The first matrix was created by God from and in Himself. If one's stomach is in knots at this point, then substitute God with Nature. Whether we are believers or materialist-atheists will not affect the substance or the result of our argument. I know this is surprising, but it will happen. 

So, the matrix is a created world. It either came into being spontaneously (according to materialists) or was created by some creative intelligence (God). If we reject the existence of God, then we must attribute to matter a degree of internal intelligence capable of self-organisation and differentiation to such an extent that it can create beings who insight its workings. Let's look at that again. So, matter - which is inherently unconscious - by self-organizing, must have produced a degree of consciousness that can cognize matter and comprehend its workings. This immediately contradicts a well-known materialist thesis that nothing in the Universe has a purpose, direction or meaning, but that spontaneous fluctuations take place. Thus, the emergence of consciousness had neither meaning nor purpose, but was a random formation that would "pass away". But this again brings us to the contradiction, for what if consciousness, which, according to our original assumption, is a product of matter, suddenly triumphs over matter and decides to continue to function and evolve without matter? The materialist answer to this is that there is no such thing as mind without matter. And I say that consciousness (in the philosophical sense) could be a high degree of organisation of matter which, at a certain level of development, is capable of detaching itself from matter. Let anyone, who can, refute this.  If we have come this far, then it is all the same from now whether matter created consciousness or consciousness created matter. 

When we look at the Universe, we see that its operation has two directions. There is apperance and disappearance, galaxies are born and perishes, planets are formed and destroyed. At the same time, there is a direction of evolution, the Universe is expanding. It may shrink one day, but it is now undoubtedly expanding. And that is the direction. Something gave direction to the process at a time when consciousness, we originally assumed, did not exist. Yeah, the big bang. But that's a direction, too. Something that's been in one piece suddenly explodes and something very different starts to happen to it. In theoretical physics and mathematics, such systems are described in such a way that the solutions of a function branch off at a certain point because the original solution becomes unstable in the parameter space. It is typical of science that when it cannot answer a question, it hides behind a statement that is incomprehensible to outsiders. For what causes the parameters to change, if not the fact that the system is moving (has a direction) in the parameter space? Something must have happened to trigger the big bang. But even if we smear the answer to this question by assuming that it was some spontaneous fluctuation, it is indisputable that the billions of years of consequence of this event are the reason why I am sitting here in front of a computer meditating on this event. 

Obviously, conscious beings of any kind will seek to survive the changes arising from the spontaneous self-movements of matter, to remove themselves from the dominion of matter and to become self-sustaining, that is, to gain an existence independent of matter. The matrix is therefore the material world, and consciousness seeks to overcome and override matter, creating conscious evolution in matter. This is true even if there is a God and even if there is not. The only difference is that if there is a God, we have a better chance. 

It follows from the foregoing that, from this point of view, we cannot decide whether matter created consciousness or consciousness created matter. We have also seen that the evolution of the Universe has been and is given some direction. The workings of matter have laws that are uniformly pervasive throughout the Universe, such as the attraction of mass. The physicist says that mass attraction exists because a certain particle mediates an interaction between two other particles. But this does not explain the original question, why must there be mass attraction? Something is there, and we can explain why it is so, but we don't understand why it is there at all? In stars, there is nuclear fusion, which produces light, which is emitted. Why is there nuclear fusion? Because there is more hydrogen than helium? What made it so? Other interactions can also produce light. And why does light have to be produced at all? Who or what decided that this Universe would be built that light develops by nuclear fusion in the stars, which would be essential for life to form? We say that this is all determined by the intrinsic properties of matter. But then who or what determined the intrinsic properties of matter? If we assume that nothing was determined in the beginning, then these questions should be answered by science, and there are no answers to the original questions. More correctly, the answer is that it is so because we experience it so, and since we have no experience of any other possibility, we accept that it can only be so. And here we come to a very important point. Namely, that the matrix determines our thinking. For us it is the self-evident system in which we live. We cannot imagine anything else. And this is just as true for our conceptions of the Universe as it is for our conceptions of, say, family or partnership. So, the matrix maps itself in us, it permeates our perception. The matrix is within us. The matrix is us! 

So, how can we get information about things outside the matrix? If we want to change the way we think about family or partnership, we have to look at cultures that live differently from us, that is, we have to change our reference system. But if we want a higher knowledge of the Universe, who do we turn to? Even our greatest thinkers couldn't come up with anything smarter than to turn God, who is present in the form of infinite intelligence both outside and inside the matrix. Staying within the matrix, therefore, it is impossible to decide whether there is a God or not. However, there are those who have stepped outside the matrix and through them God has given revelation. God has told them that He exists from eternity and that He created everything. We can choose not to believe all this and go in search of the truth ourselves. In that case, we must walk the path that leads us out of the matrix. Those who have come out of the matrix say that there are three created worlds, that is, the matrix has three layers. All intelligent beings were created so, that they will be able to continue to create, that is how the three worlds came into being. We live in the middle layer of the third or lowest world. Who intends to give revelation about the Supreme Creator must reach with his/her consciousness at least to the uppermost layer of the first world, so that he/she can say that he/she knows God. The rest fall into the category of believers. God may (also) appear in someone's living room, but that does not mean that his/her information about God comes from outside the matrix.

Margaret Rhasoda-Varga
UCCM head-master
(Without illusions, excerpt)