tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53759412028198245202024-03-12T20:58:37.245-04:00The Soul WanderersMary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-36274907752995355612022-07-25T10:51:00.001-04:002022-07-25T10:51:24.951-04:00The best historical fantasy books with captivating natural magic<h2 style="text-align: left;"> New article with amazing book suggestions on historical fantasy with natural magic! These are some of my very favourite books: I hope you'll check them out! Read the article <a href="https://shepherd.com/best-books/historical-fantasy-with-captivating-natural-magic">here</a>.</h2><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgStjl6u5zDwDXgFCslZX8CXsQU1nerUBfqG0Qhmd5kveD1UIWkxwtDeqYnDCDsOl5I7y1Cktegxy80mInisqzTznWj5s-G2NQdjTq2vSqhR8uYal_fGgaZBXTurWciC1ZQ1rRCjat8TnDi8Wfz9v_hL5DZSTbzrbFuxShHCA31KPNRMn0PBs_0Kf5Y/s1008/rxc43yglgzn31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="756" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgStjl6u5zDwDXgFCslZX8CXsQU1nerUBfqG0Qhmd5kveD1UIWkxwtDeqYnDCDsOl5I7y1Cktegxy80mInisqzTznWj5s-G2NQdjTq2vSqhR8uYal_fGgaZBXTurWciC1ZQ1rRCjat8TnDi8Wfz9v_hL5DZSTbzrbFuxShHCA31KPNRMn0PBs_0Kf5Y/s320/rxc43yglgzn31.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-12837356327153214072021-07-15T11:34:00.001-04:002021-07-15T11:34:33.492-04:00<p> My new historical fantasy, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099C8F3HB/" target="_blank">Night of the Immortals</a></i>, is now available on Amazon as an e-book and print book! </p><p><br /></p><p>ZACHARIAS SWANWICK, twenty-one years old and living in 19th century Bristol, England, has discovered a young man named Wyndor from another world. In this world of Erala, starlit beings called Velans dwell. Drawn to the mystery, Zacharias decides to help Wyndor find a Velan object that can return him to Erala and which is currently within a manor owned by a man named Jeremy Lipking. Without this object, Wyndor is slowly dying.</p><p>This object belongs to a group of Chinese spiritual adepts called the Lung Hsieh. Four members have come to Bristol from China to retrieve it and discover how someone could have stolen it when it was so heavily guarded. The presence of this object in the city has drawn Dragon Kings, misty spirits following the Lung Hsieh, to sweep through Bristol. Although they are invisible, they emanate a chilling presence in their wake and have been gaining strength. Jeremy Lipking’s daughter, Arianna, finds herself drawn to one of the members of the Lung Hsieh and pledges herself to help find the object before it is too late.</p><p>Throughout his adventures with Wyndor, Zacharias learns more about the powers inherent in other worlds and dreams, and he comes to make a decision that will change his life forever.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl_dK8zC9rHSCs8rMN2zoXVDtbQLk9hVKj0gA43XKHALI74kqLQ0nzinZQxosVWwj96wBYs9aJrh47aEvZ8QwWyzo5aIegCbzPUUD_1eve5O9dqpYSe2Rklij29SPH-D48wJM2LUhFyog/s2048/Night+of+the+Immortals+-+FOR+DELIVERY+-+REVISED+copy+%25281%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1280" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl_dK8zC9rHSCs8rMN2zoXVDtbQLk9hVKj0gA43XKHALI74kqLQ0nzinZQxosVWwj96wBYs9aJrh47aEvZ8QwWyzo5aIegCbzPUUD_1eve5O9dqpYSe2Rklij29SPH-D48wJM2LUhFyog/w251-h402/Night+of+the+Immortals+-+FOR+DELIVERY+-+REVISED+copy+%25281%2529.png" width="251" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-83684801193413068092018-10-01T10:08:00.003-04:002018-10-01T10:09:32.217-04:00Pre-order Shadows of Aizai - get first book FREE<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiknYzuf_mCq1HFOy3AQ6dFIzQpvmhvLQTSV432qbXj_2phmz63yRfD09GODJhCoQxL036M2ZYueMAQBBZhu-c0i7iMIbGSkUW7ndaOExiNL4P5TKfsvPS1sPOSdZK-qFOH6MZ2t4qBi8o/s1600/shadowsofaizai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiknYzuf_mCq1HFOy3AQ6dFIzQpvmhvLQTSV432qbXj_2phmz63yRfD09GODJhCoQxL036M2ZYueMAQBBZhu-c0i7iMIbGSkUW7ndaOExiNL4P5TKfsvPS1sPOSdZK-qFOH6MZ2t4qBi8o/s400/shadowsofaizai.jpg" width="266" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The sequel to <i>Aizai the Forgotten,</i> <i>Shadows of Aizai</i>, is almost here! If you pre-order an e-book copy from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Aizai-Soul-Wanderers-Fantasy-ebook/dp/B07HGJKD2D" target="_blank">Amazon</a> or <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shadows-of-aizai-mary-jean-harris/1129589230;jsessionid=94660DCF1D705DC4CF5605E7F9C6B428.prodny_store01-atgap13?ean=2940156096244" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a>, send me your order receipt and you will receive a FREE e-book (format of your choice) of the first book, <i>Aizai the Forgotten</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Send receipts to maryjean_harris@yahoo.ca or through <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SoulWanderers/" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-31441655911847671562018-08-02T14:52:00.000-04:002018-08-02T14:52:02.948-04:00The Appeal of Historical Fantasy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixqxIJ2_W8_Vy03AAVg7Qq0eLmUhKQKYnjtVQ-0gan841SQVLHakj1AqrSvd9Oayq99mnVvKfvnx9fJurSjA7nY1K_V4hhhpzlBrCCbp6P3F9IqNfiJOh266o1c9wBs-gDUh5VY7PtDg/s1600/487df35a6421cb09a9102c1d26a15316--warrior-girl-warrior-princess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="736" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiixqxIJ2_W8_Vy03AAVg7Qq0eLmUhKQKYnjtVQ-0gan841SQVLHakj1AqrSvd9Oayq99mnVvKfvnx9fJurSjA7nY1K_V4hhhpzlBrCCbp6P3F9IqNfiJOh266o1c9wBs-gDUh5VY7PtDg/s320/487df35a6421cb09a9102c1d26a15316--warrior-girl-warrior-princess.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Historical fantasy is just what it sounds like: fantasy set in a historical time period. Or you could think of it as a historical tale with fantasy elements. It depends on the author as to which side of the coin they focus on. Personally, in my writing, I usually focus on fantasy and have it take place in a historical setting. This isn't a blog about promoting my writing though; it is about writing in general, and so I'm going to explore why historical fantasy is so appealing compared to, say, high fantasy and urban fantasy. Of course, everyone has different tastes, but for me and many other readers, historical fantasy is our pet.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwMWyvy0G8_p6mFYgs9pT8BRMv_EZ3h9WFwF82hOwbjZHSQusnlzOmw7-Rx2PNhm50Z2rqKKNEfZwn1en2TBui6wS-7UcoCUYBST_TudJGmopEcWVuWKu2tByYV_bHeQqPctk2h_e_d_s/s1600/G3mnsNU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1409" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwMWyvy0G8_p6mFYgs9pT8BRMv_EZ3h9WFwF82hOwbjZHSQusnlzOmw7-Rx2PNhm50Z2rqKKNEfZwn1en2TBui6wS-7UcoCUYBST_TudJGmopEcWVuWKu2tByYV_bHeQqPctk2h_e_d_s/s400/G3mnsNU.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">I find that fantasy often "fits" better when it is written in the past, in a time where things are less known, where people have not yet explored, and where you can't find someone with technology in an instant. The mystery of the past lends itself to the mystery of fantasy, that mystery where you can wonder about something unknown, something magical or wonderful. Most places in the past were uncharted ("terra incognita"), and even if they were known, you could find wide spaces of land where no one has ever been. The mystery of past ages with magic and sorcery and secret philosophies…all these things are very exciting!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">In most urban, contemporary, or futuristic fantasy, some of that mystery is lost. The way the world works is better known, and so what might have once had a mysterious, magical element is lost to a scientific or technological explanation. A streaking fairy light becomes a comet, a scrying mirror becomes Skype. Of course, science fiction has its own sort of wonder and mystery, and this can be blended with fantasy, but there is also a sense of spirituality and higher dimensions of power and the mind that can be explored in fantasy in a different way. This can also be blended with religions and philosophies of the past to create a fantasy that is rooted in ancient cultures. You can reinterpret spiritual principles and see how they can be modified to create a fantasy of your own, a fantasy that seems to grow out of the historical time period in which it takes place. I personally like to do this with philosophy: for instance, the Buddhist philosophy of other worlds and bodhisattvas lends itself immediately to fantasy, as well as Plato's allegory of the cave [that's a hint for Shadows of Aizai!].</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLKtGfm1PREWXMduV1YdADvcY4oU6c72wh7ANt52ZCETROHZYXp8MRB5rnb22YeO7Zs0mhU88l_bIR7gzuqxukH5IL7rKTAXCDjDDuOnghOEkE-oVoOJRaVfnWWZnOhP7X5r7yyJdyd1I/s1600/19.+Lacock+Abbey%252C+Wiltshire+%2528June+15%252C+2013%2529+%252848%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLKtGfm1PREWXMduV1YdADvcY4oU6c72wh7ANt52ZCETROHZYXp8MRB5rnb22YeO7Zs0mhU88l_bIR7gzuqxukH5IL7rKTAXCDjDDuOnghOEkE-oVoOJRaVfnWWZnOhP7X5r7yyJdyd1I/s320/19.+Lacock+Abbey%252C+Wiltshire+%2528June+15%252C+2013%2529+%252848%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">In principle, fantasy can be set in any location: an entirely fantastical land, the present day, and anything in between. All that must be present is magic in some form or other, something beyond that which is explained by science and so-called rational explanations. Although I also love a good high fantasy (fantasy set in another world), perhaps one of the draws of historical fantasy is that if it happens in the world we know, there is a greater sense of reality to it. Of course, we <i>know</i> that the author added fantasy elements to their book, but to have some parts of the story real, like the setting or perhaps some of the characters, gives us an anchor to the world we know and so makes it a mystery to solve about our own world rather than one entirely foreign to us. And if such magic happened in the past, then why not now, in the present? It is all part of being put under a spell by the author's writing, being led into their world that, in many ways, resembles the historical past, but also includes fantastic elements that draw the reader to a sense of wonder and possibility of magic not only in the characters' lives, but in our own.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Some of my favourite historical fantasy novels are Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy (actually 4 books, but whatever), The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Opal, The Invisible Order by Paul Crilley, The Once and Future King series by T.H. White, The Crown's Game series by Evelyn Skye, and Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy (also actually 4 books).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Though you can draw inspiration from historical novels too, especially the Classics. For example, you can't do much better than read Alexandre Dumas' Musketeers series (there are 5 books in all) and The Count of Monte Cristo. If you think Game of Thrones is thick with plots, intrigue, and many point of view characters, then take a look at Monte Cristo. It's definitely one of my all-time favourite books.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Qm3dqBSIrmo7my0a07T6o3fdCF9iXLUYyvgWFb6Kh8JNafjaRHnm6nMslPpWIeybb5pw-PiltBTlJn8OGtMnmMxAxQkM_7Ud8IFiVGJ04EpCXbboJPedj8flcJ3gXp-tG91XRLfvu-E/s1600/fantasy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="1280" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Qm3dqBSIrmo7my0a07T6o3fdCF9iXLUYyvgWFb6Kh8JNafjaRHnm6nMslPpWIeybb5pw-PiltBTlJn8OGtMnmMxAxQkM_7Ud8IFiVGJ04EpCXbboJPedj8flcJ3gXp-tG91XRLfvu-E/s320/fantasy.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So when you read your next historical fantasy book, try to imagine the general story being told in another setting. Would it be possible, or is the story so tied to the setting that it would be out of place in another time or location? If the answer is no, it is not possible, then that is what true historical fantasy is about: fantasy <i>tied</i> to the historical time period to make it real and to bring the plot alive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-46175266489524276402018-05-20T16:42:00.000-04:002018-05-20T16:42:21.701-04:00Quotes of Wisdom: the Tao of Reversals<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpB8Zn_OgQUdeHQwkX4pPQLDhXuEPCMfYSWgRz5NaYfiZabwAFL-upgbCLm5-8rpBljd4rqv2SMIm6OAv8MD8jkhTmR94IyrRN2P6OyHdRKUOPjITbnEycoRohEFNtXVltbhLLSn9c6d0/s1600/344b4bba6b72be6f6ce6adca8bcd72d4910e3ed8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="230" data-original-width="306" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpB8Zn_OgQUdeHQwkX4pPQLDhXuEPCMfYSWgRz5NaYfiZabwAFL-upgbCLm5-8rpBljd4rqv2SMIm6OAv8MD8jkhTmR94IyrRN2P6OyHdRKUOPjITbnEycoRohEFNtXVltbhLLSn9c6d0/s200/344b4bba6b72be6f6ce6adca8bcd72d4910e3ed8.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium;">One
of the greatest religions and philosophies is Taoism, an ancient philosophy initiated
in China by the teachings of many sages, the most famous of whom was Lao Tzu. There
is so much amazing philosophy in Taoism, but for today, I’ll just look at the
concept of reversals, as illustrated in this quote:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">From
Lao Tzu’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67896.Tao_Te_Ching" target="_blank">Tao Te Ching</a> </i>(6<sup>th</sup>
century B.C.):<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“The sage, putting himself in the background,
is always to the fore. Remaining outside, he is always there. Is it not just
because he does not strive for any personal end, that all his personal ends are
fulfilled?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirKbkLnDHg6MM1Lb4Uk1PYAD238mJasS1EJqs9ik8wN2kv5IUeHXqlqt1Ktl0xsxUCNb8nlFEIHZ_l8cjvELi5UCr2U_0TRMubRab8Cnu0Br4mwE4YG2KD_7bVZ6GTEDqDQhMsCnk1qhE/s1600/puppypacks-lifestyle-700x649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="700" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirKbkLnDHg6MM1Lb4Uk1PYAD238mJasS1EJqs9ik8wN2kv5IUeHXqlqt1Ktl0xsxUCNb8nlFEIHZ_l8cjvELi5UCr2U_0TRMubRab8Cnu0Br4mwE4YG2KD_7bVZ6GTEDqDQhMsCnk1qhE/s320/puppypacks-lifestyle-700x649.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The
basic principle in the universe according to Taoism is, of course, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tao</i>. Although it isn’t possible to understand
the Tao with discursive thinking (sequential thoughts one after another), we
can get at least some idea of what it is by describing it as the source of all
being. It is not being itself, and so is nonbeing. It is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“the beginning of Heaven and Earth.”</b> There is nothing that is not
within the Tao, yet the Tao cannot be described as any particular thing. Thus, it
is not correct to call it by any name, because we can only name things that are
determinate with certain qualities. For example, we can call a certain creature
a dog if it has the nose, ears, tail, etc. characteristic of dogs, but the Tao
has no such characteristics. Thus, it is only called the “Tao” as a way of
identifying it, though “it” is not really a thing at all. To grasp it fully
would mean transcending thought and existence as we know it: becoming one with
it and so becoming one with everything in the universe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">One
important principle that a potential sage must understand before they are able
to achieve such enlightenment the law of reversals. In nature, we see reversals
happening all the time: the seasons, going from hot to cold and wet to dry; a
thrown stone going to is maximum height then falling to its lowest point on the
earth. This also happens in the human world: people and nations rising to a
height of power and then collapsing to destruction. Such reversals are all in
accordance with the Tao and the laws of the universe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0UPj0PeaP71KU90puqRksPcgv9ZhteTdMM7J3ZTZXuYK5rKByZS8Yh54Yy2D84AJk7NeMmfjglTCBtcd0vaJ5-5axaO2ep_IBff8nAx51cey74E5VKDAhde6P8NKQCmNWURnMmd-qGI/s1600/304376.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="500" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0UPj0PeaP71KU90puqRksPcgv9ZhteTdMM7J3ZTZXuYK5rKByZS8Yh54Yy2D84AJk7NeMmfjglTCBtcd0vaJ5-5axaO2ep_IBff8nAx51cey74E5VKDAhde6P8NKQCmNWURnMmd-qGI/s320/304376.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The
knowledge that both times of turmoil and times of bounty will not last can help
to bring wisdom when we accept them as facts of life. It will bring us hope in
our darkest times, and it will help us remain modest and not given in to hubris
in times of triumph. The true sage does not let him or herself be carried away
by the events of the world, the “wheel of fortune” that is ever turning and
changing the fates of everyone from the lowliest beggar to the most exalted
king. Unlike most of the people caught up in striving to attain their own ends,
as we saw in the quote, the sage does not strive for any of this. Yet he still
attains his personal ends. How is this possible?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Well,
how many times have we striven to our utmost to achieve something, fighting our
way to our goal, only to fall short? This could be the very problem, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fighting</i> to get it, which is unnatural,
rather than flowing along a more natural route that is in accordance with our
natures as human beings. Of course, with the constant flux of fortunes due to
the laws of the world, it is not possible for anyone, not even a sage, to
always get what they want, but it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is </i>possible
to turn the balance to be successful more often than not. The sage does not
want to obtain riches, but to live tranquilly and benefit others. Such
objectives are in accordance with the nature of human beings, and so we should
not have to fight to get them. If we do not act with artificiality, we can achieve
much and not tire ourselves out with unnatural action. This is the idea of “no
action” espoused by Taoists: it is not about doing nothing, but doing nothing
that is contrary to nature, both human nature and the nature of the world
around us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">We
are also told: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Diminish a thing and it
will increase. Increase a thing and it will diminish.”</b> This may sound paradoxical,
but if we think about it in terms of the law of reversals, it makes more sense:
when something reaches its extreme, it will head in the other direction. A tree
starts as a tiny seed, it progresses to grow upward as it matures, and then
when it reaches old age, it becomes weaker and is more prone to decay and destruction
by natural events. It will then decompose and the cycle will start again. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqphiaSRXBox9_ZWhyRUWY0B_EzrQzy5Ug3_GHDYRlFSOnm8OVbzXvDe-0oe5thSfLyD4wXCeRM6j4kYTcJEKYkNOQNRi7Q3BO_hfe0W_vpFdiVfo3jD5ncEQfhSK5Bg5OouRlAlhd4Io/s1600/Taoist_Priest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="347" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqphiaSRXBox9_ZWhyRUWY0B_EzrQzy5Ug3_GHDYRlFSOnm8OVbzXvDe-0oe5thSfLyD4wXCeRM6j4kYTcJEKYkNOQNRi7Q3BO_hfe0W_vpFdiVfo3jD5ncEQfhSK5Bg5OouRlAlhd4Io/s320/Taoist_Priest.jpg" width="277" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">When
it comes to human beings, what exactly constitutes one’s “limit” is up to
interpretation. If, for example, we believe that we are rich and famous and at
the pinnacle of our achievements, this arrogance will set a limit in itself: from
here, the only place to go is downward. If instead we are humble and do not let
ourselves be consumed with greed and arrogance, we will be able to attain more.
If we are meek and preserve our strength, we will be able to be strong: if you
already think yourself to be a strong person, why would you try to improve? This
does not mean that we should be discontent with what we have, but to recognize
our own failings and so leave room for improvement. If we don’t think we can
improve, we will not, because our mind will set up a barrier to any further
improvement. If you believe that something is possible, and if it is in accordance
with the laws of the world, it will be. If we have too many desires, we will go
against our natures in attempts to fulfill them, and so will easily be
discontent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So
by living in accordance with the law of reversals, we can achieve a more
tranquil life, taking a step toward understanding the Tao and uniting with it,
the ultimate goal of the sage. What may seem like paradoxes are often great
truths, such as “The conquest of the world comes invariably from doing nothing.”
When we realize that our nature requires only simplicity, we can come closer to
achieving a truer source of happiness and fulfillment.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-39444988120935148552018-04-17T11:28:00.000-04:002018-04-17T11:42:51.794-04:00Quotes of Wisdom: The Mind of the Stoic<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi68ef4kOEgF_O3dL1hPcN1enASuX_YNYR-r_5FT9qtN6AhgA9zHwNTWQ_qERuuxHojflxOdFgylwbeXEBXNqSnMS12l_IdD_VQeAyEc8cfpYBIKWruAy3VEjJ4jVMV2X-IyENUl7mty8k/s1600/Marcus_Aurelius_Metropolitan_Museum.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="561" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi68ef4kOEgF_O3dL1hPcN1enASuX_YNYR-r_5FT9qtN6AhgA9zHwNTWQ_qERuuxHojflxOdFgylwbeXEBXNqSnMS12l_IdD_VQeAyEc8cfpYBIKWruAy3VEjJ4jVMV2X-IyENUl7mty8k/s320/Marcus_Aurelius_Metropolitan_Museum.png" width="258" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote a wonderful set of Stoic meditations, and although they have been compiled into a book, they had originally been intended for himself to practice </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">in his daily life. I recently finished reading the book and there are so many amazing parts of it, but I'll just pick one main </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">quote to focus on for today.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-style: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;">From Marcus Aurelius's </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30659.Meditations" target="_blank">Meditations </a></i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">(~161 - 180 AD):</span></span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Keep this refuge in mind: the back roads of your self. Above all, no strain and no stress. Be straightforward. Look at things like a man, like a human being, like a citizen, like a mortal. And among the things you turn to, these two:</span></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">i) That things have no hold on the soul. They stand there unmoving, outside it. Disturbance comes only from within--from our own perceptions.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">ii) T</span></b><span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; text-align: justify; text-indent: 48px;"><b>hat everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist. Think of how many changes you've already seen."</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; text-align: justify; text-indent: 48px;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizA7lv2F5_NC0KZfT-OUJ9QBaFQFNvf3FMlwjrplqXlXF7M5HUiAHXALnGY_H844Fi57eKZFAR_wXKfNYtCC3nuGKhRNz1fC1aYBzRteGziGpo0Egu40UAr1rA9irkH_o-t9iBju1iJIg/s1600/stoic2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-weight: 400; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="207" data-original-width="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizA7lv2F5_NC0KZfT-OUJ9QBaFQFNvf3FMlwjrplqXlXF7M5HUiAHXALnGY_H844Fi57eKZFAR_wXKfNYtCC3nuGKhRNz1fC1aYBzRteGziGpo0Egu40UAr1rA9irkH_o-t9iBju1iJIg/s1600/stoic2.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I'm not going to get into any historical details about Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism, but if you're interested I'd definitely suggest looking it up. There's a lot in the quote, but the heart of it is really simple. All the events that happen around us are no more than sensations and events: they have no real value apart from what we give them. <b>"Disturbance comes only from within"</b>: it is the importance that we ascribe to them that causes us to be stressed, angry, or grieved. The truth is that things just <i>happen</i>. The world follows natural laws and we have very little control over our surroundings and the actions of others. What we <i>do</i> have control over is our mind. We can control our own actions and how we view the world. If we see the world fraught with emotions, with the ability to cause us pain, fear, happiness, etc, rather than bare sensations to make of as we will, then we will be constantly plagued by the vicissitudes of the world.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtFSAf8aR_xyqeXP-60hO9m265w355tiF7G9TyKfpox_w7-roSs6u9EGBblUDO9yhcumatQkOwOsT0emewFXd6Y8oQzumTHSC9n746Zaokqf46GYCi-_WxhcKUbZ3NNLKATrgEnJwLJYA/s1600/running-injury-prevention-certification--large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtFSAf8aR_xyqeXP-60hO9m265w355tiF7G9TyKfpox_w7-roSs6u9EGBblUDO9yhcumatQkOwOsT0emewFXd6Y8oQzumTHSC9n746Zaokqf46GYCi-_WxhcKUbZ3NNLKATrgEnJwLJYA/s1600/running-injury-prevention-certification--large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="718" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtFSAf8aR_xyqeXP-60hO9m265w355tiF7G9TyKfpox_w7-roSs6u9EGBblUDO9yhcumatQkOwOsT0emewFXd6Y8oQzumTHSC9n746Zaokqf46GYCi-_WxhcKUbZ3NNLKATrgEnJwLJYA/s320/running-injury-prevention-certification--large.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">For example, let's say you break your leg. There is real pain--that is a sensation of the body which we can't control--but to look on it as a tragedy, or at least, a huge inconvenience, and to remain bitter that you can't go out and do things while others enjoy the summer, arises from our minds. We can choose not to experience these feelings: we can't choose to be unbothered by the pain of our broken leg: it's an event that has already happened and we can't change the past. But we can accept it, and move on to more important things. Something else Marcus said about pain is that <b>"pain is neither unbearable nor unending, as long as you keep in mind its limits and don't magnify them in your imagination"</b>--quite true, because in the scheme of things, this little experience is neither important nor long-lasting. Even if it was long-lasting, there is still no need let it affect you because there is nothing you can do to change it and to let it sap both your physical <i>and</i> mental energies is not necessary.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_cZ6bvH5eZ55B1YHoosARp0x2fxvU1EPqGftmGFORYX-0M_0ptRZiD_3PFpnN36ergNB75_QoVdYuAuLth1t5xtNlRV7DM6sFEwO3Vr4DzPS5VD1_raOjxDQL54xdnjHFZFR8LAg_5AY/s1600/ea57af2c673790fed31bc29800897722--christmas-cartoons-christmas-humor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="250" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_cZ6bvH5eZ55B1YHoosARp0x2fxvU1EPqGftmGFORYX-0M_0ptRZiD_3PFpnN36ergNB75_QoVdYuAuLth1t5xtNlRV7DM6sFEwO3Vr4DzPS5VD1_raOjxDQL54xdnjHFZFR8LAg_5AY/s200/ea57af2c673790fed31bc29800897722--christmas-cartoons-christmas-humor.jpg" width="140" /></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What is worth keeping in mind are these three keys: </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: medium; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><b>"Objective judgement...unselfish action...willing acceptance...of all external events."</b> In the case of pain, the objective judgement says that you can't change the past, so there is no benefit in feeling any negative emotions toward it. The unselfish action is to not affect others by your pain, and the best way to do that is to not be disturbed by it yourself, since we all know that the state of our minds affects the people around us. And lastly, the most important part, is willing acceptance of <i>all</i> external events--good or bad. It is only by accepting what we <i>can't </i>change that we can focus on what we <i>can</i> and so actually succeed in life. It's about placing importance on things that matter. It might even be helpful to make a list of things we can't change and things we can, just to put things into perspective. Because when it comes down to it, what we can change is within our mind--our outlook--and what we can't is everything else that happen around us. To be able to go from saying <b>"It's unfortunate that this has happened" </b>to <b>"It's fortunate that this has happened and I've remained unharmed by it--not shattered by the present or frightened of the future. It could have happened to anyone. But not everyone could have remained unharmed by it...the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune."</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdeXWm2OugBAj87nO-cdTEZEnELIYOsnqsloocckiZQU3rr74IfnfDPH8jKC3VG3fET2ZX3xzR8vBwxR3Is90JeryubdQcUkLmMu-VXS26dy8h5zyO67VFnth3Jrnpr1BZEASFx10ricg/s1600/4289905.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdeXWm2OugBAj87nO-cdTEZEnELIYOsnqsloocckiZQU3rr74IfnfDPH8jKC3VG3fET2ZX3xzR8vBwxR3Is90JeryubdQcUkLmMu-VXS26dy8h5zyO67VFnth3Jrnpr1BZEASFx10ricg/s200/4289905.jpg" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">In order to actually carry these practices out, what is important is to have strength of mind. The strength to see things for what they are and not get blown away by the unexpected, or even the dreaded expected. To <b>"no longer be shocked by everyday events--as if they were unheard-of aberrations." </b>If we see things in the light of their significance, and <b>"that everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist," </b>then we will not cling to the impermanent, will not lament about the ever-changing fortunes of the world that come your way. These basic principles of Stoicism are the same as Buddhism: if we cling to the impermanent, we will suffer, and the only way to go beyond that is to develop a strength of mind which, in the Stoic case, is focused on knowledge and clarity of thinking, and in the Buddhist case, on meditation and enlightenment, though they both overlap: Stoics can strive for enlightenment and Buddhists develop intellectual skills as well. They also both focus on the fact that the place of an individual is in society so that he or she can help others, a universal duty for everyone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2qgn174zDaeMKeXm6d6e8JKtDIS5_XRaViYKeUQqdtt0AfynPVE4Vcrb3WEFIOkUhZ4MkwhmXRRVqmXmYqtNbD5AhSCZLshO7LdktygWgI646Otpwa3vYRQanHfmS8AwkB9jp6bNHMs/s1600/339640-water-nature-landscape-sea-waves-rock-clouds-splashes-748x421.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="748" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2qgn174zDaeMKeXm6d6e8JKtDIS5_XRaViYKeUQqdtt0AfynPVE4Vcrb3WEFIOkUhZ4MkwhmXRRVqmXmYqtNbD5AhSCZLshO7LdktygWgI646Otpwa3vYRQanHfmS8AwkB9jp6bNHMs/s320/339640-water-nature-landscape-sea-waves-rock-clouds-splashes-748x421.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">I hope that this little bit of Marcus Aurelius's philosophy can help inspire you in your daily life. Even just a little shift of mind and perspective can lead to great effects, so that eventually, we can <b>"be like the rock that waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it."</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[*I also have another <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/2016/06/quotes-of-wisdom-being-stoic-philosopher.html" target="_blank">Stoic post</a> from last year that builds off similar ideas.]</span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-89000217309558607972018-02-06T20:26:00.001-05:002018-04-17T09:41:23.144-04:00Quotes of Wisdom: Mind-Centers<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-czKdffaEQpCp5dEp7iezC2dI1Lq6OqbskrDWN5Cunc8x57aBrTX4VH9FMI1BTalXa7AEG6-PVNw8CohRcasYGBSqONlqQGclCYkTeqJ28RyqfVdB8SNS4vOdMAoxqdKNrR4Ary5zRoA/s1600/listening-to-your-gut-instincts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-czKdffaEQpCp5dEp7iezC2dI1Lq6OqbskrDWN5Cunc8x57aBrTX4VH9FMI1BTalXa7AEG6-PVNw8CohRcasYGBSqONlqQGclCYkTeqJ28RyqfVdB8SNS4vOdMAoxqdKNrR4Ary5zRoA/s320/listening-to-your-gut-instincts.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">When we try to understand what the
universe and people <i>really</i> are, we come
up against a stumbling block. We can understand that we and the world around us
are physically made of particles, but the fundamental nature of these building blocks
still eludes us. What is a particle really? What is a thought, and how is it
connected to the matter making up our bodies? We can certainly find
correspondences with thoughts to certain parts of our brain, but they might be
no more than impressions that the mind, which we cannot really understand,
exerts on the body. I’ve recently been reading a book that addresses some of these
issues, and that’s what I’ll quote from today. It’s quite an ambitious book: the
author says in the preface that the goal of his work is to “harmonize the <i>revelation</i> of the Spirit and the faith
of the Christ with <i>science</i>,” and that
if he succeeds in this task, he shall “reveal the mystery of all religion, the
key to all scientific knowledge, and shall unveil the mystery of life and the means
by which men may conquer death and thus be saved and become saviors of the
people from the cause of their suffering and death.” (!) That’s probably the
most ambitious goal of a book I’ve ever read, but even if it falls short of its
goal, which I’m nearly certain it will, it’s still an illuminating book that’s
worth reading!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">From H.E. Butler’s </span><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;">The Goal of Life, or Science and Revelation </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">(1908):</span><br />
<b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-US">“If…all is mind and
all is the product of the Creative Word, then we are compelled to recognize in
all these activities of the universe the functioning of mind."</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">Whatever force or god created the universe,
there was at one point in time a beginning, and, in the quote above, it is expressed
as the ‘Creative Word.’ Butler also says that </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;">“the will being simply a force acting in obedience to the thought, and
thought being form and order, then, to the end that there may be order in any
form, there must be a mind to direct the force, for in all nature’s activity
order is the direct manifestation of the mind.”</b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;"> Such a center of activity,
called a “mind-center|, contains a will, a center from which action and
organization emerges in the world around it. This is a kind of force comparable
to the physical force of, say, gravity, except to control it involves a highly
developed mind that can understand itself and the thoughts and wills around it.
Of course, as humans we cannot simply change things by willing it (not usually,
at least), but higher beings may be able to connect to the world directly with
their minds and could be certainly be these “mind-centers” from which real
change can occur. From here, it isn’t a huge step to extrapolate to see that
God can be thought of as a mind-center as well, the mind-center from which such
lesser mind-centers originated.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYD2neoTMJAYrKmZe1Rnk7SS2-VU-gKa8NiqCWNisggLBkjPy-fLMQ49RFQLjPhWyWtd2CH8Tmx0iuS297Q-V9pWMHZYEpkGc5GjpzkHRZLbIqvjAyO0Acw4hItxpxCvrc7C4BBPfUEkM/s1600/220021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="898" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYD2neoTMJAYrKmZe1Rnk7SS2-VU-gKa8NiqCWNisggLBkjPy-fLMQ49RFQLjPhWyWtd2CH8Tmx0iuS297Q-V9pWMHZYEpkGc5GjpzkHRZLbIqvjAyO0Acw4hItxpxCvrc7C4BBPfUEkM/s320/220021.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">Butler says that this is the origin of the
phrase in the Bible that “God created man in his own image.” If, then, God
created the universe and we are his image, then everything is a kind of
“mind-element” of God. So, to a lesser degree, we as mind-centers can also
create “universes,” as could other intelligent beings on other worlds. Butler
also says that </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;">“the bodies of these
humanities are mind-centers brought into manifestation by their controlling
center which holds in unity all its worlds, controls every action and keeps
them ever revolving through space around itself, their governing center.” </b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">So
we have something like a fractal: we are mind-centers who were created by a
greater mind center (the “controlling center” in the quote above), and after a
sufficient period of evolution, we too may be able to create a lower level of
mind-centers. And going the other way, the god that created us might just be one
of many mind-centers created by a higher god, and so on. Indeed, Butler talks
about the </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;">Elohim</b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">, who are
enlightened individuals who have attained union with God and who created our
world and possibly others. He talks a lot about the existence of other worlds,
and looks at the possibility that other planets in the universe harbor life.
Regarding the Elohim, he says that </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;">“they
have reached heights of attainment so far beyond the possibility of our
conception that they have become the Creators, Preservers and Rulers, not of
this earth alone, but probably of the whole solar system.”</b><br />
<b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></b>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDayKcZy3_fj12Pw_R5wtH6aLTbCOSeughmshG-sZKtdHOd2QKY73UgDsdYQTEkq6X5300GZVGQHjtK2lbpGlQBaRGabVpULpNOdZ-AADbKQ59wpySuef1FwxoH18DpE3GSL3iknKPZb0/s1600/a-500x500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-indent: 48px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="500" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDayKcZy3_fj12Pw_R5wtH6aLTbCOSeughmshG-sZKtdHOd2QKY73UgDsdYQTEkq6X5300GZVGQHjtK2lbpGlQBaRGabVpULpNOdZ-AADbKQ59wpySuef1FwxoH18DpE3GSL3iknKPZb0/s320/a-500x500.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">By turning our “thought and aspiration” toward
what is above us and to be “able to give free expression to the life that
animates” them, we can truly become an image of the Elohim, to possess true
free will to be able to recreate not just ourselves but the world around us. For</span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"> “the life of man is the same life—on a
lower plane—as that which animates Yahveh Elohim [this is the Elohim].”</b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">
There is the microcosm and the macrocosm: our personal world around us as well
as the universe of which we are a part. Ultimately, they reflect each other:
the same laws of the universe and the structures within it exist on all levels.
Although the book is primarily philosophical and religious, we can see this in
science as well: in quantum mechanics, the physics of the very tiny atoms that
make up all matter and energy, experiments have shown that we can influence
matter with our thoughts, and although at this stage it is in a very primitive
sense, such as influencing the outcome on a random number generator to give
higher or lower results, or having patterns in water reflect our emotions, it
is the first step in evolving to be more like creators of our world rather than
just inhabitants within it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nqv6N8tqlpij4M0dKdwBQ-ZebwhOeVxlIacFjV5v_1Lzy7Vnju_vOgUvGQi2mivDRQAh4ljkWhwBzcI1ZjYZgLT0qDJr4gL8q6h4zzfbkc0HzapWjIgTqu4H-CeVeMtlO0tMllc7gyc/s1600/fea-video-gam-controller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-indent: 48px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1000" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nqv6N8tqlpij4M0dKdwBQ-ZebwhOeVxlIacFjV5v_1Lzy7Vnju_vOgUvGQi2mivDRQAh4ljkWhwBzcI1ZjYZgLT0qDJr4gL8q6h4zzfbkc0HzapWjIgTqu4H-CeVeMtlO0tMllc7gyc/s320/fea-video-gam-controller.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">Once
people reach a sufficient state of </span><i style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;">knowing</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">,
of understanding the laws of the universe, both those that govern the physical and
spiritual worlds, they may be able to transcend these laws. If we understand
how something works, our species can eventually evolve to go beyond it. This is
the same as when you learn anything: you master a certain level in, say, a video
game, then you can go to the next one where entirely new opportunities arise
that you couldn’t have imagined while on the previous level. This is reminiscent
of the cycle of worlds in esoteric Buddhism (I talked about it in a </span><a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/2016/12/quotes-of-wisdom-buddhist-cycle-of.html" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;" target="_blank">previous post</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">), and also in Butler’s book, there is specific mention of “higher planets”
and “the elder worlds” that have already evolved to this higher state and are
untraceable to us now. For if they are so advanced and spiritual, they could be
beyond the physical senses we possess, i.e. </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;">“There may be worlds that have become so spiritualized as to be beyond
the perception of worlds upon lower planes of existence.</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfd1IJSv6j0DlhZonQVQmWr0XNDXm-Us9FhA0ijUX8Bht0RdhnziIpaAWdoypoEEwIqmF0RQGkZB5O3fG_mjom4zYflpVkwEU2g6ylW5Wo70iaeDn5_n4ZsHFY4aGTaVepYCJefkcbt64/s1600/the-darkness-inside-your-mind-reveals-the-light-paulo-zerbato.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 48px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="677" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfd1IJSv6j0DlhZonQVQmWr0XNDXm-Us9FhA0ijUX8Bht0RdhnziIpaAWdoypoEEwIqmF0RQGkZB5O3fG_mjom4zYflpVkwEU2g6ylW5Wo70iaeDn5_n4ZsHFY4aGTaVepYCJefkcbt64/s320/the-darkness-inside-your-mind-reveals-the-light-paulo-zerbato.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">So returning to the quote, every law, every
world, in the universe is an expression of the thoughts of a higher being:
possibly the highest God or a less powerful god who created this universe rather
than all of existence. And if all things, including us as well as matter, are
all thoughts, then we are all connected in this web, something of a cosmic mind
that exists at a higher level of reality. Whether any of this is true probably can’t
be determined until we take further steps along our evolution not only as human
beings, but spiritual beings living in a universe that we can come to understand
and ultimately control. But eventually, I think it is very likely that we
shall.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-32364245631392749242018-01-27T13:36:00.001-05:002018-01-27T13:36:10.663-05:00Aizai Auidobook<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbte2UkcNjmpsnKOFp3J9ITZZVOAAvdPzKTlJBhGDF3f2lygiWyKib0H3ZwIouOKtnyRfd0DFn6pntucJaGU3PntGt1C3-7r03wAaaFnZ7eG6gXrSjP6YIpg3y-8YLUM1pYKQ8ZIvVHUU/s1600/AzaitheForgotten1600x2400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbte2UkcNjmpsnKOFp3J9ITZZVOAAvdPzKTlJBhGDF3f2lygiWyKib0H3ZwIouOKtnyRfd0DFn6pntucJaGU3PntGt1C3-7r03wAaaFnZ7eG6gXrSjP6YIpg3y-8YLUM1pYKQ8ZIvVHUU/s320/AzaitheForgotten1600x2400.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">At long last, Aizai the Forgotten is now an audiobook! It is available on Audible and Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Aizai-the-Forgotten/dp/B0798XFBSQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1517077740&sr=1-1&keywords=aizai" target="_blank">here</a>. I'm also giving away free review copies, so if anyone is interested in reviewing the audio, please send me an email (maryjean_harris@yahoo.ca)!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Thanks!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">~Mary-Jean</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-32589638232848573892018-01-25T12:10:00.000-05:002018-01-25T12:10:05.621-05:00Perilous Fantasy Novella is now available<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcYXr0xF6HmDMs1XaIynUKKZrCYVUt2yy2wyx94xMZYizxLdxf89_RCm8WQIGGPWFE_7Bay0zY9WftMoWn87yGmk3oy-RCxqCNIqVmtbhAlBZHTwBOYanE8DaAQAfwCTH7msViigf3BIg/s1600/3D+Perilous.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="334" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcYXr0xF6HmDMs1XaIynUKKZrCYVUt2yy2wyx94xMZYizxLdxf89_RCm8WQIGGPWFE_7Bay0zY9WftMoWn87yGmk3oy-RCxqCNIqVmtbhAlBZHTwBOYanE8DaAQAfwCTH7msViigf3BIg/s320/3D+Perilous.jpg" width="201" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">My novella Perilous, an Arthurian story told from the Holy Grail's point of view, is now available to read! You can get a copy here: https://kellan-publishing.selz.com/item/perilous</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-79711828874064336652018-01-04T12:01:00.000-05:002018-01-04T12:01:52.850-05:00Stoic Wisdom from Marcus Aurelius<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4n4XguyxixPbPjI9U5iSYMeBzVlow7i41kfCYV8xWI29BGC07gnN-Vk9CkcMO0LqBdvmXqisWGkhdFtF0DeRNnC9xKJmj7qLvXU6tK-Vj0agBs4DiCS_GApm8T-LvV2Nw26-fakNO6ok/s1600/21626108._SX540_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="540" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4n4XguyxixPbPjI9U5iSYMeBzVlow7i41kfCYV8xWI29BGC07gnN-Vk9CkcMO0LqBdvmXqisWGkhdFtF0DeRNnC9xKJmj7qLvXU6tK-Vj0agBs4DiCS_GApm8T-LvV2Nw26-fakNO6ok/s320/21626108._SX540_.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Today I'd like to share a passage from Marcus Aurelius's <i>Meditations </i>that is particularly insightful (Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher). </span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium;">I'm not going to explain it or talk about it because it's self-explanatory, though certainly very useful:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">From <i>Meditations</i>, Book Nine, 42:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>"When you run up against someone else's shamelessness, ask yourself this: Is a world without shameless people possible?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>No.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Then don't ask the impossible. There have to be shameless people in the world. This is one of them.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>The same for someone vicious or untrustworthy, or with any other defect. Remembering that the whole class has to exist will make you more tolerant of its members.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Another useful point to bear in mind: What qualities has nature given us to counter that defect? As an antidote to unkindness it gave us kindness. And other qualities to balance other flaws.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>And when others stray off course, you can always try to set them straight, because every wrongdoer is doing something wrong--doing something the <i>wrong way.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>And how does it injure you anyway? You'll find that none of the people you're upset about has done anything that could do damage to your mind. But that's all that "harm" or "injury" could mean. Yes, boorish people do boorish things. What's so strange or unheard-of about that? Isn't it yourself you should reproach--for not anticipating that they'd act this way? The </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">logos</i><b> gave you the means to see it--that a given person would act a given way--but you paid no attention. And now you're astonished that he's gone and done it. So when you call someone 'untrustworthy' or 'ungrateful,' turn the reproach on yourself. It was </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">you</i><b> who did wrong. By assuming that someone with those traits deserved your trust. Or by doing them a favor and expecting something in return, instead of looking to the action itself for your reward. What else did you expect from helping someone out? Isn't it enough that you've done what your nature demands? You want a salary for it too? As if your eyes expected a reward for seeing, or your feet for walking. That's what they were made for. By doing what they were designed to do, they're performing their function. Whereas humans were made to help others. And when we do help others--or help them to do something--we're doing what we were designed for. We perform our function."</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-59647674173986225862017-12-26T10:30:00.000-05:002018-03-23T12:15:39.848-04:00Perilous Novella<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit1Vcx5XBz_hCpyU278RqAxFlB0iNyWR7QL6qSTTl3xjDObBWz5C05TzR2yHP8wJQaQrQGcX_5sbLgQ8estFnAIEGMwDsRBGrFCK7h0GbIJ7BUr_RbEpPdiRqJOgBh7F3o4EuHaoU6eqs/s1600/Perilous.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1020" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit1Vcx5XBz_hCpyU278RqAxFlB0iNyWR7QL6qSTTl3xjDObBWz5C05TzR2yHP8wJQaQrQGcX_5sbLgQ8estFnAIEGMwDsRBGrFCK7h0GbIJ7BUr_RbEpPdiRqJOgBh7F3o4EuHaoU6eqs/s400/Perilous.jpg" width="255" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">In just under a month, my fantasy novella <b>Perilous </b>will be available to read. You can pre-order it <a href="https://kellan-publishing.selz.com/item/perilous" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>What's the novella about?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">It follows the history of the Sangreal (the </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Holy Grail</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">) from the Sangreal's point of view. It is a spirit trapped inside a jewel forged by the Archangel Lucifer and fallen to Earth during the war in Heaven. Perilous is primarily an Arthurian story, following the half-Archangels Merlin and Nimue whose lives become tied to the Sangreal and the fate of the kingdom.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-70758490931600632932017-12-19T12:55:00.001-05:002017-12-19T17:08:46.241-05:00Quotes of Wisdom: Grand Unified Theories<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">In
a previous blog entry, I quoted from <i>The
Anthropic Cosmological Principle,</i> and today, I’ll look at something else in
the book, since it’s a really fascinating book with lots in it (though you don’t
have to have read the previous post to understand this):<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">From <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218097.The_Anthropic_Cosmological_Principle" target="_blank">The Anthropic Cosmological Principle</a> </i>by John
Barrow and Frank Tipler (1988):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAiEIgSi6eHe4eFGxMhMIucQpTkWtytctPR84RvNXL_6mbPJjoa0NMGnsBGF1m0xVzP6pG-3077jCf4u5tAoOhDBbDX7P-8aLYBJ-mnqczwY9ubK_AMpVK5thFS5yaGP-fmgLU-2Xw6UA/s1600/Fundamental-Forces-higgs-boson-exist-HSW.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="360" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAiEIgSi6eHe4eFGxMhMIucQpTkWtytctPR84RvNXL_6mbPJjoa0NMGnsBGF1m0xVzP6pG-3077jCf4u5tAoOhDBbDX7P-8aLYBJ-mnqczwY9ubK_AMpVK5thFS5yaGP-fmgLU-2Xw6UA/s200/Fundamental-Forces-higgs-boson-exist-HSW.gif" width="200" /></a><b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“Unified
theories also show us why we observe the World to be governed by a variety of ‘fundamental’
forces of apparently differing strengths: inevitably we must inhabit a
low-temperature world…and at these low energies the underlying symmetry of the
World is hidden.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5375941202819824520" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMSEJ_eiHq8f7yutuOFvfLrK6ariiR3lfSEFcPxZgxKbTdR1kPJMg42C1jDjriJLQ4S_1fuqSBk1Le8AhABcuFP7YVVFKa_Xq22xxMWBhRXaXD5VUp-VKjKqhpioZe2o4I0A1m7VxrAU0/s1600/grand-unification-cutlery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="493" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMSEJ_eiHq8f7yutuOFvfLrK6ariiR3lfSEFcPxZgxKbTdR1kPJMg42C1jDjriJLQ4S_1fuqSBk1Le8AhABcuFP7YVVFKa_Xq22xxMWBhRXaXD5VUp-VKjKqhpioZe2o4I0A1m7VxrAU0/s320/grand-unification-cutlery.jpg" width="282" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Before getting into the real idea of this, this picture gives the basic idea of what we'll be looking at:</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdL0_BWM6xT9uTkhXyRGYtuBY2l65V7NSZoFymrDIplReGZ00VNQDi2uzAzErJ0E5EC766Lc1DhSemnpZuqo-fwN2ECk9pdX4ZRLRLmwPv60xt-BkjGJF2fI3O1-Xj0Y4JECxf_uOEPvc/s1600/4forcesnature.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="647" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdL0_BWM6xT9uTkhXyRGYtuBY2l65V7NSZoFymrDIplReGZ00VNQDi2uzAzErJ0E5EC766Lc1DhSemnpZuqo-fwN2ECk9pdX4ZRLRLmwPv60xt-BkjGJF2fI3O1-Xj0Y4JECxf_uOEPvc/s320/4forcesnature.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Cutlery aside, there
are four known forces in nature: gravity, the electromagnetic force, the weak
force, and the strong force. Although they usually seem to have very different
effects on the substances they act upon, in some circumstances, these forces
can be united. For example, I’ve already called the electric and magnetic
forces a united “electromagnetic force,” which is because what on large scales
looks like two forces is in reality just one. This is evident at small scales
when you go down to the level of particles or in certain circumstances on
larger scales. For example, there are electromagnetic waves (photons, or particles
of light, are a kind of electromagnetic wave), whereas on larger scales, we usually
see different aspects of electromagnetism with, say, magnetism in a bar magnet
and electricity in the powering of our houses. Other forces also exhibit this
underlying unity. The electromagnetic and weak force are often just called the “electroweak
force,” representing a further level of unification at higher energies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The
key point to remember is that higher energies mean smaller scales: so if you go
inside atoms and probe fundamental particles, that will be at higher energies and
temperatures than, say, the energy of a baseball flying through the air,
despite the fact that it’s a lot bigger. Early in the history of the universe,
energies and temperatures were much higher than they are now, and that is when
these forces would be truly unified. This might be easier to grasp if you think
of nuclear fusion and fission: there’s a lot of energy stored up inside atoms, as
we can see with nuclear bombs that use only a small amount of matter but
release huge amounts of energy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlqQbB7EAhr3OMie4xtOdlySH__fhCzPkdNI3SxyD1A00F8Zn7MAt_CK-rqOLaK_VR3LECsn8VWAiNO5xSZ7PpJy4enbxu4ZO0TlwW3adET5mgI97opK-tbOmz7bpS5QI7xinvRdCRvI/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="44" data-original-width="565" height="48" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlqQbB7EAhr3OMie4xtOdlySH__fhCzPkdNI3SxyD1A00F8Zn7MAt_CK-rqOLaK_VR3LECsn8VWAiNO5xSZ7PpJy4enbxu4ZO0TlwW3adET5mgI97opK-tbOmz7bpS5QI7xinvRdCRvI/s640/Untitled.png" width="640" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5375941202819824520" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">In
many physics theories, these are only the first hints of what is known as <b>grand unification</b>, which is not, as it
sounds, some political scheme for world domination, but the unification of the
physical forces at high enough energies. The ideas is that at low energies, we
see these forces as separate, just like with, say, electricity and magnetism,
but as you go up to higher energies, which represent smaller scales and smaller
particles, these forces unite. Although we haven’t observed it yet, this means
that the strong force will also join forces with the electroweak force to form
a single “grand unified force” (“electrostrongweak”, perhaps?) at energies of
about 10 to the power of 16 GeV (a GeV is a giga-electron volt. It’s big, let’s
just say. And 10 to the power of 16 is 10 followed by 16 zeros. Also big).
There are many different theories that can realize this unification, and they
are all called <b>Grand Unified Theories, </b>or
<b>GUTs. </b>This can be seen in terms of
group theory: for example, the electroweak force is called a SU(2) x</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> U(1) and the strong force is SU(3), so
combining them gives SU(3) x</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> SU(2) x</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> U(1) = SU(5).*<sup>1</sup> That’s
not so important, but what is important is that this SU(5) force acts as its
own force, not simply a patchwork of the other forces, but something different
entirely. This is the hidden “<b>underlying
symmetry</b>” mentioned in the quote: although, fundamentally, all forces are the
same, they split up when the universe cooled to lower energies and so we usually
observe them as distinct, whereas they are actually united, forming a larger
symmetry that we can now only observe when we collide particles at very high
energies to recreate conditions similar to the early universe.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbmj9rv7POgNyEk-B6MmiAbAmVDYan0fdasTFFHacdzT5RaO7Y8FZ2SpajVt2wXiyRqnX_BIb4iRWFZBoBbHoiwdf3Oab0FElbC4iN37wG36XraYoaXh4xUNZ0OouqcXE9q4hedsReuQ/s1600/merging_forces.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="432" height="475" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbmj9rv7POgNyEk-B6MmiAbAmVDYan0fdasTFFHacdzT5RaO7Y8FZ2SpajVt2wXiyRqnX_BIb4iRWFZBoBbHoiwdf3Oab0FElbC4iN37wG36XraYoaXh4xUNZ0OouqcXE9q4hedsReuQ/s640/merging_forces.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">As
can be seen in the picture above, the three forces converge at high energies.</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium;">*</span><sup style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">2</sup><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium;"> This
means that their strengths become equal, and we can see them as being the same
force. The strong force, then, decreases in strength as you go to smaller and
smaller distances, whereas the electromagnetic and weak forces increase in strength
until they meet up.*</span><sup style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">3</sup><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium;"> This is very important because if the strength
of the strong force didn’t decrease, it would never meet up with the electroweak
force and would never be united.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Gravity,
however, is a slightly different story. The electromagnetic, strong, and weak
forces all act on very small scales (of course, we observe electromagnetism on
larger scales too, but it’s also very strong on the scales of elementary
particles), but gravity is usually negligible for elementary particles, because
it is so weak (weaker than the weak force, even). But at very high energies, at
what is called the Planck scale (10 to the power of 19 GeV), it is thought that
gravity will also be united with the other three, forming not a GUT this time,
but a <b>TOE</b> (a <b>Theory of Everything</b>). Of course, even if we are able to work out a
theory that united the four known forces, that doesn’t mean that we’ll have a
TOE: there may still be many things left out, such as other forces, other
dimensions, souls, etc. But uniting gravity with quantum mechanics (the other 3
forces that act on a small scale) would certainly be a big step forward.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fY4IKIrqLTnQpQ8QQZgwmegp55Gkp_pwIdf5Na5OuZAmogqInpxIukgkFxJfrq-3y2z0gcsyeW8Q_EOpBlqAbhSNNJ3LwN1pFkKWRULPPcODZaXHeQL0MFUfljXBTwgC8LjExtsk9Gk/s1600/GUTForces.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="875" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fY4IKIrqLTnQpQ8QQZgwmegp55Gkp_pwIdf5Na5OuZAmogqInpxIukgkFxJfrq-3y2z0gcsyeW8Q_EOpBlqAbhSNNJ3LwN1pFkKWRULPPcODZaXHeQL0MFUfljXBTwgC8LjExtsk9Gk/s640/GUTForces.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigVqTK-afop9ecq8lQoywHq0lL0rydzRSaCFh1wimznNpYp7sAvxdvANB5NJ9Qjs65ZiAp-l-YDdaWfUjewbY6oTMufLiWKQKE1ROP2HabnGmWslTVdcI7-X01ofYITgXQlGrkeTbMXcU/s1600/tree+branching.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="485" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigVqTK-afop9ecq8lQoywHq0lL0rydzRSaCFh1wimznNpYp7sAvxdvANB5NJ9Qjs65ZiAp-l-YDdaWfUjewbY6oTMufLiWKQKE1ROP2HabnGmWslTVdcI7-X01ofYITgXQlGrkeTbMXcU/s320/tree+branching.png" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So
that’s the basic physics idea behind GUTs and TOEs. But if we take it a step
further, it could be possible that this is only a small segment of a larger
process that occurs in the universe. Take one of our “separate” forces, say, the
strong force. What if that force is really the unification of other forces that
have already merged? It would then be a more basic force than they are, but would
split when the universe cooled to lower temperatures. You could go the other
way around too. After gravity, when you have your TOE force (sounds awful, I
know. I’ll call it the Everything-1 force, or E-1), there could be other forces
that could merge with it too. So as you go to higher and higher energies, ones
that are hardly imaginable now but that we may reach in the future, you could
get an Everything-2 force (E-2), then an E-3 force, and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This
could also tie into the notion of higher dimensions, whether physical
dimensions, such as adding a new “direction,” or a spiritual dimension that
encompasses a higher level of existence, like a more enlightened state where
things are less bounded by restrictions imposed by matter. What appears to be
many forces here can in fact be united under a universal law when you are at
higher energies or some form of higher state. As usual, the analogy of the
glass prism works perfectly here: you have a very basic force that acts on
everything, say E-100, and that splits into multiple forces as you go to lower
levels of being, just like white light is split into colours as it passes
through a prism. All the more particular forces, like all the colours, are all just
aspects of E-100, but won’t be united unless they pass back through a
converging prism that reunites them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3m3ndyWGAm7_Ly-kCyo_LiNklxfOy2rgYTYxiZHLFW38H7ud16ojdnlYL4WCR-A97f4J2Xd0dEyCcNFbrsTiuH0j6YBopTfL2nxVGwZAzenri20E80TMWK1E6TondxM_uc-JAKIJBqB4/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1540" data-original-width="1600" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3m3ndyWGAm7_Ly-kCyo_LiNklxfOy2rgYTYxiZHLFW38H7ud16ojdnlYL4WCR-A97f4J2Xd0dEyCcNFbrsTiuH0j6YBopTfL2nxVGwZAzenri20E80TMWK1E6TondxM_uc-JAKIJBqB4/s320/unnamed.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This
ties right into Plato’s Forms: the more complex Forms derive from simpler ones
that are more fundamental. These continue splitting as you go to lower levels
of existence until you reach the world here, where there are particular objects
that partake in many of the individual Forms. To reach enlightenment, one must
ascend to higher levels of existence and eventually become one with the higher
Forms. This is common in Neoplatonism, where the goal is to ascend to the One,
which is the highest level of being. This can also be seen in Buddhism: the
more enlightened one becomes, the simpler one’s existence is. Matter is much
more complicated than the Forms, and the lower Forms are much more complicated
than the higher ones of, say, Number, Symmetry, Beauty, and Motion (for
instance, a moving baseball is much more complicated than Motion in general,
because Motion is not a particular motion, but the source that all instances of
motion derive from). In understanding and becoming in tune with the higher
Forms, you can return to the source of all those levels of existence below you
and be able to understand them in a unified way rather than as fragmented from
one another.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So
from a philosophical point of view, the ideas from GUTs and TOEs belong to a
more universal pattern of getting to a more fundamental source, whether that is
a more basic physical law or a higher spiritual existence, and thus, it will
hopefully lead to a more comprehensive view of our universe. But the question
is, where does it stop?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZEwVS7JOdDK_pb1oRrtjeUgVDDok4zp-iqdHc-DsWF3UbLcTpksXwrI93zRShDeXP7n42Hcv-Rt2rXPL_zii6PUY2_UtT-TO-GL-F2IcwoUGl00auKkXBL4EMRJJleoatEiajgDGjxu0/s1600/Physics-WaLp-tw2011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZEwVS7JOdDK_pb1oRrtjeUgVDDok4zp-iqdHc-DsWF3UbLcTpksXwrI93zRShDeXP7n42Hcv-Rt2rXPL_zii6PUY2_UtT-TO-GL-F2IcwoUGl00auKkXBL4EMRJJleoatEiajgDGjxu0/s320/Physics-WaLp-tw2011.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>1</sup>
There are other options too, such as SO(10), but that’s not important for the
concept here. For those who are interested, S = Special (determinant for the
matrices in the group = 1), U = Unitary, O = Orthogonal, and the number in
brackets is the order of the group. So you have 2 x 2 special unitary matrices
in SU(2).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>2</sup> The picture is slightly deceptive because it doesn't show electromagnetism and the weak force uniting before converging with the strong one.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>3 </sup></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium;">The reason that the electromagnetic force’s strength is greater at smaller distances is because of virtual particles. Electrons can emit virtual photons that can then turn into positron-electron pairs (a positron is an anti-electron). The positrons, being of a positive charge, are attracted to the original electron and screen its charge by cancelling some of it off with their positive charge. At larger distances, there are more of these pairs, and so the force is screened more, but as you get closer and closer to the electron, there is less screening, and so the strength of the force increases on smaller scales, which is at high energies.</span></div>
Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-24692727446684699932017-11-19T12:05:00.002-05:002017-11-19T12:05:24.287-05:00Book Review: War in Heaven by Charles Williams<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">I just finished reading <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/143223.War_in_Heaven" target="_blank">War in Heaven</a></i> by Charles Williams, which is now one of my favourite books, so I thought I'd give a brief book review to share what I thought of it and hopefully convince more people to read it. Note that I'm not giving away any major spoilers, and although there are some things I mention that happen later in the book, it won't ruin the story to know them ahead of time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">***</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbhJcqKZ84S7ZaxhRFfPGJfFBe53t5ZIG3FaBgtHPhTktmyM3QPYxQkMpBGfYJoZp8Nj_JIXqJTFQDFh3pZBtKLc83pgyf_Z9UNCBQDS8TkH4fnqUk0imQPC6A92poAWoYp_7wBPqq3Vs/s1600/WIH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="328" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbhJcqKZ84S7ZaxhRFfPGJfFBe53t5ZIG3FaBgtHPhTktmyM3QPYxQkMpBGfYJoZp8Nj_JIXqJTFQDFh3pZBtKLc83pgyf_Z9UNCBQDS8TkH4fnqUk0imQPC6A92poAWoYp_7wBPqq3Vs/s320/WIH.jpg" width="220" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQANllx5yxtZNWzM_8hCBMjZjzaZX5wgWEqFvLFH-n3MWLLMJEdjXTx4rVyXXMEjzqyYyXLCaEKihK21tThDw-2cJHROWoO4BkGRh3SoVOi9lNh57Bs1Pge6W9ac1C0TIfDM0T9RS3f8w/s1600/holy_grail_png_by_erdmute-d1nodd1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This was an AMAZING book! I'm surprised it isn't more well known. It had an exciting plot, the characters were great, it was very insightful, suspenseful, and it was beautifully written. It blended mystery with adventure and the occult, and the setting of England in the 1930s gave a quaint, homely feel to it that nicely complemented the otherworldliness of the Holy Grail and the strange occult rituals Gregory and co. were engaged in. The whole story, in fact, was a blend of everyday reality with a supernatural world that lies both hidden within it and beyond it. Most of the characters worked at a publishing house, and besides Gregory and the Archdeacon, none of the main characters had any connection to the supernatural before the events of the story began. I didn't find the book at all creepy or over the top in any manner, but there were definitely uncanny parts to it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Although the book itself wasn't creepy, the villains-- Gregory Persimmons, Manasseh, and the unnamed "Greek"--were all extraordinarily creepy people. I liked how Gregory became one of the main characters though, because although he really has no morals, he is still a fascinating character. It was just so fun being in his head as a reader and seeing him plot out his evil plans while others remained unaware. The fact that he isn't as powerful and vindictive as Manasseh and the Greek makes him a more realistic and multi-dimensional character and so is probably the most interesting character in the book. Other than him, I really liked Kenneth Mornington, and one of my favourite parts with him was when he confronted Gregory and was going to resign from his job at the publishing house. That part went: "Kenneth had an impulse to say that he resigned, and another to knock Gregory down and trample on him." The Archdeacon was also a great character, at the same time sublime and at peace with the universe but also getting flustered at hilarious trivialities. Also the way he would leap out and snatch the Grail and somehow get away with it was priceless. The inspectors were great fun too, in all their bafflement at solving the murder case and how Gregory, Lionel, etc. fit into it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Besides the characters, the story was very unique and the writing and descriptions often made me pause and think. It wasn't difficult to understand, but there were some amazing comparisons and descriptions that made me wonder "How did he think of that??" For example, describing the Archdeacon "glinting like a small, frosty pool" when he is acting cold and reserved. Also the quest for the Grail was not at all typical: the chalice they're all after was suspected to be the Grail but it isn't until later on in the story that anyone finds out that it definitely is. It was mentioned in the manuscript of an unpublished book and everyone really went off from that. And throughout the book, it is not the Grail itself that is important, but the connection with the divine that it represents. Hence why both Gregory and the Archdeacon are loathe to bring the police into the case, and why, at one point, Gregory, Manasseh, and the Greek work to destroy it remotely through some supernatural power.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQANllx5yxtZNWzM_8hCBMjZjzaZX5wgWEqFvLFH-n3MWLLMJEdjXTx4rVyXXMEjzqyYyXLCaEKihK21tThDw-2cJHROWoO4BkGRh3SoVOi9lNh57Bs1Pge6W9ac1C0TIfDM0T9RS3f8w/s1600/holy_grail_png_by_erdmute-d1nodd1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1119" data-original-width="714" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQANllx5yxtZNWzM_8hCBMjZjzaZX5wgWEqFvLFH-n3MWLLMJEdjXTx4rVyXXMEjzqyYyXLCaEKihK21tThDw-2cJHROWoO4BkGRh3SoVOi9lNh57Bs1Pge6W9ac1C0TIfDM0T9RS3f8w/s320/holy_grail_png_by_erdmute-d1nodd1.png" width="203" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">There were also many philosophical ideas about religion, predestination, and the connection one can obtain with higher powers. Gregory was a particularly philosophical character in his own evil little way, well, I shouldn't say "little" because he really takes the whole universe into consideration and tries to connect with some dark demonic power (his "master") which he sees as someone/thing that will allow him to become a greater being. Lionel also had a very peculiar mentality. We saw more of him at the beginning of the book but then he fades to a more minor character later on. He has a deep-set fear of some unnamed horror that might emerge from the world around him and snatch his life or the lives of his family. It's as if he feels he needs to be prepared for a god to swoop down and blot them out of existence. He can never shake of the unearthly dread which for him seems to creep at the edge of ordinary life. When there is a murdered man found in his office and when his wife seems to be possessed, these fears are only confirmed. I feel like there could be a sequel with him as a main character because despite his odd ways of thinking, he's a very captivating character.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Prester John (who is the caretaker of the Grail and somehow also the Grail) is also an interesting character. He is more remote and has a strange effect upon everyone who meets him. He seems to amplify the qualities in people that might have been hidden but that nevertheless define them. For those who are immoral (Gregory, his servant Ludding, etc), he seems to make them besot with hatred or revulsion, though it was very subtle so that didn't seem "magical" at all. As for those who are good, he amplifies those good qualities, or certain peculiarities like the talkativeness of Mr. Batesby. John is like a mirror that reflects one's spiritual condition and makes it clear to others, though the person in question might be unaware of how they appear themselves. Though I wouldn't call John a moral character himself. He's not human (at least, not any more, because I assume he's based on the actual Prester John) and so is beyond human morality of good and evil, which ties in to the predestination theme, in that he does what must be done in accordance with the order of the universe, and will not step up to save a life, for example. He is not a god who will fix their problems, but he will help them see more clearly so that they can choose the right path to follow. How he is related to the universe at large and if he is aware of the future (if it is even set) is not clear though.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">All in all, it was a great book, but although it was my cup of tea, I can understand that it might not be everybody's, so I wouldn't generally recommend it to everyone. However, I do think a lot of people would really enjoy this and that it is a delightful masterpiece.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-26192826636114073942017-10-11T15:53:00.001-04:002017-10-11T15:53:22.823-04:00Dimensions of Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">It’s
common to think of “dimensions” of space and the “dimension” of time, but what
if there was more than one dimension of time? I’m not going to present any real
theory about this, but just some idea that I’ve been thinking about that offer
some interesting possibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTuovwaywgaCEZKdDMey5AgvVom7ikpI8GI14_RbOWVmEQO3p1H_XEYwDgpriian7xRs4l-6I0LxflppJpijLSbciPbKiYX9hJE9fKeN1SWPbasFay30Cc5E1n_F78IEd9ZOdVh9Tdi5o/s1600/xyz.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="605" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTuovwaywgaCEZKdDMey5AgvVom7ikpI8GI14_RbOWVmEQO3p1H_XEYwDgpriian7xRs4l-6I0LxflppJpijLSbciPbKiYX9hJE9fKeN1SWPbasFay30Cc5E1n_F78IEd9ZOdVh9Tdi5o/s320/xyz.png" width="320" /></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">First
of all, what is a dimension, really? It’s easy to see for space: we live in a
three-dimensional world, the three dimensions corresponding to length, width,
and height. Everything, from cats to particles, can be located in space with
three coordinates (x, y, z). If there was a fourth spatial dimension, we would
be unable to perceive it because we are three dimensional beings and so don’t
have the capacity to interact with it directly. However, higher dimensions can
still have effects upon us (see my previous article on multiple worlds
<a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/2015/06/the-philosophy-of-other-worlds-part-1.html" target="_blank">here</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">If
we were 4-dimensional beings, it would be perfectly normal for us to use 4
coordinates to locate objects in space, so we would have something like a cat
at point (x, y, z, *</span><span lang="EN-US">) where *</span><span lang="EN-US"> is the coordinate in the fourth
dimension. Of course, this can be extended to many more dimensions, as is
common in string theory and other physics theories.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So
how does time fit into this? We can’t think of it in exactly the same sense as spatial
dimensions, because, first of all, there is just one dimension, so it would be
a line rather than a 3D grid. Second, we can’t move back and forth along it or
even forward along it at any speed we want, but everything moves along it at
the same rate. In space, we can stop at a certain point, go forward, backward,
change our speed, but time is restricted to forward motion at a constant
“speed” along the inevitable conveyor belt of time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyX2n5PW1vyn5sszuKuO_cuPXvrE7HZrws1xZODaSWU_f8AGB3oX1m-GBHGnx0Dn7TVzPQaLcT4aBjTs77bDEvPY60g0UiUF2DeAwqJd3CYnWcIydAr2DJDaGKdFNUYmn2lUGYxDPyQVg/s1600/time.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyX2n5PW1vyn5sszuKuO_cuPXvrE7HZrws1xZODaSWU_f8AGB3oX1m-GBHGnx0Dn7TVzPQaLcT4aBjTs77bDEvPY60g0UiUF2DeAwqJd3CYnWcIydAr2DJDaGKdFNUYmn2lUGYxDPyQVg/s1600/time.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="103" data-original-width="592" height="68" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyX2n5PW1vyn5sszuKuO_cuPXvrE7HZrws1xZODaSWU_f8AGB3oX1m-GBHGnx0Dn7TVzPQaLcT4aBjTs77bDEvPY60g0UiUF2DeAwqJd3CYnWcIydAr2DJDaGKdFNUYmn2lUGYxDPyQVg/s400/time.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegr4jlwtmFT3dsp0NpYlc9HIuuNGq04-2tsO_JZHRp0snuCHRJc9bO0jlm9vyl-knZU86Pg3HnQlWSLXGLPIfHWvzdGEqtZwtViRCrua_XZmZ-ed67KoGLhURKx6h4VBfeLofMuD1txo/s1600/Tardis-in-Space-tardis-6289810-500-300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="500" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegr4jlwtmFT3dsp0NpYlc9HIuuNGq04-2tsO_JZHRp0snuCHRJc9bO0jlm9vyl-knZU86Pg3HnQlWSLXGLPIfHWvzdGEqtZwtViRCrua_XZmZ-ed67KoGLhURKx6h4VBfeLofMuD1txo/s320/Tardis-in-Space-tardis-6289810-500-300.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">From
Einstein, we have learned that it is possible to alter our perceptions of time
and the rate at which we pass through time (as seen in his special and general
theories of relativity), but it still isn’t possible to truly reverse time. We
can’t just stop and head backwards in time like we can stop on a path and
reverse our direction. It is possible to greatly alter the rate at which we
pass through time by travelling at high speeds or going close to a massive
object (massive as in black hole massive), and perhaps even to go to a
different time entirely via a wormhole that cuts through the fabric of
space-time, but in our general lives, these things don’t happen often, if at
all (I’m still waiting for a TARDIS to land in my backyard though…), so we
won’t consider that here.<o:p></o:p></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiegr4jlwtmFT3dsp0NpYlc9HIuuNGq04-2tsO_JZHRp0snuCHRJc9bO0jlm9vyl-knZU86Pg3HnQlWSLXGLPIfHWvzdGEqtZwtViRCrua_XZmZ-ed67KoGLhURKx6h4VBfeLofMuD1txo/s1600/Tardis-in-Space-tardis-6289810-500-300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">So
if time is indeed a dimension, it isn’t at all like the ones of space. Indeed,
in physics, time is treated differently than space for other reasons as well.
For example, we can characterize motion through space and time with a “metric”
that describes an interval of space-time. For example, the metric in flat non-expanding
space-time is</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVax2HgbbvUO9-cSF7ZerkboXPTD803VWxwd82MGNYNNgHeTYT31Y3AB6mCQFa7-Vm0rxKk3IxGZaXHKK1S3Gk8Nrv_Hu6ovoBO9GwDqlpNBD-HmbmZQhjk6rHGQeOo3NFhzzcfbg8pQ/s1600/ds1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="26" data-original-width="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVax2HgbbvUO9-cSF7ZerkboXPTD803VWxwd82MGNYNNgHeTYT31Y3AB6mCQFa7-Vm0rxKk3IxGZaXHKK1S3Gk8Nrv_Hu6ovoBO9GwDqlpNBD-HmbmZQhjk6rHGQeOo3NFhzzcfbg8pQ/s1600/ds1.png" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5375941202819824520" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5375941202819824520" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">where c is the
speed of light, d</span><span lang="EN-US">s is the interval in both time and space, d</span><span lang="EN-US">t is the change in time, and d</span><span lang="EN-US">r is the change in space coordinates (x,
y, and z). It’s basically just saying that moving in time and space can be
written in a combined manner to give the total “interval” that you moved. We
can see that space and time are treated differently just by a quick look at the
equation: the interval of time is multiplied by c, and it doesn’t have a
negative sign like the spatial interval does.<o:p></o:p></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_PsRQz8GeFyWRYTiaJVFifEBQLnMD607hcwpae2-HWw0QMaSTzq-MhkIheoXltiPgAIsNtYq_xoPPKgTJZn7YmMnwG9SEyzHwgS13lo8dT11wM0P83znV1MgN1rxEeV8Bd83x49eSR4/s1600/scientificamerican0305-36-i1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_PsRQz8GeFyWRYTiaJVFifEBQLnMD607hcwpae2-HWw0QMaSTzq-MhkIheoXltiPgAIsNtYq_xoPPKgTJZn7YmMnwG9SEyzHwgS13lo8dT11wM0P83znV1MgN1rxEeV8Bd83x49eSR4/s1600/scientificamerican0305-36-i1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="500" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_PsRQz8GeFyWRYTiaJVFifEBQLnMD607hcwpae2-HWw0QMaSTzq-MhkIheoXltiPgAIsNtYq_xoPPKgTJZn7YmMnwG9SEyzHwgS13lo8dT11wM0P83znV1MgN1rxEeV8Bd83x49eSR4/s200/scientificamerican0305-36-i1.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">However,
we know that space-time is not stationary: our universe is expanding. This
doesn’t change the time part of the metric, but it does change the spatial part
because every point is moving further away from every other point. It’s like
blowing up a balloon with gridlines on it: as the balloon expands, the distance
between the gridlines enlarges. In this scenario, the metric is</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT89lOWQu79sDIcnMI6VQ6xnujsdMCAmF1Ub226s1vq9MhFpv0BYiKfioidTUGkBP13umk9_dDDLU1jbj9ZK1plAMO0Yi7ZpViyyDsE1K_caffVb6tLMRqsd0l2KGqtKv3uLdheCkeGmY/s1600/ds2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="30" data-original-width="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT89lOWQu79sDIcnMI6VQ6xnujsdMCAmF1Ub226s1vq9MhFpv0BYiKfioidTUGkBP13umk9_dDDLU1jbj9ZK1plAMO0Yi7ZpViyyDsE1K_caffVb6tLMRqsd0l2KGqtKv3uLdheCkeGmY/s1600/ds2.png" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">where a(t) is
the scale factor, a function that describes the expansion of space. Already, we
see that space and time, even if they figure into the same metric, act very
differently (since time doesn’t “expand” as space does).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">All this is to say that it isn’t obvious
what would happen if there are multiple dimensions of time. If there are more
dimensions of space, we just add coordinates to </span><span lang="EN-US">D</span><span lang="EN-US">r that will also expand with the
expansion of space. We can also add additional coordinates of time to the
metric, but what would the scale factor be? What is the preferred direction to
move in time if there are two time dimensions? It was easy when we had a
straight time-line: everything just moves forward along it. But if you have two
dimensions, you no longer have a time-line, but a time-<i>grid </i>(see picture). Let’s say we can only move forward along each
dimension of time (into the future). So for time 2, t<sub>2</sub>, time must
move up (that is the forward direction) and for time 1, t<sub>1</sub>, time
must move to the right (also the forward direction). But if the times are <i>combined</i>, where can you move? There are
plenty of options depending on how fast you go, for example, see the lines on
the grid. In each case, you’re moving forward in t<sub>1</sub> and t<sub>2</sub>,
but for some, you’re going faster in t<sub>1</sub>,<sub> </sub>and for others,
you’re going faster in t<sub>2</sub>. Only the blue arrow has you going forward
in time at the same speed in each time.</span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL-ardMwBUr7BS1ls8siNlpiWIjhYaEGPgt8g_gKa-2Qxj0HNx7Q38Qcca4vNPkuI6B7XKtS6W1RgNF2xH1scQFP6zrs6DnrLElrXdl_hvmgsTxGxVCf7BQF7Lmi0eUOaBYxhVvhlYEwE/s1600/2D+time.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="492" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL-ardMwBUr7BS1ls8siNlpiWIjhYaEGPgt8g_gKa-2Qxj0HNx7Q38Qcca4vNPkuI6B7XKtS6W1RgNF2xH1scQFP6zrs6DnrLElrXdl_hvmgsTxGxVCf7BQF7Lmi0eUOaBYxhVvhlYEwE/s400/2D+time.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">But
what is this “speed” at which we go through time? After all, speed is defined
by as the rate at which we cover a certain distance (with “rate” corresponding
to a passage through time). So what can we compare the speed of time to? Unless
there is a more fundamental time to compare our time to, it doesn’t make sense
to talk about a “speed” of time. You can talk about the relative speed of time
of one person compared to another (as in special relativity, when one person
can appear to age more slowly than another because they’re travelling close to
the speed of light), but it doesn’t make sense to talk about the speed of time
itself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">However,
when we have two times, we can specify the relative speed of the two times with
each other: we can have t<sub>1 </sub>passing more quickly than t<sub>2</sub>,
or vice versa. The orange line in the picture has t<sub>2 </sub>passing more
quickly, since for every step through t<sub>1</sub>, you go forward 2 steps in
t<sub>2</sub>. The green one is the opposite: for every step in t<sub>2</sub>,
you go forward 2 steps in t<sub>1</sub>. But you could also have more fanciful
patterns on the grid like the pink line: here, although you’re going forward in
both times, the speeds at which you move forward in each time keeps changing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">What
this would be like for someone experiencing two times is hard to say. Assuming
that you can only move forward in both of the directions and at a certain speed
(since that is what our one-dimensional time is like now. If not, everything is
more complicated!), you probably wouldn’t even notice it unless there were some
things that only moved in one dimension of time rather than two. In that case,
how would an object just moving along t<sub>2</sub> (call it O2) appear to
someone two travels through both t<sub>1</sub> and t<sub>2 </sub>(call them
P12)? I think there are a few options. The first is that O2 appears stationary for
P12: the object would appear to be “locked” in one direction. Since it doesn’t
travel along t<sub>1</sub>, it could be just stationary at all points in t<sub>1.
</sub>This is hard to imagine: what would an object travelling along one time
appear to someone travelling in two times? Would it appear “blurred” in part,
or somehow less substantial? I really don’t know. This requires a great stretch
of the imagination!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Another
option is that O2 appears at a single moment in P12’s time. It’s like you have
a straight line to represent O2 on the grid and a slanted line to represent
P12, like this:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZupEF6hr6kHraOUCGcIrEcb2JO1MVc2cVABnntPCWZRTIDZym_CZlxgNAZPYBQHufo6qQUaFnzmgvwralBx6r-es9Z191GaQhQkYhFCYS555YmGjwXyj7NpcABwIlGhtYmNjagbeihoc/s1600/2D+time+cross.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="623" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZupEF6hr6kHraOUCGcIrEcb2JO1MVc2cVABnntPCWZRTIDZym_CZlxgNAZPYBQHufo6qQUaFnzmgvwralBx6r-es9Z191GaQhQkYhFCYS555YmGjwXyj7NpcABwIlGhtYmNjagbeihoc/s400/2D+time+cross.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAXmrk53u1IgUy3yAdUV0f1lJG-Xp7oS_uyvm7Qernjhy028t73LOXc3FF5mumq3JMihfn5OeRkrTXM1NfAUWrCZkm1uuDcT2wg25lPf8s7wI9mCjkNyG_5G248En719-K1pWQs4ALxo/s1600/2D+paper.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="510" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAXmrk53u1IgUy3yAdUV0f1lJG-Xp7oS_uyvm7Qernjhy028t73LOXc3FF5mumq3JMihfn5OeRkrTXM1NfAUWrCZkm1uuDcT2wg25lPf8s7wI9mCjkNyG_5G248En719-K1pWQs4ALxo/s320/2D+paper.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">They
only cross at one point, so they would both see each other for only an instant,
or more likely, not at all, because it would correspond to an infinitesimally
small interval when they cross each other, which wouldn’t be perceptible for
living beings. If we make an analogy with space, it’s as if you had a 2D object
that had no height (see image to the left). It’s located at a certain height in 3D
space, but it doesn’t have height itself. Though the problem with this option
is explaining why O2 appears at a particular instant of t<sub>1</sub>. Why not
shifted to another time? Since it isn’t travelling in the t<sub>1</sub>
direction, that time is meaningless to it, so it shouldn’t prefer to be at one
time rather than another.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAXmrk53u1IgUy3yAdUV0f1lJG-Xp7oS_uyvm7Qernjhy028t73LOXc3FF5mumq3JMihfn5OeRkrTXM1NfAUWrCZkm1uuDcT2wg25lPf8s7wI9mCjkNyG_5G248En719-K1pWQs4ALxo/s1600/2D+paper.png" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOq3JLMGB72kBVNlEjXZ2rQW_oxP74u_3jjHzX0lOAE_BSdkiV3gl9bxLRVNlSVgVQ_jgDiqpSjtEmmnpNT2ZHiKBLfbCshYkto-GKhebMrd8nVw0CsCioCALzWiwuRmSIFQEGdI6WQpM/s1600/4Sphere.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5375941202819824520" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5375941202819824520" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="351" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOq3JLMGB72kBVNlEjXZ2rQW_oxP74u_3jjHzX0lOAE_BSdkiV3gl9bxLRVNlSVgVQ_jgDiqpSjtEmmnpNT2ZHiKBLfbCshYkto-GKhebMrd8nVw0CsCioCALzWiwuRmSIFQEGdI6WQpM/s320/4Sphere.png" width="304" /></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Here’s
another scenario that’s easier to understand. Let’s say you’re confined to one
dimension of time, but that there are really two dimensions in the world around
you. This would mean that things that can travel in both time dimensions could
appear to come in and out of existence. Making another analogy with space, it’s
as if you were on a 2D sheet and a sphere was passing through you. You wouldn’t
see it as a sphere, but as a series of disks that start out small, become
larger as the centre of the sphere passes through you, and become small again
as the sphere finishes passing through your sheet.<o:p></o:p></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOq3JLMGB72kBVNlEjXZ2rQW_oxP74u_3jjHzX0lOAE_BSdkiV3gl9bxLRVNlSVgVQ_jgDiqpSjtEmmnpNT2ZHiKBLfbCshYkto-GKhebMrd8nVw0CsCioCALzWiwuRmSIFQEGdI6WQpM/s1600/4Sphere.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">And
if there were things that travelled in t<sub>2 </sub>while you only travelled
in t<sub>1</sub>, they would either appear to you to be stationary, since you
can’t perceive their motion in the other dimension, or you just wouldn’t see
them at all (like in the first example).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">You
could also have three dimensions of time, and then you’d get a 3D grid of time
like you do in space. There will be many more possible directions of travel
through this grid, leading to much stranger things! But whether any of these are
really possible isn’t that clear. After all, could someone even exist in
multiple dimensions of time? Our bodies function in one dimension of time,
relying on cause and effect for our bodily systems to function, and this wouldn’t
be straightforward in more time dimensions. Our thoughts are also sequential:
we think one thing after another (“discursive thinking”). Yet introducing more dimensions
of time might actually correspond to what philosophers and mystics have strived
toward throughout the centuries, namely, “noetic thinking,” where we can grasp
multiple concepts at once without having them being fragmented them due to the
restricted nature of our thoughts. This, however, might only be possible if we
can travel anywhere on the “grid” of time: forward and backward, which
encompasses a more complete view of existence. Though whether or not this is
possible is another matter entirely.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So,
having more than one dimension of time is certainly not as clear as adding more
dimensions of space. But there’s nothing that says it’s impossible. It’s
possible that we already live in two dimensions of time, or three, or ten, and
that things that we’re unable to explain with our current science could be due
to the fact that there are multiple times.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6B-tf160eTTB2nzQyC-M-Ko8Aog8_1KYFmLlTCLY4dX55IU6rB38H9hnWJ4Re-uJpSQm6X1TR3OHucDdmoGV-9jF-bGMAaJChyGdwqF00FRmOYDWpo3Ynmel-qAgqvqkWx902N_RjeX4/s1600/636005821883879402-1986192892_fast-forward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="956" data-original-width="1600" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6B-tf160eTTB2nzQyC-M-Ko8Aog8_1KYFmLlTCLY4dX55IU6rB38H9hnWJ4Re-uJpSQm6X1TR3OHucDdmoGV-9jF-bGMAaJChyGdwqF00FRmOYDWpo3Ynmel-qAgqvqkWx902N_RjeX4/s320/636005821883879402-1986192892_fast-forward.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-24705704095044303752017-09-17T15:40:00.000-04:002017-09-17T15:40:12.964-04:00Magic, Time, and Beautiful Prose in The Last Unicorn<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBftDF3GctPuO39OQwPNwK6fvBnpflgmpFcsYxNbObMHz-IPrTInZ-O0TtwD1ae2eIQjQJ-eQ6oRt7xtn67p-heYM6uxMRAtIQgYYy1oIaMw3D-VmBZjAI21m6Lbe0kymNDEJE4MGZkcA/s1600/last+uni+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBftDF3GctPuO39OQwPNwK6fvBnpflgmpFcsYxNbObMHz-IPrTInZ-O0TtwD1ae2eIQjQJ-eQ6oRt7xtn67p-heYM6uxMRAtIQgYYy1oIaMw3D-VmBZjAI21m6Lbe0kymNDEJE4MGZkcA/s1600/last+uni+2.jpg" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">I can’t
believe I only read this book recently: I probably should have found it and
loved it long ago. In any case, Peter Beagle’s fantasy classic <i>The Last Unicorn</i> is a wonderful story
about a unicorn in search for her missing people and two humans who accompany
her on her journey. The first part of the story focuses on the unicorn’s point
of view, which is important to help us understand at least a glimmer of how the
unicorn thinks and understands the world, but the majority of the story follows
the magician Schmendrick and the woman Molly. The story was written
beautifully, and many of the descriptions held me in awe, making me read them
again and again. It’s not a predictable story either, although it has the feel
of a heroic adventure story, Prince Lir being the hero, though he comes into
the story quite late and in many ways is not a typical hero. I’m not going to
summarize the book, but I’ll point out some of my favourite parts and some
interesting themes the story evokes.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQwKrKpW3nwzvYkVb2W3cJMvv3cLA-2QuiZYgyfsLBcIMzBm2C36thlnER0hUxLq31F0SR989U4l22hMoYFd3-4wBYLyw7CXehYGTE-15MmDwHa11qlQNe14QD9i9vScbm5fXaW9AFDw/s1600/castle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1280" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQwKrKpW3nwzvYkVb2W3cJMvv3cLA-2QuiZYgyfsLBcIMzBm2C36thlnER0hUxLq31F0SR989U4l22hMoYFd3-4wBYLyw7CXehYGTE-15MmDwHa11qlQNe14QD9i9vScbm5fXaW9AFDw/s320/castle.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">First off
is the magic within the story. Besides magical creatures such as the unicorn,
magic is possessed only by magicians who study it or who have a particular gift
for connecting to its powers. The unicorn is the embodiment of pure magic and
eternity, not aging and not affected by the turmoil in the world around her (for
the most part). Her magic is more subtle than that of humans, who have to study
it rather than having it outflow from them naturally. However, it is also
possible for humans to have a direct connection to magic in vision-like bouts
of power. Schmendrick is usually unable to perform real magic (he performs
tricks and illusions mostly), yet there a true power comes through him at times,
and instead of letting him direct the magic himself, uses him as a vehicle. The
magic works through him rather than being directed by him. This is interesting
because it shows that the most powerful magic lies in magical beings who use it
naturally as well as a higher power that can work magic through others as is
deemed fit. Yet as to the identity of this power, we can only speculate.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">A further
consideration of magic lies in the manipulation of time. The talking skull in
King Haggard’s castle speaks about this when he says:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiApFEGdgX23b_k5S5jA4QmcKAAjBSVldbiXdBGtZn_a9twyU1OrErrIy0Hjfran6bwOYDkembKS_euBZ_fgv6qn7Ikndf7h6KzN58AoyUxD6hYZVhpxti6OePWrxwLut3dI-oKExW-Zs4/s1600/clock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="466" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiApFEGdgX23b_k5S5jA4QmcKAAjBSVldbiXdBGtZn_a9twyU1OrErrIy0Hjfran6bwOYDkembKS_euBZ_fgv6qn7Ikndf7h6KzN58AoyUxD6hYZVhpxti6OePWrxwLut3dI-oKExW-Zs4/s200/clock.jpg" width="200" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> “When I was
alive, I believed — as you do — that time was at least as real and solid as
myself, and probably more so. I said 'one o'clock' as though I could see it,
and 'Monday' as though I could find it on the map; and I let myself be hurried
along from minute to minute, day to day, year to year, as though I were
actually moving from one place to another. Like everyone else, I lived in a
house bricked up with seconds and minutes, weekends and New Year's Days, and I
never went outside until I died, because there was no other door. Now I know
that I could have walked through the walls.”<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This is what the greatest magicians can accomplish, to be
able to sidestep time itself. As Schmendrick says, the essence of being a
wizard is “seeing and listening,” and so it is necessary to see and listen to
the world in order to go beyond the bounds of time. Normally everyone, no
matter how great their powers are, is bound by the forward motion of time. It
is a train we are all confined to, taking us from the past to the future. Yet
what if we could step off the train and go backward to another time along the
tracks? Or forward? This is not the natural spontaneous magic of the unicorn,
but another dimension of magic. Though with the unicorn’s healing powers, it
may very well be that she is also tapping into this magic of time: restoring
someone’s body to a time before they were injured. She is not entering a
different time herself, but the person she is healing might be imperceptibly
travelling back in time. Likewise, her agelessness could also tie in to this
power of time, for although her memories accumulate from the past to the
present, her body exists in some eternal state unbounded by the moving train of
time. She “walks through the walls” and is not bound by this “house bricked up
with seconds and minutes,” for she can enter and exit it at will.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5junn4GDnH2XOvQrNJRTDhQeZuEijxH0rFDJ5JMmXRCGTx5Yej3Diw8pfXKFgPKJ-aob5utx2ommj9xLvJ6cm_Qsc-xKf7QnnJi7SqtB-nk-kEH2EIbaqL35AR-shkR6UlqXrSOIKO8/s1600/red+bull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5junn4GDnH2XOvQrNJRTDhQeZuEijxH0rFDJ5JMmXRCGTx5Yej3Diw8pfXKFgPKJ-aob5utx2ommj9xLvJ6cm_Qsc-xKf7QnnJi7SqtB-nk-kEH2EIbaqL35AR-shkR6UlqXrSOIKO8/s1600/red+bull.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Yet despite the unicorn’s powers, King Haggard’s Red Bull
still proves to be a formidable enemy that has trapped many of her kin. We
never find out what the Red Bull really is, though I take it to be a
manifestation of fear and hate in contrast to the unicorn’s pure magic. It’s
not that she has the magic of love and the Red Bull that of hate, because, as
we see in the story, apart from the time that the unicorn becomes human, she is
not a force of love, but is beyond human emotions and concerns. This is
expressed clearly when she says, “How can I be cruel? That is for mortals…so is
kindness.” This might seem callous from a human’s point of view, but for an
eternal being, it is inevitable that they see things from a more remote
viewpoint since they are essentially outside of the endless cycles of life and
death. This is a very different take on unicorns than we normally see in
fiction: it isn’t until the unicorn becomes (part) human that these sorts of
sentiments arise in her, and this seems more realistic.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">But back to the Red Bull: since the unicorn is not
omnipotent, he still has an effect on her by evoking a deep fear in her,
forcing her under his sway, as he did with the other unicorns before her. It is
a more primal force on par with the unicorn’s own powers, not the “parlour
trick” magic of humans such as Schmendrick, but the manifestation of a deep
power, the only kind that can threaten a unicorn. We also see this with the
harpy, which is another ancient creature with great powers that the unicorn
fears. It is fear that these evil creatures evoke in the unicorn, yet when she
can overcome this fear, she is able to realize that she is more powerful than
they are. And this, surprisingly, was only possible after she had turned into a
human: even after returning to unicorn form, she retains some human aspects,
one of which is the love for someone else and a passion to pursue her mission
to save her kin. This allows her to overcome her fear, something she was unable
to do while in a purely “unicorn frame of mind.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMaCWSjsQ6MaZ_3XDyTTFGv5RkP8ju-lxIcRE0_DKgpL4w5g3-KcVtCGAYlW2p0RBpE1q-7BxvyrU3a_FYw-BL5_wyjrbjGp72reIeutq7-vqWdpXvbMKu-FxB4anhd-62cwlhebOyaxY/s1600/uni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="900" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMaCWSjsQ6MaZ_3XDyTTFGv5RkP8ju-lxIcRE0_DKgpL4w5g3-KcVtCGAYlW2p0RBpE1q-7BxvyrU3a_FYw-BL5_wyjrbjGp72reIeutq7-vqWdpXvbMKu-FxB4anhd-62cwlhebOyaxY/s320/uni.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">And lastly, to give you a sense of the amazing descriptions
in the story, some of the particularly good ones are:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“The sky was low and almost black, save for one spot of
yellowing silver where the moon paced behind thick clouds.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“The thin night wind lifted and spilled her mane, and the
moon shone on the snowflake crafting of her small head.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“the murderous smell of it seemed to turn her bones to sand
and her blood to rain.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“Fear came back to her eyes like a great stone falling into
a pool: all was clouded and swirling, and quick shadows were rushing
everywhere.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“The horns, the seashell shining of the horns! The horns
came riding in like the rainbow masts of silver ships.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">And one of the many humorous quotes:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“Prince Lir bowed to her; a quick, crooked bow, as though
someone had hit him in the stomach.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiyWExsA_Uw4T0ksyDsiQLzn7fGptZhW1hPLQvjbmKgjROYeL14omSJ6lp0y-ewkjFZuue122qlOWsX6cemAMx-zLp3Omv198vW1oQ5yohfleUm2BRFIxaUxYejT6Ecm8C9aaRJjBB_fU/s1600/last+uni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1058" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiyWExsA_Uw4T0ksyDsiQLzn7fGptZhW1hPLQvjbmKgjROYeL14omSJ6lp0y-ewkjFZuue122qlOWsX6cemAMx-zLp3Omv198vW1oQ5yohfleUm2BRFIxaUxYejT6Ecm8C9aaRJjBB_fU/s320/last+uni.jpg" width="211" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">There are lots of others, but you’ll have to read the book
to see!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Although I’ve only touched on a few themes, the book is much
richer than this and I’d highly suggest reading it.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></div>
Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-60679902269753293712017-07-03T17:25:00.000-04:002017-07-03T17:35:32.810-04:00Quotes of Wisdom: Neoplatonism and Mathematics<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg46n8z73KFgiLOPIrsII-5zh7VDDcGNUdKSJ3PUppXFMfDcGfpAOwiGdK4qEe093vIvYnJ3sakA18N6NdHzOYa0LMmwDQQRfZhGPLnJsDHsBLTFae7t6RNscbWt_ScMpUaXdWv829MxAs/s1600/ploty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1019" data-original-width="1018" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg46n8z73KFgiLOPIrsII-5zh7VDDcGNUdKSJ3PUppXFMfDcGfpAOwiGdK4qEe093vIvYnJ3sakA18N6NdHzOYa0LMmwDQQRfZhGPLnJsDHsBLTFae7t6RNscbWt_ScMpUaXdWv829MxAs/s200/ploty.jpg" width="199" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Neoplatonism
is an important school of thought that formed to resolve enigmas in Plato and
Aristotle’s philosophies, Plato in particular. Indeed, Neoplatonists claimed
that they were only explaining Plato in more detail, fleshing out what he
really meant. The quote today is from the Roman philosopher Plotinus, who lived
from 204 – 270 AD, and was one of the founders of Neoplatonism (though at the
time, they just claimed to be Platonists). The quote is one of my most
favourite ones in all of…well, everything, so be prepared for a long blog post!</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg46n8z73KFgiLOPIrsII-5zh7VDDcGNUdKSJ3PUppXFMfDcGfpAOwiGdK4qEe093vIvYnJ3sakA18N6NdHzOYa0LMmwDQQRfZhGPLnJsDHsBLTFae7t6RNscbWt_ScMpUaXdWv829MxAs/s1600/ploty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">From
Plotinus’ <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26252.The_Enneads" target="_blank"><i>Ennead V</i> </a>(~ 250 AD):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“We must turn our power of apprehension
inwards, and make it attend to what is there. It is as if someone was expecting
to hear a voice which he wanted to hear and withdrew from all other sounds and
roused his power of hearing to catch what, when it comes, is the best of all
sounds which can be heard; so here also we must let perceptible sounds go
(except in so far as we must listen to them) and keep the soul’s power of
apprehension pure and ready to hear the voices from on high.”<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX4xmUEHVzX4XoK_Z5Zv4oCRGILiTn6zQHBibX5pWibUwnSeXwG15nn0AWyakdYWTFuhfn4mdNQcPJVGAK3-2mztVOAQIfC61gQbxvJCxTrd83_08kR5v3FB8K8lhcwTO1QWw4issn7_w/s1600/neopl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">Such
a beautiful quote, though to know exactly what Plotinus is talking about
requires us to know a bit about the metaphysics of Neoplatonism. </span>Neoplatonists
view the world in terms of three <b>hypostases</b>,
or levels of reality. This includes the One/God/Tao/Ain Soph/Brahman,
Intellect/Nous/the Divine Mind/Atzilut, and Soul/Psyche/Universal Soul/Beriah&Yezirah.
There’s also Body/the World/Nature/Physicality that comes after the soul, but
it isn’t a real hypostasis (we’ll see it at the end). I’m listing various names
for all these just to show that they correspond to many other religions and
philosophies, but the first terms are those that Plotinus uses, so I’ll stick
with those.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSo4O3Gi65OdHiS3l1krcCq8RiyeNlBSl84Z9Lj3xzpmmJyqsyJK8FKo_3JBzGz3eFfISgPr_OYYVNWopwiFqgSMqggDtEziL_gV7P3Bbfc0JXGd5Qrs3nQfNO0TvRoicvLXUsTRHD9Vg/s1600/Neoplato.gif" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSo4O3Gi65OdHiS3l1krcCq8RiyeNlBSl84Z9Lj3xzpmmJyqsyJK8FKo_3JBzGz3eFfISgPr_OYYVNWopwiFqgSMqggDtEziL_gV7P3Bbfc0JXGd5Qrs3nQfNO0TvRoicvLXUsTRHD9Vg/s1600/Neoplato.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX4xmUEHVzX4XoK_Z5Zv4oCRGILiTn6zQHBibX5pWibUwnSeXwG15nn0AWyakdYWTFuhfn4mdNQcPJVGAK3-2mztVOAQIfC61gQbxvJCxTrd83_08kR5v3FB8K8lhcwTO1QWw4issn7_w/s1600/neopl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX4xmUEHVzX4XoK_Z5Zv4oCRGILiTn6zQHBibX5pWibUwnSeXwG15nn0AWyakdYWTFuhfn4mdNQcPJVGAK3-2mztVOAQIfC61gQbxvJCxTrd83_08kR5v3FB8K8lhcwTO1QWw4issn7_w/s320/neopl.jpg" width="207" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">At the base of all existence, subsuming all other
hypostases, is the <b>One</b>. It is the
source of everything, transcending “being” as we know it. We usually think
of the verb “to be” as determining something qualities. A dog is a dog because
it has a specific form, a particular code of DNA, and so on. This is
determinate being, but the One is infinite and indeterminate, containing <i>all</i> things, so it can’t be described in
this way. If you describe it as one thing, you’ll leave something else out. Determinate
things can be described because you can say they are “x” rather than “y.” Toto
is a dog, not a cat, or a duck, or a hippo, etc. Yet the One is <i>everything.</i> Just like the Tao, it cannot
be described: we can only gesture to it in metaphors and perhaps glimpse it in
insights that go beyond our reasoning mind. The human mind can only grasp
determinate things, so the One will remain out of our grasp unless we go beyond
seeing things in sequences and in time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So the One is both everything and nothing: it
doesn’t lack anything, it gives rise to all things, but it also is nothing in
particular, not possessing any determinate qualities. Plotinus says that <b>“The One is all things and not a single one
of them: it is the principle of all things, not all things, but all things have
that other kind of transcendent existence…the One is not being, but the
generator of being.”</b> Yet you <i>can</i>
describe the One as perfect, or fully actualized. One of the most important
Neoplatonic ideas is that a fully actualized being will create an external
reflection of itself, also known as a second actuality. Plotinus says that <b>“All things when they come to perfection
produce.” </b>This production is an expression of the One, an image of it that
isn’t as perfect because it is more restricted.<o:p></o:p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi19yrpPdLHdzGNpNFXGG5r3PJkVCkt0X6xPoBcqn-jtW6cspE_4m2fyl-tk1cD087Yazb9vZ_qk-tu6LmiGjR78eF2snUOlv-C6V04WUeLfGDlOp1lyXAqIF0a2jrIiLgV5OZ7pn6OJrs/s1600/dispersion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi19yrpPdLHdzGNpNFXGG5r3PJkVCkt0X6xPoBcqn-jtW6cspE_4m2fyl-tk1cD087Yazb9vZ_qk-tu6LmiGjR78eF2snUOlv-C6V04WUeLfGDlOp1lyXAqIF0a2jrIiLgV5OZ7pn6OJrs/s1600/dispersion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi19yrpPdLHdzGNpNFXGG5r3PJkVCkt0X6xPoBcqn-jtW6cspE_4m2fyl-tk1cD087Yazb9vZ_qk-tu6LmiGjR78eF2snUOlv-C6V04WUeLfGDlOp1lyXAqIF0a2jrIiLgV5OZ7pn6OJrs/s1600/dispersion.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The best analogy for this is the dispersion of
white light by a prism (which I described in a few other posts): the white
light of the One splits into various colours upon entering the prism, so there
is more variety in what is further down in the hierarchy. However, the One is
undiminished, for like the white light from which the colours arose, it remains
pure and simple, even though its dispersed beam appears to be multiple. This
process continues down to much more complicated levels of existence until the
physical world comes into being.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">An analogy Plotinus uses is that of fire, snow, and
perfume: <b>“fire produces the heat which
comes from it; snow does not only keep its cold inside itself. Perfumed things
show this particularly clearly. As long as they exist, something is diffused
from themselves around them, and what is near them enjoys their existence.”</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The One gives rise to infinitely many things, particular
beings unlike the source from which they arose. This first expression of the
One is the second hypostasis, <b>Intellect</b>.
This is also known as the Good in Plato, the highest Form. All other Forms
exist within the Good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This process of creating Intellect is called <i>emanation</i>. The first step is when the
One sends out a reflection of itself, which is less perfect and so is multiple
rather than unified: <b>“The One, perfect
because it seeks nothing, has nothing, and needs nothing, overflows, as it
were, and its superabundance makes something other than itself.”</b> The next
step occurs in Intellect, which is when Intellect actualizes itself as a
distinct level of existence. The nature of Intellect is to think, and by thinking,
it strives to return to the One. This doesn’t occur in time, because time only
enters into existence in Soul (as we will see below). Intellect strives to
return to the One, its perfect source, though because it is limited, it is
never able to reach the One by thinking. It is Intellect’s nature to <i>think</i>, yet the One cannot be thought
since it is not a determinate being.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Yet this failed attempt to grasp the One
actualizes Intellect as its own level of existence: it becomes perfect as a
reflection of the One by thinking of itself—the only thing it <i>can </i>think of. In thinking itself, the
Forms are generated, and so although Intellect doesn’t return to the One, it
actualizes itself by creating a system of Forms that each express different
aspects of being. These are infinite aspects of the One that exist in a
hierarchy with the Form of the Good closest to the One and more specific Forms
that derive from it further down. They are all connected, and each Form derives
its nature from all other Forms. It is a lot like Hua-yen Buddhism (see my <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/2017/02/quotes-of-wisdom-hua-yen-buddhism.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>),
where each dharma (or in this case, Form) is defined in terms of the whole
system of Forms. One cannot exist alone. Each Form is a partial grasp of the
One: a different aspect of it. Returning to the dispersion analogy, the
different Forms, represented by the colours of the rainbow, are generated when
the white light of the One is dispersed through a prism (which is in this case
the act of Intellect thinking).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">You’ve probably heard of Platonic Forms before:
really anything you can think of has a Form that it’s modelled after (though
not perfectly). The Form of the Good, Beauty, Number, Colour, Motion, Rest, and
even specific things like Dog, Grass, and Table (note that I’m referring to
Forms in capital letters, so the Form of Dog is in Intellect, while specific
dogs are physical creatures that imperfectly partake in the Form “Dog”). Yet in
Intellect, these Forms are unchanging objects of thought and not physical
things that grow and change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzF9JD0ebhqf-SZwRwykXX_xsMwwcMAC13F4EAJDQXgOgXkWwDSKUrQakWZ80wINP2ee3TGhIEKlRABU_BpBQ2MZ_uWrk8t7bvYelOGL4YjRW_r5kjAxJ-LSk71kAZHq7eA7lzp594Ptc/s1600/disp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="993" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzF9JD0ebhqf-SZwRwykXX_xsMwwcMAC13F4EAJDQXgOgXkWwDSKUrQakWZ80wINP2ee3TGhIEKlRABU_BpBQ2MZ_uWrk8t7bvYelOGL4YjRW_r5kjAxJ-LSk71kAZHq7eA7lzp594Ptc/s320/disp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The next level of existence is <b>Soul, </b>which “is a ghost of Intellect.”
Because Intellect actualizes itself in the act of thinking, it also produces an
external image of itself, a second dispersion (add another prism!). Soul is thus more multiple than
Intellect, further from the eternal existence of the One. It is here that we
introduce time and change, which measures the thinking activity of Soul. The
Forms are eternal and unchanging, but the souls that exist in Soul, although
they partake in the Forms above, change and evolve, which is less perfect than Intellect.
<b>“For around Soul things come one after
another: now Socrates, now a horse, always some one particular reality; but
Intellect is all things. It has therefore everything at rest in the same place.”</b>
The very fact that Soul changes means that it isn’t perfect: if it was already
perfect, change would bring it away from that perfect state, and if it wasn’t
yet perfect—if it was improving or regressing—then it still isn’t in a perfect
state. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzF9JD0ebhqf-SZwRwykXX_xsMwwcMAC13F4EAJDQXgOgXkWwDSKUrQakWZ80wINP2ee3TGhIEKlRABU_BpBQ2MZ_uWrk8t7bvYelOGL4YjRW_r5kjAxJ-LSk71kAZHq7eA7lzp594Ptc/s1600/disp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Likewise, Soul actualizes itself by trying to
unite with its source, Intellect. Soul, however, can only think <i>discursively</i>, which is the kind of thinking
we usually talk about. It is thinking one thing after another using a chain of
reasoning. Intellect, however, thinks <i>noetically</i>,
which is more of intuition: an immediate insight that can grasp all Forms at
once. Such thought is only possible, however, when one is outside of time, so
Soul can never fully reach Intellect. It tries to grasp the relationships
between the Forms, but is only able to think of them sequentially, for it is
“ever-moving,” so misses the interconnectedness of the Forms. For instance, if
you imagine the Form of Beauty and try to understand it, you will be thinking
of certain qualities rather than others, and so will necessarily leave parts
out. Even if you were to think of all aspects of Beauty sequentially, that
would still not be grasping it as a whole, and it would also be missing its
position in relation to the other Forms. This fragmented way of thinking is
intrinsic to Soul’s nature, and it must be transcended in order for Soul to return
to Intellect. Yet Intellect is still at the centre of Soul. It is its essential
nature, just like the One is the essential nature of Intellect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYpCnm2YeXJH2fHubdI1PVtbwcXYsvAaziE5w7Xdt37PxB_LqLDS_zqIB1C12-TS0Ofy1L-3vNYSnE1WDAjzZZiiScxZJ2vg4frKz41WvudLUB7BECNdO0WvYZArK_x7fXYfwjxh9Lrq8/s1600/plotinus+cosmology.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYpCnm2YeXJH2fHubdI1PVtbwcXYsvAaziE5w7Xdt37PxB_LqLDS_zqIB1C12-TS0Ofy1L-3vNYSnE1WDAjzZZiiScxZJ2vg4frKz41WvudLUB7BECNdO0WvYZArK_x7fXYfwjxh9Lrq8/s1600/plotinus+cosmology.PNG" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Thus, a better way of looking at the hypostases
are that they form a circle with the One at the centre, Intellect a layer
around it, and Soul a layer around that. At the centre of Soul’s circle is Intellect,
and at the centre of Intellect’s circle is the One. Everything is really just
an aspect of the One, emanating outward in circles that stray from the central
point as they are created. This also means that it <i>is</i> possible to reach Intellect and even the One because it is at
the centre of our being, for <b><span lang="EN-US">“Nothing is separated or cut off
from that which is before it.”</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> </span>This is related to Plato’s doctrine of recollection: even if we
aren’t taught mathematics or other principles related to the Forms, we have the
Forms within us, so we understand them on an intuitive level even if we’re not
taught them.<o:p></o:p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYpCnm2YeXJH2fHubdI1PVtbwcXYsvAaziE5w7Xdt37PxB_LqLDS_zqIB1C12-TS0Ofy1L-3vNYSnE1WDAjzZZiiScxZJ2vg4frKz41WvudLUB7BECNdO0WvYZArK_x7fXYfwjxh9Lrq8/s1600/plotinus+cosmology.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Soul does, however, actualize itself as a distinct
level of existence in its act of thinking about the Forms. So, as Neoplatonism
dictates, it produces an external reflection of itself. And thus, we reach the physical
world, <b>Body</b>. Soul <b>“looks to its source [Intellect] and is filled,
and…generates its own image.”</b> As time was introduced at the level of Soul, <i>space</i> comes into being at the level of
Body, so we now possess space and time (space-time).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Body is not really a hypostasis in itself, though
it does emanate from Soul like Soul came from Intellect and Intellect from the
One. The difference is that although Soul actualizes itself in thinking and can
return to Intellect if it transcends its discursive thinking, Body is unable to
overcome the limitation of physicality and so can never actually return to
Soul. It is not conscious, but rather consists of material things that can’t
think, called <i>logoi spermatikoi</i>, or
seminal reasons. Materiality cannot be overcome, and so Body is not really
another level of existence like Soul and Intellect are from the One, because it
does not have the One as its ultimate nature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">As a whole, Soul is also known as the Universal
Soul, yet within Soul are also individual souls, centres of consciousness. Like
the Universal Soul, the primary purpose of souls is to contemplate Intellect in
order to ascend to a more perfect level of existence. There is a hierarchy of
souls within Soul: those more enlightened tending toward Intellect, and those
more tied to the material world toward Body. Yet a secondary purpose of souls
is to incarnate in the material world, to form living beings like humans, which
means that we are a combination of two worlds: Soul and Body. Yet since every
soul has at the innermost centre of its being the Universal Soul, each soul can
be said to have made the physical world. Plotinus says,<b> “Let every soul, then, first consider this, that it made all living
things itself, breathing life into them…it grants life to the whole universe.”</b>
This can be understood in two senses: the first is that souls incarnate into
the material world directly, giving life to it, and second is that they are in
essence the Universal Soul from which the world emanated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Higher souls do not get caught up in the material
world that they animate, yet lesser ones can easily get distracted by it and
fail in their primary purpose of contemplating the Forms. Souls are supposed to
govern the body, not become attached to it, a doctrine we see in many other
philosophies. The soul suffers when it identifies itself with the body, because
everything in this world is transitory and far from the true source of
existence. It is just a reflection from Soul, an “illusion,” and so placing
importance on it and treating things here as permanent only leads to suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSo4O3Gi65OdHiS3l1krcCq8RiyeNlBSl84Z9Lj3xzpmmJyqsyJK8FKo_3JBzGz3eFfISgPr_OYYVNWopwiFqgSMqggDtEziL_gV7P3Bbfc0JXGd5Qrs3nQfNO0TvRoicvLXUsTRHD9Vg/s1600/Neoplato.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="350" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSo4O3Gi65OdHiS3l1krcCq8RiyeNlBSl84Z9Lj3xzpmmJyqsyJK8FKo_3JBzGz3eFfISgPr_OYYVNWopwiFqgSMqggDtEziL_gV7P3Bbfc0JXGd5Qrs3nQfNO0TvRoicvLXUsTRHD9Vg/s400/Neoplato.gif" width="307" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">In order to ascend back up the ladder of being,
Plotinus gives us two ways: <b>“One shows
how contemptible are the things now honoured by the soul…the other teaches and
reminds the soul how high its birth and value are, and this is prior to the
other one.”<o:p></o:p></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPwIFaMQ_WLM23pOsWFompexG-a2J7pfz_OnEyIQJmQ23om5gjUhg8vcQAfudl7SdkeyTx-8miysOuUKpSNwryJzngp6ltuoZeF3aixnlTzpWynzP3DyJu_KmYzxRavZ3HQMyY3lmk95I/s1600/bckwd.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="1002" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPwIFaMQ_WLM23pOsWFompexG-a2J7pfz_OnEyIQJmQ23om5gjUhg8vcQAfudl7SdkeyTx-8miysOuUKpSNwryJzngp6ltuoZeF3aixnlTzpWynzP3DyJu_KmYzxRavZ3HQMyY3lmk95I/s320/bckwd.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The first way is asceticism, condemning physical
existence and detaching oneself from material things. They are imperfect, they
are transitory, and so should not be objects of veneration or sources of happiness.
This closely aligns with Stoicism and Buddhism in particular. The second way ties
in to the first, which is to recollect one’s true nature. To realize you are a
soul <i>in</i> a body rather than a body.
Your soul defines you, and that soul is part of the Universal Soul, and that
part of the Forms, and so on to the One. This shift in consciousness can help
you become what you already are, to shift the eye of the soul to what is both
beyond and within it. It’s not something that we can fully comprehend given our
limited minds, but we can try, at least. Plotinus speaks of seeing the order in
things around us: how various beautiful things in the world are only imperfect
instances of the greater Form of Beauty, for instance. Even though we must
necessarily think discursively, eventually, we can overcome that and think of
the Forms noetically as Intellect does. The final stage is to return to the
One, where all thinking is put aside, and there is only unity and no longer
determinate being. It may seem impossible, yet at the very core of your being
lies the One: <b>“Since the soul is so
honourable and divine a thing, be sure already that you can attain God by
reason of its being of this kind.”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPwIFaMQ_WLM23pOsWFompexG-a2J7pfz_OnEyIQJmQ23om5gjUhg8vcQAfudl7SdkeyTx-8miysOuUKpSNwryJzngp6ltuoZeF3aixnlTzpWynzP3DyJu_KmYzxRavZ3HQMyY3lmk95I/s1600/bckwd.png" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Much of Neoplatonism has parallels with various
other religions: Buddhism, Kabbalism, Taoism, and mystic Christianity, for instance.
They are all speaking of the same underlying universe, which, although expressed
in various symbols and metaphors, is a hierarchy of reality with truer levels
of being closer to the One.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">This
is all a simplified version, because within Intellect, Soul, and Body are many levels
that make it clearer how one hypostasis gives rise to another other. If we look
at these, we can see a correspondence to the Kabbalah, since in the Kabbalah
there are many Sephiroth within each level of existence. The Neoplatonic scheme
of existence is also a good way of understanding mathematics and physics. Numbers
themselves, as well as mathematical laws based on them, exist as Forms in Intellect.
In order for mathematics and physics to describe the world we live in, there
must be some fundamental physical laws that exist: otherwise, the world would
just be chaotic. Since these laws obviously don’t exist physically (you don’t
find the number 4 floating around), they must be nonphysical, and hence, exist
in a nonphysical realm above ours (“above” being a higher level of existence). A
law only presides over that which is below it, so the laws in Intellect don’t
affect the One, its greater source, though they do affect Soul and Body. There
is a hierarchy where more specific laws are subsumed by more general ones that
are closer to the One. The further down something is in the hierarchy of
existence, the more restricted it is, being subjected to a more laws that
restrict its movements or thoughts. Thus, if one transcends the physical world,
through purifying their soul and attending to that which is above it, they will
transcend some of the limitations of the world around them. This is how some
people have, through meditation or other practices, appeared to transcend the
common-sense laws that govern the world. </span>Walking on water, perhaps? Telepathy? This is just speculation, but it
could certainly be explained in this way. <span lang="EN-US">Of course, this is common in Buddhism, but even
Greek philosophers such as Plato and Pythagoras were said to have certain
powers.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXVeo6zTwhlXzo70yy5oYtKd0oGV4sHxVyj1IcY3arKLSF0WuHQjUNb8f_Nwz1UMuS1GxioiPdsGIAr_k0MBDO5i30yargK59WaISID5EGlmrD9dQbhpQseeG8wFq76P4GCRAWsifECw/s1600/mathy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="839" data-original-width="1600" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXVeo6zTwhlXzo70yy5oYtKd0oGV4sHxVyj1IcY3arKLSF0WuHQjUNb8f_Nwz1UMuS1GxioiPdsGIAr_k0MBDO5i30yargK59WaISID5EGlmrD9dQbhpQseeG8wFq76P4GCRAWsifECw/s320/mathy.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">Even
if we don’t know what the ultimate laws are that govern the world, we already
understand physics in terms of a hierarchy of laws that are applicable in more
specific or general situations. For example, Einstein’s theory of gravity is a
general theory that applies to the universe on a large scale as well as the
world around us. Newton’s theory of gravity works well for things on Earth and
much of the solar system, but it fails on larger scales. Thus, it is a subset
of Einstein’s theory that is applicable in more restricted situations. An even
more general theory would include both quantum mechanics and general relativity
(see picture below from the physicist Max Tegmark). This law would be a higher
Form that more specific laws are derived from. But this law, ultimately, will
arise from even more basic principles: Number, Symmetry, Order, etc. For
instance, Max Tegmark said that <b>“</b></span><b>all mathematical structures are abstract,
immutable entities. The integers and their relations to each other, all these
things exist outside of time.” </b>Existing outside of time doesn’t correspond
to the world around us, or even Soul, but to more basic principles in Intellect.
Additionally, they are not mere fictions that we have created to describe the
world. I won’t get into that here, but see my <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/2017/03/quotes-of-wisdom-platonic-realism-in.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="679" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6s-x1am1kqxSY3aauJN-mFiQS5fXTc4Pw-_tNQqerEaEPvMFRZJRAyyJzEsBI7v9SW6oYV2Lcj9M0Icx1rgbpP49UU1VF50-ht2JVjDk-GVujolJ5nYqWB2NcJWaHVWvxenglNdGT9u8/s640/math.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="585" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diagram from Max Tegmark</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Another physicist, Roger Penrose, believes that
Platonism is a correct description of reality. For example, in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9Q6SWcTA9w" target="_blank">interview</a>,
he said that <b>“mathematics has to have
been there since the beginning of time. It has an eternal existence.
Timelessness, really: it doesn’t have any location in space, it doesn’t have
any location in time.”</b> He also explains how there are three different kind
of existences: the physical, mental, and mathematical worlds, which would
correspond to Body, Soul, and Intellect (the One doesn’t “exist”: it is beyond
existence). Likewise, our access to the world of mathematics, the fact that we
can understand things as basic as numbers and addition to more complicated
things like differential equations and general relativity, is only possible
because, as Plato said, it is already within us. Within the core of our souls
is Intellect, providing the laws that created us and govern our existence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">Now,
the laws that govern the physical world (quantum mechanics, general relativity,
electromagnetism…everything), although they derive from the Forms within Intellect,
are “filtered” through Soul and so exist in the Universal Soul rather than Intellect.
As I quoted in my previous post, the physicist John Spencer said, </span><b>“All
the laws of physics are partial reflections of the one eternal mathematical
law, which is a kind of super-law, the foundation of all the mathematical laws
in the universe.” </b>This law exists
in Soul, the “?” in the diagram of yellow boxes above, and all laws that derive
from this exist in Soul below it. If a soul transcends above this level, it
will no longer be subjected to these laws, and so may appear to do miraculous
things.<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7B74-IKDrkwvPu8cIC6dTjgmT0zXTeYFE4vBxIV3ycPIwj1ZT8L9jtn02gwU7G3GzlQ8UNk1aUh04uMY85_Eun6uhBJkfmu25PCYoaAPNoAOEdLoDnLSj0VpQ6zhm2TU4_kKmaiG6-40/s1600/plant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7B74-IKDrkwvPu8cIC6dTjgmT0zXTeYFE4vBxIV3ycPIwj1ZT8L9jtn02gwU7G3GzlQ8UNk1aUh04uMY85_Eun6uhBJkfmu25PCYoaAPNoAOEdLoDnLSj0VpQ6zhm2TU4_kKmaiG6-40/s200/plant.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This
eternal law, which describes how the physical world works, partakes in higher Forms
of Symmetry, Number, etc. Plotinus says that <b>“Even in seeds it is not the
moisture which is honourable, but what is unseen: and this is number and
rational principles.”</b> Thus, physical laws (rational principles from the
eternal law) and number (mathematics in Intellect) form the basis of everything
in the world around us. More specific laws arise when the eternal laws is applied
to, say, the microscopic realm with quantum mechanics, or the macroscopic realm
with gravity. But if you could understand the greater laws above it, you would
be able to describe both quantum mechanics and gravity with a single law, and
even more generally, both souls and bodies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Thus,
the metaphysics of Neoplatonism can help us understand all sorts of aspects of
existence from souls to time to mathematics and physics. Like many other
philosophies that include a hierarchy, or even those like Hua-yen Buddhism, it
describes a universe that is united and tells us that even though the world may
see chaotic and disconnected, everything derives from the One, and we all can
return to it, for it still exists as an invisible core within us. Listen, and
you may hear “the voices from on high.”</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLGy6EsnctX2OuvGPmNKrBwYXmRyQcDNxcMJvGcMonyOZ56__eQdLZupvWLAV0OBFjRnNac-BWCrusKYZ39WKegQfhRlhy0bdelU4Z_xIwrEV8O9gxGHW-MIqgXHyK6iMi1kTGtyddUw8/s1600/chaffy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLGy6EsnctX2OuvGPmNKrBwYXmRyQcDNxcMJvGcMonyOZ56__eQdLZupvWLAV0OBFjRnNac-BWCrusKYZ39WKegQfhRlhy0bdelU4Z_xIwrEV8O9gxGHW-MIqgXHyK6iMi1kTGtyddUw8/s640/chaffy.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">~~*~~</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Click <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/p/philosophy-magic-and-science.html">here </a>for more posts in my Quotes of Wisdom series.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-90605116314579427502017-04-28T13:27:00.000-04:002017-07-03T17:36:51.796-04:00The Many Worlds of Quantum Mechanics<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8GlH0uE92kcYSkEiKzi93Zu7L4qon_rXjt8UrRcYlk_OGvRDqHoKrOaZECsyTs5Mszkrx8XjOGAFGySQZdF7H1tQ7f4ceM2c_2MZ9F432cwWmTTXFffmMDbMUUSl6_l5lXCrOZkgXcoo/s1600/worlds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8GlH0uE92kcYSkEiKzi93Zu7L4qon_rXjt8UrRcYlk_OGvRDqHoKrOaZECsyTs5Mszkrx8XjOGAFGySQZdF7H1tQ7f4ceM2c_2MZ9F432cwWmTTXFffmMDbMUUSl6_l5lXCrOZkgXcoo/s320/worlds.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">It’s not surprising that quantum mechanics, the
branch of physics that studies the smallest level of reality, has many conflicting
interpretations to what’s <i>really</i>
happening and what actually exists. A book I read recently, <i>The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, </i>discusses
many areas of science that relate to the anthropic principle, some of the most
interesting of which are the interpretations of quantum mechanics (QM), in particular,
the <b>Many Worlds Interpretation</b> (MWI).
This is what we’ll look at today:</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8GlH0uE92kcYSkEiKzi93Zu7L4qon_rXjt8UrRcYlk_OGvRDqHoKrOaZECsyTs5Mszkrx8XjOGAFGySQZdF7H1tQ7f4ceM2c_2MZ9F432cwWmTTXFffmMDbMUUSl6_l5lXCrOZkgXcoo/s1600/worlds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">From <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218097.The_Anthropic_Cosmological_Principle" target="_blank">The Anthropic Cosmological Principle</a> </i>by John Barrow and Frank Tipler (1988):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“The
question of why does this universe rather than that universe exist is answered
by saying that <i>all</i> logically possible
universes do exist. What else could there possibly be? The MWI cosmology
enlarges the ontology in order to economize on physical laws.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">By the way, I have a lot of “stars” in the text
below, which correspond to notes at the bottom that give a bit of physics details
for those who are interested (it’s not necessary to read though).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">One of the many problems in QM we still need to
solve is how to make sense of observers. Namely, <i>us</i>, the ones who perform experiments. We seem to have a peculiar
influence over what happens to particles at the subatomic level just by
observing them. Indeed, before a measurement of a particle is taken (usually
something like its position or speed. I’ll just talk about position though),
the usual interpretation, called the <b>Copenhagen
Interpretation</b>, says that the particle exists in a “superposition” of
states: not at any particular location. It is spread out over a certain area
and is described by a wavefunction (usually denoted by ψ). Although the
particles is more likely to be found in a particular area, it can still be
found outside this region.*<sup>1</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The interpretation favoured by the Copenhagenists
is that when an observation is made, the wavefunction “collapses” to a
particular value. When we weren’t looking, it was spread out over a large area,
existing, in a sense, in many places at once, but now, it is nicely settled at
a single point in space.<span style="background: white; color: #666666; line-height: 150%;"> </span>In the
picture below, the graph on the left shows the probability of observing a
particle in a particular location (in x and y coordinates, so two
dimensionally). This is represented by the particle's wavefunction (ψ) on the
vertical axis.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*</span><sup style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">2 </sup><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The particle isn’t “in” any one
spot, but spread out over an area, though it is most likely to be found at the
peak.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpig2pmYOq3EiuI7tOZa-h9J3Z1ORv-f8g2SoZdjuxuQRXX-QkMqYg-6insZwQKTP7lL2MHmGdHzfE9L2OuC0cokBqPFOzusRmJhJ5WtT9jdA77kIoc_FQqYWzZqQvnAQiVsx-oIRdrLM/s1600/WaveCollapse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpig2pmYOq3EiuI7tOZa-h9J3Z1ORv-f8g2SoZdjuxuQRXX-QkMqYg-6insZwQKTP7lL2MHmGdHzfE9L2OuC0cokBqPFOzusRmJhJ5WtT9jdA77kIoc_FQqYWzZqQvnAQiVsx-oIRdrLM/s640/WaveCollapse.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">However, when an observation or measurement is made, the wavefunction collapses
so that the particle is now in a particular spot (the spike on the graph to the
right). So, as the physicist Niels Bohr said, <b>“an independent reality in the ordinary physical sense can neither be
ascribed to the phenomena nor the agencies of observations.”</b> Observation,
in a sense, brings the properties of particles into being—they never really
“existed” beforehand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This interpretation seems ludicrous, and there are
some serious issues with it as well.*<sup>3</sup> This might just be how nature works, but fortunately, there are
also other options available to us. First, the uncertainty in our description
of QM (for example, of locating a particle) is probably just that: it is only
an uncertainty in our <i>description</i>,
which is tailor-made for human experience. It describes our<i> </i>uncertain knowledge of the world, not an uncertainty in the world
itself. There is an inherent limitation to what we can know (from our limited
senses and the fact that we have to interact with the world when we observe it)
but that doesn’t mean that the world is actually “uncertain” and existing in
many states before it’s observed. It’s naïve to assume that we can know <i>everything</i> through our senses and the
mathematics we have created; it’s more reasonable to assume that as creatures
living in three spatial dimensions, able to travel one direction in time and being
mostly limited to our five senses, if we dig deep enough, there may be some
things we can only understand probabilistically—but that’s not to say that this
is the way they are, just the way they are <i>to
our perceptions. </i>There must be a physical reality independent of our
observations even if we can’t observe it, because otherwise, what would our
probabilistic descriptions be describing? Thus, it’s important to distinguish
between the mathematics we use to describe the world, and the world itself,
which need not be constrained by our theories and human limitations.*<sup>4</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This ties in with a different interpretation of QM
called the <b>Many Worlds Interpretation</b>.*<sup>5</sup> In this theory, each quantum mechanical
possibility occurs in a different world. Introduced by Hugh Everett and
endorsed by many physicists today (for example, Max Tegmark, said, <b>“Accepting
quantum mechanics to be universally true means that you should also believe in
parallel universes.”</b>), in the MW interpretation, every quantum mechanical
possibility happens, but each occurs in a different world.*<sup>6</sup> So <i>everything</i> happens,
and there are nearly infinite possibilities! So think about every possible universe,
those that are only slightly different to ours (e.g., one in which your
favourite colour is red instead of purple) and ones that
have entirely different planets, solar systems, and galaxies. In this
scenario, the observer has no magical ability to make wavefunctions collapse,
but rather, when they make a measurement, they only measure the particle’s
position in their particular universe. Everett said that <b>“it is not so much the system which is affected by an observation as
the observer,”</b> so the MW approach is a realist view of QM (meaning, in this
context, that each world exists whether we observe it or not).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj54LN74RTYByREMPQ9-Co50eA4e4599gQ8hfbJSyg5rdXeWzZv27ggLv7TJ7ntFu8e9B_yfDOSOL18yqjBGQ62mphm6AkkT3pjVSJ3fZUD4zwm-uzKtKo_xFc6jz-XTW77-o07aUJ0bLw/s1600/mwi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj54LN74RTYByREMPQ9-Co50eA4e4599gQ8hfbJSyg5rdXeWzZv27ggLv7TJ7ntFu8e9B_yfDOSOL18yqjBGQ62mphm6AkkT3pjVSJ3fZUD4zwm-uzKtKo_xFc6jz-XTW77-o07aUJ0bLw/s640/mwi.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So when a measurement is made on a system, all the
possibilities that could happen will “split” into different worlds. If one
views the universe as a whole, however, (though here, it might be better to say
multiverse) there is no real splitting and no change in the particle’s
wavefunction: the general wavefunction represents all the different particles
that exist in every universe, even though in our particular universe, it only
follows one option. The real difference is in the measuring device (or
ourselves, since we perceive the particle to be in one state or another),
because we measure different values depending which universe we’re in. Indeed,
it’s more apt to say that the measuring device splits rather than the particle
and the universe around it, because it’s the measuring device that is registering
different values depending upon the state of the particle. Barrow and Tipler
say that, <b>“There is only one Universe,
but small parts of it—measuring apparata—split into several pieces…upon the act
of measurement.”</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Cf0kJxd4FwppVOFSu9mxJxQvlIIJeDH794T91vXkHxoVPN9K5s4tuAfKvnsvdnEVM5sdxHHH9-rgQN-zbsTZlJS7snFxR5tt_lXib7gVd3YiLfZpnezn36Ipt5kPErhQGEBgg7Ez7a8/s1600/350px-Schroedingers_cat_film.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Cf0kJxd4FwppVOFSu9mxJxQvlIIJeDH794T91vXkHxoVPN9K5s4tuAfKvnsvdnEVM5sdxHHH9-rgQN-zbsTZlJS7snFxR5tt_lXib7gVd3YiLfZpnezn36Ipt5kPErhQGEBgg7Ez7a8/s320/350px-Schroedingers_cat_film.svg.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">I find this hard to imagine physically, since, if <i>anything</i> in the universe splits into
multiple states, where do these copies exist? They have to be somehow distinct
from each other or else it wouldn’t make sense to talk about a “split” in the
first place. And it isn’t as though there is “the” universe, and then off in
some other plane of existence, there are various measuring devices with
different readings existing in and of themselves. I can’t explain why there
wouldn’t be as many universes as there are splits, even if, at the moment of
the split, they all start out the identically except for the reading on the
measuring device and the particle’s state. So the view of having many worlds
seems to make sense only if there are many fully-fledged universes distinct
from ours.*<sup>7 </sup>Yet later on, they mention
multiple “worlds,” each with different states for the particle that is
measured, which makes more sense. They say that <b>“each measurement splits the apparatus (or equivalently, the
universe).”</b> There is only one “Universe” (capital “U” to denote all the
worlds together), but this Universe represents a collection of “universes”
(each with the different possible outcomes). It is the measuring device that <i>causes</i> the world to split, but it is not
the only thing that exists in these other worlds.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Cf0kJxd4FwppVOFSu9mxJxQvlIIJeDH794T91vXkHxoVPN9K5s4tuAfKvnsvdnEVM5sdxHHH9-rgQN-zbsTZlJS7snFxR5tt_lXib7gVd3YiLfZpnezn36Ipt5kPErhQGEBgg7Ez7a8/s1600/350px-Schroedingers_cat_film.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3EzSE0Y7ze4JTP0NvA8tM6FnJJ_1uK-DfCcuPUtgleoYxK5oHaurLwGwP4FeQCXJ_s-2XT_0SjaYJWtxRApGAKo0XWDnrV1e6KT5jzkF0gtyNPK37hpRN7fLzhNowQPzLnyc_DHmoU0Q/s1600/uni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3EzSE0Y7ze4JTP0NvA8tM6FnJJ_1uK-DfCcuPUtgleoYxK5oHaurLwGwP4FeQCXJ_s-2XT_0SjaYJWtxRApGAKo0XWDnrV1e6KT5jzkF0gtyNPK37hpRN7fLzhNowQPzLnyc_DHmoU0Q/s320/uni.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">To return to the quote at the start: “enlarging
the ontology” simply means that there are many universes rather than one, which
might seem to be superfluous. The ontology is just our description of the
universe at large, and to have all possibilities happen rather than just one is
certainly enlarging it. To “economize on physical laws” means that we need not
evoke a strange quantum collapse that deviates from the equations of physics to
describe how a particle’s wavefunction evolve: you have a wavefunction to
describe the Universe, and it never splits. And if every possible universe
exists, there is no need for us to specify why the universe exists the way it
does: we happen to live in this universe because it is habitable to life. Of
course, we wouldn’t expect to find ourselves in a universe so vastly different
to ours, or else it wouldn’t harbour life.*<sup>8</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This ties in with a similar explanation of the MWI
described by Max Tegmark in various papers (using Everett’s original ideas). There
is no “collapse” of the wavefunction: it proceeds according to physical
equations.*<sup>9</sup> It isn’t that the wavefunction “splits” into many worlds, but
that all possibilities exist, even though we only perceive one of them in a
given scenario (so it <i>looks</i> like a
split). There is <b>“apparent randomness
from the inside viewpoint…[but] strict causality from the outside viewpoint,”</b>
which means that although we can’t know which state of a particle will be in
when we measure it in a given experiment, we know with 100% certainty that all
outcomes will happen. From an “outside” point of view, we would be able to see
all the possibilities occurring, which is where the many worlds come in, since
each happens in a different “world.” This is called decoherence, when you go
from a quantum (small-scale, one world) description to a classical (large-scale)
description within one of the worlds. So it <b>“is essentially indistinguishable from the effect of a postulated
Copenhagen wavefunction collapse from an observational (inside) point of view.”</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7bvGjRdqMDzYR3tN_FpzFOFEYzzzJocL2MIP-w8cbDIlNBv5hOnnZLubRPZkRVbUVWf8VwpstRLhEjPUTp80vxGmlL_1oyigOTTZQy3NZc1oLrQ2sWidKrD7wYLy_Of3j5PxXocU7fH8/s1600/dice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7bvGjRdqMDzYR3tN_FpzFOFEYzzzJocL2MIP-w8cbDIlNBv5hOnnZLubRPZkRVbUVWf8VwpstRLhEjPUTp80vxGmlL_1oyigOTTZQy3NZc1oLrQ2sWidKrD7wYLy_Of3j5PxXocU7fH8/s200/dice.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Thus, there is no real randomness to the universe:
it only appears so to us because we cannot predict which outcome we will end up
with in our universe. Tegmark says <b>“whenever
a quantum event appears to have a random outcome, all outcomes in fact occur,
one in each branch [universe].” </b>There is nothing random or uncertain about
the wavefunction itself: it follows certain physical laws just like the objects
in the macroscopic world, but <b>“observers
subjectively experience this splitting merely as a slight randomness.”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJBuOv3rDd6wYvL7WSXJvJZlC6ShQvG6Ig1wHabvyyVE69a7sqH1oHt8eRujDav1khviW07AXFiA57_p6Zv6K7jKb0SC4AicANX67AEtiFpCvwm0jvDTxnQZimnGPTX5Ew6mdeM2hh20w/s1600/eagle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJBuOv3rDd6wYvL7WSXJvJZlC6ShQvG6Ig1wHabvyyVE69a7sqH1oHt8eRujDav1khviW07AXFiA57_p6Zv6K7jKb0SC4AicANX67AEtiFpCvwm0jvDTxnQZimnGPTX5Ew6mdeM2hh20w/s200/eagle.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTHA95ahGLeHHduV3AmttJojiHcGB6R15LpgRvs75qMAmqhFZeBdyMZKB-7gadZRdO3Re246LE5g5_aB8sn4BH1KjznDKIzYNYmCgMyIGX1t46IqcBI1LpI5mdfVEZ_2fObYTE3WW2IpI/s1600/frog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTHA95ahGLeHHduV3AmttJojiHcGB6R15LpgRvs75qMAmqhFZeBdyMZKB-7gadZRdO3Re246LE5g5_aB8sn4BH1KjznDKIzYNYmCgMyIGX1t46IqcBI1LpI5mdfVEZ_2fObYTE3WW2IpI/s200/frog.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The MW theory thus has two descriptions: the
inside view, and the outside view. Tegmark describes this as the bird’s point
of view looking down on the world below (or in this case, worlds), and the
point of view of a frog within one of the worlds. From the bird’s point of
view, there is only universe described by a single wavefunction, and it does
not split into many worlds. All these “worlds” and possibilities occur
simultaneously, splitting and merging according to fixed physical laws. It is
only on a smaller scale, with the frog, that ideas about randomness and
probability make sense. The frog experiences a small portion of the full
reality, perceiving only a single world within the entire multiverse.*<sup>10</sup> At every
instant, when there are multiple outcomes that can arise in a given situation,
the bird can see each of them playing out, all in different worlds, whereas the
frog only experiences the different worlds “as a slight randomness.” There is
no <i>real</i> randomness, but since the
frog doesn’t have access to any other worlds, it can only understand the world
in terms of probabilities rather than certainties. This is why mathematics is
so powerful: it allows us to temporarily rise out of the frog-level of
existence and understand what’s really going.*<sup>11</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This is the basic idea of how you can explain QM
mechanics with the MW theory. It does, however, introduce many philosophical
puzzling questions, such as:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">If there are
many copies of “you” in different worlds, each slightly different, which
is the “real” you? Are they all you, are they all different people, or is
it meaningless to talk about a unified self at all?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">If the soul
exists (and we have good reason to believe that it does), then is it
spread out over the different copies of you, or are all copies but one “soulless”?
This, however, depends on the answer to the first bullet point.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Is there a
theory of everything to describe the many worlds as a whole, or, even from
the bird’s eye view, is probability the best we could ever get?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">In a future post, I’ll talk about how this can be
understood within the framework of Neoplatonic philosophy, but for now, that’s
another story <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>1 </sup>This can be seen clearly in Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Δ</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">x</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Δ</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">p ³ ħ/2, where </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Δ</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">x is the uncertainty in the particle’s position, and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Δ</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">p the uncertainty in its momentum. So the more accurately you know the position, the less accurately you know its momentum/speed, and vice versa, so you can never localize a particle precisely.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>2 </sup>To be more accurate, it’s actually the particle’s probability density, |ψ|<sup>2</sup></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><sup><br /></sup></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>3 </sup>For instance, how can our knowledge, something that exists in our minds and is, in a sense, nonphysical, affect particles outside our bodies? If there are no observers, will the world exist? Does, say, a fruit fly count as an observer? What about an unconscious measuring device operating without any human influence? And, as in Schrodinger’s cat scenario, how can a cat be both dead and alive until we observe it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>4 </sup>Some physicists don’t like this idea, saying that the unknowable properties of particles are “hidden variables” and that the underlying reality of the world involves statistics rather than certainties. But philosophically, this makes little sense. For a related topic, check out my previous blog post <b><a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/2017/03/quotes-of-wisdom-platonic-realism-in.html" target="_blank">Platonic Realism in Physics</a></b>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>5 </sup>Another interpretation that could also be philosophically sound is having an “Ultimate Observer,” but I won’t get into that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>6 </sup>A simple example is a system with a particle that could be spin up or spin down. Although we describe the particle as being in a superposition of the two spin states, we only measure one of these two possibilities when the spin of the particle is measured: one in which the particle is spin up, and the other spin down, each corresponding to two different universe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>7 </sup>It may make sense to mathematically describe only the apparatus splitting, but when you think about what physically <i>happens</i>, you can see that the rest of the universe will be “copied” in the other world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>8 </sup>This is the <b>weak anthropic principle</b>: “weak” not because it is lacking in some sense, but because it doesn’t make any grand statement about the universe. In fact, it really just states the obvious, since everything we perceive in the universe is restricted by the fact that we exist and are able to observe it, so it must be conductive to life, otherwise, we wouldn’t be here to observe anything.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>9 </sup>The system evolves according to the Schrodinger equation at all times. If there was a collapse, the Schrodinger equation would be violated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>10 </sup>Decoherence “prevents them from seeing…parallel copies of themselves.” (Tegmark)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">*<sup>11</sup> I don’t mean that we can get out of probabilistic interpretations, because that is embedded in our mathematics as well, but rather, we can conceptually understand the general structure of reality and what this means for the existence of other worlds, probability, and determinism.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">~~*~~</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Click <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/p/philosophy-magic-and-science.html">here </a>for more posts in my Quotes of Wisdom series.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<br />Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-25930291708866815552017-03-22T11:46:00.002-04:002017-07-03T17:36:05.705-04:00Quotes of Wisdom: Platonic Realism in Physics<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2AhUN2ijG6ZDsSKupzonXbHl4P1xHEswlzQcEELj6dh2fRn2x7ujaKXQKUJJoKe-9qWOodQ_yhakja9igUAWPgBsuOXZwU2gxIWGqqsUbh8Ysls6XcM_QgxjfVVjLwTx20Hjh8y2yGJw/s1600/galaxy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2AhUN2ijG6ZDsSKupzonXbHl4P1xHEswlzQcEELj6dh2fRn2x7ujaKXQKUJJoKe-9qWOodQ_yhakja9igUAWPgBsuOXZwU2gxIWGqqsUbh8Ysls6XcM_QgxjfVVjLwTx20Hjh8y2yGJw/s320/galaxy.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">It
might seem that Plato, one of the history’s greatest philosophers, has little
or no relation to today’s science, but Plato’s ideas actually underpin the
foundations of science and our understanding of the world. In particular, Plato’s
forms are present in mathematics and physics, and without these eternal forms,
science wouldn’t be possible. So without further to do, let’s look at a quote from
a book I’ve recently finished reading:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">From
<i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16156087-the-eternal-law" target="_blank">The Eternal Law</a></i> by John H. Spencer
(2015):<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“Platonism is implied by physics,
but, more significantly, I am arguing that Platonism is <i>presupposed</i> by physics and that physics is only possible <i>because </i>Platonic realism is true.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Many
pioneering scientists in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century, notably Planck,
Pauli, Bohr, Heisenberg, Einstein, and Schrodinger, were also aware of the
importance of metaphysics and realism in fundamental science. For example,
Schrodinger said that, <b>“a real
elimination of metaphysics means taking the soul out of <i>both</i> art and science, turning them into skeletons incapable of any
further development.”</b> So this isn’t anything new, but it’s worthwhile to
look at in detail because many physicists overlook the philosophy behind their
theories.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">If
I were to summarize Spencer’s book in one argument, it would go something like
this:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">1)<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">The
universe is not chaotic, but rather, follows certain laws.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">2)<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">If
the laws underlying the universe are real, they must be nonphysical.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Conclusion 1</span></b><span lang="EN-US">:
Materialism, the idea that everything is just matter (and energy), is false.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">3)<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">The
universe must exist objectively if these laws exist.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Conclusion</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> <b>2</b>: If the universe has an objective
existence, realism is true.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">4)<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Realism
is a form of Platonism.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Conclusion 3</span></b><span lang="EN-US">:
Therefore, Platonism is true.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaHTsi0i5MSXiwa8KX-ncJGwa0qAleU6HoRJ6ADrbESDm_tEal5gT6BfiXgK7lnSVMexgvGgrLdb-zdIbOS3cVOvEm8f39q-LQxPZQml7_bZLG-GT6e3OYQQA6JagM_vVi-DUlVNW8r6w/s1600/form+hierarchy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Let’s
look at this in more depth. First of all, I think it’s clear that there is at
least <i>some</i> order in the universe.
From the universe at large with galaxies shaped by gravity, to life on Earth
with its complicated structures and processes, to the particles out of which
everything is formed, there is order and structure. If everything was indeed
chaotic, ungoverned by laws, we would be unable to predict anything. All the
order we perceive would then be a great coincidence, indeed, a 13.8 billion
year old coincidence (the age of the universe). We can’t <i>prove</i> that the universe isn’t chaotic, but it’s much more
reasonable to suppose that it is instead governed by certain laws. That’s not
to say that we know what the ultimate laws are, but it’s enough to say that
they are “real.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This
isn’t to say that “chaos theory” is wrong: chaos theory doesn’t saying that certain
processes are actually random, but that some systems are so sensitive to
initial conditions (such as the initial speed or height of an object before it’s
released) that it’s impossible (or nearly impossible) for us to predict the
outcome. In order to do so, we would have to know the initial conditions to a
high degree of precision that is currently impossible. But that’s not to say
that it’s behaving chaotically: it’s just that at our level of understanding,
we can’t predict it, so it appears “random.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFed9VeRtbgbVXJt-uqqPQmEoy6Ljt2TCYUwgn7TDEZHfGBa0FElS3oQq4JRi2tt3eFoRETzmO1hRMkEANPcIQjU_e50obMufSCJNvFvaHNG8tcUsKmdL2dif6EaqBAyJb5G-nMhMAyak/s1600/eqns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFed9VeRtbgbVXJt-uqqPQmEoy6Ljt2TCYUwgn7TDEZHfGBa0FElS3oQq4JRi2tt3eFoRETzmO1hRMkEANPcIQjU_e50obMufSCJNvFvaHNG8tcUsKmdL2dif6EaqBAyJb5G-nMhMAyak/s320/eqns.jpg" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This
means that there must be things which are nonphysical. Why? Well, if physical
laws and mathematics are real, then they must be nonphysical simply because you
can’t go out and find the number “2” or “E = mc<sup>2</sup>” floating about in
the physical world. We see <i>instances</i>
of the number 2 (2 dogs, 2 books, etc.) and instances of E = mc<sup>2</sup> (the
energy of a certain mass can be found by this equation, and vice versa), but
never the number or equation itself. And if something isn’t physical, it is
therefore nonphysical (obviously). Spencer also says that<b> “realism entails that materialism is false, because we have to admit
that something can be real and yet not be physical.”</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Another
way to see this is that since the equations of physics are used to describe
certain physical things, they can’t be physical things themselves or else they
would be subject to change. Everything physical changes, and these changes are
described by certain complicated laws. But the laws themselves don’t change, or
else they could not accurately predict anything, and to be unchanging,
something must be nonphysical. But this is just an additional way to see it: I
think the idea we can never perceive a number “2” out there, or even in a
certain bit of energy that somehow represents that number, is clear enough.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Next,
the idea that the world must exist <b>objectively</b>
(independent of us and our conceptions of it) naturally follows from this
because if the laws are real, then they can’t just exist in our mind. If they
did, they would be subjective and so dependent on our minds and perceptions,
which is not at all what we observe (by the way, I’m using “universe” and
“world” interchangeably). Of course, we have some subjective influence on the
world, but that’s not to say that we can change <i>anything</i>. But the idea is that even if the world itself is not
entirely objective, the laws of physics and mathematics must be, because,
having just argued that they are real, they have to exist independently of what
they describe. And, since they are not dependent on us (we are also what they
describe), they must be objective.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">There
is, however, a lot of subjectivity in our perceptions of the world. There’s
obviously the fact that our biases and personal opinions affect our
perceptions, but additionally, we have a limited perception of the world due to
our senses. We have five senses that operate in a narrow range (for example, we
can only see visible light, which is a small portion of the whole electromagnetic
spectrum), and if we had other senses, the world would appear to be a very
different place. But none of this is to say that there is no “thing in itself”
behind the world we perceive. We only know a small portion of it, but we are
sensing “something” out there, namely, our perceptions of the objective world. We
can certainly affect it, either physically or with our minds, but even our
minds operate according to certain laws. So even if you believe that your mind
shapes reality, that’s not to say that it does so completely randomly. What
your mind is shaping is your perceptions of reality and how you interact with
it, not the thing in itself. However, there are some things that can be said to
be “more real” than others, but this is where Platonism comes in, which we’ll
come to later.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7vmzAdVW8xQ6sbONjAQEi_hQnWz4NaqdmxI8u9LCxQAgijM3DsRGvqk_j62ZvS4JPSa10IhiceFnam69-_eYH1_IHHZSX_TZdXHhO7YBzGgdcFq6_gMqSzW4EnaPBZ39Lg9GLvKGUYcA/s1600/Cosmic-Order-Wolfgang-Pauli.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7vmzAdVW8xQ6sbONjAQEi_hQnWz4NaqdmxI8u9LCxQAgijM3DsRGvqk_j62ZvS4JPSa10IhiceFnam69-_eYH1_IHHZSX_TZdXHhO7YBzGgdcFq6_gMqSzW4EnaPBZ39Lg9GLvKGUYcA/s320/Cosmic-Order-Wolfgang-Pauli.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Now
let’s look at what <b>realism</b> is.
Although the ordinary use of the word is often used to refer to the physical
world around us, in philosophy, realism states that there is objective truth
(which is why Conclusion 1 follows from points 1) and 2) right away). We can
discover this truth, and it does not depend on us. Moreover, even if we never
discover some particular thing, it is still “out there,” which is called a <b>verification-transcendent truth</b>. One
such truth is that there is a <b>mind-independent
</b>reality that we can discover, and although we can change it since we too
exist within the world, it would still exist whether we do or not. This means
that we cannot simply invent laws of physics and have them work. They are only truthful
insofar as they correspond to reality; they must be restrained by what is “out
there” or else we would only be describing a fiction, and it would be impossible
to verify whether anything is true or not. Indeed, the whole notion of “truth”
would collapse, leaving us in an anti-realist position.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Anti-realists
claim that we invent truth, that the laws of physics are fictions we create to
describe the world and don’t exist in any fundamental sense. But unless the
world is chaotic and not governable by laws (though <i>how</i> these laws came to be is another matter entirely) then they
must exist independently from us. And if this is the case, we are lead to
realism at once, because if the world is governable by certain laws, even if we
can’t discover what they are with the knowledge we have (now or even ever), they
still can be known in principle. Now,
this isn’t to say that the laws of physics that we currently use are the right
ones: the laws we have most likely approximate the actual laws, but the fact that
they are not perfect is due to our own limitations, not because they don’t
actually exist.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaHTsi0i5MSXiwa8KX-ncJGwa0qAleU6HoRJ6ADrbESDm_tEal5gT6BfiXgK7lnSVMexgvGgrLdb-zdIbOS3cVOvEm8f39q-LQxPZQml7_bZLG-GT6e3OYQQA6JagM_vVi-DUlVNW8r6w/s1600/form+hierarchy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaHTsi0i5MSXiwa8KX-ncJGwa0qAleU6HoRJ6ADrbESDm_tEal5gT6BfiXgK7lnSVMexgvGgrLdb-zdIbOS3cVOvEm8f39q-LQxPZQml7_bZLG-GT6e3OYQQA6JagM_vVi-DUlVNW8r6w/s320/form+hierarchy.gif" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Now,
we can go one step further by looking at Plato’s philosophy. Plato’s analogy of
the cave quite nicely sums it up (see my <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/2015/06/the-philosophy-of-other-worlds-part-1.html" target="_blank">previous blog post</a>),
but generally, in Plato’s philosophy about the universe, there is a hierarchy
of reality with the Good, the eternal, nonphysical principle from which all
things arose, at the highest level beyond being and existence. The Good can
also be called God, the Tao, Emptiness, etc. Plato’s forms are just below the Good
in the hierarchy of existence, and they are unchanging principles that
eventually gives rise to the physical world. So in the hierarchy of reality, we
go from simple and eternal to complex and changing. The higher forms are principles
such as Beauty, Truth, Number, and Symmetry, and those lower down, which
partake in various higher forms, are things such as equations, morality, and
even objects such as the form of a tree, or of a person, etc. All trees, people,
and so on “partake” in the forms, as if they were partial reflections of them.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI-Y1ZC67DRe7S2q7sLYNHRA6ebEUsdS9M-nwC_s8j4bx2BnjvrePyYQJG0B_bWaOrhGTCczOSAOLUNCMXmuesyV6P59-MNNUVpFR8XewUFb-QzO76ohSUDfRojLuaDcWnSNYQTQy2cmE/s1600/dispersion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI-Y1ZC67DRe7S2q7sLYNHRA6ebEUsdS9M-nwC_s8j4bx2BnjvrePyYQJG0B_bWaOrhGTCczOSAOLUNCMXmuesyV6P59-MNNUVpFR8XewUFb-QzO76ohSUDfRojLuaDcWnSNYQTQy2cmE/s1600/dispersion.jpg" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">A useful analogy that I’ve included in previous posts is that of white light dispersing
in a prism: the white light of the Good splits into various colours (lower
forms) upon entering the prism, so that there is more variety in the forms
lower down in the hierarchy. However, the Good is undiminished, for like the
white light from which the colours arose, it remains pure and simple, even
though its dispersed beam appears to be multiple. This process continues down
to much more complicated levels of existence until the physical world comes
into being.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Things
in the physical world can never be perfect renditions of the forms above
because they are always changing, and so never last eternally. If something was
perfect, and remained perfect, it could never change, because if it did, it
would no longer be perfect. This is why things that exist nonphysically can be
said to be “perfect” since they never change, but things in the physical world can
never be perfect even in principle.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaHTsi0i5MSXiwa8KX-ncJGwa0qAleU6HoRJ6ADrbESDm_tEal5gT6BfiXgK7lnSVMexgvGgrLdb-zdIbOS3cVOvEm8f39q-LQxPZQml7_bZLG-GT6e3OYQQA6JagM_vVi-DUlVNW8r6w/s1600/form+hierarchy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Now,
to say that some discipline is a kind of Platonism, whether it is ethics,
theology, mathematics, or psychology, means that there is a hierarchy of laws
or of reality. The principles we use in, say, ethics, would then be derivable
from more fundamental principles that are simpler and apply to a wider range of
phenomena. Likewise with mathematics and physics: physics <i>must</i> be Platonic because otherwise, the laws of physics are just
fictions that do not correspond to reality. Though even if physics and
mathematics only make sense in a Platonist framework, it is not necessarily
true of other areas (politics, etc.).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So
the laws of physics can all essentially be derived from more fundamental laws,
and if you trace this back up the chain, you arrive at the primary law, what is
called the Eternal Law in the book. So <b>“All
the laws of physics are partial reflections of the one eternal mathematical
law, which is a kind of super-law, the foundation of all the mathematical laws
in the universe.”</b> This is the simplest law, existing in the nonphysical
world of forms, though it is not the most fundamental form (symmetry, number,
and of course, the Good, are above it). This law dictates how things work in
the physical world, all the matter and energy within it, and although we
probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend it in itself, the more specific laws we
to describe the world are derived from it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT4YEPOBWFnwjnMaLuJIrlKY4LAvcgejKIKHrEWt9MQvN8s2EDZ3g3kyuRdQlIQKkkxzOQnIAqVwAR8RKe6wRL8Ef5ynwZdnG2Lakxc052JWkJc_RQj4OQpxoPjHAFthuXrhr-znbjuyE/s1600/gravity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT4YEPOBWFnwjnMaLuJIrlKY4LAvcgejKIKHrEWt9MQvN8s2EDZ3g3kyuRdQlIQKkkxzOQnIAqVwAR8RKe6wRL8Ef5ynwZdnG2Lakxc052JWkJc_RQj4OQpxoPjHAFthuXrhr-znbjuyE/s320/gravity.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">An
example of this hierarchy of different physical laws, with the ones closer to
the Eternal Law subsuming the ones below it, can be seen with gravity. Newton’s
laws of gravity apply on a smaller scale, to objects on Earth and in our solar
system, and we can use them to predict motion quite accurately. However, in
order to describe the universe at large, with galaxies and clusters, Newton’s
laws are no longer applicable. For that, we need Einstein’s laws, which apply
to the universe at large and how it is affected by gravity. Newton’s laws are
not incorrect, but they have a narrower range of applicability. They can be
derived from Einstein’s more general laws, and Einstein’s laws can also
describe phenomena on Earth just like Newton’s laws can: they describe all of
what Newton’s laws can and more (though we almost always use Newton’s laws for
things on Earth because they’re so much simpler). Newton himself would surely
agree with this structure of his laws, for he said, <b>“truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity
and confusion of things.”</b> As well as Einstein: <b>“nature is the realisation of the simplest conceivable mathematical
ideas,”</b> namely, the forms which are close to the Eternal Law, as well as
the Eternal Law itself and the principles of symmetry, beauty, and number from
which it is derived. In the future, we will have to go further to find a more
fundamental theory, because we know that Einstein’s laws aren’t compatible with
quantum mechanics, so an even more general law will be quantum gravity (which
string theory might very well accomplish). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">We
would do well to better appreciate Plato’s philosophy in physics, for, although
Platonic ideas have been prevalent in science in the past, many physicists and
philosophers today reject these ideas. However, some notable physicists
recognize the necessity for realism and Platonism, for example, the author of
the book I’ve been quoting from, who is a quantum physicist, and the physicist
Sir Roger Penrose to name a few. Penrose said that, <b>“The more deeply we probe Nature’s secrets, the more profoundly we are
driven into Plato’s world of mathematical ideals as we seek our understanding.”</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">And
so, as the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “</span>Plato is philosophy, and
philosophy, Plato,” and to this, we ought to add that, at least at the very
fundamental level, “Plato is physics, and physics, Plato.”</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">~~*~~</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Click <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/p/philosophy-magic-and-science.html">here </a>for more posts in my Quotes of Wisdom series.</span></div>
Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-59392421735744062012017-02-10T12:43:00.000-05:002017-07-03T17:36:15.711-04:00Quotes of Wisdom: Hua-yen Buddhism<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYCe3lpztssTLWVS7GmMN2wIVzgeg3DSVwaawgk9DniFjEDyixFe3J5_Kct780P24nJ2W9MGbM_XSkUWZ0JFIYTxo5nETWCLYgOHAmjb7_FyMqjXJ4e6nwDA74BE7mtcUxIvoxs9po6D4/s1600/bh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYCe3lpztssTLWVS7GmMN2wIVzgeg3DSVwaawgk9DniFjEDyixFe3J5_Kct780P24nJ2W9MGbM_XSkUWZ0JFIYTxo5nETWCLYgOHAmjb7_FyMqjXJ4e6nwDA74BE7mtcUxIvoxs9po6D4/s320/bh.jpg" width="275" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-align: center;">Despite
appearances, everything is the same. This is the major idea behind Hua-yen Buddhism,
a form of Chinese Buddhism that focuses on metaphysics, namely, the nature of
the universe and what exists within it. In the Hua-yen world-view, everything
is part of an interrelated “jeweled net” (called </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium; text-align: center;">Indra’s net</b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium; text-align: center;">) with each jewel in the net being identical. So too is
everything said to be “empty,” which is what today’s quote focuses on:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">From
Francis Cook’s <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/706898.Hua_Yen_Buddhism?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">Hua-yen Buddhism: TheJewel Net of Indra</a> </i>(1977):<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“Things can only exist because they
are empty…emptiness cannot exist apart from entities, since emptiness is a
relationship between entities: they create each other, are thoroughly
interfused, and in fact are one and the same things.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Before
we get into emptiness, let’s look at what Indra’s net is. A good description of
Indra’s net comes from the Avatamsaka Sutra, an important text to Hua-yen philosophy
that describes the universe and the various Buddhas and bodhisattvas within it:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO-XBdFJGeHPazJnXp4SwbbI0HPzhzI0l5R9smI8N9Wxa8RA_mRCN7bm6n_QcWunKrletxozPnDfspjH5-yEEgyeYwM7PRW9Rlc2G0qtCn64wmRdlY8VxQdEj54iOzXj9yIUTKKk3D35o/s1600/indra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO-XBdFJGeHPazJnXp4SwbbI0HPzhzI0l5R9smI8N9Wxa8RA_mRCN7bm6n_QcWunKrletxozPnDfspjH5-yEEgyeYwM7PRW9Rlc2G0qtCn64wmRdlY8VxQdEj54iOzXj9yIUTKKk3D35o/s320/indra.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>“Far away in the heavenly abode of the great
god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning
artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all
directions…the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each ‘eye’ of
the net, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are
infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering like stars…If we now
arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it,
we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected <i>all</i> the
other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the
jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so
that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring.”</b><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This
is an analogy of the universe, with each jewel being an object in the universe,
anything from an atom to a cat to a planet. Now, composite objects are made of
many different jewels in the net, but the net can be seen as a fractal with
each object as either a single jewel or a collection of jewels: the same
results will apply. Each of these entities in the net is called a <b>dharma</b> (a Hindu term that has many
meanings, but in Hua-yen it means a specific entity: a fancy way to say a “thing”),
and so the universe is nothing but interrelated dharmas. One of the primary
purposes of Hua-yen is to discover just what dharmas are and how they are
related to each other, which is similar to the task of modern scientists who
search for the ultimate constituents of reality in quantum mechanics and
particle physics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Indra’s
net demonstrates the concept of emptiness: there is no source that creates the
jewels, but all just reflect each other. Cook says, <b>“Existence means that the object exists as a result of conditions; emptiness
refers to the fact that what exists in dependence on conditions has no ultimate
being in and of itself.”</b> Nothing has a real essence: if it did, it would be
unable to change. Existence, then, only derives from interdependence, those
countless related dharmas forming Indra’s net, the “conditions” of its
existence. This is called <b>interdependent
origination</b>. It may sound like a contradiction, but as seen from the quote
above, existence just <i>is </i>emptiness.
Later on, Cook says, <b>“What is called
emptiness from one point of view is called existence from the other.”</b>
Indeed, the Buddhist concept of emptiness is not a “thing” or an absence of
something, but is rather the interdependent relationship among entities. And
since all things are defined by their relationships to all other things, they
are necessarily empty.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC4yeFivEfIq10F57-qjG20zdlgjP8ho4myOVbguaOIIY8EJRD6PJU_O6OHrwHWbsZbuwRELaCgXTYCwoRNmHTo_V0kFiIHKVarE54979v2eGCct6fDlLfyqkLXJj7whf_vH91LV-vCKU/s1600/barn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC4yeFivEfIq10F57-qjG20zdlgjP8ho4myOVbguaOIIY8EJRD6PJU_O6OHrwHWbsZbuwRELaCgXTYCwoRNmHTo_V0kFiIHKVarE54979v2eGCct6fDlLfyqkLXJj7whf_vH91LV-vCKU/s400/barn.jpg" width="400" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">An
analogy used in Francis Cook’s book, which he quoted from Fa-tsang (Fa-tsang is
one of Hua-yen’s primary founders from the seventh century), is that of a barn.
Barns are made of rafters, shingles, nails, etc., and each part plays an
important role in the formation of the whole. Yet outside its place in the
barn, the concept of each part existing alone is meaningless: a rafter does not
become a rafter unless it exists within the context of the barn: otherwise it
is just a piece of wood. It <i>becomes </i>a
rafter when it is seen in relation to all the other parts of the barn. Likewise
with a shingle, a nail, and so on. Moreover, the barn will not exist if it were
not for the parts that comprise it. The whole derives its existence from its
parts, but so too do the parts derive their existence from the whole. Neither
has an independent existence. If you were to change the parts, you may still
make an object like a barn, but the point is that it will not be the <i>same</i> barn that you had before.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Thus,
all parts of the barn derive their essence from the fact that they are parts of
a whole, and the barn derives its existence from the relationships between its
parts. If there were no tiles and shingles, the rafter wouldn’t <i>be</i> a rafter, because it wouldn’t be part
of a barn, and likewise with every other part. Since a rafter is a condition
for the building, if there is no rafter, there will be no building, but at the
same time, if there was no building, it would not be a rafter. And the rafter <i>totally causes the building</i>, as Fa-tsang
says: <b>“If [the rafter] does not wholly
create [the building], then when the one rafter is removed, the whole building
should remain. However, since the total building is not formed then you should
understand that the building is not formed by the partial power [of a condition
such as the rafter] but by its total power.” </b>So<b> </b>any individual dharma can be seen as possessing total power in
creating the whole, a notion that certainly takes some thinking about, since it
is quite far removed to how we normally think of parts and the whole that they create.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcO6kjWobsZHaBCz0GjJm6IrGFmgMsqvS3IovtFBS7x-RugVhsegqU_qe6WDiwiuKPYSSVKVgUzcWjIMOIcJaHfCnYq5DBDO53ZzqIhVyNO5TY4PwC3mmlcJzNZD9aVVqUNzLAw2-jTgo/s1600/plank.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcO6kjWobsZHaBCz0GjJm6IrGFmgMsqvS3IovtFBS7x-RugVhsegqU_qe6WDiwiuKPYSSVKVgUzcWjIMOIcJaHfCnYq5DBDO53ZzqIhVyNO5TY4PwC3mmlcJzNZD9aVVqUNzLAw2-jTgo/s200/plank.png" width="200" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">But
Hua-yen goes further to say that each part is <i>identical.</i> The shingle and the rafter share the same power in creating
the barn, and moreover, they each have <i>total</i>
power in creating the barn: <b>“the part
exerts total power in the formation of a particular whole.”</b> How could this
be? Well, imagine that you intend to make that barn and have almost everything in
place except for one plank of wood to function as a rafter. When you put that wood
in, the barn is formed. Hence, the rafter can be seen as <i>creating</i> the barn, having complete power over its existence, as
well as the existence of all other parts that form the barn (since if there was
no barn, the shingles wouldn’t be shingles, etc.). Take away a rafter, and you
no longer have the barn.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Now
do the same thing with a nail: the last nail to form the barn has total power
in creating it and the other parts of the barn. Take it away, and it is no longer
the barn you began with. If you imagine performing this thought experiment with
all other parts of the barn, you can see that they each have total power in
creating the barn, and so without all these parts, you would not have the
whole. This is the <b>identical essence</b>
of every part: from the point of view of each being a cause, they each have
total power. At the same time, they are different because they are each results
of every other part when it is seen as a cause. It is just a shift in point of
view: each dharma can be seen as being a case or an effect, and neither view is
more correct than the other.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Of
course, you could think that making small changes to the barn or replacing, for
example, one rafter with another wouldn’t change the scheme of the barn. But it
isn’t the same barn anymore. Yes, it is <i>a</i>
barn, but not the one you had before. Though bear in mind that this makes more
sense with respect to the universe as a whole and the dharmas that comprise it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Indeed,
the analogy of the barn can be applied to the entire universe of dharmas. The
same relationships that hold between the parts of a barn also holds between,
for example, the parts of a human being, the galaxy, or the universe as a
whole. Each dharma has no independent existence and is empty. What we see as
differences are only illusory differences of outer form, what Fa-tsang calls <b>“quasi-existence,”</b> because objects are actually
identical and empty. All dharmas are identical because they are empty of
independent existence. Each is also a cause of all the others, for, taking a
single dharma, it can be seen as creating all other dharmas, and if you shift
your point of view, the same is true for all other dharmas. If each dharma can create
all of reality, then all dharmas must be identical.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Yet
at the same time, they are also different because they have different functions
in the grand scheme of things. Think of the rafter and the nail in the barn
again: although each has no existence in and of itself, needing a host of
supporting conditions to define it, they each play a particular role in the
creation of the barn. As Cook says, <b>“The
whole which is included in the part is already a whole which includes the part,
so that the interpenetration of dharma and dharma is repeated over and over,
infinitely.”</b> These are the infinitely reflecting jewels in Indra’s net that
are both causes and effects: seen as causes, they are identical and contain the
power to create all other dharmas, but seen as effects, they are different and
interrelated with all the other causes that each have a different function in
the creation of the whole. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiASsT5aAeE7i0zKu8tcc6VVC502Cu_xQD_mdwkfML2nftbczAxRLB92JGn4DVdGmxEhiwYjkcdeNrfXUW4btiqCjmaEHKQ3FHEFEXPYyus77atIAgbFWqwUAT63mu7b2LNGZebuTKOdU/s1600/fs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiASsT5aAeE7i0zKu8tcc6VVC502Cu_xQD_mdwkfML2nftbczAxRLB92JGn4DVdGmxEhiwYjkcdeNrfXUW4btiqCjmaEHKQ3FHEFEXPYyus77atIAgbFWqwUAT63mu7b2LNGZebuTKOdU/s200/fs.jpg" width="160" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This
is all hard to grasp, and it’s no wonder there are so many books written about
this. Another analogy that Cook uses might make the concept of interdependent
origination clearer: the idea of a father and son. A father is only a father if
he has his son, but a son is only a son if he has his father. These two terms
come into existence simultaneously, and can be said to “create” each other.
From one point of view, the father creates the son, and in doing so, becomes a
father. But from another point of view, the son creates the father (not the human
being who <i>is</i> his father, but the fact
that he is a father), and in doing so, becomes a son.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Normally,
we think of a <b>cause</b> in terms of
time: an event<i> x</i> occurs at time 1, which causes an event <i>y</i> at time 2. But in
the net of Indra, since each object can be seen as either a cause or effect, it
doesn’t make sense to say that one comes before the other. <i>Cause</i> is rather an expression of the interdependent nature of the
universe. There are thus two notions of <b>time</b>
here: first is the regular “vertical” time that goes nice and orderly from
past, to present, to future, and then there is a “horizontal” time that expresses
the interrelationships between all dharmas that exist at any slice in vertical
time. This is the idea that everything is both a cause and effect of everything
else, something that only makes sense when looking at a single slice of
vertical time: it’s as if you transcend the three-dimensional reality to four
dimensions (with the fourth dimension being time) and are able to move in two
directions of time rather than one, just as you can move back and forth in any of
the three dimensions of space.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIUuVODygB8b3ZchJsxpP5-RMPZKgvDc-J2Igq_bLBfwKeCRinQt3CwN79HKcbzblPiYAZimG924bZ7KMW4xF39sq-KfnrFq3bWnm6YYTEIkx9amvQF37nPxoi_5DbYejHuaJJ4E_elC8/s1600/christmas-carol-pix.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIUuVODygB8b3ZchJsxpP5-RMPZKgvDc-J2Igq_bLBfwKeCRinQt3CwN79HKcbzblPiYAZimG924bZ7KMW4xF39sq-KfnrFq3bWnm6YYTEIkx9amvQF37nPxoi_5DbYejHuaJJ4E_elC8/s320/christmas-carol-pix.jpeg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">Although
the true nature of things as interdependent and essencelessness seems devoid
from the reality we live in, if are able to understand this, it helps us
realize that the things we think of as ‘bad’ that cause us anxiety and fear
such as death, sickness, and pain are just part of the whole and are really no
different to what we think of as ‘good.’ Indeed, <b>“It is this very picking and choosing which brings back upon ourselves
anxiety, fear, and turmoil, for by dividing up the one unitary existence into
two parts, the good and the bad, we distort the reality which is the one
unitary existence…To see things in a totalistic perspective means to transcend
a small, pathetic subjectivity and see all the pernicious, vexing contraries
harmonized within the whole.”</b> In essence, all dharmas are identical in being
empty. The Buddhist and Taoist goal of enlightenment is to return to
naturalness and transcend our perceptions of good and bad, existence and
non-existence, real and unreal. Everything has its place within the net of
Indra, and no matter how small any one dharma may appear, without it, the whole
would be different. Think of what the Doctor said: <b>“</b></span><b>In 900 years of time
and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important.”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This
view can help bring more tranquility and acceptance into our lives, and is
remarkably similar to views held by Stoic philosophers. It’s not about giving
yourself up to “Fate,” but about not getting trodden down by it, because
although we find ourselves in this vast net of inter-causality, that doesn’t mean
that we are only controlled by countless other things, but that we too can control
them. It goes both ways, for everything is equally important. There isn’t a
single destiny that everything is heading toward, but the vast collection of
dharmas are evolving together, constantly shifting and recreating themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNBr_5r0wSN2_eokWgaThSsnJdZ7eVYRZoX4vovtQtd3DdrrYAIqmGDVBL_fwnoqCDlK_KzVeP_wyukbz6niwInElZp0_X6gdH6YHBd-iFvfe-8KuZl8OMTlfmmSXIAUGTQuiSGKsrhjE/s1600/monkey+cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNBr_5r0wSN2_eokWgaThSsnJdZ7eVYRZoX4vovtQtd3DdrrYAIqmGDVBL_fwnoqCDlK_KzVeP_wyukbz6niwInElZp0_X6gdH6YHBd-iFvfe-8KuZl8OMTlfmmSXIAUGTQuiSGKsrhjE/s320/monkey+cat.jpg" width="285" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">And
lastly, the Buddhist principle of acting compassionately toward all beings follows
from the Hua-yen vision of the universe. If all things are interconnected and
essentially the same, there is no real distinction between you and others: not
just other people and living things, but <i>everything
</i>that exists. To help others, then, is to benefit the whole, which includes
yourself. The work of the bodhisattva is to help all beings who are all linked
in this shared destiny. To act merely out of “self-interest” is to be ignorant
of the fact that there are no distinct selves. And so, as Cook says, <b>“To act compassionately is to act in
accordance with reality,”</b> a view that naturally arises out of studying the
universe of Hua-yen Buddhism, the net of Indra of all the jewels of objects in
creation.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">~~*~~</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Click <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/p/philosophy-magic-and-science.html">here </a>for more posts in my Quotes of Wisdom series.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-73612040967294807042017-01-20T13:21:00.000-05:002017-01-20T13:21:20.389-05:00Book Review: The Story of the Stone<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKOE_n_0jDSzIMSEoBf3OzSTcI5qRrhogLrrwrN0BuATP6kuzwgXp0PwinS4DpnPYd2Ww2leQcre-8B3J3LpyKOylx3YnSEYs3BMHVHe74w6bLMUH0vSJs2-VxNM7QuKiNNe7Fb2tqRpo/s1600/cvr9781602200043_9781602200043_hr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKOE_n_0jDSzIMSEoBf3OzSTcI5qRrhogLrrwrN0BuATP6kuzwgXp0PwinS4DpnPYd2Ww2leQcre-8B3J3LpyKOylx3YnSEYs3BMHVHe74w6bLMUH0vSJs2-VxNM7QuKiNNe7Fb2tqRpo/s320/cvr9781602200043_9781602200043_hr.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The Story of the Stone (also called A Dream of Red
Mansions) is a novel written by Cao Xueqin in 18</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> Century China. It
is a fascinating story about the lives (and even things beyond the earthly
lives) of the wealthy Jia family and those that serve them or interact with
them in some form or other. Out of the great number of characters (who are fortunately
included in a character list at the back of the book), the ones we follow
mainly are the boy Bao-yu, who is the incarnation of a magical stone that was
in his mouth when he was born, his cousins Dai-yu and Bao-chai, his older
cousin Xi-feng, and his maids such as Aroma.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEvTGy9ECJVwJA7rOjialH0RVBtMlTOY44zmrWui0Uc3gPJUwOX8-MvZUDm8h4fgYLioPuFyDD2OOpF0k_usd-scJXHAmccRQAIcw5CEYct-Q7FI-wr3df0aubv-ODEZEM-IeSa2hDxk/s1600/163_796_313817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEvTGy9ECJVwJA7rOjialH0RVBtMlTOY44zmrWui0Uc3gPJUwOX8-MvZUDm8h4fgYLioPuFyDD2OOpF0k_usd-scJXHAmccRQAIcw5CEYct-Q7FI-wr3df0aubv-ODEZEM-IeSa2hDxk/s320/163_796_313817.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEvTGy9ECJVwJA7rOjialH0RVBtMlTOY44zmrWui0Uc3gPJUwOX8-MvZUDm8h4fgYLioPuFyDD2OOpF0k_usd-scJXHAmccRQAIcw5CEYct-Q7FI-wr3df0aubv-ODEZEM-IeSa2hDxk/s1600/163_796_313817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a>Just note that there are be a few spoilers in
here, but nothing major.<o:p></o:p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKOE_n_0jDSzIMSEoBf3OzSTcI5qRrhogLrrwrN0BuATP6kuzwgXp0PwinS4DpnPYd2Ww2leQcre-8B3J3LpyKOylx3YnSEYs3BMHVHe74w6bLMUH0vSJs2-VxNM7QuKiNNe7Fb2tqRpo/s1600/cvr9781602200043_9781602200043_hr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">First of all, the book was beautiful to read. The
descriptions were lovely, and it all flowed so well that you could end up
reading quite a lot in only a short amount of time. Except for a few
insignificant instances, I couldn’t tell that it had been translated into
English rather than written in English originally. One of the many beautiful
descriptions is of the stone: “she saw a stone about the size of a sparrow’s
egg, glowing with the suppressed, milky radiance of a sunlit cloud and veined
with iridescent streaks of colour,” and another describing Xi-feng with a poem:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“She had, moreover,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">eyes like a painted phoenix,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">eyebrows like willow-leaves,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">a slender form, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">seductive grace;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">the ever-smiling summer face<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">of hidden thunders showed no trace;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">the ever-bubbling laughter started<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">almost before the lips were parted.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">There are many verses of poetry within the text,
either that the characters made up or quoted from, or just descriptions from the
author about the setting or characters themselves. Although I thought it was
odd at first, I soon got used to it and found it really added to the atmosphere
of the story. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-d_wxbSn5dEfPHbxtzTu3zy11Sgo4yJrZocRrbjK2DfbSOYLVRsVOJogLqj8RKunnI0QNZ5bSHfTe6mNvMOJLa3v2JxtqIeigCcV2lyI0UcRVACdfBdtqlUn6yrpfjdeljRMJg4yWSQQ/s1600/dream-of-red-chamber-tv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-d_wxbSn5dEfPHbxtzTu3zy11Sgo4yJrZocRrbjK2DfbSOYLVRsVOJogLqj8RKunnI0QNZ5bSHfTe6mNvMOJLa3v2JxtqIeigCcV2lyI0UcRVACdfBdtqlUn6yrpfjdeljRMJg4yWSQQ/s320/dream-of-red-chamber-tv.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The book is also excellent with its portrayal of the
characters’ thoughts and desires, especially exploring conflicting ideas and
emotions. So although the book is very detailed in its descriptions of the
events and the setting, it doesn’t fall short of exploring the characters’
mentalities, as well intricacies of the plots they might have. For example,
Bao-yu’s maid Aroma tricks Bao-yu at one point: “By e</span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium;">mploying only a minimum
amount of deceit, she could use it as a means of ascertaining his real feelings
towards her and of humbling his spirit a little, so that he might be in a
suitably chastened frame of mind for the lecture which she was preparing to
admonish him. She judged from his going off silently to bed that he was shaken
and a little unsure of himself. Evidently she had succeeded in the first part
of her plan.” Xi-feng is also particularly skilled at manipulating people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">There were many priceless moments of humor as
well. For example, when Bao-yu and Qin Zhong go to school (though Bao-yu stops going
soon after he begins), there is a fight with all the boys throwing things at
each other and it just gets so out of hand: you’d have to read it to see, but
it’s absolutely hilarious. Also Xi-feng can be very devious: she was definitely
one of my favourite characters, probably the smartest, and not shy of taking
charge when the situation calls for her, even though she is extremely busy with
running the household. Not to mention when she sets up a plot to get sleazy Jia
Rui caught the act of coming to visit her for an amorous meeting. This ends up
getting him killed because he is trapped outside in the courtyard overnight and
catches a chill, though the fact that he dies is really his own fault when he
fails to follow the advice of a Taoist doctor. Xi-feng isn’t sorry one bit, and
I have to agree with her.<o:p></o:p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0qeJzSuEV6MW-E_-z_E5mMgtJG829_VrgUL4vJYsVrXAs2SqG52afQSuhi2PVYW33Phwwl5PQWS4Aadplt8Pj4EYu4ZJvsrjXZRk8-Smrc0fAqhIZULwf7HGRVeyvPIuk2WkJLpup21A/s1600/e42fb604-2b15-4621-8413-cf583c1c7b71.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">As for the main character, Bao-yu, he is the most
intriguing and seems to have a connection to things beyond the mortal world
around him because he is the incarnation of the stone, even though he doesn’t
realize what this entails. Although he has a glimpse of a higher order in the
world, he is largely secluded in the Jia household and lives a life of luxury
where his every whim is supplied by his maids. It would be nice if, in the next
volumes, he is forced to fend for himself, because now, he has no real responsibilities
and so he’s never really tested, which is necessary for the protagonist of a
novel. He does, however, suffer his own hardships (besides being bored from not
having anything to do) because of his melancholy and reflections about himself
and the world and wanting to know where he belongs in it. He is never able to
really figure it out though, for he is effectively trapped in the Jia household
with his family and almost never gets out in the world. On the rare occasion that
he does (Qin-shi’s funeral), he is curious about other people and feels a
connection to them, especially a girl who works at a farm: “she was standing
watching for him beside the road, a baby brother in her arms and two little
girls at her side. Bao-yu could not repress a strong emotion on seeing her, but
sitting there in the carriage there was not much he could do but gaze back at
her soulfully.” This is what usually happens: he is able to watch life from the
safety of his “carriage” of existence, but not able to <i>do</i> much of anything.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0qeJzSuEV6MW-E_-z_E5mMgtJG829_VrgUL4vJYsVrXAs2SqG52afQSuhi2PVYW33Phwwl5PQWS4Aadplt8Pj4EYu4ZJvsrjXZRk8-Smrc0fAqhIZULwf7HGRVeyvPIuk2WkJLpup21A/s1600/e42fb604-2b15-4621-8413-cf583c1c7b71.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0qeJzSuEV6MW-E_-z_E5mMgtJG829_VrgUL4vJYsVrXAs2SqG52afQSuhi2PVYW33Phwwl5PQWS4Aadplt8Pj4EYu4ZJvsrjXZRk8-Smrc0fAqhIZULwf7HGRVeyvPIuk2WkJLpup21A/s320/e42fb604-2b15-4621-8413-cf583c1c7b71.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Also, his interactions with others causes him much
turmoil, especially with Dai-yu. Dai-yu was sweet at first, but once she comes
to love Bao-yu, she becomes such a brat and gets annoyed at every little thing
Bao-yu does. She’s very jealous of Bao-chai, and always takes it out on Bao-yu
when he says or does something even slightly out of line. So although he also
loves her, they stay at an impasse for the whole book. Though admittedly,
Bao-yu isn’t very mature either, so it’s possible that his love for Dai-yu will
pass, especially considering that he takes a fancy to many other people (mostly
his cousins and maids. The fact that everyone is a cousin or related in some
way does not stop any relationships from forming) at various times throughout the
book. As is mentioned during a conversation with Yu-cun near the beginning of
the book, Bao-yu has an unusual obsession with girls, not only that he likes
girls, but that he has grown up with girls and likes to do the activities they
do. We often see that he might even want to <i>be</i>
a girl, because he sees them as nobler being compared to males. So he often experiences
an unspoken frustration simply because he is a boy and so cannot really be like
his cousins. And he is definitely in love with his friend Qin Zhong, though
nothing comes of this because Qin Zhong eventually dies. But on the whole, Bao-yu
is confused in his life, for he is largely estranged from not only the higher
reality beyond the world, but even the world outside his very restricted social
situation.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDrxQFFPcNC6OyYAxozFyyvq39ea_5YLF0N2GHaqwik7-oNjAkU-3kMs5fOgumeV3UFYDaj5W1_aBXhcTd86a4g2r7hHMPRw5haPxuXiEA-pfvom2B5OQd6i5j-3T5W3axpYihSdjTrNY/s1600/55e736d12f2eb938efee42b6d7628535e4dd6ff6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">As for the stone Bao-yu is born with, although he
is largely ignorant of its powers, he knows the inscription on it, which says:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">MAGIC JADE<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Mislay me
not, forget me not.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">And hale old
age shall be your lot.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">On the reverse, it says,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Dispels the harms of witchcraft.<o:p></o:p></span></i></li>
<li class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Cures melancholic distempers.<o:p></o:p></span></i></li>
<li class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Foretells good and evil fortune.<o:p></o:p></span></i></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDrxQFFPcNC6OyYAxozFyyvq39ea_5YLF0N2GHaqwik7-oNjAkU-3kMs5fOgumeV3UFYDaj5W1_aBXhcTd86a4g2r7hHMPRw5haPxuXiEA-pfvom2B5OQd6i5j-3T5W3axpYihSdjTrNY/s1600/55e736d12f2eb938efee42b6d7628535e4dd6ff6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDrxQFFPcNC6OyYAxozFyyvq39ea_5YLF0N2GHaqwik7-oNjAkU-3kMs5fOgumeV3UFYDaj5W1_aBXhcTd86a4g2r7hHMPRw5haPxuXiEA-pfvom2B5OQd6i5j-3T5W3axpYihSdjTrNY/s320/55e736d12f2eb938efee42b6d7628535e4dd6ff6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The stone indeed accomplishes all three of those powers
throughout the book (the first is obvious, the second is to (sometimes) relieve
Bao-yu from his melancholy, and the third is when Bao-yu is transported to the
world with the fairy Disenchantment where he is able to read a part of a book
that lays out the unfortunate fates of different girls in the form of poems
(though it doesn’t specify which poem corresponds to which girl)).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This dream ties in to one of the major themes in the
book, and indeed, the book is also called <i>A
Dream of Red Mansions</i>. This “dream,” or transportation to another plane of
existence, is when Bao-yu is instructed by Disenchantment to dispel his “lust
of the mind” so he can focus on “the serious things in life” rather than
illusions of daily life that will only trap him. So far, in the first volume,
she hadn’t succeeded, but I believe there’s hope for Bao-yu yet.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This transport to Disenchantment’s land of fairies
touches upon the supernatural order that ultimately forms the basis of the
world. This is also hinted at with the characters of the Taoist and Buddhist
monks who occasionally make an appearance. They are aware that Bao-yu is the
stone, though as you would expect from a Buddhist and Taoist, they don’t get
involved in the plot much. Other monks and religious persons only get involved
in times of deaths and sicknesses, which also illustrates the fact that what
really matters is not the incessant clamour of day-to-day routines and customs
that occupy most of the characters’ time, but of the ultimate destiny of our
soul when it leaves this illusory world. One particularly interesting part is
when Qin Zhong is dying and bargains with the demons while he is unconscious so
that he can speak to Bao-yu one last time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXVtBCfEf7G1LhYFhEpebkmkdaOfGfWv2Wt5_20p-SHZDP92XVEuO0huAwSpC_f5DXwH6YZCibN1XlxvoziBeWqQdmqehgfQuwLQy2BDiWvX0CRe1wtV73Pd16UQGb86Ond37yFB9Vf4/s1600/Sun_Wen_Red_Chamber_18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXVtBCfEf7G1LhYFhEpebkmkdaOfGfWv2Wt5_20p-SHZDP92XVEuO0huAwSpC_f5DXwH6YZCibN1XlxvoziBeWqQdmqehgfQuwLQy2BDiWvX0CRe1wtV73Pd16UQGb86Ond37yFB9Vf4/s320/Sun_Wen_Red_Chamber_18.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The book’s many lavish descriptions of customs,
clothing, and architecture, including an enormous garden that is built just so
the family can receive their daughter (who has become a royal concubine) for a
visit once a year, is very interesting in itself, but it can also be seen as a
mask over the fundamental reality that is spoken of at the beginning of the
book, and so the story is in one sense a parody. It is this higher world and
the beings within it that ultimately determine the characters’ destinies, which
they are largely unaware of, and indeed, we even see that some souls were
purposely sent into the “great illusion of human life” for a particular
purpose. We can’t decide either when we come into the world or when we leave it,
but it is at these times that the characters are able to glimpse a higher
scheme of things in which their day-to-day lives are insignificant. Bao-yu is sometimes
able to sense when he meets a pure soul connected to a higher world, such as the
maid Crimson and Dai-yu, who were sent here by the fairy Disenchantment. Ultimately,
everything that happens is in accordance with the laws of karma, and the only
ones who are really able to escape them are the Taoist and Buddhist monks, who travel
between “the land of illusion” and the higher world.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">On top of all this, we learn a lot about the time
period (China in the 1700s), such as how people lived, what they wore, the
different positions in society, medicine, literature, etc. And given that it
was actually written in this time period, we can safely assume that it’s
accurate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">I would certainly say that Cao Xueqin is the
Alexandre Dumas of 18<sup>th</sup> century China: any fans of Dumas would do
well to pick up a copy of this book and enjoy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXVtBCfEf7G1LhYFhEpebkmkdaOfGfWv2Wt5_20p-SHZDP92XVEuO0huAwSpC_f5DXwH6YZCibN1XlxvoziBeWqQdmqehgfQuwLQy2BDiWvX0CRe1wtV73Pd16UQGb86Ond37yFB9Vf4/s1600/Sun_Wen_Red_Chamber_18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-18786139195366809262016-12-31T16:45:00.000-05:002016-12-31T16:45:45.670-05:00Quotes of Wisdom: The Worlds of the Kabbalah<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccmVVRW3GYF0gNa8xpiayJfbHIP2bDREApY7a8QkQ64JTdk2mhEb33GPDL9Jn4w9x2USdkK-vWM-KSv90gTNra2NAHzU3bWVV15ZlGi6pNQ7Dy9SE-RgC38v1TUQo235chMHlEJ_WNeg/s1600/tree_life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccmVVRW3GYF0gNa8xpiayJfbHIP2bDREApY7a8QkQ64JTdk2mhEb33GPDL9Jn4w9x2USdkK-vWM-KSv90gTNra2NAHzU3bWVV15ZlGi6pNQ7Dy9SE-RgC38v1TUQo235chMHlEJ_WNeg/s320/tree_life.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The
Kabbalah is an ancient Jewish mystical tradition that explains how the universe
and life have come to be, as well as our purpose within the world. As mentioned
in my <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/2015/06/the-philosophy-of-other-worlds-part-1.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>,
the Kabbalah has a fascinating system of other worlds and realms of existence
above our own. What lies at the base of the Kabbalah is the interpenetration of
four different worlds and the Sephirotic tree of life that forms the basis of
them all. The quote today is:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">From
</span>Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi’s <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/841514.A_Kabbalistic_Universe?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">A Kabbalistic Universe</a></i> (1977):<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“As the image of God, man has the
greatest possibility of realizing the Immanence present in the Universe. The
World provides the conditions for man’s work towards perfection, and in return
man aids the World towards its completion, so that which has been separated
reunites.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsh2pA5dEV0x1sXISpNQX_HQ5I2JZgWdPQpB5Qe-g6Er0_XvgoLCZjb1zKbRrIVK-H4RpS6D7M5pVb7jgMn-YfGLzgpaQiC0utffa_WVB8wmMplzG9fOCqE1hmY6sUGoAV5ehAuHWTSfo/s1600/qab.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsh2pA5dEV0x1sXISpNQX_HQ5I2JZgWdPQpB5Qe-g6Er0_XvgoLCZjb1zKbRrIVK-H4RpS6D7M5pVb7jgMn-YfGLzgpaQiC0utffa_WVB8wmMplzG9fOCqE1hmY6sUGoAV5ehAuHWTSfo/s400/qab.png" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">The
Sephirotic Tree of Life, as depicted in the various image below, is a map of
the universe, both the world at mediumand everything within it. Indeed, we can
think of each human being as a sephirotic tree with each sephirot (the circles)
corresponding to a different organ or system in the body. Likewise, the various
principles in our souls can be mapped onto a sephirotic tree, as well as the
planets in our solar system, the path of enlightenment, and the angelic hierarchies.
The Kabbalistic tree can also be mapped onto the different Indian chakras of
the body, the different hypostases in Neoplatonism, and the different worlds in
esoteric Buddhism, but I won’t go into these other traditions here. There are
many different interpretations of the Kabbalah, but I’m going to focus on what
I’ve learned from </span>Z’ev ben
Shimon Halevi’s books as well as Manly P. Hall’s <i>The Secret Teachings of All Ages.</i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieSXxB8GH0YPWPrDfQKYRTsBGBeJFlNUaix24Ze_bPmxFLHbRHPhMCcg3xXSrSf3J3LeJysc8WWQFFnScM9423ReQ9X1xxPzVFCUXzk2mXpIOsZCq7k-f_P_7ktgiqYzS85e774tQpfw0/s1600/kab+tree+human.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieSXxB8GH0YPWPrDfQKYRTsBGBeJFlNUaix24Ze_bPmxFLHbRHPhMCcg3xXSrSf3J3LeJysc8WWQFFnScM9423ReQ9X1xxPzVFCUXzk2mXpIOsZCq7k-f_P_7ktgiqYzS85e774tQpfw0/s640/kab+tree+human.jpg" width="171" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUyqJWvAEoV-gRPIf06G_8RX1gQg3DeG5e8aZ61K8EcEmT5uBVu83I_7AmgYOm4oQjApJPMSTh_7xfFnScunTsHoJbRvMDlov5zS5DeHKPsFIBiWpdncPsgWj9T956xM7VPYcYlB1z7cQ/s1600/kab+tree+planets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUyqJWvAEoV-gRPIf06G_8RX1gQg3DeG5e8aZ61K8EcEmT5uBVu83I_7AmgYOm4oQjApJPMSTh_7xfFnScunTsHoJbRvMDlov5zS5DeHKPsFIBiWpdncPsgWj9T956xM7VPYcYlB1z7cQ/s640/kab+tree+planets.jpg" width="307" /></a><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: white;">hi</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Each sephirot in the tree is labelled by a different
Hebrew words. They are often called ‘spheres,’ ‘sapphires,’ or ‘emanations.’ Keter
is the crown, and it is from here that the others emanate. Binah and Hokhmah
are the male and female principles, and Da’at corresponds to perfected knowledge.
There are many interpretations about what each sphere stands for, and they are
not mutually exclusive: they’re supposed to have many meanings. Each sphere,
from Malkhut (the lowest) to Keter (the highest) corresponds to a different
level of enlightenment/states of consciousness. During a spiritual seeker’s
development, they will progress up the sephiroth (plural of sephirot) from their
more impulsive animal nature to become a spiritual being. The sephiroth can all
be seen as different worlds, where everyone in a lower level of enlightenment
is in a lower world, unable to perceive the higher reality of existence around
them. Those above encompass more worlds since they are beings of a higher
spiritual dimension.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">There are said to be <b>32 paths</b> in the Kabbalah,
corresponding to the 10 sephiroth and 22 letters (Hebrew alphabet), which are
on the lines between the sephiroth. The sephiroth are unchanging principles
that, as has been said, are instantiated in many different realms of being. The
letters are variable, and there are many different ways to trace paths between
sephiroth. By the flow of energy through the sephiroth, there emerges various
processes as impulses flow from one sephirot to another. Indeed, the tree of
life itself is created with the emanation from Keter as the initial impulse,
giving rise to each letter and the subsequent sephiroth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The sephiroth on the far left column comprise the
pillar of <b>Form</b>, those on the right,
the pillar of <b>Force</b>, and those in
the centre, the <b>Will</b> or
Consciousness, which unites force and form. Both of the two principles are
necessary for life and evolution: form provides the structure, and force the
energy to create it. Force corresponds to growth and expansion, and form to
decay and constriction. Force is also called the Pillar of Mercy, and Form the
Pillar of Severity. It is the task of our will to unite these two principles, keeping
them both in balance. Form and Force are the Yin and Yang of Taoism, the Boaz
and Jachin of Freemasonry: both are necessary, but one without the other will
lead to imbalance and strife.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnkxYeQoIPZAzSckTu9FcU6tIPaV9Gl9X-pZKckPb-2qTIw5SS-vjgEVrxmI8t0Vn5LL_RjcGrUY_cYROxyQNmLqsoDhL3h3G5M6JeDIO6pwFhyYrkL3m1RDYVqhZlNCaNnI059RxQ7jU/s1600/qab+big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnkxYeQoIPZAzSckTu9FcU6tIPaV9Gl9X-pZKckPb-2qTIw5SS-vjgEVrxmI8t0Vn5LL_RjcGrUY_cYROxyQNmLqsoDhL3h3G5M6JeDIO6pwFhyYrkL3m1RDYVqhZlNCaNnI059RxQ7jU/s640/qab+big.jpg" width="338" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The Kabbalistic tree pictured above is actually
one of four worlds. These worlds are called <b>Azilut, Beriah, Yezirah, </b>and<b>
</b><b><span lang="EN-US">Asiyyah</span></b>. They are all interlaced to create one enormous tree
of life with Azilut’s Keter at the top (see picture to the left). <b>Azilut</b>
is also called Emanation, in that it is the first realm of being beyond that of
absolute non-existence, which is the ultimate God. Each of the sephiroth in
Azilut correspond to different aspects of the Divine. All these sephiroth, as
well as the worlds beneath them, are produced by the emanation from the first
sephirot as it expands its power. It is impossible to have the lower sephiroth
without the higher ones above them, because they receive their existence from
them, just like you can’t have the branches and leaves of a tree without its
supporting trunk and roots. Indeed, the Kabbalah often uses the analogy of an inverted
tree with Keter at the base and Malkhut at the top.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Beriah</b>,
the second world, also called Creation, emanates from the Tiferet of Azilut,
forming another tree of life interspersed with the first. This is where <b>time</b> begins “as Creation moves away
from the Eternal and Changeless Perfection of Azilut into expansion and
contraction that are the essence of the Beriatic World of Creation.” This
necessarily introduces imperfections, because with time, there is change, and even
if things begin perfectly, they will necessarily become less perfect as time
passes (because if they stayed perfect, they would not change, and time implies
some form of change). Beriah, however, is very close to perfection, and its
tree is often split into seven Heavens inhabited by Archangels that bring the
further worlds into being and instantiate certain principles depending on which
sephirot they correspond to. When these principles manifest in the lower worlds,
they will correspond to physical laws (gravity and the like), karma, and the
impetus behind cycles of growth and decay. Beriah also corresponds to Plato’s
world of Forms, containing the archetypes of, for example, celestial phenomena,
plants, and animals. There is no growth and decay in Beriah, but rather, it has
the <b>potential</b> for existence that
will actually come into being in the worlds below. These are the laws and the
templates for beings that will be subject to the laws, a blueprint rather than
a physical or spiritual substance. Indeed, Halevi says, “In the World of
Creation only essences can exist,” and “in Beriah, although the destiny of each
creature is determined, it cannot actually move through its stages, it cannot
grow and manifest the different stages of existence.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijNZtGFLkkXuVoyayfToRvAuqdWOhh2bM3mkCacnq4x9i9xyO2GoJVujsUv-AUWnVM2wUWqQEjsDjepC3HkK-xE9dUqH_NNY_Z7r4daoNssmueLt7AuDh7PB-NmVoDGmLyY5OfGe9hyphenhyphenP8/s1600/tree+of+life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijNZtGFLkkXuVoyayfToRvAuqdWOhh2bM3mkCacnq4x9i9xyO2GoJVujsUv-AUWnVM2wUWqQEjsDjepC3HkK-xE9dUqH_NNY_Z7r4daoNssmueLt7AuDh7PB-NmVoDGmLyY5OfGe9hyphenhyphenP8/s400/tree+of+life.jpg" width="292" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Moving along to <b>Yezirah</b>, which is also called Formation, we have a further
emanation that creates the Yeziritic tree of life. In this world, things can
now change their form, though they are still spiritual rather than physical
beings. Allegorically, this is where the Garden of Eden lies, as well as the
realm of Angels. It is still connected to Beriah, with the Tiferet of Beriah
forming the Keter of Yezirah, and so the forms and laws of Beriah can be
manifested in this world. Similar to the Archangels, the Angels of Yezirah have
no will of their own, but operate according to the principles embodied by the
sephiroth, with each angel residing on either the pillar of Force, Form, or
Will. Complexity increases in the world of Yezirah, and although it still abides
by the laws of the worlds above it, it derives more specific laws of its own, effective
laws, one could say (e.g., like how Newton’s gravitational theory is an
“effective theory” of Einstein’s more complete theory of gravity in general
relativity).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The last world is <b><span lang="EN-US">Asiyyah</span></b>,
the physical world. Arising from the Tiferet of Yezirah, its upper sephiroth are
still connected to the spiritual world of Yezirah. Here, physical particles, galaxies,
planets, and all forms of life reside. The “void,” or vacuum, from which
particles and energy emerge is the higher dimension (Yezirah) that provides the
spiritual essence of the physical world, which Halevi says “is of a
metaphysical nature, that is, it is concerned not with substance so much as
with laws.” So there is an emergence of something out of “nothing,” similar to
what physicists have observed, a principle that is manifested throughout the
entire interlacing tree of worlds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-W1v0LungaFtS2Gpy5_YGKzoRmog9m4vR_2aymjqv9yeBeH9A_iuHdW4Fq2cppPUCLVXQV18-n63rtdgiB6BYUXzMHeB5bnpq9Q2aIX0C_NEhIQpaNqPKlmwEsjoMna6kLzDcW10DVsw/s1600/dispersion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-W1v0LungaFtS2Gpy5_YGKzoRmog9m4vR_2aymjqv9yeBeH9A_iuHdW4Fq2cppPUCLVXQV18-n63rtdgiB6BYUXzMHeB5bnpq9Q2aIX0C_NEhIQpaNqPKlmwEsjoMna6kLzDcW10DVsw/s1600/dispersion.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">A useful analogy for this series of emanations (in
all worlds) is that of white light dispersing through a prism. White light is
pure and colourless, but it has the potential to disperse into different
colours. When it passes through a prism and splits into various colours, it is
less “perfect” than it was originally because the many colours are each less
than the source that they came from. The white light, however, is undiminished
with the creation of many colours: it is the same before it enters the prism,
and the colours can return to white light if they are combined. This is an
analogy for the descent and eventual return to a higher state of being [to
think of this a bit more scientifically: each of the colours has a range of
wavelengths that is narrower than white light, since white light contains all visible
wavelengths (e.g., red light is ~ 622 – 780 nm, whereas all visible light is
~320 – 780 nm) so white light can be seen to be more “complete” than the
colours it comprises. Yet at the same time, if one were to combine the colours,
they would have white light, so there can be a return to perfection if the
multiple colours combine to become white again]. And likewise, since we cannot
“see” white light (we just see what it is illuminating) as we can see coloured
light, it appears that the coloured beams arise out of nothing, when in truth,
they come from a higher level of existence that we, in the lower world, cannot
perceive. Thus, it appears that particles can arise out of “nothing” simply because
we cannot perceive the Yeziritic world with our physical senses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The
two pillars of force and form are also at work at the basis of the physical
world. We can describe matter as either waves (form) or particles (force), but
ultimately, matter takes on both characteristics. It may also be possible to
match up different elementary particles to the sephiroth on the tree, though I
won’t go into that except for saying, as regards the three pillars, protons,
neutrons, and electrons (the primary constituents of matter), would fit onto
the pillars of Force, Will, and Form respectively (as seen by their charges).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIh3lv6rka3ohkAYeY9d2v-l8B0hkoIKPG62HBIlJQXBxjctezgf65tIwga0lHwzKI6g4KJWy67cffC5pDTseFF78vern_uo5p2uzmEMV6vq8hTmpUAlf2Fhtua61d2UqKbmi74ah34x0/s1600/piggy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIh3lv6rka3ohkAYeY9d2v-l8B0hkoIKPG62HBIlJQXBxjctezgf65tIwga0lHwzKI6g4KJWy67cffC5pDTseFF78vern_uo5p2uzmEMV6vq8hTmpUAlf2Fhtua61d2UqKbmi74ah34x0/s200/piggy.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">Planets
and stars can also be understood in terms of the sephirotic tree, as well as
plant and animal life. The development of more complicated forms of life
eventually allows for the formation of consciousness. This, however, would not
be possible without the higher worlds because the souls of humans (or other
animals) arise from Yezirah, residing in the overlapping lower tree of Yezirah
and upper tree of Asiyyah. Yet we still have the ability to reach the higher
worlds, and this is ultimately the destiny of humankind. As the quote above
says, man is called the image of God, which means that all four worlds are latent
within us (the word “image” is used because we arise from the process of emanation
that began from God originally, just as each colour is an imperfect “image” of
the white light from which it was dispersed). This means that we have the
potential to realize the powers of the higher worlds if we can raise our
consciousness to them. This is the “Immanence” of the higher worlds that is
present even in the lowest sephirot of </span>Malkhut<span lang="EN-US">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">The
allegory of the fall of man represents the spirit of man descending from Yezirah
into the physical world of Asiyyah. However, in Asiyyah, evolution provides “a
gradual ascent of matter toward Spirit,” and so since we are beings from Yezirah
in essence (and really, if you trace the line of emanations upward, we are all
essentially from </span>Azilut<span lang="EN-US">),
we can return to that state after the development in the physical world is
complete. The key to human existence is consciousness, because with it, we can
choose to return to the upper worlds. This is only possible because of the
interpenetration of the different worlds, and the fact that humans have a
complicated enough physical body to allow for a soul to incarnate within it (of
course, other animals do too, but this book considers humans primarily).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5NVl57r4E6usygYlP4v7qJBhi4nzzVXxwKMXxWQeW8vRhBRbfrB5lZQ-uKzezL762hXWS4rtox09gb3fgW6gsRNAMFJXE2LcJwOm0wu60SoOz97E4RJ0eytlDWmX7BVSTYkYN8Oqt6kQ/s1600/spiritual.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5NVl57r4E6usygYlP4v7qJBhi4nzzVXxwKMXxWQeW8vRhBRbfrB5lZQ-uKzezL762hXWS4rtox09gb3fgW6gsRNAMFJXE2LcJwOm0wu60SoOz97E4RJ0eytlDWmX7BVSTYkYN8Oqt6kQ/s1600/spiritual.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The
interlaced psychological and physical bodies of humans (corresponding to the Yeziritic
and Asiyyatic trees) create the different bodily systems and mental faculties
such as the Self and the Soul (read the book to see more details!). And as we
know, our minds and physical bodies are always related, and when there is a
disturbance in one, there is often a disturbance in the other. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US">As
has been seen in the descriptions of the worlds above, one of the main ideas of
the Kabbalah is the <b>interpenetration</b>
of different worlds. F</span>or example, the Keter of <span lang="EN-US">Asiyyah</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span>is the
Tiferet of Yezirah. Every sephirot emanates from the Keter at the top of the
corresponding tree, and are all contained within it (this is similar to
dimensions, but all these worlds aren’t physical). The higher worlds are
spiritual, and these can only be perceived by someone dwelling at that level of
enlightenment. There are be traces of these higher worlds in physical world and
within our own souls, but they are like projections of higher dimensions onto
lower ones: if we shone a light on a sphere, we would only see a circle upon a
screen because two dimensions can only show a projection of three dimensions
rather than its entire image. Although our souls from Yezirah are present in <span lang="EN-US">Asiyyah</span>, we often don’t
notice the presence of higher worlds because of the constriction of matter in <span lang="EN-US">Asiyyah</span>. And yet, since they
overlap, it means that it is possible to reach higher levels of being/states of
awareness because the potential is already inside of you. <span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnPhSSpTUM-txts307fSs-QHQuPLVhqhV8yAtTCS5b6AeePUqOc_vCaG0dScBZZVTtb0vCmTUZvMeTN_dAU2v4DlMrPVXb0bR22rlD2az3YtMsMW_7jVdLPFTNHCsJWi4D3FXXpWn5sbc/s1600/Fly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnPhSSpTUM-txts307fSs-QHQuPLVhqhV8yAtTCS5b6AeePUqOc_vCaG0dScBZZVTtb0vCmTUZvMeTN_dAU2v4DlMrPVXb0bR22rlD2az3YtMsMW_7jVdLPFTNHCsJWi4D3FXXpWn5sbc/s320/Fly.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So
these are the worlds and some details about the Kabbalah and the Tree of Life.
Bear in mind that I have condensed everything A LOT, so there’s much that I’ve
left out, but the main idea of emanation and the structure of the worlds is
hopefully clear. And so the Kabbalah has much to offer us: it is a great tool
to understand the world we live in as well as how it came into being and our
place within it.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">~~*~~</span></div>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif; font-size: medium;">Click <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/p/philosophy-magic-and-science.html">here </a>for more posts in my Quotes of Wisdom series.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-53566354385018887402016-12-23T12:47:00.000-05:002016-12-23T12:47:07.606-05:00Quotes of Wisdom: The Kristos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6-vWXyvlawhOJUmxMb45_GUizy532VgAvCBfImBGqzmN0O1UJ3zNdQ7rvU-wPMtuiBB7fwlNf8SI24GU2UYbFqy9UmlbvmlBmdEYkCXv3HTiL9sjul4xtmEPdP4JHYDnxJdf5gidpVt0/s1600/jesus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6-vWXyvlawhOJUmxMb45_GUizy532VgAvCBfImBGqzmN0O1UJ3zNdQ7rvU-wPMtuiBB7fwlNf8SI24GU2UYbFqy9UmlbvmlBmdEYkCXv3HTiL9sjul4xtmEPdP4JHYDnxJdf5gidpVt0/s320/jesus.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Although the word “Christmas” derives from
“Christ’s mass,” it is not only a Christian holiday, but one that relates to
many traditions around the world. The word Christ originated from the Greek word
Kristos (also spelled “Christos”), and represents the illuminated saviour of
humanity. So for today’s quote, let’s return to that wonderful encyclopedic
book <i>The Secret Teachings of All Ages</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">From Manly P. Hall's <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/183683.The_Secret_Teachings_of_All_Ages?ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">The Secret Teachings of All Ages</a> </i>(1928):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“This <i>Christos</i>, or divine man in man, is man’s
real hope of salvation—the living Mediator between abstract Deity and mortal
mankind…Since the <i>Christos</i> was the
god-man imprisoned in every creature, it was the first duty of the initiate to
liberate, or ‘resurrect,’ this Eternal One within himself. ”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3S9fEzIC9deLV07_79oPWrda5N-J9RMt-d18nJu3PlodoeFB7esLcwCSwDzAA6z6EzQl8N68WdaKAmRTfDqN9PH9WTNKjG-h3ltM9pOKsXxScF0pNoOhk6otNMIx9qUhyXwBkUd-7gQ/s1600/Osiris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3S9fEzIC9deLV07_79oPWrda5N-J9RMt-d18nJu3PlodoeFB7esLcwCSwDzAA6z6EzQl8N68WdaKAmRTfDqN9PH9WTNKjG-h3ltM9pOKsXxScF0pNoOhk6otNMIx9qUhyXwBkUd-7gQ/s320/Osiris.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The Kristos can also be seen as the solar power
revered by different nations around the world. The Kristos has all the powers
of the “Sun,” or the powers of God. For example, we have Ra, the supreme god in
Egyptian religion, and Osiris, the son of Ra and the saviour sacrificed for
humanity. The Kristos is the mediator between humans and God, and is at the
same time, he is a human and God himself, thus representing the perfected human
and the latent divinity in every person. So although there were particular
incarnations of the Kristos throughout time to lead humanity to the light, his
goal is ultimately to bring out that same divinity within us, as the quote says.
That is the true “Kristos”: not only one man, but the potential for all of us
to assume our true nature and “resurrect” the higher powers within ourselves
and become a perfected human.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWj89S8AFj_7QQF-mPSvvi7j47poecE_GyXvrZ0mj0FM_cXqI1TxaVImxJw-PqddrW7DRzekowr9VLFdXcSAkc6JMTtlH8NQczFN_R14q3mqF5EsEIyjKBOHoRYBS5lWPC1xwsRq5xlTc/s1600/dec-25.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWj89S8AFj_7QQF-mPSvvi7j47poecE_GyXvrZ0mj0FM_cXqI1TxaVImxJw-PqddrW7DRzekowr9VLFdXcSAkc6JMTtlH8NQczFN_R14q3mqF5EsEIyjKBOHoRYBS5lWPC1xwsRq5xlTc/s200/dec-25.png" width="170" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The celebration of Christmas on December 25 corresponded
to the date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar. Having the birthdate
of the Kristos on the shortest day of the year is significant symbolically: the
saviour is born on the darkest day of the year, representing the time when
humanity needs him most. After his birth, the days begin to get longer, and
hope and life will soon be renewed with coming spring (though spring will take
a while to come, at least if you’re in Canada…). The martyrdom and resurrection
of the Kristos has also been prevalent throughout many religions, and is also
related to astronomy, in particular, the Sun, which rises from the “tomb” of winter
at the end of every year to illuminate and revive the world. Some of the saviours
who are related to the Kristos and the crucifixion doctrine include Jesus, Prometheus,
Apollo, Buddha, Atys, Adonis, Bacchus, Osiris, Krishna, Horus, Indra, Ixion, Mithras,
Pythagoras, Quetzalcoatl, Semiramis, Jupiter, King Arthur, and Orpheus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The Kristos is also known as the <b>Divine Mind</b>, which is personified in
these saviours. Regarding the Divine Mind, Manly Hall says, “The Divine Mind
offered Itself as a living sacrifice and was broken up and eaten by the world.
Having given Its spirit and Its body at a secret and sacred supper to the
twelve manners of rational creatures, this Divine Mind became a part of every
living thing. Man was thereby enabled to use this power as a bridge across
which he might pass and attain immortality. He who lifted up his soul to this
Divine Mind and served It was righteous and, having attained righteousness,
liberated this Divine Mind, which thereupon returned again in glory to Its own
divine source.” And so the Divine Mind, or Kristos, is the bridge whereby we
can reach the divine, and Christmas is the celebration of his birth into the
world, the key to raising humanity to enlightenment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">As mentioned above, there have been many crucified
saviours throughout history. Indeed, Thomas Macall Fallow, in the E<i>ncyclopedia Britannica, </i>says that “The
use of the cross as a religious symbol in pre-Christian times, and among
non-Christian people, may probably be regarded as almost universal.” This
includes Christians, pagans, druids, Tibetans, the Chinese and Japanese,
Egyptians, the Central American Natives, and the Greeks and Romans. Although
there is much that can be said about the cross symbolism itself, I’ll just look
at how it applies to the universal saviours and their crucifixion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">For example, the first missionaries of the
Christian Church, when trying to convert pagan Greeks and Romans to
Christianity, tried to emphasize the similarities between Jesus and their own
gods (“sons of Jupiter”) so that pagans would be more willing to accept the Christian
doctrine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Indeed, in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to
being “called of God an high priest after the order of Melchizedek,” so that,
as Manly Hall says, this makes “Jesus one of a line or order of which there
must have been others of equal or even superior dignity.” Those of this order
were priest-kings in ancient times, though little is known about them. This
could very well be referring to the line of Kristos incarnations throughout
history, which Jesus was a part of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgyFJGJ2UGL6F7HaDstpZaqkSQntDj5IC-zF6kHjHT4GCGAlpyG15fjlRbWx0N17r15MIaG7QDujeyKgTaI2-U6quU6DZQRLnowuAxBQJzrQrw7AyDVYT4YwriMh3MDP3jwEFQkKb_Mw/s1600/The-Round-Table-king-arthur-789488_678_672.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgyFJGJ2UGL6F7HaDstpZaqkSQntDj5IC-zF6kHjHT4GCGAlpyG15fjlRbWx0N17r15MIaG7QDujeyKgTaI2-U6quU6DZQRLnowuAxBQJzrQrw7AyDVYT4YwriMh3MDP3jwEFQkKb_Mw/s320/The-Round-Table-king-arthur-789488_678_672.gif" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>King Arthur</b>
also represents the Kristos in the Arthurian legends (though the historical
Arthur has certainly been mythologized into a greater figure than reality).
Various powers are associated with Arthur, including his tutelage under the
magician Merlin, and the sword he pulls from the stone that establishes his
divine right to rule. The creation of his Round Table and the moral codes and
the legacy he left behind is characteristic of the Kristos. It is often
portrayed that there were either 12 or 24 Knights of the Round Table, which
signifies either the 12 zodiac signs (which also correspond to Jesus’ 12
apostles), or for 24, signifying each of the zodiac signs divided into two
parts, one for the day and one for the night. Also, at the centre of the Round
Table is a rose, symbolic of the resurrection. Arthur’s untimely death by those
who disbelieved him (in this case, his son Mordred killed him) also follows
closely with that of other saviours. Thus, Arthur can be seen as the Sun, his
knights the zodiac, the Round Table the universe, and his sword Excaliber the
sun’s rays with which he vanquishes darkness and evil. As Manly Hall says,
drawing the sword out of the stone has alchemical symbolism of “the withdrawal
of the sword (spirit) from the anvil of the base metals (his lower nature),”
thus attaining the perfected state of the Kristos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDniqfbvsP-pv7e3-8k1LDaZ0InJJN5pTm66I25PexUPo3XV8wxMWEGqE3vAxC57ljqOn6vjOutZYZzsi-RfSqMYd6jt7uVRbhnh8ckJe58BJu3UMhRcavnnQU9ea7i92VSguXLZiOL34/s1600/krishna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDniqfbvsP-pv7e3-8k1LDaZ0InJJN5pTm66I25PexUPo3XV8wxMWEGqE3vAxC57ljqOn6vjOutZYZzsi-RfSqMYd6jt7uVRbhnh8ckJe58BJu3UMhRcavnnQU9ea7i92VSguXLZiOL34/s320/krishna.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Krishna</b>
represents the Kristos figure in the East Indian religions. Krishna, while
playing his flute in the forest, was crucified upon a tree by his enemies. He
had previously known of his impending death, and had prepared himself for it by
bathing in the river Ganges and praying to heaven. After his death, his
disciples came to recover his body, but it had disappeared, and the tree upon
which he had been crucified was covered with great red flowers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghd9c-DAUnaQrW2oTURqrA04Y2nhXp2wQr2BbT_6UvCuF0QFbYfsHFSJi4TSJP-Irxp0veejngoM3EnUTU9g9PeUjm8w6VWwDh3VfIn48EqEFYe64zDRN_R1dBNd2QaZZVD7wqymGnkpM/s1600/quetz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghd9c-DAUnaQrW2oTURqrA04Y2nhXp2wQr2BbT_6UvCuF0QFbYfsHFSJi4TSJP-Irxp0veejngoM3EnUTU9g9PeUjm8w6VWwDh3VfIn48EqEFYe64zDRN_R1dBNd2QaZZVD7wqymGnkpM/s320/quetz.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Quetzalcoatl</b>,
the feathered snake god of the Central American Natives, is thought to have
come out of the sea bearing a cross, and was also covered with red crosses on
his garments. The cross has become a sacred symbol to the Mayas, and
Quetzalcoatl was crucified and nailed to a cross (and is often depicted as
being crucified along with two thieves). He was then cut into pieces and put
into a cauldron. This is also similar to the Egyptian legend of <b>Osiris</b>, who was cut into pieces by Set
and scattered about the world. Osiris is later resurrected by Isis, and as seen
above, he also symbolizes the Sun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpn_yhcvf6dmdvL1KVbcQU2pfZr8fvwyyCGy4qDQkExgHW0zzzYSqbU1rF1uX-2N9HEDOGwp0-US5QsMpVscs4mtpcjgeSUpVE5Gaz9f8FoGHYxqi0MeEQEaMs2A-O7DkE1EYRVmk43I/s1600/sword+in+stone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpn_yhcvf6dmdvL1KVbcQU2pfZr8fvwyyCGy4qDQkExgHW0zzzYSqbU1rF1uX-2N9HEDOGwp0-US5QsMpVscs4mtpcjgeSUpVE5Gaz9f8FoGHYxqi0MeEQEaMs2A-O7DkE1EYRVmk43I/s320/sword+in+stone.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">And so the abbreviation “Xmas” might be a more
fitting title for Christmas. “X” stands for the Greek letter chi,
which is the first letter in the Greek word for Kristos (<i>Khrīstos</i>), and
so with “Xmas” we are able to appreciate all the saviours that have sacrificed themselves
so that we might come to attain a higher level of being, and ultimately, the
sacrifice that must take place within each of us to become connected to our
divine source.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">For more posts in my Quotes of Wisdom series,
click <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/p/philosophy-magic-and-science.html">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgyFJGJ2UGL6F7HaDstpZaqkSQntDj5IC-zF6kHjHT4GCGAlpyG15fjlRbWx0N17r15MIaG7QDujeyKgTaI2-U6quU6DZQRLnowuAxBQJzrQrw7AyDVYT4YwriMh3MDP3jwEFQkKb_Mw/s1600/The-Round-Table-king-arthur-789488_678_672.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghd9c-DAUnaQrW2oTURqrA04Y2nhXp2wQr2BbT_6UvCuF0QFbYfsHFSJi4TSJP-Irxp0veejngoM3EnUTU9g9PeUjm8w6VWwDh3VfIn48EqEFYe64zDRN_R1dBNd2QaZZVD7wqymGnkpM/s1600/quetz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDniqfbvsP-pv7e3-8k1LDaZ0InJJN5pTm66I25PexUPo3XV8wxMWEGqE3vAxC57ljqOn6vjOutZYZzsi-RfSqMYd6jt7uVRbhnh8ckJe58BJu3UMhRcavnnQU9ea7i92VSguXLZiOL34/s1600/krishna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpn_yhcvf6dmdvL1KVbcQU2pfZr8fvwyyCGy4qDQkExgHW0zzzYSqbU1rF1uX-2N9HEDOGwp0-US5QsMpVscs4mtpcjgeSUpVE5Gaz9f8FoGHYxqi0MeEQEaMs2A-O7DkE1EYRVmk43I/s1600/sword+in+stone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"></span></a></div>
<br />Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-5431280591062269042016-12-05T19:40:00.002-05:002016-12-08T13:34:41.983-05:00Quotes of Wisdom: The Buddhist Cycle of Worlds<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOInGed-cFtQMrUDlTYvPjlByXXqGNwtqL_bD97Zc-aPBvoiOi-q-NcQE12mB2xljodnFaQiw2pbiXv2Ff1Bc3i4KsSU6qY8mzslluxJoLp1UqwXSS-oJqj6kwWhmvD_o_le8xNOMC__o/s1600/mandala.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOInGed-cFtQMrUDlTYvPjlByXXqGNwtqL_bD97Zc-aPBvoiOi-q-NcQE12mB2xljodnFaQiw2pbiXv2Ff1Bc3i4KsSU6qY8mzslluxJoLp1UqwXSS-oJqj6kwWhmvD_o_le8xNOMC__o/s320/mandala.JPG" width="318" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Our ideas about evolution are usually tied to the Earth, in particular, the living beings upon it. But we can also learn about the evolution of the universe at large: how it has developed over time to produce the world we live in. But what if this was all a small portion of what is really out there? What if the evolution of conscious beings took place across many different worlds in many universes? This is an idea from esoteric Buddhism, the inner doctrine of Buddhist philosophy that is usually hidden from the majority of monks (for more about esoteric Buddhism, see my </span><a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/2016/08/quotes-of-wisdom-buddhist-human.html" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;" target="_blank">previous post</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">). The quote for today is:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">From A. P. Sinnett's </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7038193-esoteric-buddhism" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Esoteric Buddhism</a></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> (1883):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>“The evolution of man is not a process carried out on this planet alone. It is a result to which many worlds in different conditions of material and spiritual development have contributed…The system of worlds is a circuit round which all individual spiritual entities have alike to pass; and that passage constitutes the Evolution of Man.”</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_sJ_RQ0LfTi5pYwn0Ym41d85Gj8L30Glirtl0E-fW2-NUoNbF18J0LDkLa4STQKBT2aM3hTU3d1wl_coF1XuWEfNHfNVEacAy1J5W1Ry_KVGS9X1wN_dMzjysbgKQ7lzDl8qLIxbEAo/s1600/theosophy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">These worlds form what Sinnett calls a planetary chain, consisting of worlds into which souls can incarnate in living beings. There are seven worlds (planets, globes, spheres…call them what you will), each with differing degrees of spirituality and materiality. Although they are physically far apart (likely in different universes), they are “bound together by subtle currents and forces” that the souls can travel through. The first world is entirely spiritual: there is no matter in it, but only spiritual forms that will later take shape physically. I like to think of this as the world of Plato’s Forms, though Sinnett doesn’t mention that.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Y3eeurigJ_fIVlcv_t5yWWbF0zjGBOkgQ27CiVNYxKw9svYMAGl2k7w76HxMKALRFfSqJ55gvjseqiglL1hPkN4kMCII2UjRkqZEgQuK9LmC-VkF15NtRAfGdJxoqLydtDOQQanMRTk/s1600/Chains_and_Rounds.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Y3eeurigJ_fIVlcv_t5yWWbF0zjGBOkgQ27CiVNYxKw9svYMAGl2k7w76HxMKALRFfSqJ55gvjseqiglL1hPkN4kMCII2UjRkqZEgQuK9LmC-VkF15NtRAfGdJxoqLydtDOQQanMRTk/s320/Chains_and_Rounds.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">As you progress through the chain, the worlds become more physical with the introduction of matter, which life energies are bound up in. On our world (Earth), spirit and matter are approximately equal, so we are at about the middle of the chain (4th world). The picture on the right illustrates this with the spiritual worlds at the top and more material worlds at the bottom.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Throughout this planetary chain, there is a flow of souls which Sinnett calls the “human tide-wave,” though a better term would be the “soul tide-wave” because these souls don’t always incarnate in humans. In any case, the tide-wave is the flow of the majority of souls between the worlds. The tide-wave only occupies one planet at a time, though some rare souls break apart from the tide-wave and have their own wave of evolution. On each planet, the souls pass through a series of incarnations and are able to develop throughout their lives on that planet. When the time is right to move to the next world (after the souls have passed through a series of seven “races” of humans [and by races, I mean stages of development, like Neanderthals, homo sapiens, etc.]), the souls are all ferried to the next world to start the process again. There is a limit to how much we can evolve on any particular world, and so this series of worlds, all with different physical and spiritual properties, serves as the vehicle for higher evolution beyond that which a single planet can provide. As A.P. Sinnett said,<b> “The Darwinian theory of evolution is simply an independent discovery of a portion—unhappily but a small portion—of the vast natural truth.”</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">We don’t pass through the chain merely once, but many times, so we will return to Earth again after our present evolution here is complete (though only after we pass through the other worlds…which takes a while!). At each new round, the souls will progress to a higher stage of their development <i>even though</i> the world they incarnate in is less spiritual. So “there is a progress downwards, so to speak, in finish and materiality and consistency; and then, again, progress upward in spirituality as coupled with the finish which matter or materiality rendered possible.” So to develop spiritually, there needs to be some form of matter (the progress downward) in order to go back upward spiritually. An artists needs to not only have the idea of a perfect sculpture (spiritual world), but they also have to be able to build it (physical world) to truly be an artist.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIDlwUApRmf7wdmiI-UF5EEI4Pg50A6bR0rGaXZkHnJllLFo3rWMfwY4mLAnQTwzJWcS6mSJ64HG7rnlxxd23MTQ_fQ-rBCWCuDtw77YKYKCQf17v1PHErdyvppI0xv4hrXgkP95XZ7g/s1600/bounce.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXIDlwUApRmf7wdmiI-UF5EEI4Pg50A6bR0rGaXZkHnJllLFo3rWMfwY4mLAnQTwzJWcS6mSJ64HG7rnlxxd23MTQ_fQ-rBCWCuDtw77YKYKCQf17v1PHErdyvppI0xv4hrXgkP95XZ7g/s200/bounce.gif" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">To use another silly analogy, it’s like a bouncy ball: it starts out at, say, the height of your chest, and then you throw it down to the ground. When it bounces up, it goes<i> even higher</i> than it was originally, most likely soaring above your head. So there’s a sort of “rebound” for souls descending into matter: although it seems that going into more material worlds is devolving, it allows for the possibility of attaining higher spiritual development.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So there is a <b>co-evolution between matter and spirit</b>, and although it’s hardly fathomable to us, it’s easier to grasp when multiple worlds are taken into consideration. So our view of evolution on the Earth is incomplete without recourse to the other worlds we came from and the ones we are headed toward. Indeed, Sinnett believes that the primary driving force of evolution is the spiralling progress of souls upward, and so the evolution we perceive on Earth, with natural selection and survival of the fittest, is only a subset of this. The impulse of the Earth to develop higher forms for souls to incarnate into is initiated by the tide-wave from the previous planet. Evolution begins with inorganic substances and progresses to all forms of life. It is about developing organized forms, going through the minerals (inorganic substances), vegetables (all plants, really), and then animals. It is only in the animal kingdom, however, that forms are progressed enough to support the development of souls. In the mineral and vegetable stages, there is just one undifferentiated spiritual “monad” directing the evolution of the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_sJ_RQ0LfTi5pYwn0Ym41d85Gj8L30Glirtl0E-fW2-NUoNbF18J0LDkLa4STQKBT2aM3hTU3d1wl_coF1XuWEfNHfNVEacAy1J5W1Ry_KVGS9X1wN_dMzjysbgKQ7lzDl8qLIxbEAo/s1600/theosophy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_sJ_RQ0LfTi5pYwn0Ym41d85Gj8L30Glirtl0E-fW2-NUoNbF18J0LDkLa4STQKBT2aM3hTU3d1wl_coF1XuWEfNHfNVEacAy1J5W1Ry_KVGS9X1wN_dMzjysbgKQ7lzDl8qLIxbEAo/s400/theosophy.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">And so, <b>“in the scale of spiritual perfection it [the soul] is constantly ascending.”</b> A nice way to visualize this is to have each world as a point on a 3-dimensional plot with space on one of the lower two axes, the spectrum of spirituality and materiality on the other, and time on the vertical axis (see pictures below). Of course, this represents 1-D space because to have 3-D space, you’d need 5 dimensions (which I can’t draw for the life of me), so this is just an analogy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Imagine starting at the pink world on the very bottom, the most spiritual world, as seen by its position on the spirituality/materiality axis. The grey dots represent the tide-wave of souls travelling to the next world after their incarnations on the previous world is complete. These are those mysterious “subtle currents and forces.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">We progress upward in the spiral as time passes, going from one world to the next. So the souls travel through the worlds in loops, and additionally, the progress upward is simultaneously a progress toward higher forms of life in <i>each </i>of the worlds. The different colours represent the different world cycles: the souls starting in the first planet, say, planet A, progress to B, and so on until G, after which they return to planet A again (shown by the start of a new colour). These waves continue on to the next planet to help prepare for the next stage of life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AbEx_VInHujNeaFrBX6MAQalF0aP-3WTech9_W17D1AMlnpqNXnDJxBV0p2lK7Pv0aJtm70fhIwQ-d25z1hP-H4-TyWh2JbDQfT51O-ORdtF7ZeKxNFdaAd7ajybyR_79vtv-xs3rBo/s1600/Planetary+Chain-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AbEx_VInHujNeaFrBX6MAQalF0aP-3WTech9_W17D1AMlnpqNXnDJxBV0p2lK7Pv0aJtm70fhIwQ-d25z1hP-H4-TyWh2JbDQfT51O-ORdtF7ZeKxNFdaAd7ajybyR_79vtv-xs3rBo/s400/Planetary+Chain-5.jpg" width="231" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP38GOyTDx7oRmfBZux7FxFDxW4VTHk76wZpjbG9Wtd0dnRe07VmIE3qdnJ7tKtTQ-LS5Ge8M_NUrvp6E0LBjROsnEMlIYhVr6h-gKE7GMMQEnn7-ZsTQUpxv-gLeu5kydvCk8CUTwtgM/s1600/Planetary+Chain-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP38GOyTDx7oRmfBZux7FxFDxW4VTHk76wZpjbG9Wtd0dnRe07VmIE3qdnJ7tKtTQ-LS5Ge8M_NUrvp6E0LBjROsnEMlIYhVr6h-gKE7GMMQEnn7-ZsTQUpxv-gLeu5kydvCk8CUTwtgM/s400/Planetary+Chain-1.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Now, although there’s always a wave of evolution progressing through these worlds, each planet will at times go into <b><i>obscuration</i></b>. This is when the animal and plant life slowly devolve without the great tide-wave to spur its evolution forward. Eventually, the world returns to the state it was in before the tide-wave of souls incarnated in it. A world is left in obscuration for considerable periods of time while the tide-wave makes its way through other worlds in the chain. However, the world will not become totally devoid of life. Let’s say that the tide-wave is on planet C, and that D is in obscuration from the previous cycle. Once the fourth race on planet C is concluded, planet D will begin to prepare to receive the tide-wave. First, during the fifth race on planet C, the mineral kingdom on planet D begins to evolve out of obscuration, and during the sixth race on C, the vegetable kingdom begins to evolve, followed by the animal kingdom, etc. So when the tide-wave of souls is ready to progress to planet D, human evolution has begun and is ready to take the souls into human form.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Y3eeurigJ_fIVlcv_t5yWWbF0zjGBOkgQ27CiVNYxKw9svYMAGl2k7w76HxMKALRFfSqJ55gvjseqiglL1hPkN4kMCII2UjRkqZEgQuK9LmC-VkF15NtRAfGdJxoqLydtDOQQanMRTk/s1600/Chains_and_Rounds.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This means that the evolution on one planet is in direct connection to that on the next (and previous) planet. And since at each round, the souls progress to higher states of spirituality and refinement, despite obscuration, some developments from the previous cycle are preserved, for as Sinnett says, <b>“there are processes of vital action which go on in the resting world even during the most profound depths of its repose. And these preserve, in view of the next return of the human life-wave, the results of the evolution that preceded its first arrival.”</b> So there is some information, in the matter and spiritual properties of the world, that is preserved—or “remembered”—by the world through countless eons. We could thus say that the planet has a sort of memory, and perhaps (though this is more speculation) the beings that live in a particular world can tap into that memory and so learn of the previous cycles of life that have progressed on their planet. Indeed, perhaps this is how the Buddhist mystics discovered the planetary chain and the worlds that comprise it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIsnTtBpMdokW4Mt-70PtBMHqIRed1ipy82wZIy7IySdmV_D_0D6Vh6NK1zfoksbEyOc1-6T6RFhXPepWHDnLMgWutyZWLeGqCrQ9ja2i7gFyxxGntFG09BfLWja6Syv011kbOmAvIOGY/s1600/atlantis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIsnTtBpMdokW4Mt-70PtBMHqIRed1ipy82wZIy7IySdmV_D_0D6Vh6NK1zfoksbEyOc1-6T6RFhXPepWHDnLMgWutyZWLeGqCrQ9ja2i7gFyxxGntFG09BfLWja6Syv011kbOmAvIOGY/s320/atlantis.jpg" width="316" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Currently, it is thought that we are in the fourth round of the tide-wave, and on Earth, we inhabit the fifth “race” of human beings (which supposedly began around a million years ago. The fourth race, according to Sinnett, was the Atlanteans). There are also seven sub-divisional races, and in each of these, seven branch races, which a soul incarnates in at least twice. So for each soul to make its way through all these incarnations takes a LONG time, especially considering that the soul goes into a state called Devachan between incarnations (which we won’t even get into in here!). Sinnett estimates that any given soul will have at least <b>800 </b>lives (taking some other factors into account) on each world. Yet although these enormous periods of time are unimaginable to the human mind, this evolution does have an eventual end: it doesn’t go on indefinitely. To put it crudely, the end goal is for us to become gods.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Turning to recent times in this vast evolutionary scheme, physicists on our world have been grappling with the quantum world of subatomic particles and have postulated a multiverse to account for how quantum particles can appear to be in more than one place at the same time. But Buddhists (and the Ancient Greeks, and various other ancient cultures: see my <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/2016/11/doctor-strange-magic-science-and-time.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>) already theories about a plethora of worlds well before modern physics came into existence. Although much of this is beyond that which we can hope to learn by scientific methods (e.g., how can we use physical science to learn about spiritual worlds when science is about understanding the physical world? This then falls under the realm of occult science, which deals with both), we might hope to catch a glimpse of it through our human science and philosophy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">So this is the general idea of the world cycles in esoteric Buddhism. It might sound far-fetched, but if those studying the occult sciences are correct, then the 200,000 years since humans have developed on Earth is hardly a drop in the vast ocean of all the lives that have existed and those that we are evolving toward in the future.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
~~*~~</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Click <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/p/philosophy-magic-and-science.html" target="_blank">here </a>for more posts in my Quotes of Wisdom series.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-1034909886505691742016-11-13T18:33:00.001-05:002016-11-14T09:33:55.871-05:00Doctor Strange: Magic, Science, and Time<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaaj0WVgOa4PH8oJnyahSarANycFb7VGfhFvDSMz8I2MRz7wXBQ5_5c5VgaxHck9Bgq6nV7boLqlfOqkvIihwVOJKU2XLKa1S4ylLggqrop0Gchc6ZZVwJm0tvselWuTqoOa217ojfVqg/s1600/strange2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaaj0WVgOa4PH8oJnyahSarANycFb7VGfhFvDSMz8I2MRz7wXBQ5_5c5VgaxHck9Bgq6nV7boLqlfOqkvIihwVOJKU2XLKa1S4ylLggqrop0Gchc6ZZVwJm0tvselWuTqoOa217ojfVqg/s400/strange2.jpg" width="278" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The
new movie Doctor Strange, besides being exciting and visually stunning,
explores many fascinating ideas in philosophy, magic, and science, combining
them all in an enormous mixing pot, and somehow, creating a great result in the
end. There are many different ideas to discuss from the movie, but I’ll just focus
on the nature of reality and time.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Note
that everything written here is about the <i>movie</i>,
not the comics (which I haven’t read), so it’s possible that some of these
speculations are explored in more detail in the comics. And I won’t give away
any (major) spoilers!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<u><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">THE
MULTIVERSE:<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixxwzY6VIphp_ED9rXeP5EZbC1zi1YI7mQddS6iVmYhPVmiq92oAb-AWkho92TgAK-XBMWX7_sOd8yRT5fkSL3SwW8dWo_Z8zDRxoRBxXEjRaJdbAdh0xWB9zULCkOdeafieq2FLfFBc/s1600/indra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">As
the Ancient One* tells Strange, our universe is one of
many in an infinite multiverse. This idea is not peculiar to contemporary
physics, but has its roots in Buddhism and other cultures. For example, the ancient
Buddhist text called the Avatamsaka Sutra (A.S.) describes countless “Buddha-fields”
of worlds, each maintained by different gods/bodhisattvas. Some of these worlds
are similar to our own, and others are vastly different. These worlds can
also be seen as jewels in the metaphorical <b>Indra’s
net</b>. Regarding Indra’s net, the A.S. says:<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixxwzY6VIphp_ED9rXeP5EZbC1zi1YI7mQddS6iVmYhPVmiq92oAb-AWkho92TgAK-XBMWX7_sOd8yRT5fkSL3SwW8dWo_Z8zDRxoRBxXEjRaJdbAdh0xWB9zULCkOdeafieq2FLfFBc/s1600/indra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixxwzY6VIphp_ED9rXeP5EZbC1zi1YI7mQddS6iVmYhPVmiq92oAb-AWkho92TgAK-XBMWX7_sOd8yRT5fkSL3SwW8dWo_Z8zDRxoRBxXEjRaJdbAdh0xWB9zULCkOdeafieq2FLfFBc/s320/indra.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“Far away
in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which
has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out
infinitely in all directions…the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel
in each "eye" of the net, and since the net itself is infinite in
dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering
like stars…If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and
look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are
reflected <i>all</i> the other jewels in the net, infinite in number.
Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also
reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting
process occurring.”<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">The
multiverse is Indra’s net: all the worlds are connected and interdependent.
There is no “source” of reality, but every world mirrors every other world in a
fractalling pattern of worlds within worlds within worlds. This is the Buddhist
concept of <b>dependent origination</b> (the
lack of a source of reality, so all things are co-created with all other
things) as well as <b>emptiness</b> (that physical
worlds are just reflections of other worlds, which are all just reflections of other worlds…yet
again, there is no source).<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Thus,
with all these worlds connected, if we can access their connections via
portals, we can transfer energy between them. This was seen in the movie, with sorcerers
channeling energy from other worlds in order to perform great feats of magic.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Other
ideas about the multiverse crop up throughout history. Here are a few examples:<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Again from the A.S.</span></b><span lang="EN-US">: “What worlds are there herein?
I’ll tell you. In these seas of fragrant waters, numerous as atoms in
unspeakably many buddha-fields, rest an equal number of world systems. Each
world system also contains an equal number of worlds. Those world systems in
the ocean of worlds have various resting places, various shapes and forms,
various substances and essences, various locations, various entryways, various
adornments, various boundaries, various alignments, various similarities, and
various powers of maintenance.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b><span lang="EN">From the Greek
philosopher Democritus (460 – 370 B.C.)</span></b><span lang="EN">: “There are worlds
infinite in number and different in size. In some there is neither sun nor
moon, on others there are more than one sun and moon. The distances between the
worlds are unequal…Their destruction comes about through collision with one
another.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>From the Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus
(204 – 270)</b>: <span lang="EN">“The kosmos is
like a net which takes all its life, as far as ever it stretches, from being
wet in the water, and has no act of its own; the sea rolls away and the net
with it, precisely to the full of its scope, for no mesh of it can strain
beyond its set place: the soul is of so far-reaching a nature—a thing unbounded—as
to embrace the entire body of the All in the one extension; so far as the
universe extends, there soul is; and if the universe had no existence, the
extent of soul would be the same; it is eternally what it is.”</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b><span lang="EN">From the Sufi
poet Mahmoud Shabestari (1288 – 1340)</span></b><span lang="EN">: </span>“Know
that the whole world is a mirror; in each atom are found a hundred blazing
suns. If you split the center of a single drop of water, a hundred pure oceans
spring forth. If you examine each particle of dust, a
thousand Adams can be seen. A universe lies hidden in a grain of
millet; everything is brought together at the point of the present.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">And one example (out of many) from current physics:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b><span lang="EN-US">From Max
Tegmark, physicist at MIT</span></b><span lang="EN-US">: </span>“A<span lang="EN-US">ccepting quantum mechanics to be universally true means that you should
also believe in parallel universes.” (From <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/0707.2593v1.pdf" target="_blank">this article</a></span><span lang="EN-US">)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN">Another important idea explored is the power which
people have to change the world. Not just changing it via macroscopic cause and
effect, but by altering the microscopic nature of reality itself. From what
scientists have learned about the subatomic world, where quantum mechanics
reigns supreme (as opposed to the larger world where we live in, where gravity
is the master), we know that consciousness influences matter. We don’t fully
understand <i>how</i> this happens, but it has been experimentally proven. For
example, the very act of observation causes a particle to take on a precise
value for its position, whereas normally, it is in no defined place, instead
acting like a wave spread over a large region. There have also been experiments
performed where people have consciously directed the outcome of a random event
generator (see <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/320132.The_Field" target="_blank">this book</a>).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN">In the movie, we see this power of consciousness in
the magic wielded by the sorcerers, as well as when the Ancient One tells
Strange that “</span>At the root of
existence, mind and matter meet. Thoughts form reality.” This is something
common to Buddhism (A.S.: <b><span lang="EN-US">“Mind is like an artist able to
paint the worlds”</span></b><span lang="EN-US">)</span>, and is coming to be accepted in physics as
well. At the base of reality, there is just energy, which can vibrate and
produce particles with mass (thanks to the equivalence of mass and energy: E =
mc^2).</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyDtq7oChK2Qf2Pkmr0X3tR09h-hU6lQWxVl2_XdcyWob8ndMTj0laiqBq8YmI7jhG9_u99TmgWzDo2cPp6_eMB1JyAF2hUdHPvH8NfMDmvuyFK8siq5F5ssR_J2mfhqnjViSPl4MyvSw/s1600/portal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyDtq7oChK2Qf2Pkmr0X3tR09h-hU6lQWxVl2_XdcyWob8ndMTj0laiqBq8YmI7jhG9_u99TmgWzDo2cPp6_eMB1JyAF2hUdHPvH8NfMDmvuyFK8siq5F5ssR_J2mfhqnjViSPl4MyvSw/s320/portal.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Yet what is different in the movie is that the power the sorcerers wield arises not just
from the power of their minds and the energies from this world, but accessing
energies from other worlds through certain portals. Regarding this, the Ancient
One says, “Through the mystic arts, we harness energy and shape reality.”<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">We also saw the astral body explored in the movie.
The astral body is a spiritual duplicate of the human body. It is usually
contained within the body, but it’s possible for it to detach from the body and
travel elsewhere, temporarily or permanently (if permanently, then death will
result). For more about the astral body, see my <a href="http://thesoulwanderers.blogspot.ca/2016/08/quotes-of-wisdom-buddhist-human.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>. Here's an example of the Ancient One jolting Strange's astral body out of him:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcK1a4XEZ_s2C5RK-WTXdl9pSJH-TO8dnK1ysUU2SC0zer_-lfwYd3ctzil-Y5m2oizG2gBbls4k808BMbfPc22NFILTh2gl3VfiB4Y65RasOoskxWOHIeqym_vyCPE2Jg8LqoYVrULo/s1600/astral+body.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcK1a4XEZ_s2C5RK-WTXdl9pSJH-TO8dnK1ysUU2SC0zer_-lfwYd3ctzil-Y5m2oizG2gBbls4k808BMbfPc22NFILTh2gl3VfiB4Y65RasOoskxWOHIeqym_vyCPE2Jg8LqoYVrULo/s640/astral+body.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Astral projection is found in many different
spiritual traditions (as well as Buddhism! e.g., the <span lang="EN-US">A.S. </span>says about great sages, <span lang="EN-US">“To all lands in the cosmos,
countless, they can travel by projection, their bodies most subtle, beyond
comparison.”) and many people have been able to today (e.g., see <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZZHXtzuJ9c" target="_blank">this video</a>).
The trick, of course, is to control this skill, and it is only then that people
can develop the powers shown rather simplistically in the movie.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<u><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">TIME:<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Time is where the most confusion arises. I think
it’s fair to say that Doctor Strange is a real Time Lord. By using a special device, he is able to manipulate time around particular objects and
locations. For example, he experimented with bringing an apple backward and
forward in time, causing it to be eaten and rot, then return to being whole.
Likewise, he turned time back in an entire block of a city in Hong Kong, though
he and a few other sorcerers are able to escape the effects of time.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmoPpC06UM8Ic-N4boDZ2yh7iYkUDNQOa7aqWkWja64KYKyaDpbIwcuAiez4HbeHMOF8HUg8leMXRZTl3hwOt0gydKBnwJZXcFRNmNDw9tLBdulEJ-j6nL5nkkjursIl1wCefJovD3lm4/s1600/strange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmoPpC06UM8Ic-N4boDZ2yh7iYkUDNQOa7aqWkWja64KYKyaDpbIwcuAiez4HbeHMOF8HUg8leMXRZTl3hwOt0gydKBnwJZXcFRNmNDw9tLBdulEJ-j6nL5nkkjursIl1wCefJovD3lm4/s320/strange.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Many issues arise from bending time in this
manner. First, if you’re able to go forward or backward in time, what happens
to your memories? It seems that the people who are subject to Strange’s time
magic have no recollection of the future that Strange had “undone,” yet Strange
and the other sorcerers are not subjected to this. They exist in a sort of temporal
bubble where they physically go back in time with the rest of the people, but
retain their memories and are not forced to “backtrack” whatever movements they have previously done.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">This is either just some sort of magic, or, as I
like to think, there are two sorts of time: the <b>physical time</b>, which is what our bodies are bound to as we progress
through life, and which Strange can manipulate, as well as the <b>mental time</b>, which is the successive
series of our thoughts, sensations, and memories that make us who we are. It
could also be considered to be our “soul time”, since each soul has its own
personal timeline that cannot be distorted by the physical events around it. So
although most people, when subjected to a temporal back-track thanks to Doctor
Strange, have their mental and physical times linked, meaning that their
memories of the future are erased, sorcerers who can split their mental and
physical timelines are able to physically turn back time without being affected
by it mentally.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">There is also the timeless world that the evil
sorcerer Kaecilius wishes to find, where there is no death, etc. (typical promised
land sort of thing), but if there really is <i>no</i>
time whatsoever, then things can’t change. If there is no distinction between physical
and mental time, then going to a timeless world would be the equivalent of entering
an extreme coma: yes, your body is preserved, but you can’t think or sense
anything. Thus, in order for Kaecilius’s wish to make sense (and maybe it just
doesn’t: maybe he hasn’t thought it through), it has to be that he wants to go
to a <i>physically</i> timeless world where his
body will be preserved, but not a <i>mentally</i>
timeless world, so that he will retain his sensations and consciousness and be
able to interact with the world around him (albeit in a limited sense, since
the physical objects can’t change).<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Then there’s also the typical question of
determinism and free will. If we travel to the future, is it to one of many possible
futures, or is it to a certain future? And if you change the future, was that
determined? Likewise, if you change the past, did that happen the “first time
around”? We don’t really get any of these answers in the movie, but if the
series continues (and it’s a Marvel movie, so <i>of course</i> it will), then hopefully we’ll see more about the effects
of manipulating time and what it means for the conscious beings within it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Well, there’s some food for thought. And that’s to
say nothing about the dark dimension and Dormammu. To that end, I will end with
a quote from the Ancient One:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">“This universe is only one of an infinite
number. Worlds without end; some benevolent and life-giving, others filled with
malice and hunger. Dark places where powers older than time lie, ravenous and
waiting.”</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5grSmYqHPfvK5rSmPAO_YISewQ6tXPK3pfFcic7vhbdA3HW4oQh74_cXwG6-I6MgcbrLxJ-jPOqrPZSa-kK4t3N5g1oyZ5lKSOrGQyRYQw_PC2KgMZzljn3C4sAG9lmJqm-WlqD-8ls/s1600/dark+dim.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5grSmYqHPfvK5rSmPAO_YISewQ6tXPK3pfFcic7vhbdA3HW4oQh74_cXwG6-I6MgcbrLxJ-jPOqrPZSa-kK4t3N5g1oyZ5lKSOrGQyRYQw_PC2KgMZzljn3C4sAG9lmJqm-WlqD-8ls/s640/dark+dim.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5grSmYqHPfvK5rSmPAO_YISewQ6tXPK3pfFcic7vhbdA3HW4oQh74_cXwG6-I6MgcbrLxJ-jPOqrPZSa-kK4t3N5g1oyZ5lKSOrGQyRYQw_PC2KgMZzljn3C4sAG9lmJqm-WlqD-8ls/s1600/dark+dim.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">* The Ancient One is the master who teaches the protagonist, Doctor Strange. She is a sorcerer at the temple in Nepal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375941202819824520.post-25239743983093438372016-08-27T11:23:00.000-04:002016-08-27T11:23:54.224-04:00Aizai the Forgotten is now available in paperback!<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">You can now read Aizai in print! To get a copy, check out these links:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Amazon: <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Aizai-Forgotten-Wanderers-Mary-Jean-Harris/dp/1771278404/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1472311079&sr=8-2&keywords=aizai+the+forgotten" target="_blank">Canada</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Aizai-Forgotten-Soul-Wanderers-1/dp/1771278404/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472311178&sr=1-1&keywords=aizai+the+forgotten" target="_blank">United States</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/museitup/fantasy/aizai-the-forgotten-851-detail" target="_blank">Muse it Up</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/aizai-the-forgotten-mary-jean-harris/1124466772?ean=9781771278409" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3rUlDcOzVqXsF_cD11mw-OFqhgjuSBUpqLzOS9gtcqOcDEUvk3DeY5OLqnI4Vk4uITiszz-KwD1_GYSqcvDxH9qCpNnq-wqUnhekxRvkgLp0tayeGZSUga3Ek_yXMf8AGQLZUYApXEoQ/s1600/AIZAIPPRDOWN.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="561" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3rUlDcOzVqXsF_cD11mw-OFqhgjuSBUpqLzOS9gtcqOcDEUvk3DeY5OLqnI4Vk4uITiszz-KwD1_GYSqcvDxH9qCpNnq-wqUnhekxRvkgLp0tayeGZSUga3Ek_yXMf8AGQLZUYApXEoQ/s640/AIZAIPPRDOWN.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>Mary-Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15347097156805587943noreply@blogger.com0