Interesting?
We think of ourselves as being so aware of the world around us...but...
Look at how much you are incapable of...
How much is going on around us...that we are oblivious to!
This sets the stage for some interesting thoughts!
Let's start with what you heard...
You heard every tone...right?
I bet...NOT!
You are limited by your auditory acuity...
You miss a lot of sound (data) because you lack audio acuity!
You lack the ability to detect it...
You hearing has been desensitized!
Much of the sound spectrum...you (we) could not and in many cases...NEVER... hear!
Guess what?
...The same holds true for every other of your (our) senses...
Our eyes can only see a narrow portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (visible light)...but there is a lot more electromagnetic energy (data) that we can't perceive with our eyes!
(That's right...data is conveyed by energy!)
As a result...we have other senses to detect other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum...
I could go through every sense...but I think you get the picture!
1 -Hearing - Sound
2 - Sight - Light
3 - Smell Chemical composition of air
4 - Taste - Chemical composition of solids/liquids
5 - Touch - Heat and pressure
6 - Kinesthetic - Positional (muscular)
7 - Vestibular - Gravity
Yes 7 senses...not 5!
Many people have been taught that there are 5 senses...but there are 7 distinct senses!
Yet because each only detects a narrow portion of the spectrum we miss data!
Now let's go back to our original thought...
There is a lot of data that we receive...and are totally oblivious to the fact that it is there!
Let's go outside the box...
If there is stuff that we can't sense because our senses have been desensitized...there may be a ton of stuff happening around us that no one can "sense" because there is no sense organ for it!
Many will argue that the senses that we have are those that we needed to get to where we are...and that all of the other stuff going on is frivolous...
I totally agree!
My point is that thinking that we have all the data important to truth is narrow...in fact our truth is as narrow as our senses are limited!
Have we considered that "Truth" is not contained within our limited data sources...but a sum total proposition of all of the data!
The entire energy spectrum!
Advanced Science...
Physicists have spent years studying energy and some of them...postulating multiple dimensions...
Sadly...we'll never be able to see them...feel them...hear them...because our senses are incapable of detecting them...
Something to consider...what physicists are calling multiple dimensions may just be energies that we can not detect!
an interesting thought...but it is just that...
Does it matter?
Let's go back to an argument that I mentioned earlier...
The Expanding Universe...
When I was in 3rd grade...and going through our science book...one chapter was about the stars! We were studying astronomy!!!!...While we were doing our lessons...my teacher told us that scientists believe that the universe is expanding...
A little boy (me) sitting in the back of the room asked, " Isn't the universe really considered everything?"
To that the teacher answered ..."yes"
"So if it is expanding...what is it expanding into?"
She looked at me but did not answer...
"Because if it was everything...then it had to be expanding into itself which was already the universe...which means that it isn't expanding..."
To that the teacher corrected me and said, "the universe is expanding into nothing..."
I think that she hoped that I would shut-up!
But I kept at it...and she finally put an end the "fruitless" discussion by telling us that this is what the book (data) tells us and we simply have to accept it until scientists find (see or hear) something different!
In other words...
It doesn't matter!
Expanding knowledge...like the universe...
When I think about data being energy...it takes me to this thought...
Knowledge is infinitely vast!
Knowledge is constantly growing...expanding...
What is it expanding into?
Itself?
LOL!
Does it matter?
I think so!
Attempting to expand knowledge is useful,,,
...when it's application is of benefit...
But what is of value...and what is frivolous?
There may be a message in our "growing older" experience...related to that fact that we as humans become desensitized...over time...
Perhaps this is the crux of wisdom...a desensitization to extraneous and frivolous data...
Perhaps we lack certain senses because there is no need for certain pieces of data...
Perhaps we should learn to do what we can with what we have!
Perhaps many of the additional senses that we lack have gone the course of our appendix...
...which is a remnant of some organ we had in the past...but no longer serves a function...
WAIT...physiologists have discovered that the appendix does serve a function!
It is a place that reserves the beneficial bacteria from our intestinal tract...in the event that we get sick and discharge or kill the bacteria that resides in our intestines...the bacteria reserve in our appendix recharges us!
It is something...Darn...just when we were thinking that it was useless!
...that new data...consequently led to information (interpretation) and insight!
We knew that it was there...but our interpretations and tribal knowledge said it was useless...
Our real benefit came when we did more with what we already had!
A lesson...raw data...leads to information and when properly interpreted it leads to insight!
Our goal is to do the most with what we have...before we attempt to move forward!
Maximize it!
But then again...
Does it matter?
Whether we knew what an appendix did or not...did not make the appendix function or function better!
The Narrow View and Arrogance...
The biggest risk that we run as human beings is that we accept what we sense as fact and reject everything else...because we don't sense it...
"I'll believe it when I see it or hear it with my own ears..."
Just because you can't hear it doesn't mean that it is not there!
It just means that it is below the threshold of your perception or to go a bit deeper...our understanding!
It is our own weaknesses...that which aids and abets "deception..."
Let's think about this and apply the potential arrogance in an effort of science...
The search for extra-terrestrial life...
Scientists are looking for planets rotating stars...at a distance that would create earth-like conditions...
It is our narrow and arrogant understanding of fact that lies at the foundation of this effort...
Perhaps we are a rarity and that life abounds in a vacuum full of radiation...the void of space itself!
Perhaps in the real world...liquid water affects the abundant life like molten rock affects us!
One may argue that we would have found it if life like that existed...
maybe yes...maybe no!
Definitely not if we were not looking for it!
The space around the earth could be filled with life...like our oceans abound...and that life could be significantly more intelligent than us!
Why do I say that?...because it has nothing to do with us! LOL!
We have allowed our narrow view to limit our search and perception!
Doe it matter?
Expectation theory...(kind of...)
Psychological studies show that people see what they expect to see...or believe that they should see!
The mind plays some terrible tricks on us!
People see things that aren't there...
...and miss things in plain sight!
Some may argue that we are simply doing the best we can with what we have...
But why do we allow the data/information of others influence us?
It may be that we subconsciously recognize the fact that we can not acquire all of the knowledge important to us and depend (default) to the information of others for the sake of efficiency...
...just like lemmings do! LOL! (BTW Lemmings do really stupid things!)
Seriously, it may be that we are not independent and we would desire...but more like ants and bees...whose synergistic (I hate this concept...LOL) is apparent in the ability of the hive/colony to be more than the sum total of the hive/colony members...
The critical nature of this concept is that it totally depends on trust (ants and bees have trust? I believe so!) and specialization (credible "trustworthy" information).
If there is a risk that "IF" the individual conveying the information is inaccurate...the entire hive/colony suffers...perhaps to its demise...
We need to recognize this risk even in our own activities...
Although we are not structured as an insect hive or colony...we still run the same risks as they do when we blindly accept information...or lack information!
Mass hysteria...caused by misinformation...or even hype...can lead us down a path detrimental to our society...
Hype campaigning...can cause voters to divert to the wrong conclusions...and elect the wrong individuals!
This scares me!
Inaccurate news reports...
"Remember the Maine!"
Causes wars!
This scares me!
In a sense...we are a hive or a colony...and we have to protect our existence at our core!
Does it matter?
I believe that it does!
Other Senses...
Scientists have found that pigeons have the ability to sense the earth's magnetic field!!!
Although they have yet to say it...this is another sense!
Why do I call it a sense?
Because they use it to find home!
AND it works every time!
Scientists have found that Hammerhead Sharks can sense life buried in the sea floor!!!
This one they have called another sense!
Why?
Because that is how they find food!
AND it works every time!
What is important about these discoveries is that it confirms that there is other senses...
Many would argue that if there were other senses...we would have found them...
Now we can say...with confidence...
THERE ARE OTHER SENSES!!!
and they can serve a beneficial function!
We often reject the thought because we don't have them!
Think of all of the money we'd save on GPSs if we had the pigeon sense...LOL!
Senses and Truth...
A Pigeon's truth is different from ours because it has different and/or additional information...
A Hammerhead Shark's truth is different from ours because it has different and/or additional information...
But how do we know what their "truth" looks like?
We really can not know what they feel like...
Why?
Because we lack that sense!
We are oblivious to the energy that they sense and feel...
even how it feels!
What responses it drives...
As a result...
We have to convert "truth" into something that we can understand!
The weird thing is that for us is to understand that which we can not sense...it must be converted into data that we can see or hear or taste or touch or feel...and so on!
We do not know what their sense really is like!
We do not know their reality!
Real pigeon and shark "Truth" is lost in translation!
This important aspect of data and translation must be fully grasped in order for us to understand what we really know as "truth"
At best what we know is limited...
More often...we are functioning under some delusion!
Yet we are functioning!
Does it matter?
I do not know!
Searching for an answer...
What matters is recognition...
Recognition of the limitations of our perception...and the data that it provides...
Recognition of the fact that there is massive amounts of information that we are incapable of capturing...
Recognition that we remain a hive or colony and that misinformation can have dire adverse effects on our very existence...
Recognition of the fact that people use misinformation to "hype the hive" and misdirect us for their own selfish reasons! (perhaps the "hypers" had misinformation to begin with!)
These recognitions limit our definition to truth to simply "that which works...for us...right now"
The elements of this definition are very important...
1 - How well it works or serves us...
2 - How broadly serves us (how big "us" is)
3 - How long the "truth" provides elements 1 & 2
Let's push this a little further before we close for the weekend!
Since our senses are limited and we can be misinformed by others...
Your truth is limited to you as an individual...
It is what makes you function...survive and thrive!
You (we) no more...have the right to push our truth on another as they have on you (us)...because of the "risk" or limitations of what we know...
Those who claim to be aware or hold more knowledge or enlightened may be just the opposite...
...we need to be keenly aware of this fact...and not fall prey to them...or act like them...
If there is a time for it to be "all about you" it is with this concept and this concept only!
Does it matter?
I believe so!
It is a critical aspect of success!
Enough said!
Pura Vida!
No comments:
Post a Comment