[New Member Post] The Enigma of Progression

I visit this website all the time; love the paranormal, origins, ufo, etc. topics. I finally decided to join because I wanted to post about a topic and get others' input as well (generally, member responses are engaging and thought provoking). Unfortunately, although for understandable reasons, newbies (in the membership department) have a waiting period before they can post in the main forum sections. My clear issues with patience combined with inspiration have led me here ... posting in introductions.

I raise a topic not novel in the traditional sense, but perhaps in the approach. I've read the posts on "something can come from nothing" and similar commentary. Recently, however, I have approached the ultimate uncertainty in existence from a different perspective -- progression. People have claimed that time is a man-made concept. Without trying to analyze the differences between time and progression, if any, I plan to focus only on progression. Progression, as I refer to it herein, is the idea that at any moment of occurrence, I can ask, "what happened before that?" It is a linear concept, and perhaps that will ultimately be its fault. Nevertheless, we know what came before today, to an extent, on earth. Specifics remain uncertain, but it is widely accepted that, for example, the World Wars occurred, before that the Civil War and Revolutionary Wars occurred, before that Medieval times occurred, before that the Roman Empire ruled, well before that there were Dinosaurs, etc. If we work back event-by-event, we get to the hotly debated scientifically supported big bang. The big bang works, in the most basic sense, off the premise that at its beginning, the Universe was in an extremely hot and dense state, which followed with rapid expansion. Under my Progression theory, the question would be to ask what happened before to put "that" there or "make" the "Universe" extremely hot and dense. A thought derived from the tenet that something cannot come from nothing.

This concept creates more confusion theologically. For those who believe in a Supreme Being, i.e., a grand architect of existence, progression burdens comprehension (although, those who argue such is incomprehensible, and that is the point, may find this point moot). For purposes of full disclosure, I am agnostic-esk. I don't believe that something can come from nothing and so I believe that a Supreme Being exists in some form or manner although I find myself unconvinced by traditional, organized religions for reasons not far beyond "opiate of the masses" and related notions (and truly baffled based on what I lay out in the remainder of this post). Back to my point, if a Supreme Being created existence, progression dictates that such creation occurred and other events occurred thereafter. Also, accordingly, and arguably, events occurred prior thereto. So, the question being for any such Supreme Being (ignoring the illogical nature of "asking" questions in this sense) would be, "what is the first thing you did?" And, of course, "what happened before that?" Progression is incontrovertible, and my human brain cannot comprehend a linear model of existence that comports with progression. Perhaps assuming that existence is linear is the misconception.

reply to post by ExNihiloRed


Welcome to the ATS family...

There are plenty of topics here that will fit your needs, to be sure
Just hang on tight and keep hands in at all times!!

Enjoy your stay and there should be a MOD come by with the T&C and other helpful links

If you need any thing, don't hesitate to ask
Here is a little gift for you as you venture out into the forums


Much respect~
snarky




ATS had an upgrade not long ago, so here are 2 helpful links for future reference...

Using the new features and and functions of ATS.5/3


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Have fun!!!!

Hello and welcome to ya. Enjoy your stay.

Welcome to ATS!


You said quite a mouth full there.


My tired brain is going to have to go "sleep on that" because I've only had 2 hours since Tuesday afternoon.

Hang on and enjoy the ride of being an official member here.

Welcome to ATS!

Time appears linear, because we have the obvious action/reaction in the material world. I would propose that this is only the way it appears on our particular dimension. At the next higher dimension, our time doesn't really exist the same way. Kind of like a DVD - it looks linear when you watch it, but in actuality, when you take it out of the player, there is no time there - just different video shots burned into different locations on a disk. You can skip right to the end.

I think time here is the same way. While we're in the "movie", it seems obvious and apparent. But, we don't know the context of the life we're in. We don't know the bigger picture, so it doesn't make sense. Like a fish trying to figure out the sky.

I think on another level, that time is more wavelike, and that events in time issue time-waves travelling forwards AND backwards. That's why people can get premonitions of things. Like when you're thinking about your mother, and she rings you up on the phone. Because, in "reality", that event in time made a splash, and the wave hit you a few moments before the phone rang.

Until we understand what kind of context the world is in - is it a Matrix? Is it a dream? Is it a straight-scientific order? - we are going to have a very hard time understanding the big picture.

Peace, and happy holidays.

reply to post by snarky412


Thank you very much for the kind words and awesome swag. I will wear it with pride!

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


Thank you. It means a lot to me that you took the time to reach out. I hope to further contribute to this already great community.

reply to post by sled735


You already know how fond I am of you and your contributions here. Never hurts hearing it one more time, though! Thank you for checking out my thread and welcoming me!

reply to post by TwoTonTommy



Happy Holidays to you too. Thank you for the thought provoking response. I have not fully considered that angle on the issue, but I find it quite intriguing. The consequences of your various hypotheses are vast and it becomes difficult to understand fully (or better, comprehend fully) because we are trying to understand/comprehend from within the linear framework. It really is fun to contemplate. The most frustrating (or, perhaps, some might say freeing) part about it all is that we won't know until we know and when we know, knowing won't matter ....