Does anyone else find the fact that there should exist in this reality an Infinite Creator really ... surprising, perhaps, is the right word, if not downright startling? How does it come to pass that in a void a singular Infinite conscious being comes into existence - or exists eternally without beginning or end?
Let me clarify that I am not asking whether or not there is an Infinite Creator - I am almost completely certain that it is so. Rather, trying to wrap my mind around how it happened to come to pass.
I know that this is not a new question, and I am simply substituting "infinite creator" for the traditional God; and I am also aware that I am trying to grasp the origin of infinite consciousness with the mind of a monkey - nonetheless, it seems like there may be a whole other level of reality that the Infinite Creator exists within, perhaps with its own rules, and we, having our existence within its mind, cannot ever reach outside to encounter it - and perhaps that is why, as Ra said, "everything begins and ends in mystery."
You could argue that the Infinite Creator is infinite and therefore nothing can exist outside it (otherwise it would not be infinite), but it seems to me that 1) it is not infinite in every respect - otherwise it could not learn and discover new things; 2) its infinity may perhaps be understood as infinity of being, i.e., consciousness or intelligent energy - but that would not necessary preclude the existence of other similar beings possessing an infinity of consciousness, enabling each to imagine/create an infinite creation without limit or end. By way of analogy, if I can use an infinite number of integers and you can also, aren't we each in possession of an infinity of integers?
On the other hand, suggesting that the One Infinite Creator is actually perhaps One of Many Infinite Creators may simply be adding yet another level to a fractal reality -- another way of saying "the world rests on the back of a giant elephant, and it's giant elephants all the way down" -- without coming any closer to answering the Ultimate Question, which is why and how any consciousness should exist at all.
Here's a poem, potentially older than 5000 years, that resonates very strongly with this question for me:
Nasadiya: The Creation Hymn of Rig Veda
There was neither non-existence nor existence then.
There was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond.
What stirred?
Where?
In whose protection?
Was there water, bottlemlessly deep?
There was neither death nor immortality then.
There was no distinguishing sign of night nor of day.
That One breathed, windless, by its own impulse.
Other than that there was nothing beyond.
Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning,
with no distinguishing sign, all this was water.
The life force that was covered with emptiness,
that One arose through the power of heat.
Desire came upon that One in the beginning,
that was the first seed of mind.
Poets seeking in their heart with wisdom
found the bond of existence and non-existence.
Their cord was extended across.
Was there below?
Was there above?
There were seed-placers, there were powers.
There was impulse beneath, there was giving forth above.
Who really knows?
Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced?
Whence is this creation?
The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whence this creation has arisen
- perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not -
the One who looks down on it,
in the highest heaven, only He knows
or perhaps even He does not know.
Let me clarify that I am not asking whether or not there is an Infinite Creator - I am almost completely certain that it is so. Rather, trying to wrap my mind around how it happened to come to pass.
I know that this is not a new question, and I am simply substituting "infinite creator" for the traditional God; and I am also aware that I am trying to grasp the origin of infinite consciousness with the mind of a monkey - nonetheless, it seems like there may be a whole other level of reality that the Infinite Creator exists within, perhaps with its own rules, and we, having our existence within its mind, cannot ever reach outside to encounter it - and perhaps that is why, as Ra said, "everything begins and ends in mystery."
You could argue that the Infinite Creator is infinite and therefore nothing can exist outside it (otherwise it would not be infinite), but it seems to me that 1) it is not infinite in every respect - otherwise it could not learn and discover new things; 2) its infinity may perhaps be understood as infinity of being, i.e., consciousness or intelligent energy - but that would not necessary preclude the existence of other similar beings possessing an infinity of consciousness, enabling each to imagine/create an infinite creation without limit or end. By way of analogy, if I can use an infinite number of integers and you can also, aren't we each in possession of an infinity of integers?
On the other hand, suggesting that the One Infinite Creator is actually perhaps One of Many Infinite Creators may simply be adding yet another level to a fractal reality -- another way of saying "the world rests on the back of a giant elephant, and it's giant elephants all the way down" -- without coming any closer to answering the Ultimate Question, which is why and how any consciousness should exist at all.
Here's a poem, potentially older than 5000 years, that resonates very strongly with this question for me:
Nasadiya: The Creation Hymn of Rig Veda
There was neither non-existence nor existence then.
There was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond.
What stirred?
Where?
In whose protection?
Was there water, bottlemlessly deep?
There was neither death nor immortality then.
There was no distinguishing sign of night nor of day.
That One breathed, windless, by its own impulse.
Other than that there was nothing beyond.
Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning,
with no distinguishing sign, all this was water.
The life force that was covered with emptiness,
that One arose through the power of heat.
Desire came upon that One in the beginning,
that was the first seed of mind.
Poets seeking in their heart with wisdom
found the bond of existence and non-existence.
Their cord was extended across.
Was there below?
Was there above?
There were seed-placers, there were powers.
There was impulse beneath, there was giving forth above.
Who really knows?
Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced?
Whence is this creation?
The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whence this creation has arisen
- perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not -
the One who looks down on it,
in the highest heaven, only He knows
or perhaps even He does not know.