Chapter 26: A Piece of Peace

“I leave you peace. My peace I give you.”

The most remarkable contrast evident upon the image on the Shroud of Turin is the overwhelming sense of peace amidst ample forensic proof of so many tortuous wounds and bloodstains. Clearly the man of the Shroud suffered immense physical pain, yet the residue of His image projects complete serenity.

Why would the image of serenity immersed in suffering have been the only artifact left behind? Was it Christ's intention to show us another possibility for our relationship to suffering?

Given the right set of circumstances, it would be safe to say that “the whole world is against us.” Among the billions of people on the planet, there are very few people, mostly our family and friends, who care deeply for us. Are we so naïve that we actually believe the world population really cares about our tiny individual lives before their own? If the whole world were to fall into a state of crisis, we would likely all be capable of turning on each other to fight for our own and our family's survival. Our lives hang in such a precarious balance and we are always on the edge of this primitive “survival of the fittest” mode, even though we perpetuate an illusion to the contrary.

The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is only one tiny fragment of proof that having zero back up plan is the norm for many human endeavors. We coexist in the illusion that our governments, companies, and institutions have their acts together and can handle all manner of large scale crises. We fabricate this false comfort zone because the reality of the tenuous nature of human existence is too overwhelmingly scary to contemplate. Good thing we have a sense of humor...

As one crisis after another emerges in our world, we are starting to see that our relief efforts only go so far. Haiti is still a disaster and most who were there to help have moved on. It's understandable – people can only do so much to help others; our own lives inevitably beckon us back home to help ourselves and those we love.

The time between disasters and crises seems to be shortening. It begs the question:

Why hasn't the the whole world already fallen into crisis all at once?

And that question leads me to other questions...

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What is this force that binds together all our fragile realities and doles out the suffering incrementally so that we can recover and sustain our existence as a species?

Is it the same force that binds the scars and stains of torture embedded into the image on the Shroud?

Is human suffering holographic in nature, existing on many planes, in various domains, all suspended in some illusion of reality?

Is our suffering like a holographic image in that it is nonlocal – it cannot remain in a fixed location in space and time?

Do the particles of our suffering convert to waves when we are not directly experiencing the pain?

Is suffering part of the indivisible subatomic system, part of the implicate order that enfolds all realities into one?

Is each mark of suffering embedded into the image on the Shroud part of the 3D road map that answers the age old questions about why we are here and why we suffer?

Does the subatomic spray-like image that so faintly graces only the surface fibers of the cloth do so as a metaphor to remind us that the scars of suffering are temporary, but that salvation is eternal?

If you were Jesus Christ, a person with supernatural powers who could heal the sick and raise the dead, who could die and be resurrected... what would you leave behind for the world to contemplate?

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It makes sense that Christ would have left us the gift of peace because we have no sustainable way to find true peace in our exterior tumultuous world. Amidst constant suffering and always on the brink of destruction, we tread the waters of this life and hold ourselves together as best we can. Peace in this world is a fairy tale we tell ourselves –- a way to hold onto hope.

Peace is not to be attained in our world. Serenity inside suffering is something we can only find deep within ourselves. It is a gift that we can only fully receive through faith, faith in the force that binds and protects us.

I marvel at how hard the skeptics work to prove the Shroud is a forgery and not the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. I wonder if each of them was left the gift of a million dollars and was told it was a gift from Christ if they would work equally hard to prove that gift a fake.

The mere presence of the image of serenity on this piece of cloth imbues us with the gift of peace. This Son of Man, who so willingly agrees to always be with us no matter the crisis, to never abandon us like most of the world would, to grace us with the detailed record of His suffering for our salvation...His is the image that remains largely ignored, ironically even among those who have faith.

His gift of peace serene
on cloth suspended
our dream

Chapter 25: 2D/3D

Of the many things that make the image on the Shroud unique, the one that most captures my attention is the fact that 3 dimensional distance information is hidden in the image density itself and is encoded into the 2 dimensional image. Remember, the image only rests upon the surface fibers of the cloth and still it contains this hidden 3D information. No other 2 dimensional image – anywhere – ever – has this kind of information encoded into it. And no one has ever been able to reproduce this effect using modern science.

When considering Christ's death and resurrection...specifically the time in between the two, it makes one wonder about His consciousness. In other words did He die, slip into a state on non-being, no consciousness and then reanimate? Or was His physical body “dead” by all human definitions but His consciousness alive and well and intentionally deciding to leave us the imprint?

When you think about all the stuff you own and what would be left behind after you die, it's interesting to ponder that all our belongings, our physical objects and possessions, reflect who we are on this earth while living and who we were after we are dead and gone. Especially anything we created ourselves – these are the things that tell our story.

But we cannot directly go through Jesus' scrapbooks, photos albums, treasured childhood toys, writings, records...all we have to go on is Scripture and that comes from a variety of sources.

So if the Shroud is the only “thing” we have (and the Sudarium), how is it possible that all of Christianity is not completely fluent on the subject of the Shroud? It baffles the mind. Is it not enough that the Shroud is the one major “thing” Christ left behind, that it is embedded with an imprint of His suffering and resurrection, and that this 2D/3D phenomenon cannot be explained or reproduced...is it not enough for our faith to fathom...to marvel...to believe?

Chapter 24: Connecting the Dots

I believe the number is 2 million, people that is, from all over the world who made their way to Turin to see the imprint of the resurrected Christ on the Shroud. Imagine if He were alive and preaching how many millions would come to hear Him speak. No stadium would be large enough.

Because the Shroud contains holographic information, I'm keen on learning more about the broader concepts associated with holograms. As always, I am coming up with more questions than answers...

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Does the image on the Shroud only exist because we are observing it?

All the tiny dots, the subatomic particle spray — do these dots, when measured, show us the framework of the holographic grid?

Does the Shroud cloth act as a piece of holographic film, recording interference patterns and thus remembering all the information about the entire original image?

If the part of the Shroud that contains the image were to be cut into squares, could each piece be used to reconstruct the entire image?

Could the density of neurons in the brain be responsible for a kaleidoscope of interference patterns that result from vast amounts of electrical impulses in the brain cell connectivity? In this way could Jesus have “thought” his image onto the cloth during the Resurrection?

Holograms are virtual images that create the illusion that things are located where they are not. Does nonlocality apply to the image on the Shroud?

Can we produce of Fourier Transform of the image on the Shroud?

Is the image a frequency domain that can only be transformed into our perception of reality via employing our senses? If so, does this mean that Christ left us a legible “admissions ticket” into the frequency of the Divine?

When we die, are we simply enfolded back into the one thing reality...the whole?

Is there a hidden order enfolded into the interference patterns in the image on the cloth of the Shroud?

If the totality of an image on holographic film is hidden because it is enfolded into the interference patterns, then the actual hologram projected from the film is only the perceptible version of the image...in that same way is the image on the Shroud merely the perceptible reality and, thereby, is something far more profound enfolded into the cloth that we cannot perceive?

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If we can communicate using every cell, atom, molecule in our being and all realities are unbroken, then it stands to reason that each of us is everyone else. In this way, Christ dying on the cross for all the sins of humanity makes practical sense. He would have been a fully realized human being, one with self-actualized potential. A shape shifter who could take on the pain and suffering of every single human being throughout all of space and time by essentially “becoming” the reality of everyone else.

When we do something that helps another we feel an enormous satisfaction. In that respect, perhaps Christ was comforted by a satisfaction so profound that every ounce of His (our) suffering paled in comparison. The miracle of the Shroud is that the image conveys so much more than suffering...


slats of spheres
cylindrical specters that vector
subatomic chameleon
cloud like layers
transparency indicators
of helix horizontals
webbed verticals
and implicate dimensionless electrons

quanta
order
the chaos illusion
now you see it
now you don't

connecting the dots
framing the grid
while photons chatter and agree
their polarization angles
identical
instantaneous spatial orientation
crisscrossing ripples
into a deeper order
of subtle matter
where all particles agree
to nonlocality
interconnectedness
and the unbroken
flowing