Prajna: 12 Universal Wrong Conceptions: 2. Two Simultaneous Universes

«Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.» ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Manon, Ballerina".

Taxonomy of Existence

2. Two Simultaneous Universes

The question of whether material existence always implies immaterial existence is one of the central debates in metaphysics and philosophy of mind, and there is no single accepted answer. The answer depends entirely on the philosophical view (ontology) you adopt regarding the nature of reality.

Three Main Philosophical Views

Philosophical theories are traditionally divided on whether reality is fundamentally one substance (Monism) or two (Dualism).

Ontological Note: Material, Immaterial, and the Non-Dual Ground

Different philosophical systems approach this issue by grounding their explanations in distinct ontological assumptions. Although their conclusions diverge, each position illuminates a specific aspect of how reality may be structured.

1. Materialism (Physicalism)

Materialism holds that all that exists is ultimately physical — matter, energy, or configurations of space-time. In this framework, material existence does not imply the existence of anything immaterial.

What appear to be immaterial phenomena (thought, identity, intention, meaning) are interpreted as:

• physical processes occurring in the brain,

• emergent properties dependent on material complexity,

• or linguistic conveniences describing underlying neurochemical states.

In strict physicalism, the material world is closed and self-sufficient: whatever is real must, in principle, be measurable or physically instantiated.

2. Dualism

Dualism asserts two fundamentally distinct dimensions of existence: material and immaterial. Here, material existence does imply an immaterial counterpart, particularly in beings capable of consciousness.

Under this view:

• the physical body is material,

• consciousness or the mind is immaterial,

• both interact but remain ontologically different.

The existence of subjective experience, self-awareness, and rational thought is seen as evidence that matter alone is insufficient to explain reality’s full range.

3. Idealism

Idealism reverses the problem: all existence is fundamentally immaterial. Matter is a structured appearance or representation within a universal or individual mind.

Thus:

• immaterial existence gives rise to material appearance,

• the physical world persists only as long as consciousness perceives or sustains it,

• the material is a derivative mode of the immaterial.

Idealism dissolves the material–immaterial dichotomy by elevating mind or consciousness as the primary substance.

4. Non-Dualism

Non-dualism offers a different, unifying perspective. It rejects the assumption that “material” and “immaterial” are fundamentally separate categories. Instead, both are understood as modes or expressions of a single, undivided Reality.

In the non-dual view:

• the distinction between matter and mind arises from conceptual division,

• the observer and the observed are not ultimately separate,

• the ground of all phenomena is a unified field of existence, appearance, or consciousness.

From this standpoint, the question “Does the material imply the immaterial?” becomes secondary. The apparent dichotomy arises within mind; the underlying reality is neither material nor immaterial in any exclusive sense.

Non-dualism integrates both perspectives by identifying a common ground prior to conceptual division: the indivisible substrate from which all phenomena — physical or mental — emerge.

Abstract Immateriality and the Framework of Understanding

Even in strictly materialist models, material existence depends on abstract entities that are not themselves physical:

• numbers and mathematical structures,

• logical relations,

• causal laws,

• the very concept of “existence” and “dependence.”

These immaterial frameworks govern and describe the material world despite lacking mass, locality, or physical extension.

Thus, even if no particular material object implies a corresponding immaterial object, the intelligibility of the material world presupposes abstract structures that are not reducible to matter.

Synthesis

This brief ontological map clarifies that:

• Materialism restricts reality to the physical;

• Dualism distributes reality across two substances;

• Idealism locates all reality in mind;

• Non-dualism transcends the dichotomy entirely.

In the metaphysical system developed throughout this work, the non-dual approach provides the most coherent foundation: it recognizes the validity of material and immaterial dimensions without treating them as ultimately separate or independent.

In a subtle way

Before entering the vision of the Two Simultaneous Universes, it is useful to clarify one subtle but important point: the distinction between “material” and “immaterial” is not absolute. These two modes of reality exist, but neither is self-sufficient; both dissolve into a deeper ground that is neither physical nor mental, neither visible nor invisible.

The Material refers to what appears extended in space, measurable, and perceptible through the senses. The Immaterial refers to what appears as consciousness, intention, meaning, value, intuition, or spiritual depth.

But both arise from the same indivisible source: the Non-Dual Ground—the Uno.

In this Ground, material and immaterial lose their apparent separation. Form is a mode of the formless; thought is a vibration of Being; consciousness is the luminosity through which existence recognizes itself.

Thus, when we speak of the Two Simultaneous Universes, we are not describing two independent realms, but two complementary aspects of a single ontological continuum. The distinction is pedagogical and phenomenological, not metaphysical in the dualistic sense.

Reality manifests as two, but is grounded in One.

Understanding this removes the risk of interpreting the dual universes as two disconnected worlds (a mistake common in rigid dualism) or collapsing them into a single flat materialist plane (a mistake common in reductionism).

The Two Universes are two perspectives, two mirrors, two expressions—one Ground.

Two Universal Realities

There are two universal realities — the Material Universe and the Immaterial Universe — coexisting simultaneously and interdependently.

The Material Universe is concrete and perceptible, operating within the measurable dimensions of space and time. Matter forms and dissolves, integrates and disintegrates, transforms and dissipates. It is temporary and mutable — physically real, observable across countless scales of manifestation and governed by natural laws.

The Immaterial Universe is abstract and imperceptible, existing beyond measurable time. It is eternal, subtle, and formative — the realm of ideas, consciousness, archetypes, values, dreams, memories, sensations, and spiritual presences. Though intangible and often dismissed by materialist standards, it is the origin of meaning, information, and intention, silently shaping the material realm as its invisible architect.

Reality therefore resonates in dual simultaneity: one visible and one invisible; one temporal, the other timeless; one changing, the other abiding. They coexist as a single continuum, interpenetrating without obstruction — like two melodies harmonizing through a single vibration of Being.

Humanity’s challenge is to awaken to this simultaneous vision: to perceive both universes not as opposites but as reflections of a single fundamental principle — the Uno. When this is understood, philosophy and science, matter and spirit, reason and intuition no longer conflict.

Integration of Materialism and Dualism

Materialist thought emphasizes what can be measured, and observed — affirming that existence is bound to physical processes and empirical laws.

Dualist understanding recognizes that both material and immaterial realities coexist, each shaping and reflecting the other.

United, these perspectives reveal a more complete comprehension of existence — a harmony of the visible and the invisible, the measurable and the meaningful.

Across history, sages and philosophers have pointed toward this dual harmony:

• Hermes Trismegistus taught: “That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above.”

• Zaratustra (Zoroaster): a cosmology balancing material and spiritual forces.

• Confucius: virtue arises when inner truth aligns with outer action.

• Lao Tzu: the Tao — the formless origin of Heaven and Earth.

• Gautama Siddhartha: reality and illusion through Śūnyatā and dependent origination.

• Pythagoras: number as the bridge between form and formlessness.

• Heraclitus: unity through perpetual flux — the Logos.

• Socrates and Plato: the immaterial realm of ideas as the foundation of the visible.

• Aristotle: form and matter as inseparable principles of being.

• Archimedes: abstract principles expressed in concrete creation.

• Jesus Christ: spiritual truth manifested through worldly action.

• Spinoza: Deus sive Natura — God or Nature as one infinite substance.

• Copernicus and Galileo: matter illuminated by mathematical law.

• Leibniz: monads — immaterial centers of perception forming visible material order.

Across epochs, from ancient mysticism to modern science, every age echoes the same principle: perception and reality, matter and mind, form and meaning, are interdependent expressions of a single unified cosmos.

Two Mirrors

These two universes are connected yet distinct:

• The Relative Universe (Material): the field of manifestation, phenomena, becoming, motion, time.

• The Absolute Universe (Immaterial): the timeless background of pure potentiality.

They are not two separate realms but two mirrors reflecting each other through awareness.

The Relative Universe is the dynamic cosmos of matter, energy, and causality.

The Absolute is formless, spaceless, timeless — the unmanifest source of all manifestation.

The wave is water; the water is the sea. To see the sea within the wave is to understand the simultaneity of these universes.

The Paradox of Simultaneity

From the Relative standpoint, change and difference define reality.

From the Absolute standpoint, nothing truly changes — all rests in the stillness of Being.

These views coexist without contradiction.

Time belongs to the Relative; the Absolute stands beyond time.

And yet every moment of time appears only within the timeless Now.

Human beings stand at this intersection.

Through the body and senses, we inhabit the Material Universe.

Through consciousness, we reflect the Immaterial Universe.

Awakening occurs when awareness perceives both simultaneously — form and emptiness, motion and stillness, being and non-being, eternally One, not-two.

The Observer and the Observed

Within consciousness, the two universes meet. The observer (mind) perceives phenomena, yet the very act of perception arises from the Absolute awareness underlying all knowing and all experience.

Every event manifests in two dimensions:

• As an event, a phenomenon within change (Relative).

• As awareness itself (Absolute), which is changeless.

To awaken is to realize that observer and observed, inner and outer, finite and infinite, are distinct in appearance but one in essence.

The Living Unity

To live consciously in both universes is to dwell in harmony — to see form without losing the emptiness behind it, to act without attachment, love without possession, know without clinging.

Then reality is no longer divided but revealed as a dance of complementarities: light and shadow, birth and death, movement and stillness — all arising in the infinite field of Being.

The Relative is the Infinite’s play; the Absolute its silent heart.

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Misunderstanding the Concept

• Misinterpretation of Reality — Seeing only the Material Universe as real, or denying the Immaterial, fragments understanding and obscures the depths of consciousness and spirit.

• Disconnection from Meaning — Overvaluing material experience obscures the sources of value, creativity, and love.

• Vulnerability to Inner Distress — Mistaking impermanence for totality gives rise to despair and anxiety, as seen in Camus’ absurdism and Schopenhauer’s will-driven suffering.

To identify exclusively with the Material Universe is limitation.

To identify exclusively with the Immaterial is disengagement from life.

Harmony arises when both are lived together — the infinite expressed through the finite, and the finite revealing the infinite.

All spiritual and philosophical traditions converge on the same truth: reality is not-two, but not-one — a living unity of complementaries.

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Tell about your sense

• I align completely with the text
• I don't know, i'm not sure of several aspects in the text
• I desaggree completely with the text

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Chronological Timeline (Approximate Dates)

Figure	Approx. Birth	Approx. Death	Primary Domain / Contribution
Hermes Trismegistus	Mythical / Ancient (≈3000–1500 BCE)	Mythical	Hermetic philosophy, esoteric wisdom, synthesis of Egyptian and Greek thought
Zaratustra (Zoroaster)	c. 1500–1200 BCE (traditional)	Unknown	Founder of Zoroastrianism, dualistic cosmology, ethics
Confucius	551 BCE	479 BCE	Ethics, philosophy, political thought, Confucianism
Lao Tzu	c. 6th century BCE	Unknown	Taoism, philosophy of harmony, the Tao
Gautama Siddhartha (Buddha)	c. 563 BCE	c. 483 BCE	Buddhism, enlightenment, philosophy of suffering and liberation
Pythagoras	c. 570 BCE	c. 495 BCE	Mathematics, philosophy, numerology, metaphysics
Heraclitus	c. 535 BCE	c. 475 BCE	Philosophy, change, flux, unity of opposites
Socrates	c. 470 BCE	399 BCE	Philosophy, ethics, dialectics
Plato	c. 427 BCE	c. 347 BCE	Philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, ideal forms
Aristotle	384 BCE	322 BCE	Philosophy, science, logic, metaphysics, ethics
Archimedes	c. 287 BCE	c. 212 BCE	Mathematics, physics, engineering
Jesus Christ	c. 4 BCE	c. 30–33 CE	Religious teacher, spiritual philosophy, Christianity
Spinoza	1632 CE	1677 CE	Philosophy, rationalism, ethics, pantheism
Copernicus	1473 CE	1543 CE	Astronomy, heliocentric model
Galileo Galilei	1564 CE	1642 CE	Physics, astronomy, scientific method
Leibniz	1646 CE	1716 CE	Philosophy, mathematics, logic, metaphysics

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