Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Cosmic Continuum

A CIRCLE HAS only one centre. But the cosmic circle,
being infinite, has an infinite number of centres, and each
one is the centre of the whole, which, on account of its
infinitude, is neither a circle nor not a circle, so that its
centre, also, is neither a centre nor not a centre.

Therefore the centre, being ubiquitous, is itself the
circle, and the notion of individual centres of individual
circles within the infinite circle is a vain and superfluous
concept.

Metaphysically such is a diagram of the cosmos, and
a simple illustration of the position of phenomenal beings
in a five-dimensional phenomenal universe, in which they
are neither something nor nothing, neither centres nor not
centres—for they are at the same time the centre and the
whole.

~From: Open Secret by Wei Wu Wei

15 comments:

Strategicus said...

very refined layout,God Bless You

Agha

Sophia said...

That is very kind of you. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

I could not extract anything from this. Can you give me a little help?

Sophia said...

I think it is a good example of how, no matter how hard we try, we can not imagine the universe in our minds. We try to give it shape, we try to define it using our five senses, but it is really formless and indescribable. It is beyond space and time.

This is just what I got from the chapter. I used to imagine that every point is a center.

I would like to hear what you or others gleaned from this.

jh said...

the biographer of BLACK ELK
spoke of a visit
to black elk and the old
chief took him to a high hill
in nebraska which he described
as the center of the world
when they reached the summit john g neihardt asked black elk
how do you know this is the center of the world?
and black elk replied
just look around

V said...

Waste of words!
Meaningless. Too much thinking. Or too little.
Nonsense. Stupid chan master! ;)

V said...

Go to bed early. Sleep well.

Sophia said...

JH, when I read that last night it gave me chills. How beautiful! Is the entire book _Black Elk Speaks_ like this?

Sophia said...

Siegfried,

I confess! I spend a lot of time intellectualizing spiritual things. I understand the difference between intellectualizing and experiencing, though. My intellectual pursuits have spurred any spiritual growth that I have made. Or perhaps I should say, "inspired".

Chan master? Sheer synchronistic brilliance!!! Just tonight I watched "The Forbidden Kingdom" on DVD, in which Jackie Chan is a martial arts master.

jh said...

black elk speaks
is a pretty amazing book

neihardt wrote some
interesting lyrics as well

pax

j

Anonymous said...

Sophia,

Your thoughts about the Universe...

One thing that is known from cosmology is that the farther you look the faster things seem to be moving away from us, radially in all directions. Finally, at the causal horizon, things (galaxies)seem to be moving away at the speed of light. Cosmologists are fairly certain more space lies beyond it very similar in structure to that which we ca see. But there is no known way to ever determine what this space past the CH is like. When you see any astronomer refer to "The Universe", s/he usually means as far as we can see (to the CH). You'll hardly ever see anyone mention that there is space "beyond" the Universe. (It's the same on the Earth, you can see to the horizon, but there is much more terrain out there beyond it you can't see).

donstockbauer *attt* hotmail.com

Sophia said...

Hi Don,

Having recently read online that there is a theory that the universe is finite and shaped like a soccer ball, by your statement I assume it is also believed to be expanding.

When I say "beyond the Universe", I mean not only anything physical beyond the universe, but things not in the physical realm.

Anonymous said...

Sophia,

What do you consider to be not in the physical realm?

I can get along with just the physical world, but if people want to believe in non-physical phenomena, then those beliefs should be allowed.

donstockbauer *att* hotmail.com

Sophia said...

Perhaps I should have worded it differently.

It's not a matter of what is not in the physical realm, it is a matter of what the physical realm is in.

Anonymous said...

Sophia,

An interesting development in science is that you can have physical processes such as neurons signaling neurons, and that produces results which we call non-physical, or spiritual. Such as thoughts, love, feelings, emotions. The power of emergent phenomena arising from a substrate.

donstockbauer *attt* hotmail.com