PRE-EXISTENCE

 Before existence took place, there was pre-existence without time and without space, where no dimensions at all exist. Science can tell us nothing of this era. We are left to our own experiences to decipher our personal realities about from whence we came.

There is a point before time and space. Within that point is the property of physical awareness.  That which is aware–call it the thinker, the cosmic dreamer, or if you prefer, the pre-universe–it is surely the precursor of information, as thought and ideas were all held in one timeless, yet geometric, point. The mental universe of pre-existence was one of potential. Potential does not possess a physical entity. Potentials are mental images.

This is a wonderful illustration. If you look at it, "A" is present whether or not "B" is present. "A" then, is potential energy that does exist without material content and without motion. The creation of motion is brought about by the existence of "B". "A" can exist without time and space because or its property of being potential. In order for this potentiality of energy to be released, it must have a precise co-ordinate in space and a sense of awareness to duration in order to experience time. This data is provided by "B". In other words, "B" is the informational content that co-creates the physical. 

We know that physical awareness exists in the universe because we are ourselves aware. It is one of the properties of human existence. It is also one of the properties of the universe. We can easily see these properties in life, but find it harder to conclude that there is an awareness in inanimate objects as well. Objects are made from an atomic structure and physical awareness exists in that structure as well. Wherever events occur, physical awareness records the change in the objects and codifies the information so the senses can perceive it. 

Physical awareness is a fundamental property in the formation of the universe.

Before we can have a universe, we need objects and events. An event is an interaction between objects. To have an interaction we need a field of awareness to identify an object or an event.  Without awareness, there is no event. Awareness is the left hand that interprets the information on the right hand. The essential quality for observation or interaction is having an awareness of an object. Objects have some physical content, but they consist primarily of information. This information is physically coded and eventually it is recognized by our senses. Physical awareness is the first cause for the existence of time and space.  All things are objects that are formed by the eternal, non-material awareness which has always been present. 

Awareness comes first, then movement and the information it produces occurs. For aeons, this awareness may have held nothing at all because there was nothing of which to be aware. It does not matter, as this is but a taste of timelessness. Each of us experiences the truth of this first hand. We come from a place that has no memories, no experience and no existence until we are conceived, grow aware and begin to form our identity. What we are before we are born is a field of awareness that has not come into identifiable form. Because awareness existed before we did, we were able to recognize, learn, and eventually become that which we are now. If our awareness did not exist before our birth, our birth would never have happened. Our personal awareness began to be built in our mother's womb according to coded instructions that preceded your birth. Our personal awareness is the chalkboard on which we write our experience. So it is with all interactions and observations in nature and beyond. It takes awareness for anything to have physicality. That is why there are two states of existence, the invisible mental state and the visible physical state. They are separate aspects of the same reality.

The primal point is the first dimension of universal formation. At first, this point was infinitely small, but it swelled to become the universe we know today. Space spread  out in every direction becoming a container and an incubator for the physical universe. Pure potential energy was released as kinetic radiation. The hot radiation traveled in waves that experienced duration. As they interfered with one another, they began to mingle and react. As the energy expanded, it cooled in temperature. At a certain point, energy cools enough to precipitate into matter.  Space is filled with physical condensate upon cooling. Primal particles are born incredibly hot and cooled as they moved––radiating through space and leaving a physical imprint upon the space it touched. Radiation changed forms as energy was expended and added. Some of this radiation became massive when combined with other radiation. Eventually, particles condensed from the cooling radiation to form clouds of hydrogen atoms and electrons. In time, the stars and the physical universe are born from the potential of the information that was encoded in the one-dimensional point. 

GOD, MAN AND NATURE

 GOD, MAN AND NATURE 

by Kenneth Harper Finton, revised 2023

Since the dawn of time and certainly since the rise of self-awareness in the human race, people have contemplated the nature of the universe about them. The deepest thinkers among them have come up with many answers and visions from the same basic facts that underlie the material universe. The cave dwellers–writing on the walls–expressed in primitive drawings not only the facts of life that they saw about them, but their thoughts about the geometry of existence itself.

A certain unity of vision is capable of being expressed in numerous ways by simple contemplation itself. When one attempts to divide the world into its basic elements or contemplate the very nature of existence itself, thought runs smack up against the dualistic paradox of life. 

Democritus, a Greek philosopher developed the idea of an atom around 460 B.C. He asked:  “If you break a piece of matter in half, then break it in half again, how many breaks will you have to make before you can break it no farther?”  This smallest basic piece of matter he called atoms more than two thousand years ago. 

Democritus lived in a time when the earliest writing had been devised, so we knew what he thought. 

From symbols seen in cave paintings and pictographs, it would seem the cave dwellers from many thousands of years ago had already seen the symbolism of geometric shapes, as they drew them on walls and incorporated geometric patterns in their drawing and figures. 

Perhaps these geometric shapes are the foundations of existence itself, the first principles of being that existed everywhere at once–creating a quantum universe. Consciousness came upon and recognized its own beginning. It created time and space by devising an orbit. This thought is perhaps expressed on the wall of a cave many thousands of years ago. I see no reason why primitive man could not have come to a similar conclusion. Circles, points, and triangles are two dimensional representations of mathematical principles that were the first ingredient of being, thus becoming the first experiences.

Democritus tried to imagine the smallest pieces of matter, but later scientists found that atoms are broken into even smaller and smaller pieces.

Democritus’ theories were dismissed by Aristotle and were forgotten for two thousand years due to of the great stature that Aristotle held over his mimicking followers until the time of Newton.

When one attempts to contemplate the beginnings of all things and the endings of all things, paradox comes in to being. What is there before this world and this universe existed? What will there be after this world and universe ends? 

The answer, of course, is nothing. Yet, duality is an integral part of existence itself. The thought that nothing exists, shows that something exists in its very essence. [Thought and knowledge does not co-exist with the ultimate reality.] The nothing at the basis of the world about us, we discover, is of the soul of world and without essence.

Such thoughts sometimes lead us to a spiritual definition of nothingness that from even the most primitive times has been recognized as God or the Void, a unification of all that exists and a recognition that existence is, in its essence, non-material or spiritual.

As thought explodes and stills, the elusive basis of reality shines forth in the minds of those who contemplate. If nothing exists, then all is nothing and nothing is everything. If God is a spirit without form or essence, then God is present in every aspect of everything that exists. 

This is where contemplation leads us. It is how we interpret this emotionally that gives rise to our moral values and our feelings about ourselves and the world about us.

There is something in us that cannot tolerate paradox. 

If nothing exists, then that must mean that God does not exist. That leads to a denial of the spiritual essence that could forms the basis for existence itself. Such thoughts can  lead to a sense of forlorn isolation where nothing matters but the smaller self that we call our individual identity. We become the only thing that matters. These thoughts can  lead us to self-indulgence and greed. Much of the brutal history of the world was written by people who thought in this manner.

If, however, the spiritual essence of nature is accepted by the mind, then God not only exists, but everything is made of this spiritual essence and God is everywhere and in everyone. Yet, this in itself does not make existence any less problematic. Nature is not only gentle, but violent. Mythologies are constructed to explain what we see as evil and good in the essence of the world about us. Because we, as humans, name and value things, we force nature into shapes and patterns that we can comprehend and create a world of good and evil–even if all things are in essence spiritual. No wonder we live in a world of black and white with many shades of gray. We have created such a vision from placing our values on experience itself.

That the universe was formed without such human values and that experience is the true reason for existence seems a strange and perhaps irreverent idea. Many rebel against this reasoning. Many want to believe that the spiritual nature is essentially good–even divine–and something went astray in the world that produced the terrible things that we experience and see around us. That is the way we escape taking responsibility for what we see as evil in the world. 

Is there no other way to view this dichotomy? 

If we are all spirit in essence, then we would all be God and the world would be like Heaven on Earth. Yet, it is not. Does this prove that we are not all God? Does this not prove that we are not, in essence, a spirit?

When we look deeper into this, we can see that good and evil is simply another pattern of opposites that form the basis for existence and experience itself. Change is built into the world by time and space and the forming of structures that are never permanent by both design and necessity. Change imposes a beginning and an ending. Both are an illusion and temporal. Place a value on change–call it life and death, good and evil–it is still a temporal illusion.

If a spiritual essence is the basis for the universe about us and experience is the reason for this essence to be, then we are indeed one with the world about us and only our self- aware identities stand in the way of knowing the ultimate reality of all things. If the only time is now and all things are present and exist in the now, then many things we thought we knew about this world are false. 

It is not that we need deny the idea of a past, as change itself leaves traces of the previous states that were experienced by material things that are no longer existent. It is not that we cannot plan a future, as the future is created from the probabilities that are inherent in the now and have not yet been experienced.The world is still what we make it to be. 

Our thoughts are both extremely important in the experience of the now and the possibilities that we project for the future. We should start again to develop a better system of social and communal life that recognizes the essence of all things as being a unified field of being. 

 THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH

by Kenneth Harper Finton, revised 2023

There is in us something that causes us to perpetually search for the truth. I have learned not to trust anyone who tells me they possess the truth. I have no doubt they think they do possess truth, but this thinking of theirs does not make it so.

A myth is a widely held but false belief or idea. Myths are associated with traditions and religions. There are twelve major religions in the world today–Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism––and all of them have adherents who think they possess the truth.

That alone shows us that truth is subjective.

Religions serve many purposes, but three main human longings form the basis for the hold of religion over the populations: 1) the thought of death 2) the purpose of living 3) the advancement of social constructions.

We, like most of the spectrum of living things, have an instinct for survival. Self-aware humans realize that they will perish from a very early age. People often accuse young people of feeling that they are immortal, but nothing could be farther from reality. They come upon the realization of their potential demise early on and are often highly troubled with the thought.

It is understandable that we wish to continue as long as possible, but sooner of later, we will come to realize that nothing lives forever. We find that fact to be depressing and begin to wonder what the purpose of life really is. “Why,” we ask, are born but to die?”

Enter religion and mythology, often from 'stage fright'.

Afterlife––concepts of heaven and hell, the idea of eternity Nirvana or unity with the void––are common components of religious belief.

Some people desperately want to believe that they and their loved ones can persist long after their time on Earth has come to an end. Religions and individuals develop mythologies to satisfy this deep-set urge to persist and continue their personal identities in another place and time. In scientific circles, ideas of multiple or alternative universes where other forms of ourselves exist in other planes seem to satisfy the need for perpetuation in some people. After all, in infinity are not all things possible?

Potentiality, however, is not the same idea as possibility. It behooves us to remember that infinity is in another dimension. In nonexistence nothing at all is possible. Again, we meet with duality and the limitation of expression. If nothing is possible in nonexistence, then the possibility of nothing existing is absolute. Nothing does exist and our world is living proof it it.

Since we obviously have an identity, then we exist and therefore we are not Infinite. We are temporal beings. The price of existing seems to be the possession of a beginning and an ending.

                      

It is hard to fault people for these beliefs. It seems so natural to want to persist through eternity, despite the likelihood that we would grow so bored and stagnant that we would want to curse of our immortal existence after an unreasonable amount of time had passed.

Too many wonderful lives end too quickly in our short life spans. It is the stuff of tragedy, confusion and the ingredients for despair. Our emotional human natures call out for a scape goat for the horrid things that happen to us and those around us.

The first in line for blame is generally God, the Devil, or Mother Nature–social constructions that we have made to explain the harshness of reality in our short, unhappy lives. Religions teach us not to blame God for the evils that occur, but many allow us to blame the Devil. Mother Nature is concerned with nurture and growth, so she is not to blame in many religious dogmas.

So what if the Earth opens up and swallows us whole or the currents sweep away the innocent child. So what if the tornado cripples the town or an accident breaks the back of the best athlete your village has ever known, turning him into a paraplegic vegetable. It is not the fault of Mother Nature. It is not the fault of God. “Who are we to know the ways of God,” is often the answer we are forced to swallow.

Satan is the ultimate scape goat in the Judaic/Christian belief system. There is something in us that wants to define and personalize evil and hate. What better construction for the ages than to have a benevolent and caring father figure at war with the unholy forces that cause harm to ourselves and our loved ones?

Thus we build our myths. God, the father, is built upon the structure of the nuclear family. Satan is the source of all evil.

So what is the reasonable explanation? What new myths should we construct to explain the inhumanity of man to man and the eternal war against the mechanisms of nature? Shall we create a myth of alternative universes or parallel worlds? Should we speculate that in infinity all is possible, including the recording and storing of all identities and experiences? Surely this is a possibility, as in endless time most all potentiality becomes possible.

If the world itself is a myth, then we cannot help but generate new mythologies no matter how scientifically rooted our knowledge becomes. We can only speculate upon the reason, if any, for existence to be apparent. The big question of why there is anything at all when nothing would do so well is answered with the realization that nothing is real and all is illusion.

Yet, there is the question as to why a world, be it real or illusion, exists at all. The answer, of course, is that it does not exist. There is only experience and the awareness and consciousness that makes that experience possible.

Infinity is unknowable. Perhaps consciousness itself is at times without experience. It contains no mass nor matter nor energy. Infinity has no place in time, no place in space, yet it is the source of all things when things become manifest and worlded. Yet, mathematical patterns and physical laws that govern the interactions of things perhaps precede existence itself, a part of dimension zero itself..

Infinity precipitates all things. Nothing becomes real, though nothing is real. Once experience begins there is no stopping it. Once movement defines space and contains enough duration to be felt and observed, an entire universe is born.

Experience itself might be the purpose of the observable universe, if it must have a purpose at all. However, there is no need for a purpose. Purpose is a human construct and value. Why would the universe need a purpose? Experience is in itself enough. Experience preceded our human values and will succeed and outlast our values.

The human mind is born without experience. Experience is learned from trial and error. Would not the universe itself, born without experience, do the same?

What happens if experience comes to an end? What happens if all motion is stilled and all space and time disappears? Does the universe itself end? Will experience begin again as it did in a beginning?

Or did it never begin in the first place?

The only way out of the conundrum is the latter. It never did begin and it will never end because it did not begin. This thought, or this lack of thought, is the only logical answer.  

If experience is the source of all events, all events are experience. They carry no blame, no cause, no system of evaluation. Being is for the sake of being and all things that we emotionally react to are not purposeful, but essential for the experience of being.

How, we might ask, could it be any different? I can see no way that it could be different. As in life we have to deal with the good and the bad, the evil and the good, so does the universe at large.

You might ask yourself what you would change if you were in charge of designing the universe. If you were the creator of all things, what would you change? Would you make things so all beings live forever? Would you eliminate pain and suffering and man’s inhumanity to man? Would you prefer the constant temperance of a summer’s day to periods of tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunami waves? These are things we have learned that we would like to control. We can design and protect against these things at the present time.

Personally, I would make a small change, should I design the world. I would prefer that dogs live as long as their we do. I have always found it absurd that elephants and parrots and turtles have century long lives while dogs are lucky to make it to age fifteen. Genetic science might create long -lived dogs. Yet, even that might be too much to ask, for by loving our pets and losing them, we are prepared for greater sacrifice and sorrows to come later. If we are to live in this world of gain and loss, we must experience both. So it is with the universe at large.

The world changes about us and we change with the changes. The sun shines on all and the rain falls on everyone. Some of the most destructive forces in the universe have created the temperate planet on which we live today. The Earth itself was struck by a sister planet the size of Mars about three and a half billion years ago. That collision almost destroyed the Earth, but without that occurrence, we would have no moon.

Without the moon we would have much smaller tides only pulled by the Sun. We would have much shorter days of between four and eight hours of daylight. We would have much longer years because it would take well over a thousand days to orbit the Sun. We would have much darker nights with our shortened days without the reflected moonlight to shine upon the planet. Without that cosmic cataclysm life would be much different on Earth, if it existed at all.

A universe without change would be impossible, as change is inherent in the very design of movement. Movement begets change. Change begets loss. Loss begets sorrow, sorrow begets new joys.