Self-excited Universe...

And so the hall of mirrors theme continues... It's been clear to me for as long as I can remember that we humans are microscopic, roving receptors in a conscious, self-observing universe. Our five senses are the interface tools that monitor experience, and our soul is the recording device that accumulates data and shares it collectively with other beings and of course the mother ship, whatever that may be.

In other words, the Universe educates itself about itself by employing neat little organisms (i.e. us) that are out in the field, exposed to the full mystery of being. Of course these organisms are protected by shields that prevent them from taking in too much, and learning too much about the nature of Nature.

I stumbled across this icon the other day and was instantly drawn to it. What could it mean? It turns out to be a symbol created by the late theoretical physicist John Archibald Wheeler, the man who coined the term black hole.

This symbol depicts the Universe as a "self-excited" circuit: Starting small (thin line at right) it gradually grows denser (thick left line) as observers multiply and participate in its creation - by observing what is gradually emerging and occurring. Mental causality some would say. You can read about it and other startling thoughts about the nature of reality in his 1983 paper "Law without Law."

Wheeler had a hunch that "the universe is built like an enormous feedback loop, a loop in which we contribute to the ongoing creation of not just the present and the future but the past as well." Well Dr. Wheeler, I concur. Good work.

Afterthought: Dr. Wheeler's all-seeing eye symbol does lead me to think of this one.