The Soul Doesn’t Die – It Returns to the Universe, Scientists Say
The debate about the existence of the soul—whether it is immortal or dies with the body—is an endless topic that has occupied the minds of great thinkers throughout human history. This enigmatic question continues to fascinate various fields of science, but recently a group of scientists claim they have found the truth: the soul does not die—it returns to the universe.
Like many others, you have probably asked yourself the existential question about life after death. Since 1996, Dr. Stuart Hameroff, an American physicist and professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Psychology, along with Sir Roger Penrose, a mathematical physicist at the University of Oxford, have been working on a quantum theory of consciousness which suggests that the soul is maintained in the microtubules of brain cells. These two leading scientists claim that the human brain is in fact a "biological computer," and human consciousness is a program run by quantum mechanisms in the brain—which continues to exist even after death. As they explicitly explain: “When people die, their soul returns to the universe. It does not die.”
According to this fascinating theory, the essence of the human “heart” is actually located in the brain cells—specifically in structures called microtubules. The researchers assert that what people perceive as consciousness is in fact the result of quantum gravitational effects occurring in the microtubules. This entire process is called “Orchestrated Objective Reduction,” or Orch OR. Their theory also suggests that when people enter clinical death, the microtubules in the brain lose their quantum state—but retain the information stored within them. In other words, “when people die, their soul returns to the universe—it doesn’t die,” the researchers emphasize.
In a documentary on the topic, Dr. Hameroff shares: “Let’s say the heart stops beating, blood stops flowing, and the microtubules lose their quantum state. The quantum information in the microtubules is not destroyed; it cannot be killed—it simply disperses into the universe. If the patient is revived and brought back to life, this quantum information can return to the microtubules, and we often hear stories of people seeing a white light at the end of a tunnel and thinking they were dead. If the person is not revived, the quantum information continues to exist outside the body—perhaps as something undefined, or what we would call the soul.”
This thesis proposes that human souls are more than just the result of neural interactions in the brain and could exist since the beginning of time. In fact, this idea aligns with the concept of reincarnation found in religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. Ancient Vedic knowledge states that the soul (Ātman in Sanskrit) is part of the Divine Universal Consciousness, or the cosmic absolute Brahman—from which all visible life, the universe, and our perception arise.
This is why Hindus have many deities but still believe that God is one in essence, manifesting in diverse forms—just as nature itself takes on countless forms. Some of the renowned Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato also strongly believed in the soul’s ability to continue its journey after death. Interestingly, the word ātman is linked to the Indo-European root ēt-men (breath), related to Old English æþm, Greek asthma, and German Atem or atmen, all meaning “to breathe.”
Hindu traditions believe that reincarnation is part of the infinite karmic cycle of suffering, which can only be broken through enlightenment. Liberation from this cycle—through the attainment of higher consciousness (moksha or nirvana)—is the ultimate spiritual goal for Buddhists, who encourage reaching it through ethical living and various spiritual practices, especially yoga and meditation. If the soul of the deceased becomes liberated, it merges with the universal Ātman (Paramatman) and retains its unique qualities.
Sources:
Stuart Hameroff, Roger Penrose (2014). Consciousness in the universe: A review of the ‘Orch OR’ theory. Physics of Life Reviews, Volume 11, Issue 1, Pages 39–78.
