The Holy Spirit

Who He is and How He Works In Our Lives

By Don C. Olson

And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake into pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire

 a still small voice.

1 Kings 19:11-12.     

I am posting a manuscript in my next blog composed by a fellow Christian apologist, Don C. Olson, who used it as the foundation for a 12-week course on experiencing the Holy Spirit. My research focus is the how of our communion with the Holy Spirit. don’s is the experience of the Holy Spirit. Though lengthy, I recommend the manuscript be read in full, deriving the blessing of what he has shared.

 I

I continue with Scripture from John 16:

Now I am going to him who sent me . . . But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. . . . But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

So we shall hear from the Holy Spirit who in turn will hear from the Father through the resurrected Jesus Christ. Indeed, it is “minds in communion” between God the Father, the risen and living Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and the human spirit and soul in repentance. It is God’s created synaptic networks that makes this communion possible, a dualist interaction.

In my last blogs numbering close to 20, I have discussed in detail aspects of synaptic transmission that are becoming understood that give credence to dualist interaction between the immaterial mind (and Mind of God) and the material components of the human brain. I have proposed that the “nonmaterial energy” referred to in several cited articles and in my books can be identified as the process of quantum tunneling that interacts with the electrochemical action potentials that transmit encoded specified information.

As I was reading John 14 this morning, I was struck with the need to identify several verses spoken by Jesus Christ that show concordance with what is being presented in the neuroscience literature. If the reader has been following my blog posts and contents of my books over time, I believe my listing of these verses will bring renewed emphasis to this concordance. They are from the NIV Study Bible:

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. . . . But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. . . . All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. . . . but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

I am including quotations from an article by Danko Georgiev and James Glazebrook entitled, “Quantum Interactive Dualism: From Beck and Eccles Tunneling Model of Exocytosis to Molecular Biology and SNARE Zipping.” It was published in Biomedical Reviews, 2014, Vol. 25: 15-24. I include this article because it supports dualist interactionism proposed by Eccles and Beck and because it adds to the understanding of the designed machine components of synaptic transmission. It is most important to understand that these machine components were created by God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit so that a bidirectional communion would be possible between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit and soul (mind, will, emotion). I submit that it is revelational to us in our time so that we can accept the communion with God He desired so long ago when He created Adam, a communion lost at the Fall but restored by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who sent the Holy Spirit as He promised to those who are in repentance. Let us see what this article includes.

“The large-scale anatomy of the brain and its histology are currently well understood. . . . molecular neuroscience has made strides towards elucidating the structure and function of neurons down at the nanoscale. At the microscopic level, the brain is composed of neurons assembled into neural networks. Each neuron is composed of three compartments: dendrites, soma and axon, respectively specialized to input, process and output information by transmitting [encoded] electric signals.

“Sir John Eccles . . . was one of the first who understood the importance of quantum mechanics for resolving the mind-brain problem, and proposed that mental events can cause brain events analogously to how the wave function . . . in quantum mechanics determines the probability . . . for a given quantum particle to be found at a certain position x at a certain moment of time t. Because quantum mechanics governs the behavior of physical systems at the nanoscale level, Eccles hypothesized that quantum effects could be manifest in the process of neurotransmitter release. This appeared to be consistent with the principles of quantum mechanics because the synaptic vesicles are approximately of the right size (40 nm in diameter) so as to be subjected to the quantum uncertainty relations, and because the probability of exocytosis is much smaller than 1 upon each axonal depolarization. Importantly, his hypothesis made interactive dualism feasible.

“The general features of the Beck and Eccles model are as follows: . . . each axon terminal contains approximately 50 synaptic vesicles anchored in a presynaptic vesicular grid. When an axonal electric spike depolarizes the axon terminal, at most one synaptic vesicle releases its neurotransmitter content in the synaptic cleft, and the probability for such an event is approximately 0.4. Because each neuronal axon has over 1000 presynaptic axon terminals, if the neurotransmitter release was due to classical random thermal fluctuations, then brain functional mechanism would be thrown into complete havoc within seconds. In view of the organizational structure of the brain, Beck and Eccles concluded that the probability of release should be quantum mechanical in origin and subject to direct causal influence by means of one’s own consciousness [or mindful intent]. . . . exocytosis needs to be a conditional event depending upon the depolarization of the axonal terminal. This means that the influx of calcium ions is a necessary, but not sufficient condition, for exocytosis to occur. Instead, exocytosis is triggered by the quantum tunneling of a particle [quasiparticle] with mass m satisfying the one-dimensional Schrodinger equation. . . . The potential energy . . . in the Schrodinger equation acts as a barrier for the motion of the particle. . . . due to the requirement for continuity of the quantum wavefunction . . . the quantum particle is able to tunnel through the entire width of the potential energy barrier . . . and appear on the other side. . . . Beck and Eccles determined that their model is physically plausible if the mass of the quantum particle triggering the exocytosis is less than 6 hydrogen masses. . . From this estimate, they also concluded that a quantum mechanical trigger for exocytosis must reside in an atomic process such as the movement of a hydrogen bridge by electronic rearrangement.”

Georgiev and Glazebrook went on to consider additional features of the proposed model, and I refer you to their article. Specifically, they proposed vibrationally assisted tunneling in SNARE zipping which has been discussed in a previous blog. “Motivated by the molecular structure of the four-a - helix bundle of SNARE proteins, we have modeled the SNARE zipping using a quantum quasiparticle . . . propagating along the hydrogen bonds of the protein a - helices of the SNARE complex.”

The authors discussed how their model exhibits temperature dependence in contrast with that of Beck and Eccles which was temperature independent. The authors stated that “our own work demonstrated that the problems in the Beck and Eccles model are not of fundamental character.” They concluded their discussion stating that “quantum mechanics provides a unique opportunity for the construction of mind-brain interaction models without violation of the physical laws. Because quantum effects are most pronounced at the nanoscale, it is natural to expect that the putative models should be implemented at the molecular level inside neurons.”

My last several blogs have addressed these features in some detail, and I refer the interested reader to the articles cited. Again, I propose that the quantum trigger identified by Eccles, Beck and the authors of this article is identified as the “nonmaterial energy” by which interaction between immaterial and material entities occurs in dualist interaction.

Axel T. Brunger and coworkers have examined the mechanism of synaptic vesicle fusion and have proposed that fusion is initially inhibited until it is released by “calcium ion binding to synaptotagmin-C2 domains. . . fusion is [then] assisted by SNARE complex zippering and by active membrane remodeling properties of synaptotagmin.” Their article was published in Trends in Cell Biol., August 2018. The process of synaptic transmission was summarized as follows: “Synaptic transmission between pre- and post-synaptic neurons occurs when the pre-synaptic neuron terminal is temporarily depolarized upon an action potential, opening calcium ion channels near the active zones of synapses. Since the extracellular calcium ion concentration is much higher than the cytoplasmic concentration, calcium ion will flow into the cytoplasm. In turn, calcium ion will trigger fusion of neurotransmitter-filled synaptic vesicles with the presynaptic membrane in less than a millisecond. Upon fusion, neurotransmitter molecules are released into the synaptic cleft, and then bind to receptors that are located in the postsynaptic membrane.”

The authors described the complex machinery mechanism in considerable detail. It is a highly coordinated process that acts in mere milliseconds. Their proposal shows how synaptic fusion is kept from happening until calcium ion influx releases the inhibition. They state, “Taken together, synaptotagmin and synaptotagmin-like C2 domains may play a dual role of inhibiting a certain process, such as membrane fusion, in the absence of calcium ions, and of activating the same process after release of inhibition by membrane remodeling in the presence of calcium ions.”

It is reasonably apparent that design went into the creation of synaptic machines that function with extreme speed and efficiency. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the design was that of our Creator God who made possible the personal communion between His Holy Spirit and our human spirit and souls/minds through the synaptic networks of the human brain.

Thomas C. Sudhof is a recognized authority at Stanford University who has extensively investigated synaptic transmission. In October 2013 he had an article published in Nature Medicine, Vol. 19, No. 10 entitled “A Molecular Machine for Neurotransmitter Release: Synaptotagmin and Beyond.” I refer the interested reader to this particular article since it includes excellent illustrations of the elaborate molecular machine that governs the release of neural transmitters into the synaptic cleft, specifically the fusion of docked synaptic vesicles to the presynaptic membrane and the subsequent opening of pores through which synaptic transmitters are released into the cleft. The machines reflect a complex, elaborate and coordinated molecular activity in which design has been instantiated for specific function, namely the transmission of specified information encoded within spike trains of action potentials through synaptic networks. I am including below an excerpt from his article that summarizes the mechanism of synaptic vesicular release. By reading this information it is my hope that it will lead to the reading of his entire article.

“We now know of a general mechanism of membrane fusion that operates by the interaction of SNAREs [for soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF)-attachment protein receptors] and SM proteins (for Sec1/Munc18-like proteins). We also have now a general mechanism of calcium-triggered fusion that operates by calcium binding to synaptotagmins, plus a general mechanism of vesicular positioning adjacent to calcium channels, which involves the interaction of the so-called RIM proteins with these channels and synaptic vesicles. Thus, a molecular framework that accounts for the astounding speed and precision of neurotransmitter release has emerged.”

Yes, the mechanism is most complex, and much still needs to be worked out. Progress is being made in understanding how immaterial wave forms interact with these machines through quantum tunneling to transmit information by which actions happen. I will be posting more information that speaks to this process.

In my next blogs I shall include comments and quotations from several authors in neuroscience that describe the complex, wonderful molecular motors of synaptic transmission. These discoveries have been made possible by advances in technology and expand on the theories of such neuroscientists as John Eccles, Friedrich Beck, Thomas Sudhof, Danko Georgiev and others whom I have quoted in previous blog posts and in my books.

Why am I including these blogs? We remember that all aspects of synaptic transmission have been created by God, providing for what God always intended for His relationship with humankind, a bidirectional, personal communion between God and Man. No, it is not necessary for one to understand the how of this communion, but there are those for whom an understanding will lend strength to their faith, based on evidence of such a relationship spoken to in Scripture and restored by the sin sacrifice of Jesus Christ who sent as He promised the Holy Spirit to indwell us in repentance.

Professor Mikhail Reshetnikov is a Meritorious Scientist of the Russian Federation. He authored an article published in Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal on January 25, 2019, entitled Methodological Background and Foundations of the Non-Material Theory of the Psyche. I am including several quotes from his article in which he provides evidence for the non-material nature of the psyche, or cognitive mind of humans.

“Mental activity is viewed as a kind of informational exchange and interaction, as well as accumulation and processing of information. . . . Nobody would deny that the brain and the nervous system are material structures regulating activities of internal organs, reflex reactions and adaptive functions of the organism, and mental activity is based on these structures. But the essence of mental activity is different. We accumulate information, process and verify information, produce information. . . . Information is understood by contemporary academic science as a non-material factor. . . . the founder of cybernetics N. Wiener emphasized that information is neither matter nor energy, information is information. . . . Only information carriers (biological, paper, electronic etc.) are material. . . . Information as such, on a carrier but without a perceiving subject, is virtually non-existent. Only living beings, and most of all, humans can be subjects of its perception, as well as produce, carry, store and verify non-material information. . . . Generally speaking, the phrase ‘we think with the brain’ is as absurd as the phrase ‘we walk with the spinal cord’ just because it relates to motility impulses. . . . it is not the computer that remembers something, finds it, calculates or analyses it. It is done by the non-material software, without which a computer is just a piece of metal. Similarly, the brain without the psyche which was formed under the influence of a society is just a biological substrate, a tissue that includes synapses, chemical mediators, nervous centers, transmitters, etc., but nothing more than that.”

It is encouraging that this distinguished scientist gives strong support to dualist interactionism between the immaterial mind and the material components of the brain. Yes, Mortimer Adler stated that we need our brains to think, but we do not think with our brains. I have addressed the several points made by the author in my books and blogs.

I have referred to the work of Danko D. Georgiev in previous posts and in my books. He authored an article that was preprinted in August, 2020 entitled “Quantum Information Theoretic Approach to the Mind-Brain Problem,” Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology. He challenged material reductionism in his introductory statement, “The brain is composed of electrically excitable neuronal networks by the activity of voltage-gated ion channels” [reference to which was given in my last blog post]. “Further portraying the molecular composition of the brain, however, will not reveal anything remotely reminiscent of a feeling, a sensation or a conscious experience. In classical physics, addressing the mind-brain problem is a formidable task because no physical mechanism is able to explain how the brain generates the unobservable, inner psychological world of conscious experiences and how in turn those conscious experiences steer the underlying brain processes toward desired behavior [a topic I have addressed in detail in my books]. . . . Comprising consciousness of unobservable quantum information integrated in quantum brain states [superpositions] explains the origin of the inner privacy of conscious experiences and revisits the dynamic timescale of conscious processes to picosecond conformational transitions of neural biomolecules. . . . Thus, quantum information theory clarifies the distinction between the unobservable mind and the observable brain. . . . the mind and the brain are not identical . . . the mind-brain problem is to explain how the unobservable conscious mind and the observable brain relate to each other: do they interact . . . ?” [My research has addressed this very question extensively.]

Georgiev continues describing a most complex process, “. . . the dynamic timescale of conscious processes is consistent with picosecond conformational transitions of neural biomolecules. Examples of picosecond protein dynamics, which is directly related to the neuronal processing of information, include regulation of conductance of voltage-gated ion channels, activation of ionotropic glutamate receptors by neurotransmitter binding, or vibrational motions of the alpha-helix backbone involved in the conformational flexibility of SNARE proteins that drive exocytosis of synaptic vesicles. In contrast, the observable brain dynamics of electric spikes propagating along neuronal projections at a millisecond timescale describes transfer of classical information, which is triggered by quantum processes.”

“The minimal molecular machinery capable of driving synaptic vesicle fusion is comprised of only three SNARE proteins: synaptobrevin, syntaxin and SNAP-25 [I have discussed the proposed function of these proteins in my books]. These three SNARE proteins zip together to form a bundle of four alpha-helices referred to as the core SNARE complex. The twisting of the 4-alpha-helix bundle inside the core SNARE complex applies a traction force that drives the fusion of the opposing phospholipid bilayers of the synaptic vesicle and the plasma membrane. The zippering of the core SNARE complex is potent enough to drive synaptic vesicle exocytosis . . . In different neuron types, the process of exocytosis is regulated by different sets of SNARE master proteins that effectively set the potential energy barrier for vesicle fusion . . . . Classical particles are forbidden from entering spatial regions where the particle energy is less than the potential energy . . . whereas quantum particles are not . . . . the quantum wavefunction . . . needs to be continuous throughout space, which allows the quantum particle to tunnel through the potential energy barrier . . . and appear on the other side. . . . quantum quasi-particles . . . are able to transport energy along the protein and could trigger conformational transitions. . . . In the case of SNARE zipping, the role of the barrier is played by the calcium sensor synaptotagmin, which clamps the SNARE complex in partially zipped conformation. Quantum tunneling . . . through the barrier may induce full zipping of the SNARE complex and trigger exocytosis. In essence, massive proteins do not quantum tunnel, whereas quantum excitations propagating [as quasi-particles] along the proteins do. Quantum tunneling of such excitations could act as a trigger that steers the overall protein motion . . . into one of two alternative classical paths. Thus, cortical neurons that have surpassed . . . the voltage threshold for the generation of electric spike, are able to amplify the quantum dynamics of SNARE proteins at individual axonal buttons into a macroscopic pattern of active synapses that release neurotransmitter molecules. . . . The dynamic timescale of the underlying quantum processes is on the order of picoseconds.”

Is it possible that Georgiev has also given a description of the “non-material energy” to which I have referred in my latest blog posts, an energy that actualizes interaction between the immaterial mind and the material components of the synaptic networks? I will continue to monitor more recent articles from the neurosciences, seeking clarification of these most complex mechanisms. I strongly suggest to those readers who find this topic of interest to access Georgiev’s work.

As I continue my research into interaction between the immaterial mind and the material components of the human brain, I occasionally post blogs that express speculation, as I did in my books. Neuroscience research is ongoing, and the articles published in mostly peer review journals also include speculations. It is my hope that speculations I post will stimulate critical thinking and direct efforts to clarify cognitive activity and how it interacts with the brain in dualist interaction.

Matthew S. Scarnati and his coauthors published an article in Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience in April, 2020 that addressed the function of presynaptic calcium channels and their relation to action potential waveforms. In previous blog posts I have addressed research that increasingly shows that cognition generates wave forms that interact with neural synaptic components, likely by way of quantum tunneling. This article refers to action potential wave forms and how both the depolarization and repolarization of ionic channels activate the passage of calcium ions that leads to the release of synaptic transmitters into synaptic clefts. I quote from the article, “Determining the change in open probability of presynaptic calcium channels and taking into account how local calcium concentration also changes throughout the action potential are both necessary to fully understand how the action potential triggers neurotransmitter release.”

My take away from this article coupled with others I have addressed in recent blogs leads me to the following speculation: Action potentials are wave forms with varying amplitudes, frequencies, durations and shapes as pointed out by the authors. The wave forms are specified and transmit neural codes within the spike trains. They impact the superposition of atomic components of molecular structures (electrons, hydrogen bonds) within ionic channels, and by quantum tunneling quasiparticles pass through voltage barriers to activate protein conformational changes that process calcium entry into synaptic terminals. It is a stochastic process, and the authors shared that the release probability is up to 25 percent of calcium channels that are rendered active at the end of action potential passage. The influx of calcium ions into presynaptic terminals leads to vesicle fusion with cleft membranes creating pores through which synaptic transmitters pass to stimulate excitatory postsynaptic action potentials. In a recent blog I discussed that quantum tunneling of quasiparticles is involved in this process that transmits wave forms along coherent synaptic networks to achieve specified actions.

My research will continue to seek confirmation of points made in this post. I seek explanations for dualist interaction between the immaterial mind of Man (and Mind of God) and the material components of the synaptic networks of the human brain involving a non-material energy. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in repentant mankind was restored by the sin sacrifice of Jesus Christ and provides His access to the human spirit and soul (mind, will, emotion). By the wonderful mechanisms created by God a personal bidirectional communion is possible with our Lord and Savior, as He intended at the Creation of Adam.