We do not live in a material world. That we live in a material world is an illusion. The material world is an experiential world, and as such it is a reflection that rests upon the Mirror of What Actually Exists, and it is in the world of the Mirror that we actually live, whether we know it or not. That is, the material world is not itself an illusion, as it exists as a reality, i.e., as an experiential reality, as a reflection exists on the surface of a mirror. The illusion is that material reality is what actually exists, or is what is actually there where it appears to be, as it is also an illusion to think that a reflection is what is actually there where it appears to be, as what is actually there is whatever it is upon which the reflection rests.
And in the case of the reflection that is material reality, what is actually there upon which that reflection rests is Existence-Consciousness, i.e., that which through relation to Itself both creates and apprehends experiential reality. And so the materialists have it backwards, which is to say, they see the relation between material reality and Consciousness in a way that is the complete opposite of their actual relation. That is, materialists see material reality, or some version of material reality, e.g., quantum reality, as being the source or producer of Consciousness through some sort of material cause and effect. However, this is like saying that the reflection that rests within a mirror somehow produces the mirror within which it rests and upon which its very existence depends.
But because materialists do not recognize that there is a mirror, because they take material reality in one form or another for what's actually there, it must then seem to them that material reality is the cause and Consciousness the effect, when again, their relation is the exact opposite, i.e., Consciousness is the cause and material reality or experiential reality, is the effect. Consider that you were raised in a world where you were taught that reflections were the reality, were what's actually there, and then at some point you become cognizant of a mirror. What then are you to make of the mirror and of its place in reality? The position of actuality, of cause, is already occupied, and so the mirror must somehow be crammed into the position of effect. This is what has happened in the materialist view of reality, wherein one attempts to account for Consciousness within a framework where material reality is taken as causal, for what's actually there. That is, Consciousness is seen as effect not because it is effect, but because that is how it must be seen within a materialistic framework.
It is as if one spent their life thinking that a board was the causal reality, and then they came across a tree and then went about trying to figure out how the tree comes from the board. It is absurd, but it is how it must seem when one confuses cause for effect, and vice versa.
The problem for idealists has been explaining how the somethingness of material and experiential reality can come from the seeming nothingness of Consciousness. That is where the Relational Matrix Model of Reality and reality comes in. The missing link has been: how does Consciousness-Existence create experience, and so create what we, as Consciousness, apprehend as material reality? And the answer is very simple: by being in relation to Itself, and as a result or effect of that relation, creating something that the Consciousness involved in the relation apprehends as experience.
And this is not an explanation devoid of science. To the contrary, it is an explanation that rests upon the furthest reaches of science, as it rests upon the limitations of experience encountered as scientists have tried to quantify and examine the smallest bits of material reality, i.e., it rests upon the phenomena of wave-particle duality and quantum uncertainty. Scientists have not yet figured out the basis of these phenomena because they continue to look at them within a materialistic framework, i.e., within a framework where material reality is still seen as primary and therefore causal. There are many who have understood that these phenomena indicate that Consciousness must be part of the equation, but there are few if any who understand that in that equation it is Consciousness itself that is causal and material reality, experiential reality, that is purely the effect.
The primacy of material reality is the flat earth idea of our time. That is, it is an idea that seems logical, based upon appearances, but from a broader perspective is seen to be but an illusion of perspective. Scientists operate within that framework and hence operate within a framework that is the opposite of the actual situation, and so it is not surprising that they have been unable to comprehend the meaning of phenomena which, when understood, obliterate the framework from which they operate.
And so we actually live in a world of Existential cause and experiential effect. That is, the cause is/are the relations of Existence- Consciousness to Itself, and the effect is the experience apprehended by Existence-Consciousness. However, the relations of Existence-Consciousness to Itself do more than just produce experience. That is, the effect of the relations of Existence to Itself have as their effect more than just the production of an experience.
If the relations of Existence-Consciousness to Itself produced only experience, then there would only be two complementary experiences; i.e., wanted and unwanted emotion. If the relations of Existence-Consciousness to Itself produced only experience there would only be the two most fundamental complementary experiences; ; i.e., wanted and unwanted emotion, because there would only be two relations possible; first level relations of aligned or oppositional Existential flow, producing wanted or unwanted emotion, respectively.
But the relations of Existence-Consciousness to Itself do not just produce experience as an effect. Rather, the relations of Existence-Consciousness to Itself also produce as an effect a Relational Structure composed of Existence-Consciousness as it is being in relation to Itself creating what it is apprehending as experience. And so the Cause produces an Effect and an effect. That is, the Cause, i.e., Existence-Consciousness, through relation to Itself, produces as a result or effect two different effects, one of which is composed of Itself and the other of which is not composed of Itself. And so the Cause becomes Effect and then can once again serve as Cause, creating another Effect and effect, and on and on, ad infinitum, creating a progressive and fractal structure of Reality composed of Itself as it is being progressively and iteratively in relation to Itself, while at the same time creating a progressive series of experiential realities that have as their basis the progressive relations of Existence-Consciousness to Itself made possible by the Relational Structure that evolves through the progressive and iterative relation of Existence to Itself.
Thus, because the relations of Existence-Consciousness produce both Effect and effect, it becomes possible for Existence-Consciousness to produce more than one pair of effects, more than one pair of experiences. And because the relations of Existence-Consciousness always produce both Effect and effect, what happens is that the ongoing, progressive and iterative relations of Existence-Consciousness to Itself in producing an effect, i.e., an experience, also produce as an Effect the basis of the next progression of experience, the basis of the next effect. And so what we apprehend as experiential reality is a progressive series of experiential complements, extending from the emotional, to the mental, and then to the physical or material. And underlying that progressive series of experiential complements is a progressive Relational Structure composed of Existence-Consciousness being in relation to Itself, which Relational Structure cannot Itself be an experience, because experience is of a different nature than Existence-Consciousness.
And so we do not live in a material world, and so we do not live in a world of material cause and effect. Material reality does not cause Consciousness as an effect. We live in a world of Existential cause and experiential effect, where Existence-Consciousness is the cause and experience the effect. Consciousness causes material reality to arise as an effect of its relations to Itself.
Therefore, the brain is not a material reality that produces Consciousness, rather, Consciousness through its relations to Itself produce the Relational Structure we apprehend as brain. It is not a question of how does the brain produce Consciousness, it is a question of how does Consciousness use the Relational Structure we apprehend as brain to create experience for Itself, to become involved in relations with Itself that create higher order physical experiences.
What we apprehend as brain is composed of Consciousness, as is everything, as is empty space. The ability to create experience, to apprehend experience, is intrinsic to every point in the Universe and beyond. However, the type of experience created is dependent upon the ability or way Existence can be in relation to Itself. And what the brain does is allow for relations that would otherwise not be possible, and so allows for the creation of experiences that would otherwise not be possible.
For Consciousness to create and apprehend experience it has to be in relation to Itself and for it to create and apprehend a particular experience it has to be in a particular relation. The relations that create emotional experiences are different than the relations that create mental experiences, and the relations that creates mental experiences are different than the relations that create physical experiences. Consciousness cannot just decide that it is going to have a physical experience and produce for Itself such an experience in the absence of the Relational Framework composed Itself that allows for the particular Existential relation that produces as an effect that particular type of experience.
And underlying what we apprehend as the material reality we call brain is the Relational Framework or Relational Structure composed of Existence-Consciousness that allows for the Existential relations that produce as their effect what Consciousness then apprehends as physical experience. And so again, the question is not how does the brain produce Consciousness, but how does Consciousness, structured as what we apprehend as the brain, produce a particular physical experience?
But even more interesting is the question regarding how Consciousness, through its exercise of free will, through its intrinsic ability to choose its direction of flow relative to Itself, uses Itself structured as brain to control Itself structured as body. And it may be that this exercise of choice manifests in what is apprehended as quantum spin states.
Underlying every atom, every quark, every gluon, every whatever, even space, is Consciousness structured in relation to Itself, Consciousness being in relation to Itself and as a result of those relations being configured into a Relational Structure that is composed of Consciousness and so composed of, at each and every point regardless of scale, that which has the intrinsic ability to choose its direction of flow relative to Itself.
I used to think that quantum randomness was a function of the same experiential limitation that creates the phenomena of wave-particle duality and uncertainty, until I realized that underlying every experience, no matter what we call it, and no matter how small or large, is Consciousness that is free to choose to flow this way or that. And whatever we apprehend as experience is the result of that choice, and so how can we predict what will happen when what happens is something that occurs as a result of a choice over which we ourselves have no control, because that choice rests within the thing itself, just as the choices we make arise ultimately from within our self.