(Img Credit: "Pure Land" by LuminoKaya)
Assumption 1: Anything that can be
imagined exists somewhere in the infinite (or near infinite) universes of the
multiverse. (If
there are an infinite number of universes, it is guaranteed that all possible
places and beings of archetypal imagery (or any imagery, art, film, theater,
etc.) exist in at least one of the infinite universes.)
Assumption 2: Higher dimensional
information can be encoded into a lower dimensional substrate. (Holographic plates are an example
of this principle at work, with 3d spatial information encoded into a 2d plate
surface.)
Assumption 3: The brain can be such a
substrate, and can assemble higher dimensional perceptions from lower dimensional
perceptions. (Research
on the structure of the brain suggests that information is stored in a manner
similar to how a holographic plate stores information. Other research suggests
that the brain assembles the 3rd dimension of vision from information that is
sent from the 2d surface of the retina, implying that lower dimensional data can be constructed into higher dimensional perceptions.)
Myth as archetypal maps for subjective
understanding of one’s own neural connections (experienced as the landscape of
mind).
The human
brain is hard-wired to work with myth – archetypal maps by which the internal
landscape of mind can be navigated. When a psychonaut, shaman, bard, or other
explorer of the inner world begins to work with myth, the archetypal characters
and places are crude and undeveloped – not much can be understood or predicted
using such simplistic mappings. As the explorer begins to create more elaborate
details, interconnecting different elements of their mythos, their brain
correspondingly becomes more interconnected. Myth becomes the language by which
the internal world of the subconscious can engage in dialogue with the
conscious mind, with archetypal imagery as the words, and events occurring
within the mythos as the syntactical/grammatical contextualization. Archetypal
characters and places become the means by which the explorer identifies and
maps neural circuits of different parts of the brain, while events in the
mythos symbolize the interconnections between the corresponding neural circuits
that are represented by the characters and places. As the mythos develops, the
overall story is the aggregate of all neural circuits and connections that have
so far been mapped.
Archetypal/mythos mapping as encoding
of higher dimensional geometries into the 3d neural substrate.
Holographic
plates store information in such a way that the information of the whole plate
is equally represented in each part, the entire image is stored in every point
on the plate and arises through the interactions of the points, not through the
points themselves. That is to say, if you cut a holographic plate in half, each
half can still construct the entire image intact, though with less detail. The
brain exhibits a similar property in that if large sections of the brain are
destroyed, or become disconnected from each other, memories can still be
retrieved, though with less detail. It could be said that a 4d spacetime image
of events are stored into a 3d neural substrate; in other words, memory is a 4d
hologram on a 3d substrate. As in a hologram where each point of the
holographic plate is connected to every other point, it is as if each neuron
has an “address book” for each other neuron that was activated during a
particular experience. The memory is retrieved as the activation of a neuron’s
“address book” for that particular experience. Thus, encoding of higher
dimensions into a lower dimensional substrate is a function of
interconnectedness of points on the substrate.
As the
mythos develops, the brain becomes increasingly interconnected and the chasm
between conscious and unconscious mind is bridged. Neurally speaking,
archetypal imagery are “address books” of neurons, and are 4d informational
encodings onto the 3d neural substrate. Extrapolating from what is known about
holograms, it could be understood that higher dimensional information is
encoded into a lower dimensional substrate by the interconnection of all points
on the lower dimensional substrate to each other. Just as an archetypal image
itself is an “address book“ of the different neurons involved in encoding the
image, so would events in a mythos be an “address book” of the archetypal
“address books”. In other words, the individual events in the explorer’s
subjective mythos are the extension of neural holography into the next higher
dimension, 5d. The overall story arc of individual events in the mythos would
correspond to a 6d “address book” of 5d encoded information, and so on.
Inner mapping becomes outer mapping.
As the
higher dimensional interconnections of the holographic neural network increase
in density and number, consciousness can begin to create higher dimensional
schema for modeling reality. As the schema develop, consciousness is able to
see the world from a higher dimensional perspective, allowing for exploring
other universes in the multiverse or even gaining information from the 3/4d universe
in which an explorer’s body resides that would normally be inaccessible (for
example, a person in 2d flatland would be amazed by how a 3d person standing
above him could tell him what is outside the walls of the 2d flatlander’s
rooms). Thus, when a shaman consults the “spirits” (archetypal images) for
information about where a lost item is, divining the future, or some other
prophetic act, the shaman is utilizing higher dimensional interconnections and
schema about the world to gain information from the 3/4d world.
In some
sense, the shaman mentioned above is simultaneously projecting his/her
consciousness to the universe in which that spirit resides. By the assumptions
listed above, anything that can be imagined exists in a universe somewhere in the
multiverse. Thus art, theatre, film, etc. all can be conceived of as higher
dimensional perceptions of other universes in the multiverse, with the
information brought back to this universe. So, I propose that stories such as
“Star Wars” actually did exist a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (in
another universe). But the difference between George Lucas and the above
mentioned shaman is that the shaman has a two-way dialogue with those other
universes, and can request information from other hyperspatial, higher
dimensional beings that is directly relevant to this universe.
Bringing it
back full circle, images are not inherently real on their own, with respect to
the explorer developing an archetypal mythos. When an explorer -begins- to
develop their mythos, they are imagining things. But as the imaginings become
more elaborate and interconnected, they begin to touch something real, as the
explorer truly does peer with his/her own consciousness into other universes.
