Is Reality Eternal Or Are We Blind Chance? A Cosmic Paradox

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PublicCola6
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Is Reality Eternal Or Are We Blind Chance? A Cosmic Paradox

Post by PublicCola6 »

Does reality abide eternally and forever, or are we the result of a one time chance? It does seem irrational to say that it is a one time chance because the laws of (nature) physics can't be temporary.

However, if we assume that the world (reality) really does have NO beginning in time, then up to every given moment an eternity has elapsed, and there has passed away in the world an infinite series of successive states of things.

But how can an infinite series of successive states of things ever be realized? The 'realization' of infinity is a contradiction!

An infinite aggregate of actual things cannot be viewed as a given whole, nor, consequently, as simultaneously given.


Therefore, the 'world' must have a beginning.

So let us assume rather, that the world of reality doe have a beginning in time. Then, in that case, there must have been a preceding time in which no reality existed i.e. an empty time.

Now, no coming to be of a thing is possible in an empty time, because no part of such a time possesses, as compared with any other, a distinguishing condition of existence rather than of non-existence. Nothing can ever come from nothingness. Nothingness, in its absolute value, is impossible or self-forbidding.

Therefore, the world has no beginning [?].

Perhaps both are somehow true; illusion is mixed with truth and truth with illusion (Seriously speaking, maybe none of this is real). The Cosmos-as-paradox.

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Re: Is Reality Eternal Or Are We Blind Chance? A Cosmic Para

Post by Atreyu »

Good questions....
PublicCola6 wrote:Does reality abide eternally and forever, or are we the result of a one time chance? It does seem irrational to say that it is a one time chance because the laws of (nature) physics can't be temporary.
That's right. It would be better to say that we are the result of fate, rather than chance, since, as you suggested, the laws of physics were bound (destined) to lead to our eventual existence. If it was big forces and cosmic (general) laws which led to our existence, and it was, then that's fate. It is not proper to explain as "chance" the end result of the actions of big forces and general immutable laws.
But how can an infinite series of successive states of things ever be realized? The 'realization' of infinity is a contradiction!
It is for us, yes, but not for the Universe. The Universe (Everything) can realize what we (an infinitesimal part) cannot.
An infinite aggregate of actual things cannot be viewed as a given whole, nor, consequently, as simultaneously given.
Again, same as above. We cannot view an infinite set as a whole, but the Universe, being the Whole, can. (Assuming, of course, that it is/can be aware of itself, but that is a separate issue)

Therefore, the 'world' must have a beginning.

So let us assume rather, that the world of reality doe have a beginning in time. Then, in that case, there must have been a preceding time in which no reality existed i.e. an empty time.

Now, no coming to be of a thing is possible in an empty time, because no part of such a time possesses, as compared with any other, a distinguishing condition of existence rather than of non-existence. Nothing can ever come from nothingness. Nothingness, in its absolute value, is impossible or self-forbidding.

Therefore, the world has no beginning [?].

Perhaps both are somehow true; illusion is mixed with truth and truth with illusion (Seriously speaking, maybe none of this is real). The Cosmos-as-paradox.
Your reasoning here is quite correct, but incomplete. The difficulty is in understanding exactly what existed before Anything did. Of course, the answer is "nothing", but there are different ways to understand "nothing".

"nothing" can be viewed as absolute, as you suggested, in which case I would argue that non-caps ("nothing") are the appropriate way to delineate the term. And you are quite right that something cannot come from "nothing", if we define it as an absolute "nothingness". Simple logic.

However, we can also view "nothing" as something not quite absolute. Almost as if it were a sort of "something". In this case, I would argue that caps are necessary to describe this "Nothingness", because a "Nothing" which is not absolute implies that a certain awareness is present. Almost like some kind of non-material Mind is present in the midst of all the apparent Nothingness, if such a thing were possible (which is also debatable). From this "Nothing" something can "arise", for it is not an absolute "nothingness", but is rather a sort of temporary state, where there is only apparently nothing, because the Mind or Force which could cause something to apparently exist (for something to be manifest) is already present.

In this sense, the Nothing that existed before Anything existed was said (by the ancients)to be a sort of primordial Awareness/Mind which was asleep . They called this state of the cosmos "the Void", and the caps are intentional and necessary. Because this Void, from which Everything else sprang, is a sentient Being, rather than just a bunch of "stuff" (matter/energy) "existing" in some state of potentiality, or some other state which is not matter or energy as we know it (anti-matter).

In the Ancient view, the matrix from which Everything came into existence was primarily a psychological one, rather than a material one.

Now, if you can grasp the gist of all I've said above, then you will have a chance of understanding how something can come from "nothing". And perhaps you'll even be able to understand, at least as much as it is possible to, that indeed the Universe did have a beginning, and yet, somehow, at the same time, it did not really have a beginning. It sort of "began" without "really" (key word) beginning.

And while this is very difficult to grasp, there is a "technical" way of understanding it, which seems to work for me. Normally, if a Beginning is assumed, it is also assumed that, if we could travel back in time, then eventually we would arrive at the Beginning. But this is quite false. Even though there was a Beginning, it Began an infinite amount of time ago (as we perceive/cognize time), so that even if you could travel back in a time machine, you would just keep going farther and farther into the past, and yet somehow would never reach the elusive Beginning. It would probably be experienced as the time machine apparently slowing down as it went back in time, even though according to the calculations the speed of travel should be constant.

This is exactly like trying to understand how you can keep increasing infinity, and yet you still just get infinity, or understanding how 1 billion is no closer to infinity than 1. Infinity, like the Universe (which is also infinite), cannot really be grasped by the human mind. The best we can do is just to denote it by using a symbol. Just as the best we can do to understand the Beginning is to say that the Universe both began and yet also did not begin. (btw, the symbol of infinity was also used as a symbol of the Universe by the ancients, i.e. the Universe was said to be infinite)

Unfortunately, understanding the objective Universe entails resolving seemingly impossible to resolve contradictions. But this is our job as philosophers.

Now note what I highlighted in red. The contradiction is not between "truth" and "illusion". Both are true. As you said, the Universe is a Paradox. And the paradox is that the contradiction is that the Universe both began and yet always existed.

And this paradox exists because of our subjective perception and cognition of Time....
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Re: Is Reality Eternal Or Are We Blind Chance? A Cosmic Para

Post by PublicCola6 »

You have interesting perspectives, Atreyu.

Here's the deal: I said that truth and illusion were mixed up but I now believe that this merely means that we are blind to the eternal forms of reality: that reality on earth is imperfect but there is a perfect type of field, like a cosmic field where consciousness (that sleeping living cosmos that you spoke of) and mathematics and science all exists together, in outline form, eternally, and it is our task to develop science to the point where we become akin to pure mind or pure spirits and join up with this cosmic field. This cosmic field is a Parmenidean "plenum", a crystal type of totality, and the advance of technology and science is leading us towards this ultimate cosmic position where mind exists separate from empirical objects.

I think this because I see a binary opposition between nothingness in its absolute sense and the apparent existence of the world around us. The great philosophical question for me is: why is there something rather than nothing?

Basically I don't believe in infinity; if you were to travel back in time as you propose, I believe that eventually you will see repeats of things- outlines of the same things that you see now. These repeats are forms: mathematical-like entities that furnish the universe with its illusive infinite sense that we call reality. The empirical world of nature is actually grounded in the forms so there is never any thing new.

I say that the forms are "math-like" because math is a human invention. The eternal forms are related to us in the way we relate math to the universe; it is, therefore, the essence of mathematical thinking. The relationship of the 'every-dayness' of life to the 'divine plenum' is the same as the empirical reality to the ideal reality.

In the end, there is no getting around the experiment with absolute Nothingness-the question "why is there something rather than nothing?" It is imperative that we suppose the being of absolute nothingness in order to come to the realization that even though the natural world has an apparent beginning in time the ultimate forms, that is the basic ideas or blueprints of all things in time, have no beginning. The sooner the scientific world realizes that we are heading for the ends of reality and cosmos, the better. And we can see the logic of this cosmic ending, as I said, in the full realization, in the full consequence, of understanding that absolute Nothingness is always self-forbidding. That's my position.



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Re: Is Reality Eternal Or Are We Blind Chance? A Cosmic Para

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PublicCola6 wrote:The great philosophical question for me is: why is there something rather than nothing?
This is very easy to explain and understand once one regards the Universe as a Conscious entity, rather than just a "bunch of stuff". And if one can understand what that implies.

A conscious Universe is all-powerful. This Universe can just create anything, anywhere, because there is no other mind or force to oppose it. Therefore, it's will is a command, it's intentions and thoughts are cosmic law. There is no resistance to anything it wants to happen, therefore, whatever it wants to be, is - from galaxies to pink unicorns.

This is similar to ourselves and our imagination. I can imagine pink unicorns and they will immediately exist, but only in my mind. When I wake up from my daydream, I immediately see they do not exist. That's because, unlike the Universe, my thoughts are not commands or laws. They have no power, and cannot change the reality of a higher Mind, like the Universe. The Universe, however, is the Whole. It's Everything. So if it "imagines" something, it actually exists (or so says the Universe, which means that it will be so for all of its parts (all other living organisms existing within it)).

We can find a simple analogy to understand this, if we compare ourselves to one of the cells of our body. It's well established in science that, if you imagine that something exists which does not, your body (and its cells) will behave as if it does. For example, if a crazy person believes a ghost is chasing them around their house, their body (and all of its individual cells) will respond just as if there really was a truly dangerous event taking place. The man's breathing will become accelerated, his heart will beat fast, epinephrine will be released into his bloodstream, and so on, just as if he was really being chased by an actual mountain lion.

This is all so because your "reality" simply must be the "reality" for all the individual cells of your body. They don't know, and cannot know, any better. Being but an infinitesimal part of you, they have no choice but to take as reality that which the whole-body takes as reality. The small part cannot question the reality of the massive Whole.

The same applies to ourselves and the Universe. For the Universe, Everything - galaxies, planets, atoms - is but a Thought. It can just "think anything up" and, well, there it is, because hey, who else is there to say otherwise? For us, however, being but a tiny part of the Cosmos, all these things are concretely real. We actually feel the cold of the water splashing on our face, the pain of the rock in our shoe, the heat from the Sun. For us, reality is hardly but a thought, but a discreet, concrete, and incontestable "truth", a truth we cannot deny because our senses definitely insist on it.

And this is because it's a law that a part of a sentient being is subordinate to the "reality" as perceived/cognized by the Whole.

So, the reason why there is something rather than nothing, is because the Universe says so, and Everything that exists reflects the particularities of this Universal Mind. And also because presently, the Universe is awake. When it goes back to sleep Nothing will exist again, because there will nothing to assert that it does. This is what the ancients called "the Void" - the Universe where only the primordial Consciousness exists in a dormant state, and where there can be nothing else because the Mind which could create (think up) other things is simply inactive ("asleep").

So, the reason why there is something rather than nothing is simply because the Universe happens to be awake, in an active state, right now. Once it becomes inactive again, and "falls asleep", nothing will exist anymore because there will be no Mind to "imagine" anything.

To relate all of the above with ordinary science we could say that the Universe is cyclical, and that what science understands as a "big bang" occurs every time the Universe wakes up, while what science would call "the end" (expansion to oblivion) occurs every time the Universe sleeps. And while the Universe sleeps, there is.... "Nothing".....
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Re: Is Reality Eternal Or Are We Blind Chance? A Cosmic Para

Post by Tamminen »

PublicCola6 wrote:absolute Nothingness is always self-forbidding
In other words: "being is" and "non-being is not" are tautologies. It can be so simple sometimes. Need no epicycles.
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Re: Is Reality Eternal Or Are We Blind Chance? A Cosmic Para

Post by Spectrum »

I have proposed reality is a Spontaneous Emergent Reality.
For all non-human living things, to them reality is a Spontaneous Emergent Reality, i.e. the NOW!.

But for humans who has been evolved with a higher thinking brain and self-consciousness, it is natural, the rational humans will ask;
Emerge out of what? When? How?

If the above question arose out of our thinking brain, we can use the same thinking brain to strive for an answer. To do so we can analyze past our experiences and make various inferences 'backward' and 'forward' in time based on the principle of cause & effect, and other methods. Using the said methods we will arrive at various answers as to the origin of the universe and humans based on best available knowledge and brain power.

However, whatever the answers, the limitation is we cannot jump with a leap of faith to conclude every thing started with a First Cause, i.e. God.

But I am aware, due to an active inherent "zombie parasite" the majority will inevitably be compelled [subliminally] to insist God is the First Cause. Note Kant's view of how God was invented in the mind.
Kant wrote:
There will therefore be Syllogisms which contain no Empirical premises, and by means of which we conclude from something which we know to something else of which we have no Concept, and to which, owing to an inevitable Illusion, we yet ascribe Objective Reality.
Not-a-theist. Religion is a critical necessity for humanity now, but not the FUTURE.
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Re: Is Reality Eternal Or Are We Blind Chance? A Cosmic Para

Post by Count Lucanor »

PublicCola6 wrote:
But how can an infinite series of successive states of things ever be realized? The 'realization' of infinity is a contradiction!

An infinite aggregate of actual things cannot be viewed as a given whole, nor, consequently, as simultaneously given.
I has been realized, otherwise you couldn't have stated it. Why would it be a contradiction?
The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct.
― Marcus Tullius Cicero
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Re: Is Reality Eternal Or Are We Blind Chance? A Cosmic Para

Post by Sy Borg »

PublicCola6 wrote:Does reality abide eternally and forever, or are we the result of a one time chance? It does seem irrational to say that it is a one time chance because the laws of (nature) physics can't be temporary.

However, if we assume that the world (reality) really does have NO beginning in time, then up to every given moment an eternity has elapsed, and there has passed away in the world an infinite series of successive states of things.

But how can an infinite series of successive states of things ever be realized? The 'realization' of infinity is a contradiction!
Sadly, in philosophy even "reality" is am ambiguous term, maybe especially so ...

We had beginnings, as did the Earth, Sun and Milky Way, and so did this universe of things. It's increasingly accepted that there was a "before the big bang", but just not in a way where time is meaningful, since you need "stuff" to act as a clock. Apparently there were just quantum fluctuations, and a popular hypothesis is that one such fluctuation inflated into our universe. Consider the relative nothingness that may have preceded the BB. How long was it there before cosmic inflation occurred? A billion years? A trillion quintillion years? A second? An eternity? What would be the difference? There is no reference. Then again, maybe one day a knowable cause and effect will be found acting behind seemingly random quantum fluctuations? That would be a game changer.

Re: infinity, a common thought experiment has an infinite multiverse producing an infinite number of different iterations of each of us, with infinite variations. However, if that was the case now, then what would appear tomorrow? Infinity seemingly doesn't happen in nature; the closest we have is the constant change of the universe and whatever nonsense is going on in the centre of black holes :)
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Re: Is Reality Eternal Or Are We Blind Chance? A Cosmic Para

Post by Atreyu »

Greta wrote: We had beginnings, as did the Earth, Sun and Milky Way, and so did this universe of things. It's increasingly accepted that there was a "before the big bang", but just not in a way where time is meaningful, since you need "stuff" to act as a clock. Apparently there were just quantum fluctuations, and a popular hypothesis is that one such fluctuation inflated into our universe. Consider the relative nothingness that may have preceded the BB. How long was it there before cosmic inflation occurred? A billion years? A trillion quintillion years? A second? An eternity? What would be the difference? There is no reference. Then again, maybe one day a knowable cause and effect will be found acting behind seemingly random quantum fluctuations? That would be a game changer.
"Quantum fluctuations" would still give a possible basis for Time. They also imply matter and energy. That view is tantamount to saying the Universe always existed and had no beginning. Something always existed. And so too would Time always have existed.

It's better to just imagine an unknowable Conscious entity existing in a completely passive state (i.e. being "asleep" or "Unconscious") "before" the BB, although, as you said, this makes no sense because there was no "before" and could not be one. And "no before" or "no Time" implies no "quantum fluctuations" or anything else we could verbalize or conceive.

All we can reasonably imagine is a Primordial Creator which cannot create, or has not created anything yet. And the only way to elucidate such a state, in somewhat intelligible terms, is to describe that Primordial Creator as being "asleep". A conscious entity cannot create anything while it is asleep....
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Re: Is Reality Eternal Or Are We Blind Chance? A Cosmic Para

Post by Chili »

In terms of everything having causes and effects, even the Great Spirit creating the universe is something which could not be prevented, rather than that primal entity being an *agent* which *can* do things. Some eastern thought:

Brahma exhales and creates the universe, then inhales it back within himself.
Why does God create the universe? Just as it is in the nature of water to be wet, so it is God's nature to create the universe.
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