Existence Is Infinite

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
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Existence can be infinite or not, does it really matter? What is more cool is that existence EXISTS. This is easier to approach conceptually. Do this: imagine deleting things from existence. In your mind, just start deleting everything. The world around you, the entire earth, poof, gone. Even yourself, gone. Nothing. The solar system, our galaxy, gone. The entire universe, gone. What’s next? All the other universes, poof gone. And out and out, everywhere, everything is deleted, gone. Keep going until… you feel something.

What you should feel is a very strange sensation that has no word for it. It is something like the incomprehensibility of the idea of NOTHING anywhere, ever. Ever. Anywhere. At all. EVER. ANYWHERE.

If you cannot get to that weird feeling through this thought exercise, then you may not be thinking about these concepts deeply enough.

I wonder what that weird feeling is telling us. Could merely be what Kant said, that we approach the limits of our own reason. I don’t know why that ought to generate such a strange feeling though. Instead of putting it on us, I’d rather consider the feeling originates because we are beginning to consider a very important truth, something we have never conceived of before. Forcing our mind to arrive at the fundament of everything, the ‘beginning’ if you want to call it that. Ending or beginning, they are probably both the case here. One ends, but because it cannot be THE ending, it leads to or becomes another beginning.

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I know exactly the feeling you’re talking about.

This was my experience when realizing my own death as a child in bed one night. Upon realizing I would die, I began asking what is death like? What does it mean to be nothing?

So I did exactly as you describe. I started deleting everything, to try to envision death. And the question, what if existence never was? What if nothing ever existed?

That feeling freaked me out - like, really freaked me out. It was like an extremely deep nausea. A sinking feeling in my stomach, as if thinking about this great nothing, allowed it to creep inside me.

I tried to stay with the feeling, to explore it - but I kept running back to the security of, ‘I’m real. Things are real’.

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We cannot ‘not be’ because if we could, there would be no ‘we’ …

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Hello, Ben JS.

Your initial post came right beneath one of my posts and I couldn’t figure out if you were agreeing with me or with daniel j. lavender.

Anyway, the following (bolded) portion of your post caught my attention…

To which I speculatively suggest that the “edge of the universe” is indeed conceivable (at least in principle) if one is open to the possibility of the universe being the MIND of a higher Being (as in Berkeleyanism, for example).

If you close your eyes and peer into the inner dimension of your own mind and then attempt to locate an edge or outer boundary to your mind,…

…you will find that your mind is a spatial arena that appears to be open and endless in precisely the same way that the spatial arena of the universe appears to be open and endless if one peers out into the universe and attempts to locate the universe’s outer boundary.

And the point is that if the universe is indeed the MIND of a higher Being, then logic dictates that it is bounded (has an edge to it) in the same way that our own minds are bounded.

And that would be by reason of the limited field of the life energy that makes up the sum-total of each individual mind itself.

In other words, I am a separate mind, you are a separate mind, and God is a separate mind,…

…in which case, these invisible (seemingly unreachable) outer boundaries (or edges) that delineate (and encapsulate) the totality of our individual minds,…

…are simply the points where one individual mind ends, and other individual minds begin, as is metaphorically represented in one of my fanciful illustrations…

image
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Indeed, from the inside perspective as seen by the “agents and owners” of the bubbles of mind (i.e., you, me, and God),…

…the bubbles seem to be open and endless, as if they were each an infinite (and autonomous) dimension of reality unto themselves (which is probably what they actually are).

However, from the outside (from the perspective of the infinite nothingness), not so much.

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Infinity is a dream of immortality, a refusal to accept facts.
Anything, of course, has its own term, beyond which existence loses meaning.
For example, existence as a whole is finite — culminating in the Apocalypse.
After all, the goal has been achieved.

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Infinite is a term used to express what is.

Terms are defined and redefined. For example you attempt to redefine “infinity” here. The process can seem to erode meaning.

However if terms are explicitly and sensibly defined as with the essay provided such isn’t an issue.

Where is the boundary? What is the boundary? Any limiting factor would itself be, perpetuating existence.

Further existence is both part and whole. Review the Existence Both Part And Whole section of the original essay.

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It really is not though. Infinity is a claim beyond verification.
The evidence is that this claim is false. SO unless you have a good argument against the big bang, and a positive argument FOR infinity you have all your work to do.

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The boundary is set by your langauge and your mortality

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Infinite is not an adjective?

Terms are not used to indicate, represent or describe other things?

Language is not used to explain or describe what is?

Language and terms represent things, they indicate things beyond language itself. The term “pineapple” indicates the fruit, for example. This is commonly accepted and understood.

“Infinite” is defined as “unlimited, unrestricted”. Unlimited means not limited.

Is there only one pineapple? Is existence, or that which is perceived, limited to only one pineapple? No, that is observably false. There is also furniture, trees, clouds, other pineapples, etcetera.

Existence, or that which is perceived, is not limited to one pineapple. Nor is existence limited to any other particular. Existence is unlimited. Existence is infinite.

The language works and the idea conveyed is readily observable, to a degree, within the environment.

Existence is not limited to “that which is perceived”. Existence also concerns “that which is interacted with” freeing the philosophy from a purely biological, conscious perspective.

The Big Bang is based on limited observation of the observable universe. It is a scientific approach, not a philosophical approach. Additionally many scientists claim they do not know what preceded the Big Bang. They don’t necessarily claim it as the beginning.

Your statement is limited to the perspective of a living being. Existence is not limited to living beings.

Nor is existence limited to language as illustrated above.

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Using a meaningless term brings no honor—it only misleads.
Infinity is a slander against death, which absolutely exists as the end of any form of being—both individual instances and existence as a whole. Everything (being as a whole) will end once the goal is achieved. The universe will have fully known itself through its transformations. That is the apocalypse—the point at which continued existence loses all meaning.

For those who find this hard to grasp, here’s a practical task:
Start adding one to the number one.
You’re allowed to use a calculator, a computer, or any computational tool—
and you will arrive at the imaginary and truly absurd notion of “infinity,”
which is simply the loss of meaning in your actions.

Please report your results:
What number did you reach?

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The “Big Bang” is rather amusing.
And it’s easily refuted by a simple question:
What exactly “exploded”?
What existed if there was nothing—no time, no matter, no space?

Equally easy to refute is the concept of a “Beginning.”
“Beginning” is a temporal category.
If time didn’t exist, then what kind of “beginning” are we even talking about?

If the above is clear, just ask about the real, active model of existence.
I promise, it’ll be fun.

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It is not a meaningless term by definition. It has practical use as illustrated above.

Infinite, as in existence being infinite, includes death, just as it includes life. Thus it is inclusive of death, not exclusive of it.

Further the term infinity carries certain connotations relegating its use in relation to the philosophy. Existence is the subject matter, the focus. The term infinite is simply a descriptor.

Infinity is a noun, infinite an adjective. The term infinity often involves flimsy notions and other baggage thus infinite is the preferred term.

Death pertains specifically to living beings, not existence generally. Existence is not limited to the cycle of life and death and transcends such cycles and living organisms.

Define your terms. It’s difficult responding to undefined terms of blanket statements sans evidence.

Infinite is explicitly defined in the original text.

It does not deviate from accepted definitions:

Infinite (adjective)

  1. Having no boundaries or limits; impossible to measure or calculate
    (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company ‪https://www.thefreedictionary.com/infinite‬)

Infinite (adjective)

  1. subject to no limitation or external determination
    (Infinite. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, ‪https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infinite‬)

In fact your version of the term (“loss of meaning in one’s actions”) appears to be misleading as it appears in none of the dictionaries available for reference.

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To slander does not mean to reject, but to distort.

Infinity lies by claiming that death does not exist—under the laughable premise that existence is eternal.
Death pertains to change as its end. And it is perfectly applicable to anything for which the word “life” is appropriate.
How about the life of the Universe? Accordingly, its death exists as well.

“Infinite (adjective):
Having no boundaries or limits; impossible to measure or calculate.”

A ridiculous “definition” based on the refusal to understand boundaries and limits.

“Infinite (adjective):
Subject to no limitation or external determination.”
So, it doesn’t obey the laws of existence? You people are fun.

“The term ‘infinity’ is often associated with vague ideas and other unreliable ‘baggage,’ so it’s preferable to use ‘infinite’ instead.”

Here you’ve partially said the same thing I assert directly—with specificity: “vague ideas.”
But if you’re going to call things by their real names, then write it plainly:
**“Infinity” is a lie disguised as vague notions.

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And here is a prime example of that:

Again, as stated just above, infinite includes death. In other words, death exists. Life exists too.

Existence includes life but is not limited to it. Existence exceeds life and death and isn’t confined to such cycles.

You are anthropomorphizing terms.

You seem to speak metaphorically of ideas you have not thoroughly developed or cannot fully convey.

Again, existence is not necessarily limited to the universe.

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Are you for real?
Just because a word exists does not mean it makes sense or is real.
The mimims jive in the borrowgroves and Gandalf is king of the fairies.

Infinite, zero these are concepts not descriptions of reality. Thought experiments only.

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Virually word salad.
Question begging nonsense.

Existence IS limited to the universe - BY DEFINITION.

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Ideas are an expressed call to action. You don’t understand what ideas are and are trying to shift that onto me? Do you want to propose something insignificant, or are you about to try to prove that beyond existence there is still something else that exists?

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Here you are somewhat mistaken. Reality is that which exists as a fact. What is written is reality, and it is just as real as the meaning of what is written. The point is, thought is matter, as it is a connection of neurons in the brain. And if such a fact exists, then it speaks of reality. Simply put: any nonsense is real if it is expressed and exists. But it is insignificant.

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Question begging nonsense.

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IN the beginning was the word??? :rofl: