Questions
- Does god or the big some-sort-of-a-something have a consciousness?
- What constitutes your body?
- When does a nacho become “you”?
- Are you really what you eat?
- Stop it, seriously.
So, today I’ll be discussing my emerging theory of what the totality of existence may be. Some like to call it god, but that word is so laden with baggage and implied meaning; I typically try to avoid it. Yet, it’s as good a term as any other so be aware that anytime I use it, unless stated, I’m not referring to a specific god or even a personal god. It’s a label for the unnameable.
After reading this theory of the big some-sort-of-a-something, you may have a few reactions. First, some will think me ridiculous. Others will think its sacrilege while still others will say, “No shit! It’s obvious.”
To me, however, this recent personal revelation is exciting. It seemed to be staring me in the face for the longest time without me knowing. I like these sorts of “eureka moments”, actually I live for them. I especially like them when they’ve been hiding in plain view because the moment of realization is similar to getting a joke. It’s hilarious and it makes me feel stupid.
Kneelers, Squares and Kooks
These days, it seems that people fall into approximately 3 groups, “religiously”. There are those that maintain an older view of god, be it Jehovah, Shiva or any other personal god. These folks imagine god as some kind of spirit-person, all-seeing and knowing, etc. For these sorts of people in America, typically, god has some definite opinions/rules on how to live life. He/She is involved directly in our day to day life and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll bow in worship. Let’s call these people the Kneelers.
Then there is the opposition to this view held by atheists. In their world, god doesn’t seem plausible – hell, it seems ridiculous. So, for them, the world is meaningless and we all die alone. For these guys, life is a big pool game with things crashing into each other and life is essentially mechanical in nature. Everything must be scientifically proven to be valid. Life is a dull torture from birth to death. I’ll call these peeps the Squares.
Finally, in my heavily generalized division of religious thought, there are what I’ll call the Kooks. The Kooks eat at the buffet table of religious thought. They mix and match appealing ideas from various metaphysical schools. They, more often, don’t belong to organized religion and they certainly don’t belong to the local established religion (perish the thought!). These are the “intellectual spiritualists” who often have a very nebulous idea of god. God is a some-sort-of-a-something.
Now, I’m certainly painting with broad strokes here and there are many mixes and facets not represented. For the purposes of what I’m talking about, it’ll have to do. An important thing to note is that each group looks down at the others in its own way. The Kneelers think the Squares are sinful and the Kooks are sacrilege. They wag their fingers in disapproval. The Squares view the Kneelers as delusional and the Kooks as hippies who need to grow up and get a job. They scowl at the opposition and turn up their noses. Finally, the Kooks stroke themselves by viewing the other groups as only having part of the picture. They laugh at the others, thus trivializing their views.
In an effort for full disclosure, I submit myself as a Kook. I admit that my way is no better than any other, but the mere fact that I’m on this path seems to indicate that I find it in someway superior. Granted, it’s only superior for “me” and this way may be perfectly useless for someone of a different disposition. Nonetheless, as much as I’d like to be all-accepting and all-encompassing of all beliefs, it seems out of my capacity.
So, why have I said all this? First, it helps to have contrasting views to show just how my view works. Also, I think it’s important to see how I view other views because it is in context that my view grows. Perhaps it will be easier to understand my line of thinking if one sees my preconceptions and prejudices. In other words, you need light to see darkness and we can’t deal with one without the other.
My Old View
Also, in order to contrast my new idea, I’ll submit my older view. I’ve not necessarily abandoned this idea of the grand some-sort-of-a-something, but before I was more hardnosed about it. These days, it’s still plausible to me, but so is the new idea.
In a nutshell, I believed in an impersonal god. I felt that given the ever so intricate ways in which all things are related and dependent on each other is a form of unity. This unity means that, in a way of thinking, I am the same as you and that plant and that rock.
When a biologist studies an organism, he/she cannot study it in isolation. It is only in context to its environment that one can fully understand how an organism works. Thus, he studies a field of pattern called an organism-environment. The environment doesn’t push the organism around and conversely the organism doesn’t push the environment around. They are symbiotic and one cannot exist without the other. There can be no predator without prey.
I felt and still feel this interconnectedness is profound and applicable to all life. You can’t even think about anything without an opposite to contrast it with. So, if all is connected and basically one happening, then we can conceive that whatever the marvelous some-sort-of-a-something is, that we are it. We are god, whatever that means. I still hold this belief.
What is currently up for debate in my noggin is what exactly IS the super some-sort-of-a-something? Quite some time ago I dropped the idea of this being conscious and self-aware. It seemed more plausible that it was some kind of indescribable happening; a sort of gooey energy that kept everything happening. I couldn’t conceive of a god that cared whether I was good or evil and that would create me with all these desires, only to forbid me to indulge in them. Such a god seems like a real dick, to be frank. An all-knowing and infinitely just god is being rather unreasonable if he has created me with sinful tendencies and will damn me forever if I act on them.
I still can’t get on with that idea of god but because I was repulsed by that idea originally, I also rejected the idea of a personal or conscious god all together. I threw the baby out with the bathwater. So, this new theory is the exploration of a consciousness at the top of life.
You are the Poo
So, before we get to my theory on god or whatever name you have for it, I’d like to share the foundations for this idea of the everything-that-is. First, let’s note that a Square would say there is no evidence for god. The Kneeler would say there is. The Kook might say there is no evidence to suggest that there is no god. Forever ambiguous…
I’d say that while, like anything else, there is no absolute proof of either view, there is “proof” of a possibility. We could devise inferences based on any number of local, observable phenomena. I’ll be using the human body this time around. So first, let’s get a grip on what we define as the human body.
Let’s think about what actually constitutes our bodies. Most people think that our body is sack of skin with bones muscles and organs – basically. We think that this is one thing, a unit – but if that unit requires other things to sustain that unit (the pattern of a living organism) is the mere flesh the extent of that unit? If you’re eating a plate of nachos, at what point does that nacho become you?
Let’s take the journey of a cheese covered nacho chip (with a nice green jalapeño on top!). First it’s on your plate – certainly it’s something other than you at this moment. Correct? I disagree, but let’s keep going.
You place it in your mouth and begin chewing, saliva is secreted and even now digestion begins. Your teeth are breaking down that delicious delectable into smaller bits and your saliva is beginning to break things down at a smaller level. Are we still separate chip and person? Most folks think about this scenario as a chip IN the mouth, but not the same unit (a chip-mouth or a chip-body). Really? Okay, I’ll play along.
Once sufficiently chewed, you swallow and down the esophagus it goes into the stomach. Here it swims in gastric acid and enzymes. Small molecules (for example alcohol, if this were beer and not a nacho) are absorbed in the stomach. Are we chip-person yet? I hear you saying that part of the chip is now us or perhaps you say that part of the chip has given us energy/fuel, as if our energy was separate from our body. But, the rest of the chip is still not us! Gosh, you’re meticulous aren’t you?
Our next stop is the small intestine, most of the digestion/absorption occurs here. Then the waste is pushed on to the large intestine and afterwards, you guessed it – POO! Well, you’ll prolly say that the poo was the part that isn’t and never was us, while the other parts became us at the moment of absorption. Or further still, some will say it gave the body fuel but is somehow still not the body.
This is because a lot of people view the body as analogous to a car. It’s some kind of contraption that you put food in one end and get poo on the other. Just as you put gas one end of a car and get exhaust from the other. Though the food/gas is the fuel needed for locomotion, it is not the mechanism itself. I think this is crazy talk, but then again, I’m a Kook. Bare with me.
Body as Pattern
Ultimately, I see what we call “things” as sustainable patterns. To borrow a metaphor, we call the flame of a candle a “thing”, but is the flame on a candle the same flame as was in that locale 10 minutes ago? Or even ten seconds? A flame is a chemical reaction releasing heat and light. It is an event, happening or a pattern. Yet this pattern keeps going for a time and thus becomes sort of a constant. I see all life as these kinds of patterns and the human body is no different.
There is a turnover of cells in your body happening all the time. From what I understand, the frequency of this turnover varies from tissue to tissue, the “longest living” of these happens in your brain. Regardless, the body is forever in a state of change. You are not the exact person you were yesterday. Your pattern is roughly the same and thus identifiable, but nonetheless “you” are not the same. It is this change that gives you life. You are a whirlpool or a cloud.
So, if we consider the body a pattern, we can think of anything that is required to keep the pattern going as part of the pattern. A flame needs a candle to keep flaming. A whirlpool needs water to keep whirling. A human needs food and many other things to keep humaning. Without food you would very quickly cease to be a human and soon be a corpse. So, food is a requirement for humaning. In this way, we can see that nacho on your plate as part of your pattern.
Now, we could extrapolate this indefinitely (humans need air, so the air is you, we need the earth, etc.) and reach some interesting thoughts. Let’s table these for now because it’s off the beaten path from where I’m going (though we should discuss this later in detail). What is important at this moment is that we can see that separate things can be a whole.
Let’s go back to our digestive system. Did you know you have animals living inside your belly? Bacteria in the intestines help break down food into bits “your body” can use. Were it not for these bacteria, you’d be screwed in a big way. The process of digestion is vitally dependent on them. Yet, we call them something “other” than the body. Isn’t that funny? We refer to it as a symbiotic relationship. We swallow food, which feeds the bacteria and the bacteria poop out stuff that we can eat. You don’t even eat your own food! How strange!
So, if we can’t sustain the human pattern without bacteria, I’m compelled to see them as part of me. Well, let’s go the other direction and take an example which we ordinarily think of as our body. White bloods cells are considered us in the ordinary way of thinking. They’re wonderful little guys. They’re like little knights fighting off bad bacteria, fungus, parasites and all that. But, do you tell them which one’s to battle? Well, not consciously at least. They just do their thing. They fight infection because that’s what white blood cells do. Well, everything in your body is, in a way of looking, doing just that. Your body is like a massive community of autonomous cells which have organized themselves in a marvelous way as to be your body.
Cosmic Conscious Intelligence
Now, what am I getting at? Well, think of your conscious attention, the portion of your process that you so closely identify with. It’s a very small part of what is going on. More importantly, it is only sustainable because of the autonomous actions of millions of itty bitty guys. Without your body there would be no mind. How does this relate to my budding personal theory on the big some-sort-of-something?
Well if a bunch of cells and bacteria, each serving its own ends, when combined grows a brain which grows an intelligence, who’s to say that if you could zoom out to the totality of existence, that all these galaxies and seemingly separate things don’t grow some kind of cosmic brain? I feel the need to restate that in some official kind of way:
If the body, being made of individual autonomous constituents, can result in an intelligence, then the entire scope of existence being also made of individual autonomous constituents, may also result in an intelligence.
Now, you’ll notice I’ve put a big “may” in there. As stated before, this is not proof of god, only proof of a possibility.
Time to Repent?
Now, before someone uses this to start hitting people over the heads with the good book, there are some significant notes to make. Let’s say for the sake argument, that this in fact true. The totality of existence has a consciousness. Some may think that means that god wants us to be good people and follow the ten commandments, etc. This is a broad and unwarranted jump.
Let’s go back to our bodies. As previously noted, you don’t consciously “will” your cells to do certain things. In fact most of what your body does eludes your conscious mind. You can observe the overall body, but you can’t wag your finger at a white blood cell if it stops performing its “duties”.
So, in the just the same way that we are not really aware of our little “disciples” there is a good chance that if there is a Cosmic Conscious Intelligence, it also doesn’t really “know” about us. That’s not to say that a CCI couldn’t know about us, either seems plausible. For whatever the great some-sort-of-something is or isn’t, at this juncture it is beyond our ability to comprehend it fully. All of our explanations are mere symbols pointing to a reality we seem unfit to fully grasp.
Forever ambiguous…
Jerry Springer’s Final Thought
Don’t turn your nose up at your poo,
For that dirty turd is in-fact you!
I’m sure it’s true, through and through,
Boo-dee boop dee boop-dee boo!
