Above: Galaxies and Neurons

Black Hole as Death Metaphor [02/18/01]

What happens when we die? I mean, what is it really like?

I'll start on a thought stream that for the moment ignores the possibility of after-death survival of our personal consciousness. By that I mean I'll ignore that our egos may continue on in some form of non-material manifestation. My experience and education with psychedelics suggests that this may indeed be possible.

But I'm interested in the very heart of the matter. Even if the ego could survive, what would it be like? Most people could agree that you'd no longer be a normal part of the stream of time. You'd be an energy being of some sort that would logically exist outside of Time. For example, do Christians believe that angels obey the rules of time of the material universe? Obviously not... so this point would likely find agreement with those of a more religious persuasion. So I wonder, whether you remember "who you were" or not, what would it be like to exist outside of time. Because I feel that if you answer this, the notion of survival of the ego becomes largely irrelevant.

The actual experience of "no time" would have many profound consequences. Events would not necessarily follow each other in the standard cause-and-effect fashion. I don't think this would mean anarchy, but rather all events would appear to your awareness all at once. All events would exist as a point singularity to your consciousness. Thus you would be simultaneously aware of all your own life: your birth, your death, your first kiss, your everything-- all those events that created your manifest personality. A hundred thousand million angels dancing on the head of a pin that was your life. But with this newfound awareness --an awareness of cosmic personal significance-- you'll suddenly realize that this is truly "God Awareness". Complete Omniscience. You will realize you have awareness of everything, and to paraphrase Alan Watts, you'll say "My goodness, I'm God."

So suddenly this angelic energy being loses it's identity as a vague "energy creature" of some kind-- it becomes God itself. And this is what happens every time someone dies. As they die, they realize, "My Goodness, I'm God"... and then death becomes somewhat of a moot point! You are God. God, by it's very definition, does not die. God exists outside of time, encompasses all time, is all people, animals, things, thoughts and feelings. And suddenly this is you, and you are immortal, because you are everything!

[Note: I imagine all theologians in the audience have come up with a few loopholes in my definitions of "God", "Angel", "Time" or whatever. They're probably brimming with terminology like Monotheism, Pantheism, Panentheism, Pagan Bastard, etc, etc... I think it is funny how people will nit-pick over definitions of words when discussing the Ultimate Ground of Being. I guess you need to defend your self interest. Although it's funny that the topic is Ego Loss, where self interest no longer exists! Am I the only one who finds this ironic?]

So at the moment of death, we now have this scenario where you experience the temporal compression of your "life awareness". This has analogues in the natural world. I am thinking of a black hole. A black hole is a compression of matter to such a level that it suddenly just all "comes together" to a single point. As Einstein informed us, inside a black hole, time essentially stops. Time does not exist inside a black hole. If you managed to somehow cross the event horizon of a black hole, in that single instant the rest of the universe would end. Time would have accelerated SO quickly that you'd find yourself at the very End of The Universe. Inside the black hole, there is nothing-- just infinitely compressed matter that comprises the Void. [the physics professionals out there may slightly correct my astrophysical descriptions...]

Now I wish to reinforce the similarity between the death scenario I described earlier and the physical phenomenon of the black hole. Although referring to a black hole as "physical" liberally stretches any definition of a "physical phenomenon". Infinitely compressed matter where time doesn't exist doesn't sound very "physical" to me. But I am looking in the "natural" world for a death process that we can use as an analog to the death of consciousness. Remember that a black hole represents the Death of the Universe. That is how galaxies and stars "die", after all. But most people likely think that this is all very interesting, but people are NOT black holes. Inferring a similar death process between humans and interstellar objects is quite a stretch to most minds.

[Although I find many people don't like to stretch their minds at all... I guess it hurts or something...]

Yes, people are not black holes. But what are "people"? People are usually defined by their consciousness. So you say that consciousness is not a black hole. But that implies you know what your consciousness is! So relax. The analogy is still good. :)

But then you may argue that we have no reason to draw analogies between humans and the natural world. Humans are quite special in the universe, so it's a mistake to assume they're just like rats, for example (known as ratomorphism). But I'm not thinking from the narrow, ratomorphic world of human biology and behavior. I am considering the larger perspective of ubiquitous patterns that are found throughout all the universe at all levels. Most people do not fully appreciate how completely human beings are patterned directly from what we call the natural world. We all embody fantastic symmetry, artistic geometry, implicit intelligence and that special paradoxical nature of black/white, good/evil, lightness/darkness that Alan Watts so eloquently expresses. [yes, I've been into my Watts audio tapes again...]

So drawing some similarities between such a fantastic object as a black hole, and a human being, are quite valid, in my opinion. The black hole is the compression of all matter and form. Our personal death is the compression of all thoughts, feelings and consciousness. Both represent the final moment of a great enterprise. ;)

And the black hole pulls with all its might at the surrounding stars. I'm tempted to broaden the analogy to suggest that our deaths serve to pull us forward; Pulling us along through time until the inevitable conclusion where you experience infinite compression and the transcendence of time.

So a black hole is a multilayered metaphor for our personal deaths: an insight into the character of the afterlife, the nature of time, and the mind of God.

The natural world of physics, the human mind and the world of biological forms are all interconnected at every level. That is the way of the universe. More complex forms, such as humans, are capable of expressing the Laws of Being more completely and in more complicated ways. [Yes more Alan Watts influence... but it's true dammit! Have you looked around lately?? Have you read a contemporary science book the last 5 years?] In amongst the stars and interstellar gases, death manifests as the Black Hole. Within the realm of the human mind, our death leads to a more brilliant spectacle; an angelic flash of awareness that somehow makes the whole game worth while.

I guess that is why the universe insists on bringing up life forms as part of its nature. Being alive is fun, and when the life ends, it's rather thrilling. The Earth alone would represent a floating ball of rock, on whose surface danced a continuous pattern of shining motes; flashes of God Consciousness rising above the tide of the marginally conscious skin of the planet. [this requires some visualization to understand what the hell I mean here...]. And when the Earth gets a spray of chemicals such as psilocybin or LSD, it shines that much brighter in that regard. ;) It's like the universe is raising a house plant; But Instead of photosynthesizing, this cosmic plant generates consciousness and higher awareness.

And when you investigate the leading edge of science & biology, it seems quite evident that complex, advanced forms will gradually develop in many environments, such as the Earth's environment [please refer to books by Stuart Kauffman... especially all you recovering Darwinians out there]. One principal characteristic of the universe is this magnetic pull through the void. Form, matter and complexity are gently tugged forward into improving themselves. An example Kauffman uses is that of a snowflake. Such beautiful symmetry didn't "evolve" in the regular sense of the word. A snowflake just "naturally" forms, given the proper environment. Since this creative impulse is "hardcoded" into the universe so deeply, the universe surely does it because it's interesting. (But most rational people do not approve of projecting human values onto the Universe as a whole, so I won't go further with this...). Seen from another perspective: given that this is the case, it is no wonder that creatures like human beings eventually arrived on the scene. Either way you look at it, the outcome is very optimistic in its relevance to our view of the world.

Humans are an intimately familiar native of the universe. We grew here-- like apples on an apple tree. So although there is the idea that your personal death may indeed be like a black hole, don't let that frighten you (says I, the naive monkey). If an entire galaxy can get devoured in some black hole catastrophe, surely one smart little monkey won't be a problem. I'm not saying you won't go down in a catastrophe... because you will. Everyone dies, and it's never fun. As I was painfully reminded two weeks ago, Death Sucks Ass. It really FUCKING SUCKS ASS. (Did I make myself clear? should I swear some more to prove that I mean it?) But after the initial shock of your own death, I'm confident you'll shake it off and realize that's how the universe works, and it won't really be a problem anymore.

[You realize that if you dropped me in a shark tank, I'd sing a completely different tune... likely featuring lots of messy begging]

So that's my death metaphor. I'm not claiming this to be some mystical, revealed truth that I figured out just now. But it is a fairly workable idea and it pleases me. :) Even if you disagree, at least consider the concept of existing outside of time as a starting point. I feel it is rather silly to envision your ego flying around the cosmos as some energy-ghost angelic being with God Powers (tm).

But for those of you who believe in an extra-dimensional existence of some sort, this also seems reasonable. Maybe at the moment of death, once the God revelation passes, you figure out that you can exist in a completely different mode of being. Maybe you become a DMT Elf?! [read some Terence McKenna to learn about hyperspace elves] Hmm... so death would become some sort of "Elf Trance" of some kind... interesting. :).

Audio Bonus!

This is interesting.... Two days after writing the above bit, I discovered an audio clip (from Jalien's great McKenna page-- click on the menu bar elf) that features Terence McKenna discussing an analogy between a black hole and the end of time. He postulates that history itself will reach a singularity point of complexity that transcends all regular notions of space and time. In order to fully understand his argument, a little familiarity with McKenna may be helpful... or you can listen to the full audio series titled The World and Its Double (easily located on Jalien's McKenna page).

But my point is that it is rather neat that McKenna had already applied the Black Hole Analogy to another sphere of reality (and I swear I wrote down my thoughts before I heard the McKenna piece! ;) In his lecture, he was interested in the impending end of time, while I was primarily discussing the end of your personal life and ego. A different goal through a similar line of reasoning, I think.

Then after the black hole analogy, McKenna goes on to discuss how psychedelics allow one to catch a glimpse of this transcendental thing that awaits us all at the end of time. Whether you regard this as the end of "all" time or the end of your personal time is irrelevant-- that unknowable something lurking in the future is one and the same.

And you thought psychedelics were just another way to have a little cheap fun... you know... a substitute for beer, right? [at this point I roll my eyes and give a long sigh...]

Anyway, listen to the audio tracks... they're pretty good. :)