無我 2

Posted on January 15, 2013 by rpflee

Anatta 2 | 中道 4

In Buddhism, the term anatta or anatman refers to the notion of “not-self” or the illusion of “self”.

— Wikipedia on Anatta

Thus, in Theravada Buddhist soteriology, there is neither a permanent self nor complete annihilation of the ‘person’ at death; there is only the arising and ceasing of causally related phenomena.

— Wikipedia on Middle Way

The Buddha attacked all attempts to conceive of a fixed self, while stating that holding the view “I have no self” is also mistaken. This is an example of the middle way charted by the Buddha.

— Wikipedia on Philosophy of self

The following is a completely different point, but still relevant to the “not-self” topic:

The Buddha’s concept of “not-self” does not mean “there is no me“, just as “a camera cannot take a picture of itself” does not mean “the camera does not exist“.

A hand cannot hold itself, but it still exists.

— Me@2013.01.14

Universe 1.2

Posted on December 30, 2012 by rpflee

exists = is in = belongs to = can be found

“Exists” is “存在” in Chinese. Literally,

exists = 存在 = is stored in

“X is stored in” is not a complete sentence because it lacks an object. X is stored in where?

存 = 儲存

嚴格來說，「甲存在」並不是一完整句子，因為它沒有指清，甲存在哪裡？

— Me@2012.10.16

— Me@2012.12.30

Universe 4

Posted on December 26, 2012 by rpflee

exists = can be found

Existence is a relation. In order words, the sentence “X exists” means:

X exists = X can be found by something else

If there is only one object, the word “existence” has no meaning, because there is no “something else”. For example, by the definition of the word “universe“, there is only one universe. So the sentence “universe exists” has no meaning.

uni- = one

universe = all the things = all as one

— Me@2012.10.16

For all, 1.2

Posted on December 25, 2012 by rpflee

Universe 2.2

Defining the word “universe” as “all the things” does not totally make sense, since the meaning of “all” is relative to a place. Without a context such as “all things in this house“, the word “all” is meaningless. To be meaningful, you have to specify what the word “all” is with respect to.

Instead of “all the things“, we can define “universe” as

universe = all the things observable by an observer, directly or indirectly, in practice or in principle, plus the observer itself

— Me@2012.10.16

— Me@2012.12.24

Universe 3

Posted on December 23, 2012 by rpflee

— Draft only. These few lines are not 100% correct. —

In other words, whatever list you have constructed, it contains only part of the universe, not all of the universe. The universe, as infinitesimal and infinity, is not a thing, but a process (of keeping collecting things). The universe is a logical implication, or a logical limit.

— Draft only. These few lines are not 100% correct. —

— Me@2012-12-20

Dear Esther

Posted on December 22, 2012 by rpflee

To get a feeling of dying, play the video game Dear Esther till the end.

— Me@2012.12.16

When you finish a video game, you go back to the real world;

when your real world is over, you go back to your realer world.

— Me@2012.12.21

There is another theory, that in a car crash, Esther was put in a coma, and the voice is her husband talking to her, in hopes that she can hear him. She wanders along beaches and through caves that are filled with sometimes strange things, things that are bits and fragments of what she is hearing and what her mind is putting together. At the end when Esther jumps, it is possible her heart rate increased, showing up on the hospital monitor, which would explain the voice at the end saying “Come back,” and the darkness at the end would probably be her dying in the coma.

— Wikipedia on Dear Esther

— 21:01, 29 May 2012

For all

Posted on December 21, 2012 by rpflee

Universe 2.1

“All” is “所有” in Chinese. Literally,

all = 所有 = the place has

The definition of word “universe” is “everything” or “all the things“.

universe = all the things

However, this definition is not 100% sharp, because the meaning of “all” is relative to a list or a place. In order to give a meaning to the word “all“, you have to provide a list or a place in the sentence it appears.

When referring to a list, for example, the meaning of the phrase “all of A, B, and C” is the same as “A, B, and C“.

all of A, B, and C = A, B, and C

However, the definition of “universe” does not specify a list, such as

universe = all of A, B, and C

When referring to a place, for example, the meaning of the phrase “all the people in this house” is:

You keep looking for people in this house. Whoever you can find, include him or her onto your list of people. Once you cannot find new people in the house anymore, your list will have “all the people in this house“.

In other words, in order to give the word “all” a meaning, you have to provide a range for searching. However, the definition of “universe” does not specify a place, such as

universe = all the things in X,

unless we define the word “universe” as

universe = all the things in universe

However, this is a circular definition.

— Me@2012.10.16

— Me@2012.12.11

— Me@2012.12.20

Universe

Posted on December 14, 2012 by rpflee

exists = is in = belongs to = can be found

“Exists” is “存在” in Chinese. Literally,

exists = 存在 = is stored in

“X is stored in” is not a complete sentence because it lacks an object. X is stored in where?

Existence is asking for an address. If you know something exists, but do not know in which it is stored, you can always say “X is in the universe“. The concept “universe” acts as a universal address or universal container.

But by definition, the universe itself cannot have any address. So the sentence “the universe exists” is meaningless.

— Me@2012.10.18

Paradox 6

Posted on November 9, 2012 by rpflee

Because “state” is expressed in RQM as the correlation between two systems, there can be no meaning to “self-measurement”.

— Wikipedia on Relational quantum mechanics

2012.11.09 Friday ACHK

Why does the universe exist? 4

Posted on November 4, 2012 by rpflee

Existence, 8

The sentence “the universe exists” can be meaningful if you interpret it as “something exists“.

The universe exists

= Something exists

= There is something

And then you interpret the “universe” as the container of that “something”. In other words, you define the “universe” as the “there”.

However, it is an abuse of the word “universe”. The meaning of the word “universe” is “everything” or “all the things“, not just “something”. Also, the sentence “something exists” is useless. At most, it is just a meaningful nonsense.

— Me@2012.10.15

Existence 7

Posted on November 2, 2012 by rpflee

For a horse, wings do not exist

= A horse does not have wings

The non-existence of the wings is not their own property, but the horse’s. An object’s existence or non-existence is not a property of the object itself, but a property of its owner.

— Me@2012.10.15

Existence 6

Posted on October 31, 2012 by rpflee

Your existence is not your own property, but the universe’s. Same for non-existence.

— Me@2012.10.15

The Beginning of Time

Posted on October 29, 2012 by rpflee

Existence, 5 | Why does the universe exist? 3

The sentence “there is nothing in the north of the North Pole” is inaccurate, because it assumes that there a place in the north of the North Pole, although that place has nothing in it. Instead, we should say

The North Pole has no “north”.

The word “north” is meaningless at the North Pole.

— Me@2012.10.15

There 1.3

Posted on October 27, 2012 by rpflee

Existence, 3.6 | Why does the universe exist? 1.6

“There” is “那裡” in Chinese. Literally,

here = 這裡 = this inside

there = 那裡 = that inside

For example,

A dog exists

= There is a dog

= A dog is in there

“There” is a container. That is why both the sentence “the universe exists” and the sentence “the universe does not exist” have no meanings.

— Me@2012.10.15

There 1.2

Posted on October 25, 2012 by rpflee

Existence, 3.5

Why does the universe exist? 1.5

To specify something exists or not, you need a “there”, range for searching. To prove something exists, you may not need to search all over “there”. But to prove something does not exist, you need to.

— Me@2012.10.15

Existence, 4

Posted on October 23, 2012 by rpflee

Why does the universe exist? 2

The sentence “the universe does not exist” is meaningless. However, its limited version “there are nothing” or “the universe has nothing” may be meaningful.

If the universe is finite in space, in principle, you can search all over the space to confirm that there are really nothing. So it seems that the sentence “the universe has nothing” does not violate the confirmation principle. However, there are three problems.

First, spacetime is also a “thing”, provided that the definition of the word “thing” is not limited to “object” or “matter”. Second, “spacetime” has no meaning if there are no matter and no energy. Moreover, you, as an observer, is also a “thing”.

After all, “the universe has nothing” is meaningless, in the sense that it violates the confirmation principle.

— Me@2012.10.15

There

Posted on October 20, 2012 by rpflee

Existence, 3.4

Why does the universe exist? 1.4

Dogs do not exist

= There are no dogs

The non-existence is not a property of the dogs. Instead, the “non-existence of dogs” is a property of “there”, the system containing the dogs, such as a room. In other words, “there” is a location, an address, or an environment.

The universe exists = There is a universe

The universe does not exist = There is no universe

These two sentences are both meaningless, because the definition of the word “universe” is “everything”. The universe has no “outside”. The universe has no “there”. The question “Where is the universe?” makes no sense.

— Me@2012.10.15

Existence, 3.3

Posted on October 19, 2012 by rpflee

Why does the universe exist? 1.3

In “dogs do not exist in this room“, the non-existence is not a property of the dogs.

Instead, the “non-existence of dogs” is a property of the room.

— Me@2012.10.15

Why does the universe exist? 1.2

Posted on October 18, 2012 by rpflee

Existence, 3.2

Verification principle, 3

The sentence “the universe does not exist” has no meanings, because it violates the confirmation principle. When we say that “dogs do not exist in this room“, we can search all over this room to prove the non-existence of dogs. However, the definition of the word “universe” is “everything”. So the universe has no “outside”. The universe is not contained within a bigger system. So when we say that “the universe does not exist“, we cannot search all over some bigger environment to prove the non-existence of the universe, even in principle.

The sentence “the universe exists” has the same problem. It also violates the confirmation principle. When we say that “a dog exists in this room“, as long as we can find a dog within the room, we prove the existence of the dog. However, the definition of the word “universe” is “everything”. So the universe has no “outside”. The universe is not contained within a bigger system. So when we say that “the universe exists“, we cannot “find” the universe, even in principle.

Whatever we find, such as a dog, a room, a house, a city, etc., is only part of the universe. “Part of the universe exists” does not imply “the universe exists“. For example, I have part of one million dollars, such as 500 thousand dollars, doesn’t mean that I have one million dollars.

— Me@2012.10.15

— Me@2012.10.18

Why does the universe exist?

Posted on October 16, 2012 by rpflee

Existence, 3.1

The sentence “the universe exists” and the sentence “the universe does not exist” have no meanings, because the “existence” of something is not a property of that thing, but a property of a bigger system. But the definition of the word “universe” is “everything”. So the universe has no “outside”. The universe is not contained within a bigger system.

— Me@2012.10.15

Physics Town

continues

Category Archives: existence | 存在

無我 2

Universe 1.2

Universe 4

For all, 1.2

Universe 3

Dear Esther

For all

Universe

Paradox 6

Why does the universe exist? 4

Existence 7

Existence 6

The Beginning of Time

There 1.3

There 1.2

Existence, 4

There

Existence, 3.3

Why does the universe exist? 1.2

Why does the universe exist?