One Inch Equation: Meaning & Definition - Phoenix

[phoenixthoth]

ready?

ok.

here we go.

me = God = you.

that's it. no more, no less.

what does that equation MEAN?? excellent question. I've been asking myself that question my whole life. and i think I've known the answer before I've known the question.

of course, you have to define what "me" is. this is HARD. it requires self examination. not easy.

then you have to define what "=" means. this is HARD. VERY hard to put in three dimensional terms. I'm going to have fun with this one. it’s like a double chemical bond or something.

then you have to definte what "God" means. this is HARD. again, self examination

then i have to define what "you" means. this is HARD. i want to examine you.

the definitions will NEVER be complete in any sense. the question is will the definitions be complete enough for you to be satisfied. you may think your levels of dissatisfaction are limitless, and believe me, i know the feeling, but you can still your ego when you choose to. remember, you can choose to do anything you want. do, or do not. there is no try.

i really didn't feel like going to school anyway...

may your journey be graceful,
phoenix

 

[FZ+]

Uh... hmm...

Usually, it is more helpful to understand the meaning, and from that write down the equation.

Read Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective? In a part of that, Dirk finds a problem he can't solve. In response, he writes down a meaningless squiggle on a piece of paper, and declares he has found the Solution. Only a simple translation is required to understand what the squiggle signifies...

 

[Iacchus32]

Originally posted by phoenixthoth
ready?

ok.

here we go.

me = God = you.

that's it. no more, no less.

what does that equation MEAN?? excellent question. I've been asking myself that question my whole life. and i think I've known the answer before I've known the question.

Of course if we were all practicing Hindu's, it would be customary to address each other as if we were gods.

 

[quartodeciman]

A hindu story, from Zimmer, I believe:

A disciple was taught by his guru about the upanishadic doctrine of "tat tvam asi", namely, "thou art that". He learned that the great absolute being that pervades all reality and the life breath within oneself are, in fact, one and the same. "Do you mean, beloved teacher, that I am ,in fact, God?" "Yes", replied the guru, "and so are we all". The lad left his session with a glow of omnipotence. On the street as he returned home, a shout was heard. An elephant had
started to run wild and scattered the crowd of people in the marketplace. The lad saw the elephant approaching him with the elephant's mahout atop, shouting at him to get out of the way. "But I am God", he thought to himself, so he deliberately walked directly in the path of the elephant. Of course, he was thrown aside and injured. He returned to his guru in tears and demanded to know why he, God, should have been so treated. "Did you not tell me that I am God?", he sniffed. "Yes, indeed you are", replied the guru. "But so is the elephant and the mahout who shouted at you to get out of the way". All of us are God.

 

[phoenixthoth]

"Of course if we were all practicing Hindu's, it would be customary to address each other as if we were gods. "

what a society that would be indeed if we all revered each other that way. no one would even think of ever harming another.

"All of us are God."

interesting story. it speaks to the obvious flaw in thinking that we are all God. perhaps we are gods with different levels of the following three properties: omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence.

this is a characterization of my philosophy:
1. i am omniscient but i can't be aware of all that is at all times. together, we will find a way. (not in my lifetime perhaps.)
2. i am omnipotent but i just don't know how to use my power. i have the power to write about any concept (see "the nature of reality") and have power over it. this isn't literal omnipotence, but together we will see how to do more with what we have.
3. i am omnipresent but i need a passport to get anywhere. writing is this passport. and photography and descriptions of different places.

i can imagine the whole universe in my mind but it is rather small. over this universe, i have all three properties. kinda a solipsitic approach, i know.

may your journey be graceful,
phoenix

 

[FZ+]

I'll see if I can get to agree with some of this...

1. i am omniscient but i can't be aware of all that is at all times. together, we will find a way. (not in my lifetime perhaps.)

Hmm... There is a requirement here you missed - eternal. But if we suppose that you are in a way eternal, maybe this is justified in a way. What you see when an apple falls, for example, is not just the effect of the earth, but the effect of the entire universe acting on it. You are, in a manner of thinking, aware of everything.

2. i am omnipotent but i just don't know how to use my power. i have the power to write about any concept (see "the nature of reality") and have power over it. this isn't literal omnipotence, but together we will see how to do more with what we have.

Give me a lever long enough (and a place to stand!), and I can move the world?

3. i am omnipresent but i need a passport to get anywhere. writing is this passport. and photography and descriptions of different places.

The effect of you is perhaps indeed everywhere - at least as fast as light can carry it. By some interpretations of QM, you are "everywhere".

 

[phoenixthoth]

"Hmm... There is a requirement here you missed - eternal. But if we suppose that you are in a way eternal, maybe this is justified in a way. What you see when an apple falls, for example, is not just the effect of the earth, but the effect of the entire universe acting on it. You are, in a manner of thinking, aware of everything."

i'm not so sure you need to be eternal to be omniscient, but at this stage of human awareness, which is rather dim, it can be hard to say for sure if eternality is needed for omniscience.

may your journey be graceful,
phoenix

 

[steppenwolf]

Originally posted by phoenixthoth
ready?

ok.

here we go.

me = God = you.

that's it. no more, no less.

i like it, it's oddly beautiful in it's completeness, even as an atheist i am touched.

the story about the elephant is great, the hindu god is a very divided entity so it seems, yet completely whole

 

[phoenixthoth]

i played on the white board, writing other theories of everything. it all seems to scratch the surface while being able to encapsulate much.

cheers,
phoenix

 

[steppenwolf]

Originally posted by phoenixthoth
i played on the white board, writing other theories of everything. it all seems to scratch the surface while being able to encapsulate much.

cheers,
phoenix

wow, reading that i was suddenly hit by the feeling of having heard that before, the idea of scratching the surface in a simplistic formual but hint at so much, and then i remembered, that's basically the whole art of haiku summed up. your formulas are like haikus! i love haikus i reckon they rock and have been perfecting my own attempts at this art for a while now, that's probably why i felt the immediate afinity with your formula

 

[wuliheron]

Foolish mortals, there is no equation! There is only me!

Working the problem from the top down is impossible, unless of course, you just happen to be me and then, there is no problem!

Get a grip! If you were god their would be no question, there would be no doubt, there would be no reason to talk about it.

 

[phoenixthoth]

wuliheron,

it took me a little while to figure out what you were talking about.

then i realized that you just misunderstood what i meant by "=" in the context of me = God = you.

by "=", i don't mean "is" and i don't mean "is isomorphic to" or "is equivalent to" or "in a molecular bond with."

(i'm trying not to sound like mr. clinton.)

more along the lines of "is connected to in some way, possibly in a concrete way and possibly in an abstract way, probably both." something like that.

one consequence of this is that all beings are connected.

cheers,
phoenix