A thought experiment. How could consciousness survive death when it requires energy to sustain it and the body has perished?

An exact definition of consciousness does not exist, though it is primarily linked to activity in the brain, with some other, minor aspects being associated with the body. Most brain activity stems from biochemical signals stimulating neural circuits, with the accepted medical definition being that once a person dies, the brain shuts down and their life terminates. 

Those who believe there is life after death believe that a soul or spirit survives the death of the body, which is then transported to a utopian paradise. But there is a problem here: how can consciousness survive if it is a product of, and sustained by, a body that has now perished? The human brain requires around 20 watts of power to sustain it after all. 

There is however, a phenomenon in the universe called zero-point energy. This is the lowest energy state a quantum system can ever reach and it always remains in a system, even when it reaches absolute zero temperature. This means that technically, energy is available, although it still isn’t enough to power a brain. Of course, any soul or spirit would not need to support a body and so would require much less energy. Whether that can be gained from zero-point energy, or any other latent energy state, remains to be seen. 

In my own understanding of life after death, gained from reading Vedic scriptures, it is only our Pure Awareness conscious state that survives death. We shed bodily functions, emotions, and memory to become the core of who we really are. This state of being should only require a fraction of the brain’s 20 watts of energy to sustain it.

Hypothetically, that just might power a soul, but there’s another problem, and that is: where would souls go to? If they are powered by latent energy in the universe, then they’d be confined within it, and I’m not sure where that would be. After all, the universe is isotropic and homogeneous— it’s the same everywhere: planets, galaxies, black holes, and filaments. I’m not sure why souls would be left to roam the galaxy forever. 

Particle physics and string theory open the possibility of additional dimensions that may be curled up inside our own. It certainly works mathematically and on paper, so isn’t such a far-fetched idea. In fact, some string theorists propose ten or eleven extra dimensions. 

Here then is a plausible answer to a soul living on after death: a small part of our consciousness survives death, powered by latent energy contained in the universe, which then exists in another dimension.