Dreams of completion and an ancient solution.

Dreams of completion and an ancient solution. All my life I have had an intellectual dream--that all knowledgecould be unified into one complete whole. Why could it be unified?Because our lives have underlying patterns, and we can come to know themto some extent. The patterns of our lives are nested within the patternsof others' lives, and within larger social and natural patterns. Idream that we can put this all into our symbols. I call this a dream ofcompletion. It is a dream about unifying knowledge so we can understandthe larger, invisible flow of our lives. Where do such dreams come from? I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed)"Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. . Everybody doesnot have this dream of completion. Many people actively oppose it,particularly those in academe. But to me, it has always seemed that reality fits together If oursymbols do not describe this well, or tell us how and why reality fitstogether, we need new symbols. Or maybe we need to put together our symbols in a new way. This dream of completion has kept me occupied, in various forms,for some time. It has provided rewarding insights and frustrating frus��trate?tr.v. frus��trat��ed, frus��trat��ing, frus��trates1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: deadends. It has also posed a problem I want to discuss in this article. It has become clear to me that this world we live in is very messy mess��y?adj. mess��i��er, mess��i��est1. Disorderly and dirty: a messy bedroom.2. Exhibiting or demonstrating carelessness: messy reasoning. .This world is incomplete. I mean this in a fundamental way. As aphysicist friend told me, even if you take deterministic 1. (probability) deterministic - Describes a system whose time evolution can be predicted exactly.Contrast probabilistic.2. (algorithm) deterministic - Describes an algorithm in which the correct next step depends only on the current state. math equationsto describe phenomena, when these equations interact, the resultingequations are not deterministic. This means the events of the futurecannot be completely determined from the events of the past. So this portion of the universe has a fundamental incompleteness toit. We get this message from the randomness and incoherence incoherenceNot understandable; disordered; without logical connection. See Schizophrenia. of events inour lives and on the world stage. But we also get this message ofincompleteness from a famous theorem theorem,in mathematics and logic, statement in words or symbols that can be established by means of deductive logic; it differs from an axiom in that a proof is required for its acceptance. in mathematics. Godel'stheorem says any mathematical system cannot be both logically consistentand complete (thanks to Robert Logan for reminding me of this). In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently , even the most rigorous symbol systems we know, withtheir clear assumptions, formal rules, and logical operations--areincomplete. They need to rest upon some outside elements. If the purity Purity:see Pearl, The. PuritySee also Modesty.almondsymbol of the Virgin Mary’s innocence. [O.T.: Numbers 17: 1–11; Art: Hall, 14]crystalits transparency symbolizes pureness. of abstract mathematics is incomplete, what hope isthere for completion in any messy physical process? I'm afraid,very little. * * * * So what am I to do with my dreams of completeness? On the one handI believe everything hangs together, on the other hand I believe thingsare unpredictable and incomplete. I wonder--are my dreams of completeness merely a metaphor for someinner needs I might have? Are my dreams of completeness metaphors doomedto crack apart on the rocky shores Rocky shore is an intertidal area on seacoasts where solid rock predominates. Rocky shores are biologically rich environments, and make the ideal natural laboratory for studying intertidal ecology and other biological processes. of reality? Of course, you don't have this problem if you don't thinkthat things go together. If you just accept that one thing comes afteranother, sometimes this way, sometimes that way, you go along with itand don't look beyond. You accept that the mind can createbeautiful metaphors, such as completeness and pattern to life, but youdon't really put any faith in these metaphors. But to those of us who do feel that there is a pattern andcompleteness to existence, we find that we must work out someexplanation. We must reconcile the obvious incompleteness of much oflife, with our sense that there is a deep, underlying completion. * * * * This is where the ancient theory of karma becomes important to me.This theory says yes, life is open, and yes, we have the ability tochoose our actions. However, when we act, particularly when we have agoal, we set up some forces in the world that we must deal with. And, aswe sow, we shall reap. This is a very old understanding of life and existence. It wasaccepted by many ancient thinkers, especially in India where it plays akey role in both Hindu and Buddhist philosophies Buddhist Teachings deals extensively with problems in metaphysics, phenomenology, ethics, and epistemology. IntroductionFrom its inception, Buddhism has the appearance of having a strong philosophical component. . In the modern, Westernworld, we occasionally hear about karma, but mainstream science andphilosophy do not take it seriously. However, I have found this philosophy to be deeply satisfying, inits ability to answer the dilemma posed by my dreams of completion. Itsays that our messy, open, incomplete lives are subject to an underlyingpattern. And we can know that pattern and work within it. Along with the notion of karma comes the idea of reincarnation reincarnation(rē'ĭnkärnā`shən)[Lat.,=taking on flesh again], occupation by the soul of a new body after the death of the former body. .This, too, is an ancient understanding of life, which is out of favor inour scientific mainstream. But if we reap what we sow, clearly we do notalways receive the fruits of our actions--good and bad--before we die.So we come back, in another body, to go through the strange drama wecall life, yet again. And the karma of our past plays a role in ourlives in the present. Thus my dream of completion takes me back into ancient thought. Oneof the aspects of this that I like is summed up in the golden rule. Dounto others "Unto Others" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the HBO original series, The Wire. The episode was written by William F. Zorzi from a story by Ed Burns & William F. Zorzi and was directed by Anthony Hemingway. It originally aired on October 29, 2006. as you would have them do unto un��to?prep.1. To.2. Until: a fast unto death.3. By: a place unto itself, quite unlike its surroundings. you, because karma is createdby what you do, and what goes around comes around. EDITOR: RAYMOND GOZZI, JR.