A very good friend of mine was reading my book (yeah I wrote one out of boredom. LOL. you can download it here) and threw an interesting question about the Universe. We had an excellent discussion about our seemingly negligible existence. Here goes.
Friend: I find it a bit hard to connect "The Universe conspires in Helping you Achieve It" and "It should not interfere with other person's free will". I think even with mundane request to the universe, that within our frame of mind, will not in any way interfere with the free will of others, but by the causality of things, a small change, insignificant as it might seem can have dire/major consequences/effects on the future state of things. One can argue using chaos theory or the butterfly effect, that any requests made can ultimately be connected to free will of another person/entity within the universe. We know for a fact that there exist free will. Therefore the Universe can only function in one way, it cannot in any way conspire, or better put, suspend its laws for benefit some lifeform's mundane requests/orders, it can only be indifferent. What do you think? Care to enlighten a humble reader?
Lost Monk: There is what they call an individual consciousness and a universal consciousness. Your consciousness and my consciousness, these are all individual consciousness but it can also be a collective consciousness which is called the Universal Consciousness. To put in an analogy, you are like a cell inside a body. perhaps, you are a red blood cell and I am the white blood cell. The totality of the parts becomes the whole physical body, the Universal Consciousness. As a red blood cell, you have your own 'purpose' driven by your own 'will' and your own 'consciousness'. As a white blood cell, I too have my own will and consciousness. However, your physical body, as the totality of the parts, is not able to directly command the red and white blood cells to do this and that. It cannot tell these cells to heal this first and do that last. These cells are completely independent. Yet, the Universe, in this case the physical body, is able to help these cells achieve their goals by perhaps nourishing the body, but still these cells act independently.
As a white blood cell, there are times that I need reinforcements to boost the physical body's immune system, hence, i may send a 'request' to the body, perhaps through signs of imminent weakness thus will signal the physical body to nourish itself. In its request, the white blood cell has not tampered other's free will (e.g. red blood cell), and in the fulfillment of it's request, the physical body (the universe) has not interfered with the red blood cell's independent will.
In short, the universe helps you by creating a suitable environment that will aid you in achieving your purpose/goals.
In addition, 'free will' is a matter of perspective. Individually, we are independent of each other. But if you believe that we are driven by a collective consciousness, then there is no such thing as my will and your will since we are just one.
Friend: Honestly, it is a bit hard for me to process an idea in which the universe is given some sort of deeper, dare i say 'supernatural' dimension cause i believe that what is there is just what it is, the universe (no purpose and no meaning for its existence), and I can but only marvel in awe at its grandeur. I don't bother myself with assumptions, celestial teapots, invisible pink unicorns, the great flying spaghetti monster and the invisible, intangible dragon in my garage. Unsubstantiated assumptions like those only serves to add a layer of complexity over my quest to understand the universe as it is.
Lost Monk: It doesnt matter what others think. What matters most is what you believe in.
Below is a quote i lifted from one of the greatest teachers i consider. It's about the Universe.
“Amid the mad scramble, you DO make your own reality. I admit that sounds too simple, but you will not be caught in an earthquake if you do not want to be, and no one dies who has not decided to do so. You make your own reality, or you do not. And if you do not, then you are everywhere a victim, and the universe must be an accidental mechanism appearing with no reason. So that the miraculous picture you have seen of your body came accidentally into creation, and out of some cosmic accident attained its miraculous complexity. And that body was formed so beautifully for no reason except to be a victim. That is the only other alternative to forming your own reality. You cannot have a universe in between. You have a universe formed WITH a reason, or a universe formed WITHOUT a reason. And in a universe of reason, there are no victims. Everything has a reason or nothing has a reason. So, choose your side!” - Seth
Friend: But i think im on the NO reason side but still i dont see any victims.
Feeling like a victim of a harsh and totally indifferent universe is just an illusion. We feel like that because we place so much value on ourselves and our blue dot in space. But amidst the enumerable intertwined events in the universe, we dont really matter. We are not special, we dont have a special place in the cosmos. In fact, it could be that tomorrow, a rogue black hole can suddenly swing our way, or gamma radiation from the constellation Saggitarius hits us, which i think is an ironic tale as the mythical being is welding a bow, and sadly enough it might be aimed our way, or even our own sun which has nourished us and has been a constant in our days can suddenly turn and wipe us off the face of the planet. I then can ask, if we are gone, will the whole universe suffer an inconvenience or weep of the loss of a race? I dont think so. I fact is, of the vastness of the cosmos, at this very breath, i can say with an amount of certainty that out there, entire races or conscious lifeforms are going out of existence, but i ask, did the universe even pause to shed a tear, no, as with a battery commercial it keeps going and going for eons. Our view that the universe has a pupose and a reason, or even a meaning is just ourselves projecting our desires to matter on it and humanizing it. It stems from our thinking that we have a special place in the universe.
I thought of one way to think about your or our place in the cosmos. Its called "The Universe and The Toilet". The thought experiment goes this way. Think about the size of the earth, and how its endlessly doing laps around that sun accompanied by the moon. Think about all the things revolving around our local star, the planets, comets and asteroids. Now zoom back even further that you see the entire galaxy, at which point you can’t with any amount of careful attention make out the light from our local star, you begin so see huge stars being swallowed by the massive blackhole at the center of the galaxy. Now zoom back even further, to our local group, you will see about 5 or 6 galaxy seeming dancing and around each other some are even heading for a collision. At this point if you look around, you see points of light and each point you make out is not a star but an entire galaxy filled with billions of stars, billion upon billions of terrestrial planets, and possibly trillions of life forms all going about their existence and probably some entity out there is thinking about the same thing are you are. Now once you are in awe of the vastness of the universe and the countless objects within it, suddenly zoom back at where you are. You are sitting in the TOILET BOWL taking a crap thinking about the universe. Then ask yourself, out of all that, do i really matter for the universe? You will surely learn your place in the cosmos. And for those who believe that the reason for the universe's existence is us, its should be a humbling experience.
Lost Monk: I am so loving this discussion. J
The suffering and pain that we are experiencing right now are just a fraction of the experiences that our physical reality is undergoing. The physical reality is just one of the multidimensional personalities that exist. The pain/suffering is only a function of this physical reality and and may/do not exist in other realities. You are a personality which is a part of an entity. And this entity has several personalities that exist in a multidimensional universe. The physical reality that which we are in focus now, is, like i said, just a fraction of the entity.
The Universe grows as it's individual components grow. Similarly, the universal consciousness grows as the individual consciousness grows. The Universe is always in a state of becoming, so are we. It grows through the experiences of each entity and by which these entities have several personalities, and one of which is our personality in this physical reality. And death, as we know it is only a reality based on this physical existence. Thus, even if the world we live in will be sucked by a blackhole or will be totally destroyed this 2012, the Universe will never mourn for it is only the physical reality that seems to end.
All that we see is just a camouflage. The stars, the planets, and all that you think that exist are just merely illusions. You are not your body, and i guess you know that. The person you see in the mirror is a mere reflection of your physical existence. But we are far greater than that for our true self goes beyond physical existence. We do not cease to exist when our physical reality ends.
Perhaps these questions arise because we have 'lost' our connection to our true self/identity/entity since we are too focused on our physical existence. W thought that we are just a mere pebble along the shore yet we have forgotten that WE ARE the Universe. I am not referring to the physical universe but to the inner vitality / energy in the totality of things.
Friend: The disconnect here is that you have a deeper and mysterious force behind all of us and the universe, whereas i see it as only an only matter and energy. Conciousness for me is just synaptic firings in our brain and when we die, we die our conciousness ends and the universe could not care less. The universe sheding a tear is only a metaphor due to the lack of words to describe what would happen. The universe weeping is basically means that our disappearance from the face of this dot in space has to have some effect on the universe as a whole. I opted to use the weeping methaphor as the play on word can strike emotions making this a lot more interesting. But for me the way it could be if say i assume that the universe accept orders and wishes from us puny creatures, is that if it actually have the motions and the positions of the stars in the heavens are connected to our inidividual choices.
I think if my idea of the universe tries to make room for our wishes and whims, chaos theory dictates, one could say that to accomodate a choice i made, a star in heavens needs be moved. Remember no matter how mundane my request is it will eventually lead a disorder on the later state of the universe. But as it is we dont see stars moved or the laws of physics suspended at the huge parts of the universe, because I ordered the universe for some toilet paper. Hahaha.
We both could not be more on opposite sides of our understanding of the universe, i think you deal more on giving the universe a deeper dimension. I on the otherhand take as i see and what i learned it is. For me their is no metaphysical dimension to this universe.
When my time runs out, it runs out not because i choose to, but my cells have degraded through entrophy and decay, my consciousness ends. In short, my epoch has ended. Now that i still exist i can only hope that i leave behind something i can be remembered for.
It is on discussion like this that we can tell that despite our daily routine that can make even a rock loose some IQ points. Im glad to see our brains cells still are able to fire and come up with brain farts.
Lost Monk: The interesting thing about this discussion is that we can neither prove/disprove each point since in this existence, most of us only accept facts if they are confirmed by our physical senses. If indeed there exist a greater dimension beyond what we see, smell, touch, hear, and taste, this can only be substantiated by the inner senses. Unfortunately, in this reality, this faculty is not well-tapped and is underdeveloped.
Perhaps these questions will still linger as humanity continues to search for the meaning of life and its existence, whether it is futile or not. Yet it can not be denied that as we live each day, we grow not only physically but consciously, and that we are always in a state of becoming.
Friend: I agree.. I don't doubt your sincerity on your beliefs because i know that it is as real for you as what i know is real for me. But this does not stop people from discussing hard questions, which i may say lead brain twisting things. In fact, i applaud your view on spirituality as i find it unorthodox and not that scripture rich or is it too early to say that since i'm barely clear the half way point on your book?
Lost Monk: If that book was published 100 years ago, I will surely end up tied to a stake with kindling piled around my feet then burned to death. Hahaha.
Friend: It is pointless to argue about these things, i find it much more fruitful to discuss
Lost Monk: I definitely agree with you. Truth is relative. That's why there are/were jihads and crusades. Unfortunately, death to those who do not share their beliefs.
Namaste.
