NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 31:
Prior to excerpting the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome in the text below we continue the series: Fine-Tuned Universe 22, the premise that a small change in several of the dimensionless fundamental physical constants would make the Universe incapable of Life.
Fine-Tuned Universe 22:
Multi-Verse Ensemble:
Most of what can be said about a Multi-Verse could similarly be applied to another kind of Ensemble, be it a serial, temporal Sequence of Bib-Bangs alternating with Big-Crunches, Quantum Mechanical Many-Worlds, baby-universes bubbling of M–branes, Lee Smolin-esque universe-born-at-every-Black-Hole-singularity, Chaotic Inflationary universe-islands within one Big-Bang Universe, and so on. Standing in for all those (with suitable verbal modifications understood) the Multi-Verse of any kind immediately presents a shocking number for enumeration, requiring as heck of lot of stuff. J ust because so many Physics parameters could be varied independently, the number of all possible combinations is staggering.
“Universes that drift like Bubble in the Foam upon the River of Time” Arthur C. Clarke
But only such an unprovable, purely speculative boondoggle rescues Physicalism out of the jaws of encroaching Design as the only other explanation for the extremely improbably Fine-Tuning of this Universe. Such there must be if this Universe was to support Intelligent Life, counting as part of this Universe, the many particulars of Astronomy, Geology, Geochemistry, and so on going into the make-up of planet Earth. Either it is a “set-up” or the “luck of the draw” from out of very many straws indeed.
If we could know that our own Universe was only one of an indefinite number with varying properties we could perhaps invoke a solution analogous to the principle of Natural Selection; that only in certain universes, which happen to include ours, are the conditions suitable for the existence of Life, and unless that condition is fulfilled there will be no Observers to note the fact. biologist Carl Pantin, early 20th century Multi-Verse speuclation
The hard-core Many-Worlds advocates split off new universes with every collapsed Wavefunction, with ever Observation by every Observer. These and others take the less extreme but still mind–boggling jump to Ground-Hog Day – like closely-parallel universes so that in the Ensemble or possible histories or whatever, “everything that could ever happen does happen somewhere, sometime.” Ockham’s Parsimony of restraint (explain with as few moving parts as possible) is way out the window here. Philosopher used to wonder at the efficiency of rare, or with-us solitary Intelligent Life in such a vast Universe. But how about the efficiency of a kazillion Universes?
But although the Constants of nature are Numbers, they are not just Numbers and they are not only Numbers. They are the barcodes of ultimate Reality, the pin numbers that will unlock the secrets of the Universe. John Barrows
It is one thing, to offer an Analogy, to imagine the futuristic Computing Power that could fabricate a Matrix–level VR Simulation (as ever here, discarding from the movie all body-vats, subterranean wars, A I – Architect self-programming program, Kung-Fu, the One, and so on). But to imagine that “VR – Life-supporting” Simulation to be the result of random keystrokes, for a thousand monkeys or whatever, well that affords some insight in the improbability of our Universe and the enumeration of any Multi-Verse that could include ours as just an accident of Random Chance. Needless to say though, here an in all application of Math to the Universe (as in just all of Physics), a distinction must be maintained between an abstract Mathematical structure with predictable rules and some “physical reality” we cannot define or even experience except as a construct of the Senses. Applying any highly selected Mathematical stricture to the Universe is special pleading and the Multi-Verse heads the list.
Some more selected verses from the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome disciple:
The Senses are part of the Body. The Body is perceived only by the Senses & has no reality apart from them. Each of the 3 illusions depends on the other (~ bootstrapping Dependent Origination). Such (mutually inter-dependent) Illusion is like the painting of a wall that is painted on the wall depicted when the wall itself has not yet been built. [Contained in that comment is also a “barbershop mirrors” type of self-referencing paradox. Like the old Morton Salt label girl carrying Morton Salt on which a small version of herself was carry Morton Salt, & so on, my hometown had a town-entering Billboard that depicted the town & Billboard, which again depicted the town, & so on.] The Self, however, is bodiless & not a part of the Body or associated with a location in relation to a Body. The Senses are otherwise, so how can the Senses be considered to be the Self ?
The Senses depend on the Self. But the Self exists as it is, innately nondependent on the Senses. This is the highest state of Detachment from the Senses. As pure Being, one is always detached from the Senses & thus, detached from the whole World. The Self is not the Senses & is not experienced by the Senses. The Senses are capable of perceiving Sense objects only, & the Self is not a material object. The sensory experience is only that of Sensation & not a separate Sense & a separate object. The Self is not a Sensation or a product of Sensations. So, how can the Senses be considered to be the Self ? The Self is the “eye of the eye” unseen by the Eye. The Self, which is formless Existence-Consciousness, cannot be sensed & does not have Senses. The Self is not a sensing entity, conceived as the nexus of all the Sensations. Instead, the Self is unalloyed Consciousness. The Self is all–seeing but “eyeless”. In Truth, the Senses do not exist. The Senses are only a figment of the Mind, which is in the infinite Consciousness. Upon the substrate of the Self, which is Existence-Consciousness, the Senses appear, being only the thought of those Senses. Nor do the Sense-objects separately exist. The Senseobjects appear only to & in the Senses. The Senses vanish, leaving the substrate unaffected & all alone. The substrate is Reality, which is unchanging. There is no actual creation of the Senses in that Consciousness.
Just as the Mind becomes the Object, the Instrument or means of Knowing, the Actor, the Action, & the results in a Dream, so is this also the case in the Waking state. The Real Self is different from the Mind & all those things that the Mind becomes (object, instrument of knowing, actor, action, results). The Self is without interior & exterior, such as the Mind & the World. The Self is homogenous Consciousness. Know the Self by ceasing the attribution of anything exterior or interior to the Self. Remembrance & forgetfulness, including remembrance & forgetfulness of the Self, these processes are also, only of the Mind. Both of these processes are products of Ignorance & do not touch the Self. Cease to regard the Self as a known or unknown object. If the Supreme Self is regarded as an object of knowledge, such is a superimposition of Imagination or Ignorance. True Knowledge prevails when such Ignorance, or superimposition, is negated. This is like the case with the rope & the illusion of the snake.
When the conceptions of “me” & “mine” are attributed to the Self, such are manifestations of Ignorance. They are superimpositions upon the Self, which is only One, with neither Individuality nor any experience or thing possessed by and Individual. The “individual self” is thought to be the Seer, Hearer, Thinker, Knower, & such. In Reality, it is Brahman, the imperishable, indivisible, Non-Dual Self. The “individual self” or “I” is not different from the Real Self, which is Brahman.
Meditation on the Self is declared to be without Time, Space, direction, or Causation, since the Self is without these things. The Self itself is to be realized as timeless, & the Realization itself, being of the same nature, is bodiless & without regard to place. The Self itself is, without Causation, being Uncreated & Unborn. And the Realization, being of the same nature, need not wait for circumstance & is not an attempt to produce the Self anew. The Realization is a realizing of what the Self truly is. Le the Mind thus turn within, immersing itself in Self-Inquiry, absorbing itself in Knowledge, thereby losing its own form as it searches inwardly for its source. In this lies great Bliss & Immortality.
The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:
http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality/
or with Caps-sensitive:
Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:
http://www.blogger.com as “Being-as-Consciousness, Non-Duality – new & final version” with link:
http://being-as-consciousness.blogspot.com/
[But from now on, they will be different & still usually daily.]
Nonduality and Science 