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For Anaximander, the archê, or first principle, is not any of the elements—earth, water, air or fire—but that which precedes the elements (and everything else), from which the elements emerge and which they all ultimately are (see also Aristotle, Physics I.4; 187a 12: "something else which is denser than fire and rarer than air then generate everything else from this, and obtain multiplicity by condensation and rarefaction"). From it comes all things, but it is none of those things: "all the heavens and the worlds within them." Because this archê is no existing thing, but the source and foundation of them, Anaximander names it the apeiron (the infinite), by which he means that the archê is indeterminate and has no characteristics: it is before and beyond all distinctions made with respect to being. In the passage cited above, Simplicius says that Anaximander was the first to name the archê the apeiron. The Christian Apologist Hippolytus similarly explains Anaximander's position as follows: "This man said that the originating principle of existing things is a certain constitution of the infinite (apeiron), out of which the heavens are generated, and the worlds therein; and that this principle is eternal and undecaying, and comprising all the worlds....This person declared the infinite (apeiron) to be an originating principle and element of existing things" (Refut. 1.5).
originally posted by: MystikMushroom
The "everything that is everything" (that's really the only term for it) is basically playing with itself -- to and from infinity. In order to do this though, it has to wipe any memory of itself from (itself) the players.
What good would experiencing everything that can be experienced if you remembered where you came from and who you are...?
In a nutshell we are all shards of the infinite -- and there are an infinite number of these shards, each given amnesia that they were once a part of (and will eventually go back to) the infinite.
originally posted by: Jimjolnir
a reply to: Apollumi
AAAAnyway. I like the whole simulation idea, but I don't like it. Maybe I'm scared that I don't 'exist', like, for reals. But I really hope it's more natural than that, e.g. we get advanced enough to see the other side of the universe, other dimensions, whatever, and we just go "wow, that's how it works". I wanted that knowledge so bad as a kid. I don't worry too much about the 'why', I just want to know how. Then maybe the 'why' might make sense. Honestly? "Why?" ...because
originally posted by: nOraKat
a reply to: lavatrance
I would not measure him by the amount of money he made.
originally posted by: Apollumi
a reply to: BO XIAN
K, I'll go first (or not). I've often wondered the same thing. Most of us have I imagine. Not a simulation with a metal data spike in the back of your head but something much craftier.
I have read thousands of NDE accounts. This is where most people tune me out. In NDE as soon as the body shuts down 'pop' out you come and you see things in a "more" vivid way and reality becomes much more intense. You see the reality of where you came from as something like a dream. How many times I have I read an account where after they left they knew they were home and that life after death was the more true reality? Many..