existence - an exploration

8/6/2019 Existence - An Exploration

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EXISTENCE: AN EXPLORATION

The Origin of Existence is essentially the greatest question to face Rational Beings save for theraison d'tre of Existence. But putting that particular branch of Metaphysics aside, let us - for amoment - contemplate Existential Origins & what we canpossiblydeduce from the fact that there isan Existence existing currently at this point in Time/Space.

As always, one must begin at the beginning: Cogito Ergo Sum - I Think, Therefore I Am. The TruthRen Descartes deduced so long ago. There can be no discussion about the Validity of Existence -whether or not something exists - for the simple fact that I Think, Therefore I - at the very least -Exist.

But where do I come from? What Caused my Existence?

When I think about the actualityof my Existence, I realize innately that there are certain factorsthat must exist as well in order for my Existence to bepossible. Factors such as Time/Space - thevery substance of the place in which I Exist. Necessarily, if I exist, I must then exist at some placeat some time. What exactly Time/Space consists of, I can not Truthfully say for my individualperception of Time/Space can not be logically verified. I have senses at my command but whetheror not what I sense through my Perceptions isActualitycan not be confirmed at this moment. Butregardless of what exactly Time/Space is, it is Logically evident that I exist within the confines of

Time/Space in some capacity.

This leads one to deduce the following: for me to Exist, Time/Space must have pre-existed myselfor come into Existence at the exact same moment as my Existence. This leads to twopossibilities:One - that Time/Space pre-existed my Being or Two - Time/Space & I are Existentially linked. Ofcourse, this entire problem of the moment of coming into Existence assumes one simple fact: that Iam not an Eternal Being. Before we talk more about the Time/Space & Individual Existentialproblem, we should perhaps explore the problem of Eternity.

Eternity - by definition - describes a Being who Exists beyond the constraints of Time/Space. What Imean is this: an Eternal Being has no beginning & no end to its Existence. It simply just "is". Sowhy is it right to think that I, as an Individual Being, am not an Eternal Being? My IndividualKnowledge speaks to this. I Know very little.

An Eternal Being - by definition - is a Being who is Omnisentient & Omnicognescent: Perfect in

every facet. A Perfect-Eternal Being does not Move or Evolve in any way because Perfection can notimprove or be reduced in anyway. Perfection is Absolute. Either something is Perfect or it is not. Thevery fact that I Move & Evolve: i.e. Change over Time/Space logically proves that I am Imperfect &therefore not Eternal. So if I am not Eternal, yet I Exist within Time/Space - as my Ability to Changedictates - logically I must then have a Beginning & an End. This brings us back to the problem ofthe moment of Existence - or the Problem of Existential Actualization: Did Time/Space come intoExistence at the same Time/Space as me?

One sees the dilemma immediately. To talk about my Existence "coming into Being" necessitatesthe Existence of Time/Space. I can only Exist within the Bounds of Time/Space - or else I would bePerfect. So the question still haunts us: Is itpossible for Time/Space toActualize at the samemoment as Me? To speak of my Existence in anyway requires Time/Space. But what if we were toflip the Problem around: To speak of Time/Space does one need to speak of my Existence?

Well,possiblynot. It is entirelypossible to rationalize the Existence of Time/Space without me

Existing. But we are searching forActuality& not simply a Possible Worldthat may or may not TrulyExist independently of Logical Thought.

But here again, is the cusp of the problem. There is no way, at the moment, for me to LogicallyState in a True manner that any Possible WorldI can Rationalize is not Truly theActual World. Thelittle Knowledge I possess beyond Descartes' Cogito does not add any Justifications to thepossibilitythat the Possible WorldI experience through my senses is actuallytheActual World. Imust Believe that my Senses do not give me false information or sensations & that what I see,hear, smell, touch & taste actuallyExists in Time/Space beyond the bounds of my Rationality - atleast Justifiably to a High Degree.


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The question becomes this: Do I remain the complete Epistemological Skeptic & concentrate onAbsolute Truths or do I accept a certain amount of Belief within my Metaphysic so that I do not getstuck in an endless regress in relation to the validity of Sensory Data?

But if we look at the second Existential Actualizationpossibilitythis problem becomes moot. This isthe Sartrian approach to Existence. That Time/Space Actualized its Existence at the Exact SameMoment as I Actualized my Existence. In other words, the entire length of the Existence of

Time/Space is equal to the length of the Existence of myself. At this point, the "Perception" problemis taken away because Time/Space is Existentially Linked to my Existence. The two Existences(Time/Space & Myself) cannot Exist independently.

Absurd - you want to cry. That necessarily means that I am Immortal - that my ExistentialBeginning & Ending is the same as the Existential Beginning & Ending of Time/Space. But we haveyet to describe my entire Existential Being! Given what I Know so far of Existence, that I Exist, thatTime/Space Exists & that I am Imperfect - anything else is entirelypossible. It is entirelypossiblethat the total length of Existence is equal to the length of my Perceived Mortal Life (from themoment I was Born to the moment I will die) & that Existence as a whole Exists solely through me.

This is what Sartre Believed, and for good reason! But the problem with this is that it discountsMemory. I personally have Memories of other lives I have lived. If we are right to think thatTime/Space is Existentially Linked directly to my Existence & that I have Memories of Time/Spacebefore my current Awareness, then it is entirelypossible that the Birth/Death Cycle is simply a

mechanism of Transformation akin to the various states of Matter (i.e. from Gases, Liquids &Solids). But to validate this argument we must take a moment & explore the function of Memory.What is Memory? How is it related to Consciousness & the Senses? Is itpossible to validate Memorywhen one can not validate Sensory Perception?

Memory, simply put, is the repository of all of our Thoughts when they are not currently being usedby our Conscious Selves. Memory allows one to instantly call upon information previously held in theConscious Awareness. The very fact that we are able to recall information & past thoughts validatesthe existence of Memory. The problems begin, again, when we start talking about SensoryPerception. Memories that are the result of pure thought without any Sensory Input are far morevalid then Memories that are derived from Sensory Perceptions. This second kind of Memory is asdubitable - or even more dubitable - as Sensory Perceptions themselves. So, as with the ConsciousAwareness itself, there are two kinds of Information: Rational & Perceptual Memories. It is obviousthat Rational Memories are better representations of Actuality then Perceptual Memories just asRational Thoughts are better representations of Actuality then Perceptual Thoughts.

But the same problems with Perception again arise with Memory. It is entirelypossible that theinformation stored in our Memory can become corrupted or degraded. We do not have an infallibleMemory. Some of the things we Remember are clear as the day we first experienced them & otherthings seem hard to Remember or are disjointed. Even with Rational Memories, it ispossible thatthings get forgotten or mixed up. But this seems less the case. It is very rare for me to forget that IExist & that the Justification for that Knowledge is the Cogito. However, it sometimes happens that Iget mathematics mixed up. I can't always Remember my Multiplication tables or how to do longDivision. However, I can always Remember the basic idea behind simple Mathematics & am able tore-Rationalize simple Arithmetic.

For example, I completely understand how the Multiplication tables work & can Remember thisinformation at any time. But sometimes it takes me a minute to sit figure out that 6x7=42. As proofof this, I had to double check on a Calculator that 6x7 does indeed equal 42.

So again, some Memories are more dubitable then others. But there seems to be a "Basic Set" -building blocks if you will - that allows one to re-Justify the conclusions one is seeking or evenreformulate the conclusions very quickly. It then seems Justifiable to a high degree that one shouldtrust ones Memories just as much as one trusts ones Sensory Perceptions. But how does this getus further in explaining the relation between Times/Space & my Individual Existence?

If Memory is a relatively accurate reservoir of past experiences & thoughts, then my Memory of myPast Lives points to the fact that Time/Space Existed before I, myself, currently Consciously Exist.But this leaves us with a new twist to the dilemma. If I Existed before my current Consciousness as my Memories suggest then when was the initial beginning of my Existence & what is the


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relationship between this initial Existential beginning & Time/Space?

One can postulate thepossibilityof countless past lives spanning back to the beginning ofTime/Space. So, yet again, we are at the same place: what is the difference between the beginningExistence of Time/Space & my Individual Self? Logically, it is very hard to envision Time/Spacewithout myself Existing in some form or another. To prove this, let us look at one of thefundamental laws of Physics: that Energy can neither be Created nor Destroyed. Energy is simply

transformed. Taking this principal & applying to my Existence, it is immediately apparent that theExistence of Time/Space is linked directly to my Existence. At the very least, it can be said that Iam infused with a Spiritual Energy (my Soul). In fact, I would postulate that my Entire Beingconsists of Energy at a set Vibratory Rate (including my Physical Body). But let us concentrate uponthis Spiritual Energy.

My Soul my Spiritual Energy comprises my Consciousness: my Awareness my Form. It is whoI am more then what my Body could ever be. And indeed, if My Soul is Energy then it can not bedestroyed or created within Time/Space according to that Law of Physics. But, if the Soul isimmortal & able to progress & learn on its own, what is the purpose of its union with the Body?What advantage does Matter give the Spirit that the Spirit could not achieve on its own?

Perhaps that is the problem with this Belief. Perhaps the Soul requires the Body in order to learn &to Progress - in effect change. Perhaps the Soul as Soul can not change unless it is able toPhysically, Mentally & Spiritually Change. But this seems absurd because Free Souls are still

Individuals - Individuals constrained to Choice like every other Being in Existence. Every singlemoment they are forced to Choose just like they are forced to Choose when living in a Body.

Unless, of course, Free Souls do not inhabit the same Plane Of Existence as Living Beings. It isentirelypossible that Souls - when detached from Matter - inhabit a Plane Of Existence whereTime/Space as we understand it on this Plane Of Existence doesn't Exist or is radically different.This may allow Souls to stop their Development by not allowing them to make Choices except undercertain circumstances. This would account for the need to form a union with matter.

But what kind of validity can we apply to thispossibility? The problem is that I have no Memories ofmy Existence as a Free Spirit even though I have Memories of some of my past lives. Perhaps thisentire idea of "Free Spirits" is false & this idea that my Soul resides in another Plane Of Existencebetween lives is also false. Perhaps, one moves from one Living Form to another - an endless Birth& Death Cycle. But how does thispossibilityaccount for the many cases of Disembodied Spirits ofthe Dead? How does it also account for the fact that I have no recollection of a past life that ended

around the time of the birth of my current Life Cycle? Well, the later can be explained away by thenature of Memory. But on the other hand, the validity of the former is also cast into doubt with thenature of Perception.

Yet again, we have found ourselves unable to proceed due to the dubitability of Perceptions &Memories.

Therefore, we must return again to the original question: What is the relationship between thisinitial Existential beginning & Time/Space? It seems obvious from our discussion that twopossibilities are highly Justifiable. Either Time/Space Pre-Existed my Existence or Time/Space & myExistence are Existentially Linked. Looking at the nature of my Existence (namely my the propertiesof my immortal Soul) & what I can Truthfully deduce from the little Knowledge I possess, it seemsthat Time/Space & My Existence being Existentially Linked is better Justified then Time/Space Pre-Existing my Existence.

The Act of Creation therefore, was theActualization of Time/Space & Spiritual Energy, which lead tothe formation of Life - or the union of Spiritual Energy & Matter; Metter being the Physicalrepresentation of Time/Space.

March 16 - 21, 2007

existence - an exploration

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