Mental Atoms

I'm getting too old so I've decided to bury this birthday in the clouds - literally. I'm sailing at 25,000 feet on my way to Chicago and it's most bizarre to leave my little soldiers behind this time. 5 to 15 bags of equipment usually shadow me unconditionally while my Panasonic HD gets diapered in blankets and hugged until she's safely inside the overhead compartment.

But not today. Today I skirted the check-in with only my personals, which never amount to much. I know better than to wear a belt, shoelaces, underwire, jewelry or perfume onboard. Nearly anything can set a metal detector off.

With so few straps, bags and wheels I afforded myself the luxury of bringing the whopping Sunday NY Times. This bulky heavyweight (to some) is as light as feather in my hands. And speaking of light, inside is a fascinating read about consciousness.

The theory or hypothesis is called panpsychism and it's something I've innately believed in since a child but never knew there was a name for it. In short it's a belief in the consciousness of the cosmos and that our brains evolved from the properties of a complex system of elements found naturally in plants, trees, animals and even rocks. Rocks - hmmmm... yes, that would explain my last ex-boyfriend.

Anyway, when asked about life after death, I usually fall short of subscribing to a religion but rather fumble through a theory on consciousness and matter (electrons, protons, neutrons). It all sounds strangely Star Trek to most but to me it makes perfect sense, more so than "Adam and Eve", purgatory, heaven, hell, reincarnation or the worst possible belief - having no belief at all.

If you believe in evolution than it makes sense that a person would be filled with a conscious energy from both biological beings (animals, fish, birds) as well as inanimate objects (trees, water, earth) since time began. They each have properties inherit to existing in our atom-filled world and each is a result of another.

I think that when we die this energy (or consciousness) carries on in both self-conscious beings and unconscious beings in varying degrees. Thoughts, feelings, beliefs, subjectivity - all of the human qualities (some primates as well) combine to carry on a higher purpose, most likely (but here's where my theory erodes a little) to keep the universel in constant motion or change. This constant motion guarantees that life continues and all are giving a chance at existing, at one time or another.

Perhaps it's my being in an oxygen-thin environment right now but this is where my mind fundamentally goes when I'm stuck in a 737 on my 37th. I could carry on but the crux of my controversial thinking but is better explained in the New York Times Magazine article and besides Chicago awaits my arrival.