Fresh Digest
First Collection
©Copyright 01998. Fresh Ink. All rights reserved
0 Mental Uncertainty (MU) Principle: with specifics you lose generality, with generality you lose specifics.
* The Main Dilemma: if organic molecules can self organize, if life can evolve from non-life, then life need not have existed since the beginning. If life cannot evolve from non-life, then life must predate the origin of the universe. Put another way, if mind is a form of matter, the universe precedes mind but if matter is a form of mind, mind precedes the universe.
Currently our society is making great strides with a strictly materialist mindset (that matter precedes mind) but it is unwilling or unable to let go of a dualist underpinning (that mind is separate from matter). This is evident in the belief in an afterlife, the concept of an immortal soul and the idea that mind is more than the mere epiphenominalism of the brain. But in a multiverse there is no need for dualism. In the multiverse, all things that can occur do occur. In the multiverse, the mind is the sum total of all possible configurations of the brain at each moment and the so called epiphenominalism of consciousness is merely the configuration of one brain in one universe at one particular moment in time. Thus Dualism becomes a non-issue in the richer framework of the multiverse.
Nevertheless, the question remains, what can occur? Are there rules or is there a universe for everything? Is the multiverse simply unbridled imagination or the essential metaphysical component to reality?
* The Loop of Language: Language uses words to define other words. It is circular and self referential. It cannot define what it cannot confine, what cannot be limited by words. Language is therefore incapable of expressing novelty, of communicating that which has never been communicated before. Indeed, were it not for poetry and irrationalism, language would be worse than useless, it would be down right dangerous, when confronting something new. Thus language must by nature be flexible and abstract, so that its more imaginative qualities can be used when confronting objects,situations or events without precedent.
* The word Tao, is often translated as, “the way” . But even here a disclaimer is given, for as it says in the Tao Te Ching, the Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao, the name that can be named is not the eternal name.
* The things we keep inside age and grow old, the things we do not outlive us.
* No ‘thing’ is immortal, yet there is that which is. Om Mani Padme Hum, the jewel in the lotus.
* When we think of a Hydrogen atom, we consider it to be the same as any other Hydrogen atom. Two Hydrogen atoms are assumed to be identical. But, no two identities are identical! This is the nature of diversity: nothing is ever exactly the same, everything is unique.
* That which appears similar can be considered a subset of that which is not.
* The field of knowledge, considered as a whole, must of necessity be incomplete. As knowledge is formed of duality, between the object and the observer and the act of observing interferes with what is observed, we may only know what the universe is doing while we are interfering with it.
* One of the goals of science is to know what the universe is doing when we are not observing it and as far as science can tell, the universe ceases to exist as we observe it, when we are not observing it.
* If all we are is a result of programming (if all we are is a product of our genes), then all we will ever be is robots and we are not responsible for our actions. However, if we are more than can be measured or programmed, then, if we are to be more than just robots, we must accept responsibility for more than just our actions, we must accept responsibility for the future as well. If we are more than just a program, we can change the program. If we can change the program, we can write the story.
* Life matters because it is ineffable.
* Creation can be a selfish act with unselfish rewards. It can be every bit as painfull as childbirth. It can be every bit as beautiful as we can make it.
* Hearing is more than just listening, it is part knowing as well. Yet, we learn through listening and we do not listen if we already know what we will hear. How, then, do we hear what we have never heard before?
* The path of least resistance, to an addict, is always toward the addiction. The question remains, is the addict a robot and if so, is it by choice?
* ‘By any means necessary’ means ‘the end justifies the means.’ Thus, is amorality made to appear acceptable to achieve a moral aim. But a moral goal achieved through immoral means is hypocrisy and brings only dishonor and shame. It is better to lose with honor than to win with dishonor or to live in a dishonorable world.
* Ipso Continuum: if nothing physical (eg. matter) can travel at the speed of light, then light must not be physical. Yet if light is not physical, how can it be affected by gravity? The paradox is this: if light contains mass, it must violate relativity, as mass increases as it approaches light speed. Yet if light is indeed massless then how does it interact with the physical universe?
* It would seem to be a valid contention that Solar Power is Synergetic, that the laws of thermodynamics are only valid for Closed Systems. Of course, it is yet to be determined whether or not the universe is a Closed System. Vacuum Fluctuations and the mysterious effect of Electron Tunneling, however, would suggest that it is not. If the universe is open, there need not ever be an end. If the universe is closed, then life may be the ultimate tragedy. Unless there is no limit to the degree of complexity that may be attained and the processes of ephemeralization may continue unimpeded without end, a closed system will eventually decay. As there appear to be limits, due to the Plank constant, as to how far we may push the laws of thermodynamics, then either the universe is full of sorrow or it is open to endless joy. Or perhaps it is open to both. Indeed, there may be no difference. In the multiverse, some universes are open and some are closed. In some universes the laws of thermodynamics are valid and in others they are not. But the real secret is that all these different universes are here now, present as a consensual summation. We ‘move’ through these universes simply through the mode of inquiry we choose.
* The desire to know the truth is rarely financially lucrative. It is thus often at odds with the capitalist and the Status Quo.
* The Status Quo is ever maintained at the expense of the future. Thus the Status Quo is ultimately self defeating. You can have a future or a Status Quo, but not both.
* All closed systems are open within a larger context or higher dimension. A combustion engine is a closed system within the context of an open system, our planet (which receives energy from the sun). It has not yet been proven whether the universe is a closed system. If Zero-Point Energy can be extracted from the Quantum Fluctuations permeating all of existence, then thermodynamics is incomplete if not altogether wrong. There seems to be no reason why, if Black Holes can evaporate, we cannot bottle Zero-Point Energy. Indeed, if true, there seems to be no reason why the universe should even have a beginning or end.
* Reflections reveal their source, but never directly.
* That which is implicit is often transparent and unnoticed. Indeed, that which is transparent is often a mystery we take for granted or have yet to notice. What Godel discovered is that there are implications so deep, so transparent, that we may never discover them. Just as we must learn to tolerate Uncertainty, so too must we learn to tolerate Incompleteness.
* The cycle is simple: first, the implicit is transparent for it is unknown and unrecognized. Then it is opaque as it is brought to the attention and 'learned' . Then, after it is 'learned', it becomes transparent again. Sometimes 'learned' means 'named' and sometimes it means 'predicted' but never does it mean 'known', there is only the tendency to think it does.
* There is a saying which goes: first, there is a mountain; then, there is no mountain; then, there is. But the transparency of the implicit is just the opposite: first, there is no mountain; then, there is a mountain; then, there is no mountain.
* Knowledge, as a product of object-observer duality, does not emerge independent of Timespace. Rather, Timespace is the medium by which knowledge is shared. Knowledge is the medium by which Timespace is transcended..
* The math of Hyperspace emerges when Timespace is reduced to zero or stretched to infinity.
* Most all observable instances of stupidity can be traced to a mistaken assumption, lack of correct observation, or a failure to deduce an appropriate context. That is, when ignorance is unintended or not misguided.
* No one is stupid in a vacuum. But sometimes people can be stupid on purpose.
* Content without context implies a false vacuum (eg. stupidity in a vacuum). It also tends to perpetuate a form of absolutist universalism not existent in nature.
* Thinking is the undoing of doing.
* Thinking ceases when the mind knows and does not question. Thinking begins when the mind does not know and becomes curious.
* Even the innocent need privacy.
* People infected with hate often find pleasure infecting others.
* The smaller the scale, the longer the length.
* How can you possibly preserve a democracy, if you don’t practice it?
* Few beliefs, if any, can be proven to be objectively valid. That is why they are called beliefs. Indeed, beliefs are usually based upon unfounded or untestable hypotheses. This is due either to the limits of what can be measured, tested or confirmed, to the laziness of the believer, and/or to a willingness or desire to believe in the first place.
* The statement, “Mysticism is a mental disease,” (Neo-Tech), is both mystical and a disease but this does not make it true.
* Mysticism is an attempt to explain that which cannot be explained otherwise. It is only a disease in so far as these explanations are confused as facts. When they are viewed as fictions, they can be immensely liberating.
* The addict has primarily two personalities: one in which the object of addiction has been acquired and the other in which it has not. This is why the addict is not to be trusted: you never know which personality you are talking to.
* When you are here now, immersed completely in the moment, time does not exist. When you are not, time does.
* Desire ‘is’ the cessation of Now. Desire ‘is’ the gravity which pulls us from timelessness.
* Demons ‘are’ metaphors for the mental programs which keep us tied to our desires and our suffering.
* When you are here now, language is no longer necessary.
* Time has meaning only when it ceases; things have value only when you do not use them. The more you use something, the more you take it for granted, the less it has meaning, until it is gone. Then, it has meaning again. But usually by then it’s too late.
* Meaning isn’t anything that exists ‘out there’, separate from ourselves. Yet, if we do not seek to objectify meaning, we often act as if life is meaningless.
* In Capitalism, a goal is just a dream without money.
* What good is leisure without money, what good is money without leisure?
* If massive objects and velocity affect time, might not attitude and ego which possess both?
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