus exclusively on physical perception. People on LSD often
see vivid mental images of colorful, moving patterns which are far more intricate than the
individual could imagine on their own. The patterns seem to exist independently of the observer,
and I think it is possible that those intricate designs might be connected in some way to the
metaphysical dimension. The patterns appear to move and evolve according to mathematical
relationships, similar to how animated computer graphics can be generated with simple equations. If
mathematicians can discover the equations related to those moving, drug induced patterns, they might
find connections to equations which describe how matter behaves on a quantum level.
"I am just speculating here, but as far as I am concerned,
discovering the mechanism that links the metaphysical dimension with the physical is where the
breakthrough will happen.
"If you would like, I can demonstrate just how illusionary
our perception of this world is by giving you a glimpse of (makes quotation marks in the air with
his fingers) "the reality behind reality." I can make my face appear to change right before your
eyes. It is a simple technique I developed decades ago that anyone can learn to do in just a few
minutes."
End of Crazy Genius as of May 23, 2016
More to come soon!
