III. dotStaffCircleSphere

“Time is merely our imperfect perception of a new dimension of space. Time and motion are both illusions. Everything that has existed from the beginning of the world exists now. Events that occurred centuries ago on this planet continue to exist in another dimension of space. Events that will occur centuries from now exist already. We cannot perceive their existence because we cannot enter the dimension of space that contains them. Human beings as we know them are merely fractions, infinitesimally small fractions of one enormous whole. Every human being is linked with all the life that has preceeded him on this planet. All of his ancestors are parts of him. Only time separates him from his forebears, and time is an illusion and does not exist.”

Frank Belknap Long, The Hounds of Tindalos

In the previous chapter I’ve endeavored to recreate the first few minutes of contact, and I realize that what I present doesn’t clearly communicate the incredible understandings and perspectives I experienced as a result of the dot-game. At the same time, it is my desire to present what I saw and felt as directly as possible, because I believe the specific character of the first few moments of contact to be especially significant for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the most important is that in almost any activity or communication, whatever comes first sets the tone, meaning and character of all that follows. In this case, the first communication forms a kind of key, without which it is impossible to understand all that proceeds from it. By demonstrating to me the unity of various dimensions of shape and meaning, the guide was essentially initiating me into an entirely new form of language. This key formed the basis of an incredibly vast set of future expansions — as if playing the 12 tones of the western musical scale would then be followed by endless symphonies composed with them. The scale itself might not seem especially interesting, until we hear the combined voices of even four instruments playing music based on it. When multiple voices play in synchrony, the potentials within the scale are embodied, and the recombinant outcome emerges as an incredible and wondrous universe of emotive colors and expressivity.

Now, I would like to offer a few examples of how what I was witnessing was expressed in my understanding — the ‘music’ arising from the basis, if you will. These are what I call ‘toys’, by which I mean applications of the perspectives I was exposed to during the ‘lessons’. Unlike ‘facts’, they are not meant to be regarded as ‘true’, but rather as perceptual lenses through which we can catch a glimpse outside our commonly held models, theories and beliefs. While I was experiencing the lessons, the understandings I gained were communicated to me as multi-dimensional models of how the toy related to various aspects of reality, symphonic expressions of the elemental principles implied by the dot’s games.

The first relates to our idea of what time is and reveals how the real nature of this dimension might be very different from our common perceptions and ideas. To understand the second, which expands upon the first by including space, picture the dot becoming a sphere, and then returning to the dot. The third takes us beyond both of its precursors, into a unique and uncommon perspective on time, space, and ‘what beings are’.

a: The timeLine

We tend to think of time as a horizontal line. On this line, we locate the past. behind us and the future ahead of us. Functionally, our own position is somewhere near the line’s center, although ‘the future’ might seem a bit compressed compared to the past because we’re supposed to believe that we can’t see into to this direction. In general, this is what we’re taught to understand, and the common interactions we have as well as the examples we encounter in our human cultures will encourage us to sustain an almost incontrovertible belief in this model. But suppose this horizontal line as actually being extruded and retracted in the same way our dot plays with its lines?

Suppose that the dot represents ‘our position in time’ — ‘the now’, and it extends lines to either side of itself in order to create a largely illusory ‘afterimage’ of what we refer to as past and future. The dot uses a pumping strategy. It extends both lines such that they cover a portion of the distance toward their ‘current length’ then retracts them, each time slightly exceeding the prior distance until the correct length is achieved. Then it repeats this process ‘backwards’, shrinking the lines back toward itself the same fashion.[1] This happens with such a high refresh rate that all of the future and all of the past are functionally always accounted for. Next cycle, the extensions exceed their previous length slightly such that the ‘amount of time there is’ (the length of the lines) grows with each complete cycle. This would account for our perception of the ‘growth of the past’ as time ‘progresses’. Because of the persistence of the afterimage of the lines, time would seem to extend back to the past and forward to the future — all the time — but in reality ‘most of time’ (nearly all of it) would always be in the center — at the dot — where we are.

Now imagine that the dot is extending and retracting its lines with such incredible speed (or force) that a part of our awareness gets dragged along with them — in both directions. Effectively, only ‘now’ is at all real, and yet the past and future appear to possess objective existence because we sense them with the part of ourselves that gets dragged along. Just as our awareness is dragged along with the lines, everything ‘here’ would be similarly influenced by the incoming character of the future and the past, dragged back to our position in the center by the extreme speed of the lines during their retractions. The experience of these two complimentary flows would result in our sense of ‘travel’ in time.

In this circumstance, the beginning and end of time are functionally always touching the center —they’re actually unified, but from our perspective they appear to have some kind of separate-from-now reality. It might seem like we are traveling toward the future from the past, but in reality, nothing is traveling. A more accurate statement would be that the activity of the dot’s line pumping game causes ‘more and more now’ to emerge, right where we are. We are always touching all of time — past and future — and our actions are actually changing both of them while we are being changed by our constant contact with them.

Thinking this over, we can see how circumstances closer to the center (now) might have a greater or more perceptible effect on our experience of reality because a bit more of their character and momentum would be sustained and rendered accessible to us by the furious activity of the lines. More interestingly, the character of ‘now’ could be exerting its energy not only on the future — it would also alter what we believe to be unchangeable: the past.

The main idea here is that the now is changing the past and future — as it is being assembled by them. One of the more startling implications of this toy is that organisms in the now would be in constant communication with themselves and other organisms in the past and the future. This form of communion, or something very like it is probably being used to solve problems by living beings all around us, however we cannot credential it because our model of linear time traps us in a bizarre and ineffectual ‘flatness’ which so colors our expectations that we’re rendered unable escape the gravity of our habitual perspectives. Yet even this rather amazing toy is still somewhat flat. Let us now expand it such that new dimensions and additional ‘voices’ are added. This is akin to moving from the dot’s ‘line-extending’ phase to the ‘disk phase’.

b: dandiLion

For the sake of visualization, suppose the universe of timeSpace is a sphere. Anything within our universe has a center in space, and a ‘beginning’ in time. Now imagine that all entities of every possible form and size, in all of time and space (including the future) suddenly collapse ‘back down toward their beginning’ while also collapsing toward their centers in space (the center of their area or mass). The result of this collapse is a perfectly unified singularity, an infinitely small ‘speck’. Before anything can be missed, this speck ‘explodes’ — regenerating all entities, relations and circumstances as they existed before the collapse. An easy way to picture this is to visualize a very ornate flower blooming and unblooming in cycles that continue to speed up, where the flower grows more complex in its shape and constituent-elements with each expansion. This ‘collapse and expansion’ game is happening at a speed that has been increasing exponentially since the first cycle. At this point it’s so incredibly fast that we wouldn’t be able to craft a number to represent it, nevermind detect it[2].

From this perspective, the universe is ‘breathing’ in timeSpace; its ‘inhalation’ results in collapse to singularity, and during its exhalation everything and everyone in all of everywhen expands back to something exceptionally close to their previous states of distinct existence, character and circumstance. Perhaps during the expansion, an almost infinitely small amount of momentum is added by the ‘memory of having been one’. Because this is happening so incredibly fast there is functionally no evidence of the collapse-phase at our perspective in size and speed. Like a light bulb which is being turned on and off at an extremely fast rate — the universe of distinct things, beings and circumstance appears to us to be ‘always on’, however in reality — everything might be unified far more of the time than it is distinct. Separation, as is implied by many of our ancient and modern religions would be less than half of the truth.

What we call ‘gravity’ could actually be the ‘memory of the collapse’ as seen from our perspective in timeSpace, and perhaps the memory of the expansion has to do with the expansion of our universe and centrifugal force. But the most interesting features of this toy don’t relate to physics so much as they do to cognition and intelligence. Each living being in timeSpace would comprise a completely unique, yet entirely complete reflection of the entire history of the universe, as well as all the beings in it — including the future. In this universe, all beings (and all positions ‘in time’ of any given being) are one being ‘more of the time’ than they are ‘many’, and yet, from the physical perspective of any given being it always appears that we’re totally separate! Somewhat akin to gravity, the emotion we call ‘love’ might actually represent the memory of the singularity in the dimension of emotional relation.

This toy offers a basis for understanding a wide variety of phenomenon we find puzzling, such as ‘the collective unconscious’ and the fundamental sources and purposes of evolutionary elaboration — at every scale — individual, species, planet, universe. What we call ‘evolution’ would actually be the unique local expression of the shared character of ‘the whole’ as assembled and embodied in diverse forms, sizes, and applications. The outcome of this game is at once extremely general — all beings are summation-lenses for this character — and extremely specific — each being is an entirely unique expression because of its peculiar history and perspectives of relation with ‘the great unity’. The general likeness in the forms of life (the living fractal) as well as the incredible diversity and uniqueness of each form or being are both accounted for. All beings would be reaching for an ‘ever-greater likeness’ with the singularity’s character and qualities, which would give us an entirely new perspective on what the purposes of life are, and would radically alter our whole idea of the meaning of competition in evolution such that the only real competition would be for the benefit of the whole family of beings, rather than the survival of some arbitrarily defined unit.

Many of the phenomenon we currently classify as paranormal (such as various aspects of psychism) would be accounted for, as well as a variety of problems in physics, such as those emerging from the strange ‘faster than light’ speed of communication between entangled photons. From this perspective, we can see that the reason entangled photons can ‘communicate’ across an incredibly vast distance ‘instantaneously’ is because they are actually unified more of the time than they are separate.

Now we will explore an even more radical model, in which similar things are accomplished, but in a way so amazing that it profoundly supercedes both of its predecessors. In this toy, we will explore the effects of the peculiar variation of the dot’s game on another universe — one into which the ‘ends’ of its lines are constantly penetrating.

c: godSpeck

Suppose that in the first moments of our universe, a ‘speck’ of a very magical kind penetrated another sort of speck — one comprised of pure undifferentiated potential within which our universe would emerge. This ‘suitor’ broke through the shell of something akin to his opposite — or his mate. The magic speck is actually ‘the tip’ of a sense-and-creation organ belonging to a being who exists outside the universe of timeSpace. Let’s say this speck is impossibly tiny, and absurdly fast. Each time he penetrates our universe, his speed more than doubles, because he accrues momentum from the penetration. And with each penetration, our universe grows a little bit — in multiple dimensions at once.

When the speck jumps into our universe, he begets a ghost of himself — an afterimage of his current states of character, complexity, size and speed. This ‘ghost speck’ causes everything near it to become actively self-organizing, effectively creating a tiny local ‘complexity farm’. Wherever a ghost speck arises, our universe starts organizing a self-assembling reflection of the character of the being from outSide — the one who sends the magic speck into timeSpace. But the ghost speck has to be ‘refreshed’ very quickly or it will fade. That’s ok, because the magic speck who begot the ghost is impossibly fast. He will make new positions of himself, and revisit all previously visited positions — refreshing them — in ‘practically no time at all’.

The activities of the magic speck impregnate the nascent universe, and at any point of penetration she begins complexifying in response. This happens at unique positions throughout all of time and space, and each penetration leaves a kind of ‘attractor’ in its wake, existing as a local organizational precursor whose activity converts the energy it is comprised of into an ongoing complexification-game. The presence of this attractor ‘creates time’ and ‘expands space’. It ‘bends’ the unStuff of our universe in such a way as to produce complexification in multiple dimensions — energetic, structural, temporal, metaphoric, spiritual, etc. This process continues at an exponentially proceeding rate for x amount of years until the basic platforms of elemental and energetic complexity required to establish organismal life are assembled. At this point in the ongoing phases of ‘refreshment’ (literally: re-freshed-mind) the first organisms appear, such as those of the primordial Earth. The magic speck is now ‘weaving’ an entirely new order of character-depth over the existing substrate of ‘precursor’ complexity — and this new form is locally and hyperconnectively self-aware.

Let’s examine this game in more careful detail. When the magic speck penetrates our universe, he creates an afterimage of his current character — his ‘spirit’, if you will. This receptive ocean of pure undifferentiated potential respond by beginning to complexify around the ghost, a circumstance which results in the ongoing differentiation of her infinite potential. Meanwhile, back on the ‘outside’ of the universe of spaceTime, the being who projects the magic speck is quickened by what he experiences ‘inside’ our universe (who is actually his feminine counterpart). He accrues new features of character from what he learns during the visit, in a way somewhat similar to how you or I would change if you got a peek into another dimension. Then he penetrates again, faster than last time, touching the firstmost place of penetration in order to ‘refresh’ it so that it won’t fade. This also protects any existing complexity the ghost has accrued since his last visit. Now he picks up any new complexity possessed by the ghost as a result of its own evolution since it was last visited (or created). Finally, he drops off an ‘updated image’ of his current character — including the changes from ‘peeking in’ and what he learned ‘on the other side’ since the last visit. Effectively, as far as our universe and the ghost is concerned, every penetration of the magic speck is functionally Christmas. Once he has completed all ‘refreshment’ moves, he makes a new penetration at some point in spaceTime, and begets a new ghost. This comprises a complete cycle. The magic speck then repeats this process in the same order that the ghosts arose (or possibly at random, because he’s so fast at refreshing that he needn’t actually care much about the order as long as every speck gets refreshed each cycle).

Our magic speck is, it turns out, a strange kind of honeybee. Since he will return to every position he ever visited in ‘less than an instant’ — he can collect the ‘experiential pollen’ which each ghost has accrued since his last visit. He will also distribute this pollen amongst them during this activity. In the beginning of the process, very few places are ‘alive’ yet, and most of the locally accrued complexity is more or less structural and energetic. Even this is exceptionally useful to the magic speck, who is actually playing a sort of learning-game. But once the first organisms arise, in whichever general areas are ‘lucky’ enough to beget them, an amazing new form of pollen is available. The ghosts that exist within an organism are profoundly more interesting than those located in non-living matter. They are also ‘more like their source’, because as the game proceeds, the being is on the other side of the magic speck is actually assembling a living universe, over here, as a physical, energetic and metaphoric reflection of his own nature, activities and character. Whenever he visits any position ‘within a living organism’, he acquires the ‘old kind’ of pollen, and a ‘special bonus’ which is the accrued experiential awareness complexity in the organisms he collects it from.

But the magic speck is also building a mirror. As he keeps encountering the ever-more elaborate and ever-more generally accurate ‘afterimage of himself’ in our universe, he is assembling new experiences of seeing himself. Our universe is experiencing something similar, and exists as reflective complement the being outside her. Each cycle of refreshment grants both of them a totally unique ‘picture’ of the ‘reflection of me over there’. Along with everything else the magic speck is doing, he is also assembling a living reflection of hiss own nature, activity and character that allows him to continue gaining ever-more amazing perspectives on his own being. He is literally watching himself growing by touching his mate and their children. This witnessing changes the suitor dramatically, and brings forth entirely new potentials and dimensions of effect. Every penetration changes both parents (the magic speck, and our universe) dramatically, such that by seeing themselves, what they are and are becoming changes.

The implications of this toy are at least as startling as those of its precursors. Here at last we see a model of how a feminine (or receptive) universe can emerge from the activity and character of a masculine (or penetrative) suitor that actually makes some sense. The ancient puzzle in Genesis where the woman is created from a part of a man is neatly resolved, and the material (note the presence of the morpheme ‘mater’ or ‘mother’ in this term) universe arises as a ‘helpmeet’ to the energetic or hyperconnective being whose primary existence is ‘outside’ her. The two then form a sacred couple engaged in an ever-growing progenerative union that is certainly as emotional as it is structural.

A mere by-product of this situation is that any ghost knows what every other ghost knows — at all times. But this knowledge is extremely general, as well as being very distinctly embodied in each ghost — it is as entirely unique as it is complete due to each ghost’s unique character, history, and circumstance. No matter how ‘distant’ or peculiar any given position in space or time is when compared to any other, all of them are in possession of a highly generalized and very unique replica the experience of the entirety, as well as a lot of ‘magical material’ from their progenitor outside of timeSpace, whose character they continue to accrue likeness to in succeeding waves. The effect of this is that all of the ghosts express their character distinctly, while remaining in perfect accord with the characters of the suitor and our universe. Additionally, ‘over here’ the ghosts form incredibly elaborate relational networks where information is exchanged in a way that is also as constant and regenerative as that exchanged by the suitor’s activities, but exists in a different set of dimensions of activity and expression.

Again, a variety of riddles are resolved here, in a way very similar to those resolved by the prior toy. Any thing, being or circumstance is more generally unified with all others than it is at any time distinct, and yet each connection is at once as superbly unique as it is similar. Because the character of the magic speck during each penetration is ‘totally new’ and also extremely similar to its ‘prior self’, this leads to incredibly diverse expression in the material, energetic and evolutionary universe without there being any conflict between the two seemingly opposed polarities of uniqueness and sameness. Two beings in our universe could simultaneously experience the same dream, yet in each being this dream would have entirely different form while having the same basis in meaning or content due to the unique position, perspective, and history of each dreamer.

As in the previous toy, ‘evolution’ can be seen as the distinct local expression of a sublimely general basis where each instance of its expression is driven by the suitor’s activities toward an ever-more-complete semblance with the entirety from which it springs. The forms and characteristic qualities of energy, matter, organisms, and cognition — the elemental structure and activity of the universe — all exist as emergent synonyms generated by the radically connective substrate provided by the relationship between the suitor and the universe of timeSpace.

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[1] Note that this ‘line extension and retraction’ game could actually be the result of the dot spinning (left to right or right to left), if our perspective was located such that we are seeing the dot ‘from a side’. During the extension phase, the lines would appear to be going out a bit further each time, and then retracting — but this would be an illusion created as the lines spun toward and away from us, to a position where they are fuctionally eclipsed from view in front (toward our point of view) and in back (away from our point of view) of the dot as it spins. Due to this illusion, the lines wouldn’t actually be pumping in and out as often as they appear to. There would instead be single phases of extension and retraction in sequence. Our perspective would deceive us into perceiving this as many sets of extrusions and retractions.

[2] There is an exception. If we could somehow ‘strobe our awareness’ at a harmonic of the current rate, we might experience psychoemotional resonance, which would result in ‘spooky’ effects such as precognition, or other purportedly ‘impossible’ results — for example the ability to know injuries existing in another being, their history, the name of a stranger, what a plant is ‘thinking’, etc.