Spiritual Energy

One of my favorite scientific truths, matter and energy cannot be destroyed. People tend to have this false belief than anyone can destroy objects. When you toss a log into the campfire, the chemical structure is turned into ash, the process slowly converts other chemicals into energy, and that energy radiates outward as heat. I still would not care to be chopped up and converted in such a fashion.

The tree no longer exists as a tree, but was not destroyed. It was broken down into basic carbon and transformed into energy. If the energy was used to cook something then the food absorbed some of the energy and was transformed. If the energy was used to keep someone warm, the persons around the campfire absorbed that energy.

Many skeptics claim there is no such thing as a human soul. That belief in Esotericism is just a desire not to die. Personally I look forward to dying, since it means I will get away from all those skeptics. They tend to overlook the fact that our bodies not only consume matter and energy but also produce matter and energy. The brain represents about 2% of ones body weight, it receives 15% of the cardiac output, 20% of total body oxygen consumption, and 25% of total body sugar production. The power used by the human brain has been measured at roughly 10 watts or 10% of what the 100 watts human body generates at rest. Why so much power and resources for such a tiny organ?

Most of my friends call me a New Age nutcase when I talk about this subject. But most religious beliefs are based on the fact that we have a soul, life force, auras, chakra, or qi, and that it survives death and passes on our knowledge and wisdom to some kind or unseen realm. Also depending on who you were and how you believed and stayed loyal to your beliefs decided your final destination.

A scientist, Dr. Duncan MacDougall, tried to measure the mass lost by a human body when the soul departed the body upon death. In 1907, MacDougall weighed six patients while they were in the process of dying and reported an unexplained wieght loss of 21 grams, but was unable to prove this mass to be the human soul. His work was never taken serious by the scientific communty and was ridiculed. Any scientist today searching for the human soul must do so in secret for fear of both the religous and scientific communties. In his research Dr. MacDougall wrote, "Since therefore it is necessary to the continuance of conscious life and personal identity after death, that they must have for a basis that which is space-occupying, or substance, the question arises has this substance weight, is it ponderable?"

If our soul is energy based (as I suspect) then Dr. MacDougall couldn't weigh it, but it could be measured or even contained. Yes, containment of a soul has been illustrated in both religion and fiction. The "Ghostbusters" had a "Ecto-Containment Unit" to hold spiritual energy inside a force field. Many African religions believe souls can be captured and enslaved. Some parapsychologists claim that the results of hauntings and poltergiests are lost souls or souls bound to the Earth plane.

Many religions sacrifice humans or animals to their God or Gods. This act could be based on the release of energy "feeding" their deity. The Aztec were known for practicing this on an unusually large scale; a human sacrifice would be made every day to aid the sun in rising. While the only time the Old Testament Bible mentions such a human sacrifice to God, is the trial of Abraham to see where his loyalty lies. In that he must sacrifice his only son to God, but is stopped by an angel. He and his son kill a ram instead.

Currently on television today we are bombarded with paranormal ghost hunter shows, which has even leaked into major science networks such as Discovery Channel. Recording spiritual energy with electronics, such as; mp3 players, digital cameras, and heat monitors seems to be quite a fad at the moment. Yet the scientific community want to distance themselves from such studies. So at the end of all the Discovery Channel shows they always quote the "lack off hard evidence" although you spent the last hour watching a show proving the paranormal. They even offer EMF meters (ghost detectors) to their viewers from the website.

Personally I tend to believe we are eternal. That when we die the energy from our body radiates outward and is attracted to other matching forms energy patterns. The energy is then contained inside a collective of like minds. So in essence the Vikings are alive and well living inside their Valhalla, the people who worshipped the old pagan gods are in their own realm, even the Aztec who commited themselves to such a barbaric ways enjoy their afterlife as well.