Every time somebody asks me about the goal of my book, I am able to come up with a different answer. One of the goals is to draw the reader into the source of their own reality. This source is invisible, it is personal. This source is symbolized by the letter Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. With its value 1, it points to that without which nothing else can exist, not even that without which nothing else can exist. Does it "exist"? We are drawn into the vagueness of what it means for anything to exist. Some things exist like matter exists. But some things exist in a different way, and the question is justifiable if we'd be better off if we would use a different word for that. Consider the following examples.
--
If the sun sets, does the sun rise on the opposite point of the Earth? Therefore, does the sunset exist or not?
If we watch a movie, do the scenes we view exist? How are they different from other scenes we view? Ultimately, they may both be equally real to our brain. How do we know the difference between fact and fiction?
If we imagine an event, does it exist? If we experience something "real", our experience of that which is real is several steps removed from what is really real. From our perspective, we can only observe, sense, part of what is happening, our brain translates and filters the input picked up by our senses; a reduced impression is left to our awareness and we imbue emotions to the event which are highly personal and subjective. How do we know that we are not imagining that which we consider "real"?
If we experience emotions, if we think thoughts, who is our witness? How can we prove our emotions, how can we prove our thoughts? If they exist, how can they be measured objectively? Is there an objective reality which includes our subjective emotions and thoughts?
--
The power of creation "exists" by the mere fact that creation consists of things which "exist", but the word "exist" means different things in both cases. That which is behind the horizon "exists", but we can not witness it. That which is within our radius of experience "exists", but most other people do not experience it.
--
The power of creation exists and does not exist.
Creation exists and does not exist.
We dream reality. Do we exist? Do we even live? When are our questions affirmed?
To know what is real, to know what life is, we have to die to our preconceptions of whatever Aleph is. And even though Aleph may be beyond our grasp, its life impulse can be witnessed within us. Its "existence" can be verified by our existence, its life can be verified by our life. Beyond that there exists nothing. All is within. And all is without.
All effable things have ineffable essences. The effable is rooted in the ineffable. Yet, also the ineffable is rooted in the effable: this is Aleph, the pardox of [existence]-[non-existence], the pardox of life-death. Our power is to realize the power of Aleph.
--
If the sun sets, does the sun rise on the opposite point of the Earth? Therefore, does the sunset exist or not?
If we watch a movie, do the scenes we view exist? How are they different from other scenes we view? Ultimately, they may both be equally real to our brain. How do we know the difference between fact and fiction?
If we imagine an event, does it exist? If we experience something "real", our experience of that which is real is several steps removed from what is really real. From our perspective, we can only observe, sense, part of what is happening, our brain translates and filters the input picked up by our senses; a reduced impression is left to our awareness and we imbue emotions to the event which are highly personal and subjective. How do we know that we are not imagining that which we consider "real"?
If we experience emotions, if we think thoughts, who is our witness? How can we prove our emotions, how can we prove our thoughts? If they exist, how can they be measured objectively? Is there an objective reality which includes our subjective emotions and thoughts?
--
The power of creation "exists" by the mere fact that creation consists of things which "exist", but the word "exist" means different things in both cases. That which is behind the horizon "exists", but we can not witness it. That which is within our radius of experience "exists", but most other people do not experience it.
--
The power of creation exists and does not exist.
Creation exists and does not exist.
We dream reality. Do we exist? Do we even live? When are our questions affirmed?
To know what is real, to know what life is, we have to die to our preconceptions of whatever Aleph is. And even though Aleph may be beyond our grasp, its life impulse can be witnessed within us. Its "existence" can be verified by our existence, its life can be verified by our life. Beyond that there exists nothing. All is within. And all is without.
All effable things have ineffable essences. The effable is rooted in the ineffable. Yet, also the ineffable is rooted in the effable: this is Aleph, the pardox of [existence]-[non-existence], the pardox of life-death. Our power is to realize the power of Aleph.