What is Life and Who am I? Fundamental Principles of the Primordian Philosophy - Softcover

Owens, J. T.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1463403372 ISBN 13: 9781463403379

Publisher: AuthorHouse Publishing, 2011

Synopsis

Humanity's pursuit of the origin of life, its meaning and its purpose, has gone a long way. Any single truth which the world would agree on remains to be found. Mankind uses knowledge to explore the possibilities of life, but as life evolves, more questions arise, making life appear more and more complicated. The truth is that while life may be complex, it is in fact not complicated. WHAT IS LIFE AND WHO AM I: fundamental principles of the Primordian Philosophy walks the reader through the basic fundamentals of existence. It attempts to unravel the mysteries of life by presenting life in its basic form, thus providing the reader with a fresh and uncomplicated perspective of what life really is. By understanding the mechanics of life and the true essence of identity, the reader will regain a more active control over the direction which their life takes. This book also attempts to restore a sense of purpose and of beauty to the life we live and the universe we live in. While life can often seem chaotic and uncertain, in truth it is really quite marvelous and wonderful. In our day to day lives we can lose sight of this fact. This book seeks to restore life to its true wonder by reminding the reader that we are all a living part of a living universe, and that the meaning of life comes down to one simple axiom -find your truth, live your truth.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

What is Life and Who am I?

Fundamental principles of the Primordian PhilosophyBy J.T. Owens

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 J.T. Owens
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4634-0337-9

Contents

Dedication....................................................viiForeword......................................................ixWhat Is Life and Who Am I?....................................xiWhat is life?.................................................1Polarities....................................................2The Middle Ground.............................................4Active Life...................................................6Causality.....................................................6Consequential Momentum........................................8Consequential Interference....................................9Passive Life..................................................13Mind Under Matter.............................................13Equivalence...................................................14The Zero Dimension............................................16True Life.....................................................17Natural Order.................................................20Who am I?.....................................................23Domestic Identity.............................................24The Creation of Man...........................................24Family........................................................26Society.......................................................30Religion......................................................41The Three Walled Cell.........................................49Primal Identity...............................................53From Monkey To Man............................................54The Evolution of Religion.....................................60Hyper-Qualities...............................................65From Man Back to Monkey Again.................................68Man's Place in the Grand Scheme of Things.....................73The Primal Personality........................................79True Identity.................................................84Meaning of Life...............................................87Glossary of Terms.............................................90Glossary of Persons...........................................92

Chapter One

WHAT IS LIFE?

The topic of life is a complex issue indeed. This is because life itself is quite complex. Yet, for all its complexities, life itself is not complicated. Quite the opposite. Life is, in truth, fundamentally simple. The trick is in looking beyond all of the surface details and seeing what lies beneath. Once you see life in its pure, fundamental form, the simplicity of it is quite profound. The problem is that we, as humans, tend to equate simplicity with inferiority. Thus we assume that the more grandiose a topic is in scope and meaning, the more complicated it should be. Life, being supremely grand in scope, must necessarily also be supremely complicated. But the truth is far more simple than we have been led to believe. In fact, it seems that the human mind alone is responsible for making life so seemingly complicated.

Life is a natural phenomenon which has two distinct aspects. One aspect is of an active nature, and one is of a passive nature. These two aspects give life both its form and its essence. They underwrite our reality whether or not we are even aware of their existence. Becoming aware of these aspects of life restores a sense of responsibility and control over our actions, and subsequently, over the very course of our lives. This control is of a level rarely imagined, let alone experienced, in our modern day lives. It is, however, the level of control which is our natural right as living, sentient beings.

Polarities

Perhaps the most fundamental concept within this philosophy is that of polarities. Most traditions view life in terms of dichotomies. Right/ wrong, good/bad, God/devil, up/down, left/right, and so on. The list is endless, for everything has an opposite—two sides of the coin, as it were. This is the view of life commonly accepted by most forms of conventional wisdom. But how true to life is it, exactly? Is life really that fixed, that rigid? Are there only two sides to everything? And if so, how does that work?

The tradition of dichotomies looks good on paper, but if you look to nature you see that it doesn't really hold up that well. Perhaps the reason for this is that there are no light switches in nature. In order for something to change in nature a certain progression must occur. A perfect example of this—perhaps the most perfect example possible, is the transition from day to night. If we are to believe in dichotomies, then day and night must be fixed. As such, day would be the equivalent of the sun being on, and night would be the equivalent of the sun being off. Simple enough—but, in fact, that is not how it works. Instead, we see a dynamic transition from the complete darkness of midnight to the complete brilliance of noon, and then back again. The sun does not suddenly turn on, then turn off. It goes through the progressive stages of dawn to sunrise, to zenith, to sunset, and finally to dusk. Dusk, then, transforms into night, and then night, in turn, transforms back into dawn. Instead of a fixed, rigid sense of events we get a sense of motion, of fluidity. The static light switch is not to be found. Rather, a dynamic process is at work. The opposites of day and night are very much real. But instead of being two sides to a flat reality they are two ends to a reality with substance. After all, ours is a three dimensional world, not a two dimensional one. Thus, if a concept is to be found which explains the relationship between opposites then it too must be three dimensional, and not two dimensional as in the case of dichotomies.

Perhaps it is not even enough to say that we live in a three dimensional world. Progression, whether it is physical or conceptual, is dynamic. It is an event in motion. Thus it crosses over from being two or three dimensional to being fourth dimensional. It is not about form, but it is about direction. It is when we look at direction that things become much clearer. Up/down, left/right, these seem like dichotomies. The same can be said of north/south and east/west, but we never consider these to be fixed. They are relative to the position of the observer. They are not two sides to a flat reality, but rather they are polar extremes—two opposite ends of a polarity. And it is here that we find the model for the true relationship between opposites. Opposites are not fixed locations. They are directions. Where an observer stands is neither north or south—it is the direction which he or she faces which is north or south. If you are driving north on a freeway, the mile that lies ahead is north. Once you travel that mile, then it has become south, as it is now behind you and you are still traveling north. Direction is relative to the observer. And the motion of the observer affects that relationship further still. In this way polarities not only represent the opposites themselves, but they represent the relationship of the observer to those opposites.

Thus, polarities, not dichotomies, are a truer way to view the opposites of life. For between the opposites of good and bad, right and wrong, young and old, stands the observer. This person is always standing in a space which is neutral, undefined. It is the direction in which they travel which is defined. And that direction is determined by the choices they make. The actions they commit determine whether they travel toward good or bad, right or wrong. Life is not experienced as a destination or a fixed location. Rather it is experienced as a journey moving in one direction or another. Polarities demonstrate how opposites are the directions in which life travels. We never actually reach "east", but we can travel east indefinitely, or until we choose to follow a different direction. The same can be said of "good". We never actually become "good", rather, we choose our actions in the direction of good, and we keep doing so indefinitely, or until we change direction. Just as a person could travel east forever, so too can a person travel toward any polar extreme forever. After all, a direction is not a fixed location, and thus, can never actually be reached. It is that which always lies in front of you.

The Middle Ground

So far, polarities have been defined as lines which connect two opposites. It is these opposites which define the nature of a given polarity. But there is another point on the line of a polarity which is of equal, if not greater, significance than the opposite ends. That point is the middle. This middle point is the point of balance. It is the source from which the opposing sides originate. It is the point of truth.

The best way to demonstrate this concept is within the context of a debate. Suppose two people were arguing over the nature of a tennis ball. One argued that it is round, whereas the other argued that it is green. The first thing to recognize is that both arguments are founded on truth. The fact of the matter is that a tennis ball is both round and green. The fact about any argument is that it can only exist if both sides have an element of truth to them. If, for example, the one person argued that the tennis ball is round, but the other argued that it was made of cheese, then the argument would not be sustainable. Clearly the tennis ball is not made of cheese. That argument cannot stand. Thus, when an argument is unresolved, yet sustainable for a long period of time, then it is clear that the opposite opinions both contain elements of truth.

Where is the truth from which these opposing opinions originated? The answer is right in the middle. If you look at the middle of the tennis ball debate you see a more complete picture of the tennis ball. It is both round and green. It is also bouncy, light, and made of rubber on the inside, and that fuzzy stuff on the outside. The tennis ball, as a whole, is all these things. Thus, the truth is that which is undivided. It is the complete essence of a particular thing. The polarity only occurs when a truth is split into two or more aspects. Thus, neither end of a polarity is the truth. Rather, they are portions of a central truth. Neither is a complete picture of the subject at hand, but different angles from which that subject is viewed. Ironically, one side of the argument cannot exist without the other, for each side is incomplete on its own. It is how the balance of truth is maintained.

This is the problem with dichotomies. In the context of a dichotomy an argument is unresolvable. The two sides of the coin exist as long as the coin itself exists. Everything is divided. Nothing is able to be restored to a singular existence. Polarities, on the other hand, offer the opportunity of such a restoration. If we return to the debate about the nature of the tennis ball we can see how this works. Needless to say, neither person can convince the other that they are wrong. The further they strive to do so is the further they stray from the center, and thus the further they move from the truth. If, however, they stop looking at the ends of the polarity, where their differences lie, and start looking toward the middle of the polarity, then they can get a fresh perspective of the subject—namely, the tennis ball as a whole. By examining the bigger picture, the more complete truth, they can come to resolve their differences by discovering common ground. By looking at the tennis ball again they can rediscover that it is more than one particular description. Indeed, that ball has many different descriptions possible. It is, in fact, all of them. No particular one is right, and no particular one is wrong. Suddenly the argument dissolves. The ends of the polarity are restored to the center. Now there is just a point, and that point is the point of truth. It is the tennis ball as it is—undivided and complete. It is the restoration of wholeness.

This is the nature of the middle ground. The middle ground is where truth resides. No argument can be resolved by eliminating one side, or by transforming one side to be more like the other. Instead, an argument must be seen as the stretching of a truth from a single point into a line—a polarity. If the energy which was spent on destroying opposing views and beliefs was instead spent on discovering the common, middle ground, then one might imagine that the rediscovery of truth would be the outcome of conflict, not violence, bloodshed and war. Instead of extremism there would be harmony. Instead of division there would be unity. Truth, and the benefits thereof, will always be available to those who seek it. Truth is always easy to find—it always resides in the middle ground.

Active Life

Active life is the aspect of life which is tangible. It is that which is governed by our five physical senses of taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing. Active life is the hard, solid side of life. It is fact, rather than truth, experience rather than dream, knowledge rather than faith. Simply put, active life is that which we experience every single day in our conscious, waking lives. It is the side of life that we are most familiar with. It is the side of life we most identity with.

Active life is more than just form—it is also the dynamic side of the physical world. It is how life is experienced and perceived within the physical world. It is, in a single word, action. If form is physical reality as a noun, then action is physical reality as a verb. It is the energy of life manifest in a physical reality. Thus, active life is the culmination of all action and all things able to be acted upon. It is the living, breathing dynamic aspect of life as well as all things contained therein.

Causality

When one takes the time to contemplate active life, in all its forms and functions, one might imagine that there must be a rather complex set of rules and laws to keep everything from falling into complete and total chaos. After all, society itself is but one entity within the grand scope of active life, and it is filled with countless rules, regulations and laws which barely keep things in some semblance of order. How much more, then, would the whole of active life rely on a similar set of rules and regulations in order to maintain what could be called the natural order of things? How complex would these laws be? And how many laws and rules are needed to keep this sense of natural order? The number must be unimaginable. Yet, truth be told, the number of laws and rules governing active life is actually one—just one. One single, solitary law keeps this whole big physical universe in perfect balance and order: the law of causality.

Otherwise known as cause and effect, causality is the simple yet profound law that says that for every action there is a consequence. That is the fundamental truth which all of active life is based on. In fact, life itself is the consequence of action. Whether you go back to the action of procreation, or you go back to the creative processes which brought life to this planet in the first place, all life is the consequence of some action. Every action that has occurred, from the most recent to those from the primordial origins of the universe, has led to the consequence of life as we know it. This very day is built upon every cycle of cause and effect since time began. It is like looking at the layers of rock on the side of a cliff. Each strata of rock is built upon the last. Causality is exactly the same. It is the cycle of events from the beginning of time to the very present. And what we do today provides the foundation for the consequence of tomorrow.

It is important to reiterate that causality is indeed a cycle. Most people look upon cause and effect as a self contained phenomenon, a one-off as it were. The truth of the matter, however, is that causality is a continuous phenomenon. Cause leads to effect, but then that effect in itself becomes the cause of the next action. Thus, the cycle is born. Perhaps the best example of this is a fight. Most fights start off as an exchange of insults. One person calls another person a derogatory name. That is the cause. The result is that the other person responds with an insult of their own. This, then, becomes the cause for the first person to become physically violent. This action, although the result of the previous action, becomes the cause of the second person to fight back. So it is that each action leads to a consequence, which in turn becomes the cause for the next action. Left alone, this cycle of cause and effect will simply escalate from one level to the next, engendering greater and greater levels of violence and conflict. In the end, the only way such a cycle ends is either when it is exhausted from within—either one person wins the fight, or both parties simply stop fighting, or when it is interrupted from without—police intervention, for example. Otherwise, true to the nature of a cycle, it could be endlessly self perpetuating.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from What is Life and Who am I?by J.T. Owens Copyright © 2011 by J.T. Owens. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: AuthorHouse Publishing
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1463403372
• ISBN 13: 9781463403379
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 108