Singularity, Free Will, Infinite Dimensions, and Holotropism
A sample of ideas from my personal paradigm
11/24/00
PHL-201
Introduction
In this term paper I shall introduce you to some of the ideas that hold strong to my personal paradigm. Since I was young I have been getting myself into trouble by thinking outside of the limits set forth for me. I always seemed to find some trouble one way or another. I believe that I was the first child to be suspended from my school in my age group. I learned to play chess in the fourth grade. I excelled rapidly; no one save the teacher could beat me. I won all of the tournaments, I even got the chance to play a sixth grader, we stalemated. I remember a time when I was in sixth grade. My parents had decided that possibly there might be a problem with me. It was arranged for me to take some psychological tests. I remember it fondly. I got the chance to interpret the world as I saw it. I was privileged enough to bring inkblots to life. I played games. I solved puzzles. It was cool. I didn?t really know what was going on. I thought all of the kids got to get out of school to play these games. The testing lasted about a week. At the end of the testing I was back in my regular classes. I found out later why I was being tested. It was to try to find out why I was so prone to mischief. As it turned out I scored in the 99th percentile in several different aspects of learning. My mischief was due to boredom.
After my parents got my test results they discussed the possibility of sending me to private school, where the curriculum might be a little more challenging for me. We talked about it. I let them know how I felt. I didn?t want to leave all of my friends. They decided to keep me in public schooling, hoping that junior high might offer me more chances for learning.
Now I am in your class. Behind me lies a background of public schooling. Schooling that neither challenged me nor accepted me. By nature or possibly nurture I have become slightly cynical. Please forgive me for my laziness. I tend to wear a cloak of laziness to disguise my inner workings. Your answerilary echoes ring in my mind. The term answerilary echoes is possibly an extrapolation of a term you used in your lecture on November 21, 2000. I am not sure if you meant ancillary echoes. I take the term answerilary echoes to define the discrepancies or underlying currents due to a pre-conceived notion. I hope at this point to send my own wavelengths of the thought provoking kind, in an attempt to interfere destructively. The departing term of the previous sentence may leave you with apprehension. I chose the words in that sentence specifically. However if you wish to step out of the connotations that breathe life into your paradigm and step into the confines of my paradigm you may find that my terms are less hostile and more interpretive. The term destructive interference is used in physics to represent the result of the conjunction of two like wavelengths with opposite phase in which the resulting amplitude is less. Put in more simple terms, I wish to soften the degree of which you judge my laziness.
I will present the following paper in my own words. All of the ideas are my interpretations of reality. Some of the words I shall use outside of their classical definitions, whenever I do so I shall try to define them in more classical terms. I will use few references other than Webster?s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary. I hope you will enjoy this original work.
Singularity
The term singularity refers to the infinitely large contained in the infinitely small. Imagine everything you are: your ideas, your mass, your energy, your experiences, your essence, and your existence. Imagine this for everything and call it all. Imagine all contained in nothing, or easier, contained in the smallest particle in your imagination. If arranged properly these words have entrusted you with an idea of singularity.
The Big Bang theory has developed within the last hundred years. With the advent of quantum physics and relativity the idea of a possible big bang came to form. The Big Bang is the idea that at one time there was a singularity and that this singularity exploded with cosmic force. The result of this explosion is our universe. The Big Bang is kind of like those little capsules that you put into hot water. The water melts away the gelatin capsule and allows what once seemed so small to turn into a giant sponge dinosaur. You also have to imagine the dinosaur growing to infinite proportions.
I believe in the Big Bang, not so much because of the possible physical proof being obtained by our worlds leading physicists, mathematicians, and cosmologists, but because it makes sense to me. It is very simple to me. You can?t have nothing. Nothing only exists because we have something. The whole concept of nothingness must owe its understanding to somethingness. Suppose I could break time and existence down to the point when they became. A moment ago there was nothing, a world void of existence, void of time. I imagine a world void of even empty space. Then I realize I?m imagining this world. How can that be? I have structure, I exist. Suddenly nothing is aware of me, at that point nothing becomes self-aware. Suddenly existence explodes, with cosmic force.
One could post the argument that this situation is an impossibility, and rightfully so. How could I even exist if existence is nil? Remove me from the equation. Oh, by the way the person who argued against me cannot exist either, remove them from the equation as well. Pretty convenient if I might say; I hope it helps the point to be understood. As I understand it, even without an observer this void would tend to make itself contrary.
In order to understand singularities, existence, and other ideas that challenge our paradigm, we must step outside of our perception. We must relax our ideas and our expectations, we must realize that anything and everything is possible. We must become transpersonal.
As a corollary to singularity it must be understood that everything can only happen one way. In a singularity-based universe there can only be one way for which the universe can unfold. If one were to imagine the release of a singularity many times, its outcome would always remain the same. If it were to vary at all it would not be a singularity. The only way for it to vary would be if there was some sort of imbalance present. This imbalance is contrary to both the existence and essence of a singularity. This corollary brings us to the idea of free will.
Free Will
Free will is an idea that we all have the ability to make our own decisions and control our own actions without predetermination. I have established that as a consequence of the singularity-natured universe that we live in that there can exist no such thing as free will. I see will as an interpretation of events. One who believes in free will may say, ?We respond to stimuli, we understand the stimuli, therefore we must make a will-based decision on the stimuli.? However I believe that the stimuli in themselves have a predetermined nature. When you mix these various stimuli you get a predetermined reaction. It is this reaction that we label free will. Many psychologists have argued both sides to this puzzle, and to many the jury is still out. I am beginning to feel like a cook. Perhaps my specialty is creating self-willed cookies from non-willed ingredients.
One might ask why we respond differently to the same situations at different times. Why do we choose the Mega Universe Burger at Cosmo?s one day and a year later under the same weather conditions with the same company we choose the Intergalactic Seaweed Salad? It may seem that the conditions are exactly the same, I suggest that the conditions may never be the same, and that it is the difference in conditions that causes us to choose differently. I believe it is this same difference in conditions that allows us to experience time. If the conditions were exactly the same one would act exactly the same, there would be no way to differentiate the experiences from each other. One would in essence be experiencing the same moment in time. Under the best argument for free will one might site the uncertainty principle as the driving force of free will. I would agree except as ones understanding approaches a more omniscient perception. This argument in favor of free will is backed by the blindness created by the uncertainty principle. I find this argument a weak one however, in its base is ignorance.
I believe that most people feel a need to control their lives. Some may have a problem going on with life if such a dismal thought as predetermined existence were true. Instead they may create an image (or subscribe to a paradigm) of free will to help them along. I in no way feel the desire to try to burst their bubble, I am just presenting my perception of the matter.
I feel that free will and my next idea are closely related in their nature. I believe that free will is an aspect of the other; the other being a concept of infinite dimensions.
Infinite Dimensions
I will admit that this next idea is possibly a little far fetched for some, at the same time many of the ideas dominating our prevailing paradigm were at one time in the same boat. It has taken me a while to polish the details of this conceptualization; I hope that I can do justice to it.
I believe in infinite dimensions. I believe that everything is possible. At any moment an asteroid could destroy the Earth. At nearly every moment an asteroid does destroy the Earth. We don?t perceive this happening because we are associating with a continuum in which this particular event has not happened. I imagine a fractal. This fractal resembles a tree. Its structure represents possibilities. In general the higher you go, the more branches and twig you can see, hence the more possibilities. The Big Bang is the plane on the tree that represents the ground. The roots are also part of this possibility structure; they are the possibilities in negative time. The distance from the ground represents our concept of time. This tree now slowly starts to move. You can see every part of the tree changing until it becomes a completely different tree. This new tree then transforms to another. The tree is now changing more rapidly. Eventually the tree metamorphoses so fast that it appears black. This blackness represents the infinite possibilities of existence. Now this tree begins to expand, at its edge you can see the limbs and twigs still changing. This tree expands beyond comprehension. This is just one aspect of the conceptualization that I use to understand my idea of infinite dimensions.
Now I will bring you to an omniscopic representation of infinite reality. Omniscopic is a term that I use to represent the combination of macroscopic, microscopic, and everything in between. I hope you have some familiarity with mathematics. I will use a parabola in the form y=x2. This parabola is confined within a sphere. As one varies the coefficient of x, one can come up with an infinite number of graphs, all of them representing a parabola. If you were to look at two parabolas with marginally varying x coefficients they would seem identical at the vertex but would vary more the further away from the vertex you looked. This similarity yet differentiability represents my continuum of existence. At any time an aspect of my existence can break away from another aspect of the same. Now take the vertex of this parabola and place it at any location inside of the sphere so that the parabola opens in any and all directions. By placing this vertex at any location within the circle and allowing it infinite variability one can completely represent a solid sphere. I believe that the solid sphere represents complete existence, and that the paths of the parabolas represent small aspects of our existential continuums. It is infinite variability that lends its existence to us so that we may experience life by traveling these parabolic paths of existence.
I will relate my perception of time to the previous mathematical analogy. Time is appreciated through the variability of the infinite hyperbola. As the coefficient of x is varied only slightly, the whole hyperbolic graph varies only slightly. It is the perceived difference of these different graphs that allow us to acknowledge the event of time. Only the differences in situation and the combination of the different existences possible create a time effect. The way that we associate time is such that situations with the most in common are seen as sequences. A moment ago is only a small variation of now. We are capable of perceiving only a small aspect of time. I believe that there are different understandings of time depending on the perception and interpretation of events. I define an event as being the different combinations of possibilities within existence. There may be another me in another dimension that experiences time in a different organizational pattern. To the other me the phenomenon of time is just as concrete as the time that I perceive in what could be called our (yours and mine) common existence.
So now I must reconcile two ideas for you, if not myself. If I am to assert that we do not have free will and also that we have potential to experience infinite reality would not that assertion lead to oxymoronic and hypocritical principles in my thinking? I shall reconcile this seemingly disparaging confluence of ideas. Imagine if I were to ride on a sort of train track in an automobile-cart on which the tracks were invisible. There are trees along my path. I have control of my automobile. I swerve to the right and then to the left. I split between two large trees. I then look over at you; you are also on a track in a similar situation except that I can see your tracks. You can also see my tracks. To each other we look ridiculous. To imagine that I actually think that I am in control, and you think that you are in control. All along, the tracks were set in the ground. It was just circumstances that led us both to steer in the same directions as the tracks. I imagine that there are an infinite number of tracks, and an infinite number of myselfs. It is only my blindness to these tracks that allow me to think that I am in control at any given time.
This past discussion brings me to one of my most favorite paradigmatic samples. Holotropism. By mixing these various samples together and adopting an idea from Stanislav Grof?s book The Holotropic Mind, I will complete my smorgasbord of tantalizing and philosophical ramblings.
Holotropism
Holotropic is a word coined by Stanislav Grof in his book The Holotropic Mind. Until further I can in no way accept any credit for this idea except that I understand it. The representation of this idea as set forth is my own interpretation of it. It has been a year since I read his book, I will not be quoting anything from his book directly other that the portrayal of his idea.
Holotropism is an idea related directly to holographs. There is an aspect of holographs that allows one to take any part of the graph, separate it, and still be able to see the graph in its entirety. Grof has taken this idea and applied it towards reality and the mind. Simply put, in principle one can take any sample from reality and reconstruct reality in its whole from the sample. Since everything that we know is in some way quantifiable, everything must have an effect. If one was capable, one could understand these effects and in theory be able to tell what will happen when a butterfly flaps its wings in China. Physicists do this to some degree already. By understanding certain physical aspects of reality they are able to predict both recent past and future events. If I understood optics, magnetics, electrics, gravitation, and other physical studies to a certain degree I would be able to understand the following scenario. Suppose one had an open box. Inside this box is an arrangement of colorful and reflecting anodized metal spheres. I have access to examine only one of these spheres. If I understood the way light bounces off of these spheres, I might be able to obtain both the color and distance of some of the other spheres. If I understood the interaction of the magnetic and gravitational fields these balls have on each other I would be able to obtain the location of more of the spheres. If I understood the interaction of the electrons in the spheres and the space around the spheres I would be able to obtain even more information regarding the location of the other spheres. Finally, with enough of the combined knowledge of all of these sciences I would be able to understand their exact relation and arrangement. That is a drop in the bucket of the holotropic theory.
I understand that one can think of knowing something by what it is; also one can understand something by what it isn?t. For in a limited aspect something is what it is not. This is also another aspect of holotropism. I am who/what I am because I am who/what I am not.
Here?s the finale. I am Stanislav Grof, I wrote his book. Stan ate my breakfast today. I am everything. I am nothing. I am nothing contained in everything. I am you, your class, and your world. Conversely, you are me, the other students in the class are me, the air you breathe is me. You do not exist. You are only a figment of the reality I am. In denying your existence I am also denying mine. For without you, I myself cannot exist, and that applies for my ideas, my understanding, and my essence. We are all wholly part of each other. We are all a dichotomy of existence, inseparable, indivisible, and afflicted to try to understand our existence through exclusion.
Conclusion
So I sit and wonder, what comes next. What is the next level? Shall I simplify my ranting to better suit the needs of those around me, or do I increase my understanding to enlighten the people around me. I pray. I am not religious. I feel spiritual sometimes. I pray for wisdom, truth, and understanding. Lately I?ve also been praying for a sense of humor. I feel it will all come soon enough.
I hope that in this paper I have proven my ability as a philosopher. I hope that I have shown you that I have an adequate understanding of: paradigm, existence, continuum, free will, singularity, dimension, and reality.
Danke und aufwiedersehen,
Joshua
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