Mind over Matter

“Metaphor is the most powerful tool which the human imagination can employ in relation to the mystery of reality as a whole.”  (Professor Francis J. Ambrosio, 1949--)

Mind or matter, which came first?  Scientists say that in the beginning there was a Big Bang from which came matter and energy.  It was billions of years later before the ability to perceive, to feel and to know somehow evolved out of the matter and energy of the universe.  But, is the opposite possible?  Was knowing created from matter and energy, or is it possible that the matter and energy of the world was created from knowing?  Was the world created from Mind?

The idea seems unscientific.  Fortunately, the mind is its own laboratory where experiments can happen.  Einstein did it best, with his famous thought experiments about relativity.  I’m no Einstein, but I love to experiment.  I remember in Junior High arguing with a friend about a very familiar thought experiment.  “If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”  My current thought experiment can be thought of as a variation on this question. Welcome to my lab.

We are told that in the beginning was a Big Bang,

And a new world was filled with matter and energy.

But there was no mind, no knowing, no awareness.

All was void and without form.

Because . . .

Without Mind that perceives, there are no colors, sounds, smells or textures.

Without Mind that compares, there is neither short nor long, neither big nor small, neither hot nor cold. The world is void of all relative attributes.

Without Mind that measures, there is no time and there is no distance.

Without Mind that describes, there are no words.

Without Mind that creates, there are no inventions, no writings, no art and no music.

Without Mind that learns, there is no history, no science, no mathematics.

Without Mind that feels, there are no emotions, no wishes, and no desires.  There is no love and no hate, no pleasure and no pain, no joy and no sorrow.

Without Mind that judges, there is no beauty and no ugliness. There is no good or bad, no right or wrong.

Without Mind, the world is void and without form.

But there is Mind. And the world is not void but filled with colors and shapes and sizes and all variety of forms.

And from Mind all that is our world, as we know it, came to be.

End of experiment. That’s what was on my mind.  Hope it mattered to you.