Transcending the Speed of Light: Consciousness, Quantum Physics, and the Fifth Dimension Paperback – August 13, 2008

At the age of 8 I joined Einstein's quest for a unifying theory of nature. Now I'm 72, and its still my main passion in life. This review will serve as my notes as I read the book which is very deep.By page 6, My comment is that I agree about everything; but I believe Consciousness came first. Consciousness is contained in everything, and that much of human consciousness exists outside the brain and the body, and that Consciousness continues after physical death, and therefore does not need a physical brain in which to function. This is in keeping with the concept of Consciousness the 5th dimension. My own goal is to come up with a mathematical extension of Einstein's Relativity in which Consciousness is a 5th Dimension. I'm using Thomas W. SillsWhat Einstein Did Not See: Redefining Time to Understand Space re-formulation of Relativity into a more elegant mathematical representation as a starting point. I agree with Sills that the Geometry should be Euclidean. Just as sills redefines Time as a vector and a scalar, I expect the Consciousness dimension will be slightly more complicated than Sills' Time dimension.I will continue these notes as I read on.I'm now on page 23 and found nothing to disagree about; although I think of it Mathematically. To me Consciousness a mathematical structure C (upper case to distinguish from 'c' used for the speed of light). Since C is an axis in Space-Time or Sills' TimeSpace, it is part of the very fabric of 5-Space. C exists in everything. Although Seifer's digression into levels of the mind is interesting, and I don't disagree, but it is irrelevant to me. My life's mission is to discover the mathematical structure of C. From that I think everything else will fall into place. An example is Sills' breaking Time into a slightly different mathematical structure that makes the Geometry Euclidean and the Math easier.I'm very excited to discover this book because it has a different perspective of the same idea: Consciousness is the 5th dimension.I've finished the chapter on parapsychology and Esoteric thought. The references discussed were in vogue in the 1960's, Today you can make the point more simply: All major world religions believe in ESP, and that a mind does not need a physical body to exist. Most call the first "Prayer" and the second, "God" or "heaven." Modern Physics and Neuroscience is dominated by atheist materialists who believe consciousness evolved with the animal nervous system. However, as the author points out, the burden of proof goes both ways, but if you're denying something as universal as consciousness, the high bar is to disprove. Everyone experiences Consciousness, time, and a 3-Space (x,y,z). No one experiences the 11 dimensions of string theory.I'm on page 60 having finished the chapter "Toward a Physics of Consciousness." This is a review of many people's ideas about consciousness and physics. Personally, I come very similar conclusions with very simple logic: Both Relativity and Quantum Mechanics have an "Observer" as part of the theory. The most idealized Observer has Consciousness by definition. Also, Consciousness as the 5th dimension is universally experienced in dreams. The dream world has all the dimensions of the physical world, but a different consciousness state. Some of the ideas in this chapter are more simply explained if consciousness is the 5th dimension. As a Physicist I do believe Consciousness must be explained by Physics in mathematical terms.By this point in the book, there seems to be a glaring lack of mention of Claude Shannon's Mathematical Theory of Communication. The Mathematical Theory of Communication This came out in 1950 and sheds new light on most of the background material for Seifer's book. Shannon is second only to Einstein in creating a mathematical theory that affects all our lives. Shannon's theory is so general it applies to ESP. It also applies to DNA. It also will play a crucial roll in extending Einstein's Relativity to the 5th Consciousness dimension. It is relevant to states of Consciousness, explaining DNA (and learning much more about it), and all communication -- physical and non physical.I'm on page 79 in the chapter, "The Birth of the New Physics," which is excellent and represents diverse points of view. The part about imaginary numbers is dead on. They will play a big role Relativity and Quantum Mechanics more so when Consciousness is added as a 5th dimension. The only time I gasped is when the suggestion was made that Consciousness should be the 4th dimension, and time move over an time be the 5th. I was thinking Consciousness would be the zeroth dimension, so I'll have to think about this. I still think like Thomas Sills that we have to stick with Euclidean geometry.

Although this was an interesting discourse, bordering on fascinating, I hesitate to venerate it with the term "fascinating" as the book simply tries to do too much. Borrowing quotes and concepts from curious, and somewhat arcane sources as: Tesla, Minkowski, Ouspensky and Gurdjieff et. al; Dr. Seifer goes to incredible lengths to convince his readership that both relativity and quantum mechanics are at best incomplete and that Einstein was a closet advocate of the "etheric" school of teleological thought. Admittedly Marc makes many good, relevant arguments and offers numerous sound and salient points through-out the work; yet I couldn't help but notice that in several instances the syllogisms he employed were incomplete, leaving this reader with a somewhat quizzical countenance. Personally, I thought the chapter on synchronicities was the zenith of this piece, as the reading of this section brought me quite an unexpected gift - a real "kicker" as it were, which was much appreciated.After my favorite section (see above) the book fell into an onslaught of detailed astrological charting and highly speculative discussion on a six dimensional model of the universe (3 spatial and 3 temporal) which I found to be rather abstruse and confounding, although the book was somewhat redeemed in the "Final Thoughts" chapter. A good, clever but overarching and overextended piece that is bound to do what the author intended (i.e. rattle some cages.) 4 stars on the board, but 3 and ½ to keep it real.

Very deep reading on Sound and Light frequencies. Love it. I read it and now passing it along to my neighbor who is in to physics.

I like this book. I admit that I bought it because it talks about Tesla's ideas but I have discovered much more within it. I would definitely recommend it to friends and I already have. Approach with open mind and ready to learn, think and theorize. Additionally if you are interested in Nikola Tesla and can only buy one book about him purchase Wizard The Life and Time of Nikola Tesla Biography of a Genius by the same author. It's absolutely wonderful.

In a nutshell, the author knows his clientele well and how to make profit. Mainstream science is ok but ultimately wrong. Out goes Einstein and friends, in come Tesla and Ouspensky. And of course there's Astrology and the absolute importance of astral charting, which mainstream science still fails to fully appreciate given its narrow-minded attitude. If we could only listen to Stan Grof, planet Uranus and Gurdjieff!So, why two stars instead of none? Because Mr Seifer -- in contrast to most other authors in this vein -- somehow did his homework and provides interesting data, useful references, and some thought-provoking questions in the mix.

The first half of the book is very difficult to read due to very little explanation offered by the author. The second half gets a little easier to understand and he ( the author ) gets his points across. With all that said, it is an interesting book and some theories that are thought provoking.

Some topic difficult to read.

Found a chapter about me in the book. Didn't know.