Why is there anything at all?

Greetings,


When i was young i often joked about philosophers asking this question as it sounded like a cliché to me: "why is there anything at all."

When i became older there was a time when i fell into a strange state. I was 21 when for days i felt like i could not understand "why there is anything at all". It was more of a feeling than a thought.

It startled me and i felt like even god would not be able to answer this question "why is there anything at all, why am I?" I felt like this is one of the infinite mysteries that lead to more and more expansion but never to an answer.
There was a time when i did not believe in god or anything in that sense. This changed after this episode of wonderment.

I remember dancing in a club with other people and just laughing a lot because i felt that it was a wonder that we would be able to look at each other and just "perceive". At the same time i felt like the others would not be aware of their own "wonder". But in a sense this was even more fun because i felt like they had hypnotised themselves into a numb routine of forgetting this wonder of life.

A few years later i am also kind of numb and do not really feel that wonder anymore. But i certainly miss it. And i sometimes manage to "meditate" into that state for really short times.
When i was in the Amazon jungle last year in an ayuhasca ceremony this state came back with a message (i dont know if from the plant or my mind) : "this state is the door to enlightenment. Focus on it".

Since then i am trying to feel it as often as possible.

Its not easy. It seems that the routines and patterns of the mind are like limiting forces that "trap me" into a narrow perspective of a boiled down past and a seeming future.




I discussed this with different people. . And some people said to me:" That state is an illusion of the mind. A child does not wonder about existence as it is natural". I can understand that perspective but it is not really attractive as something in me WANTS to see the wonder in existence.

I think that the fact of existence and consciousness is the nearest god concept i perceive. It is formless, it is endless, it has space, it is unconditional and it gives room for all kinds of things....("any image of God was not to be made at all"). I think a child is a "symbol" for the quality of consciousness which is not self aware but i also think there is a state in which consciousness can be aware of "all there is" at the same time (as from this multidimensional state everything exists at the same time). And i think even in the "all knowing state" you can not know WHY there is anything at all. Its a mystery.
As it is also a mystery that all time only exists in the "Here and Now" for every single perspective.



In these states there is a kind of intuitive knowingness : consciousness can not be found in the macro or microscopic realm. It is the fundamental "playground" for existence. Of course i can not scientifically back this up but i think every thing that exists is conscious in its own way. Or in other words: everything is conscious of "Every Thing".

But i did not follow what science says about consciousness in the modern times. Did it have new theories about its origin or its function and cause?

Do you know this state of Wonderment about the fact of Existence and the fact of consciousness? If yes: how do you get into it and feel it? If not : do you think you can "tune" into a state in wich existence feels like a wonder to you? Or is existence just a simple fact for you which you just "accept" or do not think about?

a reply to: Synchronicity11

Why is there anything at all?

What makes you think there is?

I expect many alternate universes to be filled with "nothing at all". Our universe filled with stuff could simply be part of a very broad spectrum of different states of universes.

a reply to: swanne



"What makes you think there is? "

You are, aren´t you?
There is obviously perception and experience. And you are conscious i guess. So: why is there anything at all.... Why are you?

I can enter this state of wonderment as you call it through reason, by simply going to the limits of reason, in that place where reside mysteries. I also like to read good science-fiction (not star wars), the kind of sci-fi in which the author uses the infinite possibilities to play with philosophical ideas. Also by just reading some philosophers like Alan Watts for example. I like this quote because it says exactly how I feel most of the time :

"It is a special kind of enlightenment to have this feeling that the usual, the way things normally are, is odd—uncanny and highly improbable. G. K. Chesterton once said that it is one thing to be amazed at a gorgon or a griffin, creatures which do not exist; but it is quite another and much higher thing to be amazed at a rhinoceros or a giraffe, creatures which do exist and look as if they don't. — Chapter I, The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, Alan Watts, 1966"


When I feel a bit depressed, I just think about the mystery of existence, the mystery of the universe, I think about the fact that this reality must be some kind of game, some kind of fabricated reality. How tiny and irrelevant we are, and at the same we have this ability to reason about those things. And after that I realise how stupid I was to feel depressed to begin with.

Sometimes, just the fact of going to the toilet and sitting there, in the silence, makes me chuckle at the uncanniness of the situation. It feels highly improbable and the same time it feels very real.

a reply to: Synchronicity11
Nice post.

Do you know this state of Wonderment about the fact of Existence and the fact of consciousness? If yes: how do you get into it and feel it?

Watch this video.

originally posted by: Synchronicity11
a reply to: swanne



"What makes you think there is? "

You are, aren´t you?

In this univerrse, yes; but I cannot guarantee that I exist in another multiverse. That is, my existence might not be constant all across the Omniverse (the collection of all multiverses).

why is there anything at all.... Why are you?

Why shouldn't there? Why shouldn't I?

What you perceive as a mystery is caused by the limits of human perception. Too many humans believe that the observable universe is all that exists. But the answer often lies in the greater picture. If you cannot see the wheels when you sit in a car, this doesn't mean that the wheels stop existing when you sit in said car.

Why is our universe is full of stuff? Because it is bound to happen.

An analogy: look at a spectrum of colours:



If I live in a room whose colour is blue, does that mean that yellow rooms are impossible? Of course not - a yellow room is bound to exist at some point of space and time. Alternatively, if I live in a blue room, then the yellow room probably would be empty, would it not? But then, I might walk out of my blue room and into the yellow room any moments now.

In this analogy, rooms are the universes. Their colour is how "full of stuff" they are - blue for full, and yellow for empty. All this is to show you that sticking to what we only perceive (one room, one universe) can sometimes be deceiving.

a reply to: Synchronicity11
Indeed - it is a mystery why there is anything at all.
But what is there really? Is there ever anything other that what is actually happening?

a reply to: swanne
The only thing you can be sure of is that you are. You (whatever that is) is the one constant. Everything comes and goes but you. Listen.......noises arise and change and pass. See....the vision is appearing different all the time.
What is it that knows there is change?

originally posted by: Itisnowagain
a reply to: Synchronicity11
Indeed - it is a mystery why there is anything at all.
But what is there really? Is there ever anything other that what is actually happening?

Well the question he asks is : why is there even something happening ?

I don't think we can answer this question. If there is a god, maybe god himself doesn't know why god is happening.

originally posted by: gosseyn
why is there even something happening ?

I don't think we can answer this question.

Whoops! I believe I did...

the existence of nothing automatically creates the existence of something because you can't have one without the other. nothing means nothing unless you have something to compare the nothing to


a reply to: Synchronicity11

originally posted by: gosseyn

originally posted by: Itisnowagain
a reply to: Synchronicity11
Indeed - it is a mystery why there is anything at all.
But what is there really? Is there ever anything other that what is actually happening?

Well the question he asks is : why is there even something happening ?

I don't think we can answer this question. If there is a god, maybe god himself doesn't know why god is happening.

There is only what is happening. Having the idea that there is something that can know something is missing the point.
What is happening is being all there is - the unnameable.

originally posted by: bottleslingguy
the existence of nothing automatically creates the existence of something because you can't have one without the other. nothing means nothing unless you have something to compare the nothing to

Let's try that in practice.

Hm. 0-0=0.

Nothingness doesn't become "something" when compared - nothingness is given its value (that is, it is defined as "nothing") because of its comparison with something.

The proof: 0 is never equal to 1, nor 2, nor any other numbers than 0.

a reply to: Synchronicity11

Its not easy. It seems that the routines and patterns of the mind are like limiting forces that "trap me" into a narrow perspective of a boiled down past and a seeming future.

That 'me' does not exist anywhere but in time - but does time exist now??
A very young child and someone who has taken a drug is not aware of time - they see and hear what is happening - they are just aware of what is.
The idea of time creates a place where you can appear to be separate. The mind produces images of a body in time and space but where is there really?
The mind does not 'trap me' it produces a 'me'.

'Me' is made of time but what are you without time?

originally posted by: bottleslingguy
the existence of nothing automatically creates the existence of something because you can't have one without the other. nothing means nothing unless you have something to compare the nothing to


a reply to: Synchronicity11

In a world of polarity that "exists" yes. But there could have been also a singularity which consists of nothing.

a reply to: Synchronicity11

In our universe the Cosmological Constant, the value of the energy density of the vacuum of space seems rather pertinent to there being anything.

en.wikipedia.org...

originally posted by: Synchronicity11


In a world of polarity that "exists" yes. But there could have been also a singularity which consists of nothing.

What if there is nothing appearing - as everything?

originally posted by: Itisnowagain

originally posted by: Synchronicity11


In a world of polarity that "exists" yes. But there could have been also a singularity which consists of nothing.

What if there is nothing appearing - as everything?

Reminds me of this:



Think about it - if nothingness is appearing as everything, then the absence of something would be defined how, if not by nothingness?

Great thread, everything you wrote down is pretty much what I feel exactly. S&F

We are God's image, God is the state of existence we find ourselves within in this moment. This is the mystery that all religions and holy books point toward, the mystery of the how and why of life itself, what we experience from moment to moment right now. What is it we see right now? An image of light, the light of God.

I know the state of wonderment you speak of, I've been in it many times, though it always seems to come and go in its own time. I tend to feel it more after I meditate but for me there is no way to flip it on or off at will.

Also, welcome to the boards! I look forward to hearing some of your insights around here.

originally posted by: swanne


Think about it - if nothingness is appearing as everything, then the absence of something would be defined how, if not by nothingness?

Definitions arise out of nothing and subside back to nothing.