Continuing Consciousness...
&The Story of Life©

The Story of Life is a labor of love written and illustrated by Jerry DeCaire and in loving memory and dedication to
   Brandi Nichelle Hoffman.

“Master, what is the best way to meet the loss of one we love?”
“By knowing that when we truly love, it is never lost. It is only after death that the depth of the bond is truly felt, and our loved one becomes more a part of us than was possible in life.”
“Are we only able to feel this toward those whom we have known and loved a long time?”
“Sometimes a stranger known to us for moments can spark our souls to kinship for eternity.”
“How can strangers take on such importance to our souls?”
“Because our soul does not keep time. It merely records growth.”

 Based on the Tao of Kung-Fu: “The Soul only Records Growth."

BOOK FORMAT & PRESENTATION

The Story of Life will be a coffee table style book 11"X 12" that will narratively and graphically frame and underscore the consciousness research of the most respected intellects in this field of inquiry (See contributor link).

The writing will be a hybrid of regular text and the sequential narrative typical of a graphic novel. You are taken from the origins of the universe and consciousness and it's primal role in what we refer to as "matter." The Story of Life expounds on the evolutionary origins of man and his biological mechanisms which many scientists, philosophers, and theologians agree; do not account for self-awareness and the subjective experience. DeCaire thoroughly rejects mechanism as a replacement for agency. 

THE STORY OF LIFE IN A NUTSHELL

Quantum experiments replicated for more than 80 years affirm that mind is not separate from matter. Our brains are enclosed in solid bone and it is a certainty that light never reaches it. Brains are engulfed in shadow and yet we perceive both light and shadow and the associated emotional responses to each. As stated by the character Morpheus in the motion picture, The Matrix: "What is real is only electrical signals being interpreted by our brains." So what than is really "out there?" As observers caught up in the "phenomenon," will we ever really know the "noumenon?" 

Many near death accounts give us a glimpse into this mystery where consciousness expands and for a brief moment the near death experiencer sees space and time for what they really are: navigational tools for a limited and localized brain trapped within the constraints of linear time. 

Are we souls inhabiting a body or merely an epiphenomenon of an unlikely arrangement of "dead matter?" What scientific support is there for consciousness being primal to reality and what are the implications for an afterlife? Is there a "god?" If so, is this a deistic god or a God that is personal or something in-between? Perhaps God's providence is reserved for the hereafter rather than the here-and-now hence resolving the problem of evil? Are we "god," or is this god  what Max Planck described as the mind that is the "matrix of all matter?"

DeCaire takes you through a journey that describes his own transcendental accounts from childhood to the present day which have laid the foundations of conviction which make this book possible. He thoroughly rejects the psychiatric explanations of these supposed "brain" phenomena by reason of third-party validation. He also takes you step-by-step through the story of Brandi Hoffman; a person  who connected with universal consciousness; her struggles with a world that didn't understand; and the loneliness that came from trying to connect with those who were disconnected.

The Story of Life will also take you through personal testimponies of transendental experiences that have mustered much media attention due to their transformative power.

If you have lost someone very close to you, it doesn't matter if you are a Christian or of any other particular faith; The Story of Life will give you GOOD reasons to believe that our  loved ones who have passed on are still a part of our lives. The Story of Life gives us more than a convoluted rosy philosophy and the platitudes usually following loss in an effort to bring comfort to the grieving. There is solid scientific, experiential, and circumstantial  evidence to more than suggest that there is, indeed, a Continuation of Consciousness & the ongoing Story of Life.
 

“He has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubborn illusion” (Einstein on the death of his friend, Michele Besso).
-Albert Einstein

我第一次与布兰蒂·霍夫曼（Brandi Hoffman）的相遇是在2003 年，在我的夏季天文学课上。这是故事的开始。即便是在当时，当她穿着一身老式风格的半旧衣服，顶着一顶大太阳帽走进教室的那一刻，我就知道，她是特殊的。她身上散发出了一些独一无二的，超凡脱俗的东西。甚至她的脸都是那样的红润、光泽，就如同上帝亲自碰触了她一样。仅仅只是看着她，我就知道，她看待的这个世界是不同的，她的宁静、端庄、甚至她那敏感的性格都折射出不同的光辉，就如同被煤块所包围的钻石一样。她曾寻找过这个世界的意义，即便在很多时候看来这么做是毫无意义的。她是永远想要融于自然的自然之子，她觉得自己与森林或者落日之景之间并没有任何隔阂。她是真理的探索者，她是天然的、一个完全亲和于上帝本质的思考者，从不缺少深刻的见解。生活在田园中心密歇根州的她，通过她自己的视点和独特的洞察力，定义上帝是一个“世界意识”。她对上帝的思索要远远超越于我。在我小小的思维中，我给了上帝一幅面孔，但是布兰蒂则认为上帝是没有面孔的。我相信上帝是完美的，而布兰蒂则相信上帝是不断进化的。我把上帝视为一个拥有非凡意识的独立存在，而布兰蒂则认为上帝是由各种各样的意图一起构成的。我认识的上帝是一个极度拟人化的存在，而布兰蒂的上帝则可用马克斯·普朗克（Max Planck，量子力学创始人，编者注）的一句话来形容，“所有物质的基体”（The Matrix of All Matter）。我努力的去了解她，但我得到的只是她那高贵的心灵和如星空般深邃思维的一瞥。而后在经历了只能由天使来描述的近7 年时间，充满关切的友谊之后，她让我明白了如何才能让一个人爱他人胜过爱他自己。我永远感激她，是她帮我完成了这生命旅程上重要的一课：爱与被爱。我爱布兰蒂，无人能出其右。就像在弗兰克·泽菲雷利的电影《简爱》（1996）中罗切斯特先生所说的那样“简，你真是一个奇怪而神秘的存在……”（Jane, you’re a strange and unearthlything...），布兰蒂即是如此。在如今这个遍布竞争、贪婪和浮躁的世界中，“奇怪”无疑是一个褒义词。自年仅23 岁的布兰蒂于2009 年12 月12 日不幸去世以来，我更加努力的去了解上帝。而动力则来自于，也只可能来自于这巨大的遗失所带来的冲击，我把此文献于布兰蒂·尼奇尔·霍夫曼（Brandi Nichelle Hoffman），我的心上人。学的越多，我越能用她的视野来看待这个世界，你知道的“小熊”，不知怎么，你就是知道。“如果天谴是正义的报酬，你还会选择正义吗？”布兰蒂·尼奇尔·霍夫曼 

I first met Brandi Hoffman in my summer astronomy class of 2003 when our story began. She walked into the room with her old-fashioned hand-me-downs and big sun hat and right away I knew there was something special about her. She radiated something other-worldly. Her face glowed with a sort of celestial endorsement signaling God’s approval of this beautiful soul that was meant to be in this particular space and at this particular time. She saw the world differently and was like a precious gem hidden amongst the quotidian rubble in her quiet, demure, and even vulnerable disposition. Brandi was kind.

Looking for meaning in a world that can seem so meaningless, she was a child of nature forever wanting to blend into it as she perceived there was no separation between her and the forest or a sunset’s vista. She was a seeker of truth and a genuine philosopher whose intimacy with the true nature of God was nothing less than profound. Brandi was thoughtful.

 Living in rural Central Michigan, she independently defined God as “Universal Consciousness” as gleaned by her personal visions and unique insights. Her thoughts of God were larger than mine. My small mind gave God a face; Brandi insisted that God had no “face.” I believed in God’s “perfection;” Brandi would insist that God could learn—through us and our experiences. I saw God as a separate entity with a singular and petty purpose; Brandi saw God as something larger and the source of human intention. My notion of the infinite was an anthropomorphic one while Brandi embraced Max Planck’s more representational concept of God as “the Matrix of all Matter.” Brandi was smart.

I struggled to understand her and I had only a glimpse into her empathetic heart and stellar mind. After nearly seven years of an ineffable, loving friendship that only the angels can describe, she taught me how to love another person more than I could ever love myself. I am eternally indebted to her for helping me to fulfill life’s most important commission: to love and to be loved. I loved Brandi, and like no other. It’s like that line from the character Mr. Rochester in Franco Zeffirelli’s Jane Eyre (1996): “Jane, you’re a strange and unearthly thing…” and so was Brandi. And in a world where competition and greed and shallowness can be particularly common, “strange” can be good. Brandi was different. Her life had meaning, purpose, and significance.

Since Brandi’s passing hours removed from her birthday on December 12th, 2009, I have devoted my life to understanding God more. In that education, borne from a driving force that can come only from a sense of great loss, I dedicate this book to the one who was my very heart; Brandi Nichelle Hoffman. Brandi still inspires me as she has inspired others who were fortunate enough to have known her.

The more I learn, the more I am beginning to see things her way. You knew “Little Bear.” Somehow, you knew.

“If damnation were the reward for righteousness; would you still choose to be righteous?”
-Brandi Nichelle Hoffman