How to know everything - exploring the limits (if there are any) of the human mind

Is it possible to know everything? What does that even mean? To me, it's on-demand access to all there is to know. But is that possible, and if it is, can it be learned?

We all have heard of Acquired Savant Syndrome. Where someone bumps their head (by having a car accident, or by "simply" falling down the stairs) and wake up with new talents (becoming mathematical geniuses or being able to produce remarkable pieces of art) or speaking a foreign language they never spoke before. When such articles appear, we always find in the comments section people joking about knocking their head against the wall to pick up a language quick or to pass their maths exams. But is there any substance to what these jokes are referring to? Obviously this topic is not simply about suggesting that you do that. So what else is there?

Let's see. Let's start with something simple. How do we normally acquire knowledge? "It's obvious," you might say, "by learning, mostly reading". Ok, fair enough. (Or is it?) So how long do you need to read to know everything? Well, to answer that question, you seem to know 2 things: How much is there to know, and how fast can you read? Without trying to answer these 2 questions, it's a fair estimate that 100 years of continuous reading probably wouldn't be quite enough for you to get there. You need to either decrease the amount of knowledge, or increase the speed you read at. The former is out of the question, the latter is, as we know, possible, there are many methods, like using the pointing finger and keep moving it faster on the words in the book than you can read now. So you use one of these techniques, and you end up like this girl:

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Imagine combining this talent with the talent of perfect memory, like the lady in this video has:

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It's not just her of course, there are many others, (remember the rainman twins?), so we know that the human brain is capable of prefect recall, and nothing is ever lost. So where is all the acquired knowledge? Most experts would say it's locked in the subconscious. Then the question becomes, how does one access the subconscious? (Indeed, why do we even have a subconscious? It's like half of who we are being cut off - seems unnatural anyway.)

What comes to mind at first is altered states of consciousness. We seem to have pretty good memory while in hypnosis. Also we seem to have access to vast knowledge in a trance state. Whether one calls it channeling ETs, reading the akashic records (think of Edgar Cayce), or simply having a visionary dream, it seems that the human brain has access to more knowledge, even, it seems, to unacquired knowledge, in altered states of consciousness. One valid question might be "Where does it come from?" That could be the topic of a whole new thread. To our discussion that is not so important, so let's put that aside for now, and simply assume it's all "there" for the accessing. That's what the Convoluted Universe books suggest anyway. You know, written by the hypnotist who did past life regression for almost 50 years and compiled 5 books about the peculiar information she acquired from 100s of her patients worldwide over decades. I never forget one of the reviews I read about book 4 on Amazon:

"Dolores takes her clients to the deepest level of trance, the somnambulistic level. To obtain the totality of the information she wants, she invariably contacts what she calls the subconscious mind or SC, which is actually "the greatest power that there is" which "contains all knowledge of everything that has ever been, and everything that ever will be"."

Well, that's sort of what we're looking for, except we want it on demand. 2 things need elimination here: the therapist, and the time it takes to fall into trance (or the altered state of consciousness). The first is easy, everyone has heard of self-hypnosis, the methods are endless, anyone can learn it. The second seems to be a bit more tricky, and it probably hold the key here. How FAST is it possible to reach a trance state, and, a more interesting question, is it possible to wake up not coming out of it, that is, to maintain the state? To answer the first half of the question, there must be a way to speed it up, just like you can learn to read faster. Who said there is a minimum time limit needed to reach trance? Indeed, some hypnosis clients only take a few seconds. The second half of the question seems to be the real key holder here. Maybe you don't need to bump your head. Maybe it's unnecessary to spend months and years learning to read faster. Maybe you don't need to even go into a trance? (You forget most of what you accessed when you wake up anyway.)

So the main question becomes, can one reach and MAINTAIN an altered state of consciousness, and another question that pops up here is, would an ordinary person be able to handle it? How would you keep a handle on what enters your mind? Wouldn't all the knowledge just flood you? How would that even feel? Probably the reason we have developed a subconscious in the first place, to maintain a degree of stability. Maybe on-demand access to all knowledge is not really desirable. But it's the topic of this discussion, so let's explore this a bit further.

The only thing that comes to mind at this point is a woman in Africa that I heard of years and years ago, who was remarkable for (maybe being the only person found to be) having beta (or was it theta? can't remember) brain waves while going about her daily business. What exactly that does for you, I'm not sure, but seems to have something to do with what we want here.

Another thing that could be a part of this is something that's always fascinated me. When you have been meditating, obviously that's an altered state as well, so I could pick hypnosis, trance, sleeping or any other state as well, but how exactly does that work? I mean, why do the brainwave patterns HAVE to change? Can you open your eyes and maintain the meditative state? Well, that's how Buddhists meditate anyway, a half-open eye. OK, so can you stand up and maintain? Walk and maintain? You get the point.

And this is where I'd like to leave it at this point and open the thread for discussion and brainstorming, maybe ideas more than opinions, let's get constructive here and get something out of all this, shall we?

originally posted by: Rolci
Is it possible to know everything? What does that even mean? To me, it's on-demand access to all there is to know. But is that possible, and if it is, can it be learned?

There is only One Universal Knower!
One Universal Consciousness!

"Consciousness is the ground of all being!" - Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics
One Universal Consciousness!

Knowledge;

The new, critically updated, all inclusive, Universal definition of 'Knowledge';

"'Knowledge' is 'that which is perceived', Here! Now!!"

All inclusive!

That which is perceived by the unique individual Perspective is 'knowledge'.
All we can 'know' is what we perceive, Now! and Now! and Now!!!

'Ignorance' is that which is NOT perceived, at any particular moment, by any particular unique Perspective! Here! Now!

So, every moment of Universal existence is a unique moment of Knowledge of the One (unchanging, ALL inclusive) Universal Reality/Self!

Where is the 'access problem'?
The ego is the access problem!
'Thought/imagination' = ego!
All limitations exist in the 'imagination', all 'identity' exists in the imagination, all 'this' not 'that'.
That figment of the dualistic ego is who people are referring to when we use terms like "I" or "me" or "mine", as schizophrenically opposed to "you" and "yours"...
As the identity and limitations of the ego are 'transcended', we now have access to, ARE the One Universal Omni- Self, within Whom ALL is Known!

The transcending of the ego limitations is known as unconditional Love/Enlightenment.
All is known, there are no questions left to answer!

“Your task is not to seek for Love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” - Rumi

True, unconditional Love is ALWAYS recognized by It's unconditional Virtues; Compassion, Empathy, Sympathy, Gratitude, Humility, Charity (charity is never taking more than your share of anything, ever!), Honesty, Happiness, Faith...
ALWAYS!

I feel like when you gain total self awareness, you can feel the extremities of your being and that could be the grid that we can pull information from... But literally in the moment... im pretty sure that the theta wave is what your talking about... Kinda like the spinning ballerina trick, you can change your perception of the image and literally see the image move a different direction

a reply to: Rolci

if you want to really know your mind than I would suggest, for starters, to turn to the east spirituality like budhisem as in muhamudra or dzogchen Tibetan schools. Some of them monks devoted their life's to meditation and to the real power of the mind since ancient times.

we in the west, with our technology are so behind them in that department it is not even funny. A quick true meditation can show you that our body mind is a lot more than just material.

It is funny and it makes me cry at the same time, when I think about it. People who are meditating their whole life in places like Tibet are treated as lyres or charlatans in our world, even though they take a vow to never lie or harm another being since childhood if in a monastery but due to our views about religions they are mainly treated as something what they surly are not.

The permanent state in meditation which you are pointing to is samadhi. There are many levels to it. But in any case this is supposedly the most natural state of our mind. And final state is also described in namelesss post.