I was born in 1968. The decade had been turning darker when I arrived, as racism and the Vietnam War dominated political life, and while art and music were changing culture into something closer to what we might recognize today. Strangely, while the motivations for a revolution in culture have been mostly forgotten, war and racism (for example) are just as present as they were back then; perhaps as they have been...well...for all of history, so far.
We are an odd species, using our insides for trying to understand ourselves from the outside. We study history and supposedly try to learn from it so that we don't repeat it, and then we blithely repeat it. It is less like we are learning from it and more like we are being trained by it. Marshall McLuhan said of this tendency, "We drive into the future using only our rearview mirror." Is there a wonder that there are accidents along the way.
We are an odd species, using our insides for trying to understand ourselves from the outside. We study history and supposedly try to learn from it so that we don't repeat it, and then we blithely repeat it. It is less like we are learning from it and more like we are being trained by it. Marshall McLuhan said of this tendency, "We drive into the future using only our rearview mirror." Is there a wonder that there are accidents along the way.
It doesn't help that we literally live in the past, because of the limitations of our material bodies. Our (at least) five senses detect the hypothetically "present" world around us and then send that information via a relatively slow electrochemical signals to be processed in and then acted upon by the brain. Physiologically, we can never BE in the present. Over time we recognize moments in the contexts of their own history, but never in the present.
Unfortunately, we also have no idea what our human world really looks, sounds, feels, smells, or tastes like either. Our biological sensors have minimum and maximum parameters that fall far short of the spectra involved in fully recognizing the functioning of reality. Other animals are equipped with expanded senses (relative to ours). The best color vision in the animal kingdom is the mantis shrimp...
We see only in the white light part of the electromagnetic spectrum, while infrared (heat-light) falls way below and ultraviolet shines above what we can detect by human vision alone. Then there are many magnitudes of electromagnetic waves below and above even the infrared (radio waves, for example) and ultraviolet (gamma rays, for example), that we aren't seeing anyway.
The other thing that is strange to consider is that the "outside world" (outside our brains) arrives at our sensory system as ONE thing. Until it touches this sensory system, that one thing (the entire outside world) isn't split up into visual, sonic, touch, etc... phenomena. Think about that for another moment. There is no purely visual image of anything in existence. However, there is a form to each thing. A non-sighted human can know the form of many objects, even if he can't see them, by touching them. Similarly, or more abstractly, neither a sighted, nor unsighted human can see the wind, but both can feel it through touch. The wind still has form, because of this recognition, even if that form can not be described (easily) by geometry.
They are thought to have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom and have the most complex visual system ever discovered.
Mantis Shrimp - WikipediaIn fact, the shrimp sees 12-16 distinct colors (we only see three: red, green, and blue and just from these three we are able to distinguish around 10,000,000 colors mixed by these three). More amazingly, each of the mantis shrimp's two eyes can see in 3D by itself! But, does the mantis shrimp use this unbelievably good vision to express itself in beautiful paintings? No. It barely possesses a brain (which is more insect-like). Seems like overkill. Until this last year, the reason for this astounding visual acuity had been a mystery. Only as late as 2019 did scientists finally discover that this complex visual system may be used to store visual memories (like about the physical appearance of kinds of predators), without having to use a large brain. Input information can be stored as such in small organs located in the eye stems before reaching the brain structure, instead of being reinterpreted and stored, as our brains do.
We see only in the white light part of the electromagnetic spectrum, while infrared (heat-light) falls way below and ultraviolet shines above what we can detect by human vision alone. Then there are many magnitudes of electromagnetic waves below and above even the infrared (radio waves, for example) and ultraviolet (gamma rays, for example), that we aren't seeing anyway.
The other thing that is strange to consider is that the "outside world" (outside our brains) arrives at our sensory system as ONE thing. Until it touches this sensory system, that one thing (the entire outside world) isn't split up into visual, sonic, touch, etc... phenomena. Think about that for another moment. There is no purely visual image of anything in existence. However, there is a form to each thing. A non-sighted human can know the form of many objects, even if he can't see them, by touching them. Similarly, or more abstractly, neither a sighted, nor unsighted human can see the wind, but both can feel it through touch. The wind still has form, because of this recognition, even if that form can not be described (easily) by geometry.
We're still slow though. If we consider only the detection of light - which moves at 299,792,458 meters per second - we might conclude that our sense of vision must be processed most quickly by the brain. But, such is not the case at all.
Firstly, the electrochemical impulses through nerve pathways only travel at about 100 meters per second from the retina to the visual cortex, there, to be processed, or 0.000003% the speed of light! In fact, the brain itself has never seen a single ray of light directly.
Secondly, those (optic) nerves are farther away from the brain than the nerves from our ears (called, vestibulocochlear, or auditory vestibular), which means we process auditory stimuli more quickly than visual, even when light arrives at our head earlier than the sound.
Now, if we combine these with the fact that detecting things in space is a function of time--since it takes time for the light reflected or projected from any object to travel its respective distance to our eyes, no object can be so close to our brain as to appear in the present moment. In this way, we truly do live in a four dimensional place, made up of three space dimensions and one of time. So again, all of this forces us to live in the past. Even our inner voice is not speaking with us in a present moment, since electrochemical, neural passages are required to think and react at all (in normal physiological circumstances).
Firstly, the electrochemical impulses through nerve pathways only travel at about 100 meters per second from the retina to the visual cortex, there, to be processed, or 0.000003% the speed of light! In fact, the brain itself has never seen a single ray of light directly.
Secondly, those (optic) nerves are farther away from the brain than the nerves from our ears (called, vestibulocochlear, or auditory vestibular), which means we process auditory stimuli more quickly than visual, even when light arrives at our head earlier than the sound.
Now, if we combine these with the fact that detecting things in space is a function of time--since it takes time for the light reflected or projected from any object to travel its respective distance to our eyes, no object can be so close to our brain as to appear in the present moment. In this way, we truly do live in a four dimensional place, made up of three space dimensions and one of time. So again, all of this forces us to live in the past. Even our inner voice is not speaking with us in a present moment, since electrochemical, neural passages are required to think and react at all (in normal physiological circumstances).
As physics and quantum mechanics probe further into the forces and particles that move the world around us (as described by the Standard Model), our consciousnesses (individually and collectively) seem to be animating the show--at least the one each of us is participating in...literally, our living days and nights. It is assumed by quantum mechanics that all objects - from the smallest point particle (like that of the neutrino or quark) to the largest known aggregation of matter (like that of the universe itself) - have their own unique quantum waveforms. These waves remain highly distributed throughout the entire universe, in what is called a "superposition," until they are observed. When observed, consciousness collapses superpositional waves into individually recognized objects--large and small. Consciousness (of the human type) makes the existential suddenly experiential.
Here is where my hypotheses about this begins...
Through a very careful study of every possible field, from science to art, the experiential integration of many psychedelic journeys, and the general observation of the way things work--along with a special eye for any anomalies that arise, I have formed an entire metaphysical model that seeks to compartmentalize and combine all known physical and philosophically probable theories and laws. It uses a universal system of reality frames, scaffolding, and other describable forms I have named, Metaphoric Geometry.
The idea of letting geometry describe ideas (and not just objects) is as old as illustrative discussion itself. One may think of the practical utility of using Venn diagrams. Even more fundamental is the use of algebraic symbols to represent abstract mathematical concepts or even very simple logic.
Example: If A = B and B = C, then A = C. Dissimilar terms (A, B, and C) can be called equivalent, or not. Pretty simple! Technical logic also codifies this. This is especially useful in the simplifications of calculus and analytical geometry for describing complex motion (for example). My contribution/expansion to this is not significant. But it is a way I've discovered to express my own existential ideas.
Example: If A = B and B = C, then A = C. Dissimilar terms (A, B, and C) can be called equivalent, or not. Pretty simple! Technical logic also codifies this. This is especially useful in the simplifications of calculus and analytical geometry for describing complex motion (for example). My contribution/expansion to this is not significant. But it is a way I've discovered to express my own existential ideas.
I mention the above work, because I want you to know how carefully I've considered these things. Now let's move to some of the conclusions I've come up with for the "reason" for existence. My expressions below are strictly opinions. I have no supernatural knowledge, no revelations to spread. Each of us forms a "leap of faith" world model that we can grasp and fall back upon when things aren't making sense. We each build this reality model over a scaffolding built up of concepts that don't break down (very often) over a lifetime.
We should recall that (as mentioned above) particles (even if they exist as waves in a superposition) exist in a non-objective, non-temporal, relativistic space-time--each functioning in its own existential reality frame, but all part of one complementary material system that can loosely be called, "the Universe." Similarly, each human being exists in a subjective reality made up of his/her own self-constructed world view, while also being able to share their co-experiences in a collective way. This is deep stuff! There are far too many aspects of this hypothesis to touch upon all of them in this blog entry. All the while though, it is important, rarely discussed and worth dipping our toes into the basics every now and then.
With memes (of the older than FB kind too) we are told that, "You make your own reality." And, there is a ring of truth to that bell. But just exclaiming this is far too general to be of much practical use. If we make our reality, why isn't reality constantly the way we want it to be?
We intuit that we have some kind of profound control over our own personal lives. I would argue that mind control extends beyond our bodies and out to and through the basic space-time matter around each of us. It isn't especially psychokinetic. Still, that kind of controlled force is probably minuscule; perhaps as minuscule as the force of gravity. But pure mental control over matter is there and it does influence our world--as physics has proven with the so-called "double slit experiment."
So why don't we fly through the air or pass through walls under mind power? It is because mind Power [power is work {w} done over time {t}, or P = delta w / delta t]--our influence over matter, has already been allowed through touching that matter and manipulating it. That ability is a form of mind control. You tell your hand to hold the nail, and the other hand to bang on it with a hammer. To this day, no one has been able to explain the complete process behind the dictates of the brain, moving body parts.
Bake a pie. Through using completely disparate ingredients you have produced a new organic chemical product that is nothing like any one of its ingredients. Though you did it literally - you touched it in some physical way from beginning to end - it was done in a 100% inner mind space (since, remember, there actually is no "outside").
Send a text message through the air. No, you aren't hand delivering your message. But it isn't magical or mystical that your friend received your communication. Electromagnetic waves sent from your phone are detected and amplified by the nearest cell tower, then relayed variously by a series of fiber optic and/or copper land lines, perhaps combined with satellite signals, etc., to your friend. It is all by physical means. But "physical" is not equal to "material." So, flying and passing through walls is going to require more time to develop technologically. But it will come. My point? Everything that can be done with matter will be done by human beings if we survive long enough, even things that seem "supernatural" (magical, mystical) now.
Nevertheless, I propose that consciousness is a field and is more fundamental that matter. By that, I mean space-time is a purposely limited "place," where time seemingly runs in only one direction. But a "place" doesn't have to be made of matter in order to exist just as significantly as the place you are in right at this second. Remember it's always a little bit in the past--this moment doesn't exist. And so, it is in the delayed reaction between sensing and acting that we MAKE our place.
We can go to places when we sit back and close our eyes. We go places under the influence of psychedelics. I personally have quite a bit of experience intentionally lucid dreaming, and I testify that there are physical places that are not made of regular material. I've dreamt about standing in a room - knowing I was in a dream - and very carefully examining the wall, pushing on it, running my fingers over it. It was THERE. But where was there? It was in a place. Where space may or may not be infinite, the number of places are infinite. And only consciousness can create/co-create some places, because places require limited access to the flow of time. I'm not saying that places exist along a timeline. Not at all! What I'm saying is that although mind can exist in space it is still relatively independent of time. It uses time to create experience.
The mortal mind needs experience in order to become immortal, but not like you think. Being immortal isn't just "living on" it is more like gaining a power, like a superpower (compared to the power material humans have), but everybody gets one. Ha! And that power is to then create (relative to the entire scheme) one's own personal best, for all of the rest of eternity. Eternity is not a linear path, it is a lateral cycle. Eternity is not reached through a series of parallel lines, but rather by wisdom acquirement (knowledge and experience can equal wisdom), and therefore a circuitous series of will-choice events--personalized for each of us.
If there was a Big Bang, it appears to have crystalized all of one certain way that everything in all subsequent history of the resultant material universe could have ever gone. That doesn't negate free human will like some kind of determinism. It is simply a future fact, built up from prior facts, all having origin in an all encompassing potentiality. The Universe we recognize as actual is just a tiny part of that original potentiality.
Someday all that is to happen may somehow join all that has ever happened and that will be our universe's experientially completed state. It began with the darkness before creation and it may evolve with us and our growing mastery over matter, but that really depends on finding our way around the Second Law of Thermodynamics...
[Keep an eye out for Part 2.]
We should recall that (as mentioned above) particles (even if they exist as waves in a superposition) exist in a non-objective, non-temporal, relativistic space-time--each functioning in its own existential reality frame, but all part of one complementary material system that can loosely be called, "the Universe." Similarly, each human being exists in a subjective reality made up of his/her own self-constructed world view, while also being able to share their co-experiences in a collective way. This is deep stuff! There are far too many aspects of this hypothesis to touch upon all of them in this blog entry. All the while though, it is important, rarely discussed and worth dipping our toes into the basics every now and then.
With memes (of the older than FB kind too) we are told that, "You make your own reality." And, there is a ring of truth to that bell. But just exclaiming this is far too general to be of much practical use. If we make our reality, why isn't reality constantly the way we want it to be?
We intuit that we have some kind of profound control over our own personal lives. I would argue that mind control extends beyond our bodies and out to and through the basic space-time matter around each of us. It isn't especially psychokinetic. Still, that kind of controlled force is probably minuscule; perhaps as minuscule as the force of gravity. But pure mental control over matter is there and it does influence our world--as physics has proven with the so-called "double slit experiment."
So why don't we fly through the air or pass through walls under mind power? It is because mind Power [power is work {w} done over time {t}, or P = delta w / delta t]--our influence over matter, has already been allowed through touching that matter and manipulating it. That ability is a form of mind control. You tell your hand to hold the nail, and the other hand to bang on it with a hammer. To this day, no one has been able to explain the complete process behind the dictates of the brain, moving body parts.
Bake a pie. Through using completely disparate ingredients you have produced a new organic chemical product that is nothing like any one of its ingredients. Though you did it literally - you touched it in some physical way from beginning to end - it was done in a 100% inner mind space (since, remember, there actually is no "outside").
Send a text message through the air. No, you aren't hand delivering your message. But it isn't magical or mystical that your friend received your communication. Electromagnetic waves sent from your phone are detected and amplified by the nearest cell tower, then relayed variously by a series of fiber optic and/or copper land lines, perhaps combined with satellite signals, etc., to your friend. It is all by physical means. But "physical" is not equal to "material." So, flying and passing through walls is going to require more time to develop technologically. But it will come. My point? Everything that can be done with matter will be done by human beings if we survive long enough, even things that seem "supernatural" (magical, mystical) now.
Nevertheless, I propose that consciousness is a field and is more fundamental that matter. By that, I mean space-time is a purposely limited "place," where time seemingly runs in only one direction. But a "place" doesn't have to be made of matter in order to exist just as significantly as the place you are in right at this second. Remember it's always a little bit in the past--this moment doesn't exist. And so, it is in the delayed reaction between sensing and acting that we MAKE our place.
We can go to places when we sit back and close our eyes. We go places under the influence of psychedelics. I personally have quite a bit of experience intentionally lucid dreaming, and I testify that there are physical places that are not made of regular material. I've dreamt about standing in a room - knowing I was in a dream - and very carefully examining the wall, pushing on it, running my fingers over it. It was THERE. But where was there? It was in a place. Where space may or may not be infinite, the number of places are infinite. And only consciousness can create/co-create some places, because places require limited access to the flow of time. I'm not saying that places exist along a timeline. Not at all! What I'm saying is that although mind can exist in space it is still relatively independent of time. It uses time to create experience.
The mortal mind needs experience in order to become immortal, but not like you think. Being immortal isn't just "living on" it is more like gaining a power, like a superpower (compared to the power material humans have), but everybody gets one. Ha! And that power is to then create (relative to the entire scheme) one's own personal best, for all of the rest of eternity. Eternity is not a linear path, it is a lateral cycle. Eternity is not reached through a series of parallel lines, but rather by wisdom acquirement (knowledge and experience can equal wisdom), and therefore a circuitous series of will-choice events--personalized for each of us.
If there was a Big Bang, it appears to have crystalized all of one certain way that everything in all subsequent history of the resultant material universe could have ever gone. That doesn't negate free human will like some kind of determinism. It is simply a future fact, built up from prior facts, all having origin in an all encompassing potentiality. The Universe we recognize as actual is just a tiny part of that original potentiality.
Someday all that is to happen may somehow join all that has ever happened and that will be our universe's experientially completed state. It began with the darkness before creation and it may evolve with us and our growing mastery over matter, but that really depends on finding our way around the Second Law of Thermodynamics...
[Keep an eye out for Part 2.]
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