The Universe from First Principles (Warning: Philosophy Ahead)

So I've been thinking about this for a while (read: years) and I've come to realize that every discussion of philosophical or religious matters is doomed to failure because nobody bothers to define their terms, or explain their basic assumptions.

So what about you? What assumptions do you base your life on? Remember, I'm not necessarily talking about all of your religious beliefs, though that could apply. I mean in a philosophical sense, what are your first principles? Do you have any?

My terms and principles are as follows:

Principle: Something cannot come from nothing.

That is my first principle.

I define Something as "that which has dimension in either space or time" and I define Nothing as "that which has no dimension in either space or time".

Principle: "Nothing" is the natural state of being.

Basically, nothing is the natural state of existence, and something cannot come from it. This is an appeal to logic. If Something was the natural state of being (as it appears to be, what with the universe and all), all bets are off. Anything can happen, for whatever reason. Basically, say goodbye to philosophy and reason. Many people believe this. This is probably why they disdain philosophy.

So it would seem like we are at an impasse. Nothing is the natural state of being, and something cannot come from it. Case closed. No universe. End of story.

I beg to differ.

Let's look at what we have to work with. Nothing. Hm. Not looking good for the universe. By the way, I was stuck on this one for over a year.

Let's take a closer look at Nothing. What are we saying when we say "Nothing"? No space and time. Got it. A point, in other words, generally speaking, if you were to look at it from the outside, which would be impossible without space. But whatever, a point will do for our discussion.

So we have a point. What are the properties of this point? If Nothing exists, and can be represented by a point, then naturally it is all that is, and must account for the appearance of reality, the space and time of it all, the matter, energy, as well as self-awareness, the mind, etc. A tall order, it would seem.

Does a point know anything? What kind of a question is that? Humor me for a moment. Let's try to explain Self Awareness with only a point. A point cannot know anything, as knowledge implies the passage of time. Basically, you learned something, and now you know it. Without time, knowledge is not an option. However, Awareness is. Awareness is present tense. A subtle distinction, so let me define it.

Knowledge: Information with a time component.

Awareness: Information without a time component.

So we've allowed for a point to have awareness, as awareness doesn't require time. But can it be aware of space? Well, no. If you have nothingness, represented by a point, you can have no space or time. Definitions and such. So what exactly is the point aware of? Well, again, the only thing that it could possibly be aware of is itself. So it has Self Awareness.

See what I did there?

To recap:

Nothing is the natural state of being.

Something cannot come from nothing.

Nothing can have self awareness. (notice that this changes in meaning depending on how you interpret the word Nothing)

Finally, we have some idea of what is possible with little old nothing. Now let's rephrase what we have done.

Inferred Principle: "Nothing" can exist.

Inferred Principle: "Something" cannot exist.

This is just rephrasing the combination of the first two principles. So let's describe these two principles. If something exists, then it is True. If something does not exist, it is False.

The existence of Nothing is True.

The existence of Something is False.

Binary. Simple. Childishly so, from our first principles. So to say this another way, Truth is Nothing, Falseness is Something.

So the universe, being made of dimension, both of space and time (or space-time if you want to be modern) is False.

This follows from first principles.

Self Awareness, however, is True, again from first principles.

I define Self Awareness as simply "I".

I am self aware. See?

As self awareness is an acceptable quality of Nothing, all people are nothing. They are also True. They are without a space or time aspect, which means that they did not begin, and they do not end. As nothingness has no space or time component, all people from all times are in truth one nothingness, or one Truth. They truly exist, whereas the universe does not.

So much for the universe.

And as for people:

People are one.

People are immortal.

Not bad at all for an understanding of two first principles.

Man, what I would give to argue about religion a little.

I do not know anything with 100% surety, for even my own senses may be tricking me. But, given that there is no way around that, I may as well live as if my senses are accurate. There's really no other option.

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.