Evolution of the Self

Evolution of the Self

Anonymous

Evolution of the Self

Copyright 2012 Actual Truth Publishing

ACTUAL TRUTH PUBLISHING

http://www.actualtruth.org

Smashwords Edition.

All rights reserved.

Publishers Cataloging in Publication Data

Anonymous

Evolution of the Self

First Edition

License Notes: This ebook is licensed only for the use of the person who downloaded it. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please download an additional copy for each recipient. Furthermore, the copyright prohibits the copying and/or plagiarizing of any of the text contained in this book. While some animal research is referenced, the author does not support the use of animals for research purposes.

For my Teachers

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One: Who Evolves?

What is a Living Organism?

Heart Transplants and Amputation

Brain Damage

The Recycling of Cells

Body Biochemicals

Informational DNA

Distinguishing Life from Matter

Equality among the Living

Chapter Two: Mind versus Consciousness

Changing our Mind

What is the Mind?

Where is the Mind Located?

Mental Health

The Electromagnetic Brain

How Consciousness Steers the Brain

The Subtle Steering Wheel

Conscious Memory

Subconsciousness

The Lessons of Clinical Death

Out of Body Experiences

Transmigration of Consciousness

An Ancient Knowledge

Chapter Three: The Spoiled Theory

The Theory of Accidental Evolution

Spontaneous Generation

The Quest to Survive

Awareness and Survival

The Urge to Survive

Chemicals versus Self-awareness

Accidental DNA Mutation

Fossil Records

The Fittest have not always Survived

Limitations of Archeological Evidence

Accuracy of Radioactive Dating

Mutated Complexity within a Random System?

Accidental Biological Functionality?

Accidental Genes

Is Love an Accident?

Accidental Evolution Contradicts Life

Chapter Four: Evolution of Consciousness

The Science of Fox, Wolf and Dog Breeding

DNA and Birth

Evolution and Consciousness

Anatomical Changes and the Search for Fulfillment

The Evolving Conscious being

The Superior Substance

A Reason to Survive

Learning and Evolving are Linked

The Physical Body Reflects Level of Learning

The Physical Body Reflects Consciousness

The Physical Body Reflects Past Choices

Our Current Consciousness Determines Our Future

The Responsibility of the Human Species

The Real ‘Natural selection’

The Source of Instinct

Purpose and Predestination

Chapter Five: The Programming of DNA

The Singularity Problem

Was it a Big Accident?

No Scientific Evidence

Where did the ‘Big Bang’ Particles come from?

Nuclear Energy and the Big Bang

The Precision of Atomic Energy

The Sequential Elements

Subatomic Particles have Memory

Memory Requires Designation

Designation Requires Assembly

Assembly Requires Programming

Nature is a Display of Programming

Repeating Functionality Requires Programming

Programming Eliminates Chance

Nature’s Events are Connected

Connected Events are Interwoven

Random Events do not Exist

Organization Requires Outside Influence

The Soup of the Primordials

DNA and Protein are not Spontaneous

DNA Comes from Life

Genetics Illustrate Deeper Mechanisms

Unpeeling the Source

Every Program Requires a Programmer

Personality Originates with a Person

Chapter Six: The Purpose of Evolution

References and Bibliography

Introduction

The next time you happen by an animal, or your pet, stop and take a look into its eyes. What do you see?

Likely, they will be looking right back at you, possibly also into your eyes.

But what do you see when you look at them? Are they not alive? Do they not have feelings? If you were to chase after it, would it not run away, feeling threatened by you? If you were to hit the animal, would it not whimper and cry, feeling hurt?

Most people assume that animals, fish, birds, insects and even bacteria are not alive in the sense that we are alive. They feel that these creatures are sub-human, and therefore, they are different. They do not think and feel like we do.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Anyone who has owned a pet will say that the pet became their friend. How could this be, if the animal was not alive in the sense that we are alive?

People will go to great lengths to make sure that their pet is comfortable. They will spend thousands of dollars on vet bills, food and shelter for the animal. Why? Why make sacrifices for some kind of inanimate object?

The fact is, people befriend animals as pets, and animals befriend humans because they are both conscious beings. They may be wearing different bodies, but they are connecting together in a relationship.

Like us, they are conscious. Their level of consciousness may be different from ours, but they are still conscious.

So we need to change our perspective on animals. Same goes for all the other creatures: birds, fish, insects and even bacteria. They are all conscious living being within different physical bodies.

This book will open up an entire perspective for the reader. This is the perspective that illustrates not only who we are, but who each of these creatures are within. It will show that regardless of the exterior body, each houses a conscious being that is qualitatively of the same essence.

Furthermore, this text will prove without a doubt that each of us has not only been inside the body we are in now, but has been within other bodies as well, including other human bodies, as well as the bodies of animals, birds, fish, insects and bacteria.

And we will show that the difference between each of these living beings is not their physical body, but rather their level of consciousness. Each of us wears a particular type of body according to our consciousness. And the type of body we wear reflects the evolution of our consciousness.

While we cannot dismiss the work of Darwin and all the other scientists that have progressed the theory of evolution into its current state, we offer a new paradigm of evolution that makes the Theory of Evolution as currently stated obsolete.

The Theory of Evolution, while useful as our knowledge progressed, fails to answer key questions regarding our identity and the purpose of evolution. It falls short of a clear understanding of just who we are and why evolution exists. We therefore introduce with this text a scientifically upgraded and revised view of evolution: The Evolution of Consciousness.

Chapter One

Who Evolves?

The essential first step in understanding real evolution is knowing just WHO or WHAT is evolving. This brings us to the core essence of life and the living: What is life and what is a living organism?

What is a Living Organism?

This is the big question. Surrounding us are living organisms with the will to survive, moving about in such a way as to eat sufficiently, procreate, defend themselves, and be as comfortable as they can. What is driving this?

Currently, there are several prevailing theories about the driving forces involved amongst living organisms.

Several centuries ago, many thought that the heart was the essential component of life. The heart pumps the blood through the veins, and blood was seen as the critical component for life.

In fact, many have just assumed over the ages, that the physical body—the body parts—conjunctively compose life.

As scientists gradually discovered the nature cells, many proposed that because the cells in the body seem to drive all the functions of the body, the cells must be the essential component of life. They saw the mitochondria producing energy, and the cell nucleus producing the enzymes and hormones that drive the body’s processes.

Another theory says that the driving force is the chemicals that recycle through the body. These chemicals, such as neurotransmitters and hormones, drive many processes within the body, so perhaps this is the core essence of life.

Others have proposed that the grey matter of the brain is the essence of life. Because doctors have observed memory impulses located at particular parts of the brain, some proposed that the brain must contain the essence of life.

Yet another theory says that the core essence must be the electrical activity within the brain and central nervous system. As researchers have tracked down motion, emotion, pain and other responses, they find that the brain and CNS seem to be at the root of these functions.

Others have proposed that the essential component of life is DNA. These proteins, because they contain the genetic material and programming of so many functions, are seen as the center for distinguishing one living organism from another.

As we can see, each of these theories have had scientific credence, because scientists observed that the living energy seems to drive the activity of that particular part of a living organism.

However, we can also prove that each of these components do not actually contain life. Rather, they are merely reflecting life.

Let’s look at each of these individually, using our own bodies for observation.

Heart Transplants and Amputation

Several decades, the first heart transplant was made. What happened? Did the life of one person go into the body of another? Did the person with the new heart change?

This of course has been the subject of some interesting movies, but in reality, the heart transplant patient experiences no change. They are the same person. Despite getting the heart from another body, and despite their old heart being tossed in the dumpster, they are the same person.

This should confirm that the essence of life—the living person—does not come from the heart.

The same goes for amputation. Following an amputation due to an infection or other injury, no one would claim the amputee is any less of a person. This is because the same personality is there despite a massive structural change in the body. This logic can be extended to even severe cases such as the loss of both arms and legs or other major parts of the anatomy.

An explosion or other traumatic accident might leave ones torso intact while amputating both the body’s arms and legs. Regardless of losing these appendages, the person is still perceived as a whole person—the same person as before—even though their body cannot function the way it did before. The person who operates the body still contains the same conscious being with the same personality.

This is why paraplegic and quadriplegic rights are protected by law; and why Dr. Steven Hawking, a quadriplegic, is considered one of the today’s foremost theoretical physicists despite his physical handicaps. He is regarded as no less of a person than the rest of us. Physically disabled people are given equal rights because society considers these persons equal in all respects, despite deficiencies in their physical bodies.

All of the physical body parts illustrate the same logic. It is now commonplace in medicine to surgically remove and replace organs such as kidneys, livers, hearts, hips and other parts in order to preserve the healthy functioning of the body. Some parts—like hearts and hip sockets—are now replaced with artificial versions. Modern medicine has illustrated through many years of organ transplants that a person’s identity does not travel with the organ. Otherwise, we might have—as a few comedic theatrical performances have suggested—people whose personalities reflect their organ donors. Imagine what would happen if someone receiving a heart transplant assumed part of the personality of the dead donor. We’d truly have a mess on our hands.

This situation is analogous to an auto accident: A car is involved in an accident and brought to an auto mechanic. The mechanic determines that the car needs a new set of tires, a new set of bumpers put on, and the engine rebuilt before the car can be put back on the road. The driver waits for the repairs to be completed, and then gets back in the car and drives it away. The new car parts do not affect the driver.

Brain Damage

One might propose that since we have yet to transplant someone’s brain maybe we are the brain. Most of us have heard of the famous neurosurgical experiments first documented by Dr. Wilder Penfield, where he stimulated the temporal cortex and stimulated particular memories during brain surgery. These results and their confirmations left scientists with an impression that life must reside in the brain since emotional memories were stimulated with the electrode testing.

This assumption is disputed by other brain research over the past fifty years on both humans and animals, however. The assumption that the emotional self is contained in the brain has been conflicted by the many cases of emotions and memory following the removal of brain parts and even a majority of the brain. Mishkin (1978) documented that the removal of either the amygdala or the hippocampus did not severely impair memory. Mumby et al. (1992) determined that memory was only mildly affected in rats with hippocampus and amygdala lesions. According to a substantial review done by Vargha-Khadem and Polkey (1992), numerous hemidecortication surgeries—the removal of half the brain—had been conducted for a number of disorders. In a majority of these cases, cognition and brain function continued uninterrupted. A few cases even documented an improvement in cognition. Additionally, in numerous cases of intractable seizures, where substantial parts of brain have been damaged, substantial cognitive recovery resulted in 80 to 90% of the cases.

These and numerous other studies illustrate this effect—called neuroplasticity. In other words, the inner self is not reduced by brain damage or removal. The same person remains after brain parts are removed. The same personality remains. Many retain all their memories. The majority of brain-damaged stroke patients go about living normal lives afterward as well. Even in cases where memory, cognitive and/or motor skills are affected by cerebrovascular stroke, the person within is still present. Though handicapped, the person remains unaffected by the brain damage.

Memory, sensory perception and the emotional self-concept are not brain-dependent. Many organisms have memory and sensory perception without having a brain. Bacteria, for example, do not have brains, yet they can memorize a wide variety of skills and events, including what damaged or helped them in the past. Other organisms such as plants, nematodes and others maintain memory and recall without having brains or even central nervous systems.

MRI and CT brain scans on patients following brain injuries or strokes have shown that particular functions will often move from one part of the brain to another after the functioning area was damaged. We must therefore ask: Who or what is it that moves these physical functions from one part of the brain to another? Is the damaged brain area making this decision? That would not make sense. Some other guiding function must be orchestrating this move of the function. What or who is guiding this process?

The retention of memory, emotion, and the moving of brain function from one part of the brain to another is more evidence of a deeper mechanism; an operator or driver within the body who is utilizing the brain—rather than being the brain. The driver is the continuing element. Physical structures continually undergo change, while the driver remains, adapting to those changes.

The Recycling of Cells

Throughout its physical lifetime, our body is continually changing, yet we continue to maintain our core identity and consciousness. Research has shown all living cells in the body have a finite lifespan, ranging from minutes to days to years. A few cells—such as certain bone marrow stem cells and brain cells—may exist through the duration of the body. There are only a handful of these cells compared to the estimated 200 trillion cells making up the body, however. By far the vast majority of cells in the body will participate in cell division. Following division, older cells time out. They are broken down by the immune system and discarded, leaving the newly divided cells in their place. Using this process the body constantly sloughs off older cells from the body, replacing them with new ones. Different cells in different parts of the body have different life spans. For example:

-Gastric cells are replaced about every five minutes;

-Stomach lining cells are replaced within a week;

-Skin cells are replaced within about 90 days;

-The entire liver is regenerated within two months;

-The bone cells will all be replaced within a year.

While nerve cells and stem cells can live longer—for years—the composition of every cell, including all nerve and stem cells, undergoes an even faster turnover. Every cell in the body is made up of ionic and molecular combinations. These molecular combinations make up a cell’s DNA, RNA, cytoplasm, organelles, and membrane. These atomic and molecular sub-units are constantly being replaced. New molecular matter enters the body from the environment. Old molecular matter is expelled through waste and respiration. Processes of cell membrane diffusion, osmosis and ionic channel conveyance allow each living cell to undergo a constant recycling of atomic elements.

Active cells will replace molecules and ions quite rapidly. Brain cells will recycle all their atoms and molecules within three days. Ninety-eight percent of all the atoms and molecules in the body are replaced within a year, and most biologists agree all the atoms and molecules within the body are replaced by new ones within five years.

Understanding that our physical bodies change nearly every cell within days, weeks or years; and all our body’s atoms and molecules are being replaced from the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe, we can accurately make the following statement: The body we are wearing today is not the same body we were wearing five years ago.

We are now wearing a completely recycled body. In effect, we have each changed bodies. Every rhythmic element of matter—every vibrating atom—is different.

This might well be compared to a waterfall. The water within a waterfall is always changing. From moment to moment, the waterfall will be made up of different water. Therefore, the waterfall we see today is not the same waterfall we saw yesterday.

Since each of us is the same person from moment to moment and year to year within an ever-changing body, logically we each have an identity separate from this temporary vehicle. We cannot be the body, since the body has been replaced while we are still here. Should we look at our photograph taken five years ago, we will be looking at a completely different body from the one we are wearing today. The very eyes looking at the eyes in the picture are different.

Body Biochemicals

Over recent years, various researchers have proposed from one basis or another that our identities are chemical. They have proposed that emotions and personality are seated within the chemicals (such as hormones and neurotransmitters) that flow through the bloodstream, basal cell network and the synapses of our nervous systems. Could our identities simply be a mixture of complex chemicals? A logical review of the scientific evidence would indicate otherwise.

Emotional responses to environmental stimuli will initiate any number of biochemical cascade pathways to occur within the body. A cascade occurs when one chemical release stimulates the release of another biochemical, and that biochemical in turn stimulates the release of another. The biochemicals in the cascade might stimulate a particular cell, tissue or organ function. With each cascade, there are initiating stimuli and subsequent responses from various tissues and nerves.

Because neurologists and other researchers have seen these biochemicals involved with emotional response, some have proposed that these biochemicals contain the emotion. They propose that chemicals such as endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine, or acetylcholine each contain the particular emotions they reflect, and are thus the sources of the emotion.

They propose that these signaling biochemicals connect with receptors positioned at the surface of the cell; and the response by the cell is the emotion being released from the chemical.

An example some have used is the famed opiate receptor, linked with the cell’s reception of morphine or endorphins, and the sensation of euphoria. The idea is that the feeling of euphoria is produced when the ligands like endorphin connect with the receptor.

One problem with this speculation is that no two organisms respond identically to the same chemical. With opiates for example, some may hallucinate while others may only respond casually. On the other hand, some may have nightmarish experiences. If these structurally identical neurochemicals contained the emotion, why would each person respond differently to the same chemical and dose?

Another major problem with this thesis is the observer: Who is observing that the body is feeling euphoria? Who observes the hallucinations created by certain chemicals? Who observes the positive or negative sensations of the body? The fact is, without an observer, there is no way to be able to view feelings. A physical body that is experiencing a physical emotional response with no observer could not observe and review the experience.

Therefore, there could be no discretion regarding the event. There could be no judgment available as to whether the experience was positive or negative. There could be no available decision on whether the experience should be repeated or curtailed. There could be no analysis or