Have you ever asked yourself “Where am I?” “What am I?” “Who am I?”; Have you ever just stopped to ask “where is the universe?”

As Robert Lanza, M.D. of Wake Forest has a very interesting article, where he explains that as children we are taught that the universe is divided into 2 entities; ourselves and everything outside us. The humanistic mind sees this as logical, relavent. Things we can control, often ourselves give us a feeling of superiority, which makes us forget momentarily about the universe. For example: I can control my fingers, but I cannot turn your head left or right without physically touching you; we are individuals in control, that represents the line between self and non-self.

Take for example when an amputee loses a limb, the piece is missing, but for some reason the subject can still “feel” his or her missing apendage. One explanation is, the brain still perceives, even amongst the diminished limb, it as there.

“I think, therefore I am” this is a crude phrase for one of the most basic principles of philosophy; all knowledge, truth and principles of being, must begin at the individual sensation of self. The subject of the sense of self has been covered by many writers, philosophers and religious groups. These groups believe that there is an independent “self”.

Flip the script and the opposite of this is felt when your thinking ceases. Many people have had an almost out-of-body-experience in moments like watching their child play. Some fully realize this sensation and others may shrug it off as just a silly feeling. “Day-dreaming” we call it. The individual is momentarily out of conventional thinking or humanistic mindsets; it’s beyond common existence. You get that feeling as if you’re not actually there, but things are so much more clear and you are, in fact, physically in reality, but your consciousness is elsewhere.

Now, you may ask yourself where is this plane of outward existence? It’s a fascinating topic, which Lanza explores in depth in his essay.