A) Advaita (Non-Duality) – Absolute (Brahman, Shiva, Dharmakaya, Buddha-Mind, Tao)

Happiness:

Philosophers struggle to define Happiness in terms of "well-being", "positive feeling tone", achievement of one's "well informed' (relatively wise) desires, & so on.

The Oracle in The Matrix did a better job if we could borrow her hint about "being the One." She said it's like falling in Love. No one has to tell you (no one could tell you, no deny your claim). You just know it (directly) "through & through".

In the context of Non-Duality, the Sages tell us that Happiness is our Real Nature, as one sense of Ananda in Sat – Chit – Ananda, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. For the same reason that we seek Self-Knowledge, seek to know our own Identity, we likewise seek Happiness, which is our Identity. Cessation of Existence is inconceivable, so that those who identify with a Body will fear Death. Enlightened or Ignorant, either way, such cessation of Existence is unacceptable because we intuit that this would bring an end to Happiness.

Self-Knowledge & thus true & lasting Happiness are gained b y the removal of Ignorance as to our own Identity. So to inquire: Who am I ? & to subjectively find the "Inquirer" to be the answer, to be that pure Existence & Happiness – this alone is the final & lasting solution to our unending search for Happiness.

When I breathe, turn left or right, think this thought or another, all is done to increase Happiness or to decrease the loss of Happiness, for this is the only motive for anything. Complete Self-Knowledge includes the recognition that as Happiness itself, we can never find it outside, & once realized, we can never lose it.

In the meantime, the very mean, mean, "meantime", we chase external objects of desire in a Dream– World. When partial Happiness is apparently attained for the moment, that anxiety of the Mind relaxes, & a glimmer of true Happiness is experienced.  But as the Buddha advised, in telling us that the nature of Worldly Life is suffering:

             1) to not get what you want is suffering

            2) to get what you don't want is suffering

            3) to get what you want also includes suffering because we sense that what appears in Time, with a beginning, will certainly have an end & be lost.

            4) whatever the happiness enjoyed when you get what you want, you still sense that you could have more or better, may have once had more or better, & that "others" already have more or better.

Real Happiness never ends & has never left us, even if only dimly appearing as the "reference background" by which we "measure" lesser happiness. We always know just how happy we are, or are not. We often know the same about others. Ever we "measure" against that "reference background" of perfect  Happiness which is our own True Nature, the unwavering Reality of Happiness which is our very Existence.

[to be continued]

B) Big-Bang – Brain–stuff (our Science interludes)

Body Perception  (prior to later segment on Perception of the World in general)

The Self is space-like but not in Space. The Self has no location. Being space-like, the Self is not anything like a Body. Quadrillions of cells could no possibly render a seamless, never contradictory or intermittent sense of self–existence. The mystery of Consciousness has never & will never be understood in terms of neurons.

Take one of those cells.  In every cubic millimeter of cytoplasm, hundreds of complex chemical reactions proceed simultaneously, in the same place without interference & without hardly any waste heat or matter.  A marvel, but mechanism, dead robotic machinery, never Conscious Life.

Take one Atom in a molecule in that cytoplasm.  If that Atom were a large sports stadium, 99.9%  would lie in a Nucleus that was a Pencil Dot on the middle of the field.   Electron gnats would buzz almost masslessly in the stands of the Empty stadium.  

If, in turn, that Pencil Dot Nucleus would itself be a large sports stadium, then 3 Quarks would make up 100% of the Mass, each a bacterium within the Stadium.

If, again in turn, each bacterium Quarks would be like our Solar System, then each Superstring would be like a bacterium within that Solar System.  All Empty.  Where’s the complex "mechanism" of Consciousness ?   A Body could not have Consciousness, a Body-corpse could not be part of the Self.

Western Idealists, from Parmenides to Berkeley to Bradley, rightly tell us that Perception is thought & can never in itself prove or "contact" a physical World or Body.  What we "see" is just the Seeing itself, which is just the thinking of the Perceptual thought, which is just a momentary appearance–illusion "illumined" by Consciousness – no physical matter provable, knowable, or really existing at all.

So the promised "systematic instructions" for the elimination of Ignorance, the Release that portents Liberation, those "systematic instructions" begin with thoroughly knowing that the Self, that you, are not a Body.

[to be continued]

C)  "Conceptual" – Caesar –Tsar – Emperor – Benevolent Dictator – Philosopher King

Wrongly believing that Happiness comes from "getting our way", we (especially males) perpetrate horrific, cruel actions.  But none such escape the "hell" of bad karma in repeating lifetimes (only the Liberated are not born again).  Their poor victims get to balance out their own karma, the hard way.

So not even so much for them (who are not bodies anyway), but if only for yourselves, forsake Evil which never brings Happiness in either short or long term!

[to be continued]

[The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com ]

New Blog 1  –  Existence

Do you exist ?  "Inside" each of us certainly feels: "Yes, certainly I exist !"  We also "know" so.  That "inner place" of certainty about your Existence, & certainty of  knowing so – that is the Self.  Known fully, the one Non-Dual Self reveals itself to be Infinite, Eternal, Existence – Consciousness – Bliss, or equivalently, Happiness or Love. Knowing fully is a matter of eliminating Ignorance. 

New Blog 2  –  Formless  (in the new format of "A, B, C’s")

A) Advaita (Non-Duality) – Absolute (Hegel’s term favored by F. H. Bradley but long known in the East as Brahman, Shiva, Dharmakaya, Buddha-Mind, Tao)

Since Non-Dual Reality is Formless, there are no limits or separations, for all such boundaries are "form".

      

Prajnanam Brahma

Consciousness is Brahman

Aitareya U. 3.3, Rig V

 Ayam Atma Brahma

This Self is Brahman    

Mandukya U. 1.2, Atharva V.

Tat Twam As

That Thou Art

Brihadaranyaka U. 1.4.10, Yajur V.

Aham Brahmasmi

I am Brahman

Chhandogya U. 6.7.8, Sama V.

B)  "Big Bang" – Brain-stuff (our Science interludes)

In the seeming Waking State (while not in Dream or Deep Sleep) Science can be said to be a "high" view, an insightful perspective on the Illusion (the Universe) from within that Illusion. If there is no World for Science to actually speak to, Science does in relative (non-absolute) terms speak to the Mind itself. Science models much of the Mind in a fairly clear manner. Depths of Mathematical Physics can be relatively awesome. Life Science insights like the Physiology of Perception can themselves be suggestive.

(Outline of the stages in Visual Perception, for example, are torturously detailed in the eBook referenced below.) For now, we can jump our present example of Visual Perception into the (manas) Mind locations, starting right back to the Calcarine Fissure, in the the V1 Visual Cortex of the Occiptial Lobe. Processed neuron firings are relayed doubly, up to the Parietal Lobe (depending on Right or Left) & the lower Temporal Lobe (the "thumb" of the raised "fist" when the Brain is visualized that way). Parietal kinda handles "location" of the perceived object, while Temporal kinda handles "identity" of the perceived object.

Originally in the Occiput, newly perceived or imagined images seem to be projected upon a "visual buffering" background screen in the Brain-Mind, like a "green screen" used in CGI cinematic effects.  At a distance, an apple may not yet be distinguished from a tomato.  Higher analysis of distinguishing detail is called the "what" system of that Temporal Lobe area, while determining Location occurs in that Parietal Lobe site "where" system mentioned previously.

"Display" then returns back in the Occipital Lobe.  Associative Memory is thought to contribute from the rear Parieto-Temporal boundary. Frontal Cortex Decision Making  completes composition of what we call "conjuring up an image in their minds eye."  Such proceeds similarly for Memory, Imagination, or Perception. NLP may be relatively correct in link eye-shift to the upper-Right with Imagination & eye-shift to the upper-Left with Memory (somewhat of a lie-detector between lie & honesty). Thereby we mentally "look" at it & add details, one at a time.  Striking is the fact that, perhaps only in vividness, can imagined images be distinguished from Retinal perceived images. Even the latter is heavily customized by the former anyway.

Ultimately, Mind images are all we have of a "world" with no proof of a RWOT real-world-out-there.

Absolute Non-duality denies that there is a RWOT Real World Out There. Yet even the Illusion, a projection of Mind, is a an ephemeral reflection on the one Consciousness.  To run around with those Thoughts & run around in the World they create is the opposite of Enlightenment. Appearing to function in a World is fine, but Freedom requires recognition of that Ego-Origin, its falseness, its seeming "place" or arising in Consciousness, & then final identification with that Non-Dual Consciousness.

C)  "Conceptual" – Caesar –Tsar – Emperor – Benevolent Dictator – Philosopher King (Perception in Mind is completed by Conception, including the human world of socio-political issues, like Social Justice.)  By artifice, the author takes up the mantle of Philosopher King, with resulting Proclamations, in each Blog.

"For Goodness sake, brothers & sisters, stop hurting each other (though violence in particular is 99% male, brothers). Not an iota, a scintilla of Happiness can ever result. Even getting our way is an Illusion, it always back-fires, keeps us in Illusion, & blocks Happiness (to be continued)."

A)  Absolute  –  Consciousness

We discover it by being earnest,

by searching, Inquiring.

questioning daily & hourly,

by giving one’s life to this discovery.

Nisargadatta Maharaj "I Am That""

Let’s go back to the one questioned a couple of Blogs ago, the one asked:  Do you exist ?

As a hypothetical, let him have been in Deep Dreamless Sleep when awoken & questioned.  Perhaps some further "ring" of truth remains in this speculative conversation.

           

The former sleeper responds right away or later recalls the following immediate response in his Mind:

            Yes, certainly I exist ! I just know that's true, spontaneously & undoubtedly.

The questioner counters with an observation & a 2^nd confirming question:

            Oh I see, you directly "know" you exist.

So can I agree that you "exist" & that you also "know" – at least that much.

Nodding his head in assent, the freshly awakened asks once for clarification & then listens for a while.

            Granted what you noted, what is the significance ?

Asking the awakened one to suspend judgment for bit, much as the reader is now asked, let us embark on our own "What if ?" scenario.  With minimal detailed explanation or proof, getting no further argument or interrupting question from the questioned one, we speculate as follows:

"That "inner place" in which you felt that certainty of your Existence, & also that certainty of your knowing so, your Consciousness, is actually the same "place". Moreover that "place" is not a place, having size or shape, & has no location in Space, or in Time for that matter. The very same "place" where you are certain of your Consciousness, that "place" is actually your Consciousness itself. As also the very same "place" where you are certain of your Existence, it truly is your Existence, it is what you are, your Self.

And not only your Self, but the same is my Self, & the Self of everyone & all that exist, have ever existed, or will ever exist. That singular Existence or Being is the literal Truth proclaimed by Parmenides & Shankara, by Huang Po, Meister Eckhart, Ib'n al Arabi, Brahmagna Ma, & Ananda Ma. The point being that no culture, gender, creed, or period of history has unique claim to this recognition, this Knowledge known as the Perennial Philosophy.

Further observations include the fact that very same not-a-place "place" or Brahman or the Self is also experienced routinely as the Source of Happiness, Love, Bliss, Joy, Peace, Satisfaction, Freedom & the like. These are all one with Consciousness & Being. Though Happiness–in–full is more often the complete "reference value" we all intuit, perfect Happiness, the goal, whether we currently believe it to be attained or not. That Source of Happiness is the same "place" where true Happiness (not mere pleasure or triumph) is actually felt, routinely. Even the sense of its lack could be said to be felt there along with all negative emotions that seem "negative" so by coloration with conceptual self-delusion."

Nodding in awe more than yet assent, the freshly awakened asks once again in the same words:

            Granted what you say, what is the significance ?

"Much can & has been said & written about restoring true Self-Identity through the meditation of inward Self-Inquiry. Any sincere seeker can find all that, especially now with the Internet to get started with. Even with a few false turns, the one who truly desires Freedom (Liberation from ignorance) will have it.

You & I & all are that same Self, though we may seem to be "caught" in a Waking Dream world of Time & Space (at night, other dream worlds supervene, while in Deep Sleep, none at all). While seeming so "caught", we best pursue Self-Inquiry, with authentic texts that support that & qualified live guidance when possible. Otherwise we progressively shine in our World (even if obscurely) fulfill responsibilities, relationships, work, etc. in Peace. Any help offered to what can appear as a stricken World & inevitable death in that World, comes from the inner basis, & less-so, the practical basis just described hinted at in Section C. The quest of Enlightenment, Liberation, is the most satisfying & significant venture possible.

By constantly fixing his attention on his Source, the Heart,

the Ego of the wise gets dissolved like a "salt doll"

which has fallen into the Ocean.

Sri Ramana Maharshi

B) Big-Bang – Brain   VR

A couple of very smart characters, among many, suggest we consider the lesson of VR Virtual Reality.  Cognitive Science Philosopher David Chalmers chimed in early on the past bandwagon of pointing to The Matrix movie as a profound parable, one far more popular than the earlier Brain in a Vat versions that the cinema had emulated, emulations of Descartes malin genie the evil genie (or genius).  Harder to label is the other genie, I mean genius, Nick Bostrom, nominally a philosopher, who offers Bayesian "proof" for the following proposition.

If we do not destroy our technological civilization by prompting further Climate disaster, or by war or political collapse, over-population, & so on; & if no Armageddon–like meteoric disaster, etc. does the deed, if none of these occur. then Ray Kurzweil's elitist techno-utopia will surely come to pass. However many starve & rot with disease & violence, if some insular elite defend islands of exponentially advancing Computer technology, while escaping their own Nano-technology, Bio-technology, etc. then they will eventually program innumerable The Matrix level VR's Virtual Realities. Among those will likely be some "period pieces" as depicted in the movie, capturing a past version of Earth's civilization, such as the one we now find ourselves in. The most advanced VR's could pass for our own world & no one could tell the difference. So much for the like–like comparison between our World & all these many particular VR's among a far greater number of other kinds of VR. Nick Bostrom calls those particular ones "ancestor" VR's because they emulate the experience of the relatively few people (~ half dozen Billions) in our world. We are those relatively "few" "ancestors". Here comes the kicker.

Those inexpensive (by futuristic technology standards) Virtual Reality programs will be so very numerous that for each of us now, that there might be, who knows, a Trillion more VR individuals who will take the place of each of us, distributed over the man VR programs. Here Bayesian "logic" kicks in & flatly declares, that by those "odds" (lets say a Trillion to 1) we most certainly live in one of those Future VR's right now, each of us as most likely being VR characters, or computergame–avatars.

Now given Bostrom's claim that we probably live in & as VR right now, unless we soon destroy our civilization or experience other disastrous collapse that will have prevented that technology (we rarely get to use the future perfect tense "will have"), we turn back to David Chalmers.  Putting aside the destruction scenarios, Chalmers, like many other Cognitive Science Philosophers assure us that we could never tell the difference in VR.

Our point here is that we are as good as being VR anyway, because how could we ever know ?  In fact our individual Waking State lives (Dream State ones are otherwise) actually are as good as VR in absolute Consciousness, no more real than that. Awakening to Identity with pure Consciousness, we are Liberated from the succession of Waking State dream-lives (& Dream State lives as well). Sounds like fun? Maybe not, not right now. But actually all the real fun, Happiness & Love are already firmly planted in that Consciousness Reality, as is our Being & Identity already.

C) Conceptual – Caesar:   "Should compassion or even empathetic sorrow be abandoned ?"

Benevolent Dictator – Philosopher King proclamation:  Yes. & No.

Never let it distract you too much.  Never be depressed by sorrow & horror & cruelty in the World, get on with you Self-Realization, doing what you can to help on an everyday life level if opportunities arise or you make them arise.

I asked a Sage about evil & sorrow, etc.  He said: Hurry & get Enlightened, you’re keeping them all waiting.  World is in Mind, it’s your World & your victims.  When you get Liberated, they all do.

Back from the original Day the Earth Stood Still, Hollywood has even looked to space-aliens to come & protect us from ourselves.  A rarely-seen extended version the old Sea Adventure, The Abyss, has more pro-active Sea-aliens who threaten us with tidal waves & then relent. We hear: "It bothers them to see us hurting each other – getting out of hand."

Motionless

[Due to physical limitations, this Blog has lapsed for some time.  We’re back!]

In Sri Ramana Maharshi’s Supplement To The Forty Verses he notes that “those who have got rid of their attachment to the Mind become One with That which is Motionless.”

All that is motion, in fact all that is “Objective”, [including the Mind itself ], is a Projection of Thought. “Mind” itself is only Thought.  But Thought & its projected images have “nowhere” to stand, “nowhere” to be “stored” or assembled.  But Thought & its projected images have “nowhere” to stand, “nowhere” to be “stored” or assembled.  So a World of such projected images is impossible.  Moreover,  since each Thought has, integral to it, reference to its “thinker”, just as a Coordinate Point is defined only in reference to its Origin, the non– existence of the “thinker”– Ego [objectively defined by a Body] necessitates the non– existence of Thought & World alike. 

Those who believe themselves to be “thinkers” in a World feel they would be missing much without Ego, Thought, & World fail to realize that even now all are actually & simply Ego–less, Thought–less, World–less, & Motion–less, without realizing this of course.  Realizing this is Realization, is Liberation, is Enlightenment.

[The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through  www.jpstiga.com ]

Lets Get Physical – Let Me Hear Your Body Talk

Perhaps a tenth of quadrillion cells, each moment seeming to act as a single organism, the human Body. Organic Chem labs can rarely exceed 50% efficiency & purity in a chemical reaction.  But in every cubic nanometer of cytoplasm, hundreds of reactions occur in the same place with almost complete efficiency & purity, without interference – an incalculable miracle –  very improbable.  And yet with all that coordination, how does such a salt water bag, evolved from Ocean micelles, covered in meat, get to be Me ?  No way.  Where was it 100 years ago, where will it be 100 years from now ?  Happiness lies in & as Existence so I must & will continue, & never even had a starting point.

Lets pan in on just a single Atom in one of those Cells.  If it was a sports Stadium, the Electrons would be gnats & the Nucleus a sand Grain in the middle of the field.  If that Grain was instead a tiny sports Stadium, or one of its Nucleons were such a tiny sports Stadium, each of the 3 component Quarks would be a sand Grain. If that Quark Grain was instead a tiniest sports Stadium, each of the component Super– Strings would be a sand Grain.  And then each Super–Strings is a Mathematical fiction of Nothingness, Probability Amplitude dependent on Consciousness to perceive it. Almost all empty Space, sparsely dotted with bits of Nothingness.  Each Super–String stands to that Body like an Electron to  the known Universe.  Unconnected Cells, all replaced over & over again since Infancy, such a transient, changing,  objective Body is not my eternal, subjective Self.

Cartesian Coordinate Space models for Space, Time, & Mind: 

Space, Time, Mind, & other big-category concepts comprise the foundation for one’s World-view & much of all thought.  Hiding in plain sight is the fact that one single, small Idea is the repeated blueprint for each & every one of these big-category concepts.  For the most part, 1 (Time, Thought-flow, etc.) or 3 dimensions (Time, Thought-flow, etc.) model the "Container" concepts, with the exception being the Visual "TV/Cinema–Screen of the imaging Mind". The latter is most easily modeled as the familiar 2-D Cartesian Container Coordinate Space learned in school for "graphs".

The "empty graph paper" is the Cartesian Container Coordinate Space, the core constituent sub-concept of all these Ideas.  [Descartes’ Graph reflected that sense of a "Space" with the grid from fishnets & later Greek geodesy (latitude–longitude).]  The Graph’s particular 2-D Space is also the TV or Cinema Screen, the Visual Screen of Image in the Mind (or on computer) [with 3-D suggested by perspective as in a drawing]. This one same empty expanse is the Container Space for all the big-category concepts & is repeated for each one.  Empty Space is like empty Time or empty Mind, all just thought, & essentially the same thought.  We’re just not used to recognizing that similarity because we project Space & Time to be more than the thought of them. We project them to be objective realities "on the outside".

Each Container contains Coordinate Points or minute entities like Moments, Locations, Thoughts or pieces of an Image, a Sound, or other Sense Percept.  But every such entity is undefined without reference to a Central Origin, which on a Graph is the (0, 0) crossing point of 2 Axes [3 in 3-D, 1 in 1-D].  The 1-D single Axis has a Central Origin, (0), 3-D has (0, 0, 0).  The single Axis of Time serves also for Sound Sequence or Thought Flow.

Space may use for its Horizontal Axis [for X abscissa] West-to-East. Its Vertical Axis [for Y ordinate] may be East-to-North, while its out-of-the-page [Z] Axis could be Down-to-Up.

Thoughts or pieces of an Image, a Sound, any Sensation or Thought–form are [somehow] arranged entities characteristic of a given Cartesian Container Coordinate Space, all defined with reference to their respective Origins.  So 2-D locations on the TV/Cinema/Visual–Screen of the Mind are referenced to the Origin of Central Focus or mental "Here".  More proper 3-D locations in "Physical" [perceived that way] Space are referenced to the Origin of Physical Here.  Thoughts are referenced in Mind to the Ego–I or Me Origin.  The 1-D Linear Thought–flow & Sound–sequence are referenced, just as is Time itself  to the Origin of the Now Moment.  The 3-D Tactile & Visually Scanned World of Objects in Physical Space could be said to have one’s Body as the "Origin" which in this case is not an infinitesimal 0-D Coordinate Point like the other Origins.

To flesh out that additional detail [among a number of imagined others] of these Container Coordinate Spaces, we can see the Body as a small Micro-Container-Space in itself.  The boundaries of a Micro-Container-Space constitute the line dividing Inner from Outer, in that latter case between the physically inner Me & the Outer World. A Micro-Container-Space in 3-D Physical Space might be one’s Vicinity, in 1-D Time it might be one’s Lifetime.  A Micro-Container-Space around a 2-D map of Mind’s thought or a 3-D or 4-D Space-Time of such thoughts could be the Personality enclosing Ideas close around the Ego–Origin.

Back in the 3-D or 4-D World of Objects, where the Body, a Micro-Container-Space in itself, serves as the best practical Macro-Origin for Objects outside that Body.  Similarly, the Lifetime Micro-Container-Space could be a Macro-Origin for a longer scale of Time, just as the Vicinity Micro-Container-Space could be a Macro-Origin for a larger scales of  Distance.  The infinitesimal Now & Here Origins still serve as Origins within the Time & Vicinity Micro-Container-Spaces. If pressed for a "more infinitesimal" Origin within the Body Micro-Container-Space which alone best serves as a Macro-Origin for the World of objects, then such a more inner Origin might be the Brain within the Body, or the Cortex, neither completely infinitesimal, but still rather discrete. Each Macro-Origin/ Micro-Space is the same kind of "local neighborhood" in each case. Body – Planet – Star system – Galaxy – Groups etc. are successively larger Macro-Origin/ Micro-Spaces or "local neighborhoods".

Mathematical categories & curiosities aside, the point of these simplistic models is to suggest that Mind, Time, Space, & the World are not objective "givens" with fixed qualities.  Different people experience these differently, & each of us also does so differently at different times. However modeled, or not, these big-category concepts are mental projections, not fixed realities. The Coordinate Space models suggest that the same old "space with a center" Idea is repeated over & over again for Mind, Time, Space, & the World.  More importantly, these represent the net of Illusion that distracts us from recognition of our core Identity, the Non-Dual Brahman, the Self of Absolute Existence, pure Non-Dual Consciousness, & complete Happiness, Love, Bliss, Peace, & Liberation

Mind of course includes all of those . But specifically focusing on Mind itself as one of the Container-Spaces, ever with Thoughts as the Coordinate Points & the Ego– I or Me as there reference Origin, models for Mind appear in 5 different dimensional aspects:

0-D for the core [false] Ego Identity, Me

1-D for the sequence of Thought

                                    2-D for the visual screen of the Mind

                                    3-D for the theater of the Mind

                                    4-D for lifetime identity Personality, born, growing, dying in Waking State Time

The 1-D Space of Time overlaps somewhat with the Mind's 1-D for the sequence of Thought, with Moments for the points on the Timeline with Now another Origin along with Ego.  Sound & other Sequences compare as well, with Auditory Sense most aligned with this 1-D as in the chart up above. Almost by default Olfactory & Gustatory Senses matched up with 0-D, in some vague way.  Olfactory especially aligns a bit with Ego, or at least the Limbic System in terms of fear & other Emotions.

Vision as been lined up internally with the 2-D Screen of the Mind & also 3-D via Perspective & internally in the Theater-Stage of the Mind.  But 3-D properly belongs to Tactile [somato-sensory Somesthetic, Proprioception,  Nociception, Haptic-touch including lateral motion, pressure, enclosure. contour following] & Vestibular-balance. Yet even Tactile Senses, like Vision creates 3-D one dimension at a time.  Using 1-D Time-sense we instinctively measure a visual scan or a feeling by how long it takes in context, all things considered. This gives us the 1-D of Length as a Perceptual Concept. In some orthogonal sense [generalized "perpendicular" ], another Dimension is simultaneously "calculated" as Width & "multiplied so to speak " by Length to yield 2-D "Area" or general "expanse". Again in another orthogonal sense a 3^rd Dimension is likewise "calculated" as Depth & "multiplied" again to fill 2-D "expanse" out into tangible "volume" or Mass.  In this way Tactile & Visual Sense , create a 3-D World or ant given Object, one Dimension at a time, quick enough to seem simultaneous.

So the chart op above loosely links the Senses with big-category concepts/mental-projections.  From there the ancient "elements" or phases are, by serendipity, loosely matched to both Senses & characteristic Dimensions, to some degree.  Even Fractal Dimensions can be worked into the Concept scheme.  For one example, a 2-D sketch could contain edges & outlines.  Some 2 ½  Dimension could indicate the shading & texture suggestive of 3-D.  Likewise, 4-D Space-Time has with Here & Now at (0,0,0,0) Origin.

So again, the World fills Space with Objects, etc. as points with an extended Macro-Origin reference as the Body. While Hearing naturally parallels Time in Sound & Music, all being mostly 1-D, Vision naturally scans 2-D Screens suggestive of 3-D Space. These Sense Perceptions along with Tactile, etc. Senses concretize a World. While the Body is an extended or Macro-Origin reference Origin for the coordinate space of the World, that same Body can be a Micro-Space in itself, with it own smaller Macro-Origin as perhaps the Brain. The Body-skin marks the inside–outside boundary in the World.

All the Space–Origin concepts are similare. Self-Inquiry traces back along short or long routes from any of the above, especially from Thoughts, questing "Whose thought?"  "Mine."  "Who am I ?"  "Whence am I ?" which is to say finding the "place" in Consciousness  where the Ego-"I" seems to arise.  Find it to never arise there. Remain as that Consciousness, the Non–Dual Self.

“The Absolute can only be known by the Absolute within you.”    Master Nome

Quantum Mechanics & Non-Duality

Seeing that Quantum Mechanics reveals the "World" to be Consciousness can be a lead in to Non-Duality.  Though few began their realization of Non-Duality that way,  & though few who study Quantum Mechanics make that leap, it is a way it can work for some.  Similar reasoning ability can be harnessed for both, though not even all “Conquerors” [a Buddhist term] emphasize that style of reasoning ability.  What counts is Self-Realization as Existence-Consciousness-Happiness, also Love & Bliss which is Brahman, Buddha-Mind, Consciousness. Self-Inquiry may be the most direct extinction of false Ego in an unreal Waking State world.

Flexing BICEP

In an earlier Hogwash Blog we accused Victor Stenger of arguing for the Scientific Realist inventing 10⁵⁰⁰ unreachable universes, bolstered by Stenger, Max Tegmark, & others with tenuous arguments about CMB Anisotropy. Having there criticized this as "special pleading in Atheist argument against Theists", we pause to look at that "tenuous" argument criticism, specifically on the part of Stenger.

Victor, recently deceased as it happens [& thus with a new perspective on his atheistic Scientific Realism], put forth 2-sided "evidence" supporting the Multi-verse based on Cosmic Microwave Background [CMB] Anisotropy [not isotropic which means "equivalent in each direction" though not necessarily uniform or homogeneous, so that raisin pudding, well stirred can be isotropic even if not homogeneous like custard]. Stenger’s wildly speculative explanation was that the small CMB anisotropy reflected a “bumping together of 2 Bubble Universes" within a Multi-verse. 

At best this speaks not at all to the 10⁵⁰⁰ number of unreachable universes, but only one.  Yet such is still an unreachable universe so the wild "bump" speculation cannot be researched.  Science used to be solely the opponent of wild speculation & still ism selectively, including when spiritual insights are involved.  But under the current tyranny of Scientific Realism, self-serving untestable wild speculation is embraced so long as "robust mathematics" can be devised to support that speculation. But "anything" can cause slight Anisotropy, so as is often the case, the conclusion is greatly "under-determined".  Even Stenger brushed past that conjecture quickly. After doting on it just long enough to lend a sense of "multiple arguments" when he really hand only one technical "leg" to stand, but still a wobbly support in itself.  Even speaking of a "leg" might be the wrong extremity when we notice that Stenger primarily flexes his BICEP in this thesis.

BICEP is  an acronym for a 1, 2, 3 stage of development high-orbit telescope-sensing lab [not visual] project, chilled close to Absolute Zero for sensitivity.  Scientific Realist interpretations of CMB Anisotropy served a premature pronouncement of a first Gravity Wave detection in some BICEP2 data. Corresponding to Photons, which theoretically are virtual  Electro-Magnetic Force carriers & real Perceptions as Light-waves, so too Gravitons are virtual Gravity Force carriers, theoretically. No ultra-weak real Perceptions, Gravity-waves had yet been detected.  Besides being weak, these would be faster-than-light in a Universe undergoing Inflation.

Some of the Uncertainties are depicted on the graphs below, along with sketchy Gravity Wave model-inspired curves to partially fit the data. 

 

 Data from a number of projects compared, with 2 related ones being modeled to theoretical curves; note the vertical bars there & horizontal lines above represented data uncertainty, sometimes so large that curve fitting can be "under-determined" – other curves & models could be alternatively supported Vertical uncertainty ranges are all the greater in the chart below:

The data-fit is controversial so that later studies indicated that certain interstellar dust, rather than hitherto never-seen Gravity Waves would better fit the data.  Subsequent studies, however, with "97.2% confidence ruled out dust & other contaminants as the source of B-modes" in the BICEP2 data.  They did not derive from Gravity Waves either, but from "Gravitational Lensing" of the CMB by "intervening structures."

gravitational lensing fit to the important data

Even if spot-on, the claimed Gravity Wave detection would only partially support Inflationary Theory, which only very slightly supports a Multi-verse.  Even at that, the 10⁵⁰⁰ unreachable universes are not thus indicated, so that Random Chance Anthropic Principles are not in the least made more plausible.