What Is Life and Who Am I?: Fundamental Principles of the Primordian Philosophy

By J.T. Owens

Humanity's pursuit of the origin of life, its meaning and its purpose, has gone a long way. Any single truth which the world would agree on remains to be found. Mankind uses knowledge to explore the possibilities of life, but as life evolves, more questions arise, making life appear more and more complicated. The truth is that while life may be complex, it is in fact not complicated.

WHAT IS LIFE AND WHO AM I: fundamental principles of the Primordian Philosophy walks the reader through the basic fundamentals of existence. It attempts to unravel the mysteries of life by presenting life in its basic form, thus providing the reader with a fresh and uncomplicated perspective of what life really is. By understanding the mechanics of life and the true essence of identity, the reader will regain a more active control over the direction which their life takes.

This book also attempts to restore a sense of purpose and of beauty to the life we live and the universe we live in. While life can often seem chaotic and uncertain, in truth it is really quite marvelous and wonderful. In our day to day lives we can lose sight of this fact. This book seeks to restore life to its true wonder by reminding the reader that we are all a living part of a living universe, and that the meaning of life comes down to one simple axiom find your truth, live your truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463403355

J.T. Owens

J. T. Owens earned his bachelor's degree in Archaeology and Religion at Lycoming College, Pennsylvania, in 1992. He currently resides in Dawsonville, Ga., where, when not working at his day job or writing philosophy, he spends his time with his wonderful wife and three awesome cats- Rio, Merlin and Samos Aristotle Stephanpopodopolous. WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/WILAWAI

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Table of Contents

Dedication

Foreword

What Is Life and Who Am I?

what is life?

Polarities

The Middle Ground

Active Life

Passive Life

True Life

Natural Order

WHO AM I?

Domestic Identity

Primal Identity

True Identity

Meaning of Life

Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Persons

Dedication

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to all my friends who patiently endured my eccentric ramblings, contemplations and frequent rants. Their patience and encouragement have in no small way led to the vision which has become this book. This is especially true with regards to my best friend- my wife, without whose love and support this book would not have been possible, and to whom this book is duly dedicated.

Foreword

We live in a time largely defined by science and religion. On the one hand, science is wholly focused on fact—believing in that which can be observed, demonstrated and proven. On the other hand, religion is wholly focused on faith—believing in that which cannot always be observed, demonstrated or proven. This fundamental difference in mindset has resulted in a rift between the two entities since their inception. This leaves the individual with the unenviable task of having to choose between a mindset based on fact or one based on faith. This is where philosophy fits in. Philosophy is the art of taking fact and faith and combining them into a new element—truth. It takes the facts which can be seen and proven, and postulates them into the unseen, unprovable levels of life—creating faith from fact. This alchemical process of taking two seemingly opposite concepts and creating a third is what restores balance and harmony to the human mind. Science and religion could not have survived their epic struggle for control if both fact and faith did not prove equally important to the human soul. Thus, philosophy does not intend to take sides, but rather to resolve the conflict by restoring the opposites to harmonious coexistence. This book is an attempt to restore philosophy to its place and give the reader the choice of embracing both fact and faith, and in the process, to discover their truth.

What Is Life and Who Am I?

What is life?, and Who am I? are two of the most basic, yet most profound questions ever asked since the dawn of time. In fact, when one considers all of the sacred texts in the world, from the Bible to the Quran, from the Vedic texts to the Popol Vuh, it is clear that they all attempt to answer these very questions. Each different creation myth tries to explain the origins and mechanics of life, while humanity is defined by the trials and triumphs that it faces in the myths and legends recorded in these works. Even though the specific answers given differ from book to book, it is the same questions that are being answered. Across the globe, and across the span of thousands of years, humanity has risen to its highest potential when it has grappled with these fundamental questions of life. One could argue that what makes the sacred texts of the world sacred aren’t the answers that they provide, but the struggle faced by so many in the quest to discover those answers.

So why are these questions so significant? What difference does it make whether or not we ever find the answers? Simply put, this is one of the most fundamental ways in which humanity differs from the rest of nature. Mankind, and mankind alone, has the capability of not only being a part of life, but of also having a clear understanding of life and what our place in life is. We alone search for meaning in life. We alone search for some higher purpose to make our lives more than just mundane. It is the quest for knowledge which sets humanity apart from every other species on this planet. And that quest must necessarily begin with the most basic concepts of life and identity. Once we understand what life is, and who we are, then we are free to be able to affect the life that we live, both as individuals and as a collective whole.

This understanding of life and identity is in essence the very soul of knowledge. All technology and human achievement is for nothing if it doesn’t enhance our understanding of what life is and who we are. And yet the technology and human achievements of today paint an all too negative picture of the human condition. We spend countless amounts of money to build weapons whose sole purpose is to cause death and destruction to mankind itself. We have become self destructive, both to our species and to the very planet on which we live—a planet which we are necessarily dependent upon. The quest for knowledge and technology, therefore, is not enough unto itself. Unless it is tempered with a knowledge of life and human identity, these aspects of human achievement become monstrous and terrifying. Our knowledge has lost its soul. Our drive has lost its meaning. It’s time to search once again for that soul and that meaning, and hopefully restore some sense of balance within life, both on the individual level and on the collective level. It’s time to rediscover what life is, and who we are.

what is life?

The topic of life is a complex issue indeed. This is because life itself is quite complex. Yet, for all its complexities, life itself is not complicated. Quite the opposite. Life is, in truth, fundamentally simple. The trick is in looking beyond all of the surface details and seeing what lies beneath. Once you see life in its pure, fundamental form, the simplicity of it is quite profound. The problem is that we, as humans, tend to equate simplicity with inferiority. Thus we assume that the more grandiose a topic is in scope and meaning, the more complicated it should be. Life, being supremely grand in scope, must necessarily also be supremely complicated. But the truth is far more simple than we have been led to believe. In fact, it seems that the human mind alone is responsible for making life so seemingly complicated.

Life is a natural phenomenon which has two distinct aspects. One aspect is of an active nature, and one is of a passive nature. These two aspects give life both its form and its essence. They underwrite our reality whether or not we are even aware of their existence. Becoming aware of these aspects of life restores a sense of responsibility and control over our actions, and subsequently, over the very course of our lives. This control is of a level rarely imagined, let alone experienced, in our modern day lives. It is, however, the level of control which is our natural right as living, sentient beings.

Polarities

Perhaps the most fundamental concept within this philosophy is that of polarities. Most traditions view life in terms of dichotomies. Right/wrong, good/bad, God/devil, up/down, left/right, and so on. The list is endless, for everything has an opposite—two sides of the coin, as it were. This is the view of life commonly accepted by most forms of conventional wisdom. But how true to life is it, exactly? Is life really that fixed, that rigid? Are there only two sides to everything? And if so, how does that work?

The tradition of dichotomies looks good on paper, but if you look to nature you see that it doesn’t really hold up that well. Perhaps the reason for this is that there are no light switches in nature. In order for something to change in nature a certain progression must occur. A perfect example of this—perhaps the most perfect example possible, is the transition from day to night. If we are to believe in dichotomies, then day and night must be fixed. As such, day would be the equivalent of the sun being on, and night would be the equivalent of the sun being off. Simple enough—but, in fact, that is not how it works. Instead, we see a dynamic transition from the complete darkness of midnight to the complete brilliance of noon, and then back again. The sun does not suddenly turn on, then turn off. It goes through the progressive stages of dawn to sunrise, to zenith, to sunset, and finally to dusk. Dusk, then, transforms into night, and then night, in turn, transforms back into dawn. Instead of a fixed, rigid sense of events we get a sense of motion, of fluidity. The static light switch is not to be found. Rather, a dynamic process is at work. The opposites of day and night are very much real. But instead of being two sides to a flat reality they are two ends to a reality with substance. After all, ours is a three dimensional world, not a two dimensional one. Thus, if a concept is to be found which explains the relationship between opposites then it too must be three dimensional, and not two dimensional as in the case of dichotomies.

Perhaps it is not even enough to say that we live in a three dimensional world. Progression, whether it is physical or conceptual, is dynamic. It is an event in motion. Thus it crosses over from being two or three dimensional to being fourth dimensional. It is not about form, but it is about direction. It is when we look at direction that things become much clearer. Up/down, left/right, these seem like dichotomies. The same can be said of north/south and east/west, but we never consider these to be fixed. They are relative to the position of the observer. They are not two sides to a flat reality, but rather they are polar extremes—two opposite ends of a polarity. And it is here that we find the model for the true relationship between opposites. Opposites are not fixed locations. They are directions. Where an observer stands is neither north or south—it is the direction which he or she faces which is north or south. If you are driving north on a freeway, the mile that lies ahead is north. Once you travel that mile, then it has become south, as it is now behind you and you are still traveling north. Direction is relative to the observer. And the motion of the observer affects that relationship further still. In this way polarities not only represent the opposites themselves, but they represent the relationship of the observer to those opposites.

Thus, polarities, not dichotomies, are a truer way to view the opposites of life. For between the opposites of good and bad, right and wrong, young and old, stands the observer. This person is always standing in a space which is neutral, undefined. It is the direction in which they travel which is defined. And that direction is determined by the choices they make. The actions they commit determine whether they travel toward good or bad, right or wrong. Life is not experienced as a destination or a fixed location. Rather it is experienced as a journey moving in one direction or another. Polarities demonstrate how opposites are the directions in which life travels. We never actually reach east, but we can travel east indefinitely, or until we choose to follow a different direction. The same can be said of good. We never actually become good, rather, we choose our actions in the direction of good, and we keep doing so indefinitely, or until we change direction. Just as a person could travel east forever, so too can a person travel toward any polar extreme forever. After all, a direction is not