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Table of Contents
CHAPTER TWO
Let Us Create An Idea
Let us create an idea that can think itself. It is a simple idea, of childlike simplicity;
yet, it is complex enough to describe the mechanisms of a universe. The idea is that
everything starts with "three." It is that in the beginning space was divided
originally by but three points of existence. These three points were the only thing in
existence in this primordial space and nothing else could have existed besides them. It is
only an exercise in a creative idea, but these three points could be thought of in no
other terms, not compared to anything, except their own existence. Hence, in a universal
void, these three points existed autonomously, at some undetermined distance from one
another, and entirely alone. They had no mass and no defined relationship with regard to
one another. The universe was then in its utmost infancy and was about to give birth to a
new idea: A relationship of three points somehow interrelated to one another. Hence, an
interrelationship.
From these basic three points, this basic triad, now formed an idea that could think
itself in terms of itself. It is the fundamental idea
underlying the rest of this text, the universe's first interrelationship. Let us now start
with a simple everyday observation: That nothing ever exists alone, in a vacuum related to
nothing else. No matter how small and insignificant or how great, it is but a part of a
matrix that imposes itself on its existence. Even brought to an immediate present, the
chair I sit on, the pen in my hand, the room, the trees in the woods, the distant stars,
the planet, the past... they all are interrelated to one another somehow, simultaneously,
infinitely and minutely. These relationships may be sometimes entirely meaningless to us,
inexplicable in rational terms. I do not know that if I step on an ant I am not sinking a
ship at sea, though it is unlikely that the universe works that way. However, there is
some cosmic connection between all things. Thus, though we may be unconscious of it, all
things are always somehow related to one another in this vast matrix of things we call
existence. This observation may at first sight seem of minor importance, but we will see
shortly that this idea of interrelationship is a powerful concept capable of spanning the
understanding of being in the universe.
Thus, let us start with our idea of three points in space and make them the basic idea.
All interrelationship starts with three. Two things can be related to one another but a
third is needed for an interrelation. If we illustrate this as three points in space, then
we can immediately see that they must be somehow, randomly positioned in space. They
occupy some position in relation to one another, though it is impossible to gauge how far
they are from one another since, at this state of development, there exists nothing else
with which to measure distance. We can know, however, that the three points do have an
internal relationship, an interrelationship that results in the form of a triangle. By
definition, three points form a triangle. This is always so, anywhere and at any distance
in the universe. If space is curved, then the resulting triangle will be equally curved
but it will not negate the definition: three points in space are interrelated into the
form of a triangle. Thus, this triangle is the first interrelationship of space.
To examine this idea further, we can also observe that each side of this triangle forms a
line. Projected into infinity, either end of this line dissects the universe in two. If
the line is projected into space as a plane, the universe is further cut into two halves.
But these are mental digressions. The main point of interrelationship is that they are the
only things in space that are working on themselves and on the space around them. Because
nothing else exists, all definitions within this space must be in terms of our three
points. Firstly, each point has only the definition of itself in terms of itself: a point.
Secondly, because of interrelationship, each point also has a definition that is relative
to its position in terms of the other two points, in terms of their interrelationship. As
such they can no longer be defined merely as points but must be defined as being within
the resulting interrelationship of the three points. They are a point within a triangle.
They are somehow related to one another. They are also related to the resulting totality
of their interrelationship, their space, their relative positions. Thus, each point has
but a minor meaning in and of itself, whereas it has a greater meaning in terms of the
other two points and their interrelationship. Finally, because at this stage nothing else
exists, each point is defined and can be understood only in terms of the other two points
and their resulting shapes and patterns.
We now have a new way of looking at things: Each thing in existence, whether it be a
single point or an atom or pebble or planet or
galaxy; each is defined by the interrelationship of everything else. Space, the universe,
is filled with an infinity of interrelationships as here illustrated by three points. Each
thing is somehow interrelated into everything else and from this interrelationship flows
its definition in terms of that interrelationship. In our initial illustration nothing
existed but our three points, thus each point could be defined only in terms of the other
two points. If there had been instead an initial number of a hundred points, then each
point would be instead defined in relation to how it was in the interrelationship of the
other ninety-nine points and their resulting patterns. However, in the real world, the
interrelationships are innumerable, and yet the idea still holds. The more complex the
interrelationship, the greater its dimensions, the greater the definition of each thing
within it in terms of the whole. Each thing within this whole becomes defined in terms of
everything else around it. This is merely a function of an interrelated arrangement of
things. Thus, in the real world where the dimensions of these arrangements grow to
infinity, each thing becomes defined by how it is interrelated to everything else, ad
infinitum. In effect, the being of everything else to infinity defines it in relation to
this infinity. Each thing is exactly as the state of everything else allows it to be. At
infinity, the interrelationship definition of our universe is brought to completion:
Everything is Where and What it Is because of Where and What is Everything Else. This is
without exception, for all is now part of an interrelated whole. The force of
interrelations has rearranged itself exactly in relation to how has been everything else
from the beginning. Now, it is itself. No one stirred it from without.
The composition of this universe is entirely self contained, by definition, for otherwise
it would not be the ultimate totality. From this vast infinity of universal
interrelationships now flows a new definition of an idea that can think itself: It is
defining for us a single point in space.
Think what this means: Each thing, at every moment of time, is interrelated to everything
in infinity and back. At infinity, the
arrangements of the universe that have moved themselves into position have moved a thing
into the position it is in the present. But that position is meaningful in a way greater
than merely its place in space and time. If all things are assembled to infinity, then
from that vast assembly is a definition for each thing in reality. It is a definition that
is communicated from infinity in terms of how it is positioned within it in terms of the
universal totality. It is an awesome thought, for if nothing exists outside this totality
then how it is in reality is how it is defined by the image of that totality. If no motion
exists outside the totality, then how anything within reality had moved to its current
position is how it was placed in terms of everything else. Thus, each thing is moved
within the universe, if it is not self propelled or moved by an outside influence, as it
is within the totality image of the universe.
We still do not know what this means, for we cannot fathom a totality image of infinite
interrelationship. But the idea works on. It is a simple system that can span infinity,
our reality. Though our understanding of its complexity may fail us, we can know with
confidence that this same complexity is working away from us in all directions of
existence, beyond where our mind can currently understand. The greater the dimensions, the
greater the complexity of the arrangements and the greater the definitions on any single
one thing. We have come a long way from our primordial three points. However, if it is
difficult to understand interrelationship on a fairly small scale, i.e., the natural
forces of a planet, think how much more complex are the interrelationships of a universe.
But the basic mechanism of our triad works on. Independent of how we think of it,
interrelationship works on.
In sum, interrelationship spans all infinity at every moment of time, instantly. Any
change in reality is instantly recorded in the definition of what it is from totality and
is instantly rearranged in its new meaning. The change in interrelationship defining the
new arrangement instantly communicates to infinity and back. This communication with
reality is instant but it simultaneously spans time. The relations that were our universe
moments ago are in the process of becoming the relationships that will be reality moments
from now. But it is also that time is interrelated into the whole. If the universe is self
contained, then it follows that interrelationships can be understood either along their
space or time axes. In an instant can be grasped the entire interrelationship of the
universe; in the totality can be glimpsed each change of time. In interrelationship, time
and space are but facets of one another. They are related to the whole whose conditions of
existence are determined at infinity. If there are no outside movers, then past and
present and future are but conditions predetermined by the arrangement of everything to
infinity. This would leave scant room for free will and would suggest that the future can
be known.
However, as we will see, at infinity this condition has room to be altered by how we
perceive reality. We still do not know what this
means at infinity, what this idea looks like in its totality, but we have an idea that can
begin to define for us what the space-time
relationship of infinity looks like in our reality.
Thus, let us think of interrelationship as not merely an idea but as a real force that
exists between things, that defines their being and is responsible for the flow of events.
This force is defined by the conditions that have been presupposed by the arrangement of
everything else beyond the thing or event defined. Every natural arrangement or
circumstance is exactly the way it is because that is how the universe's pressure of
everything else at that moment allowed it to be. Being is a conditional thing: It is
conditional upon the state of being of everything else. Because this state of being is
infinitely complex and of infinite dimensions, nothing can exist beyond this complexity.
Nothing is random within its totality, and nothing can possibly escape from this
infinitely complex interrelationship. This is the state of being of reality. Its state of
being "knowledge" of itself is complete, knowing itself infinitely and
completely. It "moves" from within in terms of everything else. Its motion is
never random but always coordinated exactly as defined by all the other conditions of
existence within it. The "Whole" determines each one of its infinite parts, and
infinity begins to take on a new dimension, a kind of super being of interrelationships
defining itself not only in the most minute detail but also to the edges of its greatest,
most inter-galactic potential. Infinity as an interrelationship takes on a new
characteristic: It is the reason, the responsibility for the way it is within itself. At
the limit, at the totality that is infinity, this responsibility becomes more than the
itself. It begins to grow into the future. If we were to equate an interrelationship to
being similar to a thought, then what we are here describing is a universe that is moved
by its own "idea" of itself. It is a universe that can "think" itself,
infinitely so. All possible mathematical formulas, all laws of universal physics, all the
known knowledge of the mind of man, all probabilities, are "known" in the way
the interrelated super-structure of reality that is moving itself is in a way determined
by its greatest totality. It is an "Idea" aware of itself in more than merely
the level of ideas, for it is the force that defines it physically. Infinite
interrelationship is the physical idea that moves itself. Think of a universe thinking
itself. These are the dimensions that interrelationship is able to span. The result is
physical being.
Though we can but begin to conceive of such an idea, we still cannot know what an idea
that can think itself is thinking. We can think of it theoretically, think of its
structure, but we cannot actually envision an idea actually thinking of itself. We are
limited by our three dimensional world to seeing things as they are presented to us in our
immediate environment. We cannot, for example, envision the by-axial interrelationship of
space and time simultaneously. But the universe's mechanism can and does, and in so doing
defines for us our everyday reality. We can perceive reality only in a very small portion
of the universe's totality; the universe can see itself as a total reality in its
entirety. To this entirety it responds and moves itself in that entirety's image. The
power to do so is thus given over to the "mind" of the universe. We are simply
observers, our minds struggling to grasp the concepts that are defining this reality. But
if our thoughts can project themselves only into this dimension of reality, our thought's
creation of an idea of interrelationship is free to transcend reality into the realm of a
totality, multi-dimensional universe. We have given the power to our thoughts to propel
themselves beyond our limited dimensions and understanding off into the vast reaches of
reality beyond our conceptual ability. Thus we have started something: Same as we cannot
reach conceptually the limits of infinity and our minds cannot interpret definitions from
infinity that our new thoughts are creating for us, through the forces and circumstances
that are displaced by the atoms of our being, we displace that portion of reality that is
our presence, our human state of being. We still cannot know what that means, what the
universe is "thinking" of it, but we can speculate on what it is we have created
ourselves. This is the thesis underlying this book: To explore and understand free will in
relation to our space-time interrelationship definitions. We will project ourselves into
space and come back with new definitions of ourselves as a living, thinking, and conscious
species. By thinking of these things we will have launched ourselves into those dimensions
we are unable to span conceptually with our minds. We still do not know what this means,
but in some small way we have intruded our being into that state of being that defines all
things. From our basic triad, from our basic three points in an empty space, we have
launched ourselves into that infinite reality we are striving to span. Imagine an idea
that can think itself!
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