Blending science and philosophy The Goblin Universe seeks answers to such questions as what is the paranormal, is there a God and is there life after death?
Excerpt
Throughout history, human beings have struggled to understand the world we live in. The finest minds the human race has ever produced have grappled with the problem of what it all means. Did some powerful God form the cosmos for reasons we cannot begin to imagine, or did it originate in a cataclysmic explosion for no reason at all? And in all this emptiness what place is mans? Does life have a meaning created with the universe itself, or only what we can give it from the way we live our lives? In searching for answers to such questions, humanity has utilized reason, mathematics, meditation and prayer. Each of these has its own truths to offer, but which is right? How, amid the plethora of systems and theories, is it possible to find a path that leads to the truth?
Faced with a choice of paths through a wilderness a good map is very useful. By giving a bird’s eye view of the territory traveled, a map eliminates much of the element of chance from ones journey. A good map lets you know where you are and how to get where you wish to go. In just the same way a true understanding of the nature of reality is a tremendous help in understanding ones choices in life. This gives a basis for evaluating competing paths or theories without having to walk those paths themselves, very useful when it comes to charting a course through life.
Within Western civilization, science has come to dominate all attempts to understand the world. This has lead to some unexpected insights into just how reality is constructed. Still while science is a powerful method of discovery, it is still only one line of thought. Different cultures and different traditions have placed their greatest emphasis elsewhere, on religion, magic, or mysticism. By measuring the insights of science against the findings of these other disciplines, it should now be possible to sift through the competing theories and to find the thread that will lead us, like Theseus, out of the maze. As Dr. Heisenberg pointed out it is where these lines of thought intersect that “fruitful developments” are most likely to occur.
This domination of science is a direct result of its success in the material realm, with the opulent lifestyle of modern society as the result. This modernist view is of recent origins, however. For most of recorded history, other views have held sway. Even today, there are those who would not subscribe to it. Mystics, poets, priests and shamans have held different ideas on what constitutes valid knowledge. Are these alternative ideas valid lines of thought in their own right or just the delusions of ignorant people? In the end, to many people have believed these differing views for to long a time, to just dismiss them out of hand and any theory that is put forth as a valid explanation of all reality must be able to accommodate all of these varying views within its structure.
One of the cardinal sins of the scientific method is to select the data to fit the theory. To give preference to the scientist over the priest or the priest over the shaman is to commit this very error. Now it may turn out, within the perfected theory, that not all views are equal; but to give preference to one view over another at the commencement of ones search is sloppy thinking of the first order. It is only by diligently exploring all paths that the best one can be found. Any theory that purports to explain all of reality must be capable of accounting for the whole of the human experience. It has to be able to explain the subjective as well as the objective, the priest as well as the scientist, the things we understand quite well and the things we do not understand at all. Only a theory that can do all of this has any hope of being right.
Read more about THE GOBLIN UNIVERSE: Speculations on the Nature of Reality and Adam Rourke HERE.
Copyright 2008 Adam Rourke. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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