a reply to:
swanne
In most of the readings/viewings/listening that I have done, the idea of Pantheism held the most weight. Unlike a Pantheist, Buddhist, etc., I find
that the they never explain why things ARE,
I believe that if you examine what is verifiable by your own senses, that the Universe seeks to evolve. You did from a blastome. Paramecium breed
without sexes.
This all matures from what appears to be non-living material. A differential of energy allows for these materials to be assembled into other
macro-devices that apply themselves to acting like life.
If a rock is in space, it will become an accretion eventually. It is just a matter of time.
When it gathers enough company, it becomes a potential site for more complicated devices. It always has a potential to do so.
The stars act like life in that they gather material, use it for 'body', transmute the raw stuffs into a 'food', and expel waste materials. Galaxies
go through evolvement.
The crudest of materials, such as protons, supposedly all decay after having been formed of ever smaller, less definitive materials.
It's evolving.
In a deterministic Universe, one NOT conscious, statistics and Free Will can not exist. How can something be probable in it. It has no flexibility. It
can not evolve, it only runs the numbers which implies it already knows the result it wants. No mystery, no allowance for novel changes.
Sorta dead already, eh?
We know that the Bell Curve exists. We know that really extreme outliers are really uncommon. Heck, we call them deviations. How do they come about?
We just say, "Stuff happens." I agree.
In order for change to happen, for the fractal explosion into every possible cranny, a fairly stable platform must exist. That is the Universe. A
statistical mean is always being sought, from your heartbeat to rolling sevens. This is the island of somewhat stable, a platform, from which the
future is launched. You can't get somewhere without leaving somewhere.
The other aspect of a statistical Universe is that it will USE what fits its design, until it is replaced by the better option.
It allows unlikely events to mold the future outcomes. If they are not a successful adaption, the Universe returns to the mean.
As we have dug down (at least mathematically) to the base level, the speculation is that the Quantum Foam is where it all begins. Planck measurements
of time and space begin here. Yet we talk about it seethes with extreme energies generating spurious particles which in turn are returned to
nothingness. Yet we exist (as best as I can tell) as these hugely hulking forms. Our essence, consisting of particles that the Universe has decided to
maintain, comes from places that consume as much as they emit. How come?
Statistics. Why does an absence of anti-matter conform to what we see. Statistics.
The allowance of non-conformity may or may not be directed. God does, if he exists, plays with dice.
It's everywhere and affects everything.
Evolution is everywhere.
It originates at the infinitesimal and includes Galactic Clusters.
So the Universe is a platform. It wants something and informs us of that fact every time we eat well, don't jump from high places and assist it. It
will utilize all of its power to crushing opposition to its causes. If a grievous mistake is made, say nuclear war, it will wipe the slate clean
without concern. It has all the time it needs to do what it wants.
Time is very cool as it is part of the overall plan. It's a placemarker. How can you evolve if you don't have a past?
In turn when we come across anomalies that are deal breakers, the paranormal, which are statistically verifiable (See Example in OP) as truly strange,
where does that fit? Cases of re-incarnation, Human auras, healers, dogs awaiting unexpected returns, Etc., are adjustments resulting from SOME
intent. If you require something more mundane, the Observer Effect may actually be weirder by Dualism standards. The Universe will adjust the NOW as
needed to keep itself stable.
Descartes got us here. One smart guy who talks of his being as the core of the Universe. A guy who flayed animals alive to see if they could feel
pain. The chuckleheads who went down this path are the guys who led us to Environmental disaster, because we are NOT of the world. We are somehow
better than a rock.
We are not. We are part of a Universe that uses us as nodes. The better the complexity, the greater the association with its wants. We are fulcrums,
not foci. Otherwise the game is over but there is no reason to believe it is.
Morality can derived from this format. Beauty, sanity, community is a natural outcome from this model.
The Universe is a platform that wants to evolve. It is conscious of that desire and it will actively promote its cause.
Incidentally, the comment concerning the limitations of language is why I always have hated Philosophy and the sheer egoism of most of their
promoters. They have created a menagerie of jargons which are unalloyed BS and are employed to disguise arguments that are circular, anthropomorphic
and baseless.
In my conception, 'Cogito Ergo Sum' is stupid. You think because the Universe ALLOWS AND WANTS your assemblage of micro-cosmic particles to do so. I
see no other conclusion which is consistent with observations.
I am looking for criticism before I start REALLY pressing this idea. Thanks for reading.
edit on 4-6-2014 by largo because: clarifying (if
that is possible!)