Source Text
Introduction
At that moment, I felt like I vanished into a single point in the infinite vastness of the universe. This experience was so powerful that it brought me to tears and ignited in me a burning desire to understand the nature of reality and existence.
My obsession led me to study Physics at Glasgow University. I’d specialise in the field of photonics (the physics of light) and would undertake over 30 years of personal research. My work in photonics was mainly around producing, detecting, and utilising frequencies of energy both inside and outside of the spectrum of light visible to the human eye.
Through my personal research, I came to understand that there’s a simple, yet fundamental flow of reality that underlies the laws of Physics and our human experience. It’s something so basic and pervasive that once I saw it for myself, I started to see evidence of it everywhere. Sometimes, this reality — and its implications — are referred to as hidden or secret knowledge. However, if someone has a genuine and strong-enough desire to understand, they eventually will, one way or another, with their own unique perspective.
Terminology
Firstly, Duality. Duality is simply the idea of there being a pair of things. The simplest duality is that of there being two objects. Other examples of duality are inside/outside, up/down, hot/cold, separate/together, positive/negative, and male/female. Along with duality naturally comes the idea of Relativity. Something is hot relative to something being cold.
The two objects are, therefore, in balance with respect to temperature, and the hot/cold duality has been neutralised. Local imbalance occurs when things are looked at in isolation, when we’re not looking at them in their totality. For example, the universe, when viewed in its totality, is in a perfect state of balance with all dualities balancing themselves out; however, when a part of it is viewed in isolation, one part may be hotter than another part, causing an imbalance of temperature relative to these two parts.
The Absolute state is where even the duality of there being more than one thing has been transcended. Even the thought of it being “one thing” implies that there’s a reality of “two things” for it to be relative to. However, that does not accurately describe the Absolute. It can be given many names, such as pure awareness, Cosmic Consciousness, Source, the Absolute, Universe, God, or the Tao.
Physics, Duality & The Absolute
The Bubble and the Sphere
AI Summary
Return to the Absolute by Calvin McCoard presents key insights from the contemplative tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
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