Don’t Pay The Ferryman (When You Can Cheat Him Instead.)

Another month, and another post. Sorry I haven’t been too prolific with content recently, but Dr Who related stuff has been thin on the ground recently, and I have two juicy new Tarot decks I will review for you all in the next couple of weeks, I promise. The main reason I’ve not been online much here, is because I’ve been reading a book. Not just any book, but one that has given me a prime opportunity to make a first post in my ‘Metaphysical Musings’ category.

The cover for Anthony Peake's book, Is There Life After Death.

This is the book I’m talking about- it’s called ‘Is There Life After Death? The Extraordinary Science Of What Happens When We Die’ by Anthony Peake. It’s a very interesting read, and delves into quantum physics, psychology, near-death experiences and other such things, and uses scientific data to propose an amazing theory of what happens to us at the point of death, which Peake refers to as the ‘Cheating The Ferryman’ hypothesis. (I bet you thought the title was a Chris DeBurgh reference, didn’t you? Well, shame on you!)  

The book builds, chapter by chapter, explaining such diverse subjects as Quantum physics, Near Death Experiences, Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and other things, which then pieces all these things together to propose the Cheating The Ferryman hypothesis in the final chapter. What is proposed is an incredible thing to grasp, but I’ll attempt to explain what little of it I understand for you here.

The universe, at the quantum level, is made of sub-sub atomic particles which are essentially vibrations of energy. Quantum physics has determined that particles of matter can exist in more than one place at the same time in potential until they are observed, which is when they become fixed points in space. You’ve heard of Schroedinger’s Cat? This is a demonstration of that conundrum. Time, as such, is an illusion created by our conscious mind as a way to make sense of the universe in a linear fashion, as time is simply our movement through the universe in a probability curve, and we exist at every point in our timeline simultaneously. Time essentially tidies things up into a sequence of events that we can make sense of.

During our lifetime, one half of our brain records everything that has ever happened to us, sights, sounds, smells, tastes, thoughts- every little detail. There have been cases where people have been regressed via hypnosis or various traumatic events, to previous times in their lives, where the memory is so vivid that, for all intents and purposes, they were actually back at that point in time. It could be argued that since they were re-observing that particular event, and since matter only becomes fixed when observed, they were recreating their own personal universe at that point in time. There have been many incidences, some of which are documented within the book, where patients that have undergone hypnotherapy, have experienced many hours or even years in their previously remembered events, yet have only been unconscious for mere minutes in the laboratory. From the patient’s perspective, they were actually at these previous events, and reliving them. Where is all this leading to? I’m getting there!

Most people who have had near-death experiences have told of how they meet a white, glowing figure- some call it God, some say it’s a guardian angel- which then takes them back to a review of their life, at which point they are then told ‘it’s not your time yet’, and come back to tell the tale. By examining these experiences, Peake discovered that what happens to the brain in these instances is very similar to phenomena like Temporal Lobe Epileptic seizures, Schizophrenia and migraines, but to varying degrees. (This does make sense in the book, honest.)

From these observations, Peake has formulated his ‘Cheating The Ferryman’ hypothesis: At the point of death, as also happens during migraines and epileptic seizures, the brain is flooded with a chemical called Glutamate. This effectively breaks down the conscious mind’s perception of time, to the point that time slows down infinitessimally for the observer- to the point where the moment of death is never reached, from the point of view of the person dying. During this time, the ‘glowing being’ detaches from the conscious mind- it is actually the collected sum total of that person’s entire life experience, which they see as an angel, or God, during an NDE. (NDE’s are essentially occasions when the ‘glowing being’ gets it wrong, and mistakes a near-terminal experience for actual death.) This then rewinds and plays back the total life experience of the person from the beginning, in real time relative to the viewer, and they begin to relive their lives from the beginning. Since matter exists only when it is observed, they have effectively recreated their own personal universe from scratch, and are reliving their lives all over again- but with a difference. The sum total of their life experience is still there, but the knowledge of what happened before is kept away from the new conscious mind, which is effectively as blank as it was when they were first born.

Taking his cue from Greek mythology and Gnosticism, Peake refers to the conscious part of the mind as the Eidolon, (Pronounced Eedolon) and the subconscious part that has lived before as the Daemon (pronounced Day-mon). Sometimes, the Daemon’s knowledge of events ‘leaks through’ to the Eidolon, which is where we get ‘Deja-Vu’ and precognition experiences from. Sometimes, these events prompt us to make slightly different decisions this time around than we did previously, which changes the course of the probability curve and creates an alternative timeline, which we then travel down until we reach the death point again- and again, and again. Events that usually trigger the intervention by the Daemon are life-changing ones, such as fatal accidents the person gets a warning of- usually by a ‘bad gut feeling’, ‘strange twists of fate’ that trigger the person into responding differently, or even hearing a voice in their head warning them to avoid something or do something.

The book obviously goes into much more detail, and is well worth a read. The book really blew my mind when I first read it; it sounds fantastic and hard to believe, but Peake has collated a lot of scientific data that builds a compelling case for his theory. I’d recommend any of my blog readership to read it- it’s one of those rare things that is pure science, embraces science yet also offers scientific theory for the basis of any religious experience. So much so that it’s compelled me to re-think a lot of stuff from my perspective, and I have already worked out how it could explain things like my Tarot card readings, for example. I’ll go into that bit in more detail when I do some more Tarot posts; I’ve already begun discussing this with other members of the forum at Anthony Peake’s site. If this idea fascinates you as much as it does me, go read the book, and have a look at Anthony’s site.