In my father's house are infinite mansions

The material world, ultimately, is a network of inseparable patterns of relationships. Fritjof Capra, author "The Tao of Physics"
A pattern is a frozen process. A process is a freely flowing pattern.

A pattern is a static process. A process is a dynamic pattern.

A pattern is one form of structured chaos. A process is another.

In the material world/s, a pattern is structured chaos. The growth rings of trees, at a moment in time, are a pattern.

In the immaterial world/s, a process is structured chaos.The development of growth rings in trees is a process. Immaterial things like "Life", "Consciousness", "Self/Soul", "Thought" are processes.

Unstructured chaos is the primeval state. Structure is an emergent quality, i.e. structure isn't present or seems not to be present in the primeval state, but rather emerges or seems to emerge at a threshold level of complexity. Structure and complexity are correlated or seem to be correlated. The more complexity, the greater the potential for structure, the greater the potential diversity of structural forms.

Patterns are not necessarily two-dimensional by default. There are three-dimensional patterns; there are n-dimensional patterns, where n is a whole number equal to or less than infinity. Which raises two questions.

The first question is whether "anti-patterns" or "anti-processes" exist, where n is a negative integer equal to, less than or greater than minus infinity! Speculatively, when a pattern meets an anti-pattern, the result is a gigantic explosion, a massive release of "free structure", i.e. "free-floating" structure potentials or concepts disassociated from the underlying "raw reality".

The second question is whether fractional patterns or processes exist, together with their anti-fractional counterparts. A 3/4-dimensional pattern, for example, would be one that manifests across less than one dimension, three quarters of a dimension to be precise (or 0.75 dimensions if you prefer).

Then there are aspects or dimensions of Reality where n is a transcendental number or an imaginary number. If you're looking for a new meditation, meditate on what it means for there to be (even if only conceptually) processes that manifest across n dimensions where n is a transcendental or imaginary number. You'll find it just as productive if not more so than listening for the sound of one hand clapping.

In similar vein, there are processes manifest across fewer than three dimensions. Here's an example of a one-dimensional process, or least, three iterations of a one-dimensional process, expressed in plain English: "On. Off. On. Off. On. Off." Actually that's an example of a one-dimensional pattern. Another dimension is needed to make it a process, to make it dynamic. Time, for example, as the second dimension would involve the elements of the pattern -- the on-state and the off-state -- following each other successively over time.

Perhaps a one-dimensional process is a contradiction in terms. Perhaps it's a fundamental aspect of Reality that one-dimensional processes can't exist, in the same way that quantum uncertainty is a fundamental aspect of reality not a deficiency in the measuring apparatus or the design of the experiment.

Consciousness is a process and therefore cannot be found at any material address in this or any other universe or reality. Patterns, on the other hand, can be found at many material addresses, including wool, cotton, polyester and many other fabrics of reality.

And that makes me a dualist? No, an infinitist: I think there are more than just two kinds of stuff; more than just two categories or dimensions or parameters of Reality. I think there are infinite dimensions to Reality, infinite categories of Reality.

As Jesus said, "In my father's house are many mansions" (John 14:2 KJV). There's the Mansion of Matter, the Mansion of Mind, the Mansion of Memory, the Mansion of Mystery, to name but a few. Reality encompasses an infinite number of dimensions or aspects or parameters or mansions. You find roast chicken in the Mansion of Matter. You find a recipe for roasting chicken in the Mansion of Mind. You find molecules in the Mansion of Matter. You find ways to understand what a molecule is in the Mansion of Mind.

You find m-theory in the Mansion of Mystery. You find explanations of m-theory in the Mansion of Soporifics.

HOME

eBooks by Cosmic Rapture
(for kindle, tablet, smartphone or e-reader.)

NIGHTMERRIES: THE LIGHTER SIDE OF DARKNESS. This so-called "book" will chew you up, spit you out, and leave you twitching and frothing on the carpet. More than 60 dark and feculent fictions (read ‘em and weep) copiously and grotesquely illustrated.

AWAREWOLF & OTHER CRHYMES AGAINST HUMANITY (Vot could be Verse?). We all hate poetry, right? But we might make an exception for this sick and twisted stuff. This devil's banquet of adults-only offal features more than 50 satanic sonnets, vitriolic verses and odious odes.

MANIC MEMES & OTHER MINDSPACE INVADERS. A disturbing repository of quirky quotes, sayings, proverbs, maxims, ponderances, adages and aphorisms. This menagerie holds no fewer than 184 memes from eight meme-species perfectly adapted to their respective environments.

MASTRESS & OTHER TWISTED TAILS. An unholy corpus of oddities, strangelings, bizarritudes and peculiaritisms, including but not limited to barbaric episodes of herring-flinging and kipper-kissing. A cacklingly bizarre read that may induce fatal hysteria. Not Recommended!

FIENDS & FREAKS and serpents, dragons, devils, lobsters, anguished spirits, hungry ghosts, hell-beings, zombies, organ-grinders, anti-gods, gods and other horse-thieves you wouldn't want to meet in a dark cosmos. Immature Content! Adults Maybe.

HAGS TO HAGGIS. An obnoxious folio featuring a puke of whiskey-soaked war-nags, witches, maniacs, manticores and escapegoats. Not to mention (please don't!) debottlenecking and desilofication, illustrated. Take your brain for a walk on the wild side. Leave your guts behind.

2 comments

mgeorge said...


Complexity arises from the "multi-valency" (open-endedness or receptivity) of components. We can see this from the chemical (inter-atomic) level onwards, assuming we ignore lower levels.

Benoit Mandelbrot discovered fractional dimensions. He illustrated this through fractals. 0 being a point and 1 a line, as we view variations of a fractal (by changing the constant used in the formula) that covers ever more of a 2D surface, we can see that its dimensions take specific values that tend towards 2.

With understanding comes expectation. We decree the Truth and expect Order. However, all order seems to have imbedded disorder. Complexity may not be necessary. Even atoms and crystals have deviants, waiting patiently to take the stage. What more of society?

masterymistery said...

Hi mgeorge, thanks for your comment, and for the info on Mandelbrot and fractional dimensions. I wish I'd known that when I wrote this post -- it would have enriched the post significantly! MM