I find it astonishing that a school of thought -- what came to be known as Taoism -- that was first developed thousands of years ago had the insight to view life as a manifestation of the One or, put another way, that everything in this existence is interconnected. The reason I find this insight so amazing is that the thinkers of this epoch knew next to nothing about the chemical makeup of the universe.
If one grabbed the average human of 2000 BC off the trail and showed this individual an apple, a rock, a pool of water, a dragonfly and a human, my guess is that 99.9% of them would tell you that these 5 things were each made of different substances -- based, in part, on the fact that their appearances were so dissimilar. But it was this 0.1% that was able to discern commonality beyond the superficial differences.
Today, in our technologically-advanced society, we have learned that the totality of life is built with the same building blocks, the basic elements of life. What this knowledge has taught us is that there is not as much of a difference than we use to think between an apple, a rock, a pool of water, a dragonfly and a human.
In fact, if a mighty magician existed in our midst who had the ability instantaneously to rearrange these basic chemical elements, an apple could be transformed into a pool of water or a rock could become a person!
When we look at life from this perspective, then the insight that all things are merely manifestations of the One doesn't seem so preposterous at all, particularly if we envision the One being comprised of the basic elements. The chief difference in the appearance and function of all entities is simply explained by the different combinations and number of the elements utilized.
This got me to thinking that, maybe, the Christian perspective on this topic isn't as far off-base as I once thought. For the Christian, it is believed that humankind is created in the image of the heavenly father. What if they had the basic notion correct, but simply misidentified it? If we insert all of life instead of humankind into the equation, then this would mean that life itself -- in all its various forms -- is made in the image of the creator.
Any way we care to slice it, I think scientific inquiry has gone a long way toward verifying what the earliest Taoist thinkers knew so many eons ago -- everything is connected. Everything is part of the One and the One is part of everything.
If one grabbed the average human of 2000 BC off the trail and showed this individual an apple, a rock, a pool of water, a dragonfly and a human, my guess is that 99.9% of them would tell you that these 5 things were each made of different substances -- based, in part, on the fact that their appearances were so dissimilar. But it was this 0.1% that was able to discern commonality beyond the superficial differences.
Today, in our technologically-advanced society, we have learned that the totality of life is built with the same building blocks, the basic elements of life. What this knowledge has taught us is that there is not as much of a difference than we use to think between an apple, a rock, a pool of water, a dragonfly and a human.
In fact, if a mighty magician existed in our midst who had the ability instantaneously to rearrange these basic chemical elements, an apple could be transformed into a pool of water or a rock could become a person!
When we look at life from this perspective, then the insight that all things are merely manifestations of the One doesn't seem so preposterous at all, particularly if we envision the One being comprised of the basic elements. The chief difference in the appearance and function of all entities is simply explained by the different combinations and number of the elements utilized.
This got me to thinking that, maybe, the Christian perspective on this topic isn't as far off-base as I once thought. For the Christian, it is believed that humankind is created in the image of the heavenly father. What if they had the basic notion correct, but simply misidentified it? If we insert all of life instead of humankind into the equation, then this would mean that life itself -- in all its various forms -- is made in the image of the creator.
Any way we care to slice it, I think scientific inquiry has gone a long way toward verifying what the earliest Taoist thinkers knew so many eons ago -- everything is connected. Everything is part of the One and the One is part of everything.
I think the Greeks may have speculated about a single 'essence' as well, but I can't remember more specifically.
ReplyDeleteLogically, I think Christianity has to agree with you. Consider this: when we create things, we model them on other things: buildings, furniture, art, music, even philosophy. But imagine that the universe is created by a god? How could god make the universe in the image of anything, except... itself?
Yeah, makes me wonder (for a sec) what happened to us that made us 'forget' those antient wisdom. Anyhow, it doesn't matter really.
ReplyDeleteDid you watch The Elegant Universe?. If you didn't you should, it's a good program explaining the String Theory. Here's the link if you'd like to take a look http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/