Ebooks!
|
|
Ebooks! |
In Search of a Cyclops
the proof of nothing — a theory of everything ©
Chapter Two
Theories of Everything
At first, walking up a gigantic mountain is not much different from walking through any kind of hilly land sprinkled with farms, villages and patches of forest. Climbing up seems quite uneventful, nothing special, and the importance of the lay of the land can easily be taken for granted. Similarly, the importance of human language — our verbal way of communication — can be misunderstood as not already containing the promise of something quite astounding. So it cannot be stressed enough here in our quest to discussing and understanding everything that language, a man made tool, is one of the keys to understanding the overall picture, both the metaphysical and the scientific overall picture.
You will agree that whether a certain word indicates a color, a piece of food, or an action depends on our communal agreement of that word. Words are therefore not static entities automatically containing the truth. Different people use different languages, different words, and even a word from one and the same language doesn't necessarily mean just one thing nor stays the same over time. A word can be taken to mean something else when it is used in a different context. Confusion can easily occur when two people do not have the same conceptual idea that was supposedly portrayed by one and the same word. Most importantly, some of the conceptual ideas that words portray cannot exist at one and the exact same time and place, such as 'wet' and 'fire' or 'peace' and 'war.' When certain conflicting words are used to describe a situation at the same time and place, we may hear verbal reasons that invite us to get angry, reject the other person's words, and walk away. But also, we get bored easily when it takes too long for someone to get to the point, and we are turned-off by what appears to be a lengthy story. Still, we like this tool of language because it provides us a fast and in some cases the only way to communicate with each other. Over the millennia, people have communicated with each other, via words, models, concepts, and images. If our ancestors were thinking about how everything fits together, they must have used language to communicate that to one another.
The restrictions of spoken language must not be taken lightly in this quest to find larger meaning behind the daily meaning of words. Words point to concepts that may at first not be understood immediately, while people can and do have other ideas in their minds about the exact meaning of words. And a dictionary cannot always show the ultimate distinctions. Democracy, as an example, is a concept known world-wide, but if you live in a nation with a two-party system you are experiencing democracy quite differently from someone who lives in a democracy with various parties, be it three, four or many parties. Both electoral platforms are democratic in that they deliver representation to the larger voting citizenry, but in one form representatives are winners-taking-all in district races — with as many as up to 49.9% of the voters ending up as empty-handed losers in their district race — and in the other form representatives come forth out of proportional elections delivering equal representation — with close to everyone getting the one they voted for. Without understanding the differences in background, two persons talking to each other from both systems may come to conflicting conclusions about democracy. As long as both persons do not know that fundamentally different kinds of democracies exist in this world, they may place the other's words into the only framework they can think of: their own. It is human nature to perceive the idea behind a word as common knowledge, whether this is correct or not. In everyday conversations, it is virtually impossible to contemplate the exact meaning of each and every word. We have learned to skip the 'little' differences that may exist in concepts, and often go for the general meaning of the conversation. Because... who likes to split hairs all of the time? But just as the two tribes around the equator, one living North and the other living South of the equator, we may move apart if we do not find common ground on the essential ideas we hold dearest. The landscape at the bottom of the highest mountain may seem awfully familiar, just forested foothills, but we need to address these familiar issues in light of climbing the real mountain just ahead.
nothing
For this e-book, the word nothing is possibly the most important word in the quest to understand everything, since understanding the peculiarities of nothing leads to understanding the entire picture. You may at first think this word is a useless tool to get to the larger picture, but the clearing in the woods delivers the view, not the locations thick with wood that block it. So how do we know that we all consider this word nothing in more or less similar ways? Have you ever considered how and where to place the exact meaning of the word? Would you place nothing in opposition to everything, or would you declare it to be absolutely insignificant? Do you give it a function? Do you have a clear and straight-forward picture in mind when you hear or read the word nothing, and do you think everyone has the same idea in mind? Scientists, for instance, have only recently — and begrudgingly — allowed this word to enter the scientific dictionary. Not too long ago, scientists abhorred the subject matter of nothing, and quickly relegated it to the side-line as a phenomenon of non-importance to science.
For us it is important to understand that concepts and words are themselves like changing landscapes. Let's therefore briefly examine several historical philosophies in regards to the phenomenon of nothing. Even a short investigation should make the various concepts visible that people had in mind; we might find something in relationship to a theory of everything. As mentioned in chapter 1, information diminishes when we go further and further back through time. What people in the past were thinking may be different from the actual words they left us. Searches for indications of concepts of everything must therefore be conducted carefully because all words are also colored by history. Do we really have a lot of evidence that proves the word god is related to the word whole? Not really. The original use of the word god might have indicated something totally different, yet we do know that at one time the word must have indicated an original concept. Unfortunately for us, words and interpretation of words are subject to change and mutilation over time. The implied use of the word god to describe the unknown may sound plausible to us, but it may have really meant nothing but 'the one and only.' We do not know for a fact; the original concept may be lost forever.
historical examples
Realistically spoken, many words and many complete theories once known could have been lost forever. An example of something almost lost is the Tao. The Tao would have not been written if Chinese philosopher Lao Tse had not left his country. When he was trying to leave, a frontier-guard commanded him to write down his thoughts (for him and for the country), otherwise he would not let him through. The Tao, a marvel of philosophy, came into existence, and continues to exist today. If it wasn't for the special circumstance, no-one would have ever heard of Lao Tse today.
The ancient Chinese philosophies often come as a set of directives and these directives are mainly offered to those in higher positions in society. Many directives are mentioned in a particular way. For example, special advice is given to act: do nothing, so others will do. Also: with fewer laws, there will be fewer thieves. Chinese philosophy was not set up to find a theory of everything for it is more directed towards practice rather than theory. As commonly known, Chinese philosophy is mainly based on the goodness of humans. Yet it has a central place for nothing. Not asking and not telling are central to this philosophy, and that makes a peaceful existence possible. Practice can show that the more knowledge that the people have, the harder it is to govern the people. We may not like the set-up from our modern perspective, but the conclusion is that if citizens don't know how their general affairs were arranged, then they will have a harder time questioning the superiors about their actions. As long as the superiors are interested in the general good only, then the result may indeed be excellent. All Chinese philosophies are characterized by the search for a connection.
The Chinese endeavor to lift contradictions into a higher understanding. Most Chinese philosophies have a common ground in the principles of Yin and Yang — the principles of action and passivity. In the reality of our lives Yin and Yang "battle" with each other, but further away from this reality the nothing captures a more central place. Possibly to express this more central aspect in a model, Neo-Confucianism created the different principles Li and Ki — with Li as the all-embracing world spirit and Ki as matter. With Li, the Chinese believe in heaven, but do not seek a god in this heaven. What is needed is to find the all-embracement of the world spirit, and as such Li is not an individual aspect, but a collective one. On the opposite end we find matter. Here, with Ki, the more tangible opposites as first portrayed with Yin and Yang, have their realms.
buddhism
While Chinese philosophy can be seen as theorizing only generally about everything — it searches for a general way of thinking and tries to find common ground — Buddhist thinking is more specific; it is characterized by negation. There is no god, creator, creation, ego, no remaining being or immortal soul. However, in Buddhism, there is a world statute: the next thing derives from the previous thing and is already formulated in the previous thing. Essentially, there is a cycle in which one thing is the other, but not completely. For instance, a day is a day. They are comparable and yet each one is different. Even with the nights cutting days apart, they are still connected with each other. What happened yesterday influences what happens today. In reincarnation beliefs, humans go through different stages, in which the invisible stages "after life" and "before life" are successive stages. "Suffering" is seen as a fundamental part of human life. Suffering is caused by attachment, by longing and desire; therefore the cycle can be broken by sacrificing "the attachment."
The highest achievement in Buddhism is peace. Note that peace is the most positive word of negation: there are no inner nor outer contradictions. Except for taking its place in the opposite position of war, peace itself does not have an active meaning. Peace is not the reason we go to work; we go to work to make money. We do not go on a vacation because there is peace, but because we work too hard. Peace does not interact with any of these activities. War, on the other hand, could interact with these activities. By letting go of war, we can achieve peace.
In the precepts of Buddhism one is told what should not be done or what should be denied, after which the highest truth will unfold itself without the use of words. Examples of what should be done are abstention from killing, stealing, illicit sexual relations, lying, and imbibing any intoxicant that leads to "slothfulness." Buddhism can be mentioned in connection with the theory of everything, even though the truth will only reveal itself tacitly after one successfully denies everything. There is a full circle, but the connecting link is an invisible one.
the west
In Egypt, dualism was held in great esteem with one point of view always having an opposing point of view. That dynamics of opposition is seen again in the Western world, first among the Greeks, in which causality becomes the focus. A shift has occurred from mythical to more rational thinking; reasoning becomes sharpened. Western ideologies are quite different from the Chinese philosophies. Western ideologies make an effort to get the most out of differences and contradictions. There is no search for a general connection. Instead the goal is to be the one who is right, and it is best to support this by reasoning and facts. Confrontations are essential in Western thinking, creating not a group process of cohesion, but one of competition. Sometimes the Western ways of thinking stemming from competition are destructive, because they may not leave space for disagreeing thoughts. Yet competition can also be inspiring, when people make enormous efforts to prove they are right and that others are wrong. Rational thinking hasn't come up with a theory of everything, but the knowledge of our world has increased to such a level that it seems possible that we may arrive at one. Or have we become so encapsulated in the righteousness of our conflict thinking, that we cannot recognize the clear evidence right in front of us?
artifacts
Is there more information available for research other than philosophies that became known to us through the spoken and written words? Artifacts can be a source of information. Ancient portraits and statues of gods or goddesses or images of the sun indicate what humans may have been thinking when they weren't hunting or looking for shelter. Buildings such as temples tell what the builders gave importance to. Stonehenge shows the importance of the sun — or the lack of sun at the beginning of winter. One of the artifacts the ancient Egyptians left us is the classically shaped pyramid. The pyramid shape is found in more locations on this globe, even in China. While most people are familiar with the pyramids of the Mayan culture, the shape is a little bit different in Central America from the ones in Egypt, though the basics are the same: a square with four oblique sides. The top isn't at all sharp in the Mayan Pyramids, but flat or truncated. The constructions remain subject to discussion. They are, nevertheless, visual expressions of highly developed cultures and power. Are the pyramids graphic displays, trying to tell us something? Do the four corners stand for the four directions of the wind and does the top point to the spiritual world, or possibly to nothing? The pyramids will be discussed in more detail later, and an explanation is given that indicates a high level of abstract thinking by its builders from all over the ancient world.
religion
And then, there are many stories throughout history that could be called theories of everything. However, these stories are based on a personified god. Thus they are exempted from explaining the final (or first) step. God has created everything and it is only god who knows the ultimate answer. The missing link in these stories is filled up with god. The imperfection of we, a concept that doesn't have clear boundaries on the outside but that obstructs singularity very clearly, is overcome by the concept of god. God is placed in the middle as the singular expression of everything. And — as long as you are not looking for actual evidence — this may indeed be the case, for evidence either in favor or against the existence of a single god does not exist. Yet when looking at the religious east and west, we can find a difference, once again, of an agreeing general god in the east, a god who can hardly be called specific. Meanwhile in the west, an individual is placed in the highest religious prism, either already born as human and deceased, or still expected to be born. Where in the east a peaceful overall attitude is placed up high, indicating we do not need to find the singular truth that will guide all, in the west the singular truth is sought and once it is found it is seen as evidence that we ourselves are part of that highest spot — and oftentimes this truth was and is used against others. Nowadays, the holistic approaches of the East are popular again in the West, just as the individualism of the West is popular (again) in the East.
the aboriginals
Is it possible to call the dream world of the Aboriginals a theory of everything, although this philosophy incorporates its own limitations? In the dream world of the Aboriginals humans sprout from this world but only recently awakened in it. This dream world displays in a way the statement that humans grow towards reality like children growing to adulthood. The awakening is something from the latter days and has not always been there. Before the awakening there was a complete connection with the whole, and despite possessing consciousness humans cannot be seen apart from this entire world. The dream world can be called a theory of everything, because it is all-embracing. The not-knowing is placed centrally in the past with connections to the present.
popul vuh
Works like the Popul Vuh, the Mayan book of the dawn of life, may deliver us yet a tad more about ancient thoughts on the phenomenon of nothing. How to explain the word hollow in the Mayan enumeration of what only came later through creation? Their book has the very beginning starting out by proclaiming that at first "there is not yet a person, or animal, bird, fish, crab, tree, rock, hollow, canyon, meadow, or forest. Only the sky is there — the contours of the earth not yet clear. Only the sea is there — mirrored under the sky." By using the word hollow in the enumeration, these Mayas state that what is empty is actually part of what comes after the initial creation. They indicate that for them our world or universe did not start out of nothing. Or what to think about the Sanskrit scripts: “In the beginning when there was no before, there was neither being nor non-being, neither space nor time — not even the sky beyond — neither death nor non-death, no distinction between night and day, no protection by anyone, only shadows in the absolute dark were concealed by shadows in the ocean of nothingness. The one arose through the power of heat by its own propulsion, the nameless one, enwrapped in the void — breathed." With this delivery, leading to the creation of 'the one,' the beginning starts out with what we would describe as nothing much, but we do already find shadows in the dark being hidden by shadows in the ocean. Here too, creation does not start out from absolutely nothing.
What these examples show is that humans have possibly been working with the idea of everything — and nothing — since not long after the development of speech. Long-vanished civilizations left mute artifacts, others established oral traditions until the development of writing. Our own modern quest can be placed in the light of Western rational thinking. We do not fully understand — and possibly appreciate — the artifacts and concepts of others. But the concepts shown above deliver examples of the human mind trying to understand everything. Whether these concepts are matured till perfection or not, we have evidence that the idea of everything is not new. But did these examples of ancient cultures deliver you a clear picture in mind about the position of nothing? Possibly you got a gist of the idea, from the Chinese philosophies having an empty heaven to the Buddhists denying certain options, to Westerners placing others in positions of being wrong. And maybe, while reading these different kinds of philosophy, you got the whole idea!
The essence of these two free chapters of In Search of a Cyclops is communication of ideas, of information. Yet what is information when you do not have access to it? It would be non-information — agree? — since lack of access translates into a result that is the same as information that does not exist. Get yourself the full ten chapters, enabling you to climb the highest mountain ever, to see the vast distance below your feet, to understand the abstract pyramids and the prime number sequencing, too. Read about the limitations of our current 3D perspective, and about a differently described Big Bang. Visit our information page to purchase The Proof of Nothing or In Search of a Cyclops, the online version. Naturally, it is through family, friends, television, internet, and school that we are able to get our hands on information. Make sure to e-mail your friends, and give them the chance to read all about nothing and everything as well. Don't let this fascinating information become non-information, and take action right now.
color me red
We have moved higher up than the foothills, and with every opening through the trees a better view becomes visible, some views clearly better than others, but with each step up the view becomes definitively more stunning. Historical and linguistic examples about emptiness have made it clear that people thought about everything and nothing for a long time. Yet the location of nothing is so important in understanding everything that a different example of nothing, this time within the overall palette of colors, can shed a further clarifying light.
Reality is never black and white. Often, however, that is exactly how we like it best: a simple picture in which black is nicely set in opposition to white. Yet reality is definitively colored. And even if we tried to keep it simple: black and white are not each other's exact opposites either. White can be seen as the culmination of various colors, while black is actually seen as the lack of reflection of light. Therefore black and white are not really each other's opposites because not only white, but all colors can be placed in opposition to 'no reflection of light.' In this respect, red and black are each other's opposites just as well. One shows reflection, the other shows no reflection of light. Similarly, everything isn't just the only opposition to nothing, since each individual aspect finds its opposition in nothing as well. When finishing this idea and stating that the colors are 'somethings,' white becomes then all these somethings together. But how can that be? White is a singular color, while everything is only singular as a linguistic abstract; in real life, everything is definitely plural. There must be something else to the color white, but before that larger more expanding view becomes visible the mountain must be climbed higher — beyond the clouds.
©
Don't forget — help spread nothing
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In Search of a Cyclops" contains scientific information to back up the claim that nothing plays a role in each and every structure that tries to deliver a completed view. While the idea of nothing can be a simple concept in itself, the fact that it is present whenever we try to create a structure about everything makes it imperative that we need to understand the role of nothing before we can understand everything.