In the last entry I gave a short overview of some important concepts that make up Christopher Langan’s Cognitive Theoretic Model of the Universe. In this part we will be keeping things as simple as possible as we break down one of the three axioms (principles) that the CTMU is based on, they are (respectively) the Mind equals reality principle (M=R), the Metaphysical Autology principle (MAP) and the Multiplex Unity Princible (MU). I hope the explanation is intelligible and easy to understand.

Mind equals reality.

The mind equals reality principle (M=R) asserts that in order for your mind to intelligibly represent external reality it must share something in common with external reality. The dominate philosophical understanding is that mental and physical world are ultimately distinct things that are barred from interaction, unification or connection.

Connection between the two identities (one identity: mind the other identity: matter) is bared from unification in a higher more general identity.

Against dualism M=R asserts that in order for meaningful representation by the mind of external reality to occur they must share a common meeting or intersect, the bridge between the two is evident that as a principle of intelligibility the mind must be in the world and the world must be in the mind, their unification collapses the dualism into a monism (one thing).

Mind and matter meet in an ultimate unification as one identity.

The identity of mind and matter for all intents and purposes is the identity of reality. From the perspective of composite mental/physical beings (such as humans) the identity of the entire system they are in contains everything that is and everything that is possible. As nothing escapes inclusion within it’s identity (omnipresence) nothing escapes it’s capabilities (omnipotence) and nothing escapes it’s knowledge or understanding (omniscience) the identity of the system has no better name than God.

Reality is everywhere the same as itself as one identity.

So this idea is clear to you, reflect on the fact that you know your mind exists, it’s there, but the internal world of your mind is not the same as the external world of the reality that you perceive to be outside of yourself (like this blog post for instance) however the fact is that in order for them both to be given together in correspondence the reality of your mind and the reality of the world must be linked together in an ultimate reality, in an ultimate identity. Reflection on this higher reality is really of reflection on a higher identity, a higher identity that contains you, everyone and everything else, in short, it’s an ultimate version of you.

The system is real.

The system is identical to itself (reality is only equal to itself)

The systems identity distributes itself over everything in it (reality is everywhere equal to itself).

That concludes our explanation of M=R and how it leads to conceiving of reality as an everywhere unified system, next up we will be looking at the Metaphysical Autology Principle (MAP).