Entangled: A Father’S Spiritual Quest Through the Mysteries of Mind

By Kevin Zarem

To my daughters Hannah and Katelyn: after I die, when youre thinking of meopen to your minds eyeI will not simply be a cold, hard memory in your brain tissue. The memory you will experience is methe part of my consciousness that is entangled with you.

Maybe it will happen when you pray, or perhaps when you are on a walk with your dog. You will look up at the stars on a crisp, clear night when the whole world will seem wondrous and beautiful. You will sense my soul or my spirit is with you and that my love for you is in some way eternal. It is.

In the past, the words soul and spirit have seemed to be without meaning in the real world; they were hopeful words of the simple-minded or dogmatic. They are not.

I believe that our consciousness endures after death in another realm, entangled between loved ones and with everything else. Ultimately, our consciousness is entangled with God. This is heavennirvanaan eternal sanctuary beyond our capabilities to describe or understand. But it is not beyond are capabilities to experience.

Our true purpose in life is to discover this experienceto become awareto be with God. I continue to struggle mightily at this, but I know that my unconditional love for you both has me moving in exactly the right direction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491734803

Kevin Zarem

Kevin Zarem is the owner of a forensic appraisal firm. He earned a master of science degree from the University of Wisconsin Madison and is also the author of Entangled: A Father’s Spiritual Quest through the Mysteries of Mind. He and his wife, Jenny, have two daughters and live in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

Book preview

ENTANGLED

A FATHER’S SPIRITUAL QUEST THROUGH

THE MYSTERIES OF MIND

Copyright © 2014 Kevin Zarem.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-3481-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-3482-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-3480-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014909500

iUniverse rev. date: 6/04/2014

To Katelyn and Hannah

In loving memory of Daisy and Zach,

my spiritual advisors

You will seek me and find me when you

seek me with all your heart.

—Jeremiah 29

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1:    Time and Consciousness

Chapter 2:    Getting to the Point

Chapter 3:    Nonlocal Mind

Chapter 4:    Mind over Matter

Chapter 5:    A Magical Mystery World

Chapter 6:    Entangled

References

Endnotes

Preface

Everything in the universe will eventually be explained by physical laws, thereby elevating science to the holy pedestal occupied by the gods of our ancestors. It’s just a matter of time. We’re already so close.

Katelyn and Hannah, do you ever think like this? I often did when I was your age. I’ve investigated science well beyond anything I studied in high school or college, and I no longer believe that science will provide all the answers; it simply cannot provide satisfactory explanations for the big questions, particularly in the arena of the mind and human experience. The gaps in scientific knowledge, however, create an intriguing opening for spiritual belief.

I have a spiritual belief that I wish to pass on to you—not to convince you to choose my belief, but simply to help open your minds and, perhaps, serve as a catalyst for your own personal exploration and epiphanies. That is my hope for this book.

People generally don’t like to talk about spirituality too much. I get it. Spiritual beliefs are personal and very hard to explain in a typical, two-minute, Hey, how’s it going? kind of conversation. You don’t have to talk about it or go to temple or church for spirituality to be an important part of your life, though. Your personal experience of spirituality is what matters. At least that’s how I see it. Perhaps you will find yourself having a serious conversation with God someday and then laugh for being so silly. Even so, you will find yourself talking to God again on another day—maybe every day. I do. I don’t mean to say God talks back to me. It’s more like Tevye, the male lead from the movie Fiddler on the Roof. Remember how he always looks up to the sky as if to say to God, What am I to do with these crazy daughters of mine? I know the feeling.

Let me give you a few pointers before you take this all on. First, keep an open mind. You won’t make it past the first few pages without one. Second, you are going to encounter geeky science stuff that will make you roll your eyes. Go ahead and roll your eyes, but keep on reading with an open mind. Third, the true nature of our conscious experience is a complete mystery. Science simply has no clue what it is. Rational thinking can only go so far. So when it comes to understanding your mind, keep an open mind.

As you read this book, you will, no doubt, find yourself thinking many times, Huh? I don’t get it. Even though I have simplified (perhaps oversimplified) the science technicalities so I can make some sense out of them, I still don’t really get it. Quantum physics and the parapsychological phenomena discussed in this book don’t make much sense in our everyday world, but they do offer meaningful and fascinating pointers toward the fundamental nature of reality. Please don’t get hung up on the getting it part; the important points are spiritual in nature.

As you know, over the last several years, I’ve been reading a lot, usually late at night before I inevitably fall asleep in the incredibly comfortable leather chair in my den. Initially my explorations were focused on cosmology—the study of the billions and billions of galaxies that comprise our universe. Next, I ventured into Einstein’s world of thought, where the universe took on a shape, not just in space but in time. Seeing as though Jenny and I weren’t having any more kids and I had a good chunk of free time on my hands, I tiptoed into quantum physics and parapsychological research. While wading around in these strange waters, I unknowingly bumped into God.

Talking about God is tough, but I gave it my best shot. To start the discussion off, imagine what the world would be like without our observation of it. If you are like I used to be, you imagine a world just like the world of your regular experience. What other world could there be? Quantum physics very clearly says that this is not the case on the smallest of scales, where elementary particles like electrons and photons hang out. Quantum physics indicates that the elementary particles that comprise all matter and force in the universe don’t really exist in the physical world (at least in laboratory conditions) until some type of observation occurs. Defining what observation is, however, has turned out to be a much more difficult task than one would think. In fact, science has not come to terms with what an observation technically is just yet.

As I see it, observation is tied directly to experience. Our intent—our will—in conjunction with observation forms our experience of the world. If observation has a direct effect on the way elementary particles manifest in the world, as quantum physics has shown, then, perhaps, observation and our willful intent have a direct effect on how the macro world of our experience manifests too. After all, the macro world is wholly made up of elementary particles.

I know it’s difficult to believe, but highly controlled parapsychological experiments have shown human intent to have an influence on physical matter outside of the body. In fact, there is strong evidence for a variety of parapsychological phenomena that defy conventional concepts of matter, space, and time. I’m not talking about experiments by con artists and street magicians but research by respected physicists and scholars published in professional, peer-reviewed journals. So these seemingly far-flung ideas aren’t necessarily so crazy. For me, these ideas have grown into a sturdy, spiritual oak.

We grow up believing that the world simply exists, with or without our personal, inner experience, as though we are completely separate from everything else in space and time. I believe another reality exists where all things are entangled, including consciousness. From the perspective of this reality, the mystical parapsychological phenomena and quantum phenomena I reference in this book can take place.

I think that our true purpose in life is to find this perspective—to become aware—to be with God. I continue to struggle mightily at this, but I know that my unconditional love for you both has me moving in exactly the right direction.

*    *    *

A hearty thank-you to Kurt Chandler for deftly helping me through the difficult winnowing and weaving process of making this book. Thank you to Nate Reysen, who synergized his own artwork with computer graphics to help make key ideas come to life. Thanks also to Carolyn Kott Washburne for cleaning up my act. Finally, I would like to acknowledge all my family and friends who have read various drafts along the way and added their personal (and sometimes professional) insights. The process was more enjoyable, and the book is vastly improved, as a result of all your help.

The endnotes section provides references to my source materials and additional background on certain concepts. Any misinterpretations or misrepresentations are solely my own.

Chapter 1

Time and Consciousness

For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion, even if a stubborn one.

—Albert Einstein

Katelyn and Hannah, I wrote this book for you. I wanted to pass on some amazing ideas that I feared you might miss out on in your day-to-day lives as you grow into adults. Even though you will likely see the whole book thing as Dad’s midlife crisis, I know you will appreciate it more when you become adults.

Although I wrote this book for you, I think it’s applicable to everyone. The book is written from the perspective of a regular guy pondering scientific theories and philosophical mysteries stemming from recent discoveries in quantum physics and parapsychological research. The mysteries that I explore are uniquely compelling, regardless of one’s science background, values, or beliefs.

Much of the material I write about will likely be missed by regular joes like me unless they do some pretty