Friday, March 23, 2012

Reality? Oh, please…

If you ponder with attention about the world you might discover that there is a reason for everything, even for unreason. If you look at the vast universe, what do you see? If you think that all you see is all there is to be seen then you see nothing, just the surface, only appearances. Some people can see another level and perceive the world as made out of numbers, particles or molecules, but again, all they see is just numbers, particles and molecules; barely the second level... and there are many, many more possible levels... Somehow it’s like water that master Lao Tzu compared to the Eternal Dao (chapter 8). Is water a gas, a liquid or a solid? It is just a chemical formula or a precious drink? Is an element or a compound? Is there a difference if is it cold or warm? If you're thirsty or if you're not? Or there is a difference if you call it water, vand, acqua, or 水? Or there is more? Juliet would say: "What's in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet" (Act II, Scene II). Names do not matter, only reality matters, but reality it's rarely what it seems or what we would like it to be. Galilei was pretty adamant on that: while the Church wanted to believe that the earth is still and at the center of the universe – ah! What a common human delusion! – the natural philosopher murmured: "eppur si muove…, and yet it does move…". Juliet would probably just have said: call a rose by any other name...

(Dr. Divago)