Infinity and Nothingness
In In Search of the Miraculous by P D Ouspensky, p86, we read:
“The next idea which it is necessary to master is the materiality of the universe which is taken in the form of the ray of creation. Everything in this universe can be weighed and measured. The Absolute is as material, as weighable and measurable, as the moon, or as man. If the Absolute is God it means that God can be weighed and measured, resolved into component elements, ‘calculated,’ and expressed in the form of a definite formula.
If this proposition is analyzed, it quickly becomes obvious that this view of the universe asserts quite definitely that the universe is finite. This may seem to be a simple idea, but it had profound implications.
Let us consider mathematics.
Mathematics rarely describes reality exactly. It is an immensely sophisticated tool for scientists and engineers, but only for modeling reality. In mathematics there is logically an infinity, in fact many different infinities. But this doesn’t mean that infinity actually exists in our universe, only that you can model it. The square root of minus one doesn’t exist, but you can model it and doing so can be useful mathematically.
Thinking simply about the natural numbers 1,2,3,4, etc. Nomatter how large a number is, you can always add 1 to it. So we can say that, mathematically, there is an infinity of the natural numbers because they go on forever.
But, from the perspective of Objective Science, we live in a finite universe where everything can be weighed and measured, It doesn’t matter that we can model infinity mathematically, it doesn’t exist in our universe. If every hair is counted, every atom is counted, then there is very definitely a distinct (very very large number) that is the number of atoms. It’s a finite number.
We can say the same about zero. Mathematically we can model the idea of zero, but nowhere in this universe (as the Ray of Creation depicts it) with you find zero. You never show me zero, even though you can indeed talk about it for hours.
It is important to understand that our universe is finite, because it helps to bring relativity to all the ideas of the Work.
Ouspensky makes this point when he talks about the relativity of cosmoses, comparing times (for a breath, day and night, and a lifetime, between the cosmoses of a cell, Man, Nature and the Earth (see In Search of the Miraculous p331).
So Gurdjieff speaks of “realizing your nothingness” – that you are nothing. This nothingness is not zero, Compared to your gigantic personality, it is small. Compared to the many ‘I’ of personality, essence is small.
Similarly for living things, aside from the absolute, time is finite. Everything has a lifetime, except for the absolute who is consequently referred to as HIS ENDLESSNESS. The absolute is not subject to the ravages of time.