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Wildlife Along The Trail

In contemplating the idea of the Highest Good, Plato thought that it was better for it to “exist” than not to, and that the Highest Good is only obtained when everything that can exist, does exist.  Knowing that this does not appear to be the case when one looks around us, he postulated a world of ideas in which all things exist, and are dropped into the physical world when appropriate.  This concept was picked up and expanded upon by others, such as Leibnitz and Spinoza, leading to a book by Arthur O. Lovejoy called The Great Chain Of Being.  I do not remember, and doubt if I would agree with, most of this book, except for the concept detailed below.

I was already familiar with the Kabbalah, a diagram originating in the Zolar, that also plays an important role in Jewish mysticism.  Also known as the “Tree Of Life”, it was heretofore my conception of a perfect map of the cosmos.  It consists of 12 nodes symbolizing different archetypes, and 22 lines connecting the nodes.  The nodes are arranged into three columns to represent pillars: one for austerity and another for compassion, with the middle one representing serenity, or balance between them.  The nodes are also associated with values and/or deities, angels, or other celestial bodies.

This map starts with the Ain Soph (The One...not shown in the diagram) emanating down into the spiritual realm, with the central node therein being divided into two…the yin and the yang, the opposing positive and negative forces that make it up, and which I can now identify as the principles of preservation and destruction in Hindu thought.  The triangle thus formed is again reflected down (upside down as it were) into the moral plane, further precipitating into the astral or mundane plane before ending up at the bottom as the physical world.  Thus, at the bottom is pure matter, and at the top is the opposite - pure energy or pure spirit, depending on one’s outlook.

There is a lot more that can be said about this here, but for the sake of brevity we shall move on.

The “great chain of being”, however presents an alternate picture…a one-dimensional view of life from pure matter, upward through plants and animals, and onward to humankind – usually considered as being halfway between whatever is at the top and matter at the bottom, having a much more developed consciousness than plants or animals but not as much as anything that may lie beyond our senses above us.  Between each major link in the chain lies other smaller links that signify lifeforms that are partway between each of these.  We are all familiar with species that are part animal and part plant, so the idea here is that in order for everything to exist that can exist, there must be a continuous chain with an infinite number of links between any other two links.

Now, it seems unlikely that there would be a huge gap between us and the Highest Good while there is no gap below us, so presumably there are also forms of life above us that, at the higher levels, have such an enlightened consciousness they do not require bodies (and thus lie beyond our senses).  

But why is there no evidence of those beings with only a slightly higher consciousness and physical bodies only a bit more rarified than ours??  Stay tuned to find out why we don’t see them (hint: it’s the same reason our senses distort reality so we can’t know it directly).

As a side note, while I am trying to maintain a perspective here that even an atheist can identify with,  I must admit that it is difficult for me to follow the chain upward with the understanding that each step of the way involves higher levels of consciousness, but that somewhere along the line this suddenly changes, and the inhabitants of that realm are no longer intelligent and self-aware.  Sure, we now have AI devices that can think by themselves, just as we do, but someone had to program them to do so.  Therefore, I do believe that the Highest Good must not only exist, but exhibit some form of consciousness.  Not because I believe in unicorns, but because logic demands it.  Thus, this ultimate reality is described as "satchitananda" by the sages, meaning "being, consciousness, and bliss". 

But each of my readers will have to decide for themselves whether they agree.  

With that in mind, in deference to both those who may and those who may not be willing to bestow consciousness on this ultimate reality, rather than using terms like "the One" or the "Formless" ("the Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao" accourding to the Taoists), or continuing to refer to it as Plato's "Highest Good", I will now refer to it as "energy/spirit" going forward.

In any event, we know that it is not unusual for pure energy to spontaneously become particle matter, and vice versa.  We see this all the time in accelerators, following the formula e = mc^2.  When a system acquires enough energy to do so, matter is formed; and the process reverses when losses cause the energy level to fall below what is required for the existence of that particular particle.  This, particles pop into existence from pure energy, and disappear back into pure energy constantly - so there is nothing special involved in matter arising spontaneously from energy.   Except perhaps for the fact that it does so in the first place...!!  

Consider then, the possibility that pure energy and matter are the same thing, with matter being the form of energy that is visible to us due to the limitations of our senses, and the illusion of reality that the mind creates!!  

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This page was last updated on February 12, 2023

Always remember to "Think Green" because good planets are hard to find!!  

My Favorite Links

The Encyclopedia Of Ancient And Forbidden Knowledge by Zolar    (return to text)
The Great Chain Of Being by Arthur O. Lovejoy     (return to text)

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