{"id":5466,"date":"2021-10-12T09:59:46","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T09:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/?p=5466"},"modified":"2021-10-12T10:14:20","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T10:14:20","slug":"everything-is-a-part-of-itself-we-are-a-part-of-the-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/everything-is-a-part-of-itself-we-are-a-part-of-the-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything is a Part of Itself; We are a Part of the Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A few months ago, I listened to one of Alan Watts<\/a>‘s lectures, where he taught me the concept of how every single human is a part of the universe, and therefore also equal to the universe. The universe exists in its entirety, and it is out of the universe <\/em>that a human comes from. I remember how I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about how true it was. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Are a Part of The Universe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s interesting because, in our introspective minds and consciousness, we experience ourselves as distinct from everything around us. It is why we can feel so alone and isolated. We experience ourselves as separate parts of the whole (the universe and everything in it).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned in an earlier article, I enjoy the metaphor of asking the question: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you take out a drop of water from the ocean, is it no longer a part of the ocean? And if you were to drop it back in, would it once again become a part of the ocean?\u201c<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For me, that metaphor can be implied in humans as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, we have the whole of everything (the universe). And, out of the universe, a human individual can start to exist. Is it no longer a part of the universe? What about when this human ceases to exist? The energy and matter that held up this human body and mind are resolved back into the environment. Is it not similar to that of the water droplet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything Is a Part of Itself – Reflexivity Axiom in Philosophy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I was reading Giulio Tononi\u2019s article “The Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness; An Outline\u201d<\/em>, and the theory of reflexivity axiom<\/em> was very hastily mentioned. But it stuck by me because my brain immediately connected it to what Alan Watts had mentioned in his lecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In philosophy, there\u2019s a theory called Mereology<\/em>, which is the theory of parthood relations. It deals with the questions of: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the relations of part to whole? <\/p>

What is the relations of part to part within the whole?<\/p>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot of axioms and logical calculations to this, that I don\u2019t want to dive too deep into. But, the main point is that from logical reasoning, the theory states that \u201cpart\u201d stands for partial ordering (reflexive, transitive, and antisymmetric relation). The relevant axiom in this topic is the reflexive axiom<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reflexive axiom<\/em> states: Everything is a part of itself.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Just as Alan Watts said, that every human, animal, object, etc, is <\/em>the universe. The universe is<\/em> what everything in it amounts to (this is the \u201cofficial\u201d definition of the universe).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. <\/p>

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Universe<\/a><\/p><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned in earlier writings, I get very excited when I find very clear logical reasonings to theories that I\u2019ve also found in spiritual teachings. I highly enjoy reading spiritual concepts, because it is mind-opening, but at the same time, I\u2019m also a person very grounded in science and rationality. So, for me, finding the science and logic behind spirituality is nice, as it allows me to further entertain thoughts that I otherwise would\u2019ve dismissed as a nice fantasy, but nothing more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Beautiful Thought<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All in all, I think it\u2019s a very beautiful and sobering notion that we, every single human, and animal, and inanimate object, is<\/em> the universe. And we are always a part of the whole. Isn\u2019t it a powerful thought and feeling? To let oneself feel as if we are the universe<\/em>. It is one of the few thoughts that really makes me appreciate my existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This thought also helps me when I feel lonely, it reminds me that I am not that distinct and isolated as I may feel. The feeling of loneliness comes from my mind, and it is in a way an illusion, caused by expectations<\/em> and my ego. Sometimes, allowing myself to really feel into this thought, takes away my entire feeling of loneliness, and I find the beauty in all the things around me. To think that every tree, bird, book, and drop of water is<\/em> the universe, immediately brings me to a mindful and aware state of mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommended: <\/strong>Life is Not a Race, It\u2019s an Experience<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We can experience ourselves as alone and isolated. But we never are, not truly. We are always a part of the universe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[218,258],"tags":[270,227,303],"class_list":["post-5466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-development","category-thoughts","tag-personal-development","tag-philosophy","tag-universe","entry"],"gutentor_comment":0,"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"ocean-thumb-m":false,"ocean-thumb-ml":false,"ocean-thumb-l":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Wendy Zhou","author_link":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/author\/wendy1111live-se\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"We can experience ourselves as alone and isolated. But we never are, not truly. We are always a part of the universe.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5466"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5474,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5466\/revisions\/5474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wendyzhou.se\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}