A Simple Explanation of Monads and Panpsychism

When I first conceived of the Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything back in 2008, I was unfamiliar with Leibniz's theory of monads. Didn't know about panpsychism either. The Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything was entirely cooked up in my own little brain while dipping in and out of the transpersonal consciousness we all share. Had I been a philosophy major, I would have known the names for the various components of the Simple Explanation. But I wasn't a philosophy major; I am instead a psychologist with a Ph.D. in Classical Rhetoric. My field of deep study is ancient texts and beliefs, and these are what influenced the development of my theory, not modern philosophers. So, rather than kludge together other's ideas, I built the Simple Explanation from the ground up using logic and observation. Another way of saying this is that my theory is not derivative in the normal way that most academics produce work.

By now I realize that the Simple Explanation is "monadistic" and "panpsychic." So what does that mean? Simply put, a monad is a singular point of view. And pansychic simply means that consciousness permeates everything in the universe. Rather than rehash the philosophy of Leibniz, which you can read elsewhere, let me jump right in and describe the monadology and panpsychism of the Simple Explanation. 

The Simple Explanation proposes that undifferentiated consciousness is the ground state of reality; I call this state the Metaverse. Undifferentiated consciousness means "no-thought." The Metaverse is outside of time and space and particularity of any kind--omniscient and omnipresent. 

Then the Metaverse had a thought. It needed to envelop that thought in a bubble in order to keep it from sullying the waters of undifferentiated consciousness. This thought bubble took on the form of a torus and brought with it all of the knowledge of the Metaverse. I call this first thought bubble the Universal Unit of Consciousness. This Universal UC is localized into a single point of view floating in the nothingness of the Metaverse. The Universal UC is the first monad, afloat in the panpsychic sea.

The Universal UC reproduces itself into innumerable, fractal copies of itself. I call these Units of Consciousness, or UCs. All of these UCs are monads. The physics of the Simple Explanation proposes that the Universal UC spits copies of itself out of the zero point field at its center.

Our universe is comprised of fractal units of consciousness of the Universal Unit of Consciousness. These monads each come into our universe with all of the original consciousness of the Universal UC, however the knowledge contained is only accessible to the extent that it is needed by that particular monad. A quantum bit, for example, knows how to be a quantum bit and it behaves accordingly. 

Units of Consciousness are additive in nature, and they clump themselves into ever larger and more complex aggregations of matter and consciousness, using what the Simple Explanation calls the Golden Rule. All UCs and the matter that arises from them reach out to others like themselves in order to "hold hands" and level up to the next level of complexity.

Time passes and creation becomes more complex as subatomic particles reach out to one another according to the principles of organization conceived by the Metaverse and set into motion by the Universal UC. Particles reach out to other particles and join to make atoms; atoms reach out to other atoms and level up to create molecules; molecules make elements and minerals; life begins as molecules form themselves to make the precursors of cells and organisms; cells level up to become organs, which level up to make organisms.

At each level of aggregation, another UC is formed to decipher the information that instructs the new creation how to do its job. Each of these fractal UCs come into the universe at a particular place and time. Which is another way of saying that each of these fractal UCs is identical other than possessing a unique point of view. My point of view is different than your point of view--we are in different places, we see the world through our own eyes and interpret it through our own experiences. This is true whether the UC is a human or a molecule. Every UC has its own unique point of view and sphere of operation. These points of view are the hallmark of monads.

Panpsychism refers to the consciousness that permeates our universe. The Simple Explanation says that Units of Consciousness are the basic building blocks of our material universe. "Material" is illusory, by the way, because consciousness is all that exists. When consciousness squeezes down to enter our universe through the toroidal portals, it slows down and materializes.

That's it. That's the basic definitions. Now let me add an interesting and unique observation to the discussion, which is the actual reason I wrote this article. Here it is:

At each level of instantiation, the point of view of monads become more and more unique. Sub-atomic particles of the same kind share the most commonality with each other. One up-spinning quark is much the same as the next up-spin quark--they plug into the fabric of the universe in exactly the same way and perform exactly the same functions. Because of this, the consciousness of that type of monad actually shares the same point of view. You could say that when the quark observes its surroundings, what it "sees" is pretty much exactly what any other like quark sees. But the more that monads level up to the next higher aggregation, the less they have in common. 

For example, a hydrogen atom can level up to be a part of many different types of molecules. At the hydrogen's atomic level, they share very similar POVs. But once they level up to become part of a molecule, the molecule's points of view become unique to that type of molecule. The molecule has less in common with other molecules than did the atoms, one level down, because their position and function are more variable. But, existence inside of a water molecule, say, is pretty much the same for any hydrogen or oxygen molecule monad. 

These shared points of view at the smallest level of instantiation go a long way to explaining quantum entanglement. The quanta are not separate to the extent that they share POVs, therefore action on any quanta is perceived by all quanta at that same level. 

Because of this principle, the higher up a UC goes in the aggregation of material that makes up the universe, the less they have in common with others of their kind. As you rise higher in the hierarchy of forms, you have less and less in common with other monads at the same level. The more differentiated your form, the more you experience the illusion of separation. We organisms experience the illusion of separation most acutely because our aggregation is the most complex and made up of the most differently-functioning monads. 

Humans can toggle in and out of the illusion of separation by realizing that there is only one originating monad and we are all a part of it. This is the realization of Oneness that comes through "centering" on the  Universal UC's formula of consciousness.