INTRODUCTION

Universal Awareness: A Theory of the Soul, in both its original (2011) and its second (2022) edition, is the outcome of a search for possible answers to some profound questions such as 'Why was I born the person I am?' and 'What happens to me when I die?'

I have attempted to answer these questions by exploring and challenging, in strictly logical and rational ways, the world as represented in thought and language by the human mind (our mind's 'map of the world') in order to gain a more accurate representation of the world in reality. For these purposes I have relied heavily on the knowledge, ideas and discoveries of well-respected philosophers and scientists.

The theory's starting point is that for any of us there is no life before our birth or after our death; so when we die, we lose consciousness forever. However, by following a lengthy and detailed line of logical arguments and reasoning, and being careful not to contradict our current knowledge of the world, particularly science, the theory arrives at a different conclusion.

The theory is not simply about what happens to us when we die and whether oblivion or some form of afterlife awaits us. It goes well beyond these considerations.