My next post was going to be a more in-depth look at sigils and symbols, but it became apparent that without spending some time outlining a couple of important concepts I would most likely come across as tinfoil-hatted dribbling nutcase. So rather than making a confused and convoluted post that baffles everybody and makes it look like I'm pulling everything out of my arse, I'm going to explain some important foundations. I'm also going to use so many analogies that Maureen Lipman will think I've got a degree in peoples' bums.
So how do these sigil things work? Irrespective of a person's intention or willpower, how does drawing a squiggly snake achieve anything? For the answer to this we turn to science. Specifically, the theory that reality is made up of ten dimensions, and the theory of multiple universes.
Back in 1884, Edwin Abbott Abbott wrote a novella called Flatland. As well as having an awesome name, he quite unintentionally provided a perfect analogy for visualising higher dimensions.
Imagine that there is a world that exists on a flat, two-dimensional plane, like the surface of a piece of paper. In this world beings can move left and right, and back and forth, but there is no concept of up and down. Now imagine that a three-dimensional person puts their hand onto the paper. What to a three-dimensional being is clearly a single hand would appear to the flatlander as five distinct circles (the fingertips). So from the flatlander's point of view, five separate entities have appeared as if by magic in his world. Of course we can see the extra dimension that the flatlander cannot, and we can see that the five entities are actually part of the same whole, a whole that looks very different from the flatlander's impression of it.
Another helpful way to understand how something can look different in two or three dimensions is the shadow puppet. By folding your hands in a particular way, they look like a strange twisted shape in 3D, but they cast a 2D shadow that looks like a rabbit.
Current quantum physics theory requires there to be a total of ten dimensions for all the numbers to add up.
Of the ten spatial dimensions, the first three are easy enough. Imagine a 3D graph, like so:
The dimension of time is pretty easy to visualise too, you can imagine it as the progression of 3D points from one state to another.
One of the additional six dimensions is that of individual universe. One of the more popular ideas has this dimension curled up very tightly, so each universe occupies an imperceptiblly small space. The best way I know of to imagine this is to picture a tightrope across a canyon: from a distance the tightrope appears to be a single line occupying one dimension only, but on closer inspection you can see that it is actually tube-shaped and could be navigated around as well as across by a small animal like an ant.
The physical location of these extra dimensions is pretty irrelevant though, in fact it may be utterly meaningless in terms that we would understand on a day-to-day basis in ordinary 3D space. The important thing is that there are extra ways of defining a person's location in space and time than the traditional four measurements, and that one of these parameters refers to which of infinitely many universes they occupy.
In the world of particles, a single particle can appear to vanish from one place and simultaneuously reappear elsewhere. This apparent teleportation is easier understood if you invoke extra dimensions, so instead of a particle disappearing from point A and magically reappearing at point B, it has actually taken a new route to get from A to B that can't be described in three-dimensional terms.
To try to picture this, it's easiest to go back to another two-dimensional example, in this instance a chess board. All the pieces are limited to moving in a flat 2D up-down-left-right way, with the exception of the knight. The knight is able to move to any square that can be reached by extending an L shape from it.
Unlike every other playing piece, the knight can move over other pieces, in a dimension which otherwise would be meaningless to them. Scale this analogy from 2D into 3D, and you get particles that appear to teleport but really are justing using "shortcuts" that we aren't consciously aware of.
So how do these sigil things work? Irrespective of a person's intention or willpower, how does drawing a squiggly snake achieve anything? For the answer to this we turn to science. Specifically, the theory that reality is made up of ten dimensions, and the theory of multiple universes.
Back in 1884, Edwin Abbott Abbott wrote a novella called Flatland. As well as having an awesome name, he quite unintentionally provided a perfect analogy for visualising higher dimensions.
Imagine that there is a world that exists on a flat, two-dimensional plane, like the surface of a piece of paper. In this world beings can move left and right, and back and forth, but there is no concept of up and down. Now imagine that a three-dimensional person puts their hand onto the paper. What to a three-dimensional being is clearly a single hand would appear to the flatlander as five distinct circles (the fingertips). So from the flatlander's point of view, five separate entities have appeared as if by magic in his world. Of course we can see the extra dimension that the flatlander cannot, and we can see that the five entities are actually part of the same whole, a whole that looks very different from the flatlander's impression of it.
Another helpful way to understand how something can look different in two or three dimensions is the shadow puppet. By folding your hands in a particular way, they look like a strange twisted shape in 3D, but they cast a 2D shadow that looks like a rabbit.
Current quantum physics theory requires there to be a total of ten dimensions for all the numbers to add up.
Of the ten spatial dimensions, the first three are easy enough. Imagine a 3D graph, like so:
The dimension of time is pretty easy to visualise too, you can imagine it as the progression of 3D points from one state to another.
One of the additional six dimensions is that of individual universe. One of the more popular ideas has this dimension curled up very tightly, so each universe occupies an imperceptiblly small space. The best way I know of to imagine this is to picture a tightrope across a canyon: from a distance the tightrope appears to be a single line occupying one dimension only, but on closer inspection you can see that it is actually tube-shaped and could be navigated around as well as across by a small animal like an ant.
The physical location of these extra dimensions is pretty irrelevant though, in fact it may be utterly meaningless in terms that we would understand on a day-to-day basis in ordinary 3D space. The important thing is that there are extra ways of defining a person's location in space and time than the traditional four measurements, and that one of these parameters refers to which of infinitely many universes they occupy.
In the world of particles, a single particle can appear to vanish from one place and simultaneuously reappear elsewhere. This apparent teleportation is easier understood if you invoke extra dimensions, so instead of a particle disappearing from point A and magically reappearing at point B, it has actually taken a new route to get from A to B that can't be described in three-dimensional terms.
To try to picture this, it's easiest to go back to another two-dimensional example, in this instance a chess board. All the pieces are limited to moving in a flat 2D up-down-left-right way, with the exception of the knight. The knight is able to move to any square that can be reached by extending an L shape from it.
Unlike every other playing piece, the knight can move over other pieces, in a dimension which otherwise would be meaningless to them. Scale this analogy from 2D into 3D, and you get particles that appear to teleport but really are justing using "shortcuts" that we aren't consciously aware of.
The other important concept is that of the multiverse. When a particle exists in the superposition, it us equally likely that it will define itself as any given reading when measured. So the theory goes that as long as alternate possibilities exist, they will be explored with equal probability, leading to the idea that all possible realities do exist, but we're locked into experiencing one subjective version of it.
On a day to day basis this can be pictured as the difference between getting a new job and not, or saying yes or no to getting married, but in fact it's much more subtle; there are infinitely gradiated nuances of potential reality being continually decided as time progresses.
Which of these infinitely many universes you currently occupy is determined by the collapse of the wave function into one definite reality.
On a day to day basis this can be pictured as the difference between getting a new job and not, or saying yes or no to getting married, but in fact it's much more subtle; there are infinitely gradiated nuances of potential reality being continually decided as time progresses.
Which of these infinitely many universes you currently occupy is determined by the collapse of the wave function into one definite reality.
As for how sigils work, what you've got is a two-dimensional representation of a higher-dimensional reality, and as explained above what looks like one thing in two dimensions could be something completely different in three dimensions. So by focussing your intent on a particular outcome, the sigil can represent any cross-section of higher dimensional reality, you just have to know which one you're going for.
This video is well worth watching, it explains the dimensional concepts very clearly, and should hopefully tie up any loose ends left in your mind from what I've said above.
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Coming up in later editions:
I try to give examples of famous sigils without delving too far into conspiracy theories
Stunning evidence that reality simply looks the way we expect it to look
How DNA was discovered through psychedelics
A different explanation for how evolution works
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I like your analogies. I find them very useful in understanding these things a little better.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteI think the understanding in forms that have been taught already are key to realising that which you are illustrating is such that is something that if you are looking to learn is something that is very difficult to have "taught" in the pure sense of the word.
ReplyDeleteBut realisation is something which is gradual and something which we can share as a concept of growth.
All who I speak with currently are on a similar path or self-realisation.
I love how you are able to communicate these wisps of fragmented but meaningful thought.