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The
Role of Light in Human Consciousness and Physical Well-Being Dan R. Hankins Abstract
Light plays a significant role in the development of human
consciousness and physical well being.
The anecdotal evidence of a statistically significant number of
subjects of Near Death Experiences suggests an overwhelmingly positive
psychological response to the presence of light during their experience. Further, the idea is advanced by
ongoing NDE reports that individual consciousness itself manifests as some
form of “light being” when separated from the physical body. Keywords: Light, Consciousness, Light Therapy,
Seasonal Affective Disorder Introduction The sun weighs one
thousand trillion trillion tons and the sun is the undisputed sustainer of
life on this planet. If current
scientific speculation is accurate, the life expectancy of the sun is roughly
another 5 or 6 billion years, after which it will become a greatly expanded
red star engulfing nearby planets like Mercury and Venus and ending all life
forms on Earth in a nanosecond of scorched misery. It takes the sun’s light rays
eight minutes to reach us here on earth, so if the sun burned out this very
instant you wouldn’t know it for eight more minutes when you would
immediately freeze solid. We need
the sun. We need the light. Light provides a
myriad of benefits to life on this planet. We are located exactly the right
distance from the sun to be conducive to abundant life on our little
planet. A shift in our orbit
around the sun in the slightest would produce catastrophic results in our
lives. In the vast expanse of the
universe, it is naïve to assume that there are no other planets ideally
situated near a similar star capable of sustaining some form of life. Perhaps there are many. Photons and
Light One of the most
fascinating things the sun provides for us is a highway over which accurate
and necessary information is passed.
Photons, the atomic makeup of light, are capable of bearing information
across enormous distances while keeping both the order and the quantity of
the information packaged on the light photons precisely as they
originated. If you look across
the room at someone, you will receive their image on photons bearing the
information containing their image and that image will not be a Pablo Picasso
abstract with the mouth appearing where the ear should be, but rather an
accurate cohesive image. Others
observing the same image will also receive an identical package of information
across the light waves. Every
second of our waking lives, we depend on the sun’s light for millions
of messages of information on packets of photons. If there is no
light, the movement of information is impeded. That is why we can’t see a black
hole. The gravitational pull of a
black hole is so powerful that anything crossing the event horizon of the
black hole would need to travel faster than the speed of light to escape. Since nothing travels faster than
light, nothing escapes, not even light.
Therefore we can’t see the black hole because no light is
leaving it to bear the information.
The most we can ever hope for is speculation based on the appearance
of other heavenly bodies around what we suspect is a black hole. In kilograms, the typical stellar
black hole in space weighs ten times the weight of the sun. (That’s a 1 with 31 zeros after
it.) The massive black holes that
astrophysicists theorize are located at the center of galaxies weigh a
million times the weight of the sun.
Furthermore, they are physical objects, and yet we can’t catch
the slightest glimpse of them. (University of Berkeley website) The Passageways
of Information You are first
inclined to argue that there are other ways to receive information. After all, blind people can be, and
very often are, very intelligent people.
Yet they live in a world absent of visible
light. That is true, but since
electrical impulses are a form of electromagnetic energy like visible light,
the blind also receive all their information on photon “highways”
nevertheless. Neuroscientists are
enthusiastically researching practical applications for these “light
energy highways.”
Currently, there have been over 20 research groups investigating the
use of brain generated electrical impulses to interface with computers to
perform tasks for the paraplegic (Cognitive
Processing, 2005;6:65-74). In one sense of the word, we all
experience our physical surroundings in utter blackness. A burst of light that appears in front
of your face is processed and experienced in the black darkness of the far
back region of your brain in the occipital lobe. This can be readily proven, for when
the part of the brain that processes vision is damaged, the light will not be
experienced. So, much like the
blind person, you also experience
light bearing information in utter darkness. Remarkably, blind subjects (even those
blind from birth) experiencing the phenomenon known as a Near Death
Experience sometimes experience sight during their experience (Journal of Near-Death Studies, 2004;16:101-147). This is possibly another indication
that human consciousness is separate from the physical brain and is not
dependent on the normal neuronal passageways for information. We are in the early
frontiers of exploration of the relationship between our physical well-being
and light. New research indicates
that the introduction of bright light to blind research subjects may
positively influence their circadian rhythm by affecting melatonin levels (New England Journal of Medicine, 1995;332:6-11). For those
individuals gifted with vision the image coming through your eyes on
information packed photons strikes the photoreceptor cells in the layer of
cells at the back of your eye known as the retina. The light expressed as visual light
photons when they enter your eye are transformed into light expressed as
electrical impulses when they leave the eye on their journey to the brain. Because you
can’t physically see electricity it is very easy to forget that it is
also a form of electromagnetic energy like visible light. Furthermore, every part of the
electromagnetic spectrum – from gamma rays to radio waves - is a form
of light energy. NASA’s
Goddard Space Flight Center publishes a wonderful website for young people
called “Imagine the
Universe.” On that site
(http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/) they state, “Radio waves, visible light, X-rays, and all the other
parts of the electromagnetic spectrum are fundamentally the same thing,
‘electromagnetic radiation.’’” They then define electromagnetic radiation as another form of light, further clarifying light
as “fluctuations of electric and magnetic fields in the form of
waves.” So the light that
enters your eye as visible light never ceases to be light even after it
enters the darkness of your brain in the form of electricity. The visible photon light, after
transforming into the non-visible form of electricity, travels on the
electrical wiring system of your body made up of neuron cells and is stored as
electricity in your brain. The blind person we
have mentioned bypasses the visible light step in receiving information. Rather, sound waves will vibrate his
eardrum and transfer the vibrations to the middle ear and then to the inner
ear where the vibrations act upon the fluid filled cochlea. Instantly, the vibrations and the
ripples on the fluid in the cochlea reach the hair cells which we call the
auditory receptor cells located on the basilar membrane. These highly sensitive and fascinating
cells transform the vibrations into electrical impulses and we are once again
dealing with light. These
impulses travel to the thalamus in the brain on their way to the temporal
lobe where sound is recognized and processed. Stand in a bakery in
the morning and take a deep whiff of the aromatic air. When the molecules carrying the odor
enter your nose they find their way to the nasal mucosa located on the top of each nostril which contains sensory olfactory epithelium. From these protrude little knobs with
up to 20 olfactory cilia from 5 to 10 micrometers long with smell
receptors. The disturbance of the
cilia creates an electrical impulse (light) which travels on the neuronal
wireway to the thalamus and the frontal cortex of the brain where your conscious
memory will determine the type of smell from your memory bank. If you bite down on
a delicious piece of fruit, molecules escape from the fruit and enter tiny
openings in your taste membrane receptors on the taste bud. The various tastes, from bitter to
sweet, have different molecular structures and the taste bud has a variety of
different types of receptors to accommodate the different tastes. The instant the molecule from the
fruit attaches to the taste membrane receptor, the friction of the event
produces an electrical signal and we are back to the transference of
information through light. These
electrical light signals will travel the body’s wiring system to the
limbic system where you will experience the food as pleasurable in this case
or un-pleasurable if the fruit happens to be spoiled or tainted. The signals will also go to the
cerebral cortex to be further processed as information. After all, you need to remember which
foods you like and which foods nauseate you, so the information needs to be
stored in your consciousness. Our skin, the neural
pathway for our sense of touch, is the largest organ of our bodies. It is covered with millions of tiny
nerve endings in the dermis or
bottom layer of our skin with receptors, although these receptors are not
uniformly distributed on the body.
The fingers and the lips have the largest amounts of receptors. There are many different types of
receptors but the main ones detect heat, cold, pain, and pressure. When these receptors are activated by
touching something, the friction created by the object touched and the touch
receptor just under the surface of the skin generates electricity in the form
of these nerve impulses which then travel to the brain to be processed. Because the receptors in the fingers
of the blind person previously mentioned are so sensitive, he can run his
fingers across a page of raised dots known as Braille and read as quickly as many sighted readers. The Role of Light
in Human Consciousness In trying to
perceive the nature of our consciousness, it is vitally important to remember
that electricity is a form of light and that all knowledge enters our brain
as light, remains a form of light energy while in our brain, travels through
our bodies across a complex wiring system of neuron cells as light, and in
fact, was always light and will always remain light. This charge of electricity is the
energy package that animates you both physically and mentally. This electricity that makes up
consciousness is not a product of the brain but has entered the brain as
photons passing through the sensory gateways of the body. We humans only experience a very small
part of the entire electromagnetic spectrum but certain photons in that vast
spectrum are apparently capable of carrying cohesive information across the
space/time continuum and integrating with human consciousness. These photons could be termed neurophotons to identify them and
isolate them from other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. The brain
merely receives and processes this photon-borne knowledge and also sends the
needed electrical signals throughout the body to provide coordinated
animation and response. We know
that air enters the lungs but air is not
the lungs; it is merely processed through the lungs. We know that blood enters the heart
but blood is not the heart; it is
merely processed through the heart.
And we know that consciousness (in the form of electrical light energy
impulses) enters the brain but consciousness is not the brain; it is merely processed through the brain. Consciousness is obviously a
form of light energy, therefore; learning about the nature of light is also
learning about the nature of human consciousness.
I was sitting in a nice restaurant with my wife, my oldest daughter
and her husband enjoying a quiet dinner.
Suddenly, I felt an overwhelming weakness and felt that I was going to
lose consciousness. Family
members said I turned deathly gray.
This event happened right in the middle of a sentence and I could not
even finish my sentence. I had to
concentrate all my efforts toward just maintaining consciousness. To make matters worse, this same
episode had been repeated a few times during the preceding weeks. My wife took me to the emergency room. After several tests
and procedures that did nothing to alleviate the condition, they placed a
Holter Monitor on my heart and sent me home. After 30 days of monitoring the
activity of my heart the cardiologist determined that I had sick sinus syndrome
and accompanying arrhythmia problems and would need a pacemaker. When my heart rate dropped down into
the low forties and upper thirties, blood flow to the brain was hampered
sufficiently enough to cause the strange semi-conscious episodes I had been
experiencing. Consequently, I was
scheduled to have the procedure done the following week. The pacemaker worked
well. Sixty times a minute it
faithfully sent 3 volts of electricity into the atrium of my heart that
initiated a good strong heart beat.
After six weeks the voltage was reduced to 2 volts in order to
conserve the life of the battery.
The point is, whether my heart received electrical energy from my
sinus node or an artificial mechanical device made no difference to the
muscle of my heart. Electricity
is electricity is electricity, and this same fact needs to be remembered when
discussing the electrical light impulses that constitute human consciousness. Biomedical
Engineering researchers at the University of Southern California recently
conducted studies in which they implanted an electronic microchip into live
tissues of a rat’s hippocampus taken from the rat’s brain and
kept alive in a Petri dish. The
purpose of the experiment was to test the plausibility of creating a brain prosthesis in the future to replace
damaged hippocampus in a human brain.
The hippocampus is often affected by neurodegenerative conditions like
Alzheimer’s disease. The microchip
worked well, and signals generated across the microchip matched normal neural
signals in every way from shape to timing. Researcher Dr. Theodore Berger
concluded, “It proves you can take out a piece of a central brain
region – a piece with real clinical interest – replace it with a
chip, and get it to operate as it did before.” (Hippocampus,
1995;6:43-51). Again we find that
the physical body responds to specific electrical impulses whether they are
generated by a functional brain or a mechanical device. In the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Thursday, July 13. 2006), an article credited to
the Los Angeles Times appeared
entitled, “Implanted Chip Turns Thoughts into Actions.” The article told of a 25 year old
quadriplegic who operated a mechanical arm by simply thinking about the action he wanted the arm to perform. This incredible new technology first
reported in the journal Nature,
holds tremendous hope that some day people paralyzed by stroke or other
mishaps will be able to feed themselves and operate their own wheelchairs
unassisted. The implant was developed by Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology
Systems Inc. in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The electrical impulses created by the
thoughts of the young quadriplegic Matthew Nagle were transmitted to a
computer which interpreted them and mechanically performed the action thought
of in Nagle’s brain. The
University of Chicago, Brown University, and Harvard University performed
successful experiments with a chip containing 96 electrodes which picked up
the electrical signals generated in the motor cortex of the brain. As Matthew Nagle imagined his arm
moving, this innovative chip allowed him to perform tasks with as high as 90
percent accuracy. Again we see
the integration of electricity and biology to simulate conscious tasks as
mentioned earlier in this paper. The Role of
Light in Physical Well Being Alaskans who live in
the far North go through long periods of minimal sunlight. Residents of Barrow, Alaska may
experience months of darkness without ever seeing the sun. Citizens in these far northern areas
also experience depression in far greater numbers than people in geographical
areas where sunshine is present all year long. Suicide rates are remarkably high, as
well as alcoholism. Research has
found a positive relationship between increased suicide rates and geographic
latitudes (Psychiatry Research,
2003;133:205-213). The study concluded that suicides were highest among
peoples who lived in the northern most latitudes and received little direct
sun light. While all this light
in the form of electricity enters our brain and is stored in our
consciousness, it is always in a state of activity which can be registered on
an electroencephalograph (EEG).
The brain houses this supercharged field of electrical light energy
which is never completely at rest, constantly dancing about across the
un-insulated neuron cells that make up our brain’s gray matter. The brainwaves are orderly,
consistent, and are common to all humans regardless of age, sex, culture or
country. These brainwaves
generate frequencies as low as 1.5 cycles per second in deep, dreamless sleep
when Delta waves are generated, and frequencies up to 40 cycles per second in
the alert state of activity such as conversation or active debate when Beta
waves are generated. There are
other states of mind with their own particular wave lengths. When we are relaxing or in deep
thought our brains drift into Alpha waves with frequencies from 9 to 14
cycles per second. When we become
drowsy and begin to daydream during the day our minds are in the Theta state
with frequencies from 5 to 8 cycles per second. The human brain
operates in an orderly fashion with a high level of independence from the
physical world. For instance, we
dream in 90 minute cycles when our brainwaves rise to a higher frequency and
begin to produce dreams with accompanying rapid eye movement (REM). Some people upon awakening stay in the
theta state for a few minutes.
This particular state of mind with accompanying theta waves is a
highly productive time when the mind can produce remarkably profound
ideas. Many great scientists and
philosophers have generated exciting new concepts from this particular state
of mind. It should be noted that
intelligence is not determined by the particular frequency of a
brainwave. While in deep,
dreamless sleep all the intelligence of the consciousness remains intact
though not in active use. We do
not have to relearn and refill our data base of knowledge upon
awakening. The intelligence
remains in the electrical light energy field to be used when needed upon awakening. Sleepwalking
(somnambulism) can occur at any age but primarily affects children between
the ages of six and twelve. Often
this state is brought about when an individual is awakened from deep,
dreamless sleep. The eyes remain
open, the facial expression is blank, the somnambulist will carry on
activities, and upon awakening will be disoriented and confused. If the sleepwalker speaks, the
language will generally be incomprehensible and seemingly without intelligent
intent. Sleepwalkers have been
reported successfully performing remarkable tasks such as driving a car and
making a midnight snack – all while asleep. On several occasions
sleepwalkers have committed serious crimes, including murder, and
somnambulism has been used as a legal defense since 1845 when Albert Tirrell
from Apparently there is a great deal of
research still to be done to determine how the intelligence residing on the
electrical field of the brain is accessed. It obviously does not require a state
of wide awake consciousness. Our body has a unique
relationship with light. Not only
is light the “stuff” of intelligence (and thus consciousness) but
we have a yet-to-be-understood fellowship
with light on the physical level.
Light is the first treatment in psychiatry to evolve directly out of
modern neuroscience. Light
Therapy has been as effective as drugs for some psychiatric conditions. (Archives of General Psychiatry, 1998;55:861-862) The Promise of
Light Therapy Millions of people
suffer from a disorder known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which
appears to be directly associated with the amount of sunlight one receives. When there is a decrease in the amount
of light we experience the brain sends signals to the pineal gland to
increase melatonin hormone production.
Melatonin is a hormone common to every living thing from the simplest
plants to the most complex animal, and melatonin is synthesized by an amino
acid derived from serotonin.
There is a direct link between the amount of sunlight and darkness we
experience and the amount of melatonin in the brain; furthermore, there is a
direct link between the amount of melatonin in the brain and depression. Light Therapy has become increasingly
promising in the treatment of SAD (Journal
of American Medical Association, 1998;280:1556-1558) (Psychological
Medicine, 1998;28:923-933) (Archives of General Psychiatry, 1998;55:875-872, 1998;55:883-889 and 1998;55:890-896). Presently about half of all United
States insurance companies compensate patients for “light
therapy,” while some nations (Switzerland, for instance) require
insurance companies to reimburse if “light therapy” is prescribed
by a physician. Light Therapy
consists of incremental, timed exposure to an electrical “light
box” which produces a very high output of white light from 1200 to 5700
lux. Light and the
Near Death Experience In the light therapy
studies referenced in this paper, the introduction of light elicited a
positive psychological response of enhanced well-being to a statistically
significant number of research subjects presenting with Seasonal Affective
Disorder (SAD). This finding is
intriguing when compared to the number of Near Death Experiences (NDE’s)
that mention the presence of light in their experiences (Life After Life, 1975) (Lancet 2001;358:2039-2045). In cultures far removed from the
Judeo-Christian influence prevalent in the west, such as This light, when introduced into the
NDE, brings with it enhanced feelings of well-being and peace in a large
majority of the experiences thus far reported. Given the significant role that light,
in the form of electromagnetic energy, plays in the introduction of knowledge
into human consciousness, it is interesting that a number of NDE’s are
accompanied by the intense desire to “enter” the light and the
feeling that they are “one” with the light. Also of great interest is the often
repeated report of feeling a great expanse in knowledge by the NDE
subject. Could there be a
profound sense of “belonging” experienced by the NDE subject
because the subject’s own consciousness is also made up of
electromagnetic energy bearing intelligence? Does this advance the idea of light
having intelligence as proposed by Baumann? (Journal
of Near-Death Studies, 2005;23:197-205). In 1974
astronomer Carl Sagan, convinced that the mathematical probability was
compelling that life existed on other planets, championed an effort to
contact extraterrestrial intelligence.
The program that resulted, Communication
with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CETI), beamed a binary message composed
by astrophysicist Frank Drake and Sagan toward the M13 star cluster 21,000
light years away. Why would they
choose this method of communication?
It is self-evident that these scientists understood that a bundle of
information packaged on photon energy (like their binary radio signal) would
reach a destination 21,000 light years away intact. Sagan and Drake rested on the
convincing argument from quantum physics that their signal would endure
probably to infinity. This same
principle may apply to the photons bearing the information within our bodies
that we recognize as our individual consciousness. Though we don’t understand how
or why, apparently intelligence borne by photons is cohesive, perhaps to
infinity. Would this mean that
photons bearing intelligence are somehow attracted to one another to form a
cohesive packet of intelligence rather than a random field of undisciplined
noise? Does the electromagnetic
energy that bears information within the physical body follow this same law
of physics? Could it possibly
also endure perpetually and cohesively when released from the physical
body? Could the sum total of
human consciousness be equal to the sum total of the electromagnetic energy
within the physical body? Many
individuals who have a Near Death Experience report an overwhelming urge to
merge with the light which they describe as “all knowing.” If the NDE subject’s individual
consciousness is in fact made up of a field of electromagnetic energy bearing
intelligent thought, perhaps the normal response would be for one field of
intelligence to merge with another field of intelligence, just as one photon
of Sagan’s binary code was attracted to another photon creating a
cohesive intelligent message capable of perpetual existence. Light is also being
used to treat sleep disorders associated with shift work and jet lag. Further studies are being done to
investigate the role light deprivation has in bulimia nervosa and
premenstrual dysphoric disorder because these disorders are quite often accompanied
by SAD. Bulimia victims seek help
for their condition in January more than any other month in the year. Whole new protocols of “light
treatment” are under intense scrutiny by the medical community, and it
remains to be seen how closely our biological parts actually resonate with
the light we experience. There has been a
marked decrease in the amount of sunlight we get in the modern world with
fear of skin cancer and the comfort of indoor controlled climates being
motivating factors. Interestingly,
there has been a clear increase in obesity and over eating. With that in mind, it is interesting
that winter SAD is often accompanied by overeating, craving for
carbohydrates, and weight gain.
Research subjects with SAD and bipolar affective disorder, especially
bipolar II, list overeating and carbohydrate craving as presenting symptoms (Archives of General Psychiatry,
1984;41:72-80). Conclusion The
scientific study of light treatment in the treatment of disease, particularly
psychological disorders, is in its infancy. Sadly, there appears to be a
reluctance to spend significant time and resources on this area. Since the advantage of antidepressant
drugs over placebos is so small in numerous controlled studies, and since
“light therapy” has repeatedly shown promise, more study in this
area is needed. The study of the
Near Death Experience is also young and the research field is crowded with
psychologists, psychiatrists and cardiologists. While quantum mechanics has been
introduced into the study of NDE’s (Journal
of Near-Death Studies, 2004;18:143-179)
there is still an appalling lack of serious, well-funded research into human
consciousness and the Near Death Experience by researchers in the field of
quantum mechanics. Given the
overwhelming role of light in Near Death Experiences as well as the obvious
relationship between light, intelligence, and human consciousness, this is a
deficiency that desperately needs to be addressed. References Baumann T, The
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Beginning to See the Light. Archives of
General Psychiatry, 1998;55:861-862. Dan Hankins is the webmaster of
The Opus Lux Project, which explores the relationship between light and human
consciousness (http://www.OpusLux.com) and can be reached by e-mail at h122048@hotmail.com . © 2005 – 2010 All rights reserved. The Opus Lux Project |