Eleven Rules, Seven Theorems and Seven Axioms of Cosmo-Art by Antonio Mercurio - HTML preview

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Preface on the Beginning

We can speak of the origins of the infinite universes only with a poetic image.

At the beginning of the beginning, there was a little girl, LIFE, a Puer Eternus¸ as other poets have called it. She liked to play with soap bubbles, just like little girls throughout all the ages have loved to do.

LIFE blew on the wand dipped in soapy water and she was amazed to see infinite bubbles appear, that were born one from the other or in sequence. They danced in the light and they brought great joy to her eyes and her heart.

Every bubble was a universe.

Then it happened that LIFE, which is powerful but is not omnipotent, intelligent but not omniscient, was deeply pained to realize that she was eternal, but not immortal.

She had to continuously incarnate in different forms to stay alive, and each new form could appear only after the previous one had died.

Her bubbles could last an eternity, but it was an eternity that passed by in an instant. They all were born and then they died. Not one of them came to life without dying later.

Her pain was immense!

Until one day she had an ingenious idea. In one of the bubbles LIFE placed human beings. She then taught them how to fuse pain, wisdom and art together, and from them a work of art was created. This work of art was endowed with eternal life, that broke away from the bubble and started to fly from one bubble to the next, from one universe to another, into infinity.

It was as if it could come to rest on each of the other bubbles, with a Rose in its hand, one that no longer had thorns. It was like a "Little Prince" that could now go 22

on dancing happily, and no longer had to be bitten by a snake so it could fly from one universe to the next.

All it had to do was to imagine it could fly, and it was able to do so.

The Little Prince was immortal, LIFE with him and inside of him was immortal, as was the bubble that had given him life, even though it had ceased to exist as a bubble.

Now LIFE was happy and no longer felt any pain; now it was both eternal and immortal.

It could still change shape, just like a work of art can change shape if you look at it from one side or the other, if you read into it from one perspective or another.

But now changing shape no longer meant having to die: it meant being able to continuously gain new life and new meaning.

This all happened in the past, but it unfolded into the future that was yet to come.

We can tell the story of what has happened in the past, but we can only hope for what belongs to the future.

***

(This forward on the beginning is based on the fact that the Author, when speaking of LIFE, is speaking of a concept of life that no longer is solely identified by biological life. Instead it has to do with something immensely different and unknown, which biological life is only a small expression of).

***

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FIRST THEOREM

An infinite number of universes exist, but they are not all the same. Together they all make up a single, unique, and living super-organism.

SECOND THEOREM

The universe we live in is intelligent, free and creative, even though it has limitations.

It has its own special purpose to fulfill that Life has entrusted it with: the goal to create Secondary Beauty.

THIRD THEOREM

The third theorem is coherent with the first two, and arises out from them. This is the Cosmo-Art theorem or the Theorem of Secondary Beauty (see A.M. "The Ulysseans -

the Theorem and the Myth to Travel from One Universe to Another" published by The Sophia University of Rome, 2009).

FOURTH THEOREM

Secondary beauty is the result of a fusion between human and cosmic forces. They are both indispensible to each other. They are both present within each human being, but the ability to fuse them together is found only in the Choral Group SELF.

FIFTH THEOREM

All of the universes together form a living system. Every system contains a network of sub-systems and of emergent properties. These emerge only as the result of the action of many causes fused together, which belong to the entire system.

An emergent property never belongs to the sub-system in itself, but rather to the entire system.

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SIXTH THEOREM

The basic building blocks of Life are intelligence, freedom and creativity. Truth, love and beauty are blocks that are added later.

Life comes before anything else, and it existed before the living system made up of all the universes.

Life existed even before the existence of both the personal and cosmic SELF.

Life is and it is becoming and it knows the art of fusing death with life, and the art of fusing being with becoming to create, in time, what it cannot get from eternity: a life form that is both eternal and immortal.

This is because Life is eternal as it is, but it is not yet immortal.

SEVENTH THEOREM

Life is not the Supreme Being. Life is not God.

FINAL CONSIDERATION

Life generates infinite universes with different forms of life for each one.

As far as I am concerned, I am convinced that our biological parents are only intermediaries between ourselves and Life, between ourselves and the universe.

Life is my mother and the universe I live in is my father.

Life gives me creative and vital energy so I can live and create.

The universe gives me everything I need so I can fulfill its purpose and my purpose, if I align myself with its axis.

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FIRST THEOREM

An infinite number of universes exist, but they are not all the same. Together they all make up a single, unique, and living super-organism.

(This theorem and the others that follow are based on analogical reasoning, rather than on mathematical calculations).

On planet Earth an infinite number of species exist, and they are all intelligent, but not in the same way.

Every species chooses the niche it lives and evolves in, and it adapts to the needs and resources of that particular niche.

Therefore, every species is also endowed with freedom and with creativity as well as intelligence, although these are qualities that have specific limitations.

Every species takes on a task that is different from the tasks of the other species. No one imposes it on them; each species chooses their own task freely.

The tasks of each of the species are harmoniously organized so that what we call the biosphere can be created and maintained, just like it were a single living organism.

There is constant communication that takes place between all the species and within each of the species.

We are aware of only a few types of communication and not all of them.

There are continual mechanisms of action and retroaction that guide how a species proliferates with respect to the others.

Every species fights for its own existence but not all of them are destined to survive.

There is a circular causality that guides and determines how some are successful and some are not.

Whatever is valid for the species in general is also valid for each individual that belongs to the species. This is most certainly true for each individual that belongs to the human species as well.

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Each individual is also a super-organism with respect to its smallest components: its cells, molecules and atoms.

Every universe is free and creative besides being intelligent, even though these qualities are constrained within certain limitations and conditions.

Every universe has its own specific task to fulfill, that harmonizes with the tasks of all the other universes that exist today and will exist in the future.

All the universes communicate with each other even though today we still do not know how.

The law of general gravity tells us that all the atoms in this universe communicate to each other, and quantum mechanics has taught us that the same thing is true of all the atomic particles and sub-particles.

Just as all the individuals within a species make up a super-organism we call species, and just as all the species put together make up the super-organism of the biosphere, all the universes together make up a single super-universe, a single, unique, living super-organism.

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SECOND THEOREM

The universe we live in is intelligent, free and creative, even though it has certain limitations, and it has a special purpose to fulfill that Life has assigned to it: the goal of Secondary Beauty.

When this universe was forming, it chose for itself certain physical laws instead of others (see Lee Smolin: "The Life of the Cosmos"). No one imposed them on it.

These laws made it possible for cosmic life, biological life, cultural life, spiritual life and artistic life to appear and evolve.

This could not have happened if the universe were not intelligent, free and creative.

Biological life is based on carbon chemistry. There is no reason why other universes could not exist that have life forms based on other physical and chemical laws that we are unfamiliar with.

We do know that the life of a work of art depends on carbon chemistry, which the human organism is based on and is what eventually takes on the identity of an artist. However, we also know that the life of a work of art is not based on carbon chemistry. How this happens is a mystery, but we know this is true.

The answer to the question "is it possible that the lesser contains the greater?" is yes, as long as the lesser is part of a system's circular causality, and the greater is the result of various causes, not just one.

Just as all the species that live within planet Earth's biosphere have a harmonious and functional role in its maintenance and development, there is also a harmonious purpose for the various different universes, which we are not yet aware of.

This theorem's first proposition is that the life of this universe is not an end to itself, but has a harmonious role with respect to all the other universes.

The second proposition is that this universe has specific laws and tasks that are different from the other universes, and the universe chose these tasks itself, even though it was Life that asked it to do so.

The specific task of this universe is to create Secondary Beauty, without which Life cannot travel from one universe to the next.

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THIRD THEOREM

The third theorem, the theorem of Cosmo-Art or the theorem of Secondary Beauty, is coherent with the first and the second theorems (see A.M. "The Ulysseans - The Theorem and the Myth for Travelling from one Universe to another" published by Solaris Editions of the University of Rome, 2009).

There is primary beauty, which is created by nature, and there is secondary beauty, which is created by human beings in harmony with the laws of Life.

The first type of beauty is mortal, the second is immortal.

If Life wants to be not only eternal but also immortal, it can only do so if it entrusts to humanity the goal of creating secondary beauty.

Humans, artists of their own lives and of the life of the universe, have been asked to create a type of beauty that does not exist in nature and that will never be subject to death or to entropy, nor is it subject to the laws of gravity that pertain to the space-time of this universe.

This type of beauty is made up of a field of energy that is inextinguishable. It can travel from one universe to another and we can go with it.

For the creation of this beauty it is necessary that pain exists, it is necessary that death exists, it is necessary that art exists and it is necessary that wisdom exists (see A.M. "The Ulysseans", Chapter V).

An artist that does not face pain and death cannot create anything that is immortal.

But those who face only pain and not death do not know the secret of art, nor can they create any beauty.

At the same time, only those who are wise will decide to be artists of their lives and not victims, when they are faced with pain and death (see Charlie in the movie

"Scent of a woman"; A.M. "La nascita della Cosmo-Art: Primo Laboratorio di CosmoArt {The Birth of Cosmo-Art: First Cosmo-Art Laboratory}).

Every silk worm creates a certain amount of silk threads. Then along comes a human being who, artisan and artist that he is, unites those threads together with those of thousands of other silk worms, and creates a beautiful garment.

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Each single silk worm will never see the completed garment.

But does it think that its life hasn't had any meaning?

Will it refuse to make silk threads?

The silk worm knows nothing about the human being who will come and transform its silk into a garment or a scarf that ends up beautifully draped around a woman's neck.

We also don't know who will weave the beauty we have created in our lives into something else, nor do we know what the end result will be. But we can think about it, we can imagine it, and we can hope as we entrust ourselves to Life's goal.

It depends on us whether we want to remain at the level of intelligence of the silk worm, or whether we want to reach the level of intelligence of an artist.

If Life entrusts itself to us, can we entrust ourselves to Life?

Without oxygen we cannot breathe and we cannot live. But who ever thinks about the fact that oxygen was transformed and created, long before the trees did so, by a legion of "insignificant" cells, cyanobacteria, millions and millions of years ago?

Are we insignificant cells or are we silk worms and artists of life, who first spin the silk and then weave it, creating immortal beauty?

It is up to us to decide what we want to do. But one thing is certain: Life needs us, and it created this specific universe, different from all the others, so human beings could be created and evolve to the point of becoming artists of their lives and artists of the life of the universe.

When S. Hawking in his book "A Brief History of Time" asks : "Why does the universe bother to live?", he can't find an answer. Cosmo-Art has found an answer that is ingenious, beautiful and elegant, and if Hawking knew about it he would most certainly like it.

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FOURTH THEOREM

Secondary Beauty is the result of a fusion between human and cosmic forces. They are both present within each human being but the way to fuse them together is found only within the Choral Group SELF.

The Choral Group SELF does not exist unless it is created. For it to be created it is necessary that the I of two or more persons gradually fuse together, guided by a common goal to create beauty. This is true for the Choral Group SELF of a couple as well as for the Choral Group SELF of a group.

The fusion of the I with a You and the fusion of the I with Others is the result of a constant action of human forces. The action of nature and the action of the cosmos alone cannot create this type of fusion. This is obvious if we look around us.

A note about cosmic forces.

A star does not exist unless it is created. For it to be created, a cloud of hydrogen atoms must condense around a gravitational center to the point of collapsing. Then, the hydrogen atoms fuse and a thermonuclear reaction begins.

There are many factors and causes that contribute to the birth of a star. All these factors operate together towards a single common goal; they operate as a single living organism that is born of a Cosmic Choral Group SELF.

Scientists (see Lee Smolin) say that elliptical galaxies are created from the fusion of two spiral galaxies. An elliptical galaxy can give rise to a great black hole that is fed by the mass of the stars that fall into it. Within this black hole a new universe can be formed.

Two galaxies that fuse together create an immense cosmic force that originates from the Choral SELF of the Cosmos.

The ways that cosmic forces interact with human forces is still unknown to us, and our intuition can only grasp a few of them.

The beauty that artists create is also the result of a Choral Group SELF, even though it is usually attributed only to the artist that gave it its final shape.

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When we read, however, the analyses of the art critics, we discover another truth, we learn that there were many other factors that concurred to generate, all together, a work of art.

One of many possible examples: the Sistine Chapel would have never existed if it hadn't been for the stubborn insistence of Pope Julius II, who wanted it so bad that he sent his guards after Michelangelo to bring him back after he had run away to Tuscany.

We common mortals know how cosmic forces fuse with human forces only through astrology, which explains how planets and constellations influence our ways of being and of acting.

But astrophysics is becoming ever more understandable to many, and from this discipline we can learn many things that are no longer the exclusive knowledge of scientists.

According to Cosmo-Art, cosmic forces are already acting along with human forces from as early as intrauterine life. The type of pain that the Fetal I is struck with when it experiences a trauma is a cosmic force; the temporary way that the Fetal I faces it, by using defensive and offensive mechanisms so it doesn't succumb to it and die, is a human one.

Nevertheless, it is clear to an ever growing number of people that life based only on the type of security offered by our defensive and offensive strategies means that we are only surviving, not living. It is also becoming ever more clear that no matter what, sooner or later life forces us to abandon these mechanisms. When this happens, we have two possibilities: either we find radical, creative solutions to our traumas, or else, in one way or another, they will destroy us.

In a group of Existential Personalistic Anthropology or of Cosmo-Art, one can learn the method for creating a Choral Group SELF, which is like a furnace for human and cosmic energies put together. Here one can learn how to fuse them together and create secondary beauty.

In these groups one can also learn how to create a bridge between intrauterine life and intracosmic life, and from there on to ultracosmic life. An infinite number of energies pass across such a bridge, and they can radically transform a human life.

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In summary:

Since there are many universes, it is necessary to have an immortal life that can travel from one universe to the next.

Some dream of obtaining an immortal biological life, but Cosmo-Art dreams of an immortal life that pertains to secondary beauty.

Secondary beauty can be created by a Choral Group SELF and by the organismic principle, and not by a single Personal SELF alone.

The I must therefore create a Choral Group SELF together with others that is the synthesis of two (an I and a You) or more (an I and Others) people.

Every synthesis produces a quantum of secondary beauty. A complexity of quantums of beauty produces the immortal life of secondary beauty.

These syntheses are created with the energy of wisdom, of pain and of art, which defines the goal and gives it its final shape.

Synthesis is fusion. Fusion is the result of a complexity of causes that all work together according to the guidelines of the organismic principle.

In organisms, the force that wins over repulsion is its purpose.

The force that assures continuity of attraction is love.

Primary beauty is created by nature; secondary beauty is created by a life that continually transforms itself by means of fusion.

Fusion requires that the parts that must fuse macerate, and there can be no maceration if there is not pain.

Pain is the cosmic force that can macerate the I , its absolutism and its drive for power, so it becomes capable of fusing with another.

The Artistic I , both on an individual and a group level, knows how and when the fusion must take place, so that its result is beauty, and not madness or death.

The Cosmic I, without the help of the individual and group Artistic I, cannot create any type of immortal beauty.

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FIFTH THEOREM

All of the universes together make up a living system. Every system contains a network of subsystems and of emergent properties that emerge only as the result of the action of many causes, fused together, that all belong to the whole system.

An emergent property never belongs to the subsystem alone, it belongs to the totality of the whole system.

A system is alive if it is endowed with intelligence, freedom and creativity, however great or small the presence of these three conjoined factors may be at any time within the system itself.

A system is made up of sub-systems. (The whole is composed of many parts: the whole of the parts is greater than the sum of its parts).

If a subsystem is living, then the whole system must necessarily be living¸ because the life of the subsystem is an emergent property (see F. Capra: "The Web of Life") that is the result of the circular causality of the whole system. If human beings are alive, then the universe must necessarily be a living being as well.

If the planet Earth is a living being (see the Gaia Theory of James Lovelock), the solar system is also alive, and, moving on, the system of the Milky Way galaxy is living, this universe is a living system and the whole of all the universes is a living system.

This is because the whole as a system is endowed with intelligence, freedom and creativity that already exist, and that are being and are becoming.

A biological organism (human beings, animals, plants or bacteria) is alive because it is a subsystem that is part of a living system, in this case planet Earth's biosphere, which is endowed with intelligence, freedom and creativity.

A biological organism becomes a cadaver when it loses the energy field that is made up of intelligence, freedom and creativity , that interact together as a whole throughout the entire system.

If this energy field breaks down or dissolves, the life breaks down or dissolves.

If a virus now resists certain drugs whereas before it was overcome by them, it means that it is endowed with intelligence and thus it is capable of learning, with 34

freedom that allows it to choose which defensive mechanisms to use, and with creativity, because it creates a new structure it didn't have before, and that now allows it to resist the drug.

If a system is living, it is endowed with life, and, therefore, the concept of life cannot be referred only to biological life, because the whole of the universes cannot be reduced to only biological life, nor can a galactic or a solar system be reduced to only biological life.

In our solar system, biological life is only one of the "emergent properties" that are potentially contained within the system. We can deduce from this that it is a grave error to reduce the concept of life to biological life alone.

Emergent properties belong to the system and not to the single parts that it is made up of, therefore they cannot emerge except as a result of the whole system.

The properties of water are not contained in the properties of hydrogen or oxygen taken separately.

But if hydrogen and oxygen fuse with the proper quantities (two parts of hydrogen with one part oxygen), water is created: then, and only then, do the properties of water emerge.

On a planetary scale we could say that biological life is only one of the "emergent properties" of planet Earth.

Some other emergent and self-creating properties that have already appeared on Earth are: language, culture, art and civilization. These are all forms of non-biological life that are self-created and self-evolving, because they are part of the flow of circular causes of the whole system.

The spiritual life of a populace is also a form of emergent life, just as its cultural life is.

Looking at it in another way, we could also say that cultural and spiritual life are two emergent properties of biological life, properties that have emerged over millions of years.

Here a question arises: couldn't we discover one day that a form of immortal life is also one of the possible emergent properties of biological life?

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The universe we belong to has been evolving for billions of years.

It took time before the galaxies appeared, which are an emergent property of the universe.

It took time before the solar system appeared, which is also most certainly an emergent property of the Milky Way galaxy.

It took some time, but then planet Earth appeared, an emergent property of this solar system.

It took time, but then biological life appeared, an emergent property of planet Earth.

It will take some time, but why couldn't an immortal form of human life that is not biological appear as an emergent property of biological life?

Our universe is a subsystem of the whole of all the universes.

The heart, like the brain, the liver and the intestines, are subsystems of the system that makes up the whole human organism.

The whole of these subsystems form a network that make life capable of carrying out specific tasks that go beyond biological life: creating culture, art, and beauty.

Our universe has a specific task that one day will connect with those of the other universes.

Cosmo-Art asserts that this specific task is the creation of secondary beauty, a type of immortal beauty that is an emergent property of biological life, fused together with other causes.

Looking at only this universe, we can imagine a cascade of emergent properties that arise from a preceding emergent property, no longer following the principle of cause and effect according to linear causality, but following the principle of circular causality. This means that when the specific energies of many causes are put together, a super energy is created that is capable of producing effects that an isolated cause arising from the others never would have been able to produce.

We can deduce that this is what happens in group work in Existential Personalistic Anthropology and Cosmo-Art, when a Choral Group SELF is created.

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Many individuals united together create a synergy of special forces. This synergy of special forces is like a superforce, which, once created, penetrates each individual and produces transformations that are emergent properties of the individual, but that the individual alone would never have been able to create.

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