Book Review: Are We Just Bubbles?

Are We Just Bubbles? – Author, Dan Bowlds.

https://www.amazon.com/Just-Bubbles-Alternate-View-Existence/dp/1329590414/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498470476&sr=1-1&keywords=are+we+just+bubbles

A review by Mena Koo.

(A note from Mena: I had to skip the technical portions of the book and lock in on stuff that I could understand and follow. I think it’s fair to say that the reader has to be highly motivated to read books like these.)

When dealing with science and scientists, they are allowed to say: I don't know or we don't know the science of that so we don't have the answer to that. When dealing with Metaphysics and Spirituality, we get to use the imagination and we get to allow the intellect to have a bit of fun. Kind of like science fiction writers, I suppose. It was no less than Einstein who encouraged this in us saying, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Knowledge is the past; imagination is the future.

If everything is alive and conscious, and if everything and everyone is connected, it follows that the collective consciousness is a reality. This would be what is known as the “universal intelligence.”  Most people call this God, yes, for want of a better name. But most metaphysically inclined people prefer not to use the word God for it is too connected to organized religion. We just say “the Universe.”

The chapters in Dan’s book mainly cover the technical aspects of how the Universe works. This will be primarily of interest to the scientific community, but even the non-scientific should know enough about how it works to understand that our physical world is an illusion. An illusion, in that it is all made up of something we can't see, and it is only through the action of a creative “expansion energy” that it exists. Dan offers his views to any who is willing and who wants to explore a different way to consider our existence.

I have been interested in Dan’s book and lecture videos as I sought to discover things he mentions that might be in common with what I believe. I would like to take the stance that either extreme is wrong. That those who say there is no God and those who say there is a personified God are both on the extreme ends. I like to believe the truth is again in the middle. I like to believe there is a Creator but what is this Creator that pumps all the energy into the space bubbles — the space bubbles that go on expanding into the infinite void?

I quote a commenter from a recent Facebook post, who has given me permission to quote him but who doesn’t want to be identified here: Prof. Kaku seems to assign a position to Einstein that he did not in fact hold. Einstein certainly believed in free will. Kaku overlooks the fact that free will is still possible in a fully deterministic universe because accurately determining what will happen next in such a universe requires full knowledge of the system. Kurt Godel showed that no entity within the system can possess such knowledge. Granted, an entity outside the system might possess such knowledge but said entity then could not interact with the system in any way since by doing so it would become part of the system. Thus free will is not only possible but pretty much unavoidable.

I was struck by this comment as it explained in a scientific way why God if he does indeed exist, is so absent from our planetary affairs. If this God is outside of our “finite universe,” pumping in absolute energy into our expanding space bubbles, this God cannot micro manage to answer our prayers. This is why our world is in such a state and this is why believers find it hard to let go of their versions of God. In hard times, humans need a crutch to lean on, to draw strength from. We don’t want to feel destitute in our misery.

Godel proved that no part of an isolated system can contain a complete description of the system, except, of course, the entire system itself. Thus an all-knowing God cannot exist within the universe of which it is all knowing. Since interacting with the universe requires one to be part of it, it is clear such a God cannot interact with the universe either.

"Since interacting with the universe requires one to be part of it, it is clear such a God cannot interact with the universe either."

I thought this explains a lot. While there is no God micro-managing us, I need to stress that I believe in a kind of cosmic justice. Just because there is no personified God to punish humans for doing evil, it doesn’t mean that humans are not penalized for bad decisions and actions. I believe in cause and effect (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction) and I believe in Karma (even if Karma can be transformed in a lifetime). Our own actions and behavior will either reward us or punish us. What goes around comes around and the law of attraction applies.

Dan’s view is we are all connected, and we must make a giant leap into the next level of our understanding of consciousness and social evolution if we are to survive on this planet. Dan says, without kindness, love, willingness to seek the truth, and tolerance of others, he would never have come to this realization.

In ‘Are We Just Bubbles?’ Dan presents the possibility of an unseen dimension and expansion of space that might be the underlying cause of all that the Universe is. It is not the author’s intent to “prove” any of what he is proposing. The author feels if what he proposes cannot be disproved, then the certainty of what we now think the Universe is, based upon our measurements, comes into question.