Fractal Nature of Reality

The other day while I was a bit "out there", I noticed something that I've not paid attention to in years. First, I remember years ago getting my hair cut there would be mirrors on either side of the place I was getting my hair cut at. Staring into one of the mirrors produces a vision of infinity as the mirrors reflect off of one another, an endless depth of reflection, copies of reality represented by the light bouncing back and forth. It's a remarkable thing to view, though eventually you're bound to see limits in the mirror. There's another thing you can buy at Spencer's that produces the same kind of effect, using mirrors it produces an endless tunnel that appears to have strings of lights running down the sides. Of course, these are mere optical illusions. Obviously the tunnel isn't stretching into eternity and neither are the mirrors depicting some hidden world we've left untapped. But, it raises an important question regarding the fractal nature of reality.

So, the other day I was staring into the mirror, and as I got closer I could see a reflection of the room around me and myself in the pupil of my eye. And it left me thinking, that inside that reflection, if one's senses were accute enough one could see a reflection inside the reflection, and so on. Does reality possess some sort of inherent fractal aspect to itself, is this reality just a mirror of a larger fractal object, and is our reality a basis for further iterations into the fractal pattern of existence?

It seems that this idea of the fractal representation of reality is common among many occult systems of thought. For example, in Jewish Mysticism (Kabbalah), the world is believed to be composed of ten sephirot, and this pattern is repeated over and over. That is, each of these ten sephirot is composed of ten sephirot, each of those ten are composed of ten, and so on. Even in modern physics, we find that as we peer deeper and deeper on the subatomic scale we find particles that are even smaller. Originally we thought atoms were the smallest, but with atoms there are electrons, protons, and neutrons. Even smaller are the quarks. What other mysteries does the world of quantum mechanics hold for us, and what do these particles truly represent? On the larger scale, we have solar systems, galaxies, and the universe. But, what is beyond the universe? Is this just one of many universes that compose some sort of multiverse, is the dimension of spatial orientation just one of many dimensions? What of the dimension of thought, the dimension of being, or the dimension of time?

Science has answered many questions, it has peered deep into the world around us. However, many more questions about the nature of reality remain unanswered. Is there some higher aspect to reality that is casting a shadow over what we believe is the extent of existence? Many questions I find arising in my head about the nature of reality. Believing that our world is the absolute representation of all that is seems to be rather arrogant, to suspect that we are the pinnicle of this existence denies these valid questions. We can only perceive what we've been taught to perceive, but we are missing out on so much more.

As a stronger support of entheogenic plants and substances, I believe that these tools offer us glimpses into the true nature of reality. However, incursions into this realm of uncertainty often brings about fears in the established institutions that we're all so accustomed too. Western society and the Christian religion has a hard time accepting this fact because it demonstrates an existence far beyond what they are capable of explaining. What is the relationship between the mind and the power of thought and these unexplored realms? Hopefully, over time, as I pursue this subject with more zeal I'll find ways of trying to answer these questions. Until then, explore the seas of mental space and open up the doors of transcendence for yourself.