The vastness of the universe - getting lost in thought.

It is a shift from feeling like a person who has a life to the realization that there is only is life.

a reply to: Itisnowagain

I am not hoping for anything else but the true understanding and true being.

Well maybe your thinking is right and you are correct and I can't say ether way because I have not yet experienced that, so lets leave it at that. ...pun intended

There are more types of self-realization and maybe that is causing the difference in our opinion. For instance yogis describe four types of liberation. Each one is great and an amazing achievement but only one brings complete understanding of absolute reality.

Ramana Maharshi was said to be one of the modern people who have been fully self realized and he gave many of his lessons in silence he was even famous for it. People were saying that even if you were only around him you would feel peace deep within you. Animals would show intelligence around him like they understand each other somehow, etc...

I sincerely doubt that modern (western) teachers of advita vedanta have reached as far in understanding of the reality as he was. At least no one has made such an impact as him on the people around him. That is why I am always doubtful of anyone today who has something to say on the subject but I like to learn from anyone but get to my own conclusions.

And as far as this debate is concerned I feel that we will not come to a full closure. We have a bit different view as to what the end result of self-realization means. But that is OK, we each have our own experiences and from that different conclusions.
It was great to read your thoughts!

"The universe cannot be explained - it is a miracle. How do you explain a miracle, a mystery?" Mooji.

originally posted by: UniFinity

We have a bit different view as to what the end result of self-realization means. But that is OK, we each have our own experiences and from that different conclusions.
It was great to read your thoughts!

It was good to hear your understanding too.

The vastness of the universe is certainly difficult for our limited minds to comprehend, minds which are used to comparatively tiny distances and working within a limited and finite enclosure (the Earth). All the sand grains on all the beaches on the Earth still don't even make up a tiny fraction of the known universe, never mind what's unkown.

I believe the Universe - if real - has to be infinite. If not, then we will some day traverse it (when humanity has finally found a way to quickly cover those vast distances), and we will find that there is an end point in the universe. What will it be - the biggest wall in all creation? A stop sign saying end of the road? A loop returning us to the start of our travels, like it's one big circle? Or just empty nothingness - no stars, no planets, no dark matter or anything else. But even that emptiness has to have something or we would not be able to see it, traverse it or pass it - it would act like a physical barrier.

However ................................... what our universe actually is would greatly affect my perception of what infinity means.

If we're not in a hologram or computer simulation, and everything out there is 'real' - that's some vast distance we have to cover. With endless and infinite potential to find other planets, other life and so on. We could travel until the end of time and still have that fruitless feeling that true infinity brings - there's a neverending stream of more planets and more life to find. We can never reach a point where we could say we've now mapped 10% of the universe, for example, because it truly has no end.

If we were part of a giant computer simulation, that changes things somewhat. Not for us on a day to day basis - I'm still going to get up tomorrow, go for a coffee and then do some work as usual - but in terms of our perception. A simulation could create a false illusion of distance. To use a simple example, it would be like computer games where we driving into a landscape and it just keeps looping until the game ends - remember the old Sega Outrun game? That landscape keeps scrolling, and you'd feel like you were driving forever. However we'd quickly realise that the same landmarks would pass over and over, so we're know that we weren't actually driving into new areas in the game - it was just seamlessly looping us back. Now picture a computer simulation being run by machines thousands (maybe millions) of years more advanced than us, and not being restricted by processing power or the size of data involved - they could create a digital universe so complex and advanced to tiny beings like us that we would never realise it's the same thing over and over. It sounds silly, but that to me is slightly more believable than a universe with absolutely no end.

a reply to: elgaz

Interesting, isn't it? when you apply logical thought to it you come to a conclusion of a holograph or a computer simulation. That is the only thing it makes sense to the mind.

But you know what is funny?

All old mystic are describing just THAT but with other words! For instance, Buddhist are teaching that absolute reality is emptiness and from this is all that! -> the universe and everything else. Nothing is outside this emptiness.

then there are Yogis with their therm Brahma or the Taoist with the Tao and so on...

And then also some irony because we want to get to the end with thought and body and are totally forgetful of other side of things - emptiness which is completely beyond body and thought because we are a part of that since the beginning where body and mind were non existent.