A Simple Explanation of Time

Scientific and philosophical orthodoxies have yet to crack the conundrum of time. There is no agreed-upon consensus regarding the nature of time. Time seems to be connected to space and the things that occupy space--it takes a certain amount of time to go from here to there--but unlike space and matter, time has no attributes. You can't find it anywhere, although it seems to be everywhere. You can't look at it, you can't weigh it. You can't collect it into a container. You can't buy or sell it.

Time seems to be peculiarly subjective. The subjective sense of time varies from person to person and from situation to situation. Sometimes it seems to pass quickly; sometimes it seems to go slowly. Its duration seems to change despite the steady ticking of the clocks that measure what we call its passing. Clocks do not actually measure time itself, but rather how long it takes a thing to go from here to there. 

As previously stated, clocks measure how long it takes something to go from here to there. Imagine if there were no objects and you could somehow observe truly empty space. Where would the time be then? Would there be any sense of time other than eternity? I think not.

In the absence of matter, the first distinction of time passing would be "before" and "after," but only in reference to something occurring or arising in that empty space. The Simple Explanation would say the "before" state of timeless eternity would describe the formless ground state of no-thought consciousness, prior to thought, prior to things. The Simple Explanation calls this initial state the "Metaverse."

The Simple Explanation suggests that pure consciousness then had a thought that unfolded our universe. 

This thought and subsequent universe were immediately encapsulated in the form of a 4-dimensional torus. The toroidal container isolates our familiar 3-D universe from the Metaverse, keeping the Metaverse eternal and uncluttered. 

The Simple Explanation calls this container the "Universal Unit of "Consciousness." 

Within this container, time is born, along with space. "After" is separated from "Before" by "Now."

The thought of our Universal Unit of Consciousness is the formulae for all of creation, for it is a whole and complete subset of the infinite and illimitable Metaverse. 

In the same manner a bucket sitting in the sea holds water indistinguishable from the water that lies outside the bucket, so, too, the Universal Unit of Consciousness holds the infinite within its limited space.

The torus is a rotating figure that continually pushes perfect order into our 3-D space from the perfection that lies outside of it. 

The algorithm of creation enters our space through the portal of "here and now" in a highly ordered state.

The order of creation is this: momentary chaos, then metaversal information, then energy, then highly ordered matter. As matter proceeds away from the portal of here and now it becomes less orderly as the residual entropy of chaos affects it.

The Simple Explanation states that every thing, every piece of "material," comes into our universe with its very own unit of consciousness (UC) that governs the behavior of that piece of matter. From particles on up, every piece of material in our universe "knows" how to do its job because it is a fractal of the universal unit of consciousness, and the universal UC knows all there is to know about creation because it holds all the formulae. 

It is through consciousness and information that our material universe is formed. In the case of an atom, its unit of consciousness (UC) needs to know how to reach out to other atoms and bond to form molecules. Molecules know how to bond to form elements. Organelles know how to bond to form cells. Cells know how to bond to form organs. Organs bond to form creatures. And so on. Each UC only needs to know how to do its own job. 

What's all of this got to do with time? The units of consciousness that enter through the portal of here and now to become the material of our universe not only bring the information they need to fill their material slot and do their jobs, they bring along a finite piece of eternity. This finite bit of eternity is what we experience as time. 

In other words:

Time is the 4-D universal torus pushing eternity through the portal of here and now into our confined 3-D space. 

This bears repeating: 

Time is the 3-D projection of eternity passing through through a hyperspatial torus. 

Now let's revisit the bucket of ocean water analogy: Outside of the bucket lies eternity. The water confined to the bucket is limited. We call the water inside the bucket time. We experience time as a phenomenon of consciousness because consciousness is passing from one location in the bucket's space to the another.

According to the Simple Explanation, the bucket holds our space-time inside a fractal border that can never be breached. Pure consciousness and the vastness of eternity lie just outside the bucket.

Each unit of consciousness passes one-by-one through the portal of here and now, from infinity into space and from eternity into time.

We are essentially units of consciousness, each with our own personal time manifesting along with our physical bodies. Time is subjective because each unit of consciousness is a subject with its own point of view. 

There is no such thing as objective time. Time is always observed through the consciousness of an observer. Time is a manifestation of eternity, observed through consciousness that has been confined to our 3-D space/time continuum. 

A New Gnostic Gospel Blog

The Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything is happy to announce the birth of a new blog location for the Gnostic Gospel articles. You can think of the new blog as a Gnostic spin-off of the Simple Explanation. In this manner, those of you who are more interested in ancient religious concepts can focus on them over at the new Gnostic Gospel blog, while those of you who simply love the Simple Explanation can stay here on the Simple Explanation site. 

"A New Gnostic Gospel" may now found at its own blog. Please click here to go see.

Let's think of the new blog as a fruit of the Simple Explanation for those seeking a more traditional Gnosis of the Father and creation. A New Gnostic Gospel will focus on ancient Gnosis demystified for your Enlightenment. You will also find a growing body of practical applications of Gnosis to daily life and a full exploration of the implications of restoring the Gnostic Gospel to Christianity.

The Simple Explanation blog will stay here and active for those of you who are more drawn to toruses and leading edge science. 

Much love,
cyd

A Gnostic Perspective of Jesus on the Cross

[This article has been reposted to my new "New Gnostic Gospel" blog. You may read it here, now, or jump to the dedicated Gnostic Gospel blog and continue there.] 

Now that I have completed writing The Gnostic Gospel Illuminated, I am revisiting the standard teachings of my Christian faith. 

One of the central themes of the Christian faith is the death of Jesus on the cross. Christians the world over focus on the body of Jesus hanging on the cross. I have often pondered why this fixation of Jesus on the cross? Why is the crucifix the focal point of every church and altar? Why do people wear the cross as jewelry or hang a crucifix in their bedroom?

The obvious answer Christians give is that without the cross, Jesus could not have saved humanity from sin, for he bore our sins into the grave with his death and they were washed away with his resurrection from the dead. Okay. Praise be to God. But why the cross? If Jesus had been stoned to death, or drowned, or beaten, or thrown from a high tower, would we feel such affinity for a stone, a lake, a club, or a roof? I don't think so. I think there is something very special about the shape of the cross itself.

I ask this question because Jesus never said, "I am soon to pass on from this world, and I want you to focus on my body hanging on the cross as I take on the sins of the world." Yet, that's what people do, as if that were the point of the Gospel. As far as I can tell, Jesus did not ask for his death and resurrection to be the focal point of worship. What Jesus actually said was, "I and my Father are One," and "Whoever welcomes me welcomes the Father that sent me." In other words, Jesus acknowledged himself in reference to his Father, and he deflected glory to his Father. Yet, Jesus is worshiped by modern Christians to the extent that the Father almost goes unmentioned. Thank goodness for the Lord's Prayer which is directed to the Father, and not the Son. Jesus taught it to be said to the Father; he did not teach it to be recited to himself. No slight to the Son, of course; I am here simply emphasizing the Father.

During the Last Supper, Jesus instructed his followers to think of his broken body as they break and eat bread, and to consider his blood as the fulfillment of a contract with humanity as they drink wine. This is what Jesus left the church as instruction regarding his death. He did not instruct them to erect images of crosses and to worship him hanging on the cross as if he were stuck up there forever. Yes, Protestants have allowed Jesus to come down off the cross and therefore their crosses are unoccupied to remind us that Jesus resurrected. But still, the focus is on the cross.

Again, why the cross in particular?

Last year I wrote "A Simple Explanation of the Sign of the Cross," wherein I explained my view of the symbolism of the cross. It is still a good explanation. In the meantime, I have developed a visual symbolism for the Gnostic Gospel, laid out in The Gnostic Gospel Illuminated. Now I can apply the Simple Explanation to the Gnostic Gospel, or is it the Gnostic Gospel to the Simple Explanation? And here it is:

The cross draws down power from above to earth below, and bridges side-to-side the Powers engaged in Endless War.

If you read The Gnostic Gospel Illuminated book, you will fully understand the symbolism presented here. 

We who dwell on earth are engaged in endless warfare with the imitation that always seeks to lure us away from our Father in heaven. Oftentimes we do not realize we are engaged in warfare with the imitation because it can appear disguised as goodness. That is what is meant by the devil being a liar.

The Second Order of Powers are engaged in endless warfare with the deficiencies of the imitation. Although the Second Order of Powers comes from the good disposition of the Father and the Fullness, they have forgotten their heavenly nature and become deluded through rage and other passions and addictions.

The Christ came to earth in the form of a Son of Man to bring the Third Order of Powers to earth as the solution to overcoming the phantoms of the imitation that have mired the Second Order Powers in error. Those who have eyes to see the Christ are able to remember their Father in Heaven. Those who remember their Father in Heaven and repent from the imitation are redeemed.

Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the promise to redeem the fallen. Jesus, as the Son of God and the Son of Man, brought salvation to the deficiency and restored it to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The reason the cross looks as it does and occupies such a central role in worship is that the cross represents human beings. The cross is shaped like a human, a Son of Man. It is no accident that Jesus was crucified on a cross, because Jesus is a Son of Man, the Son of Man. If, hypothetically, humans looked like dogs, then the Son of Man would have come in the form of a dog and the cross would look like that, too.

The human form is shaped like a cross. Small wonder we are drawn to the crucifix.

The cross should remind us that humankind has been redeemed by the body and blood of Christ in an even more profound way than acknowledging the indignity and suffering of Jesus on the cross; it should remind us that the Son of God, the Christ, bridged with the form of his human body, Spirit to Matter, Top to Bottom (Spirit to Earth) and Neighbor-to-Neighbor (side-to-side). 

In the Gnostic Gospel, redemption comes to all of creation through the incarnation of the Son of God into the body of the Son of Man. The manner of the Savior's birth, death, and resurrection will come to every soul as they realize their Father is in Heaven and to Heaven they will return. For every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It just takes time.

The First, Second, and Third Powers follow Christ the King, while the Phantoms of the Imitation cling to the darkness below.

We aren't there yet, because of the common delusion of presumptuous thought, which causes people to behave selfishly. Ego must first make way for the love of Christ to take over the throne of the Self. Only then may you rise above the egoic imitation, for then you will have a Champion and King.

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For more Gnostic Gospel Illuminated, you may begin with Chapter One of the series posted to the Simple Explanation blog.

Better yet, you may purchase your own ebook, readable on all e-reader platforms here.

Or, if you are like me, you will want your own printed copy to stand on the shelf and show to your friends. There are two versions available, a 6x9 full color paperback, and a 4x5 full color pocket edition. All Gnostic Gospel Illuminated books are available at my lulu.com storefront. 

A Gnostic Perspective on the Fall and Redemption of Tiger Woods

Everybody is excited over Tiger Woods winning the Masters golf tournament. His victory is a great archetypal story none of us can get enough of--a disgraced fallen hero battles through defeat after humiliating defeat for twelve grueling years, finally coming to his triumphal reentry.

Tiger Woods Triumphs over the Fall
photo credit: https://www.ffgolf.org

Since writing The Gnostic Gospel Illuminated, I can't help but notice the Gnostic mythos enacted through the story of Tiger Woods Masters' win. In Simple Explanation terms, this is  a fractal of a Gnostic mythical tale, one that is played out over and over again in a myriad of forms, but always with the same overall pattern.

This particular Gnostic story involves that aeon often called the "demiurge," but which I refer to as "Logos"--he who was the best of them all. Christians are taught his name is "Lucifer," the Light, for he was a bright and shiny star placed atop the hierarchy of angels.

Logos sat atop the hierarchy of the aeons. He was the final aeon created by the ALL, and he embodied every good and perfect aspect of all the aeons. 

All of the other aeons loved Logos, for he was their youngest and he represented the best of them all. 

In like manner, Tiger Woods was the same type of young talent, representing the best that golf and golfers had in them, and fully in charge of the powers given him by God and by his earthly father.

Logos mistook himself for the Fullness, forgetting that he stood on the shoulders of giants. Ego overcame Logos and he overreached for the heights, stumbled, and fell.

Logos forgot all about his role in the Fullness, and he let personal pride propel him to overreach and fall.

Tiger Woods suffered a similar fall from exalted status. If you are not familiar with his story, you can look up the details elsewhere. What we need to know for our purposes is that Tiger Woods was hailed as a conquering hero from an early age. He was the best and brightest of them all, but only as long as he kept his eyes on the ball, the flag, and the hole. In other words, Tiger was good at his job and this was why he was elevated above the Fullness of the other golfers.

When one is highly talented and given glory by others, they may be filled with pride. Pride cometh before the fall. This is what happened to Tiger Woods. He took his eyes off the prize and quickly stumbled and fell. And, because he was lifted up, his fall was all the more disastrous when it came.

When Logos fell, his true Self broke apart and all of his lovely virtues that had made him so special and beloved shriveled up and became weak little Egoic versions of his prior glory. What was light was now dark. What was strong was now weak. What was virtuous was now vice. The Fullness was shocked and horrified by what their beloved had become. Logos himself was disgusted and ashamed by the condition of his own fallen Ego.

Logos broke apart into dark phantoms of Ego after the fall.

The phantoms born of Logos after the fall are sad, weak, and isolated. They think only of themselves and operate out of a drive for dominion, not duty. And for every virtue of the ALL that exists, there is a corresponding Egoic vice that mimics and mocks the original.

Love becomes lust and marital vows are exchanged for passing pleasures. The body's temple becomes defiled and rather than feed it with nutrition, it is polluted with pharmaceuticals, junk food, soda pop, and alcohol. Devotion becomes obsession, abstinence is traded for indulgence, health is propped up with medicine rather than vitality. Abilities and talents no longer occupy the vessel of their birth, and excellence is replaced with simply trying to survive.

Tiger's fall resulted in his utter, very public, disgrace. He lost his reputation, his wife, his abilities, and his health as he passed through injuries, addictions, hookers, and run-ins with the law. 

Those who are fallen are weak and isolated, blindly struggling to get by.

After the fall, Logos was aghast at what had happened. He was unable to control the monsters he had unleashed. Logos quickly repented and returned to the Fullness for healing. The healing of Logos was begun by his repentance, but it required concentration, prayer, and the effort of All to bring about his redemption.

Logos, the Fullness, and the Father create a Second Order of Powers to correct the deficiency and restore the fallen.

Like Logos, the fallen Tiger struggled to claw his way back from deficiency. The gallery became his Fullness, packed with observant supporters, rooting him on. Months and years of sobriety, surgeries, and hard work replaced the shadow's vices with virtues and Tiger began to shine again.

The redemption of Tiger Woods bore fruit on Sunday, when he won his first major tournament in twelve years. Now his story is the story of redemption from the fall and resurrection from his deficiency. 

When we cheer for Tiger's redemption, let us not forget to give glory to his Father and creator, whose perfection empowers all of our champions, brilliantly illuminating the best and brightest among us.

This has been a presentation of a fractal story of an archetypal Gnostic myth, and one we can all expect to experience from time to time as we repent from our own falls and seek redemption and resurrection from above. 

You can read the entire Gnostic story in one short, easy-to-read book. Please consider buying a copy for yourself and another to share with a friend. 

There is a 6"x9" deluxe edition that sells for $23.45 and a 4"x5" pocket edition only available through my website for only $7.50.

First Black Hole Ever Photographed

By now, everyone has heard of the enormous black hole photographed and shared with the world this week. Here's the picture:

Here's a link to a good article about it by astrophysicist Janna Levin, first posted to Quanta Magazine: What the Sight of a Black Hole Means to a Black Hole Physicist

The Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything is one of numerous toroidal cosmological theories, so it's no surprise and quite lovely to see such a nice picture of a very large torus. You can find three dozen torus articles on the Simple Explanation web page in the index on the right side of the screen under the heading "Toroidal Forces." 

Here's a link to one of the Simple Explanation article about toruses:

Images of Toroids Surrounding Black Holes, Quantum Clouds, Our Earth