Lately I've been wondering again what I will do with my life. The question seems more important at some times than it it does at others, depending on how imperative knowing the answer is at the time. Now is one of those times when suddenly, the need to find an answer to that question seems like a very necessary event. A newly obtained bachelor's degree, a professional job that has a timeline of 4 months, the hanging cloud of financial expenses, and the insatiable curiousity to know how everything works begs the question: What is the eventual consequence of the interests I've combined with the experiences I've gained, the values I have, and the areas I want to know more about? Where is this all taking me, and how can I reach an outcome that fulfills my multifaceted interests?
For me, the answer to this question lies in finding the connectedness between all the areas I have skill in and knowledge of and synthesizing them into something new. How can I combine a specialty in marketing with a skill in intuitive arts and/or symbolism (tarot, runes, dream interpretation...), and in interest in philosophical thought and scientific phenomena? How much more must I learn before I can see how I can relate all of this.....
-M
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Quirks and Quarks in God's Table
How much can we really know about our ourselves, our world, our place in this universe? Our experiences are mediated by our senses. Our character is molded by our surroundings, our environment and how we interpret what our senses tell us. Our interpretations are mediated by the memories created from other experiences. Because no two people can interpret stimuli in exactly the same way, how can we verify whether or not we know anything? Does knowing anything about our environment really mean anything? This thought makes me wonder whether or not knowing and understanding are the same thing. Something tells me that maybe they aren't. We can come to understand processes that we do not know of, do not now the names for, and have never been explained to us. This makes me wonder what it really means to know something.
You could say that we know we exist because we are conscious and aware of our own existence (Although whether or not even this is knowledge could be questioned!), and then the next question is; what do we know of our existence? At the most basic and fundamental level, we say we know that we and everything else that exists are all made of the same "stuff"- matter. Matter, an infinite number of atoms with an infinite number of quirks and quarks stippled through an infinite amount of space like stars throughout the galaxy. If everything that we know of is mostly space pocked with tiny bits of molecular material substance (like the way that a table is composed of atoms to make elements which combine to create substances), how can we know that this planet is not in fact just like one of those tiny molecules contributing to a greater material form that exists in a world we know nothing about? What if we, as a collective colony of planet Earth are truly nothing but a viral species that has infected an insignificant quark residing somewhere deep within God's dinner table? Not that I'm sure there is a God. But if there was one, I think I might be more comfortable as an indistinguishable molecule in his table about which he knows absolutely nothing.
The deeper you look into anything dense and physical, the more space you will find. In an atom, the majority of its substance is found concentrated in a small place. The rest of the atom is just wide open space. The amount of space it commands is determined by the number of electrons it possesses. If we lived in an atom and looked out, we would see nothing but space- and the occasional electron whizzing past. Is that really so different than standing on this planet with a telescope and looking out to see the stars spaced out in the sky? We really could be in the table of God, unknowing and un-noticed.
It has been said that universe is expanding and will eventually begin to contract. What if these two processes have always been occurring simultaneously, and so what we understand to be the universe will never "get smaller", because it is already getting bigger as it contracts? Envision this: A concrete ball explodes into an infinite number of pieces. These pieces are projected further and further away from their origin, you could say that the concrete ball has expanded. Imagine that this is not only what is going on in "outer space", but is also what is going on inside everything we know to have substance- that this expansion is occurring on the molecular level of our material world. But physical things have substance, they can be solid, and touched, and make contact with one another. How can something with so much more space than substance (ie atoms) be "touchable"? Maybe the fact that materials are tangible is caused by a contraction that compresses atoms (or quirks and quarks if you will) into as small a space as possible. Imagine what a powerful force that would have to be.....
-M
You could say that we know we exist because we are conscious and aware of our own existence (Although whether or not even this is knowledge could be questioned!), and then the next question is; what do we know of our existence? At the most basic and fundamental level, we say we know that we and everything else that exists are all made of the same "stuff"- matter. Matter, an infinite number of atoms with an infinite number of quirks and quarks stippled through an infinite amount of space like stars throughout the galaxy. If everything that we know of is mostly space pocked with tiny bits of molecular material substance (like the way that a table is composed of atoms to make elements which combine to create substances), how can we know that this planet is not in fact just like one of those tiny molecules contributing to a greater material form that exists in a world we know nothing about? What if we, as a collective colony of planet Earth are truly nothing but a viral species that has infected an insignificant quark residing somewhere deep within God's dinner table? Not that I'm sure there is a God. But if there was one, I think I might be more comfortable as an indistinguishable molecule in his table about which he knows absolutely nothing.
The deeper you look into anything dense and physical, the more space you will find. In an atom, the majority of its substance is found concentrated in a small place. The rest of the atom is just wide open space. The amount of space it commands is determined by the number of electrons it possesses. If we lived in an atom and looked out, we would see nothing but space- and the occasional electron whizzing past. Is that really so different than standing on this planet with a telescope and looking out to see the stars spaced out in the sky? We really could be in the table of God, unknowing and un-noticed.
It has been said that universe is expanding and will eventually begin to contract. What if these two processes have always been occurring simultaneously, and so what we understand to be the universe will never "get smaller", because it is already getting bigger as it contracts? Envision this: A concrete ball explodes into an infinite number of pieces. These pieces are projected further and further away from their origin, you could say that the concrete ball has expanded. Imagine that this is not only what is going on in "outer space", but is also what is going on inside everything we know to have substance- that this expansion is occurring on the molecular level of our material world. But physical things have substance, they can be solid, and touched, and make contact with one another. How can something with so much more space than substance (ie atoms) be "touchable"? Maybe the fact that materials are tangible is caused by a contraction that compresses atoms (or quirks and quarks if you will) into as small a space as possible. Imagine what a powerful force that would have to be.....
-M
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Like Ticks on a Rabbit
An excerpt from "Sophie's World" by Jostein Gaarder:
To summarize briefly: A white rabbit is pulled out of a top hat. Because it is an extremely large rabbit, the trick takes many billions of years. All mortals are born at the very tip of the rabbit's fine hairs, where they are in a position to wonder at the impossibility of the trick. But as they grow older they work themselves ever deeper into the fur. And there they stay. They become so comfortable they never risk crawling back up the fragile hairs again. Only philosophers embark on this perilous expedition to the outermost reaches of language and existence. Some of them fall off but others cling on desperately and yell at the people nestling deep in the snug softness, stuffing themselves with delicious food and drink.
"Ladies and gentlemen," they yell, "we are floating in space!" but none of the people down there care.
"What a bunch of troublemakers!" they say. And they keep on chatting: Would you pass the butter please? How much have our stocks risen today? What is the price of tomatoes? Have you heard that [Britney Spears] is expecting again?
(A novel about the history of philosophy)
Even though your feet touch the ground with every step you take, the truth still remains- we ARE all floating in space. Everything that we see, touch, taste.... it's ALL floating around in space. Everything that we have labeled and defined is just floating around in an expanse of nothing. Do you not find this fact infinitely intriguing? I do....
-M
To summarize briefly: A white rabbit is pulled out of a top hat. Because it is an extremely large rabbit, the trick takes many billions of years. All mortals are born at the very tip of the rabbit's fine hairs, where they are in a position to wonder at the impossibility of the trick. But as they grow older they work themselves ever deeper into the fur. And there they stay. They become so comfortable they never risk crawling back up the fragile hairs again. Only philosophers embark on this perilous expedition to the outermost reaches of language and existence. Some of them fall off but others cling on desperately and yell at the people nestling deep in the snug softness, stuffing themselves with delicious food and drink.
"Ladies and gentlemen," they yell, "we are floating in space!" but none of the people down there care.
"What a bunch of troublemakers!" they say. And they keep on chatting: Would you pass the butter please? How much have our stocks risen today? What is the price of tomatoes? Have you heard that [Britney Spears] is expecting again?
(A novel about the history of philosophy)
Even though your feet touch the ground with every step you take, the truth still remains- we ARE all floating in space. Everything that we see, touch, taste.... it's ALL floating around in space. Everything that we have labeled and defined is just floating around in an expanse of nothing. Do you not find this fact infinitely intriguing? I do....
-M
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