Does Matter, Really Matter?
Have you ever wondered what we are made of? I certainly have…
Around 13.8 billion years ago there may have been a bang, it could have been pretty big, was it the start of existence? Well, I am not sure…
To be honest, no one else is either. Some religious ideologies hold the belief that before the universe existed, a creator existed such as Waheguru, God, Brahma or Allah.
The supreme creator (in a kind of big bang motion) then brought the universe in to existence; sometimes from nothing and sometimes using their own body. Some cultures, like Aztecs, believed this had happened multiple times, and with each iteration of birth and death there would be a new evolution of the human societies that existed. The Buddhist perspective is that there is no beginning or end, just a constant flow of creation where everything depends on each other for existence.
Science does not really have a solid conclusion as to what the root source of the universe is either. Most people seem to agree there was some sort of big bang moment, but there are also a vast range of theories about what existed before, or what could exist at the end. If there is even an end!
I hold no immovable belief as to which perspective is right or wrong. It actually feels like they all might be right in some way.
The concept that resonates best with me most is the Buddhist perspective that everything has always existed and will continue to exist, the state is just in constant flux and flow. Bang after bang after bang after bang…
At moments like this, I like to remember my favourite quote from Socrates:
“The more I know, the more I realize I know nothing.”
Filling the Gap
The human mind is not yet evolved enough to conceive the full lifecycle of the universe. All we can do is accept what we do not know, and choose to take an optimistic view of the future. I did once hear that God exists in the space between what we do know, and what we do not know; well, that implies two things:
- The concept of “God” is used as a method to fill in knowledge gaps which in turn creates a complete understanding and alleviates our fear of the unknown
- We accept that “God” exists, but we have just not found proof of exactly what it is yet
I think that both are true, though I choose to focus on the second perspective to formulate my world view. Tying this in with my earlier thinking on energetic vibrations, God is synonymous to Life Energy. We are not collectively conscious of it yet, because we have not learned to measure and qualify it. Some of us that are starting to awaken can most certainly feel it though.
The Mountain Pathway – A Guide to Getting Life Done, is a framework for learning to feel the life energy flowing through us, learning to increase our own rate of flow and learning to increase the flow in the environment and other people around us.
It works because everything is interconnected as one. There is one universal source of energy and matter, therefore, if we have the right rules and principles, they can be applied universally too.
Scale, Perspective and Time… Zoom Out
Let’s start to understand the interconnected relationships of the universe by zooming out.
The universe is vast, so vast it is hard to comprehend. Here is some information to help explain this:
Please pause after reading each fact so you can be sure to comprehend what is being said...
The earth has a diameter of 12,742 km (that is 1.3×10-9 light years).
Our solar system has a diameter of 16.83 trillion km (1.87 light years).
Yes, that is 16,830,000,000,000 km.
So, from now on we are just going to talk in light years.
NOTE: a light year is how far light would travel in one year. The speed of light is 2,997,924 km per second.
Our solar system is just a small part of our interstellar neighbourhood which is 32.6 light years in diameter.
Which is just a small part of the Milky Way galaxy which is 105,700 light years in diameter.
Which is just a small part of our local (yes local) galactic group of galaxies which is 10 million light years in diameter.
Which is just a small part of the Virgo Supercluster of galactic groups which is 110 million light years in diameter.
Which is just a small part of our local (yes local) supercluster of super clusters which is 500 million light years in diameter.
Which is just a teeny-weeny part of the observable universe which is 93.016 billion light years in diameter.
Note the word observable. That is just the bit we can see!
Based on current scientific theory, everything expanded from a point of singularity at the moment of the big bang, and the fastest possible speed anything can travel is light speed. This means the observable universe can be measured as the maximum distance that light has travelled towards the Earth since the moment of the big bang.
And breathe, take a moment to scoop up your brain from the floor (it may have melted and dripped out of your ear- just writing this has made my face hurt!).
So, you hopefully get the picture that the universe is very big and we are very small. Now we have zoomed out, let’s zoom in…
Scale, Perspective and Time… Zoom In
When we looked at life energy, we talked about the atoms that make up the cells within our bodies. Cells within the human body are constantly dying and being replaced, even the cells that don’t die such as brain cells are constantly taking in nutrients and excreting waste. This process means that around every 5 years, every single atom in our bodies is replaced.
Pause and take a moment to consider the broom paradox:
You have a broom, the head of the broom breaks so you replace it. After a while the handle breaks too so you replace that. Is it still the same broom?
And back in the room.
Each cell in the human body contains 100 times more atoms than there are stars in the Milky Way. Multiple that by the number of cells in our bodies and that is more atoms than there are stars within the entire observable universe!
Now that is some big numbers!
As our bodies are constantly recycling atoms, and there are such large numbers involved, this brings in to play statistical probabilities like that at least 1 billion of the atoms in your body were once inside Leonardo DaVinci and another billion of the atoms were inside a dinosaur. Hey, some of them may even have been inside me!
To quote Heraclitus:
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
Atoms and their sub atomic particles are the universal building blocks of all matter. The paper or the electronic device that you are reading this from is made of atoms in the same way as your body. Trees and plants are constructed primarily of the element carbon. Human bodies are around 18% carbon. From an atomic perspective our physical bodies are homogeneous to the rest of the universe.
Your body is both the tree and the soil the tree grows from. If you consider the micro processes which give birth to and help the human body grow, and also consider the rate of atomic cycling throughout our lives; our bodies are just part of a macro process that cycles matter throughout the entire universe.
This same theory of homogeneity can be applied to life energy too.
The life energy that is flowing through me comes from, and will return to, the same source as the life energy that is flowing through you.
In the same way that the atoms within our bodies are cycled through the ecosystem of the universe, so is life energy. Ultimately at a distilled level, everything is just different states of energy and as such everything is subject to the same set principles. Everything is intrinsically part of the same ecosystem in totality.
Same Same, but Different
Where you are unique, is in the exact composition your atomic and energetic structures.
At this precise moment in time, right now, you are a single finite configuration of a particular set of atoms and the life energy flowing through you. It is true of this and every present moment.
Developing awareness of, and learning to become conscious within the present moment is a practice that is core to everything I describe in this framework. It is where you will find both the doors and the keys to unlock your potential. Mindfulness.
The past is the past, the future is yet to happen, all that truly exists is the present moment.
When your attention is focussed on the present moment, you are not being absorbed by the idle chatter your ego. Only then can you listen to the quiet little voice of honesty and virtue that speaks up in side of you. Only then can you feel and connect with every fibre of your physical body. Only then can you experience the vibration and flow of life energy through you.
There are two key concepts of time. Clock time and psychological time.
We all know the concept of clock time. Hours and minutes of the day that we use to schedule meetings and appointments. Clock time is essential for us to effectively plan and structure our lives. Being precise and universal; it assists humans to co-ordinate their efforts and work together.
Psychological time is personal. I gave insight in to it as part of the simple tip for tranquillity post. It is the generalisation of the past and future.
The human mind has a tendency to agonise over specific events in the past, and to dream about the future. We spend a lot of our time either contemplating what has happed (beating ourselves up or patting ourselves on the back) or, thinking about future possibilities (imagining how good it will be when we get there or worrying with a sense of impending doom).
The problem with psychological time is that it is not real.
I repeat: The past is the past, the future is yet to happen, all that truly exists is the present moment.
The choice that we can make
Yes, we do need to learn from our past mistakes and successes, and yes, we do need to have long term plans for what we want to do. But being consciously absorbed by them removes our focus from the only moment that truly exists. Now.
Learning to understand the energy that is flowing though us, learning to feel our vitality; can only be done in the present moment. Put it this way, you can’t make yourself wet just by thinking about jumping in to a river. You need to take action; walk up to the river, and consciously jump in to it.
There is a direct correlation between the amount of Life Energy flowing through our bodies and the level of vitality we feel. It is the same thing. The flow of life energy is a process, vitality is a measure of the rate of flow at a specific moment. Think about when you have met someone and you can feel the positive energy radiating from them, and see the sparkle in their eyes.
The greater our Vitality, the greater the amount of energy that is flowing though us. Once humans learn to better connect with our own energy, we can then identify the right behaviours and strategies to meaningfully increase our own energetic vibrations and the vibrations of everything around us.
As I mentioned in the why are we here post, I think this is the next logical step in human evolution. Unlocking the other senses our bodies have while learning to connect with each other and our environment at an energetic level.
Humans first need to become collectively conscious of this, then we can adopt it in to our cultural practices and you never know, given enough time… the behaviour may become autonomic and be imprinted within our DNA… Now that is evolution!
Whether or not you feel agreement with the logic I have outlined, the reality is, that if you learn to apply and understand the principles and tools shared in The Mountain Pathway, it will increase your sense of vitality and happiness.
The why does not matter because the benefits are real. It could be due to my reasoning, or it could be due to a completely different set of logic that my mind cannot yet comprehend.
The reason does not matter; but we do.
Enjoy, for now.