- Chapter One -

 

Cause and Effect

A leaf detaches from high up in a tree and gently floats to the ground. As you watch it meander lazily downwards, its path seems random and aimless, as though whim and fancy were dictating its every move. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. For when you examine the matter more closely, you begin to see that every aspect of the leaf's descent is determined by innumerable causes. Whim and fancy never enter the picture at all.

The structure, mass and aerodynamic properties of the leaf; the height of the tree; the surrounding air temperature, humidity and pressure; the presence of a breeze; the strength of the earth's gravity; the friction between the leaf's surface and the air molecules - all of these elements, and more, combine to determine the leaf’s precise path. There is not a single aspect of its journey, no matter how insignificant or minute, which is not fully determined by its causes.

The same is true for the leaf’s prior growth on the branch, and for the tree that originally grew out of the ground, and for the creation of the ground itself. Indeed, it is true for everything that happens in the Universe. All phenomena, without exception, are created, nurtured and destroyed by causation. Everything from the formation of stars and galaxies to the creation and annihilation of subatomic particles to the endless variety of living processes is a product of cause and effect. The infinite complexity of Nature that we see around us is nothing other than the infinite simplicity of causation.

There are no exceptions in this regard, despite what modern physicists say. Nothing is so unique in this world, or so unnatural, that it dwells outside of Nature's causal web. Anything that happens in this world is caused to happen, including everything that happens inside us. The blood coursing through our veins, our muscles expanding and contracting, the chemical processes inside our cells, the electro-chemical impulses in our brains - all are causally created. So too our thoughts, beliefs, decisions, and emotions. Nothing is immune from it.

 

Where do we begin and end?

It is often assumed that our skin forms a boundary between what is inside our bodies and the rest of the Universe. But as far as causation is concerned, it is as though this boundary does not even exist. The air that we exhale from our lungs easily finds its way into the cells of trees and plants. Our voice slides effortlessly from our larynx into the ears of those around us. The heat inside our bodies increases the surrounding air temperature to a small degree. The viruses in our sneezes create infections in the bodies of others. The decisions formulating in our brains influence the behaviour of others and exert ever-widening consequences in society. All of these examples demonstrate the obvious truth that the boundary between the world and ourselves is non-existent. The causal processes inside our bodies merge seamlessly with the causal processes in the outer environment to form one vast sea of causation. In a very real sense, "we" are not even there.

The same is true for every kind of boundary you care to imagine. None of it is real in the face of causation. If you want to open your mind to the majesty of the Infinite, then you need to understand this point thoroughly. Study it as though your life depended upon it - which, in a deeper sense, it does. Give yourself over to it, absorb your whole consciousness in it, allow it to permanently alter your mind. It is literally the key to the Kingdom of Heaven. Don't throw it away!

 

The Constancy of Nature

With every passing moment of time, the causes and conditions of the previous moment determine everything that happens in the next. Moreover, these causes and conditions were themselves produced by the causes and conditions of the moment before that, and so on back ad infinitum. This is the creative principle of Nature. Sometimes I call it God, the creator of all things. At other times I call it Tao, the never-ending flow of the Universe.

Others have called it Brahman, or Reality, or the Infinite. Lao Tzu, in the Tao Te Ching, called it the "constancy of nature":

 

The way of nature is unchanging.

 

Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.

 

Knowing constancy, the mind is open.

 

With an open mind, you will be openhearted.

 

Being openhearted, you will act royally.

 

Being royal, you will attain the divine.

 

Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.

 

Being at one with the Tao is eternal.

 

And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.

 

 

People often have a very superficial understanding of causation. They do not perceive its fundamental nature and fail to discern its significance. They do not see into its soul, as it were. It is important to keep deepening your understanding of causation until you can "see" it in utterly everything in the Universe. When you can observe the same fundamental process at work in all phenomena, without any variation at all, from the smallest speck of dust to the largest of galaxies, and thus can observe the sheer constancy behind all change - and when you can perceive the process of causation and the Universe itself to be absolutely identical in every way - only then will you know that you are staring into the magnificent timelessness of Nature.

 

The Fundamentals of Existence

From the ultimate perspective, the physical objects we see around us are like shadows under the morning sun. Their appearance is fleeting and wholly dependent upon causal conditions. There is an infinitely fragile quality to their existence, no matter how solid and permanent they might appear to the senses. A person's life can easily disappear in the flicker of an eye. The earth can be obliterated in a matter of moments by a large comet. The sun can be instantly swallowed up by a passing black hole. The cosmos itself could suddenly vanish by some as-yet-unheard-of cataclysmic event. Nothing is safe. A thing's existence is always right on the edge. One slip and it is gone.

Consider an eddy which appears in a flowing stream for a few fleeting moments before disappearing again. On the face of it, the eddy seems to have an independent existence separate from the rest of the stream, so much so that we are able to label it with the word "eddy". Yet it is easy to see that it does not really exist. It is simply a portion of the stream spinning around in a temporary, localized fashion.  No aspect of its existence can be divorced from the stream in any way. Its appearance as an independent entity is essentially an illusion. In the end, there is no eddy. There is only the stream.

This is how it is with all things. An object has no real existence and identity of its own. These are qualities given to it by the rest of Nature. Things exist by virtue of the fact that Nature makes "room" for them. For example, if Nature dictates there is no room for a particular tree in a particular location, then the tree in question simply won't arise. Or if Nature dictates that the tree should have a certain kind of shape, or possess a particular kind of genetic deformity, or be located on a barren patch of land where it will struggle for subsistence, then that is what the tree will do. It has no say in the matter.

In short, a thing is like a "negative image" of the rest of the Universe. It is everything that the rest of the Universe is not. Logically speaking, the two arise and vanish together. Never can the one exist without the other.

 

Shadows

In order to get a better handle on this matter, it can sometimes be useful to study the nature of shadows. It is easy to see that a shadow has no say over any aspect of its existence or behaviour. It is entirely the product of external factors: the object casting the shadow, the topography of the ground, the refractive properties of the atmosphere, the existence of the sun, and so on. Viewed in this way, a shadow is like a puppet and all these other factors are the string-pullers. They say to the shadow, "Assume a long thin shape!" and the shadow automatically assumes a long thin shape. They say, "Become small and round!" and the shadow immediately obeys without question. They say, "Disappear!" and it immediately vanishes as though it never were.

Everything is like this - including ourselves. In the end, we have no more "will" than a shadow does. We are all mindless puppets on the string of causation. Our every thought and decision arises with the same relentless inevitability as the shadow being cast on the ground. If the conditions are ripe for a particular thought to arise, then it will arise - without any hesitation at all. And if the conditions are ripe for the thought to recede or be pushed away from the mind before it can be fully formed, then it will recede or be pushed away - again, without any hesitation. Indeed, everything in the Universe happens without hesitation. Even hesitations themselves happen without hesitation.

It should be noted that my analogy of the shadow here has no connection to Plato’s shadow analogy. Plato attempted to demonstrate that the things in this world are the reflections of things existing in another hidden Reality. He thought that physical objects were pale imitations or approximations of perfect forms that existed in a perfect realm.  This is false thinking, however. There is no hidden Reality behind this world.  There is no realm of perfect forms. The things we see around us are the things themselves. They are not mere imitations or reflections of other things. They are the real deal. And yet, at the same time, their existence is causal in nature and essentially an illusion.

Observe a fountain constantly pumping water up into the air. With every passing moment, new and varied water shapes are constantly being created by the fountain, each of them original and unique, never to be repeated again in the future. These shapes are exactly what they are - creations in the moment by the forces of causation. They have no parallel in some kind of hidden metaphysical reality. There is no such thing as a "perfect" water shape, against which the observable shapes in the fountain are mere imitations. On the contrary, each shape in the fountain is perfectly formed in its own right, just as the flaws in a leaf caused by bacterial disease, or a faulty genetic process, are perfectly formed in their own right.

 

The Endless Variety of Causal Processes

When I speak of causation, I am not really referring to the old 19th century materialistic view which imagines that causation is nothing more than a series of billiard ball-type interactions. Rather, I am referring to something broader and deeper. Billiard ball-type interactions are certainly part of the realm of causation, but not the extent of it. How can one speak of billiard balls when one is dealing with the purely abstract realm of the imagination, for example? Or the process of logical thought? It is important to broaden one’s conception of causation until it includes all phenomena in the Universe. Otherwise, one will continue to create arbitrary realms of non-causation, which can only lead to unnecessary confusion.

It all depends on what is meant by "billiard ball-type causation", of course. If it refers to every kind of physical interaction in the Universe, then yes, everything is a product of billiard ball-type causation. Thought, for example, is a product of physical interactions in the brain and therefore can be placed within a broad enough definition of billiard-ball causation. It does not really matter how you choose to categorize these things as long as you know what you are doing. Problems only arise when people start unconsciously narrowing the scope of causation to those processes which are obviously mechanical, linear and billiard ball-like in nature. They then scratch their heads and wonder what to do with a phenomenon such as thought, or love, or religious experiences, or complex non-linear processes - only to proclaim them as inherently mysterious and incapable of explanation, not realizing that it was they who falsely created the mystery by arbitrarily moving them outside the realm of causation.

Again, the important point is that one needs to broaden one’s conception of causation so that it necessarily includes everything that could possibly exist. If that means abandoning narrower conceptions of causation, then so be it. In the end, the affirmation of the principle of causation only requires one thing from us - namely, the recognition that nothing can arise without any cause whatsoever. That is all that is needed. It does not require us to affirm or reject particular models of causation. It does not require us to reject non-linear dynamics or quantum phenomena or mystical experiences from the causal realm. All of these things involve causation in one form or another. While it is true that it is almost impossible to describe the behaviour of these complex phenomena with the old classical models of causation inherited from 19th century physics, it doesn’t really mean anything. All it means is that those particular models are limited in their scope. It does not change the fact that these phenomena, like all phenomena in the Universe, always follow the age-old process of things being generated by causal conditions.

In the end, causation can have an infinite number of forms. There are no rules for it to abide by. How it is expressed in any given moment depends entirely on what happens to exist in that moment. If billiard balls exist, then causation will be expressed in a classical, billiard ball-like fashion. If a quantum void exists, then causation will be expressed in the usual quantum fashion. But no matter how it is expressed, there is always a common element which runs through them all - namely, that nothing can arise without cause.

 

Transcending God

Part of the exhilaration of comprehending the nature of cause and effect is recognizing that it is necessarily the most fundamental process in the Universe. Logically, it underpins all other processes, whether they be materialistic or abstract in nature.  It is impossible for anything to be more fundamental than it.  It literally forms the bedrock of Reality.

Take the concept of God, for example. Religious people often use the concept of "God" to explain the existence of the Universe. They say that God is the creator or sustainer of all reality. But even if, for the sake of argument, we assume this to be true, it still does not get to the very core of the matter. For it overlooks the fact that the relationship between this God and the Universe would necessarily be causal in nature. After all, if the principle of cause and effect did not exist to begin with, then not even Almighty God himself could be the cause of the Universe. He would be utterly powerless and not much of a God, to say the least! This alone demonstrates that the principle of cause and effect is more fundamental than God.

To the degree that one conceives of a creator God which is separate and distinct from the world, my point will always be true. Even if we choose to conceive of God in a more mystical or philosophical manner - e.g. as the eternal substratum underlying an eternal Universe, or as a Primal Force, or as a Cosmic Intelligence - the relationship between it and the world will always be causal in nature. Again, if this wasn’t the case, then such a God would be powerless to create or sustain anything.

Also note that the distinction which is often proclaimed to exist between God and the Universe disappears when viewed from the perspective of cause and effect. As mentioned previously, the process of cause and effect pays no attention to the existence of boundaries between things, just as the wind pays no attention to the boundaries between nations. In the same way that the causal processes within our body are blissfully unaware of the distinction that we like to make between our hand and our arm, or between our head and neck, so too is causation ignorant of any distinctions we care to make between the Universe and "God".

So even in the unlikely event that the Christian God actually existed (as a separate being who created the world), he would still be in the same boat as everything else when it comes to cause and effect. He too would be composed of internal causal processes which merge seamlessly into the rest of the causal Universe. The blowtorch of causation disintegrates both God and the world into countless processes which unfold endlessly. Everything breaks apart and disappears in this way. Nothing can withstand the heat of causation, not even God. It reigns supreme in the Universe. Everything else is just an afterthought, an accidental by-product.

 

The Theory of Everything

The principle of cause and effect also lies at the heart of all scientific theories. It is easy to see that, without the principle of cause and effect, the laws of Nature would be utterly useless - either as regulators of phenomena, or as descriptive models of empirical order. Even statistical-based theories which do not have to assume causation for their functioning, but merely map regularities of behaviour in large populations, are ultimately dependent upon the existence of causation. For without causation, there can be no regularities. Thus, as far as the ultimate explanation of all things is concerned, the principle of cause and effect will always be more fundamental than any scientific or mathematical theory could ever be. It is the root law upon which all other laws are built.

In light of this, the search for the scientific "Theory of Everything" is, philosophically speaking, a complete waste of time. We already know the ultimate explanation of all things - namely, you guessed it, cause and effect. Any other explanation is superfluous. Searching for the scientific theory of everything is a bit like a scientist in a dream whipping out his dream microscope in an effort to discover the ultimate substance of his dream universe. It simply cannot be done, at least not in that manner. For whatever fundamental substance or mathematical equation he happens to discover will always be nothing more than an illusory creation of the dream world.

In a similar vein, the physicist who searches for the Theory of Everything without first philosophically comprehending the nature of causation will only ever discover superficial forms of causation (e.g. scientific laws), and not the core principle itself. It does not matter how deeply he probes the universe with his microscope or his mathematical tools, he will not advance a single inch towards the ultimate goal. You can rearrange a pile of building blocks into any form you want, but it still won’t help you to understand what an actual building block is.  A change of tack is needed.

 

The Furtherest Galaxy

If boundaries are fundamentally non-existent and all things are causally connected, it may be asked, then isn't it the case that we are connected to all things in the Universe, even to the furtherest galaxy in the universe?  Yet how can this be when we clearly have no influence over the galaxy’s behaviour?  Surely, for all intents and purposes, we are utterly disconnected from it.

Apart from anything else, the main problem with this point of view is that it lacks imagination. In truth, we are constantly having a say over the behaviour of the furtherest galaxy, even at this very moment. For example, we are not, at this very moment, suddenly transforming ourselves into giant space-goats and dashing off faster than the speed of light in order to gobble the galaxy up. The very fact that we are not doing this allows the galaxy to continue existing. That is a pretty large influence in anyone’s book!  

Although this example might seem bizarre on the surface, it does illustrate a serious point - namely, that things are always in a state of causal connection with every other thing in the Universe. A distant galaxy is only able to continue existing to the degree that other objects in the Universe, including myself, are prevented from transforming into a force capable of destroying it. It does not really matter that I will probably never change into such a force. All this means is that the causal circumstances will probably never be ripe for me to undergo such a transformation - which, in turn, only supports my case that the causal conditions underpinning the existence of the galaxy are dependent, to some degree at least, on the causal conditions underpinning my own existence.

The sheer fact that an object may be too powerless to influence the behaviour of another object is not sufficient grounds to conclude that the two objects are causally disconnected. Consider a large tree, for example, which has two small leaves on either side of its massive canopy. Under normal circumstances, each leaf seems to have no influence upon the other, and yet it is obviously the case that the leaves are connected to each other via the rest of the tree. And indeed, it is precisely because of this connection that the leaves do have the potential to influence one another. For example, a bacterial disease contracted by one of the leaves can spread throughout the tree and kill the other leaf.

In the end, we are always physically connected to all things, even if it is just purely through the medium of space. People often make the assumption that the interface between the surface of their skins and the surrounding space signals an abrupt boundary of separation. They think that some sort of unbridgeable chasm exists there. Yet it is just as easy, and just as valid, to conceive of the body being joined to space. It is only habit of thought which pictures it the other way. Thankfully, such habits are easy to break.

 

The Eternal Nature of Cause and Effect

If cause and effect is all there is, then where did cause and effect itself come from? Why is there cause and effect in the first place? Who or what created it?

This seem like reasonable questions to ask at this point. Having reduced everything down to a single principle, it is only natural to ask where this principle came from. Nonetheless, they are deluded questions and fundamentally unaskable.  They are generated out of a false conception of causation, one that imagines it to be a finite phenomenon with a beginning and an end of some kind. Instead of discerning that cause and effect refers to the very process of creation itself, the deluded person falsely conceives of it as a created entity of some kind and unconsciously places it in the same category as trees, mountains, galaxies, humans, and every other created entity in the Universe. Causation, however, is not like this. Although it is responsible for everything which exists, it itself transcends existence and hence the question of who or what created it is a meaningless one.

From a logical point of view, it is easy to see that the process of cause and effect is necessarily causeless.  This is because anything which can be postulated as being the cause of cause and effect will automatically be a part of cause and effect itself.   It is thus irrational to think of cause and effect as being causally created in any way. It has always been around. There has never been a time when it was absent.

Note that I am not saying I don’t know where cause and effect came from. It is not an admission of ignorance on my part. The possibility of ignorance does not come into it, for there is nothing to know as far as this matter is concerned. The question cannot yield an answer because it has no foundations to begin with. It overlooks the fact that it is impossible for the process of cause and effect to come from somewhere because the very act of "coming from somewhere" will always be causal in nature.

A far more pertinent question, perhaps, is the question of why there is a process of causation in the first place and not nothing at all. In other words, why is there "something" rather than nothing? This is an important question to resolve because it goes to the very heart of understanding Reality itself.

In answering this, I must point again to the fact that the process of cause and effect is not a created thing, but the very principle behind all created things. This needs some qualification, however. Even though I use the word "principle", it should not be taken to mean that causation is a physical principle of some kind, or even a spiritual one. In fact, in a certain sense, it does not really exist at all. It isn’t a manifested entity which exists above or behind the realm of created things.   In the end, created things are all that exists - there is nothing else apart from them, nothing beyond them.

The "principle of causation", then, is merely a figure of speech. It is a description of how created things change into other created things. It is a conceptual construct which points to the fact that objects arise out of what is already there in the world. It asserts that a thing is created out of necessity from the circumstances which are present and that it is impossible for anything else to be created in its place. It also points to the truth that things have no beginning or end, and thus points to the essential "oneness" of Reality.

Given this, the question of why there is causation rather than nothing at all is a meaningless one. Even the state of nothingness is itself a created thing, a product of causation. It can only occur in a region where things are entirely absent - that is, when the causal circumstances are ripe. Moreover, when one analyses it further, one finds that it is nothing more than a mental construct. Nothingness only comes into being when consciousness conceives of it - or more accurately, when consciousness conceives of things being absent. As such, a state of total nothingness, in which nothing exists at all, is logically impossible. At the very least, it would need the existence of consciousness to think it into being.

To sum up, then, the principle of causation which is responsible for the existence of all created things, including states of nothingness, itself never comes into existence and therefore is incapable of experiencing birth and death.   If it was possible for it to experience birth, it would immediately cease being the core principle of creation and instead be just another created thing. Because it never experiences birth, it is timeless and beyond all explanation.

In the end, no matter where we look, we are literally staring into the very first moment of creation. Beginningless time and the present moment are the same. There is no "before".

 

The Will to Unconsciousness

It is sometimes said to me, "It all sounds too simple and convenient for my liking. If cause and effect is the ultimate answer to everything, then why doesn't everybody subscribe to it? Why isn't it taught in schools? Why aren't the great thinkers preaching it? Why have I never heard about it before?"

These are good questions. I think it is mainly because people are afraid of it. Deep down, most people do have an inkling of the significance of cause and effect - it is hard not to since it literally pervades everything they do - but they are loathe to bring it more fully into their consciousness and investigate it seriously. They intuitively realize that a serious interest in cause and effect would almost invariably destroy life as they know it. It would undermine everything they enjoy and believe in. And so, on a subconscious level, they have set up large mental blocks to fortify their minds against it.

It is quite a fascinating phenomenon when you reflect upon it. After all, it must be obvious to anyone with an ounce of intelligence that cause and effect is fundamentally important to our understanding of the world. Not only must it necessarily form the kernel of any theory we care to create about the world, but it is plainly visible in every aspect of our daily lives. It is the ultimate explanation of all things, the final fruition of wielding Ockham's razor to the fullest extent, the Theory of Everything boiled down to its purest essence.  I mean, what a prize!  Surely, you would think, such an obvious all-pervasive principle would present an exciting avenue of investigation for anyone even remotely interested in philosophy and spirituality. And yet, amazingly, it is universally ignored the world over. No one ever talks about it or thinks about it. This alone should set the alarm bells ringing. Something is seriously amiss here.

But then again, as I say, it is entirely understandable that people want to avoid all consciousness of cause and effect. Becoming conscious of it is dangerous. The more you absorb it into your being, the more it dissolves the basis of your egotistical existence and undermines the egotistical values of love, family, happiness, community, religion, suffering and hate. It flings you into the austere, starry realm of the Infinite - a realm from which most of humanity shrinks.

If a person recognized and accepted that everything which happens in the world is caused to happen, including his own thoughts and actions, then how could he continue to believe in his own free-will? How could he take pride in his achievements when he succeeds, or indulge in the pleasures of self-pity when he fails? How could he believe in the idea of gain and loss, and experience the ups and downs of normal emotional life which most people find so appealing? How could he take pleasure in what other people achieve, or experience the joys of anger and violence against those who seem to mistreat him? How could he indulge in any kind of life at all?

Thus, it should come as no surprise that most people intuitively regard the philosophic life as a kind of living death. Involving oneself with cause and effect pulls the rug out from under everything that the human race finds meaningful. There is no longer any basis for getting involved in a relationship, or experiencing satisfaction from a successful career, or finding pleasure in the triumphs of sport and hobbies. Even to become involved in these things in the first place is to fall into the delusion that things really exist. The concept of cause and effect is like a virus that takes over the philosopher's mind, destroying all of his human values and rendering him unfeeling, sterile and inhuman.

So, in the end, this is the core reason why cause and effect is never discussed or thought about in the world today. Everyone wants to keep it hidden, out of mind and out of sight, so that nobody has to deal with it. Everyone adheres to the unspoken principle that the very basis for enjoying life needs to be preserved at all costs and that the conventional mental shutters need to be vigilantly maintained. Even scientific and academic pursuit can be seen as a process of intelligent people doing everything they can to avoid exploring the obvious truth of causation. They are intelligent enough to understand the concept and discern its significance, but far too timid to deal with it directly. Like little children, they need to be constantly distracted, otherwise they might start to fall apart. 

It is at this point that we can finally begin to understand the spiritual concept of faith. The genuine faith of a spiritual man has nothing to do with blindly clinging to an unprovable belief, as the Christians would have it. On the contrary, it involves pursuing to the end what you know to be ultimately true in life, even though such a pursuit effectively means the forfeiting of your life. As Soren Kierkegaard so eloquently expressed it, "To have faith is really to advance along the way where all the human road signs point: back, back, back."

Or as Jesus liked to put it: "Blessed is he who is not offended!"

 

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Copyright © David Quinn 2003