11. All is one
In this chapter, we begin the philosophising:
- Everything must be one system
- We only know that we experience – nothing else
- Experience is something mental; therefore, the system must be mental
- Consequently: nothing material exists – as I will explain in more detail
- What this mental is, we cannot know from our position (the fish and the sea)
Everything must be traceable back to one thing.
I keep this as self-evident, an axiom.
An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement taken to be true, serving as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the ancient Greek word axíōma, meaning «that which is thought worthy or fit» or «that which commends itself as evident».
So, what I'm saying is that everything must originate from one and the same thing.
Why?
That something exists instead of nothing, is in itself a mystery.
That two different categories, such as consciousness and matter, should exist in parallel but not come from the same source requires two simultaneous miracles. That these two categories should also interact in the way we observe will constitute a third.
Our task is to remove mysteries.
We will understand the world according to one principle, one source, and universal laws that apply to all kinds of phenomena.
We must simplify as much as possible and find a common origin for absolutely everything that exists, whether it appears as material, abstract or subjective – which are the three types of phenomena, i.e. «categories» we know.
Everything must come from the same because this is the simplest solution, it is logical, and we get away with explaining one mystery instead of three.
That in itself is a colossal simplification.
So what is this «one»?
