The Fundamental Laws of Nature

Titles of similar nature abound in many books, articles, websites and docuseries. Most of them basically outline and narrate things in similar contents and fashions. Let us try to avoid repeating that line of thinking in this piece. Instead, I will try to present aspects of this interesting topic in simple fundamental terms – philosophized at times, and enriched by the wealth of enlightened ancient wisdoms. In earlier essays, in Natural Order, Natural Equilibrium, The Fluidity of Nature, Social Order, Social Fluidity, The Sanctity of Nature’s Wonders, and others (see in Website Links and Profile) – aspects of the laws of Nature were featured.
Let me attempt to explain the laws differently – in terms of processes, and ultimate goals or objectives in two acronyms: SPIRIT – Something Perpetual Irreversible and Reversible in Interdependence and Transience; aiming to achieve STILL – Something Tranquil and Irreversible in Lucid Liberty. The pasted image is created to illustrate this approach. It is this quest of Nature aiming to establish – equilibrium from disequilibrium – order from disorder – balance from imbalance – symmetry and stability from asymmetry and instability – that drives everything in the universe.
It is important to understand this quest from the viewpoints of both processes and objectives – otherwise there are real risks that one is likely to remain embroiled in attempts to understand the processes without ever comprehending what the real objectives are. Further, it is essential to connect Matter that we all see and readily perceive – with Immatter, with one of the most important elements being the phenomena of human mind (see The Power of Mind). This connection is emerging as the new frontier of our modern understanding - despite the fact that 6th century BCE enlightened ancient wisdom had clear directions of the role of mind in modulating the actions of Matter or material processes – with the vice versa role of matter. In this piece I have revisited this ancient wisdom for clarity of explanation and understanding. With this, here are some brief elaborations of the two acronyms I have suggested.
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SPIRIT
In short, these are the processes of Nature we all experience everyday – in our lifetime – in uncertain but coherent pursuits – the perpetual interactive but collaborative dynamics of the Systems of Fluid, Solid and Life (see Warming Climate and Entropy). Some of them we readily understand – in some cases, more than our ancestors did – simply because we are born in a different time. Our common intuitive knowledge has gone through reincarnation after reincarnation – enriching us in the kaleidoscope of time and space – in the evolving canvas of spacetime. The systems – creating boundary conditions upon one another – drive themselves in Collective Unison – in characteristic scales and intensity that define them – to smooth out inequalities – to even out asymmetries.
The term collective unison, harmony or Avirodh is emphasized for a reason. It is because, by not understanding this Natural quest in true perspectives – the Western notion/tenet is formulated suggesting that inequality and asymmetry are the norm of things – as if they are rigid. Therefore, procedural rules of business were designed to account for this notion (it dominates the world thinking today by the dint of worldwide Western influence for over 5 centuries; the notion itself developed by the perpetual wars and conflicts in Europe; Leo Tolstoy (1828 – 1910) once said . . . this way of life is incompatible with the much more natural law of love . . .). It essentially says that real substantive Truth does not matter – truth is what the powerful says it is.
Accordingly, to perpetuate, even to accentuate this notion – to survive and dominate – the rules of business have yielded the practices of attrition, deception, destruction and elimination of the competition and opponent (it got its boost, with the Charles Darwin, 1809 – 1882 saying of ‘Survival of the Fittest’; although Darwin theorized and illustrated many other brilliant things that defined the evolving canvas of the life system – this saying was emphasized and popularized by the ruling seats of power to serve their interests; albeit, under the veils of all different sorts of polished information campaign. His saying . . . if the misery of the poor be caused not by the law of nature, but by our own institutions, great is our sin. . . is totally ignored). And, obviously the first rule of business to control and contain the opponent – is to impact what matters most to the competition – monetary and economic affairs – as they are the sources of wealth and power. The perpetuation and sustenance of these tasks – asks for backing them up by information campaign (to influence the lens of observer/reader/viewer – such that the consumer of the information will perceive things – consciously or unconsciously – in line with the intended propaganda/advertisements/campaign purposes/policies) and fire power.
In the backdrop of this arrogance of power (see some glimpses in Democracy and Larry the Cat) – lies the Nature’s true SPIRIT, which says to realize the fact that competition is healthy and beneficial – if things are conducted in just and righteous way respecting everyone’s interests. When elimination of competition (in particular, when the competition is assumed formidable) is promoted – it opens the door for pursuance of malicious unsustainable monopolistic practices. Thus, Nature’s SPIRIT quests – of collective unison, happiness and harmony – were shelved to collect dust (see glimpses of it in The Grammar of Industrialization) by actions conducted in line with the predominant view of things. It is not difficult to see that the practice was reinforced by 'Lord Shepherd-Docile Lambs' and humans as 'Sinner' psyche – that pervaded past human actions of power play in the West (and by its outreach to the rest of the world) – and continues to pervade actions in present times (see Something Different).
Apart from this human-made insinuation, some breakdowns do occur for other reasons, during the processes of pursuit, like:

• When conditions are too harsh and unbecoming – creating unsustainable upslope events that burst into – often unmanageable – downslope processes (see more on Upslope Events and Downslope Processes).
• As outlined before, also breakdowns do occur when the true nature of SPIRIT is not properly understood – leading to unsustainable and damaging practices affecting all.
• And when one fails to adapt and stand out against the given and the new imposed conditions and circumstances. Adaptation should be understood from true perspectives - while Nature's imposed conditions are slow and accommodating - the same for social interactions, in particular in situations of bad governance - can be abrupt and dictatorial - thus jeopardizing adaptation efforts that could result in sad consequences.

The Fluidity of the motion of things in the Fluid System – always traversing the Irreversible direction (unless work is done, see Entropy and Everything Else) from High to Low – transforms itself and the surrounding. In a similar vein – the Solidity of things in the Solid System – in apparent stability – also constantly works and reworks behind the scene to transform itself and the surrounding. While the time-scales of these two processes differ, the Solidity melts into Fluidity when the time-frame is stretched. Supported and sustained by the systems of Fluid and Solid, the Life System rolls on by the driving engine of the duality of opposites, but built by multiplicities within – traversing the wheel (see The Wheel of Life) of birth-growth-youth-waning-demise-and birth again – works and reworks transforming itself and the surrounding. The Natural SPIRIT of these three interactive and Interdependent systems in Transience – are always in Perpetual quest to work and rework to establish Reversibility – attaining short-term or transient equilibrium. But the ultimate aim or goal remains – that is, to reach the calmness of STILL.
All these SPIRIT processes, in brief, happen in different Force Field domains (see The Quantum World, Force Fields in a Coastal System). Fundamental to this – is the ubiquitous Gravitational Force Field or GFF (see Einstein’s Unruly Hair) and the Electromagnetic Force Field or EMFF (for the sake of brevity, among others, only these two Force Fields are highlighted, others are active in their respective domains, see further in The Quantum World). The former defines all that we perceive as Nature. The latter governs things mostly in invisibility, but in the measurable domain of frequency, amplitude and phase. This field is responsible for transfer of energy – for example, in the two-way motions from IMMATTER to MATTER, and vice versa. The equivalence of the two – the matter-energy equivalence – has come to light in the early 20th century – by the works of a brilliant mind in modern time – Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955).
In ancient times, the fundamentals of SPIRIT – was figured out by one person, the first of its kind in history – he was the Shakyamuni Gautama Buddha (624 – 544 BCE, The Tathagata; Let there be Light - and there was Light). While the Western portrayal of the nature of SPIRIT (in suggesting that attrition, deception and elimination of competition must be pursued to prevail) – arose from frustration and hopelessness (that nothing can be done to undo this portrayal – therefore, the weak must live with it – and the strong must fight to prevail) – the Buddha relied on Nature as it truly functions – to bring in the enlightened message of hope – with the clear-cut definition of the Way, he has enunciated. This Way is not the way of mistrust, deception and animosity – not to eliminate the competition – not to let the weak become weaker – but to work in collective unison and harmony – just as the true nature of SPIRIT is. And that, if pursued through the right path of wholesomeness – humans, by themselves in freedom and wisdom, can overcome the difficulties and complete the whole processes of SPIRIT – to attain STILL.
By the Two Universal Laws (one must understand these laws are not what are commonly known as the human-made checklist laws or RULES; the Buddha called them the Truths - Sachha or Satya that govern everything in the universe) the Buddha discovered – the Law of Impermanence or Transience (Anicca, symbolized as an Incomplete Circle; an indication of both incompleteness (leaves a negative residual) and of over-powering influences that leave a positive residual; see the physics of it, the Residual Entropy in Entropy and Everything Else and in Characterizing Wave Asymmetry); and the Law of Dependent-Origination (Patticca Samupaddha) or Interdependence (symbolized as an Eternal Knot) – he laid the rational basis and foundation on which all of the described SPIRIT processes can be cast, interpreted and explained. The causative factors associated with the transient dynamics of the Eternal Knot are such that they condition an intricate fluidity of knots – a fluid-dynamic net. In Tibetan Buddhism, the Law of Impermanence is superbly visualized - by the spectacular colored Sand Mandala containing lots of symbolism - the Kalachakra or The Wheel of Time. The Chakra is an amazing artistic and meticulous creation of Buddhist themes by expert monks - only to be destroyed shortly afterwards.
These two laws were delivered and illustrated by the Buddha as Anattalakkhana Sutta, and Paticca-Samupadha-Vibhanga Sutta, respectively. In the Maggavaggo, the Path Chapter of the DHAMMAPADA, the Buddha said in the 277th verse: All Conditioned Things are Impermanent; and in the 279th verse: All Things are Non-Self or not self-made, or do not exist on its own accord. In other words, as time passes, all things attain transformative characteristics by becoming conditioned in response to changes in the dynamic configuration of the Eternal Knot. In Quantum Mechanics (see The Quantum World), the locked interdependence is termed as Quantum Entanglement (QE).
The dynamic interlink between Transience and Interdependence - makes everything in the universe conditioned. This means again - that nothing exists without a cause, without causing an effect. The reality of impermanence, while obvious – must not lead to hopelessness and frustration – rather it should be understood that the Eternal Knot is not rigid – but transformative as in the fluidity of things that defines Nature – all heading to Complete the Circle without leaving a residual, to Untie the Knot.
The dynamic interlink between the two laws says something very important – that at any instant of time, at any particular location of space – all matter and immatter are essentially empty of essence if considered in isolation of spacetime and causes ↔ conditions contexts. The rationale of this deep philosophy gave birth to the Buddha’s teaching about Emptiness. The reality of Emptiness opens the door to understanding many aspects of the perpetual interactive but collaborative dynamics of the Systems of Fluid, Solid and Life (more in Warming Climate and Entropy). In one, Buddhist teachers and monks have come up with a call to realize the deep truth that: Form is Emptiness – Emptiness is Form. It says in practical terms, if Form is not Empty of something or open to accepting others – nothing can be accommodated there – nothing can grow and thrive there. This is another way of saying to realize the importance of the Buddha Dharma Virtues of openness, friendliness, humility and harmony.
The reality of the two laws is so ubiquitous that the discovery has become common human knowledge now - although it is doubtful whether the deep meanings and implications of them really permeated into the human thought processes and societal interactions. The forward grinding of the Wheel of Time (see TIME) to infinity – the Arrow of Time (see Entropy and Everything Else) – in the entangled cause-effect, action-reaction duo, the Eternal Knot – all SPIRIT processes pertain to these two laws. Told or untold, indeed, all subsequent theories, laws and teachings had this foundational base.
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MATTER and IMMATTER
There is more than what we readily understand of the nature of the driving engine or motivator behind the processes of SPIRIT. This is the Universal Dynamics of Matter and Immatter – the Shin-Gi-Tai. As pointed out in previous paragraphs, while matter or material processes are rather obvious – one needs to have a clear grasp of what immatter is. The role of immatter in the cloaks of human mind in modulating material processes and vice-versa – is something of a mystery – although Buddhist thoughts (The Tathagata) had clear directions to this mystery. One of these directions says that in the presence of an agitated and unguarded mind – it is difficult to avoid the effects of subjectivity in views of things. The late 19th to the early 20th century birth of Quantum Mechanics (see The Quantum World) shed fresh light on the role of human mind – the observer-observed, the subject-object relationship.
It says that one’s impression of the observed or the object – is a modulation of the observer’s state of mind. The observed, in turn modulates the impression of the observer. It lies in the same vein as the Eternal Knot of the action-reaction, cause-effect duo. A saying (see further in The Power of Mind) of Max KEL Planck (1858 – 1947) – the father of Quantum Mechanics – is remarkable on this, All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force . . . We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.
This wisdom (see Something Different) has been with us since ancient times – only for reasons of ignorance or otherwise – we were not aware of, or really understood it. Also, we have not understood it in the past – because we were too much obsessed with matter – ignoring the wisdom of the importance of immatter as the motivator. Buddhism (The Tathagata) says that mind, the sixth sense, as the forerunner of everything one does – and by its very nature of instantaneous roaming in space and time that include the domains of the 7th and the 8th levels of consciousness – gives birth to new consciousness in us together with the five body senses. The works of thought processes originating in the universe of mind – immediately indicate four important particulars:

• The first is that unless steadied and calmed – mind is vulnerable to the effects of distraction and other influences.
• The second is the important fact that any impression of the observed is laden with uncertainty – like the state of mind itself. Thus, the nature of uncertainty has been seen and understood by the Buddha long ago - long before its 20th century scientific identification. 
• The third indicates something very important - that all of our karmic processes begin with thought processes followed by communications (such as talks, speech and writing) and bodily-actions. Therefore, unless one uses these agents of action and reaction in Appamada by being conscientious, heedful and diligent - one heads towards the direction of unwholesome consequences.
• The fourth is a message of hope – that if mind is trained to stay calm, steady and clout-free – it opens the door to wisdom – for one to view things as they are.

Therefore, to avoid the effects of subjectivity in viewing things – mind training or meditation (see Meditation for True Happiness) is so much stressed in Buddhism. It helps the practitioner to empty the mind – of many facets of hindrances, and unwholesome distractions and influences. Meditation practices help one to cleanse his or her mind of defilements, to relaxing and freshly nourishing it - as we do so for our body to remain healthy. Together, mind and body nourish each other for a healthy life in peace.
Now, let us attempt to see what the Matter-Immatter Dynamics implies:

• If one lives in a society that values peace, happiness and harmony, and has a pure sublime state of mind – he or she would understand the Fluidity in the SPIRIT processes – the Nature’s Wonders – as something of a precious beauty and necessity for his or her own existence and social progress.
• He or she would immediately see the coherent quests for balance and equilibrium in them – in competition, but in friendly cooperation and collaboration – in collective unison. And, things will move in the Right Direction to complete the circle – to untie the knot.
• Further, would recognize the Nature’s resources as a gift – not for senseless exploitation, destruction and elimination – but for sustainable use with reciprocity, humility and gratitude.
• He or she would not hesitate to stay calm, delay responses to unwholesome social encounters, and say Hold it There – before moving on.

But as discussed previously, if one lives in a society that are founded upon the erroneous conviction – in denial of Nature’s collective unison SPIRIT – that inequality and asymmetry are the norm of things – he or she would not hesitate to pursue, promote and sustain the destruction, elimination of – anyone and anything that appears on their way. By pursuing as such – headed in the Wrong Direction – new human-made knots are added to complicate the existing entanglement. This is clearly the result of a twisted greedy mind, the immatter – that sees what it wants to see. In fact, that’s exactly what happened since the dawn of capitalist industrialization (see The Grammar of Industrialization) with some inhuman consequences as sketched in How Long Does it Take. It is only now – in the late 20th and early 21st centuries that worldwide awareness has started taking shape – lucidly reflected in Michael Jackson’s (1958 – 2009) famous Earth song . . .What have We Done to the World . . .
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STILL
The SPIRIT quests that result in short-lived, quasi or transitory equilibrium of different sorts – happen all the time. This is Nature’s efforts of reversibility to achieve perfection from imperfection. Imagine the tiring pursuits of SPIRIT – from one sort of dynamic equilibrium to another – the circle is never completed, the eternal knot is never untied. If one knot is untied – another appears in a different configuration. The pursuits exhaust the actors – therefore, aspiring to reach peace and happiness in STILL is so universal.
Understandably, the tenet of inequality and asymmetry as something rigid denying the Nature’s law of fluidity or dynamic equilibrium – is neither the norm nor justifiable. Therefore, the notion of working with Nature rather than against it – is gaining so much attention and popularity in recent times. It is healthy and wise.
As shown in the image, the dynamic equilibrium is not the end – rather incremental and gradual accumulation of all such achievements head to STILL. The rationale for heading to STILL can simply be understood from the facts of one’s experience – that when one is happy, peaceful and harmonious – the efficacy of his or her works, performance and relationships – increases manifold. The same aspiration also happens in every system – we call it Nature. But, while SPIRIT must head to STILL – any gain by prolonging the scale of transience during the SPIRIT processes – must also be appreciated and valued.
Is achieving STILL certain? Well, as everything else in Nature – that works in Matter-Immatter dynamics – there is no surety of things (see more in Uncertainty and Risk and The World of Numbers and Chances). One more reason for this lack of surety is – that some of Nature’s Actions are not predictable. These actions are characterized by high impact episodes – in Frontal Wave Force Field (as described in Force Fields in a Coastal System) mode. Such episodes jeopardize everything – painstakingly achieved incrementally and gradually.
But, when accumulation of the achieved gains happens – if it happens (therefore something rare) – a Lucid Liberty – STILL is finally secured. The Incomplete Circle is finally completed – the Eternal Knot is finally untied – the Emptiness or Sunyata attains its ultimate enlightened meaning - the cessation of the effects of all Conditioned phenomena is finally achieved - and the Full Moon begins to shine brilliantly bright. In Buddhism (The Tathagata; Let There be Light - and there was Light) – this STILL has a name – it is called NIRVANA.
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The Koan of this piece:
The moment one behaves in arrogance and disrespect – the moment one behaves with overzealousy and unnecessary adulation – Nature knows the person is a liar, vengeful and untrustworthy.

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- by Dr. Dilip K. Barua, 14 August 2023

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