by Aaron Wintrich

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We are a Finite Permutation Infinitely Recurring

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Imagine the life you are living right now is one that you have already lived before, and one you will live again. If it is possible once, why is it not possible again? The eternal recurrence is an idea that has been around for thousands of years. The earliest known literature on the concept can be found in the ancient Hindu Vedic scriptures, as well as in the classical Greek texts of the Stoics, and also in the German philosophical works of Friedrich Nietzsche and others. As the ancient Hindu philosopher Kanada described in his works on the universe and matter, no object animate or inanimate has an infinite amount of matter in it otherwise it would also weigh an infinite amount. Therefore if we were to divide any object we would eventually get to a point that could no longer be divided, which he called “anu” the root word for atom. The Ancient Greek philosophers like Democritus further described this characteristic of nature as one that would lead to determinism, where the atoms behave as billiard balls on a pool table knocking into and bouncing off into each other in a measurable and predictable way, and so leaves little room for free will and agency of any being. The later Epicureans objected, stating that the atoms exhibit an unpredictable curve and so allows free agency. The Epicureans would eventually dissolve into the Stoic school with famous philosophers such as Chrysippus who discussed the possibility of the Eternal recurrence. The idea suggests that if there is a finite amount of matter in our bodies, and also in the universe, but time itself is infinite, this would mean that given enough time throughout the eons any combination of matter in existence such as in our bodies, an apple, the Earth, etc., would eventually be recycled and re-manifested as it was before and we would relive a previous state of being. Perhaps every moment of our lives is one we have already lived? This idea was also the foundation of Nietzsche’s own work, who believed was the most enlightening of all his discoveries. I personally am not sure, but I wonder if this is why we have Déjà vu?...

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