Oh My God! - About Infinity, Probability & A Hidden Paradox

What follows is a set of spontaneous thoughts that were allowed to flow out as words. No layer of editing or structure has been applied. Whatever little structure exists is intrinsic. The way it got created. It may not make immediate sense all the time.

7 Points In My Mind

1. Infinity is being fed into the mind regularly. All the senses, sensing all the time. Information, knowledge, debates and arguments. Blankness too.
2. Mind can't comprehend everything thats fed into it.
3. Mind makes sense by organizing this complex data/information feed, on the basis of likely assumptions made through past experiences.
4. Mind tends to believe the sense it makes, and thus believes itself.
5. Mind also tends to question itself.
6. Belief and questioning help the mind to sharpen its assumptions.
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7. Mind is "amazed" at all that which goes 'against' its assumptions.

***Amazement, Awe, Wonder, Distress, Bewilderment***

Amazement is an expression of a mistake that does not hurt.
Distress is an expression of a mistake that hurts.

Mistake is what went against the mind's assumption.
Hurt is a driving force that makes the mind change its assumptions.

Belief*Questioning*Mistakes*Amazement*Hurt

Poetic Conclusion:
"The idea of not binding the mind with an assumption and keeping it open to imbibe change without getting hurt is GOD."

Non Poetic Version:
"God = Incomprehensible Data"

How?

7 More Points

1. The Mind assumes an event as less likely or more likely to happen, basis the assumptions made from the limited amount of data that it has been able to comprehend and structure sensibly.
2. When a 'mistake' happens, the mind either reacts in amazement or with distress.
3. Both the situations seem beyond its control.
4. Mind needs a support system to get back to its process of "perception/reception ---> comprehension ---> belief/questioning ---> Assumption". Reboot.
5. God is that Support system. A notion that lets mind forgive itself for the mistakes it made.
6. God thus is nothing but some 'incomprehensible data' that helps the mind to go back to the state of believing & questioning. Because Infinity/Incomprehensible data is where it all started.
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7. Probability is one such incomprehensible set of notions.

God elicits awe and wonder. Its a Universal Set of all that we believe to be beyond our control. Probability is beyond our control by definition.

Event A: Very likely to happen. Happens everyday. We are amazed when it doesn't happen. (Eg. A politician refusing to take bribe)
Event B: Very likely to happen. But we know there are times when it may not happen. (Eg. Continuous success. Sachin hitting a century in every game, or Steven Spielberg making a blockbuster everytime.)
Event C: Less likely to happen, but we know it happens. At times we cant even believe when it happens. (Eg. You winning any game of luck. Poker, Tambola, Scratch card or state lottery. Earthquake on Tv vs Earthquake in our city.)
Event D: Unlikely to happen. Most of us think that they know it cant happen (Eg. Extra terrestrial life, Someone waking up after dying)

All the sources of our awe, amazement, wonder, distress and hurt come from some such improbable event that went against our mind's assumptions.

The vastness of probabilities can never be comprehended by the mind. And if an event, that has lesser probability of occurrence, actually occurs, the mind is amazed and needs to define such an occurrence. We end up calling this 'mistake' as God.

Thus God, by definition, needs to be incomprehensible. It implies miracles, which are nothing but realization of a rare probability. Thus one brings the notion of faith into picture. Belief in God (The Incomprehensible) implies having faith, and faith has no reason.

Just because something is rare does not mean its occurrence is inexplicable. And just because something is inexplicable does not mean it is guiding or controlling us. This is an extremely stone age thought.

Those rare events, that are interpreted as God's signals, become noticeable by the virtue of their unlikeliness of occurrence. A guiding force is a notion, that a certain set of probabilities will dominate over all other possible outcomes, because of the presence of an external factor. There is no way to find out if that external factor ACTUALLY affected the outcome or not, because one cant go back in time and repeat the event sans the external factor.

Thus, the intrinsic value of the Stone Age God (That Incomprehensible Power Guiding My Life) is null. That God is only as valuable as the value that WE associate with/allocate to it, in order to support rebooting of our system when the mind's assumptions are proven wrong.

'Less Likely' is NOT equal to 'Unlikely/Will Never Happen'.
When Event A is more likely than B, its the occurrence of B that will amaze you.

Probability does not rule out the occurrence of B and thus, leaves that door of hope open, which makes you want to ensure that B happens instead of A. And when it happens, out of sheer probability, you tend to correlate the steps you took and the strategies you applied, and suggest that if the entire 'process' is repeated, you can make B occur over A, again and again! Thats how Knowledge is generated. And we tend to spread this knowledge without realizing the complete nature of the context.

If you didn't do anything, neither A nor B might occur (A third Probability C may). So doing, which is in your control, takes precedence over occurring, which is beyond your control. So you must keep doing what you think you are supposed to do.

And this cycle goes on and on. And its a fight you cant ever win inspite of having won, because you cant ever be sure of it. But thats OK.

This is where, I think, the poetic idea of God begins to make sense.

"The idea of not binding the mind with an assumption and keeping it open to imbibing change without getting hurt is GOD."