One human being’s attempt to capture the continuous universal transformation
as seen and imagined through the iron-barred window of his asylum bedroom.
He made many studies of this ever-changing scene and only his imagined village
does not attest to the universality of movement.
Source Wikipedia
A Universe in a Phrase
The phrase “the universal transformation” is perhaps the most wonderful, awesome and fantastic phrase in the English language. Few, if any other phrases so eloquently and inclusively express our experience of existence. Inherent in the phrase is the essence of reality, the ways of the universe.
The great principles of physics advise us that we are rewarded in unimaginable ways when we give care to valuing and conserving the most transcendent meaning of “the universal transformation”. This is because our careful use of the phrase enables us to experience greater true hope of physics.
You may ask why this “true hope” occurs. The answer resides in the very act of asking the question “Why?” Your question indicates the inclusive force of compassion is alive and well in your psyche.
It is our compassion that enables us to experience the open, sustaining spirit of inquiry required for us to embrace reality. Compassion inspires in us the thoughts and words that better enable the universal potential to be manifest in sustaining ways.
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche 1844 – 1900
Those same great principles of physics advise us that any exclusive use of this most potent phrase demeans it and diminishes the sustaining ways the universal potential can be manifest to us.
We misuse and abuse the phrase “the universal transformation” at our peril. False hopes (delusions) flourish and we experience a sense of alienation.
These unhelpful forms arise when the ego – the exclusive force in our psyche – is dominant in our life. The ego (the “I”) confounds our spirit with fear, arrogance, greed and has us live in denial of the universal reality.
Confucius (c. 551 – c. 479 BCE)
Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
Transcending our Human Condition
The universe is transformation: life is opinion
Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180 AD) Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher.
Painting of Marcus Aurelius distributing bread to the people.
by Joseph-Marie Vien (1765).
The above quote, attributed to Aurelius, sums well the essence of our condition: we each exist in this human form as a transient balance amidst the continuous, universal change of all forms. We inform all even as we are informed by all.
We all live this paradox of information.
It is thus vital to our survival that we enjoy the compassion required to give care to ensuring we know what we are saying. This is because our use of a word informs our ways of thinking and behaving in most subtle, unknowable ways.
Our behaviour is only sustainable to the extent our language is in accord with the principles of physics, the ways of the universe.
“The” “Universal” “Transformation”
We are our words and their meaning continuously changes with our behaviour. Seeming small changes in meaning can generate and reflect entirely different world views. Every word we use is its own story and a story of our life. We will briefly explore the three stories inherent in the phrase “The Universal Transformation”. It is helpful to have first read The Legend of “Form”.
“The”
Online Etymology Dictionary relates fascinating legends about the word “the”. For instance, it says “Old English used 10 different words for “the,” ” but did not distinguish “the” from “that.”
Table Illustration here
“After c. 950, it displaced earlier se (masc.), seo (fem.), þæt (neuter),
Old English se is from PIE root *so- “this, that“
“The” is used to signify or designate the singular nature or uniqueness of something e.g. the universe.
Transcendent???
The word “the” is particularly fascinating because its meaning is entangled with the meaning of “an” and “a” (from PIE ne “not”). “An” also means “one” as in “one of others” e.g. a universe
It is dizzying trying to make sense of the tangle of meaning as so many common words reference each other for meaning: the, a, an, al, theism, atheism, pantheon, altar, alter, other, another, only, atone, alone, at (ad), that …
These words all in some way express our deep yearning to know our true place amidst the universal change. What is the meaning of it all? Is there “the universe” or “a universe, one of many”? Is there “The (One) God”? Is there the or a “multitude of gods?”
Some men (human beings) will kill their fellow men to ensure their belief in one or the other prevails.
My use of the word “the” in the phrase “the universal transformation” is informed by my awareness of the fallibility of my perceptions and leaves the question open as to the true formation of the universe(s?). The most that can be said is the universe is the vast potential of all possible forms, “all in one”.
“Universe”
“uni” arises from Latin uni-, combining form of unus “one” (from PIE root *oi-no- “one, unique”). It too evokes “oneness”. However it subtly alludes to the action of making or combining or forming a form.
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=uni
The PIE word “wer”, from which “verse” arises, has a number of meanings all involving action, change, forces in some way.
I*wer- (1) “to raise, lift, hold suspended.”
*wer- (2) “to turn, bend.”
*wer- (3) “perceive, watch out for.”
*wer- (4) “to cover.”
“Wer” gives rise to “vertere” meaning “to turn, turn back, be turned; convert, transform, translate; be changed.”
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=wer
All these meanings of “wer” involves forces of some kind. Together they remind us in the Conservation of Energy Principle and our paradoxical roles as transient forms of energy, as actors amidst the continuous changing.
“Transformation”
The word “universe” beautifully expresses and reminds us of the formation, the creating, the fashioning, the shaping, the forming of all that can be. Indeed formation once meant in the late 14c., “vital force in plants and animals;” and in the early 15c., “act of creating or making,“
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=formation
The word “Transformation” elaborates on this vision of existence of all that is possible being active.
Observe how the word “form”, which is paradoxically both a noun and a verb, is fundamental to the meaning of the word transformation. Inherent in the paradox is the subtle reminder that we are informed by all even as we inform all.
The Legend of “Form” discusses how little is known of the etymology of “form” before the 12th C and suggests that the ancient Greco-Roman tales of Morpheus form dramatic evidence these cultures embraced the uncertainty of our roles as actors amidst the flux. Waking. Sleeping. Dreaming. Oblivion. Forgetfulness. Delusions of the ego. Compassionate intimations of reality.
Living involves all these states of being and it is often difficult to divine one from the other.
“Trans”
The ancient meaning of “trans” expressed action implying complete change of form “*trare-, meaning “to cross,” from PIE *tra-, variant of root *tere- (2) “cross over, pass through, overcome”.
This more compassionate use of the word generates a more humble world-view, as it speaks of complete change of form, reminding us all forms are finite and we are mortal, moral beings amidst the universal flux of forms.
By contrast, “trans” is now commonly associated with “across, over, beyond,” It is often used to describe a superior or more distant position. Like the word “meta”, the word “trans” has lost much its associations with vitality, dynamism and change. Similarly “Meta” is no longer is associated with commonality and connection. Both words are now merely associated with division, stasis and status.
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=meta
Screenshot of “universal transformation”
Such exclusive behaviour is characteristic of the ego and bespeaks psyches and societies alienated from reality and thus each other.
This loss of wonder and connection is compounded on scale by modern exclusive practices such as groups with narrow, specialist interests such as botanists, computer engineers, mathematicians, church groups, personal trainers, business consultants et al.
Their exclusive uses of “the universal transformation” tend have three characteristics in common – they are anthropocentric, they have a very limiting notion of what the universe is and they are in denial of the continuous universal nature of change.
The principles of physics advise us that this exclusive use of the phrase “the universal transformation” will generate and be reflected in unsustainable uses of technology and discordant behaviour. Without compassion, the exclusive force of the incredible, ingenious ego in our psyche can and will cause our self-extinction.
Cymatics: Chladni Plate – Sound, Vibration and Sand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymatics
Summary Statement
The words “The Universal Transformation” can form a most wonderful, enriching phrase if we give care to conserving its most transcendent (inclusive) meaning. Used with the care of compassion, this potent phrase opens our spirit in unthinkable ways enabling the sustaining universal potential to be manifest in our lives. Energy is the vitality of our lives and it is wise to conserve the most transcendent meaning of a phrase that better, if not best, describes the nature of energy.