The Blackberry Walk

The question that's been on my mind as of recent has been "what's at the base of all things?" What's the bedrock? What's the origin, the wellspring of all things? In truth, it's not a questions which is solely on my mind, nor one which I've only been thinking about recently. The all-absorbing question of metaphysics can hypnotise you, tricking you into walking round and round in circles. Under its trace you may fall down a whole in search of the philosopher's stone, or slit your wrists with Occam's razor - it's a dangerous journey. But it's nevertheless fun to categorise these hero's follies: most of mine are written privately, but this latest thought I've decided to share. So again, what's the bedrock? The scientists say science - the quark, the lepton, the wavefunction; the Platonist says the forms, which shine down to form reality; the Jungians say psyche marinated with a mixture of archetypes and the teleological pull of individuation. I could continue the list, with every philosopher and thinker under the sun, but I won't. There is a sense in most that there must be a singleness, a oneness, a root which is not like a tree root, but rather much more like a carrot: singular and delicious. For me, that new pull is simply experience - your sense of the world. On top of that experience, models of the world are plastered, like a scientific model, or a Jungian model, but at root we just experience the world - that is what is True. Truth exists and we can see it all the time - it doesn't exist in a world out of reach - insofar as spirituality too exists in the real world, not in a fantastical world beyond the clouds. Science is useful and is true - but only sometimes. Quantum mechanics becomes true when dealing with quantum particles and quantum effects. When dealing with a bulk of materials, there's no need since in most cases a classical approach will work just as well. The surgeon doesn't have to think through the lens of chemistry, since it'll make them botch the surgery thinking of each individual reaction of the body as the scalpel cuts into the body. Similarly the bridge engineer needn't worry about quantum mechanics. However, the CPU designer and the quantum physicist should worry about quantum mechanics, since otherwise they'll fail to achieve their goals. Spiritual disciplines and modes of thought like religions aren't useful for dealing with chemical reaction; they have no information regarding these investigations. However should we be thinking about morality, spiritual disciplines have far more wisdom than science since that's the purpose of a spiritual discipline. What we're seeing is that each model has it's own territory where it is useful. Just like scientists who claim to be a moral expert because they're a neuroscientist, or a pastor who throws out the scientist because through his special knowledge he understands the nature of matter far better. Go back to your field, and get the carpenter to fix the fence. What we see today is the ever more powerful sheep of science breaking down every fence in sight, infiltrating every field of research, even if they aren't supposed to be there. The principle can be taken further. The world is in fact in the centre of the solar system - no, the universe - and it certainly isn't spinning. Have you looked around you recently? It certainly doesn't feel like the world is spinning; my feet, at the very least, are firmly on the ground. The sun comes up every morning, and down every night. Sure, for calculating satellites, a deeper understanding in astronomy is needed, but for everyday life, as Sherlock Holmes quips: "What the deuce is it to me? You say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.” We are constantly being gaslit by the culture. We see, we perceive certain occurrences, certain patterns, but we are told not to believe ourselves. I see a desk, and the scientist says no, that isn't a desk, it's many braided cellulose polymers, which are atoms, which are electrons and quarks in quantum fluctuations. "Oh", I reply, proven wrong, not trusting my senses. Galileo's discovery has imprisoned us. No longer can we trust our senses, since an expert who's studied the planets' movement at length will say, "Wait a moment, you're wrong." We must realise that our own senses are what's real and that these complex models are for specific circumstances. Freud and Jung are designed for therapy, not for a deep understanding of every aspect of the universe. When niche ideas dethrone common sense, seeping in to every crevice of your cognition, you become a madman. Truth is not something small and ever-distant; it is enormous and right in front of our noses. When we retreat into these ever-more complex models which claim to explain all things, we miss the trees for the forest. We run through the forest looking for a diamond amongst the dead autumnal leaves, not realising the Truth is in the trees. Chasing the sparkle we forget the mundane; looking for the transparent, when there is nothing more opaque than the Truth. In summary, we are surrounded by Truth without acknowledging it. Once we trust our own senses of the world and trust in ourselves, Truth will be waiting for us.