The Architecture of Being, part I

Photo: Virgin of Sorrow, Joos van Cleve, circa 1520. Yale Gallery of Art. A fine example of Northern Renaissance painting, characterized by its extraordinary precision, and clarity.

Recently I recorded a spontaneous talk about the nature of awareness and the need for it in the universe.

One might think that the universe doesn't need awareness. But even a small bit of consideration confirms that without awareness, there would be no universe. Worlds and universes, simply can't exist unless there are beings in them to perceive them. That is to say, God could undertake creation of a universe, or many of them, but without creatures within that universe who, like God, are able to perceive, to not only be self-aware but to distinctly see and sense self awareness in other creatures of like kind (at least in this ability), there would be only what we would call uni-Being, a single being, which was aware: and this contradicts the fundamental premise of universe creation, that is, that there is a relationship between the creator and the created. Otherwise, why begin creating universes in the first place? The act itself implies seeing a need for more than just one’s own self.

In this sense, the creation of the universe is an action against selfishness. It reminds me of the religious experience I had in 2001, in which I entered many months of perfect bliss that were all, in the end, about the perfection of the bliss itself and not about a relationship with the world around me, except inso   far as it fed that bliss. Eventually I realized that this was not enough. In a certain sense, I believe, this was a microcosmic recapitulation of the act of creating the universe: to see that even if one is whole and perfect, that has to be sacrificed on behalf of a greater good which includes others and even creation itself. This takes work; this takes giving up self involvement.