Information is energy and cannot be created or destroyed. So how do I account for my claim that we can obtain information (inspiration, knowledge, joy, wonder, terror) in some way from beyond the boundaries of space and time without violating this fundamental law of nature? Essentially I hold that there is an "even" exchange of energy (or information) in the process. There is an equivalence to being tuned or in parallel with the other part of the universe and having something that is ready to be shared or handed over to it. This something is at the level of a mental process or idea or feeling. While this has incredibly little actual energy, it has some in the sense of its organisation, its enthalpy (the opposite of entropy). This information energy can then be exchanged for a like amount, less the "friction" involved, with the void. The results of this transaction are threefold. One, the small part of your mental processes that was organised in this special way loses its organisation - its information is gone and the parts that formed it are now in chaos again. It will require an input of energy on your part to restore them in order to "reconnect." Two, the friction, or energy cost of the transaction is going to essentially be lost as heat. Third, and most important, a new piece of organised information is present in your mind, information that did not exist there before! This third aspect is the magic of the whole process. You trade your carefully (or accidentally) assembled mental state for one which might not ever have resulted through any "natural" processes here in our space time universe. The cost of the second factor, the friction, is trivial when compared with the value of obtaining a thing in your mind that you could not have produced on your own. For this reason it is most important that you enter these states as unclouded by preconceptions as possible. The less of an idea of "what" is happening you have the more open you are to ideas entering your mind that are pure and unbiased. 8/13/00 - 3 AM 
© Huw Powell
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