📚 Similarity Theory Among Philosophical Traditions
By Simon Raphael
🌍 Standing in a Long Tradition
Human beings have always asked the same questions: What is the self? What is the soul? What is reality? What guides us toward good or evil?
Across cultures and ages, philosophers, mystics, and poets have tried to answer these questions in their own ways. Similarity Theory is simply my contribution to this same current — not a claim of superiority, but another reflection added to the river of human thought.
🔦 Plato’s Cave and the Frames of Time
Plato spoke of a cave where shadows on the wall deceived prisoners into mistaking illusion for reality. His message was that truth lies beyond appearances.
In my writing, I often describe reality as frames of time through which consciousness moves, creating the illusion of motion and choice. While the imagery differs, both seek to remind us that what we see is not the whole of what is real.
💧 Laozi’s Water and the Droplets of Attraction
The Taoist sage Laozi compared the way of the universe to water — soft, yielding, and yet stronger than stone.
In Similarity Theory, I speak of droplets of water and oil to explain attraction, resonance, and karma. My aim is similar: to show that the laws of nature mirror the laws of spirit, and that humility and respect flow naturally from understanding these patterns.
🔄 Nietzsche’s Eternal Return and the Map of Becoming
Nietzsche imagined the Eternal Return, the possibility that life might repeat forever, asking whether we could embrace existence with such weight.
In my work, I describe the Map of Becoming, where souls travel through avatars, dimensions, and cycles of experience. It is not the same as Nietzsche’s vision, but it touches the same chord — the challenge of affirming life and recognising its continuity beyond any single moment.
🌀 A Shared Search for Meaning
I do not place myself beside these figures to claim equality, but to recognise that my questions echo theirs. Just as they drew on the language of their time — caves, water, cycles — I draw on the images that speak to ours — frames, droplets, and resonance.
Similarity Theory is not meant to replace or compete with the great traditions. It is simply my attempt, born of my own experience, to make sense of existence. If it resonates with others, then it belongs to the same human effort that stretches back through the centuries: the search for truth, for meaning, and for the nature of the self.
📖 References
Plato, The Republic (c. 375 BCE).
Laozi, Tao Te Ching (c. 4th century BCE).
Nietzsche, F. Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85).
Raphael, S. Similarity Theory (2025).
