THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH
We all want to know where we came from and how we got here. Did everything come from nothing? If so, how was that possible? Could everything have come from a primal mass that exploded during the Big Bang? If so, why did something so perfectly symmetrical explode?
Did God make everything? If so, why does God necessarily exist? As intriguing as the quest for the Absolute is, many believe it's ultimately impossible to grasp.
THE ABSOLUTE IS A PARADOX
There are many who believe the Absolute is knowable, even obvious. One of the first to describe it in simple and obvious terms was the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. He said that everything, including the Absolute, was comprised of fundamental opposites which he called Yin and Yang. Lao Tzu's name for the Absolute which they comprised was Tao, which simply means The Way.
ZEN BUDDHISM
agreed with this basic idea, as evidenced by the fact that Taoism was taught along with Buddhism in Zen monasteries for four hundred years.
Zen also contributed to our knowledge of the Absolute with the insight that the contradictory nature of the Absolute meant that it was a paradox. That's why Zen used paradoxes called Koans to guide seekers to enlightenment.
The ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander had a similar view. He said that the existence of fundamental opposites was a matter of necessity. Without the contrast of opposites nothing could stand out from the indefinite background of the Absolute. That's why Anaximander named the Absolute The Apeiron, Greek for The Indefinite.
Aristotle agreed, and went on to explain the contradiction of how the opposites could be indefinite in the Apeiron and definite in the world by saying that the opposites were together in their possibility but separate in their actuality.
supports the idea that opposites are fundamental, because particles of matter have corresponding particles of antimatter.
MODERN SCIENCE
too, supports the principle of paradoxical opposites, because logic cannot exist without affirmation and denial.
LOGIC,
It seems innately obvious, once you think about it, that the Source is a paradox. The real difficulty lies in grasping the logic of the paradox.
The Sages couldn't say what it was, so they said what it wasn't:
Gautama Buddha called it the not-Nothing. The Cabala called it the Unbounded. Anaximander called it The Indefinite. Alchemy's term, the Absolute, meaning that which remains when everything else is dissolved, likewise described what it wasn't.
IRONICALLY,
Aristotle's explanation of how the opposites could be both definite and indefinite did contain a rigorously logical definition of the paradox...
but everyone, including Aristotle, ignored it.
By saying that the opposites were together in their possibility, but separate in their actuality, Aristotle logically suggested that Possibility was the source of the opposites, hence the Absolute.
Unfortunately, the universal belief that possibility is merely an abstraction caused everyone to ignore it.
POSSIBILITY ALONE SATISFIES ALL THE CRITERIA FOR THE
ABSOLUTE.
Possibility is indefinite because it's both Something and Nothing. It's also a paradox of opposites for the same reason.
The implied separation of these logical and existential opposites makes Possibility innately causal, and also explains implied mathematics' ability to mirror Reality.
Nothing and Something are also together in their possibility and separate in their actuality, as Aristotle said.
As Possibility, Nothing and Something are together; but because Something is infinitely diverse, it has to evolve and grow. As Something becomes more complex, it separates from Nothing. Nothing goes from being the binary opposite of Something to the central opposite of the universe of somethings. This is what we see. Nothing is black in the color spectrum, silence in the auditory spectrum, stillness in the motion spectrum, zero in the universe of numbers, negation in logic, and the sacred Void of the Buddha. The Big Bang wasn't the explosion of a primal mass, but the explosion of Nothing and its universe of opposites.
Finally, Possibility is everywhere,
as the Absolute must be,
yet has been systematically ignored as the Absolute, which explains how it's been able to hide in plain sight for so long.
PRIMAL ANXIETY
Deprived of this simple explanation for the Absolute, we tend to be deluded into thinking that everything came from nothing, which of course makes no sense at all. Thinking that we live in a universe that makes no sense is the most anxiety provoking thought possible.
We're all aware of this primal anxiety and we know its source--the belief that life is ultimately empty and meaningless. This state of anxiety and depression is so normal for us that its true abnormality can only be seen by contrasting it to the feeling of joy and vitality that resonates with the belief that we live in a Universe of possibilities.
Believing that it's impossible to escape the meaninglessness and illogic of existence, we often hide the real reason for our anxiety, by attributing it to something we can deal with, a scapegoat, like people with a different nationality or skin color.
A more positive response is to fill the nothing we see at the center of the universe and at the center of our lives with something comforting, like family. Unfortunately, touting family as the formula for achieving meaning in life puts tremendous pressure on people to have children. This has driven us to increase our population to unsustainable levels, threatening the entire planet with environmental collapse.
The extremely negative consequences of these responses to primal anxiety show that the need to understand the nature of the Absolute is not only of ultimate concern, but of immediate concern, and not just to mystics and philosophers, but to everyone.
is not an intellectual game, but the foundation upon which we build our lives. When I discovered that I lived not in a random universe but in a universe of possibilities, my unconscious anxieties fell away as palpably as Atlas shrugging off the weight of the world.
PHILOSOPHY
When I stopped putting my energy into being anxious, and refocused it on being alive in a universe of possibilites, my senses came alive. In the twinkle of an eye I went from feeling embattled, to feeling like the life of the party.
That happened more than ten years ago, and the party just keeps getting better. So please accept this document not only as a specimen to be put under the microscope and picked apart, but as an invitation to get up and dance.
If you find these ideas interesting and think they deserve the kind of attention that leads to personal growth, I invite you to immerse yourself in The Absolute Truth, the story of Enlightenment.
The new millennium presents an opportunity to focus our attention on how we got here and where we're going. We ought to make good use of it, for without an Enlightened perspective, this fragile world will not survive to see another such anniversary.
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"'OVER THE TOP"
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'THE QUEST FOR ENLIGHTENMENT''
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"SEEING THE LIGHT"
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"THE GURUS"
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"REACHING NIRVANA"
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"THE HOLY GRAIL"
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"THE MORNING AFTER"
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"THE AWAKENING"
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"THE BIG QUESTION"
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"TINKERING WITH THE ABSOLUTE"
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"SAVING THE WORLD"
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"REACHING ENLIGHTENMENT"
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"PRIMAL POINT INVENTIONS"
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The author with Congresswoman Marge Roukema on 4/15/00. The picture was taken following her forum to address issues of concerned citizens. During the forum, I spoke about how the rate of species extinction was highly correllated to the rate of human population increase. Ms. Roukema agreed to consider advocating increased U.S. government financial support for Family Planning aid, currently at a thirty year low.
I gave Ms. Roukema a copy of the Jan. 2000 issue of Scientific American containing the article "The Unmet Need For Family Planning," which I sited as the scientific basis for the funding proposal. She assured me that she would study it and reply with her decision on the matter. Stay tuned for further developements.
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