Epigraph:

And they ask you (Muhammad) concerning the soul. Say, ‘The soul is by the command of my Lord; and of the knowledge thereof you have been given but a little.’ (Al Quran 17:85)

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

After decades of search, I have found my soul-mate, Robert Lawrence Kuhn. He is obsessed with human consciousness and Afterlife and so am I. While, I find so much common between myself and him there is a slight difference also. He is an agnostic Jew and I am a Muslim theist. But, there are strong reasons for me to team up with him to bring these subjects with greater clarity to the Muslim and other audience.

When people from different Abrahamic faiths work together, it not only promotes interfaith tolerance, but also brings them ‘closer to truth.’

Kuhn is the creator, writer and host of the public television series Closer to Truth, which presents scientists and philosophers discussing fundamental issues (cosmos, consciousness, philosophy/religion).^[9] Kuhn’s presentation, Asking Ultimate Questions,^[10] is the foundation of Closer To Truth.

My obsession about the subject of human consciousness and Afterlife, like Kuhn’s, stems from natural human curiosity and human struggle with our mortality and in my case also from my devotion to the Quran.

There are at least two verses of the Quran about sleep that flatter me, as I am a practicing Sleep Disorders specialist in upstate New York, and help maintain my obsession about these subjects:

Allah takes away the souls of human beings at the time of their death; and of those also that are not yet dead, during their sleep. And then He retains those against which He has decreed death, and sends back the others till an appointed term. In that surely are Signs for a people who reflect. (Al Quran 39:42)

And among His Signs is your sleep by night and day, and your seeking of His bounty. In that surely are Signs for a people who hear. (Al Quran 30:23)

My task here is to simply propose a hypothesis that someday better understanding of additional dimensions will give us further insights into human consciousness. These would also provide for a means of constant duplication of human consciousness, in additional dimensions, into another medium and for a later day substantiation of the same after our death in Afterlife.

Having said that I want to now catalogue useful videos and other materials under three headings below and in the comments section, until I or others have additional insights to offer:

My collection of articles about soul and Afterlife

For my articles about consciousness or human soul please click here and for Afterlife.

Videos about consciousness

Think of each video of Robert Kuhn as a collection of different interviews. He starts with an opening statement and then 4-5 interviews, to be concluded with his final remarks.

I want to start off with three videos in this section and then several more in the comment section:

One of the interviewees in the middle of the above video is Deepak Chopra. He suggests that the most fundamental and foundational thing is consciousness. As a theist, if I were to accept that, I would say that the basis of all reality is consciousness of the Infinite, All-Knowing God:

Is He who created the heavens and earth not able to create the likes of these people? Of course He is! He is the All Knowing Creator: when He wills something to be, His way is to say, ‘Be’– and it is! So glory be to Him in whose Hand lies control over all things. It is to Him that you will all be brought back.’ (Al Quran 36:81-83)

…

Videos about extra dimensions

Current versions of string theory require 10 dimensions total, while an even more hypothetical über-string theory known as M-theory requires 11. But when we look around the universe, we only ever see the usual three spatial dimensions plus the dimension of time.

…

Epilogue

God of the Quran works through laws of nature and one of His 99 attributes is the Hidden الْبَاطِنُ, mentioned in chapter 57 of the Quran. This draws our attention to naturalism in a methodological sense not only for the scientists, but for the Creator as well, without metaphysically denying theism. If there is Afterlife then the All Knowing God has set up mechanisms, not necessarily for the preservation of human soul at the time of death but for it’s duplication. There is a Quranic verse that draws our attention to it:

Your creation and your being raised again in Afterlife are nothing more than the creation of single soul for Allah. Indeed He is All-Hearing and All-Seeing. (Al Quran 31:28)

Humanity can claim to have solved or demystified the mystery of consciousness, when and if they are able to create or recreate it. Until then there would be attempts to solve it and sometimes tall claims of triumphalism and slogans raised in favor of atheism.

References

1. Source of the consciousness picture: https://iai.tv/articles/no-theory-of-consciousness-is-scientific-auid-2610

Videos: Would Extra Dimensions, Some Day Explain the Mystery of Consciousness?
Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Timeshttps://t.co/Qlz7yPomv6 @CloserToTruth pic.twitter.com/KvEvXbZ5aq

— The Muslim Times (@The_MuslimTimes) February 14, 2024