Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Bit by Bit - Chapter 20, Part 18

Trey Smith

"And what do you mean by saying, `No beginning but has its end'?"

Confucius said, "There is a being who transforms the ten thousand things, yet we do not know how he works these changes. How do we know what is an end? How do we know what is a beginning? The only thing for us to do is just to wait!"

~ Burton Watson translation ~
Since we only are able to see a very myopic portion of the cosmos, we have no idea whatsoever how long or wide it might be. The entirety of life on earth may be little more than a centimeter on a line stretching to infinity!

From what I can see, transformation is the one constant of existence. If life has been and will be ever transforming, concepts like beginning and end are just arbitrary distinctions conjured up by the human mind. While such concepts may aid us in a quasi comprehension of the world, it doesn't mean that either actually exists.

To view the Index page for this series, go here.

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