The Inherently Limited Understanding of Form

Until you can understand all phenomena, you cannot fully explain one part of all phenomena. In other words, you cannot speak to fully understanding why something is if you cannot speak to why everything is. Everything is ultimately connected- and identifying relationships between forms does not convey a true understanding, which is complete.

In our world we often identify “why” something has happened when we can point to some other thing that caused it. We believe identifying the relationships between various forms means we understand them. For instance, that ice over there melted because its temperature rose above 32°F. Why did the temperature of the ice rise above 32°F? We may identify a cause for that too. Science helps us to follow a logic chain and physical laws further and further, until we understand many complex relationships, at least between how physical objects interact. Eventually we arrive at a “we don’t know why that is, it just is,” and that means the understanding is yet incomplete. Yet we tend to believe we understand the true cause of something when we comprehend some level of the cause-effect relationships that relate to it- in other words, we are satisfied when we can explain one form by identifying its relationship with other forms, to some subjectively sufficient degree of complexity. We also tend to do this with more nebulous topics, such as religious topics or social phenomena. For instance we may ask, why is there racial inequality in America? And we may point to historical context, political events, or even to groups of people or to their ideas to explain. Or we may ask, why do we suffer? And we may embrace a religious idea that seems reasonable, like perhaps the idea of original sin. We buy into the explanations. Soon enough, we believe we “understand” reality, when in actuality all we grasp is but a tiny subset of the perceived relationships between its forms.

The word “form” here means anything that is a unique, individuated thing- whether it be an object, a person, a thought, an idea, an event, a sensation, or any combination of these. Form, by definition, is not everything. And because it is not everything, no form (or forms) can contain all the answers and explain all phenomena. These statements may sound like nothing more than silly word play, and it may sound daft to identify that “something that is not everything can’t explain everything” – but in fact this is an important spiritual truth. It is important because we do not truly understand something only by comprehending its relationship to other things, even if we do so to what we consider to be a great degree of complexity.

In order to truly understand what is happening, we need to look beyond all of the form. We need to look to what is most fundamental if we want to understand that which is not fundamental.

All the answers for all phenomena do exist at the level of Source. And if for today we might attempt to pick one word (one form) to identify what Source is, we might use the word: “Consciousness.” Nothing exists that isn’t consciously experienced! Consciousness is the foundation; the forms it beholds are but “dreams”- sub-sets that it experiences within itself. The dreams are not everything. But ultimately, consciousness itself is.

YOU are conscious. If you are reading this right now, you are a conscious part of Source! And through that inseverable connection between you and what you are, at the deepest levels you always have access to All That Is. Many people who physically die and come back report that they experience “knowing everything.” This is because all knowledge and all form exists within Source, and once they are “removed” from the form experience of this physical reality, they return to the deeper state of awareness which is native to them. True understanding is always available at the deepest levels- but it vastly transcends all human language and all human ideas. Even the entirety of all of human history and all the experiences of the Earth are but a tiny subset of the forms that exist within All That Is.

We then who are yet human need to embrace the humility necessary to fully recognize that our forms (our ideas, our physical understandings, our beliefs) do not hold all the answers. Yes, we may expand human knowledge, broaden our scientific capabilities and understanding, and indeed there is true value in that. But such understandings will never be complete. Form itself by definition is inherently limited. But the wonderful, amazing, and loving boundlessness of All That Is contains all understanding- and it is something that can never be further from you than your own breath- except that you behold, believe in, and participate as one of the many forms that are a part of its Creations!