Main Text Appendix 2: The Perception of the Almost Inaudible – An Interpretation of Elementary Spiritualism

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Prologue
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What is consciousness?

This should have been the very first question to be answered—otherwise, everything that follows will only make you keep circling back to the same doubt—but paradoxically, it is also the one question left unanswered to the very end. In fact, not only in this article, but throughout the entire field of spiritology, no one can offer a correct answer.

Not only can they not answer it, the spiritologists have shamelessly posed an even deeper question:

What is the meaning of consciousness’s existence?

I imagine that the “Elementary Spiritology,” that brief work of just a few thousand words authored by more than a dozen spiritologists from the “Guild,” must have left you utterly baffled.

To summarize simply, their approach to writing follows only two patterns: one is to explain an incomprehensible term with a pile of other equally incomprehensible terms; the other, which is even worse, is to explain a pile of incomprehensible terms with a single incomprehensible term.

Now, in all seriousness, this article is written for you, who have finished reading the “Elementary Spiritology.”

Let me start from the very beginning, from the heretic who was burned at the stake in utter confusion, and continue all the way to the present, when some spiritological organization (in fact, the “Guild” itself) uses a series of half-true, half-fictitious “Spirit” stories to inform the world of the existence of spiritology.

This history of spiritology, spanning over a hundred and fifty years, coupled with a few familiar names and enlivened with several amusing anecdotes, will certainly prove far more understandable and entertaining than “Elementary Spiritology.”

Incidentally, I once met Andy, the author of the “Spirit” story series, at a seminar. He seemed like a decent person, though, for some unfathomable reason, he had a somewhat Asian appearance.

Wait, perhaps he actually is Asian...

And as for Miss Amelia Walton, I really can’t imagine you’d read this article, but if you do, I want you to know that my office is near the Guild’s back door—and that time, when you secretly bought a hot dog, I happened to spot you through the crack in the door.

I know I really shouldn’t mention this here, for your perfect image should not be tarnished by a hot dog (not to mention poppy seed buns, onion slices, pickles, and yellow mustard), but I can’t help but want to catch your attention. Should such a thing ever happen again, I will definitely be there to witness you eating that hot dog.

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I. Spiritology—A Discipline that Deserved a More Accurate Name
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The late nineteenth century was the age of enlightenment for spiritology.

Before that, spiritology was more akin to a branch of theology that could not be mentioned openly. A group of excessively devout yet excessively rational believers gathered together, intent on uncovering the true nature of God. Of course, the answer they sought was not the somewhat vague one recorded in the Bible, but one that was precise, rational, and supported by a certain body of research. Such blasphemous attempts to dissect the Creator could only be pursued in secret.

After a long period of gathering and compiling information, along with rare instances of inhumane experiments, this group actually managed to find an answer—or to be more precise, they found a term: consciousness.

As for this “consciousness,” don’t bother with its dictionary definition for now. If we try to describe it, it’s that thing that allows you to think, to feel, and to express emotion. Of course, you could use other words to name it, like “thought,” “mind,” “soul,” or even “cabbage.” Well, that last one I made up, just to make my point.

In spiritology, “consciousness” is an abstract concept, denoting a form of existence independent of both matter and energy. The aforementioned believers believed that God’s essence was the sum of all consciousness. The consciousness possessed by humans was a gift from God, and in fact was once a part of God.

So, what is consciousness? It must be something, after all. Just as “energy” is an abstract concept—you can’t say you’ve actually seen “kinetic energy,” but you can say you’ve seen some particles or a few waves, and “particles” or “waves” are enough to answer the question, “What is energy?” Thanks to Albert Einstein, we also know that, under the right conditions, energy and matter can be interconverted. In other words, if we set aside the concept of “consciousness,” our understanding of the world is already unified to a great extent. What remains is to see whether the proof of M-theory or the annihilation of humanity by aliens happens first.

The trouble is, consciousness is independent of both matter and energy, making the question “What is consciousness?” as unanswerable as “Is God matter or energy?” Fortunately, a believer named Aaron Solomon found an answer, and that answer was:

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This question can never be answered.
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Solomon divided the forms of consciousness’s existence into two: free consciousness and attached consciousness. Free consciousness is meaningless. It cannot be measured or characterized. Attached consciousness is that aforementioned “cabbage”—you can find it in any living being. In other words, before consciousness attaches itself to a living being, its essence is unanswerable, and once attached, that essence has already changed—so even if you could answer it, it would not be the correct answer.

Solomon joyfully shared his theory with the other believers. He was even careful not to use potentially blasphemous terms like “free consciousness” and “attached consciousness.” He simply said that God exists in a form incomprehensible to humans, and when God incarnates as Jesus, He has changed His form of existence to facilitate human understanding. Therefore, God can only ever be venerated, not interpreted.

It was, in fact, a well-intentioned statement. Unfortunately, Solomon’s communication skills were so abysmal that, to most other believers, his words sounded like “God does not exist.” He was soon reduced to ashes.

Though Solomon lost his life in confusion, his theory of free and attached consciousness was inherited by his successors.

Recall I mentioned that the late nineteenth century was both the enlightenment and the disappearance of spiritology from mainstream society.

All of this stemmed from the appearance of a single book—the book that caused the greatest shock to theology—Charles Robert Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.”

Evolutionary theory directly denied the existence of “cabbage,” and did so with compelling logic and evidence. Yet, Darwin did not know that the followers of Solomon’s thought had, over the years, discovered and hidden away several dolls that blinked and turned their heads, a dozen paintings that inexplicably fell off walls, and a bunch of clothes that floated about in midair.

These believers’ discoveries proved one thing: consciousness can choose non-living carriers as well as living ones. This, in turn, meant that human consciousness was not a product of evolution, but, in some sense, a gift.

To distinguish these “non-living things with attached consciousness” from known life forms, the believers coined a striking name for them—spirits.

With Aaron Solomon’s fate as a reference, the believers were keenly aware of their perilous situation. On one hand, they were inevitably embroiled in the fierce battle between the creationists and the evolutionists; on the other, they had to hide their academic findings from both the theological and scientific communities. These years of living in the shadows finally led them to a decision that would affect generations to come. They quietly broke away from the Church, taking all research related to spirits with them, and concealed the very existence of spirits from all of humanity.

When it came time to name their discipline, they remembered their “predecessor” Aaron Solomon. Though their research had always focused on consciousness, the spirits they had hidden away were the very evidence that could clear Solomon’s name.

And so, with a vow that one day they would right Solomon’s wrong, “the science of consciousness” was ultimately named “spiritology.”

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II. The Tiny Vint
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Shortly before the birth of quantum mechanics, exactly thirteen years after Aaron Solomon was burned to death, “consciousness” entered the quantitative era before “energy” did.

That year, the spiritologist Konrad Vint discovered, for the first time, the vibrational waveform of attached consciousness, thus determining its smallest unit.

To make all this intuitive, let’s draw an analogy with quantum mechanics.

In the early days, scientists believed that energy was continuous. Not only that, but many other physical concepts, such as spin and angular momentum, were thought to be continuous. “Continuous” here means “infinitely divisible.” In other words, there is no smallest value. Yet the famous Achilles paradox greatly challenged this notion of continuity.

If you don’t immediately recall Achilles, think of the formidable warrior played by Brad Pitt in the Hollywood film “Troy.” In the paradox, however, such a skilled fighter can’t even catch up to a tortoise. In fact, if the concept of continuity truly held, neither Superman nor the Flash could ever catch that tortoise.

Let’s consider the paradox:

Achilles spots a tortoise ahead and, for whatever reason (perhaps to make soup), decides to catch it. Achilles races after it and quickly covers the distance that originally separated them. But, to his surprise, the tortoise has crawled a bit further during that time. Achilles must now cover this new distance, but by then, the tortoise has moved forward again. Achilles gives chase once more, and so does the tortoise. On and on it goes... At this rate, Achilles will never have his tortoise soup.

Of course, this paradox sounds more like a joke, but it does indicate that what lies between Achilles and the tortoise (let’s avoid using the word “space” for now, as that would cause confusion—more on that in the next chapter) is not “infinitely divisible.” At a certain point, the distance between Achilles and the tortoise reaches a meaningful minimum. Since the tortoise is slower, in the time it takes Achilles to cover this minimum distance, the tortoise cannot possibly cover the same amount, and any further distance it does cover, being smaller than the minimum, is meaningless. Achilles finally gets to boil his water.

This minimum, in physics, is called the Planck length, proposed by the renowned physicist Max (with several middle names) Planck.

Applying the same reasoning to energy, we get energy’s smallest unit—the quantum.

Applying the same reasoning to consciousness, we get the smallest unit of consciousness—well, this is where things get tricky. Recall the notion that “consciousness exists independently of matter and energy.” If we were to call the smallest unit of consciousness a “consciousion” or “spiriton” (which does sound cool), we would risk materializing or energizing it. So, let’s just call it a “cabbagette” for now.

In truth, no one in spiritology has ever named the “cabbagette.” There’s a precedent for this: naming God as “consciousness” led to disaster before.

Spiritologist Konrad Vint discovered that attached consciousness must necessarily be in a state of vibration. Like energy, the vibration of consciousness is not continuous, but occurs in integer multiples of the “cabbagette.” Vibrations smaller than one “cabbagette,” even if they exist, are meaningless. In other words, meaningful attached consciousness can only vibrate in whole units of “cabbagettes.”

Following the tradition of narcissism common to both spiritologists and scientists, Konrad Vint named the smallest unit of consciousness “1 Vint,” abbreviated as “1 vin.”

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III. A Unique Concept in Spiritology—Expression
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With the concept of “1 vin,” our earlier “cabbage” suddenly becomes much more comprehensible.

Here, we must once again borrow the mode of thought from quantum mechanics. Imagine “1 vin” as a point.

You might want to object: isn’t materializing it forbidden?

Well, there’s really no way around it. We can’t use the incomprehensible to explain something equally incomprehensible. If it helps, don’t picture a point drawn on paper; picture something even more special... say, a point of God! Yes, according to Solomon, God is composed of such points. Later, Vint discovered that “attached consciousness must vibrate, while free consciousness must not.” Combining these, we can say: God is made up of a collection of non-vibrating points, while we humans consist of a biological shell plus a collection of vibrating points.

At this point, everything discussed above finally connects.

When consciousness exists independently, it is a collection of non-vibrating points and is meaningless. This is called free consciousness.

When consciousness becomes attached to a carrier (which can be either matter or energy), it necessarily vibrates in integer multiples of “1 vin,” and this vibration gives it meaning. This is called attached consciousness.

You see, the birth of human consciousness requires a process from meaninglessness to meaning, but in this process, the meaningless is not non-existent.

This process, which in some way simultaneously affirms (or denies) both materialism and idealism, is called “expression” in spiritology.

“Expression” not only applies to consciousness, but also to matter and energy. To clarify the concept further, let’s return to the Planck length and the Achilles paradox.

To catch the tortoise, Achilles must traverse the final Planck length, but “traverse” is perhaps an ill-chosen word. Space smaller than the Planck length is meaningless, so how could Achilles “cross” it? Space can’t just warp, or else we’d all have superpowers, warping space with every step. Here, the concept of “expression” comes into play. Spiritology holds that space is continuous, but not every part of space is meaningful. To be meaningful, it must be “expressed”—that is, reach the Planck length. Anything smaller would collapse into a black hole and become unmeasurable—though I’m skipping some steps here. After all, I’m a spiritologist, not your physics instructor—even if such space exists, it is meaningless.

With all this in mind, we finally understand what Aaron Solomon realized at the end of his life.

Yes, long before the concept of “1 vin” was proposed, Solomon had already grasped a certain truth. And this truth, no matter how eloquent one may be, cannot be made to sound any less harsh:

[God exists, and yet is meaningless.
—Aaron Solomon]