Oh, the Relativity of It All
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With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
When everything is relative, nothing can be known as absolute.
This is both the first and second truth of Zen Buddhism. This is also a statement in line with Heisenberg's "uncertainty principle" (pointing to a limit to "our simultaneous knowledge of the position and momentum of the fundamental particles of matter", Einstein (a dynamic and relative relationship between space and time), and Godel's "incompleteness theorem" suggesting a complete set of mathematical truths cannot be compiled that is fully formal. (Yourgrau, 2005).
Eyes glaze over.
What this means is that three of the greatest thinkers of our time discovered the basic truth we Zen Buddhists realize daily.
When my "self" drops away and I see clearly, everything is relative. There is fixed and stable no point of reference. When there is no fixed and stable point of reference, there is no movement, as movement is defined by two points, one fixed. And since time is a measure of this movement, time itself makes no real sense. In fact, Godel pointed out that time is an ideal, not a fact.
Eyes are really glazed over. So what?
When truth is both relative and absolute, when nothing can truly be known, when there is no ground, then how do we take a next step? Indeed, "step" itself is rendered meaningless.
We don't know, we just walk. When we are hungry, we eat.
Yes, true, but if we live in this truth, then these processes are meaningfully different. It is rather like the difference between painting on paper with lines already there for our paint, and painting without lines. We are, in each case, painting. Yet, we discover in the process that lines are innate, seen, unseen, our brain, reality itself, is a producer of lines.
There is a limit to the speed of light (thus space and time are relative), a limit to our ability to know what we see, and a limit to mathematical sets to encompass infinity.
Yet these lines are so large, so distant, they may have no meaning to us in this practical world. Our lines are much more personal: hunger, safety, belongingness, esteem, and actualization. Yet, even here we see these absolutes are relative.
Eyes Closed: Point of view is irrelevant.
Eyes Partly Open: Point of view is everything in terms of our understanding of anything.
Eyes Wide Open: No point, no view.
And here begins the Great Heart of Wisdom Sutra.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
When everything is relative, nothing can be known as absolute.
This is both the first and second truth of Zen Buddhism. This is also a statement in line with Heisenberg's "uncertainty principle" (pointing to a limit to "our simultaneous knowledge of the position and momentum of the fundamental particles of matter", Einstein (a dynamic and relative relationship between space and time), and Godel's "incompleteness theorem" suggesting a complete set of mathematical truths cannot be compiled that is fully formal. (Yourgrau, 2005).
Eyes glaze over.
What this means is that three of the greatest thinkers of our time discovered the basic truth we Zen Buddhists realize daily.
When my "self" drops away and I see clearly, everything is relative. There is fixed and stable no point of reference. When there is no fixed and stable point of reference, there is no movement, as movement is defined by two points, one fixed. And since time is a measure of this movement, time itself makes no real sense. In fact, Godel pointed out that time is an ideal, not a fact.
Eyes are really glazed over. So what?
When truth is both relative and absolute, when nothing can truly be known, when there is no ground, then how do we take a next step? Indeed, "step" itself is rendered meaningless.
We don't know, we just walk. When we are hungry, we eat.
Yes, true, but if we live in this truth, then these processes are meaningfully different. It is rather like the difference between painting on paper with lines already there for our paint, and painting without lines. We are, in each case, painting. Yet, we discover in the process that lines are innate, seen, unseen, our brain, reality itself, is a producer of lines.
There is a limit to the speed of light (thus space and time are relative), a limit to our ability to know what we see, and a limit to mathematical sets to encompass infinity.
Yet these lines are so large, so distant, they may have no meaning to us in this practical world. Our lines are much more personal: hunger, safety, belongingness, esteem, and actualization. Yet, even here we see these absolutes are relative.
Eyes Closed: Point of view is irrelevant.
Eyes Partly Open: Point of view is everything in terms of our understanding of anything.
Eyes Wide Open: No point, no view.
And here begins the Great Heart of Wisdom Sutra.
Be well.