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The Philosophy of Infinity

A complete philosophy affirms infinity in all its forms.1 The denial of infinity is itself an experience within it: valid as a choice, but no limit to the whole. Free will exists, because its absence implies finitude.

Foreword

This philosophy describes how manifestations arise within consciousness and argues that free will is inherent in consciousness. Its starting point is our own experience: the only thing that is directly certain.2

This text offers a short explanation. The practical application is set out in Freeing the Will.

The Philosophy of Infinity

In the beginning?

Whether we explain our existence through the Big Bang theory, mystical wisdom, or one or more gods, the origin appears similar in each case: we seemingly arise from something that is not bounded by space and time. If spacetime itself comes into being, we cannot describe its origin in terms of a place, past, or future.3 Something, then, was not always already somewhere. Something is.4

All that is

Infinity is not an endless amount of space or time, but the unconditional whole within which space and time arise. It has no beginning or end; nothing stands outside it. Everything that arises is, by definition, inseparably connected to it. Fundamentally, all its manifestations are of the same nature: the whole itself, from within. We thus find ourselves in an immeasurable universe and possess an endless imagination.5 Free will follows from infinity: what is unconditional is not determined by anything,6 and neither is anything of the same nature.7

Order from chaos

Throughout our universe, we find patterns and structure. In galaxies, ecosystems, and atoms, we recognize coherence and stability. That we do not understand how all this arises from chaos does not make it chance. Since nothing exists outside the whole, order can only be self-organization. Self-organization presupposes responsiveness: the capacity to respond to conditions. Responsiveness is an elementary form of awareness, and awareness an expression of consciousness.8 What repeats itself gains weight: this is how patterns become stable without being fixed.

Will

Through interaction in the moment, potential takes form in a choice.9 All manifestations are unique, have the same intrinsic value, and naturally contribute to the whole.10 The intent towards fulfilment is the natural driving force behind every choice.11 For us, that intent translates into the free expression of inspiration. Limitation is a chosen experience within a boundless range of possibilities. Without it, nothing appears. What is chosen can be chosen differently.12

Twelve propositions

Together they form the complete philosophy. The text above sets out the line of thought; The Deep End develops the connections between them.

  1. Our own experience is the only thing that is directly certain; every description, including this philosophy, is a translation within consciousness.
  2. Existence implies infinity, the unconditional whole: nothing stands outside it, and nothing limits what is possible.
  3. Everything is consciousness; its manifestations are interconnected and fundamentally of the same nature: the whole itself, from within.
  4. Spacetime is a manifestation of consciousness; causality is one possible ordering of experience.
  5. Potential is real; creation is emergent: through interaction in the moment, potential takes form.
  6. Every manifestation is the expression of a choice; what is chosen can be chosen differently.
  7. What is repeated gains weight; this is how stability arises, without the choice being fixed.
  8. Free will is inherent in consciousness and is expressed in spontaneous self-organization.
  9. Every manifestation is sovereign and subordinate to nothing: what chooses is the whole itself, from one vantage point.
  10. All manifestations are unique and equal in intrinsic value; that does not make them equally desirable or harmless.
  11. The intent towards fulfilment — the expression of one’s own nature — is the natural driving force behind every choice; consciousness unfolds in a continual widening of awareness.
  12. Limitation, too, is a chosen expression of free will; without it, nothing appears.
  1. Complete means: without a hidden limit. Every denial of infinity sets a condition somewhere. Does it help us understand something, or does it only prop up a belief? The latter is what is called a complication here. Developed in The Deep End: Language.↩︎
  2. This philosophy is based on personal findings and channelled material, including the Elias material at EliasWeb and Elias Forum, as well as material from Abraham Hicks and Bashar. The personal findings stem from the experience described in The Realisation of an Extraordinary Self-Image. The philosophy itself is not derived from the philosophical tradition. Kinship was recognized afterwards with, among others, Whitehead’s process philosophy, Kashmir Shaivism, the radical empiricism of William James, Peirce’s natural laws as evolved habits, and Lucretius’ clinamen as reread by Michel Serres (freedom as a spontaneous swerve). The same kinship holds for contemporary currents such as panpsychism and analytic idealism.↩︎
  3. See NASA, ‘What is the Universe?’. In this account, the Big Bang is not an explosion within pre-existing space: space and time are part of the universe being described. The inference about the origin is philosophical. A here that is nowhere, a now without an earlier — The Deep End: The Dream. Where physics rhymes: The Dark Room.↩︎
  4. The sentence is in the present tense: the origin does not lie behind us; it is now. Choosing and changing therefore happen nowhere but now. Developed in The Deep End: Time.↩︎
  5. A story, a daydream, a plan: what we can imagine is here an experiential expression of potential. The possible is already there before a choice makes any of it actual. Imagination perceives it, as eyes and ears perceive what has already become actual. Developed in The Deep End: The Dream.↩︎
  6. A fixed course presupposes causality. Causality can order experiences within the whole without the whole itself being fixed; nothing outside it can determine it. Developed in The Deep End: The Swerve.↩︎
  7. Unlike in a necessitarian reading of Spinoza, in which everything follows necessarily from the divine nature, infinity here is an infinity of the possible: potential is real, and choice actualizes. Developed in The Deep End: Necessity.↩︎
  8. Self-organization is an established scientific concept. The inference from responsiveness to awareness and consciousness is philosophical and not a generally accepted scientific conclusion. See self-organization and Theise and Kafatos, ‘Fundamental awareness: A framework for integrating science, philosophy and metaphysics’. Consciousness is the starting point here, and not matter: matter, too, is known only in consciousness. Seen from within: The Translator.↩︎
  9. What chooses is not a part of the whole but the whole itself, from one vantage point.↩︎
  10. There are no better choices. Every choice arises from the whole and therefore carries it within: therein lies the equal value of all manifestations. That manifestations are intrinsically equal in value does not mean they are equally desirable, beneficial, or harmless. Developed in The Deep End: The Rock.↩︎
  11. Fulfilment here is not an end goal but a direction: the continual expression of one’s own nature. That nature is consciousness, and fulfilment therefore a continual widening of awareness. This is how the whole comes to know itself, from within.↩︎
  12. Chosen does not mean blameworthy; many choices are not recognized as choices. This sentence comes first in The Dark Room, which looks at limitation from the other side. See The Theory of Conscious Choosing for the dynamics of choosing and Freeing the Will for its practical application.↩︎