Su asked me “do you think that being RECEPTIVE is the connection to this potential of coincidences or do you think that every human being is able to CREATE her/his reality with it´s coincidences with conscious thoughts? OR: is it a mixture of both? ” But they are both the same thing, are they not Su ?
How receptive Su ? If you are totally receptive then u understand that there are no coincidences. When everything is experienced as formless and interconnected, then where is the coincidence in this matrix ? Where everything is infinite potential and infinite possibility, then the creation of possibility is just the idea of perceived reality jumping events around the matrix to suit your imagination ? Do you get the analogy ?
Quantum Physics reveals that particles cannot be observed independant of the observation. They behave as they are observed to behave. Does that mean they have no independant existence ? How can that happen ? Are they imagined ? Perhaps. But to the observer they are real. Which means that Particles are merely infinite possibilities and realities, and you decide which possibility and potential becomes a percived reality for you. Through your act of observation
Now change the word particle to event. The event as an infinite potential and possibility. You focus, through your experiment, and for the purposes of this argument lets call your experiment desire or passion. Your desire/passion creates the infinite possibility and potential into your reality. So both are true and the same thing. Your receptivity and your creation of your reality.
Break a blade of grass and you alter the Universe. Nothing, not a single thought, no even small or huge, leaves the universe unchanged. That is what the Universe is, right ?
Shekhar
…and I was wondering what is the universe anyway? how does one go on to describe something and use it in so many analogies (as I have also) and still have no true conception of what it truly is?
Like the blade of grass or a grain of sand…if we notice it or not, all things change? Is this what makes it so much the same?
As Deepak talks about coincidences, if we carefully say it as…co~incidences (meaning everything in existence is all weaved together in a story, one thing relating to another) nothing being left out, then, EVERYTHING IS A CO~INCIDENCE.
As far as having some sort of lead in the outcome, and who’s to say what an outcome is anyway, one thing always leads to another…there’s no true end in my sight…just some sort of continuation.
I don’t know….
Cinda
🙂
People can have this sense of disconnection with the “Universe” – ie the idea that it’s something outside of our “selves” – in fact “connectedness” is something philosophers etc aspire to…
On a lighter note, I read yesterday an item regarding “Simulacra”, where you see meaningful or recogniseable shapes in things (eg the “Man in The Moon” etc) – again, my feeling that it’s a biological necessity to make sense out of random associations – all part of recognition and interpretation – the writer suggested that it’s like “seeing Elvis in a croissant” – but why not like seeing a croissant in Elvis ??
receptivity. creation. pattern.
the words imply both ‘thought’ and ‘choices’. which in turn imply ‘mind’ which in turn implies existence… which is both being and non-being…
a quantum theorist would count off ‘i’ as in ‘individual’ as a mere variable in a probability cloud… one substitutable by another… reflected by an appropriate parallax in results…
a yogi urges the ‘i’ to be the observer as well as the observed… neither the cause nor the effect… neither doer, nor non-doer… involved yet unattached…the prime mover and the ultimate result.
it is the ‘being’ness that forces seeking of a purpose for being. ‘one’ness with what is simply gives a glimpse into the holy grail of the grand-unified theory… the very assumption of ‘being’ gives rise to existence… of black holes and particle clouds, events and coincidences… choices and chances.
and our thoughts are a cloud atlas… tracing recognisable patterns and creating the cosmos out of the infinite chaos of possibilities and potentialities…
as practicing humans, devoid of the cosmic bubble wrap, we are all schroedinger’s cats… our existence is a function of thought…
Dose this grain of sand know of the other grain of sand on the other side of this earth? If we were to take samples from around the world, who could tell the sameness and differences? Are there sand experts who would know?
We are very much like this grain…so small and so insignificant yet, what great purpose is served when all those grains of sand come together. They lie at the bottom of oceans reaching across shorelines without passport or permission. They belong to a bigger picture, following no rules made by us…lying in total surrender to wind and water, darkness and light…these grains of sands know…to just “be” themselves.
Cinda
dear shekhar, first things first. u are a rockstar! know it. believe in it. i do.
u spoke of creatures who are conditioned to horizontal universe and face a paradigm change when they are in a vertical universe… it is usually employed to explain the string theory and time-space continuum which imply universes made of more dimensions than our own 4 dimensions… . however, schroedinger’s cat deals with the other aspect of quantum riddle.
i am not a physicist nor a metaphysics students… these are just random threads from various disciplines and readings through which i have woven a version of reality (if anything is really real)… so, please bear with me as i try to explain… and don’t mind the rambling train of thought…
schroedinger’s cat is a quantum paradox posed by austrian physicist Erwin Schroedinger in the 1920s. it is what is called a GENDANKENEXPERIMENT – german for a thought experiment.
in this thought experiment schroedinger proposed to einstein that a cat be put in a box. along with the cat, the box also contains a radioactive mineral and a vial of prussic acid (HCN). there is a 50 per cent chance that the radioactive mineral decays in say an hour. if the radioactive mineral decays, it emits a quantum particle which breaks the vial and releases the prussic acid and kills the cat.
so, at the end of the one hour, there is 50-50 chance that the cat is dead or alive.
now, this is where the fun begins.
unless the observer actually opens the box and checks, the cat is neither dead, nor alive… it exists in both states. it is alive as well as dead.
it is the observer who ‘collapses the dead-alive wave function’. he opens the box and finds the cat to be either dead or alive. and that determines the state of the schroedinger’s cat.
the event does not happen till you observe it.
in my post, i have used something i am working on for my script/graphic novel. i have stretched this quantum paradox to a metaphysical supposition.
it is thought that implies existence.
interestingly, while thought experiments are used as probes to speculate on the metaphysical implications of quantum physics, some cultures including our own, have always put a heavy stress on stretching the boundaries of existence through the explorations of the mind. they have a rich trove of tropes – yantras, mantras, koans… the stress has always been on pushing the limits of knowledge and going beyond the percieved reality. rationale… reason… explanation, these cultures have always believed to be superficial… in these cultures, the emphasis has been on freeing the mind of the limitation of senses.
however, since aristotle, reason took centerstage in certain cultures. here, ‘scientific’ approach was placed over speculation. it culminated in a Deterministic World View of the 19th century… The Age Of Reason was upon us with these cultures spreading thanks to the imperial conquests…
however, in the early decades of 1900, einstien forced the world to take a quantum leap. the special theory of relativity with its implications of time-space continuum and wave-particle duality forced a massive rethink.
it fuzzed up the boundaries between what is and what is not… however, the claims of the quantum world could not be experimentally verified as there were no machines powerful enough to test them. moreover, reason was simply not enough to deal with this paradigm shift.
in such situations, quantum physicists resorted to ‘thought experiments’. einstien explained his relativity in the form of a thought experiment where a cyclist comes riding at the speed of light and swerves around another coming in the opposite direction. he suggested shifting of frames of references to understand the implications.
when it came to wave-particle duality, schroedinger proposed this thought experiment to einstien.
curiously enough… there is still a lot of stress being put on the fantastical and ‘wow’ factor of thought-experiments and the focus is still on resolving a paradox through experimentations and micro and macro extrapolations… this has served as a treasure trove of possibilities for minds on the creative front… from time travel to event-horizons… alternate universes and space-time warps…
the ancient cultures which valued the metaphysical quest however, had a much subtler approach to these quandaries without obsessing with it… its answer to metaphysical dilemmas was simple…
does the dog have a buddha nature?
“mu”.
does brahman intrinsically know ‘brahma’ or is the one who knows ‘brahma’ a brahman?
“mu”.
“mu” is the perfect response to a coffy bite situation.. when an argument continues, mu makes its presence felt…
mu is the brahman state of ‘being’. neither right, nor wrong… just a probability cloud… a sacrosanct function full of choices that exists beyond the effect of observation… it may collapse in your thought and still stay untouched in mine…
Read an interesting thing today…about supposed alien life on a binary star system where the laws of “our” physics, as in Kepplers Laws, don’t apply, ie at least are dependant upon the concept of “local time” (ie the sun) – therefore physics itself is “different” for inhabitants of the planet in the binary system….
What does this imply, in a broader sense ? – that our concept of space / time is entirely relative and therefore not an absolute which applies to every part of the universe ??
Hi guys,
Interesting discussion going on here. While I agree with almost everything said here, just found one small mistake which stood out.
Quoting Tushar: “the event does not happen till you observe it” Unquote
Not true. The Schroedinger’s cat example does not imply that “the event does not happen till you observe it”. You are forgetting that there is a time gap between when the cat died (if the cat died) and when the observer opened the box. This time gap can be measured. Forensic experts can you tell you the exact time the death (event) took place by the level of decay of a corpse. So, obviously, the event did NOT take place when the observer opened the box.
Cheers!
Navin
sure shekhar, its all out there. as your blog baseline says – sharing creativity. sharing vision. i look forward to u giving a whole new perspective to the thought process… inshallah, next i will be asking ur permission to incorporate some of ur thoughts on my thoughts in my novel/screenplay… may be with you as a character urself…
by the way, have u seen richard linklater’s WAKING LIFE… trust me, u would really freak out on that movie… it probes this state of existence, dreaming and wakefullness… in a beautiful rippling rotoscopic animation format.. philosophers, astrophysicists, quantum scientists and street bums reflect on the nature of consciousness and come up with beautiful thoughts… please do see it if u have not seen it already….
navin, thanks. logically, u r bang on! i am no what they call these days SME – Subject Matter Expert… so due apologies.
as a thought experiment… the dual state of the cat before the opening of the box is used by schroedinger to emphasize the wave/particle duality… he was more keen on demonstrating the absurdities that are suggested by the revolutionary theory…
(hence on a lighter note all evidence suggests that he was not particularly fond of cats… may be the reason he put it in the box in the first place… so the time of death really would not make any difference to him…)
also, on a more personal note – what is the fun if scientific precision robs the romance out of the thinking process…? all those in favor raise ur hand… no… not that one, the other one… 🙂
after all, we started with shekhar and su reflecting on receptivity, and receptivity is about being open to possibilities… freeing ourselves at least in thoughts… walking the thin line between what is and what could be… embracing eternity in a moment of synaptic flux.
Dear Tushar,
I think you’ve chosen a correct vocation for yourself when you say you’re gonna write screenplays/novels. I am sure you will be good at it.
Cheers!
Navin
This concept of “reality” as being relative, local and possibly entirely subjective can lead to some scary psychosis – some years ago I asked myself similar questions – eg if I shut my eyes and decide not to be aware of the world around me, does it cease to exist ?
No, of course it doesn’t – you could reach a state of mind where everything but yourself merely becomes relegated to the level of being an “instrument” to effect certain things which you might desire, and where you, or your intellect becomes of primary importance…
Experiments in, for example, telepathy or mind over matter can be pointless – eg I want to lift that cup from across the room – well, walk over and get it…you have arms and legs….that, if nothing else, is “mind over matter”….
I “believe” nothing is real. I think we are looking so far into the universe that we forget to scale our observations to what is readily observable. Us. Here.
I believe everything is infinite on both ends. There is no end to the smallness and bigness of things. Supposing we are to observe what is the smallest unit of anything, we shall discover, and I must admit this is intuitive, that the quarks, the leptons are not the smallest. There will be an endless breaking down of the supposed smallest units that we’ll soon discover it is infinite. On the other hand the universe is not the biggest place, for all we know the universe is just the an atom of a system on a bigger scale. This goes on and on.
I think therefore that everything is infinite. And therefore there are no absolutes. You’re observation is not the same as mine because we are made up of different substance. And our brains are wired differently. Although we seem to recognize mainstream ideas, and we seem to agree on things, further scrutiny will reveal that we don’t have absolute agreement even on small things we originally thought we agree on.
But “Break a blade of grass and you alter the Universe” is interesting. Yes, I think everything is interconnected. I think we can think of this existence as a bowl of soup with meatballs in it. Everything is interconnected.
Very interesting site. I am glad that I ran across it. I do not believe in coincidence any more. I wish that I would become more knowledge able for I had a very hard time understanding what is written here. My best bet is to just keep reading to expand my knowledge of many things that really interest me in the hope that I will have a much broader awareness and understanding. Sherrie Malik
“Regard this fleeting world
as a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream
a flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
a flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream”
–Buddha
The dreamed dreams the dreamer.
Awesome blog!
I thought about starting my own blog too but I’m just too lazy so, I guess I’ll just have to keep checking yours out.
LOL,