Mathological Dialectics (The Evolution of God)

Allan Ralph Andrews, Bakersfield, CA, July 7^th 2012

This series of dialectical oppositions symbolized by the I Chings eight trigrams, Infinite Heaven against Finite Earth, Free Fire against Organized Water Pit, Simple Analytic Mountain against Complex Synthesis Lake, Classical Ideal Wing against Evolving Expressionist Thunder, is also present in the complementary opposites of morality and ethics. Heaven Trigram becomes nonconsequent subjective ethics against Earth trigram conseguent objective ethics. Fire is free will against Water Pit Abysm order and mechanism. Wind is the absolute good against the relativistic contingencies of Thunder Trigram. Finally, Lake Trigram is a synthesis of rewards against the analytic punishments and judgments that characterize Mountain Trigram simplicity and specification. The truly loving Heaven is nonconsequent in the rewards it offers to the world of its absolutely good mechanisms. It is opposed to an Earth of consequences and judgments and punishments imposed on the chaotic and relativistic free choices that cut the agent off from submission to the mechanism of the good, the law of God. That might be a description of the system organized by Islam. In contrast consider a free reward that is nonconsequent and subjective and relative to the state of the individual, but opposed to a mechanism of punishment that is at once objective and absolute. Here we have a description both of Buddhist detachment from the wheel of birth and rebirth, and the Christian notion of salvation through grace. I suggest that a whole set of theological dichotomies are possible, depending on how you combine these complementary opposites. I also suggest that the John Calvins of the world happily use them to order, to divide, and to theologically conquer the unprepared.

The medicine I offer to the various theological personality disorders created by such divisions, histrionic for the saved, schizotypal for the visions of the damned, dependent for those who follow the teaching, schizoid for those who isolate to learn it, and narcissistic for those who lead and teach, yet compulsive for those who feel they must comply, masochistic for those who submit and sadistic for those who judge and punish, such systems are cured by a bit of the classical virtue of moderation. These oppositions are complementary and belong to a single whole, not a battlefield of opposites. Amen.

This system of opposition pervades the geometry of all things. If we make the galaxy the Heaven Trigram and the Earth, Earth Trigram, we have the basic Heaven to Earth polarity of infinite to finite, nonconsequent subjective to consequent objective, source to product. The Black Hole system at the center of the Galaxy, can play the role of the Flame Trigram openness and the gravitational system the Black Hole organizes can play the role of Water Pit Abysm closure and determination. The Sun can play the role of a giving star, a reward offering Lake Trigram solar complex, and planets like Venus can play role of Mountain Trigram isolation and punishment. The Solar System ideal provides the Newtonian absolutes that rule the system of time and space that is the astrology that gives the days and years, this is Wind Trigram classical idealism. But, changes, local weather, this is Thunder Trigram relativity.

We have shown elsewhere how religions can be placed in this system based on their eldest daughter yin compulsiveness, as in Judaism and adherence to the Torah, or the Antisocial opposite of eldest son yang, as in some of the tribal religions with no clear ethical laws. This also can be found in some forms of South Asia religion worshiping Kali, a female form of Shiva, for example the infamous “Thug” cult. Many of the South Asian religions tend toward youngest son yang schizoid withdrawal, as in Jainism, or middle son yang avoidance as in Buddhism. Confucianism favors the dependent opposite of the schizoid, in youngest daughter yin, and new age Christianity favors the narcissistic opposite of Buddhist avoidance of attachment. In general, Hinduism favors the Schizotypal tendency of Heaven Trigram and existential and materialist New Age versions of Christian faith the depressive tendencies of Earth Trigram. Histrionic Christianity belongs to the Thunder Trigram and Buddhism and Janism to the paranoia of the Wind Trigram. Islam seems to follow the masochistic forms of the Water Pit Abysm and Orthodox Christianity, the borderline forms of the Lake Trigram. Agnostic forms seem to fix in the negativism of Mountain Trigram and cult and aboriginal belief in the sadism of Flame Trigram. So we have Hinduism in Heaven Trigram opposed to New Age Christianity in Earth Trigram, Buddhism and Jainism in Wind Trigram opposed to Protestant Christianity in Thunder Trigram, Islam in Water Pit Abysm opposed to cults, aboriginal, and experimental faiths in Flame, We have Orthodox belief in Lake Trigram opposed to skepticism in Mountain Trigram.

This creates a geographic system with Heaven Trigram India opposed to Earth Trigram Europe; Wind Trigram Tibet opposed to Thunder Trigram North America; Water Pit Abysm Trigram Middle East, Iraq, Iran, and Turkestan opposed to Flame Trigram Pacific Rim Ring of Fire, African Rift, Andes, Volcanic regions of America and Indonesia, Japan, etc.; Lake Trigram Russia and China, opposed to Mountain Trigram Switzerland, Scandinavia, England, New England, Quebec, British Columbia, etc.. Heaven Trigram is tropical and Earth is temperate (Papua against France). Wind Trigram is elevated and Thunder Trigram is coastal lowland (Tibet against New York City). Water Pit Abysm is sedimentary and divided by internal rivers and basins and Flame Trigram is volcanic and disturbed by external systems of mountains, oceans, and lakes that are rifting and moving land forms (thus Peru, Indonesia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Japan, etc.) (Japan against Iran). Lake Trigram is a complex of rivers and lakes that absorbs and dissolves and Mountain Trigram is the simple isolation of a mountain, an island, a peninsula that separates and isolates and prevents absorption and synthesis (England against Russia).

It is important not to put too much emphasis on religion. The major religions are largely functions of language. If your holy language is Arabic, you are probably Muslim. If it is Sanskrit, you are probably Hindu. If it is Bali, you are South Asia Buddhist and if it is Japanese, Korean, or Chinese, you are probably Mahayana Buddhist, if it is Tibetan, you are probably Tibetan Buddhist. If it is Japanese, you probably also are into Shinto or Zen or both. If it is Chinese, you may be Confucian or Daoist. If it is Hebrew, you are probably Jewish. If it is Greek, you are probably Orthodox. If it is Latin, you are probably Catholic. If it is German, you are probably Lutheran. If it is English, you are probably Church of England, Church of Scotland or one of the non-conforming alternatives. Change the holy language and you change the faith. So religion is all about language communities based on faith and faith related holy textbooks, poems and stories in the case of non-literate cultures (thus the Greek polytheism rooted in the poems of Homer).

These religious systems have a limited lifespan. This is not obvious because many of these systems endure for long periods of time. But after a thousand to two thousand years, they must go through a major transition or die. Typically these changes involve the split off of a conservative community that maintains the original faith, but seeks no new converts, and split off new forms of the faith that add additional holy books and seek new converts. An example of this is the split between Christians and Jews at the time of Christ and between Christians and Jews and Moslems at the time of Mohammed.

Another example is the split in Buddhism between those that accept and those who reject the Mahayana, and among the Mahayana between those who accept and those who reject the tantric forms that became Tibetan worship or the meditative forms that became Zen worship.

A similar split occurred between the Orthodox and Catholic communities around the use of Greek or Latin as the holy language, and later between Catholic and Protestant versions of Western Christianity surrounding new translations of scriptures into German, English, etc., and changes of doctrine that occurred at the same time.

These changes are inevitable. The degree of the change is a function of the degree of the stress. Eventually, deep stress will cause all existing religions to fail and generate new systems that absorb the old. Christianity has internalized the Isis worship of Egypt as the doctrine of Mary Queen of Heaven and the death are resurrection of Jesus as the source of salvation. To this it has appended Hebrew scriptures that collect together many of the myths and legends of the fertile crescent, including the notion of the source of the faith in Abraham of Ur in Mesopotamia. It has also absorbed the notions of a war between Heaven and Hell and good and evil, and an afterlife characterized by salvation or damnation, a belief system out of ancient Persia.

Current Hindu belief has incorporated many notions of Buddhism, Persian faith, Jainism, and an Eastern version of the Neoplatonism of ancient Greece and Rome and added to it the local forms of the Indus River Valley and the Dravidian cultures of South India. More recent developments show the influence of Islam.

Current Chinese and Japanese faith is a synthesis of Buddhist, Confucian, Daoist, and local folk belief. In a similar fashion, Islam has absorbed the Greek Philosophy and Christian Theology, the Jewish and Persian theology that came before it, and mingled all of these in a new synthesis.

As a result, modern religion is basically a war between the Muslim, Christian, Chinese, and Hindu traditions in various mutant forms and shapes. Suppose Mountain Trigram represents reason, supporting it is science in Earth Trigram, adventure and experiment in Flame Trigram and classical idealism in Wind Trigram. Opposed to it is traditional faith, symbolized by Chinese folk religion in Lake Trigram, Christian histrionics in Thunder Trigram, Hindu magic in Heaven Trigram and Muslim submission to fate in Water Pit Abysm. That seems to be our current state, but this state will change. It is inevitable. That it is not changing now is no accident. Religious faith only changes in times of great stress. That our old faiths are still with us means nothing but the truth that things are relatively speaking good. Is it a surprise that Islam rises when its treasury is rich with money from oil, or that the Texas version of Protestant Christianity spreads when its treasury is rich from Texas gas and oil. Is it a surprise?

Allan Ralph Andrews, Bakersfield, CA, July 21^st 2012

Consider a primitive Earth Trigram vedic practice and a Thunder Trigram dravidan practice in early India. Suppose the middle class Jains develop a Flame Trigram alternative and the upper class Buddhist develop an even higher Wind Trigram avoidance of lower class actions. Suppose a dursana yoga practive Mountain Trigram develops in a similar way out of the Dravidian system, and leads to upper class Hinduism Heaven Trigram as an alternative to Buddhism. Suppose a caste system develops out of Hinduism as an opposition to Flame Trigram non caste Jainism. Suppose a Ramayana and Mahabarata Lake Trigram provide an opposition to Mountain Trigram dursana.

Allan Ralph Andrews, July 22^nd 2012

If Hinduism can jump from Vedic practice in Earth Trigram to caste free practice in Flame in Jainism and a higher level of detachment in Wind Trigram Buddhism. Jumping from Dravidian practice in Thunder Trigram to the dursanas and yoga in Mountain and a higher level of detachment in Hinduism in Heaven Trigram, all supported by the caste system in Water Pit Abysm and the literature in the Ramayana, Gita, etc. in Lake Trigram, if that is possible for the expansion of Hinduism, so Christianity can expand also.

Orthodox literature in Greek in Lake Trigram can be mirrored in Catholic literature and church structure in Latin in Water Pit Abysm. Water Pit Abysm can split off Protestant Histrionics in Thunder Trigram, which can split off Unitarian and Universalist skepticism in Mountain Trigram and finally New Age romanticism, in Theosophy and New Thought, in Christian Science and the like, all in Heaven Trigram. Greek literature in Lake Trigram can support Classical philosophy and Neoplatonism in Wind Trigram, and its reflections in Catholic Theology, Augustine and Aquinus. This in turn can support all sorts of division and sects and heresy in break way aspects of Flame Trigram. Thus, Flame Trigram heresy is opposed to Water Pit Abysm Catholic Inquisitors and Mountain Trigram debate and agnosticism is opposed to Orthodox literature and belief in Lake Trigram. Rational theology and metaphysics in Wind Trigram is opposed to Protestant hysteria in Thunder Trigram. Romantic New Age belief in Heaven Trigram Theosopy, etc, is opposed to Scientific Humanism and Utilitarism, materialism and pragmatism, in Earth Trigram, as later developments of the break away heresy in Flame, supported by analysis and debate in Mountain Trigram. All of these can be seen as having irrational roots, based on differences of temper, not on difference rooted in logic or reason. New Age is to Utilitarian, Neoplatonic is to Protestant hysteria, Orthodoxy is to Unitarianism, Catholic faith is to heresy, as romanticism is to realism, as classicism is to expressionism, as symbolism is to impressionism, as the Baroque is to the Cubist, it is all temper, temper, differences of temper. The evidence shows that these differences of temper have to do more with social status, history, geography, and accidents of language than any influences from above. Amen, Amen.

Allan Andrews, Bakersfield, CA, July 23^rd, 2012

Energy is neither created nor destroyed. Form, mathematical structure, natural structure is endlessly destroyed but endlessly regenerated. Actual energy is eternal and the potential forms it can take are eternal also. But this is also true for the reversion of these forms, their internalization as consciousness. If energy is neither created nor destroyed, its potential to regenerate as passion is eternal also, also as awareness, the generation of information systems that become mind within, to disintegrate and generate pain within and to integrate and generate pleasure within. So also is the endless integration of everything into ever expanding whole. The awareness of this is called Christ Mind, Buddha Mind, and Prophecy, it is the imaginary number of the mathology of the greater whole, while God, Nirvana, Allah, Brahman, the Neoplatonic One, is the boundless calculus, the pi that integrates all of this into the indescribable void. The mathematical potential, system potential it awakens is the nous, the Wisdom of God, the Santa Sophia, the eldest daughter yin that endless reawakens as a result of the attentions she receives, the stimulus of the energy of the dance of Shiva, of eldest son yang. Existence at this level is ideal. Eternal, boundless, it is the realm of the romantic ideal, the Kingdom of Heaven, the Form of the Good, the God of Whitehead contemplating the Eternal Object he has created and calling it “good.” The energy of the dance of Shiva as eldest son yang dances out Infinite Flux and becomes the middle son yang Jehovah God that is the Visnu that incarnates as youngest son Adam, then Krishna, then Buddha and Jesus in an endless series of ever higher perfections. Each of us is a unique avatar of that series and we are eternal in that endless process. The discover of this inner Jesus Mohammed Prophet Buddhamind essence is the door to the hidden Kingdom of Heaven within and the escape into its ideal algebra geometry from the complex world of trigonometry and complex topology that is the fires of the Hell of Flame Trigram as our own inner judge condemns us from the high mountains of our own inner analysis and separation.

Conscious at is core is bliss, being and awareness, is a bending inward of the endless boundless one potential, the void, the blank slate of infinite becoming. But when it fails to erase the board, attempts to hold on to the individual numbers of its lessons, fails to allow itself to be wiped clean, becomes a hell like that described by Dante. Local consciousness is always finite and can never hold all things, cannot hold its own immortality.

When people say that want immortality, what they actually mean is the want is some version of the old pagan immortality of the old pagan gods, the right to live a few more years and not die today and retain some of the vigor of youth as the same time. True, metaphysical immortality, the entry of the boundless into the finite, destroys the finite, explodes it, tears it apart. This, then is one of those good news bad new things. We have immortality at the metaphysical level as part of our participation in the realm of the systems ideal and the boundless regeneration of energy systems potentials, but we cannot know that immortality, experience it in the finite without generating a hell that destroys what we are trying to create. This is dramatized in a famous Hindu poem called the “Gita” where Vishnu appears to the warrior Arjuna in the form of the god Krishna (an aspect of Vishnu who is appearing as Arjuna’s chariot driver as they go into battle) manifesting as the mighty world consuming time.

Life complements the subjective with the objective, the ideal with evolution and progressive expression, the orderly with the free, the simple with the complex, bringing learning and expansion. But, death withdraws the subjective from the objective preventing its separation and entrapment in the finite and the pain and suffering that comes from the separation and constriction of its potential within the local and the particular. Death complements particular expression by withdrawal back into the larger source from which it emerged, fulfilling its cycle of individuation and restoration to the collective whole.

Suffering and torment arise from too much attachment to local and temporary conditions, to objective manifestations that cannot endure. Without death and release life looses its meaning, without rebirth, death has no tangible product, no change to develop and evolve by exposure to time and space and visible expression. Without life, Heaven is a realm of ghosts and without death Earth becomes a place of torment, a kind of hell, a realm of endless pain. The finite clothes the infinite in visible form and the infinite expands the finite into the boundless whole from which it came. The infinite gives the finite purpose and the finite allows the infinite to generate measurable fruits that fulfill that purpose. Without the finite, the infinite is only ideal possibility and empty hope and without the infinite the finite is only limitation and cruel meaningless fate. It is only in the realm of harmony and complementary organization that the broken pieces of the world can emerge in a larger meaningful fulfilling whole, inclusive of life and death, of space and the boundless, of time and the timeless, of objective fact and subjective magic that gives passion to energy and knowledge to information, and transforms formal integration into love and bliss.

Allan Ralph Andrews, Bakersfield, CA, Saturday, July 28^th 2012

If you keep in the local time sequence, you are trapping yourself in a local purgatory or hell. If you try to contact your last incarnation, you are still trapped in the hell of local space time. In the boundless infinite whole, finite time spans and finite sequence are transcended by larger boundless reference points. Only when you surrender to the infinite can you become an angel, a messenger of Infinite Heaven and the ideal whole. The pursuit of local and tangible immortality is the pursuit of hell, of pain, of suffering and limitation. True Buddha immortality is gone gone gone utterly beyond. This is the Kingdom of the liberated Christ, of the love and joy that have no bounds.