Annotations of the All

[Siblesz]

This will form a compilation of universal 'truths' that the great sages of the past stumbled upon (with the help of magic herbs) and that repetitions of the present have expanded upon after re-discovering their significance within the greater context of things.

o-The Circle-o
History depicts it, science explains it, philosophy thinks it, and psychology reflects it. The idea of the infinite revolutions of the circle first arrose in written history after Siddharta Buddha reflected upon its essence while meditating below the Bodhi tree and continued its realization by preaching the message to his followers. The circle embodies all things - it is the representation of eternity, the assimilation of life and death through an endless stroke, and the all-embodying nature of the universe. From war and peace, to winter and spring, from extreme to extreme: the circle is irrefutable. Fate is one with the circle. The circle begins and ends in the same origin, but the origin lies everywhere. There is no beginning or end to the circle. Although the circle might expand and contract, its original construct, its roots, if you will, will always remain the same. One molecule reflects a human being. One solar system, a galaxy. An atom, the universe. It all boils down to the unending cycle of the circumference of the circle. And there in lies the 'alltruth'. A villager is one with a billionaire. Jack the Ripper is Mother Teresa. Atheism is theism. Islam is Christianity. Americans are Iraqis. Everything is nothing. The circle defines all things from its eternal revolutions. We are all part of its constant flow. There is no free will. There is the revolution of the circle. It constructs us. It defines us. It destroys us. It gives us life. It gives us meaning. It gives us death. From end to end. From end to end. From end to end.



-Freedom is Slavery-

Made famous by George Orwell's 1984, the realization that freedom is slavery has been a dogmatic philosophy of man since Katal Huyuk. Elders instated religion to limit man to an imaginary set of boundaries. Politicians created law for the same objective. Society has represented a constant struggle to suppress man's desire for freedom. Those who attain freedom of mind suffer for it. It is congruent to the concept of the circle. One extreme represents the other. Everything is nothing. Freedom is slavery.

Imagine a bird in a cage. The bird is not free, but he knows his territory well. It will understand its limits. It will be restrained by metal on one end, and metal on the other. It will learn to be fed at a coordinate hour. It will learn to socialize within the limits of its cage. It will live a restricted life, and hence, a predicted one. Liberate the bird, and it will have vast expanse to fly over. Yet it will still limit itself. It will imagine its own boundaries in order to predict its own path. It will fly over restricted territory and it will follow other birds to control its environment. We are like the bird. We are born in a village that most of us will never leave. We find pleasure in knowing where home is, at what time we will eat, sleep, and entertain ourselves in. Our mental limits free us from the load of freedom.

Slavery of mind gives us comfort. It forbids thought and provides us with predictability, and hence, peace of mind. Unlike the bird, however, man acquired the instrument of doubt. Doubt is the end of mental slavery. Once attained, we may no longer guide ourselves through the limitations of our realities like the bird. And once unchained, mental slavery cannot be taken back. Mental freedom is a vast expanse of unknown that has no walls. It is an arduous trial to live in freedom of mind for we cannot fully comprehend the unknown. Freedom destroys our mental boundaries and makes us confront the unlimited. And though we may be unlimited in mind, we are limited in body. Man cannot fully understand that which he cannot feel. We cannot feel the unknown. This freedom has created in us a struggle of mind that will cease only in death. The conclusion to this doubt finds itself with the realization of the circle, but understanding the circle takes more than thought; it takes the completion of the revolution.



-Salvation in Perdition-

He who stares into the black abyss knows well that the faith in which he buries his hope, his soul, and his mind is lost forevermore. He who doubts all, doubts oneself. All lost in the whince of a searching eye. And hence, the trail that once seemed so clear is now lost in mist, hidden by the image of true darkness. Lost is he who cannot walk for his visage has been blurred by question. Lost is he who stares into the pit and finds only his stark self in reflection. Blinded by the vision of the hole, he is now lost where he once thought he was found. Nevermore will light shine upon his path. Nevermore will he find solution to his madness. Fear will confound his trail in circles as he seeks to find himself once again. Despair will stumble on his step as he walks with blinded eyes. He will fall with the abyss. Down in spirals he will go. Spinning into nothingness his thoughts will go. Reaching bottom, he will find dirt - agony as its foundation. And yet, once dirt smears his face and mixes with his tears, he will stand again, held by that which he discarded long before he stared at that which made him fall. For in time of deepest perdition, a bright light shines, appearing deep inside the hole of darkness. It leads to whence it begun. For whence life springs, death reeks. And from whence death reeks, life springs. Thus the cycle is complete.

[Amorphos]

Interesting thread! I would ask if the circle removes free will though. Does not every thing have its own 'universal inertia', in other words you as an entity 'do as though wilt' as do all other entities that compose the environment, none of which have complete dominion over the other, they only have partial control over other entities. even in cases where one entity is subordinate to another as like our cells are to our bodies which in turn are controlled by we the 'guider' [and the observer etc.], it remains the case that they still have their own inner guider or inertia [for particles].


.

[Siblesz]

Interesting thread! I would ask if the circle removes free will though. Does not every thing have its own 'universal inertia', in other words you as an entity 'do as though wilt' as do all other entities that compose the environment, none of which have complete dominion over the other, they only have partial control over other entities. even in cases where one entity is subordinate to another as like our cells are to our bodies which in turn are controlled by we the 'guider' [and the observer etc.], it remains the case that they still have their own inner guider or inertia [for particles].


.

Don't be troubled by specifity. Think of the revolution of the circle. If the circle starts and ends in the same place, then nothing we do will change its course. It might increase or decrease the size of the circle, but the circle will keep on moving. Sure, there is "limited" free will, but not within the context of the revolution. And to add a pleb quote: Size doesn't matter.

[Tom Paine]

Determinism all the way, huh, Siblesz? What we do cannot affect anything so may as well do nothing; the philosophy justifying apathy, justifying anything. Equally it seems to say we are all the same; tell that to the poor man grubbing for food, or to Bill Gates. No, I don't see the truth nor the logic behind this argument, sorry.

[Siblesz]

Determinism all the way, huh, Siblesz? What we do cannot affect anything so may as well do nothing; the philosophy justifying apathy, justifying anything. Equally it seems to say we are all the same; tell that to the poor man grubbing for food, or to Bill Gates. No, I don't see the truth nor the logic behind this argument, sorry.

That's because you are confounding logic with sentimentality.

Added 'Freedom is Slavery'.

[Amorphos]

Agreed. But... fundamentally the circle doesn't actually have a beginning nor end! If we travelled the length of the universe we would not end up in the same place, as everything is in motion so even after one moment of time the same place would not exist. This shows how the circle cannot be tied to beginnings nor endings – there are only middles, just as the universe has no actual beginning nor end esp, in absolute terms.

so with the removal of 'the ties that bind' perhaps we have as much freedom as is apparent in our little holistic world.

[Siblesz]

Agreed. But... fundamentally the circle doesn't actually have a beginning nor end! If we travelled the length of the universe we would not end up in the same place, as everything is in motion so even after one moment of time the same place would not exist. This shows how the circle cannot be tied to beginnings nor endings – there are only middles, just as the universe has no actual beginning nor end esp, in absolute terms.

so with the removal of 'the ties that bind' perhaps we have as much freedom as is apparent in our little holistic world.

Eternity never has a beginning or an end, of course.

And yes, we have as much free will as is apparent in our little realities, but I don't define free will as choosing ice cream over a lollipop. I define it as that which is intrinsic in the cycle. As earlier noted, size doesn't matter. Sure, choosing one path over the other will affect our limited lives, but it will not affect the revolution of the circle.

The most obvious example is, of course, death. We cannot evade death. It is part of the cycle. We have no choice over its coming. We may postpone it, we may develop cures for cancer, or lose some weight, but death will come to us all. And let's not be morbid about it, either. It's just another part of the cycle. To accept death is to accept life. Living in postponing is just another way of saying "denial".

[wilpuri]

Fascinating stuff, Sibs.

"Freedom & Slavery", despite the provocative comparison you used, is much like the struggle between the individual & the collective, the animal in man & society in man. "Freedom" as a term is tricky, we need to know what we mean by it. Is it total freedom, complete independence from other actors and parties? For such Freedom surely never existed in any form.

[Ummon]

In truth, the reason why the circle is omnipresent in religious, mystical and philosophical representations, is that it is how our mind works.



INPUT ----> ASSIMILATION OF INPUT ----> ACCOMMODATION TO INPUT ----> RETROACTIVELY MODIFIES INPUT



And this is also a quaternity, by the way. The squaring of the circle.

[Amorphos]

The mind doesn't always work like that ummon old chum, it can be like; input ---> cancel out input [via meditative techniques] let the mind rest in stillness ---> allow new input from extraneous sources. Hallelujah we have wisdom from beyond out primary inputs. Amongst other mind strains. 'input' itself covers a lot of ground. interesting point though!

The circle represents ordinary strains of thought but not all strains of thought, just as it does not represent all natures of existence e.g. Infinity [being that which breaks the circle], the field/plane and the point.

[Ummon]

The mind doesn't always work like that ummon old chum, it can be like; input ---> cancel out input [via meditative techniques] let the mind rest in stillness ---> allow new input from extraneous sources. Hallelujah we have wisdom from beyond out primary inputs. Amongst other mind strains. 'input' itself covers a lot of ground. interesting point though!

The circle represents ordinary strains of thought but not all strains of thought, just as it does not represent all natures of existence e.g. Infinity [being that which breaks the circle], the field/plane and the point.

Eliminating input is a form of input. It merely limits input to inner input infact: there are inputs coming from the inside as well. This modifies the mind, which learns to work on inner input, without trusting outer input. This is why meditation causes certain effects.

[Tom Paine]

No, that is complete freedom of the mind within given physical parameters. And there is a difference between that and complete freedom of the mind.

[Siblesz]

Salvation in Perdition added.

[Silver Guard]

He who stares into the black abyss knows well that the faith in which he buries his hope, his soul, and his mind is lost forevermore. He who doubts all, doubts oneself.

I disagree, as an Empirist I believe that it is impossible to know anything exists except myself (not my physical body, but my mental self) "I think therefore I am", I doubt all, except myself.

Lost is he who cannot walk for his visage has been blurred by question. Lost is he who stares into the pit and finds only his stark self in reflection. Blinded by the vision of the hole, he is now lost where he once thought he was found.

Again I disagree, not lost, but begone the assumptions and certain certainties he once knew so well, he has lost any chance of acceptance yes, for to accept northing is impossible, yet nothing is certain, is itself impossible to grasp and continue a normal existance.

Nevermore will light shine upon his path. Nevermore will he find solution to his madness. Fear will confound his trail in circles as he seeks to find himself once again. Despair will stumble on his step as he walks with blinded eyes. He will fall with the abyss. Down in spirals he will go. Spinning into nothingness his thoughts will go. Reaching bottom, he will find dirt - agony as its foundation. And yet, once dirt smears his face and mixes with his tears, he will stand again, held by that which he discarded long before he stared at that which made him fall. For in time of deepest perdition, a bright light appears, shining in a hole of darkness. It will lead him to whence he begun. For whence life springs, death reeks. And from whence death reeks, life springs. Thus the cycle is complete.

A hypocricy no? That he is beyond solution and light, and yet finds it once more?

Except my nickpicking the imagary used here is quite inspiring, thankyou for a great read!

[Siblesz]

I disagree, as an Empirist I believe that it is impossible to know anything exists except myself (not my physical body, but my mental self) "I think therefore I am", I doubt all, except myself.

It's a contradiction. If you doubt all, all includes you as well. I think I am not, therefore I am not.

Again I disagree, not lost, but begone the assumptions and certain certainties he once knew so well, he has lost any chance of acceptance yes, for to accept northing is impossible, yet nothing is certain, is itself impossible to grasp and continue a normal existance.

He will continue a normal existence, but the stark reality of nothingness will blind him into oblivion. Of course, he will still know what drinking water means, and how to walk, but he won't value anything and will only do things out of instinct, not out of desire to do them.

A hypocricy no? That he is beyond solution and light, and yet finds it once more?

The circle is a hypocrisy in itself. The best example is the line, "For whence life springs, death reeks. And from whence death reeks, life springs." It follows the same philosophy of "everything is nothing and nothing is everything". The cycle is represented by two extremes. They are one and the same for they make the revolution of the circle complete. The way to defeat the hypocrisy is to identify both extremes of the solution, and trace them back to the same source. So when the man can no longer lift himself out of desperation and despair, nothing will remain. So everything remains with it.

Except my nickpicking the imagary used here is quite inspiring, thankyou for a great read!

No problem.

[Silver Guard]

It's a contradiction. If you doubt all, all includes you as well. I think I am not, therefore I am not.

Not entirely, I am certain of the existance of my mind, else I could not think nor apreciate the things around me, real or not. Yet the world I see is by no means real, it could be a figment of my imagination or something placed there by exterior sources.

He will continue a normal existence, but the stark reality of nothingness will blind him into oblivion. Of course, he will still know what drinking water means, and how to walk, but he won't value anything and will only do things out of instinct, not out of desire to do them.

I desire many things, such as mental and physical fulfillment, that is my goal, as it is for most, yet I have no illusions on reality, I just choose to ignore them.

The circle is a hypocrisy in itself. The best example is the line, "For whence life springs, death reeks. And from whence death reeks, life springs." It follows the same philosophy of "everything is nothing and nothing is everything". The cycle is represented by two extremes. They are one and the same for they make the revolution of the circle complete. The way to defeat the hypocrisy is to identify both extremes of the solution, and trace them back to the same source. So when the man can no longer lift himself out of desperation and despair, nothing will remain. So everything remains with it.

And such is the reason for my disagreement, I cannot agree with something which cannot agree with itself.

[Siblesz]

My headache does not allow me to go to sleep, so I continue to eye this damned thread....

Not entirely, I am certain of the existance of my mind, else I could not think nor apreciate the things around me, real or not. Yet the world I see is by no means real, it could be a figment of my imagination or something placed there by exterior sources.

Your mind could be a figment of someone else's imagination.

And such is the reason for my disagreement, I cannot agree with something which cannot agree with itself.

It fully agrees with itself. It follows Newton's Third Law: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Hypocrisy doesn't necessarily equate fallacy. It merely depicts the two sides of a single coin.

Now, back to sleep, or so I hope.

[Tom Paine]

It's a contradiction. If you doubt all, all includes you as well. I think I am not, therefore I am not.

This is making a false assumption about what Descartes says. He is not making an inductive argument; his argument would be both circular and missing a premise for this to be the case, and Descartes would know this, being a logician himself. It is a self-verifying statement; I am because I think, rather than therefore; he presents it better in his cogito in the Meditations (M2, for that matter), so it wuold be more fruitful to look there than attack it based on misconception.

By the by; I doubt is part of I think; so dubting yourself demonstrates you exist.


SG... rationalist, not empiricist; empiricism is the belief that all knowledge is acquired through experience, not interalised processes; in fact you quoted the ultimate rationalist's tract!

Rationalism/Empiricism debate split to here.

[Da Skinna]

The cyclical nature of the universe has always been something I've pondered privately, whether sitting in class, sitting at home, walking around, or in one of many drug or alcohol induced stupors: everything at its core comes full circle.

Siblez: What do you do for a living, are these things you post here, all of very good quality, something you've come up with and researched and then displayed, or... what? I'm very interested.

[Siblesz]

The cyclical nature of the universe has always been something I've pondered privately, whether sitting in class, sitting at home, walking around, or in one of many drug or alcohol induced stupors: everything at its core comes full circle.

Siblez: What do you do for a living, are these things you post here, all of very good quality, something you've come up with and researched and then displayed, or... what? I'm very interested.

I'm an English teacher in China for now. Maybe next year I'll go into college. For now, I'm just an observer, musing about the world around me. There's no method to the way I philosophize. Whenever I have a thought, I write it down. Being inspired is the one thing that really holds me back from writing more, for though I could write pages on end about the cycle of the universe, I will only attempt to do so when I feel passionate enough to sit on my ass and type.