No End in Sight by Louis Evan Palmer
"This thing cannot keep on going so that we are always going to discover more and more new laws." Richard FeynmanThe search for the ultimate truth, the ultimate explanation or framework continues unabated. In some cases, it's just a job, a way to pay expenses, invested with only an occasional excitement or joy. In other cases, it's a vibrant exploration. But, regardless, it never seems to make definitive progress. Every time a complete solution seems to present itself, it opens up onto another world of knowledge.
For example, a short time ago, the 1950s, we thought and scientists agreed, that the universe consisted of "The Milky Way". For several decades that was the received knowledge.
Atoms were originally conceived as the irreducible elements out of which everything else was made. Now there's a veritable zoo of particles and quasi-forces, some verified, some half-proven but still mostly theoretical.
It has been recently posited that there is such a thing as "dark matter" and "dark energy" which is about as gigantic a revolution in understanding as is possible. It's tremendously exciting and fun in the sense of a never-ending journey but it calls into question if there really is a destination, a final stop.
When every plateau opens up onto another series of mountains and valleys but more than that, changes the journey and changes the assumptions that guided the last leg of the struggle, changes the map and the directions. Yes, we can do things at this new level but being able to do things and understanding what or how that is happening is another matter.
We have introduced the element of the observer and the possibility of the observer changing processes and changing reality. We haven't as yet allowed for the effect of non-human entities on levels or layers we haven't as yet dreamed of. Or, even an ultimate force or presence that unfolds this existence in which we find ourselves.
If each explanation is not really an explanation but merely a description; if each level we find ourselves in is actually subject to the dictates of another dimension or level; then unless we can discern that underlying or over-riding reality we'll be forever playing in a believed world, in our musings and elaborations, never actually reaching the true crux of the matter, or a complete understanding of reality and existence.
No End in Sight, Louis Evan Palmer, The Way It Can Be, http://twicb.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2008 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications.
No comments:
Post a Comment