Seeing the universe from the inside looking out

Body: 

My philosophy is very simple. The universe is actually and ultimately composed of the same thing that apprehends the universe. That is, that which apprehends the universe is that of which the universe is actually composed. What Exists at every point in the universe, and in all likelihood beyond, is the same thing that Exists directly where each Individual Exists, which is the Consciousness that apprehends experience.

Why do we not see this? Why do we think that what exists elsewhere is different than what exists where we are? There are many reasons. One is that we do not see what exists where we are as being Consciousness, rather we see a material body. And when we look around we don't see Consciousness, we see material reality, and so that is what seems or appears to be there. Yet what could we see without Consciousness, what could we see in the absence of that which Exists directly where we are?

And if one understands that Consciousness is what Exists directly where they are, why then should that not be what Exists elsewhere as well? We look at a rock and say that what is there cannot be Consciousness, cannot be apprehending experience, because it does not have a central nervous system. But that assumes that the apprehension of all experience by Consciousness requires what we apprehend as a central nervous system. It may very well be that the creation and apprehension of the majority of physical experience requires a central nervous system, requires this apparatus which is Itself composed of Consciousness for forming relations with surrounding Existence, but that does not mean that in the absence of such an apparatus there is no apprehension of experience of any sort.

When we see a rock or any material reality we are looking at it from the outside looking in, and so are only apprehending its surface features. We know nothing of the content. And if we break the rock apart and examine its smaller pieces, to see what minerals it is composed of, we are still looking at it from the outside looking in, and we still know nothing of its actual content, still know nothing regarding that of which it is actually composed. And if we break it apart further and look at it at the molecular level, and then at the atomic level, and then at the subatomic level, we are still looking at it from the outside looking in, and still know nothing of its content, still know nothing regarding its actual composition, i.e., of what it is ultimately composed. In all of these endeavors we are just making an etching of what is actually there and not getting at what is actually there.

But a funny thing happens when we start to make the etchings at a very small level, in that the way the etchings appear becomes inseparable from the way they are being created. In fact, the way the etchings, i.e., physical experiences or realities, appear are always inseparable from the way they are created, its just that at the quantum level this inseparability becomes evident and unavoidable.

To understand what a rock or any material reality, or even space itself, is actually composed of, one does not need an atom smasher or supercollider, rather, one needs only logic and reason, unbiased and unmoved by what appears to be. To understand what any material reality is actually composed of one need only look at it from the inside looking out. From the inside looking out one sees the material reality as composed of Consciousness, whereas from the outside looking in one sees the material reality as composed of some more fundamental material reality, whatever that is.

Consider your own body. From the outside looking in it appears to be nothing more than matter, whatever that is. But from the inside looking out there is Consciousness apprehending emotional, mental, and material reality.

From the outside looking in everything appears to be different. But from the inside looking out everything appears the same, as it is all seen to be composed of the same Existential Substance that is Consciousness. Likewise, clay can be molded into an infinity of shapes, which if only seen from the outside would appear to be an infinite number of different things. But when it is known that all those things are actually molded from the same material, as it were, then the differences becomes secondary to the identity of underlying composition.

The world you see around you is molded from Consciousness, and is composed of Consciousness that has molded and continues to mold Itself through iterative and progressive relation to Itself, like twisting a rubber band repeatedly upon itself, into an overall Relational Structure of Reality from which and within which other Relational Structures extend and arise. And all of those Relational Structures are composed of Consciousness, and when one Relational Structure comes to be in relation to another Relational Structure, a boundary arises and so is created where they meet, and it is that created boundary that is apprehended as a mental or physical experience by the Consciousness of which the Relational Structures are composed.

Thus, experience rather than Consciousness seems to be what is there because experience is the etching that is created and apprehended when What Is Actually There, i.e., Consciousness, comes to be in relation to Itself. Thus, the universe is composed of an invisible Substance, because that of which the universe if composed cannot Itself be an experience. As the universe is composed of an invisible Substance there are two ways to go about examining what's there, from the outside looking in or from the inside looking out. Looking at what's there from the outside looking in always creates an etching. But the etchings, no matter how detailed, will always just be etchings, and will never be what is there directly, because what is there directly is that which is both making the etching and apprehending the etching, and is also that which is Itself being etched. Thus, the etching itself is always something different or other than, of a different nature than, what is actually there.

We will never get at what is directly and actually there by breaking matter down into smaller and smaller parts, into parts composed of fewer relations, because all that does is create another etching of what's actually there. We may learn how what is there is being in relation to Itself, and we may learn the different ways what is actually there can be configured in relation to Itself, but that is different than getting at what is there directly, different than understanding what actually underlies what we are observing.

The other way to go about examining what's there is from the inside looking out. The difference between looking at the universe from the outside looking in or from the inside looking out is like the difference between looking at a tree from above or below, respectively. From above most of the tree is obscured by the leaves, whereas from below one can see the relations between the different parts of the tree, as the leaves do not obscure the view of the whole. From the inside looking out the created etchings, i.e., mental and physical experiences, do not obscure the underlying Actuality, because the etchings are seen in their proper context, as etchings, as creations, and not as what is actually there, since, to see the world from the inside looking out requires one to adopt the perspective of Consciousness as what is actually there.

And all that is required to adopt the perspective of Consciousness as what is actually there is to understand that what Exists most directly where you are, which is that which apprehends experience, is what Exists directly everywhere else as well, regardless of what seems or appears to be there.