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Gerrit Teule is a Dutch writer on the subject "Evolution of Consciousness". He is a board member of the Dutch Teilhard de Chardin Foundation and maintains the public part of the website for this foundation, including the discussion forum (www.teilharddechardin.nl). For 30 years he was a technician and computer specialist with IBM, specialising in large systems, complex networks and usage of computers by people without IT knowledge. He later specialized on computer usage by disabled people. Since 1990 is an independent writer. His own website is www.elektromagnetischekracht.nl. Email: [email protected]

SEE MORE ESSAYS WRITTEN BY GERRIT TEULE

The Eon Hypothesis
in a Nutshell

A causal connection between mind and matter

(A proposition: the eon-theory and the eon-hypothesis)

Gerrit Teule

Introduction

This essay offers possibilities, among other possibilities. The subject is a particular vision on the mind-matter problem and as a practical technician and specialist on informatics I have a tendency to concentrate on the question: “How does it really work “, or a bit more modest “How could it work?” It is not the writer's intention to describe a dogmatic and exclusive truth. On the contrary, the problem is by far too complex to claim any certainty. Besides, there has been written so much about this subject, that an original vision is hardly possible. Simple answers to the question how mind and matter cooperate, do not exist. So, just as a warning, the hereby offered possibility is not simple. A key concept in this essay is the notion of a 'mental inside of all matter', as hypothesised by the French palaeontologist and priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) and further developed by the physicist Jean Emile Charon (1920-1998), both Frenchmen with their unique feeling for 'l'esprit'.

Figure1: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin	Figure 2: Jean Emile Charon

General physical and biological starting points

1. The living is characterized by an elementary total structure capable of storing, and so comparing, information, before reflecting it by external action. (Citation Jean Charon, from: Man in search of himself, page 78. See also the appendix about Jean Charon.)
2. From common physics we know that the beginning of any chemical action is based on the movement of electrons or one electron (the valence electron). An electron in the outer layer of an atom can leave that atom or it can, together with other electrons, move to one side of the atom (the 'van der Waals effect'). Both possibilities result in a change of the electrical value of the atom (ionization). The ionized atom connects easily to another atom and this is the basis for any chemical action in this universe, in our body and for every neurochemical action in our brain.
3. Since the big bang electrons are the builders of all spatial structures; they give form to all matter as we perceive it. Electrons do that in two ways. In the first place they give volume to the atom (enclosing intra-atomic space in its orbits around the core) and in the second place they connect atoms together in molecules, macromolecules and larger structure like cells and bodies (by their 'stickiness' of the electromagnetic force, together with clouds of photons as force carriers (bosons)).
4. In the evolution of living matter we experience a growing complexity, a negative entropy. This complexification (a typical term from Teilhard de Chardin) started at the big bang and is continued on this earth in life forms of growing complexity, with our brain as an example of possibly the most complex structure in this universe yet.
5. The links between the living and the cosmos can all be reduced in the end to exchanges of electromagnetic radiation. (Same as 1, page 79.)

Putting this together: the electromagnetic force or electromagnetic interaction is pre-eminently the instrument, from which all (living and 'dead') structures in the universe become their spatial form and content, and with which they communicate as well. The other natural forces (the weak force, nuclear force and gravitational force) play a facilitating and/or supporting role. Comparing this with a stage-play one can say that the weak and nuclear forces act as the static scenery in the background, the gravitational force acts as the stage floor (as a basis for the players) and the electromagnetic force acts as the creative players themselves, bringing the stage play to life. The whole scene is flooded with light (photons), so that we all can enjoy the play.

Mind and matter, a proposal

The basic question is: do the electrons and photons only work at random, using only pure chance, to reach this complexity and communication, or can we speak of a mental initiative and evolution knowledge? Can we speak of a driving force in the evolution and a ''will' to come to consciousness? In our culture we generally see mind as something immaterial. However, if we accept the working hypothesis that our mind controls our brain and the behaviour of our body (as is generally accepted by almost everyone) then the starting points mentioned above lead to the central question: how can our mind (something immaterial) set an electron (something material) in motion? There has been a lot of speculation about this problem and books have been written about possible answers, but one possibility is unknown by a lot of people. That's why I propose to take a close look to this possibility, originating from Jean E. Charon. This possibility is surprisingly powerful and at the same time obvious:

With this proposal we place the mind in de heart of the electromagnetic interaction, with all its qualitative and quantitative properties. At first sight it may look bizarre, but I remember a citation from the physicist Niels Bohr after a lecture by Wolfgang Pauli. He said: “Wolfgang, your proposal is bizarre, but the question is: is it bizarre enough to be true?” The electron, according to general physics, has no internal structure; it is a point-like particle, it does not possess a spatial structure, and it has a wave/particle duality (some call it a 'wavicle', or is that wave a mental construct: a psi wave, as shown in the picture below?). According to the string theory it is only a vibration of a tiny string. We can even 'see' an electron as the centre of an electromagnetic field. Are these all mental properties too? All kinds of questions are tumbling over each other. How can a something be immaterial and material at the same time, of is this distinction not applicable? Is an electron something else than what we know these days, namely a point-like particle with some mass (1/1800th of the proton-mass) and an electrical charge? Or is it a pure mental construction; a possibility or probability that only emerges when we concentrate our mind on it? Hoewever, if we look at an electron in such an abstract way, how can all our electrical devices work as they really do? And why is the physical theory about het electromagnetic force, the Quantum Electro Dynamics (QED), so precise and successful? Is there a hidden message in the fact, that we know electromagnetism and its use so extremely well and that we at the same time want to know how we think, give the proposed idea that thinking and electromagnetism are so closely related, as the eonic theory describes below?

The eonic theory

It is good to make a clear distinction between the eonic theory (a scientific and falsifiable mathematical-based theory on the real nature of electrons, resulting in calculated values for several natural constants, including the electrical value of an electron itself), and the eonic hypothesis that describes the mental interpretation of the eonic theory. First I describe the eonic theory, published as the 'Complex Relativity Theory' (1977) by the physicist Jean E. Charon.[1] He tried to answer the questions mentioned above with original and daring concepts. According to this theory there exist very small time-spaces, enclosed universes. These small universes are in abundance present in all matter and also free floating in space. Charon calls these universes 'eons', to stress the fact that they are stable structures: they were born in the first split second of the big bang and since then they participate in our real world as stable structures, all around us an within ourselves.

From a mathematical viewpoint time-spaces can be seen as spherical and that applies to eons as well as to our 'gravitational space', our real living space. Two of these spherical spaces may tough each other at an immaterial and point-like touching point, regardless their size. Here comes the crucial basis of the Complex Relativity: the time-space of every eon touches our large gravitational space on one immaterial point (in the picture below P) and this touching point is very well known to us: we call it an electron. So, one can see the eon as the 'inside' or 'backside' of the electron. Or the other way around, we can also see the electron as the 'projection' or 'shadow' of the eon in our visible real world, our gravitational space. We call the 'inside' of an eon transcendent, because it's a different time-space, invisible and unapproachable for scientific measuremets. The electron can appear as a wave as well (psi wave). Eons are not the same as black holes, although Charon stated that eons “bend space in the same way as black holes do”.

To begin with, this can explain some strange and contradicting properties of the electron: a point-like particle, but with some mass and an electrical charge. Mass and charge originate from the 'inside': the little time-space 'behind' the electron. There exist as much eons as there are electrons, because every electron is the touching point, projection of shadow of an eon. To oversee this vast number of little time-spaces, hidden in our real world, Charon uses an additional dimension: the imaginary dimension, also used for his calculations (mathematics with complex numbers, leading to the name 'Complex Relativity'). Electrons/eons are 'baked' in the first second of the big bang and since that time they participate actively in the evolution, as described in the starting points above.

Generally the big bang is seen as an explosion of pure and extremely concentrated energy, all light. An alternative possibility is that this universe started as a very concentrated cloud of plasma. I leave this to the plasma physicists, although Charon's calculations from 1977 already pointed into the direction of this plasma cloud. During this explosion the different particles were formed: quarks and electrons/eons, bathing in clouds of photons. The quarks continued the evolution path as passive building blocks for the nucleus of atoms, protons and neutrons. Electrons/eons however play another role: they deliver the active and intelligent spatial formation (morphogenetics) of all natural structures; matter as we perceive it. The eons are filled with a cloud of 'black body radiation', revolving photons (light particles and one rotating neutrino) with an extreme high and pulsating temperature and density. The concentration of these photons within the eon is so extreme that space is pulled around the eon, comparable to what happens around a black hole. In this way the separated little eonic universes came into being; they are, so to speak, little 'specks from the big bang', in which the original density and temperature of the big bang is saved unchanged. Since the eon is a completely closed universe, this energy will never fade away. This means that the entropy within the eon stays the same of decreases, i.e. within the eon the (informational) order can only increase or it stays equal (known as 'negative entropy', 'negentropy' or syntropy). The eonic cloud of photons has four physical properties:

• The photons in the eon can store information, using spin variations, as long as the eon exists. Because the eon is a stable particle, this storage can be permanent .
• In the eon as a little enclosed space we find negative entropy. Photons in the eon can interact with each other, forming new informational configurations, thus increasing order.
• Photons in the eon can communicate non-locally with photons in another eon. That results in opposite spin changes in both connected eons (they 'exchange virtual photons'), irrespective the distance between the eons (they have to be 'entangled' as defined in quantum mechanics ).[2] This exchange results in a movement of the electrons.
• Eons can, in their functionality as an electron, start chemical reactions in the real world and, of course, also in the brain. Photon communication between electrons/eons leads to changes in the movements of these electrons. This is the only form of psychokinesis that exists.

On the basis of his Complex Relativity Theory Jean Charon calculated a number of natural constants, in particular the electric charge of the electron (with a difference of 1.9% precision from the observed value).[3] He regarded this result as a proof for the relevance of his theory. In fact he was the first scientist who really calculated the electric charge of the electron, using his mathematical model of the inside of electrons.

The eon hypothesis

Building on the eonic theory we can formulate the eon hypothesis, a more speculative part of the whole eonic thought. The four physical properties of electrons/eons can be translated one by one to four basic properties that we clearly recognize as spiritual. Every eon possesses in principle these psychic properties. They can develop themselves further in the evolution, depending on the circumstances in which the particular eon exists. The four basic psychic properties are:

• The photon memory results in an extremely compact, almost unlimited and stable memory, in which evolution-information can be stored throughout the whole evolution. (eons/electrons are stable particles).
• Negentropy and photon interactions lead to the possibility of contemplation and creativity. This is the eonic basis for thinking, creativity, consciousness and free will, all requiring the use of neurons to be effective in the real world. The mind however precedes the construction of neurons; they have been developed further on in the evolution.
• Non-local communication of this information between eons is possible throughout the whole body and also outside the body with eons in other living bodies and the worldwide field of free-floating eons/electrons (called: the eonic matrix). Charon uses for his communication the very appropriate term 'Love'.
• Chemical action and psychokinesis on the basis of love causes all chemical works in this world and universe. In our brain this psych kinesis is amplified by the interconnected neural activity (taking some tenths of a second, according to measurements[4]) to come to physical activity and/or conscious thoughts and feelings (quales).

With this cross-over from physical to psychic properties we have entered the realm of the eon hypothesis. The electric repulsion, mentioned in te picture above, serves as the minute starting point of neurochemical reactions, that cascade through the neurons in our brain (during thenths of a second), producing mental actions and/or muscle movements. We suppose that this process works vice versa as well. In our perception we don't notice this little delay; both eonic and neural activities melt together into one consciousness.

The 'enclosed' space

A significant property of living systems and bodies is the concept of a more or less locked up space, closed by a membrane, a selective shield, in which negative-entropic processes can take place for a short or long while. Around the eon this 'membrane' is closed for transfer of energy and open for transfer of information. Communication happens non-locally and non-energetic by use of virtual photon communication (Love). All other more or less closed spatial constructions (cells, organs, bodies, etc.) are temporary (as long as the construction exists in its organized form). In that time the enclosement works negative-entropic and at the same time with continuous exchange of matter with the outer world (metabolism). This is a phenomenon that we can observe anywhere in nature from the first and most elementary bacteria to galaxies, with all structures in between (bacteria, cells, organs, bodies, cities, countries, planets, solar systems). The picture below suggests that the eonic properties propagate throughout all higher living systems and there is no good reason to exclude the earth itself of even higher structures like a solar system of a galaxy from this list.

Eons in the evolution

Eons carry the will to come to consciousness. Because eons are part of all atoms, this will or desire to come to consciousness is a basic property of all matter and that's why we call it psychomatter. Eons experimented exuberantly with chance, especially in the first billions of years of the evolution. During the evolution they suck up experiences and keep this information stored in their photonic memories. This means that experiments, after a long period of fruitless trial and error can become more and more concentrated, coming to constructions that are more and more effective, such as proteins, cells, bodies and neurons. Failures have the tendency no to be repeated. In this way it is plausible that the morphogenetic evolution and the evolution of consciousness start from zero (eons, right after the big bang, with a blank memory but with all their syntropic properties) and that this process accelerates in the later stages of evolution. Nowadays this acceleration is almost unlimited in its speed, compared to the beginning of evolution. The dependence on chance is changed more and more into a purposeful development. Teilhard de Chardin stated that we even might take evolution in our own hands (by gene manipulation , birth control, etc.)

The language or coding of this evolution-information in eons is unknown to us, but we might call it 'eonesian', comparable to 'neuronian': de coding of information in neurons, that we don't know either. In the eon hypothesis we expect that these codings or languages cooperate in a very precise way, so that eons and neurons (eons are also a part of neurons, of course) work closely together to come to mental constructs, ideas and movements of muscles. Together eons and neurons give us our (self)consciousness. Be aware that consciousness comes to a halt when this cooperation stops, but that de mind inside eons continues the development. The eon also has the possibility to store and process this information with extremely high speeds (much faster that neurons can and even much faster that supercomputers can, because of the extremely small size) and to function as the source of all natural creativity and complexification. This is the eonic addition to Darwin's hypothesis about randomness and natural selection. Evolution with intelligent and wilful use of chance and with memory can lead to significant accelerations of the evolutionary processes of growing complexity (and Darwin's theory needs this acceleration).

This suggests also, that the human memory is contained in eons and rests in the whole body or even outside our body, wherever the very movable eons/electrons are. A pianist can have a musical composition literally 'in his hands'; while playing almost 'automatically', his consciousness (eons and neurons) listens, governs and most of all, enjoy the music. This is exactly what I myself experience while playing my piano (although my talents in this area are very limited; it takes me a long time of study to get a musical piece 'in my fingers'). Remember, separated data banks as we know them in computers have never been found in the brain. They simply don't exist. The brain seems to be a hard-wired storage for programs, not data.

The self-eon and the soul

Inspecting brain tissue under a microscope or viewing it via fMri scanners never showed a soul. Why? The reason is obvious: eons/electrons appear in our gravity time space as point-like particles and they are invisible. Nobody in this world ever really saw an electron. On the other hand electrons are all around en within us. Not all eons/electrons take part in the evolutionary process in the same way and with the same intensity or speed. As an example, the majority of eons are giving form to simple atoms like hydrogenium. They do that since the first thousands of years after the big bang and they still do it, anywhere in the universe, without further development and without grumbling. Relatively few eons/electrons become part of larger constructions and an even smaller part becomes active in living systems. In principle all eons can participate in growing complexity, but relatively a few do that in reality. A relatively very small number of eons control the formation of larger structures, such as complex molecules, cells, organs and a whole living body.

In any 'independent' body (from atoms to humans) there is one eon, that carries all the formative information to make and support that body. That applies also to larger and complex structures within that body, i.e. a heart, a kidney, etc. Charon called these super-eons body-spirits. I called them once chakra-eons, to make a connection to Eastern philosophy. They control important areas in the body such as the heart-lung area, the stomach area, and separated organs. Death of a body as a whole does not mean that all eons stop their activities at the same time. In my own body as a whole there is one eon that carries all the evolutionary information to make and maintain myself as a complete human being. That one eon is called the Self-eon. It's the centre of my consciousness; it's me, my I. I call it my soul. This Self-eon stays in my body as long as I live, while lots of other eons in my body are exchanged with the outside world, via metabolism. This Self-eon is the stable centre of my identity during my lifetime.

By the way, there is no reason to say that this soul has no free will. Seen from the outside all photonic movenents in an eon happen in an environment of extreme speed of light (where time is 'standing still') and quantummechanic uncertainty. This means that causality within an eon does not have the same meaning as in our real world. So, one cannot apply causal reasoning from our gravitationals time-space (determinism) to the eonic time space. Seen from the eonic inside (the mind) we see the photonic movements as free creativity and syntropy.

This all means, that the word 'soul' gets a new and well defined description: it is an eon with all the properties of eons and electrons. Consciousness is according to this vision the result of the intensive cooperation between the soul (with non-local connections to all other eons in my body and around) and the neurons of the brain and body. When this cooperation stops (definite or temporarily), I lose my consciousness.

Eons are a formational part of the neurons, gathering information and delivering instructions. As an electron the Self-eon has the possibility (just like all other eons) to be present at any place in the body, very mobile 'surfing over the body atoms'. It also can leave the body temporarily. The exact place of momentum of an eon/electron cannot be clearly determined, according to the uncertainty principle of Heisenberg. If there is a problem somewhere in the body, the Self-eon will be there, just like a queen or president visits a place of disaster. (This analogy is not a pure coincidence; we organise our society eonically, as happened already billions of years.) When the Self-eon leaves the body for a longer time, the body will lay down unconscious or in coma. If this absence is definite, the body dies and that is also the definitive end of consciousness for this particular life. Notice that the eon hypothesis makes a clear distinction between mind and consciousness. Consciousness is the product of cooperation between mind (the Self-eon and other eons) and the neurons in our body (not only the brain). The soul, the Self-eon, is a stable structure and non-perishable, going forward and evolving over many individual lives.[5] It is also possible that the soul, during a full stop of brain activity, gathers information from neurons around, from the person himself or from other persons around the operating table of the accident place. So, the eon hypothesis offers plausible explanatory possibilities for Near Death Experiences (NDE) and Out of Body Experiences. Notice that this vision also throws new light on organ transplantations, because every organ has a soul with its memory for itself, closely related to the total body memory; it is naïve to consider an organ as a piece of dead machinery, which can be replaces like a mechanical part.

Quantum mechanics of the mind

In Charon's viewpoint we can see the eon/electron as e mental particle or 'menticle'. We can apply the thorough knowledge of electromagnetism (QED) on eons/electrons, so we can speak of 'quantum mechanics of the mind'. The knowledge of the mind gets therefore a physical basis, together with all what we experience via introspection and/or revelation. Matter in this vision is much more than the pure orthodox materialism tries to tell us; it is psychomatter, because eons/electrons are building parts of every atom. Applied to all creatures, this may lead to a kind of panpsychism. The oldest and most simple form of an atom is hydrogen and it is significant that more than half of our body atoms consist of these hydrogen atoms, as old as the universe itself, with their mind carrying properties. (Some physicist claim that we are made of the dust of exploding stars, especially regarding the carbon and iron, etc., but the hydrogen in our body is much older than these elements.) The whole of our being and all nature is permeated of mind and that is already so since the big bang. Formulated in short, using Teilhard's inside and outside: Mind is the inside of electromagnetism and electromagnetism is the outside of mind.

Reception of the eonic theory and hypothesis

This change-over from physical to psychic properties was once commented by Charon with the words: “At that moment the mind entered the laboratory, uninvited.” He was convinced that a 'Theory of Everything' (TOE) should include mind to make any claim of completeness. With this he sealed his fate, because speaking of mind in connection to a scientific theory was, in that time of pure and fanatic materialism, absolutely not done. Even today it's still a problem. Since that time his theory landed in the 'lowest bureau drawer'. Another reason for ignorance was that one of the conclusions of his calculations was that the big bang did not start with an extremely small particle, but with a much larger plasma cloud. At that time this was heresy as well. And thirdly he used one addition dimension, the imaginary dimension, and at the same time the string theory with its eleven dimensions came strongly forward and became very popular. Nowadays the string theory is still brilliant mathematics, but its practicality is doubted. (According the Ockham's razor a theory with fewer dimensions should be preferred, because it is simpler.) Also plasma physicists nowadays claim that the singular point of the big bang is a “festival of speculations” and that the evolution started with a larger cloud of plasma, just as Charon suggested earlier.

Charon communicated his ideas in several books around the world. In our time there is a new interest in spirituality and consciousness in relation to brain and body. This is my personal reason and motivation to bring Charon's theory on stage again. In my eyes it is the most precise hypothesis about mind/matter connections available today.

Some cosmological thoughts and discussions

Out of these thoughts one might derive the speculative idea that the singular point or plasma cloud was an ancient eon itself, filled with pure energy, with light and mind. As the bible says: “In the beginning was the Word.” At the first rapid expansion of space-time lots of 'specks from the big bang' were sent outwards with the instruction “Go out and come to consciousness”. After that beginning, via a lot of searching, trial and error, the long way of developing particles, hydrogen atoms, heavier atoms, molecules, macromolecules, amino acids, proteins, cells, plants, animals and human beings with brains, started. This evolution is only half way and nobody knows what will follow, except that consciousness itself will continue its evolution, possibly with the inclusion of computer intelligence in some way. The Darwinist evolution theory has no predicting value in this dynamic process and as such it is not to be considered as a real 'theory'. It depends too much on pure chance and unpredictable catastrophism. His theory has already been complemented by gene transitions (possibly by eonic communication) and close cooperation (symbiogenesis).[6] The eonic theory completes it with mental creativity and syntropy.

This evolution is in essence a creative evolution of consciousness. All living creatures, including man, play in this process a temporary role. Finally, when this universe has expanded and cooled down to her final form, all material particles will also reach their final form: pure photons, light, energy, but then cooled down to some degrees above 0 Kelvin and floating in an immeasurable space. At least, this seems to be the last fashion in the land of cosmology. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin saw in this final phase his point Omega, in which all what carries consciousness comes together in one large and universal collective mind: the completion of this evolution. He connected his religious beliefs tot his final point, something he probably should avoid as a scientist. The mathematician Roger Penrose saw this a bit different: “Black holes evaporate, stars explode and elementary particles fall apart in photons.” The original microscopic small ancient eon (or somewhat larger plasma cloud) has then expanded, after a long period of developing consciousness, and it comes back to itself, but in a much larger form: an enormous time-space filled with pure knowledge-carrying light particles, 'sadder and wiser'.

Another question is: if our soul fits into a 'simple' eon (a very small universe), are we then supposed to be 'narrow-minded'? Of course not! The opposite is true: all eons in my body and in this universe communicate non-locally and form together one world-wide mind, a universal soul, and my own soul is a meaningful part of that whole. The comparison with a religious concept like Brahman-Atman emerges and religious beliefs converge with this vision. In this essay I did not use the word 'God' so far. The reason is not that I'm an atheist. The real reason is, that this three-character word is also a metaphor, that tries to explain something or it is used by many as the 'Last Explanation'. But it doesn't explain much. One of my favourite words of wisdom says: “It doesn't help when we try to understand a mental something by using another mental something, that we don't understand either.”

Taking the different theories about consciousness together, one has to admit that there could be something wrong in our thinking. Mind is not a by-product of neural activity, as the eon hypothesis clearly states. On the contrary, mind and consciousness are prior to any thought; it is a prerequisite for any mental construction, vision, sound, quale, scientific theory or whatever hypothesis we build. Following the eon hypothesis itself, mind and spirituality started already to evolve right after the big bang, billions of years before the development of neurons and brains. Consciousness and thought is the later result of the combined activity in eons and neurons (mind and matter). So, we have to keep in mind that the use of mental constructions, metaphors, to explain the real world that preceded our thinking is always dangerous and misleading, according to what Robert M. Pirsig wrote in his book 'Lila': “Thought is not a path to reality. It sets obstacles in that path because when you try to use thought to approach something that is prior to thought your thinking does not carry you toward that something. It carries you away from it.”

With these moderating remarks in mind, one might say that the eon hypothesis is “not even wrong” (using an expression from Peter Woit) and on the subject of mind-matter this might be the best we can get ever, at least in this time frame. Or we can say that evolutiuon of consciousness has to develop much further to enable us to understand ourselves. I see signs, that this new century will be the century of mind and spirituality.

Challenges for science

Rupert Sheldrake poses in his book “The Science Delusion, freeing the spirit of inquiry” a number of questions that may lead to a new way of scientific research. Some of these questions are relevant in the context of this essay. Therefore I reproduce these questions below in bold, with a suggestion for an answer from the eonic theory and hypothesis.

• Is the universe alive? All matter is possessed by mind and we call it 'psychomatter'. If this is the case starting at the big bang, than we should say that this universe is alive indeed. Consequently, dead matter, inanimate matter, does not exist in this universe.
• Are 'natural laws' and 'natural constants' habits, formed during evolution and are they subject to change? The syntropic mind, effective since the big bang, is able to change experiences to habits, via trial and error. In the relatively short time that we practice physics, this leads to 'fixed laws' and 'eternal natural constants', but in fact they are still evolving, be it with an extremely low speed.
• Does the mind only exist in the brain of is our mind much larger than the brain? The eonic mind is anywhere in the body and also outside. The eonic matrix stretches far beyond the body itself and works even worldwide. Therefore, the brain exists 'in in the mind', rather than the opposite. The neurons in our brain are played on by the eonic mind to come to (self)consciousness. The 'I', the Self-eon, can move freely through the body and also around.
• Is memory not contained in the brain, as connections between neurons, and can we tune into the past? Eons carry the memory and exist anywhere in our body (and in the brain as well). We can tune into the eonic matrix to retrieve memories from present and past, even if these memories come from other persons or beings.
• Has nature a purpose? Yes indeed, all psychomatter has a soul that thrives to come to consciousness, self-consciousness and possibly ultimately to a total collective consciousness. The whole evolution is pointing to the development of the means to serve that purpose: material structures, bodies, brains, artificial intelligence and whatever will follow. Saying that the present human being is the glorious end of evolution is nonsense

Unnecessary to say that the evolution of consciousness happens anywhere in this universe, on billions of other planets, whatever form it takes. The reasons that we don't communicate with them are timing, distance and language.

Some specific descriptions of terms

The eonic theory and hypothesis lead to new descriptions and definitions of old terms. In fact the whole eonic way of speaking is a descriptive language that can be used for further understanding of previously not well understood phenomena.

World-mind

the collection of all eons in this universe and their mental content: the eonic matrix. This may be compared with terms like Akasha-field, morphogenetic fields, and also with religious concepts like Brahman/Atman, Tao, etc.

My mind:

the collection of all eons in myself, headed by my Self-eon, my 'I'.

Soul:

The most developed eon of an organism or structure. All material structures have a soul, even a simple hydrogen atom. The soul is, like any eon/electron, in principle imperishable.

Self-eon:

(Written with a capital S.) The most developed and important eon in my body. It is my personal soul, my 'I', my identity during my whole lifespan, despite the fact that all my body-atoms are refreshed constantly.

Life:

In a broad meaning: matter with a soul i.e. all psychomatter. In a narrow meaning: a particular body with an active self-eon.

Consciousness:

The (temporary) result of intensive cooperation between eons and neurons. Consciousness ends with the end of this cooperation, while the soul, the Self-eon, goes forward in its mental evolution through other bodies and lives.

Brain:

The biologic 'machinery'in the head that is played by eons under the direction of the Self-eon.

Organs and cells:

Parts of the body with a relatively independent eonic 'management' by a self-eon (now written with a lowercase 's').

Soul-transition:

Self-eons, going over from one body to another.

Transcendent:

In another time-space then our own 'daily gravitational space', such as an eonic time-space.

Immanent:

In our own 'daily gravitational space'. Eons/electrons are always immanently present in all our body-atoms, but their 'inside' is transcendent, just as all the internal eonic processes

Non-local:

Between two different time-spaces, outside of time. Therefore we perceive non-local processes as timeless.

Non-local communication (love):

Timeless communication between eons/electrons, which can lead to movements of electrons and chemical actions.

Evolution:

The eternal development of (self)consciousness, together with all necessary psychomaterial constructions to achieve this goal.

Panpsychism:

The thought that all matter has a soul and that all these souls together form a universal soul. 'Dead matter' does not exist.

Related thoughts and the mystery

The idea that a form of panpsychism could be the answer to the continuing and fruitless discussions between spiritualism and materialism, has been pointed out in the past by important philosophers like Baruch de Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, Arthur Schopenhauer, Henri Bergson en Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Charon's theory gives this thought a physical basis.

In the picture below the connection between the eonic thoughts and some existing theories about consciousness is schematically drawn. Details about the Orchestrated Objective Reduction theory (Hameroff & Penrose) and the Essence theory (Kenneth Arnette) can be found via internet and Wikipedia. The only purpose of this picture is to point out that these theories are complementary, depending on the level of natural constructions, as given in the right-hand column. The eonic theory and hypotheses can serve as a quantum mechanical basis for several other theories, including the hypothesis about Morphogenetic Fields (Rupert Sheldrake) and Akasha Fields (Ervin Laszlo).

Does this mean that the mystery of consciousness is solved? Can we shout, like Daniel Dennet did, “Consciousness Explained!” like Archimedes shouted “Eureka”, jumped out of his bath and ran naked through the streets of Syracuse? Or was Dennet just a naked scientist, like the emperor without clothes? With all these thoughts at hand, we can give a sharp description of what David Chalmers called “the hard problem”. The division between inside and outside, used below, comes from Teilhard de Chardin, who always concentrated on the mental inside of matter, evolution and man.

1. Seen from the outside (the 'normal' way of looking in Western science) we see all kinds of biological constructions with an unbelievable complexity, working in a restricted space, surrounded by a kind of a membrane. The different theories and hypotheses taken together, we see microtubuli in neurons and we see essences (why not call them eons?) all around us and in all matter. They function extremely fast. In any picosecond they perform their quantum activities and in this way they give a soul to all matter. Eonic speeds are necessary to enable consciousness (neural structures alone are too slow to perform that function).
2. Seen from the inside (a typical Eastern viewpoint) we experience nothing of this biological complexity. We experience our consciousness and our clear self-consciousness. We perceive colors, forms, language, music, inspiration, intuition, love and all other feelings. Above that we experience the awful time-space, that we also experience looking into the sky: our immense universe in which all is taking place. We experience our mind, as wide as the universe itself. We perceive a universe that wants to be known.

It seems crystal-clear that these viewpoints, inside and outside, are closely related. But how these two sides have a causal relationship remains unsolved. However, the eon hypothesis puts this relationship in the center of Quantum Electro Dynamics and describes how consciousness emerges from this. But still, mind and consciousness remain a deep and overwhelming mystery, however detailed and exact the descriptions may be. The mind/matter problem is not solved, but we see the mystery very sharp before our eyes. That's a quality in itself.

The Hague, Netherlands, June 6, 2012

LITERATURE

Some literature about the eon theory, the eon hypothesis and further philosophy:

1. “Complex Relativity, Unifying All Four Physical Interactions”, Jean E. Charon, Paragon House Publishers, NY, 1988 (the mathematics based theory)
2. “The unknown Spirit”, Jean E. Charon, Conventure Ltd. 1983 (about the spiritual consequences)
3. “Wat Darwin niet kon weten, een reis naar de spirituele binnenkant van de evolutie” (What Darwin could not know, a journey to the spiritual inside of evolution), Ankh Hermes, Utrecht, 2009. A comprehensive description of the eonic theory and hypothesis, published in the Netherlands)
4. “The Science Delusion, freeing the spirit of enquiry”, Rupert Sheldrake, Coronet, 2012

This essay is a short version and introduction to my new book (written in Dutch): “Onze ziel heeft diepe gronden” (“Our soul has deep grounds”, Subtitle: A proposal: informatics and quantum mechanics as a starting-point for a universal and deep psychology. Approx. 450 pages.) Gerrit Teule, 2012, not yet published.

Appendix: Jean Emile Charon

(Taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia)

Jean Emile Charon

Jean Emile Charon (February 25, 1920; Paris, France - June, 1998) was a French nuclear physicist. He was the author of over 20 books on physics, scientific philosophy, and computer science. He conducted nuclear research at France's Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (Atomic Energy Commission).

Charon muses in his book The Spirit: That Stranger Inside Us (2004): “There are microscopic individualities inside every human. They think, they know, and (they) carry Spirit in the Universe.” Charon chooses to call these individual beings of intelligence, “eons.” They are otherwise known as electrons. Each electron or “eon” is an enclosed space, a thinking entity, intelligence, and even a micro-universe. But this is an inaccurate way of speaking about them, because as Michael Talbot (1991/1992) warns us in The Holographic Universe, “the only time quanta ever manifest as particles is when we are looking at them.” Thus, it would be more accurate to think of these beings in terms of wave interference patterns.

“You are the 'spiritual intersection' of all these particles,” continues Charon “Your eons will remember you, your 'I,' for all their lives. They'll carry it with them in their future life….And this future life in the body of eons will be very long, almost as long as the Universe itself.” Suggests Charon, “the electrons which form my body are not only carriers of what I call 'my' spirit, but, in fact constitute my spirit itself.” Electrons are sent individually into the Universe to learn and to increase the order of the Universe; “the psychic level of the whole Universe progressively elevates itself…during the 'successively lived experiences' of elemental matter.” The goal of each electron is to increase its energy to the highest level of sustainable excitement; that is, to contain the most information within the largest stable system of organization possible. The electron becomes part of increasingly more complex forms; living the life cycle of that form. At the death of that form, electrons leave the body, taking their informational energy with them.

The goal of the electron is developing the order of its Spirit. There are four psychic forces that organize living forms into entities of increasing energy or order: reflection, knowledge, love, and action. As the order grows, so do the psychic properties.

Ecstasy, says Charon, is the higher level of excitement felt when the electron fills one plane with photon energy, to the threshold at which it jumps to the next quantum level—ignites, until the entire system is fully energized.

“An interaction of 'internal Love' exists among the electrons of our body, alongside the interaction of 'external Love,' between our electrons and those of 'others'.” By linking with the 'other' through love or knowledge, the electron increases its order and ability to hold organized energy. “It finally increases its spiritual faculties; its 'consciousness'….To grow spiritually is to project more of our Love toward 'others'.” “Love is the simplest and most efficient process to increase negentropy (order) in the Universe.” Charon explains addiction to TV, computers, and music listening in terms of the attraction of our electrons to that which increases order and energy to their informational richness. It is an inbuilt desire to become part of that larger order. This also explains the phenomenon of mob mind.

NOTES

[1] Jean Charon got famous in his time by his long international scientific work on a 'Theory of Everything' (TOE), a continuation of the work of Albert Einstein. In 1961 he received the 'Prix Galabert International d'Astronautique', and in 1962 the 'Médaille d'Argent d´Encouragement au Progrès'. Also he received for his book 'Connaissance de l'univers' in 1962 the 'Prix Nautilus', the crown on the most significant scientific book in that year.

[2] Particles can be entangled if they have been close to each other in the same coordination field. All photons come straight from the singular point in the big bang, so entanglement is a common property for photons. Later in the evolution new entanglements can evolve.

[3] Charon derived from his theory a number of natural constants : c(speed of light, h (Planck constant), e (elementary electrical charge), g (coefficient of strong interaction), m (rest mass of the electron), ð (rest mass of the muon), ô (rest mass of the heavy lepton), M (rest mass of the nucleon).

[4] Recent fMri measuremenst about brain activity show tenths of seconds as delay between the first electromagnetic action and the appearance of mental pictures of muscle movements. See the abundant recent brain litterature.

[5] Charon wrote also a book with the title: “I live already 15 billion years”.

[6] See also “Symbiogenesis, a new principle of evolution”, Boris Mikhaylovitch Kozo-Polyansky, Edited by Victor Fet and Lynn Margulis, 1924, Harvard University Press, 2010