The Axiom
CHAPTER
ONE
THE AXIOM
I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness;
I did not say . . . Seek me in chaos.
--(Isaiah 5:19 D.S.V.)
There are two possible schools of thought pertaining to the evaluation
of the Universe that we live in. One
school of thought is embodied in the philosophy known as Solipsism. This philosophy expounds that all external reality is
relative to the perception of the individual, or, in other words, all reality
is subjective and cannot be described by objective analysis. As an example, Solipsism is the belief that everything that individuals perceive
is a projection of the thoughts of their mind. Taken to its fullest
implications, Solipsism means that if
you think strongly that an object that you perceive does not really exist, then
you will cease to perceive it and it will thus disappear. On the other hand, if you think strongly
enough that an object does exist, then you will perceive it and it will thus
exist. Understandably, the ardent
adherents of this school of thought soon lost what sanity they had.
When
we lead from ignorance, we can come to no conclusions. When we say, “Anything can happen, and
anything can be, because we know so little that we have no right to say ‘This
is’ or ‘This isn’t,’” then all reasoning comes to a halt right there. We can eliminate nothing; we can assert
nothing. All we can do is put words and
thoughts together on the basis of intuition or faith or revelation and,
unfortunately, no two people seem to share the same intuition or faith or revelation.
What we must do is place rules and set limits, however arbitrary these
may seem to be. We then discover what
we can say within these rules and limits.
The scientific view of the Universe is such as to admit only those
phenomena that can, in one way or another, be observed in a fashion accessible
to all, and to admit those generalizations (which we call laws of nature) that
can be induced from those observations.1
Most importantly, Einstein presumed that
all the laws of nature must be entirely equivalent in all conceivable systems
of reference, differing only by uniform velocities. Without an ether, reasoned Einstein, there is no real physical
basis for absolute spatial positions or orientations; all, therefore, must be
relative to the observer. At the same
time, all observers must see the many laws of nature in an identical way.2
Science deals only with phenomena that can be reproduced; observations
that, under certain fixed conditions, can be made by anybody of normal
intelligence; observations upon which reasonable men can agree.3
In
opposition to Solipsism is the school
of thought that objective interpretation of the universe we live in is possible. Since the validity of Solipsism
would mean that it would be impossible to make logical sense out of what we
are aware of, we will assume that Solipsism
is invalid. Bearing this in mind, I
propose the following axiom, which we may call the Axiom of Interdependency:
If
a “spiritual universe” exists, there likewise must also exist laws or principles
common to both such a “spiritual universe” and to the physical universe, in
order for us to be able to perceive any manifestation of such a “spiritual
universe.”
Notice that this axiom in no way assumes the existence of a spiritual universe. The reason why seeking objective proof of
the existence of a spiritual universe is
futile will be dealt with in later chapters.
What this axiom does say is
that if a spiritual universe exists that does not have laws or principles in
common with our physical universe, then we cannot be aware of it and thus it
would be of no concern to us. However,
if a spiritual universe exists such that we are aware of some of its
manifestations, then it will have laws or principles in common with our
physical universe. Thus, for any
postulated assertion of a spiritual reality, there should be corresponding
evidence of that reality reflected in our physical universe. Conversely, it should be possible to
formulate a framework of characteristics of the physical universe that will
indicate the nature of the corresponding spiritual reality. Practically
speaking, this axiom means that it is possible to construct a logical theory encompassing virtually
every field of science that will explain the purpose behind everything known to
man.
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