Unit
I will start this article with the definition of an isolated system: implies a system that does not interact in any way with the other systems in its environment. Now I ask: Is there an isolated system?
An isolated system is based on something that does not occur in nature. Curious. Therefore, all scientific exploration has viewed things as isolated systems. For example, we try to separate something and think of it as small, separate parts. . .the cell, the nervous system, the elements of the periodic table, apples, flowers, tables, etc. but this does not exist in nature – not in any system, not in gravity, not in biological functions, not in mechanical engineering, not in sociological systems, etc.
I will use geometry to explain this point. Take any form, for now we will look at a circle – is this an isolated system? It divides the space between inside and outside. In fact, each circle is just another point of information or energy. Within a circle there can be smaller circles, and so on – infinitely. So again, it is not an isolated system, because ‘space’ can always be divided into smaller diameters, or larger diameters, so the circumference of the circle is only a temporary description of energy or information.
This is basically what fractals
are – an infinite description of information in smaller and smaller, recurring forms or definitions of space. But these definitions can be redefined infinitely. There are no isolated systems. This is the premise of holographic physics. All information is present in each part because it refers to all other parts of the ‘system’. The system is therefore not closed, but infinite.
People are similar. We use our contours, like the diameter of a circle, to define ourselves, pretending we are an isolated system, but we are not. We say we don’t have enough food, money, time, energy, etc., but this is scientifically pure fallacy. If we are infinite, then so are our resources. Our energy is infinite. Our information is infinite. The finite self is an illusion – not only in esoteric or spiritual terms, but also in scientific terms.
Space is everywhere – between galaxies, stars, quasars, planets, atoms, in the densest material there is still space. Buckminster Fuller said, “Nothing touches.” That’s how much space there is. Even an atom is 99.99999% space. It is the 0.00001% that we call the ‘real world’. We call this isolated system reality. We ignore the truth every day. Matter does not define space. Matter is defined by space.
In fact, it is the assumption that these ‘closed systems’ respond independently of each other that poses the ultimate conundrum. A TOE or theory of everything must bring together all known forms of physical matter – to explain what spiritual people claim – that we are all one. Archimedes and Einstein tried the TOE, as did surf scientists in Hawaii and countless highly qualified professors at universities around the world. Plato and Socrates wanted an answer to our unity, as did Galileo.
If one were to read the paṭicca-samuppada
, an important Pali text, one can conclude that everything exists or that nothing exists, opposites of the truth of the matter – that in relation to each other there is a middle way. (Yes, the famous middle way that the Buddha spoke of) that connects all phenomena – physical, mental and otherwise. In fact, the word loka, which is often translated as “world,” actually means “an open place or an open space.”
Space makes up 99.99999% of all things
If we are truly 99.99999% space and the world, or if loka is an open space or place, how can we be limited, or a closed system at all? We are an open system, integrally interconnected, dependent on each other for existence and actuality. Physicists may not have determined the TOE yet, but there is irrefutable scientific evidence that cannot be ignored. We are all more than figuratively one, in the way we hold hands and sing kumbaya – but physically, mentally and relationally.