A Diagram of Reality

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Can reality be diagrammed?

 

Most of us are familiar with the diagram of the atom.  It consists of a large, central dot, around which are drawn ovals or circles.  Simple.  The large central dot represents the nucleus.  The outer circles also have one small dot each, representing the electrons.

 

The diagram is simple, easy to understand, and gives the novice a beginning idea how to think of the atom.  Of course, as we learn more about the atom, we learn that the diagram is too simple.  The nucleus is not a dot, but a complicated structure of quarks and forces.  Nor are the electrons dots, but rather, clouds, which are not separate from their orbits.  Even so, the diagram of the atom is a useful starting point toward understanding—only toward understanding, because we may never arrive at a full understanding.

 

Likewise, a diagram of reality is not to be taken literally as a full understanding.  It is not.  Even so, it provides a useful starting point, an anchor to which one can always refer, when his understanding begins to drift into a maze of complications.  Like a map of a large city, or of a continent, it helps to orient us, even though the map is but a symbol.

 

The diagram of reality is simply two circles, one inside the other, with a dot at the center.  How simple can it get?

 

Of course, that is too simple, even for the novice, so we have to point out some landmarks.  The two circles form a doughnut shape, an outer band which we can color in for clarity.  That outer band represents the material world that we experience through our senses.  It is the part of reality that we can see, touch, hear and so forth.  It is where we find atoms, rocks, cars and trees, and even our physical bodies.

 

Inside the doughnut shape is a circular disc, like a dinner plate.  This represents the part of reality that we cannot see or touch.  It is the abstract reality of mathematics, of the properties of physical things, and of even greater realities, such as life and consciousness.  This inner disc of abstractions is what governs the physical world.  Without it, there would be only chaos in the physical world.

 

Finally, our diagram of reality contains a central dot, but this dot is nothing like the nucleus of the atom.  The central dot of reality, if we can call it that for now, is the unknowable essence.  Really?  What good can come of discussing the unknowable?  Let’s see.

 

Just as the inner disc of abstract reality governs the outer physical reality, so also does the unknowable essence govern the entire diagram.  It not only governs it, but gives rise to it.  It provides plan, purpose and meaning to all of existence.

 

While we can never know the unknowable—of course—we can learn some things about it. 

 

In the diagram, the dot cannot be drawn small enough, because the center of a circle is an infinitely small point.  Its size is zero.  As we can quickly see, zero is not, “nothing.”  The center is unquestionably there.  It is unquestionably real.  We cannot, however, fully comprehend it.  Never.  It is unknowable.

 

If we wish to think of this in terms of the Trinity of Christian faith, we could say that the central dot represents (and we must tread very carefully here,) the Holy Spirit of God.  We could also say that the inner disc represents the Creator.  Finally, we could say that the outer band of the diagram represents Jesus, the physical incarnation of God.

 

We must hasten to clarify that God cannot be diagrammed.  The diagram does, however, give us a reference point on several challenges to God.  First, there are not three Gods, but only one, with three aspects (persons).  Also, God has no beginning, no more so than the center has a center.

 

Just as a map of a continent is not the continent itself, but only a tool for navigation, so also, the diagram of reality is only a symbol, one which helps us navigate through life.

 

The diagram also helps us to address the question of monism versus dualism.  The monist side of the question is answered by the fact that the diagram is one, a unified whole.  The dualist side is that while the physical is part of the hierarchy, it does exist.  Then there is the hierarchical argument, that reality can be understood in terms of Creator, Creation, Creature:  God, the Universe, Us.

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