When Becoming Venus—Gravity, Words, and the Resolution of the Invisible

Gravity does not exist.

Strictly speaking, something called "gravity" does not exist as an entity anywhere in the universe. It is an effect of the relationship acting between masses—a manifestation of the curvature of space—that we call "gravity." If you fall, it hurts. That is certain. But you cannot hold "gravity itself" in your hands.

Words, perhaps, share the same structure.

There is no inherent meaning in the sequence of sounds that make up the word "apple." Words function as a kind of distortion that arises between the speaker, the listener, the context, and memory. Yet, they are conveyed with certainty. They move the heart. They have no substance, only effects.

There is a strange mathematical formula at the forefront of modern physics called the holographic principle.

The equation—known as the GKP-W relation—states that the "partition function of a physical system governed by gravity" is equal to the "partition function of a physical system governed by a certain gauge force," asserting that two completely different descriptions somehow yield the same answer.

Moreover, no one has discovered a way to derive the right side from the left, or the left side from the right. Without proof, thousands of "beautiful coincidences" have simply piled up.

Let us reinterpret this as follows.

Left side: Putting reality into words. Right side: Words creating reality.

These two are not a matter of which comes first; they exist as equivalents. "Is language a mirror of reality, or is it the mold for reality?"—physicists are beginning to answer that question in an unexpected way. Perhaps the way we asked the question itself was wrong.

There is one more mysterious condition to this equation.

The two physical systems have a "different number of dimensions." The space where the gauge force acts has one less dimension than the space where gravity acts. A higher-dimensional gravitational space "emerges" from a lower-dimensional boundary surface.

Words are one dimension lower than reality.

Words are always poorer than reality. But it is from that poorer side that reality emerges.

Then, what is "that one dimension" that words lack?

Time is everywhere. In the micro, in the macro, and in between. The same goes for birth and death. Things that exist universally do not become "dimensions." What remains by process of elimination is—resolution.

Words can only slice reality at a certain resolution. Outside that resolution, both the side that is too fine and the side that is too coarse cannot be put into words. From the place that cannot be put into words, the reality called language emerges.

Because there is a moon, the tide changes. Because I was encouraged, I can do my best.

In both cases, the mediator has disappeared. Even if you look at the tide, the moon is not there. Even if you look at someone doing their best, the words of encouragement are already gone. But certainly, only the distortion remains, and reality is moving.

Both gravity and words function best by disappearing the moment they act.

There are concepts known as dark matter and dark energy.

Of the mass-energy in the universe, what we can 'see' accounts for a mere 5%. The remaining 95% is filled with something that cannot be directly observed. Yet, it supports the formation of galaxies and continues to accelerate the expansion of the universe.

It reminds me of Amida Buddha.

We cannot meet directly. Yet, it works as 'other-power' (tariki). The Primal Vow exists even before we believe in it. The paradox of 'occupying most of the universe while remaining invisible' and the concept of 'jinen honni'—working already outside of my own calculations—overlap in their structure.

And there is one more thing they have in common—they exert influence by existing as words.

From the moment the word 'Amida Buddha' was born, its influence began to reach us. From the moment we named it 'dark energy,' the concept began to function within the context of cosmology. The invisible gains an antenna in the form of words, and the circuit opens.

The Nembutsu is an act of layering one's thoughts onto words. It is not that Amida Buddha 'increases' each time we chant, but rather that our sensitivity to the other-power, which is already working perfectly, increases. What changes is the resolution on our side.

I look up at the night sky.

I see stars. They are beautiful, distant, and countless—when words stop there, that light remains just 'stars in the night sky.'

But when I see that same light as 'Venus,' something changes. The Morning Star, the Evening Star, the planet closest to Earth, a surface temperature of 460 degrees, clouds of sulfuric acid—the words converge on a single point. As the outline becomes sharper, the resolution increases.

Reality has not changed. It is the same light.

The outline of the words determined the resolution.

Giving an outline to the invisible. Perhaps that was the first job of words.

Gravity, words, Amida Buddha, dark energy—none of these exist as tangible substances. Yet, they certainly move us.

They cannot be proven. But thousands of times over, they align beautifully.