All of the Myriad Worlds:

Life in the Akashic Plenum²

Allan Combs

Tony Arcari

Stanley Krippner

Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center

San Francisco, U.S.A.

This article explores some experiential implications of Laszlo’s Akashic field hypothesis as well as similar information-rich field models such as those suggested by Bohm and Sheldrake. It examines the implications of such models for both ordinary and anomalous human experience, and proposes the idea that these models allow for the possibility of alternative experiential worlds as real as ordinary “material” reality. Such alternative realities are posited by many, if not all, major mythic and religious systems, and are said to be directly experienced in certain contemplative and shamanic traditions as well as during postmortem and near-death experiences. We note that information-rich holographic fields may be able to store concentrated non-overlapping quantities of information that can be selectively activated by distinct eliciting stimuli. Individual human consciousness itself might constitute just such a stimulus, thus accounting for the individual and cultural variations on commonly shared motifs in shamanic, near death, and other experiences of alternative realities.

KEYWORDS: Akashic field, holographic field, information, consciousness, experience, alternative reality, anomalous experience, bardo, lifeworlds, planes, realms.

… my tortured attention strained to follow the increasingly subtle creations which, according to my dream, the Star Maker conceived. Cosmos after cosmos issued from his fervent imagination, each one with a distinctive spirit infinitely diversified, each in its fullest attainment more awakened than the last...

Olaf Stapledon (1937, p.253)

Plotinus’s emanation theory, and its more detailed Vedantic counterpart, had hitherto been only conceptual theories for me. Now I was seeing them, with their descending bands spread out before me. I found myself amused, thinking how duped historians of philosophy had been in crediting the originators of such worldviews with being speculative geniuses. Had they had experiences such as mine ([later I discovered] that they had...) they need have been no more than hack reporters. But beyond accounting for the origin of these philosophies, my experience supported their truth. As in Plato’s myth of the cave, what I was now seeing struck me with the force of the sun, in comparison with which everyday experience reveals only flickering shadows in a dim cavern.

            How could these layers upon layers, these worlds within worlds, these paradoxes…be put into words? I realized how utterly impossible it would be for me to describe such things tomorrow …

Huston Smith (2000, p.11)

The Akashic Field.

Science in the third millennium envisions a cosmos thick in interconnectivity, while at the same time our understanding of it is growing at a rate dwarfed only by the speed of its physical expansion. In scientific, as well as in popular publications, we learn that the universe may actually be composed of information fields rather than Aristotelian matter (Lo, Spiller, & Popescu, 1998); that computational algorithms may replace the traditional laws of physics (Channell, 2004); and that there are several ways to describe physical reality in terms of holographic processes at the scale of quantum and subquantum events (Bekenstein, 2003; Bohm, 1980). If this isn’t enough, some physicists take the notion of multiple universes seriously, positioning our cosmos among an incredibly large if not infinite number of others, perhaps some similar to our own and some different (e.g., Leslie, 1989). Within this kaleidoscopic conception of existence we learn that instantaneous communication and nonlocal causality are regular features of the physical cosmos on the micro, if not also the macro scale (e.g., Greene, 2004; Maudlin, 2002; Nadeau & Kafatos, 1999).

Laszlo’s Akashic field hypothesis (2004; also see 1987; 1993; 1997) focuses our attention on what seems the least promising aspect of the physical cosmos, the vacuum that surrounds, embraces, and permeates all that is. Rather than the empty void of Democritus, this turns out to be an incredibly dense super-fluid medium with properties much like those of liquid helium at absolute zero. Laszlo’s hypothesis suggests that wavelets in this medium travel virtually instantaneously throughout space and time, creating cross-hatched holographic interference patterns that record the memory of the cosmos as information at both the micro- and macro-levels. As many readers will recognize, the implications of the Akashic field hypothesis have much in common with those of David Bohm’s (1980) earlier theoretical model of a holographic universe, though it benefits from more recent data from many areas of science.

The possibility of information-rich fields that permeate the cosmos has profound implications, not only for understanding the nature of physical reality itself, but for conceptualizing the human experience. The most obvious of the latter is the possibility that the feelings of nearness we share with others, and even with non-human animals, may be more than productions of our imagination, possibly representing direct non-sensory connections. There is sufficient evidence from parapsychological studies on the validity of the “feeling of being stared at,” for instance, to argue for the existence of intimate human links beyond ordinary channels of communication (e.g., Sheldrake, 2004; Schmidt, Schneider, Utts, & Walach, 2004). Other types of evidence supportive of the Akashic field hypothesis include reports of premonitory dreams (Krippner & Faith, 2001; Ullman & Krippner with Vaughan, 2002), the occasionally positive effects of prayers on healing (Astin, Harkness, & Ernst, 2000), presumptive instances of intuitive knowledge concerning danger to, or the death of, a distant loved one (Feather & Schmicker, 2005.); as well as reports of EEG synchronization between persons sitting together in meditation (Montecucce, 1994), purported salubrious effects of group meditation upon quality of life in the neighborhood (Dilbeck, 1990), and “global consciousness” effects on weather conditions (Nelson, Bradish, Dobyns, Dunne, & Jahn, 1996) and as correlates of events of world-wide interest (Nelson, 1991).  Furthermore, from anthropological field research come stories of signals sensed from afar in primary cultures, especially between family members (Krippner, 2005; Laszlo, 2001; Rose & Rose, 1951).

Some writers would call this a collective, or at least a shared mind, that involves something like Jungian archetypes (Jung, 1959), Plato’s (1946) realm of ideals, Popper’s (1972) third world of shared knowledge, Teilhard de Chardin’s (1959/1961) noosphere, or Goethe’s idea of natural archetypes (Richards, 2002). For many years the Quakers have reported an occasional phenomena termed a “gathered meeting,” in which a palpable sense of shared consciousness permeates the awareness of every member of a weekly meeting. In the same vein, the Andrew Cohen spiritual community in Lenox, Massachusetts, is presently experimenting with a newly discovered kind of shared awareness, experienced among groups during cooperative problem solving (Hamilton, 2004). While many of the ideas mentioned above may seem exotic, further reflection suggests that the notion of substantive connections between people allows us to be more comfortable with many of the feelings and intuitions that we do not otherwise know how to address (e.g., Cardena, Lynn, & Krippner, 2000).

Alternative Realities.

Now, if we push deeper into the implications of holographic and informational theories an even stranger prospect presents itself. This is the possibility of the existence of entire worlds that are not simply distant in space, but better understood as experiential realms. Such realms might lie entirely outside the “material” universe of physical events, though still grounded in the same holographic informational field as is ordinary reality. Fields of the holographic variety are of particular interest in this regard because they store dense quantities of information, and because entire non-overlapping fields of information can be activated in them by modulating the wavelength of an eliciting signal such as a coherent beam of light (Nomura & Okoshi, 1976).

The idea of alternative experiential realms is certainly not new. It may, in fact, be nearly as old as humanity itself. For instance, some scholars believe the images on the walls and ceilings of the ancient cave sanctuaries of southern Europe, drawn as far back as 30,000 or more years ago, are outward depictions of inner shamanic trance experiences (e.g., Clottes & Lewis-Williams, 1996/1998). Though contemporary anthropologists often treat these experiences in reductionistic terms (e.g., Winkelman, 2000), it is likely that those who actually experienced them believed, as do current day shamans, that they are valid encounters with alternative realities. In fact, shamanic overworlds and underworlds are reported in remarkably similar ways among shamanic traditions throughout the world (Eliade, 1987/1951; Harner, 1980). In a related vein, Shanon (1998) contends that the contents of the visual imagery reported by people ingesting the shamanic brew ayahuasca contain common items, i.e., “serpents, the large cats (jaguars, tigers, and pumas, but not lions), birds, and palaces” (p. 1). These, and other, shamanic traditions use psychoactive substances (e.g., ayahuasca, peyote, certain varieties of mushrooms) to experience alternative realities, but many do not, relying on dance, chants, and similar agents. Clearly, experiences of alternative realities do not require the brain to be under the influence of psychoactive drugs, or to be injured or compromised.

Primary cultures around the world have created rich mythologies that point to alternative and postmortem realities (e.g., Grof & Grof, 1980; Grof & Halifax, 1978; Trisker, 1996). Along these lines, it goes almost without saying that virtually all ancient and modern religions have belief systems that include the existence of experiential postmortem realms. Many of these involve challenging journeys for the soul, experienced, for instance, while passing through the Egyptian underworld on the barge of Osiris, or facing the trials and tests that determine the final postmortem status of the soul in Huichol Indian mythology (Halifax, 1982; Shaefer & Furst, 1996). Many such beliefs involve themes of heavens and hells that exhibit striking experiential similarities whether depicted in Eastern or Western religious traditions, or in the stories told in primary cultures (Krippner, 1989). Descriptions of leaving the earthly world often include traveling through a tunnel or aperture followed by the appearance of beings of light and darkness. Judgment scenarios are common, such as viewing oneself in the clear Tibetan mirror of truth, testing the deceased’s heart on the scales of Osiris, balancing on the narrow bridge to the Zoroastrian paradise, and facing the “last judgment” of Christian tradition. Though these scenarios may seem more symbolic than real, they point to universal themes and stages in postmortem experience and have been identified in the reports of near-death experiences as well (e.g., Moody, 1975; Moody & Perry, 1988; Ring, 1980; Zaleski, 1988). 

Near-death experiences have “face validity” in the sense that they represent dramatic episodes in the lives of those who have undergone them. These experiences can occur under the influence of general anesthetics during heart surgery (van Lommel, van Wees, Meyers, & Elfferich, 2001; also see van Lommel in this volume), but they were first scientifically described in an 1892 report by the Swiss Alpine Club in association with precipitous falls and other near escapes from death (Heim, 1892). It is worth noting that some traditional religions’ belief systems claim the authenticity of non-ordinary realms to be based on the actual reports of those who have experience them; one is reminded of Muhammad’s celebrated Night Journey through the seven heavens. Shamans frequently report dreams in which spiritual entities transport them to alternate realities and otherworldly realms (Krippner, 1990). We may question whether a dream experience involving alternative realities can be considered valid beyond the sleeping imagination of the person who has it, but there are other entrées into such realms as well. For instance, in the Sufi tradition certain contemplative states open out into extensive “imaginal” landscapes. Sufi scholar Henry Corbin (1978) reflects on the difficulty many scholars have in distinguishing between the imagination and imaginal reality. He writes, “We are not dealing with unreality when we talk about the imaginal. The mundus imaginalis is a world of autonomous forms and images. It is a perfectly real world preserving all the riches and diversity of the sensible world ...” (p. 400). This world is reminiscent of the imaginario, as exemplified in the prose of science fiction and “fantastic realism” and the motifs of surrealism and “visionary art” motifs (e.g., Piper & Piper, 1975).

Bardo States.

Some of the most detailed and psychologically sophisticated maps of alternative realities are found in Mahayana Buddhist descriptions of bardo states. The word bardo is usually taken to mean an “intermediate” or “in-between” condition, referring to the postmortem experience between death and rebirth, but it can also be understood in terms of this world as well. This is the case since, according to Buddhist philosophy, all experiences are ultimately transient. Nonetheless, Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman (1994) cautions that while the current fashion of interpreting the bardo realms as psychological concepts has its virtues, this does not deny their experiential reality. They serve as another example of imaginal reality, the imaginario that has no "author" or "origin," yet impacts our experience as persuasively as the "real world" (Kearney, 1988, pp. 252, 290).

The bardo states are commonly depicted in a six-part samsara-mandala, or “wheel of life” as shown in Figure 1¹, and which in one form or another is found throughout Tibet (Norbu, 1996; Sadakata, 1997; Sogyal Rinpoche, 1992; Thurman, 1994). The word samsara, is derived from the Sanskrit root sri, which means "to flow” or “glide." Thus, the samsara-mandala literally means "wheel of flowing together" (Feuerstein, 1990; Sadakata, 1997). The six divisions of the wheel represent a cycle of experiential worlds. These include three "superior" worlds: the heavenly realm of gods, the human realm, and the realm of demi-gods or asuras; and three "inferior" worlds: the realm of animals, the realm of hungry ghosts or pretas, and the hellish realm (Lauf, 1977; Norbu, 1996). Psychologically, these signify emotional conditions, including pride, desire, envy, ignorance, craving, and hatred (Wangyal, Lukianowicz, Dalai Lama, & Wangyal, 2000). Together, they present a generic map, or typology, of postmortem realms of experience.

Figure 1. The six worlds of existence (Samsara) and the twelve-fold cycle of

interdependentco-arising. With permission from Metzner (1996).

Strictly speaking, all bardo states are regarded as transient and conditional, though some are more appealing than others. They are reminiscent of the lokas of Hindu cosmology, meaning “vast spaces” or “worlds,” and the Persian concept of Hurqalya, with its "mundus archetypus" (alam-al-mithal), a realm of archetypal images and forms. In the Sufi tradition the imaginal realm of mundus archetypus is the interworld (barzakh) or bardo between the physical world and the world of soul or imaginative forms (Malakut). The Hurqalya are the heavens of this interworld and the cities of Jabalqa and Jabarsa exist in its lower regions to the East and West (Corbin, 1966).

In general terms one is reminded of Theosophy’s emanationist cosmology, borrowed liberally from Indian Vedanta to concoct a concretized Victorian model of “planes” viewed as absolutes. Planes also feature in the kalas (phases) of Kashmir Shaivism (Dyczkowski, 1987; Jee, 1989), another emanationist cosmology that presents a spectrum of stages from the unmanifest to manifest: Shantita (beyond peace), Shanta (peace), Vidya (knowledge), Pratishtam (psychic and subtle principles), Nivrtitti (physical existence). Each kala contains a number of sub-planes or bhuvanas (places of existence and becoming, worlds or abodes). The number of these planes varies from three to infinity according to different classical authors such as Abhinavagupta (Isayeva, 1995) and Gopinatha Rao (Woodroffe, 2001), but what is important is that there was a recognition of physical existence on only one of the five planes. The Saivite cosmos was also viewed as the egg of Brahma, or Brahmananda (anda means egg or sphere), and the god Shiva is considered to be beyond all spheres as shunyati-shunya – “the void beyond all voids” – which manifests through the concentric spheres or eggs of Shakti, his feminine consort. A similar cosmology was adopted in Greece with the Orphic egg, born of Mother Night (Nyx) and Chaos.

In recent decades, interest in esoteric traditions such as Gnosticism, Sufism, Vedanta, Shaivism, Kabbala, Hermeticism, Theosophy, Neoplatonism, Wicca, neo -shamanism, and Tibetan Vajrayana suggests a widespread search for answers beyond the rational confines of scientistic reductionism and the standard Judeo-Christian worldview. In many ways people are creating what Ellwood (1987) calls an “alternative reality tradition.”

Abundance.

To ponder the possibility of alternative worlds as more than imaginary (Dyson, 1997), indeed that they might in the full sense of the word be “real,” we must first make some accounting of their remarkable diversity. Even given similarities across cultures and history, we are still struck by many variations in the details. For instance, reports of near-death, shamanic, contemplative, entheogenic, and other alternative reality experiences display rich variation not only between cultures but also between individuals. For example, during a near-death experience a Hindu woman might encounter a vision of Rama or Sita, while a Christian is more likely to see Christ or Mary. A Siberian shaman and an Amazonian shaman may have similar experiences of the overworlds and underworlds, but they will find them populated with different kinds of spirits and power animals. Such variability is anathema to the methodical scientific mind, accustomed as it is to regularity and reliability in matters of validity.

The idea of abundance is worthy of special consideration here. The cosmos as we understand it at the beginning of the third millennium C.E. is nothing if it is not abundant. We see this everywhere in biology, from the evolutionary efflorescence of species to the flowering of the neonate nervous system in teeming multitudes of nerve cells. We find a similar motif in cosmology, with vast collections of stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies stretching in every direction nearly to infinity—and some writers (e.g., Leslie, 1989) speak of numerous, perhaps infinite universes as “real” as our own, that might never be seen through telescopes.

Surely, in such a profusion of abundance, all taken seriously by many conventional scientists, there is room for at least the possibility of multiple experiential realities. All that is needed is a way to conceptualize them, one that allows for the fact that they are experienced in different ways by different people. Holographic models, such as Laszlo’s Akashic field hypothesis and Bohm’s holographic theory, seem well suited for this. task (Gruning, 2005). Holographs can encode large quantities of information that can be activated selectively by distinct eliciting stimuli. It would seem that human consciousness might be such a stimulus. Different for each of us, but also with much in common, its numerous individual aspects might potentially activate many inflections of the information rich Akashic field. In so much as human beings share common beliefs, perceptions, expectations, emotions, memories, and perhaps even physiological states, our angles of activation have much in common and our experiences will converge, not only in the material world but in alternative realms as well. But in so much as we are different in these ways our experiences will also be different.

The Brain

Perhaps the most obvious objection to serious consideration of validity claims concerning alternative realities is the tacit implication that they exist, and are experienced, beyond the ordinary functions of the brain. In most scientific circles it goes without saying that the brain is the ground and original substance of all experience of any kind. One does not have to be a neurologist, or a mortician, to understand that brain death is associated with a cessation of consciousness as we know it, and one does not have to visit a neurological clinic to appreciate the failures of cognitive functions in brain injured persons. These facts cannot be contested. But there are other facts that might make us question the notion that the brain is the only possible venue for consciousness. Perhaps the strongest evidence in this direction is found in reports of near-death experiences that occur when the brain is completely inactive even down to its core structures (Kelly, Greyson, & Stevenson, 2000). It is a provocative phenomenon that these are often reported as being experienced from a point outside the body, especially from a perspective located near the top of the room. In addition, they sometimes include accurate visual descriptions of people and events while the individual is technically dead (e.g., Greyson, 2000). Some instances have even involved persons who were physically blind from birth (ibid.). How many cases of this kind are needed to bring into question the reductionistic assertion of the complete dependence of consciousness on activity in the physical brain?

Along these lines, it is an interesting fact that even with significant loss of neurological function through brain injury or deterioration, conscious experience itself does not seem too diminished until damage is so extreme as to affect wakefulness. For instance, individuals who have undergone the removal of one entire cerebral hemisphere may report no change in the quality of conscious experience (Gazzaniga, 1987). Persons with deteriorative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease often fail to notice differences in the quality of conscious experience either, though they may be aware of failures in memory or reasoning, especially during the early stages of the disease. One conclusion we might draw from this, as well as similar data from clinical neurology, is that the brain is unquestionably important for ordinary waking intelligence, including cognitive functions such as memory, judgment, and reasoning, but may not be the final supporting ground of consciousness itself. Much is yet to be learned in this arena, and it is far too early to foreclose on the possibility that consciousness might range beyond the physical brain, even into realities not mapped by Newtonian science, a worldview that has served science nobly over the centuries. However, maps are not always up-to-date; the work of conscientious cartographers is never fully complete.

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…………….

 

¹With permission from Metzner (1996).

 

²This essay was supported, in part, by the Chair for the Study of Consciousness, Saybrook Graduate School, San Francisco, California.