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The Soul, as an Uninhibited Mental Activity, is Reduced into Consciousness by Rules of Quantum Physics

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Abstract

This paper is an effort to describe, in neuroscientific terms, one of the most ambiguous concepts of the universe—the soul. Previous efforts to understand what the soul is and where it may exist have accepted the soul as a subjective and individual entity. We will make two additions to this view: (1) The soul is a result of uninhibited mental activity and lacks spatial and temporal information; (2) The soul is an undivided whole and, to become divided, the soul has to be reduced into unconscious and conscious mental events. This reduction process parallels the maturation of the frontal cortex and GABA becoming the main inhibitory neurotransmitter. As examples of uninhibited mental activity, we will discuss the perceptual differences of a newborn, individuals undergoing dissociation, and individuals induced by psychedelic drugs. Then, we will explain the similarities between the structure of the universe and the structure of the brain, and we propose that consideration of the rules of quantum physics is necessary to understand how the soul is reduced into consciousness.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Psychology and Philosophy, Üsküdar University, İstanbul, Turkey

    Mehmet Emin Ceylan

  2. Department of Psychology, Üsküdar University, İstanbul, Turkey

    Aslıhan Dönmez, Alper Evrensel & Fatma Duygu Kaya Yertutanol

  3. Vocational School of Health Services, Department of Medical Documentation and Secretariat, Üsküdar University, İstanbul, Turkey

    Barış Önen Ünsalver

  4. Üsküdar Üniversitesi, Haluk Türksoy Sok. No: 14 Altunizade Mah. PK:34662, Üsküdar, İstanbul, Turkey

    Barış Önen Ünsalver

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  1. Mehmet Emin Ceylan
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  2. Aslıhan Dönmez
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  3. Barış Önen Ünsalver
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  4. Alper Evrensel
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  5. Fatma Duygu Kaya Yertutanol
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Contributions

MEC and BÖÜ participated in “brain storming” sessions about the paper and formed the main hypothesis behind the paper. AD analyzed, designed, and wrote the paper. AE and FDY prepared the final version of the paper. All authors have read and approved the final version of the paper.

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Correspondence to Barış Önen Ünsalver.

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Ceylan, M.E., Dönmez, A., Ünsalver, B.Ö. et al. The Soul, as an Uninhibited Mental Activity, is Reduced into Consciousness by Rules of Quantum Physics. Integr. psych. behav. 51, 582–597 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-017-9395-5

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