Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The problem of first cause

Obviously the big bang does not answer the question of first cause. The big bang is just the evidence perceivable to science -- the first measurable evidence of a beginning.

There must be an energy that is not measurable currently by science. That energy is that which spiritual traditions call the "Unmanifest." As unmanifested, it is outside of time. A reality that does not have a beginning, or an end.

For example, in the experiments where paired particles are separated by thousands of miles, a change in the spin of one particle is immediately reflected in the spin of its separated twin. This happens faster than the speed of light. Faster than any measurable time.

So we have evidence of power, or energy, that is not currently measurable by science. That this energy is not perceivable by science does not equal its non existence.

This unmanifested power is the first cause. Spiritual traditions have called it God. Although difficult to describe in linear terms, it is knowable. The mystics of all ages have proclaimed intimate knowledge of this power. It is the underlying reality, the first cause of all that exists.

The Eastern spiritual traditions have called the manifest world "Maya," which is described as illusion, or the apparently real. It does exist, it is measurable, but it is not the ultimate reality.

If you define reality as that which never changes, one can begin to see it as the screen on which everything appears. Reality is the unchanging screen and first cause of all that apparently exists. The operating principle for the screen is awareness. That awareness allows anything and everything to be experienced, or known. What we are aware of we call consciousness.

The conclusion is that unmanifested source, call it God, is the first and only cause. Awareness is the knowing principle of source which underlies all knowing. Science itself knows only via awareness, and therefore must bow to the reality of the unchanging unmanifest source as the ultimate reality.

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