Reality: The Taboo Against Truth, Chapter 3

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Reality

and The Taboo Against Truth

You See? You Are

In 1916, Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity. His equations said that the universe began about 15 billion years ago as a point of infinite density, a singularity, and that it is not static but either expanding or contracting.[i]

In the 1920s, Einstein and his contemporaries still believed that the universe had to be static as Newton had described. He fudged his math to support the static theory even though his own equations predicted that the universe had to be expanding or contracting. Over the next few years, however, Edwin Hubble and others used more powerful telescopes to show that the galaxies in the universe, but not the stars, are in fact moving away from each other just as Einstein has predicted.[ii]

The theory that the universe began with a huge explosion called the Big Bang was developed, studied and tested by physicists, astronomers and cosmologists over the next few decades. It is now the accepted explanation of how the universe began. Einstein later stated that the adjustments that he had made to his equations were ‘the greatest blunder of my life.’[iii] Even geniuses can have difficulty believing that their unique view of the Universe is not acceptable to their peers.

In Stephen Hawking, A Life in Science, Michael White and John Gribbin paint the following picture of the Big Bang:

One of the strangest things to grasp about all these descriptions of the Universe—the relativistic cosmological models—is that the Big Bang does not consist of a huge primeval atom sitting in empty space and then exploding outwards. Many people still have this image, in which the galaxies are like fragments of an exploding bomb, hurtling outwards through space. But it is wrong.

What Einstein’s equations tell us is that it is space itself that expands, taking galaxies along for the ride. Galaxies were closer together long ago, when the Universe was younger, because the distances between them were more compressed than they are today. You can see this by imagining two spots of paint on a strip of elastic, or on a rubber band. When you pull on the ends of the strip, it stretches, and the two paint spots move apart, but they do not move through the material the strip is made of.

So, in the very early Universe, at the time of the explosion of the primeval atom, there was no ‘outside’ for the fragments of the explosion to move into. Space was tightly wrapped around itself, so that the cosmic egg was a completely self-contained ball of matter, energy, space and time. It was, indeed, a superdense black hole. It still is a black hole—the only difference is that, by expanding, it has become a very low density black hole, in which light now follows very gently curving orbits at the horizon.[iv]

The discovery of the expanding Universe showed that the static, determinist Newtonian model of the universe never really existed; the Universe is instead in a constant state of transformation and change. This model also illustrates that there is a boundary between the realm where things exist and the realm where nothing exists.

Current estimates suggest that life began on earth about 2.8-3.5 billion years ago with prokaryotic organisms and blue-green algae. The emergence of the human race is much more recent; Homo Erectus appears about 1.5 million years ago and Homo Sapiens Sapiens has only been roaming earth for approximately 50,000 years. Man has only known how to write for the past 6,000 years.[v]

First there was the universe, then life, then life with consciousness. It has only been during very recent history that evolution has developed an organism with a consciousness with the power of Man’s mind. With the development of Man’s cognitive powers, the Universe developed a consciousness of itself, a capacity to observe and know itself. When it gave rise to the human species and its intelligence the Universe became self-conscious for the first time. It has only been in the last century that Man’s consciousness have produced the body of knowledge and the scientific methods and instruments that have given us the potential to grasp the totality of the Universe in which we live.

The human race is the Universe’s capacity to understand and manipulate itself. Given history, that ability will only continue to evolve into an even higher consciousness as long as Man doesn’t do something to halt the further development of intelligence. History also shows that the times when intelligence and intellectual growth have been stunted have always occurred at times when Man’s freedom is restricted by cultural, religious or government forces.

The reason why a lack of freedom coincides with intellectual stagnation seems almost obvious. The Universe does not dictate what a man must do with his life or his mind; those restrictions only come from other men. Man is born in a free state with regard to the Universe; to divorce Man from freedom is to adulterate his relationship with the Universe. Once divorced from his natural relationship to the Universe, Man is by default living in an irrational, corrupted state of mind which will undermine his capacity to understand the Universe and his relationship to it. It is the freedom to comprehend the Universe as it is that gives Man the freedom to be rational. Freedom is to the mind as oxygen is to the blood; the human mind cannot function properly or be rational without it.

While man is free to do with his life and his mind as he wishes, being rational requires that he understand the nature of existence. It is his choice to be rational or irrational that determines the quality of his relationship with the Universe and the consequently the course of his life. The only restriction that the Universe places on the use of his mind is this: there is a cost to ignoring the nature of existence and that cost is irrationality.

The Universe contains all that is; it is the totality of existence. Nothing that exists is outside the frame of the Universe. The frame encloses everything and by definition nothing is outside the frame. There is no "outside" with regard to the universe, just as the Big Bang, which is still expanding the boundaries of the universe, is not expanding into anything. The totality of spacetime exists within the boundaries of the universe; if something is real it is part of the reality of the Universe. It is Universal Reality (UR).

The human species exists and is part of Universal Reality. Every individual human being has a unique consciousness (UC) of Universal Reality. Universal Reality is objective and scientifically verifiable. Every unique consciousness is subjective and operates independently of other unique consciousnesses. Unique consciousnesses depend upon Universal Reality for their existence but Universal Reality does not depend upon any consciousness or collection of minds to exist. If the Universe ceased to exist, then all unique consciousnesses would also cease to exist. If a unique consciousness ceases to exist as when an individual dies, Universal Reality will continue to exist. When somebody we know dies, the Universe does not die at the same time.

The existence of the sun at the center of our solar system is not dependent upon any unique consciousness. It is Universal Reality. The same is true for the law of gravity, the existence of the planets, and the fact that the speed of light in a vacuum is a mathematical constant. An individual’s perceptions and understanding the Universe is a function of his own unique consciousness. Every individual has a unique consciousness of Universal Reality (UCUR). You see Universal Reality in your own unique way, and what you see defines who you are. That is not to say that your perception of who you are defines who you are; it means that the quality of your relationship to Universal Reality determines who you are. What you see, know and understand, determines who you are. The acronym UCUR is useful to remember this rule; it not only stands for Unique Consciousness of Universal Reality, it also stands for You See You Are.

Universal Reality unites all that exists into an integrated whole; it is the integrated whole. It is all that exists, including the scientific laws that govern the relationships between everything in the Universe. It is the common language that describes accurately the interrelationships, the properties and the characteristics of everything that exists. It is the totality of truth about existence; that which each unique consciousness must strive to comprehend if it is to understand the nature and essence of existence.

If we accept the premise that the purpose of Man’s mind, his unique consciousness, is to understand Universal Reality we must also address the problem of knowledge and how it is acquired. It is fashionable in some circles to believe that nothing can be known and that Man’s quest for knowledge is futile. The first problem with this belief is that it is self-contradictory. If it is not possible to know anything, then it is not possible to know that it is not possible to know anything. It is also dishonest. Take a person who believes that nothing can be known to the top of a skyscraper. Ask him if he will die if he jumps over the side. When he says, “I don’t know because nothing can be known,” give him a little push toward the edge. His reaction will tell you that he knows much more than he is admitting. He is conscious of his existence and he knows that he will cease to exist if pushed over the edge. This knowledge will cause him to fight for his life. The fight for life is the sign that life has value and that the value of life is known by the individual by the individual who is fighting for it. In order to have value it must exist and there must be an awareness and fear that it can be lost. When a mind is conscious of what exists, that is knowledge.

A unique consciousness is either in sync with Universal Reality or it is not. If it is in sync is has knowledge, if it is not in sync it does not have knowledge. Whether knowledge exists in a mind is a binary circumstance, it’s either there or it isn’t.

The concept of knowledge implies something to know and something to know it. Knowledge exists only when a consciousness is in sync with existence. Things either exist or they do not. A unique consciousness either has knowledge of existence or it does not. When these two binary circumstances are combined there are four possible relationships between a unique conscious mind and Universal Reality:

1) If something exists and a mind is conscious of it, the mind has knowledge.

2) If something doesn’t exist, and a mind thinks it has consciousness of it; that is faith or delusion.

3) If something exists and a mind is not conscious of it; that is not knowledge but ignorance.

4) If something does not exist and a mind does not think it exists, then the mind is in sync with Universal Reality. The mind doesn’t have knowledge of anything because there’s nothing to know about something that doesn’t exist.

The capacity to distinguish between existence and nonexistence is the basis of all the knowledge that a conscious mind can acquire. Once a consciousness grasps that things either exist or they don’t, the binary nature of existence and knowledge has been fully grasped. For that point on, the job is to collect and analyze evidence.

There is another facet of Universal Reality that deals with the process of change; it is the Dimension of Possibility.

The Dimension of Possibility

The Dimension of Possibility (DOP) is anything that does not currently exist physically but could exist when the circumstances change in such a way as to bring it into the realm of physical existence. Since Universal Reality contains everything that exists, then it also contains the DOP, the sum total of all possible changes that can take place to Universal Reality.

For example, image a piece of raw land with many trees in the days of the western pioneer. A man who is moving west to start a new life claims the land and starts chopping down some trees to build a cabin. In a few months, after some hard work, there is a cabin on the land. The land and the raw materials to create the cabin existed as they had probably existed for decades if not centuries. The possibility that a cabin would be built came into being when a man arrived on the scene with the skills and the desire to build it. It was the change in the circumstances, the arrival of the man that brought the house into the Dimension of Possibility and from there into existence. Before the man arrived, there was the possibility that the man would arrive since humans were in the process of settling the west.

Every atom of hydrogen has the potential to join with two atoms of oxygen to become a molecule of water under the right conditions. Every molecule of water has the potential to become ice if the temperature drops to 0°C (32°F). Ice exists in the Dimension of Possibility wherever water exists and the temperature can drop to the freezing point.

Possible changes in weather exist and are dependent upon current meteorological conditions. If no humidity exists in the air then there is no possibility that rain can exist until humidity exists again. Humidity is nothing but water molecules in the air that turn into water droplets under the right conditions.

The Dimension of Possibility exists because the process of continual transformation exists in the Universe. Whatever transformation is possible exists in the DOP. If a particular transformation is not possible then it doesn’t exist in the DOP. The extent to which a human mind can take advantage of the full of the DOP will depend upon its ability to correctly distinguish between what physically existence and what does not exist. Understanding the nature of physical reality allows the human mind to understand what transformations exist in the DOP.

Suppose there are two individuals looking at a car in a auto showroom in New York City. One of them looks at the car and imagines that he can take possession of the car and drive it to Philadelphia. The other looks at the car and imagines that he can wave a magic wand at the car and turn it into the most beautiful woman in the world.

In the first case, if the individual has enough money he can certainly buy the car, fill it up with gas and drive it to Philadelphia if he knows how to drive. So the outcome that he imagines certainly resides in the DOP as long as certain conditions can exist also.

The second individual, however, is assuming that magic wands exist and if he owned such a wand he could magically turn a car into the most beautiful woman in the world. There is no credible evidence that magic wands exist or that cars can be transformed into a beautiful woman. Therefore, that possibility does not exist in the DOP, only in his delusional mind. If magic wands come into existence then he might be able to pull off the transformation as long as the right powers exist as properties of his wand. (Phallic humor intended.)

It is possible, however, with some minor modifications to his frame around existence that what he imagines can become part of the DOP. If he can buy the car and has a friend who is tired of his beautiful girlfriend, he could trade the car for a promise that his friend will set up a blind date with the beautiful woman. Alternatively, if he knows a beautiful woman who would be impressed by his owning the new car, he could buy the car and might end up with the car and the beautiful woman at the same time.

Possible transformations of existence exist, and when the necessary conditions are met those possibilities will become part of physical reality. It is possible for a human mind to be in sync with Universal Reality or out of sync with it. These two possibilities exclude each other, however. When a human mind has knowledge of Universal Reality at completely different set of possibilities will become physical reality than if that same mind is not in sync with Universal Reality.

It is possible for a unique consciousness to seek an understanding of Universal Reality or to avoid that understanding through some variant of denial. Based on that choice, it is possible to be at peace with Universal Reality or to be at war with it. The possible futures for the world that exist in the Dimension of Possibility are many. Which eventually become physical reality depend largely which path each unique consciousness takes in its relationship with Universal Reality: knowledge or denial.