When exploring the origin of the universe and the meaning of our own existence, we often face the most profound questions in life. These questions attempt to unveil the secrets of life and existence, and on the journey to answer these puzzles, we inevitably come across several fundamental cognitive obstacles.
Firstly, concerns about the origins of the world. We ask, does this universe have a starting point? And before this starting point, is there a more absolute origin? This leads to the problem of infinite regression. To avoid this issue, we must acknowledge that there exists an insurmountable absolute origin within a finite number of steps.
Moreover, we analyze the rational system we are part of. Descartes proposed that we use reason to understand the world, but this system itself has structural flaws. These flaws can be summarized into two key cognitive axioms:
- When cognizing the world, we are constrained by the uncertainty principle and incompleteness theorems.
- In the process of self-cognition, we are limited by metaphysical confinement and dualistic thinking.
To solve these problems, it seems we can only do so by one method: stepping out of the existing rational system and tracing back to the original starting point.
Plato advocated the use of pure logic to recognize truth, a method briefly termed “logic enlightens the way.” Through his ontological and methodological philosophies, Plato elaborated on the relationship between the world of ideas and the world of phenomena. He considered the world of ideas to be the primary principle of the world of phenomena, the source of all appearance.
In a non-dualistic thought system, Gotama proposed another state of cognition, a way of recognizing and experiencing the world through awareness, briefly termed “Zen enlightenment.” When Plato’s logical ideas met Gotama’s consciousness of awareness, the world of ideas touched the consciousness of awareness.
Gotama also proposed the concept of “non-duality of emptiness and awareness,” indicating that “awareness” is the essence of the individual, while “emptiness” is the essence of the world, and their unity constitutes the unified state of the world and self. In Taoist philosophy, there is also the concept of “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao,” highlighting the importance of seeking an endpoint, which provides certainty, conviction, and a sense of strength, thereby constructing a solid worldview.
