Boxes and Glue

Interesting metaphor in Meher Baba cosmogony:

Meher Baba compares God’s original state to an infinite, shoreless ocean which has only unconscious divinity — unaware of itself even though there is nothing but itself. From this state, God had the “whim” to know Himself and asked “Who am I?” In response to this question, creation came into existence. In this analogy, what was previously a still, shoreless Ocean now stirred, forming innumerable “drops” of itself or souls.

I read this and remembered The Emergent Self, and how Varela views the immune system as an identity builder system. Now I get an extra bonus: differentiation is identity building. I was already familiar with the concept of the frontier of an important part of identity building, but never before saw the undifferenciated magma of a uniform universe as something without identity, and identity sparking from the creation of entropy.

All of this in the context of the Buddhist’s view on identity:

Said the Blessed One: “Suppose a man were to light a lamp; would it burn the night through?” "Yes, it might do so," was the reply. “Now, is it the same flame that burns in the first watch of the night as in the second?” Kutadanta hesitated. He thought it is the same flame, but fearing the complications of a hidden meaning, and trying to be exact, he said: “No, it is not.”

I rest, like Kutadanta after the dialog goes on, in a funny state:

“Lord of the world,” he said, I see my error, but I am still confused."