Jun 30, 2011

Is this universe really a myth?

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1.  Actually we observe the universe as well as ourselves from a completely different perspective or plane in order to establish its existence as real. If a person 'A' wants to establish the existence of an entity called 'B', he has to position himself away from 'B' and make observations about it and conclude that it exists. The universe exists precisely because the self observes it and concludes that it exists. Without the observer, the observed loses its locus standi and can not be said to exist.The self in fact is the driving force for anything to exist. Again the self has to be necessarily posited in a plane or sphere different from the universe as well as outside of the universe in order to enable the observation of the universe to be realistic. Surprisingly the self is not posited anywhere within the human body also though it functions only when the body has life in it. We always refer to our body, like, my hand, my eyes, my brain, my mind, my body etc as if the ‘me’ is posited somewhere else.

The position of self is almost like the definition of a point in mathematics where a point is defined as having no dimensions and hence imaginary. However existence of such a plane or sphere for the self becomes actually fallacious and untenable because nothing can exist outside the sphere of the universe and as such the positioning of the self in such a plane becomes mythical. Actually the self has to occupy a unique position and at the same time such a position turns out to be an imagination. It can at best be a kind of compulsory configuration in a mythical plane and has nothing to do with reality. As self which is the observer, itself turns out to be a myth, the universe which has only a secondary status as the observed one, becomes a double myth or a doubly confirmed myth. This is precisely the reason why life is basically an imagination and in effect is in an unstable equilibrium. As it is an unstable equilibrium, life has to be necessarily short lived. Thus existence of any entity turns out to be a mythical concept and existence in itself becomes a compulsive fallacy. Thus the universe transpires to be a myth and nothing but a myth.

2.    Another important reason to prove that the universe is a myth is available in our scientific understanding of matter. Curiously, the study of universe by science is based on the following assumptions:
A)   That matter is made up of atoms which in turn are made of fundamental particles like electron, proton, neutron etc. These particles have a specific mass and also specific size occupying certain volume in space. For instance, it has been determined that the mass of proton is 1836 times the mass of electron; but what exactly is there inside these particles seems to be beyond the realm of science. Here science makes a fundamental assumption that mass is a basic unit and that what the fundamental particle contains in its mass is not something for science to bother about. As per scientific assumption it is just mass and basically the building block of the universe.
B)    That the fundamental laws of Physics, like the laws of gravitation, laws of electromagnetic radiation, law of constancy of the velocity of light etc exist independent of human mind and human observation and they are real and not at all needing human observation to sustain themselves.
Modern Science especially, Quantum Mechanics has negated both the above assumptions. QM has found that there is practically nothing inside the fundamental particles and they behave more or less like packets of energy and exhibit properties of wave. Also observation alone causes reality and leads to the established behaviour of these particles (or waves?). So the physical laws can not be separated from observation. The constancy of the velocity of light for any observer, independent of the velocity of the observer is another point to establish that the velocity of light is always observer dependent. It is always the same for the observer because it can not be otherwise. Being purely a natural phenomenon, light can not distinguish between one observer and the other observer. Thus not only light, but the entire universe becomes solely observer dependent. Without the observer the myth of the universe gets exposed and it goes into oblivion.Thus, while there is nothing inside the fundamental particles, how can the universe which is made up of these fundamental particles, be anything but nothing? Thus the world appears to be so, because we observe it and perceive it like that. Independent of our mind, existence of any entity loses its meaning and becomes untenable and fallacious.

3.   Another reasoning to prove the myth of the universe is available in our experience of reality and in trying to analyse what we mean by existence of an entity in reality. When we say that an object exists, a few conditions are to be satisfied before we conclude that the object really exists. The object must be capable of being at rest as well as capable of moving from place to place. Initially a situation must exist where the said object is not present at that site or its effect is not felt by our senses and then another situation occurs when the object is brought to position itself at that site or its presence is felt by our senses. If these two conditions are satisfied, then the object is said to exist in reality. Everything within the universe satisfies these two conditions, except the individual mind and the whole universe. We can not conceive a situation where the universe as such does not exist in the first place. As this condition is not satisfied, the universe transpires to be a myth. Similarly we can not conceive a situation where the individual mind does not exist. By the same argument,the mind also turns out to be a myth.

4.     Another argument to prove the myth of the universe is available in our perception of the universe. First we make a presumption about the existence of universe and then our sensory perceptions like sight, sound and touch along with the mental process confirm this presumption. We say that an object, we see and feel, exists and our vision and other sensory perceptions confirm its existence. Never for a moment we consider the fact that only due to our sensory perceptions, the existence of the object can be established. Actually our sensory perceptions initially cause the impression in our mind and then only the existence of the object is established by our mind by interpreting the sensory perceptions as images convenient and acceptable to us. Thus while the commonly held view is that the object causes the sensory perceptions, the reality is that the sensory perceptions only cause the object to 'exist' and in reality the object exists as a part of our mind only. Thus existence of any entity, like even space, time, matter , energy become an attribute of our mind only and nothing can exist independent of our mind. Thus it can be argued that the phenomenal universe and the human mind simultaneously emerge on the scene and vanish also together at the same point of time. It is totally a mythical presumption to aver that there was this universe earlier in the first place and human mind came on to the scene subsequently.

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