Comparing reactions to existence       2006-2015

I would like to ask you, the reader, to try an experiment and look at Figure 1.

Please consider your own reflection in it.

That is you.

If this seems perfectly obvious, look again.

Figure 1. Existence is strange.

Nothing is obvious about this at all. Existence is strange, and if Figure 1 succeeded in conveying this to some extent, it is quite possible that the last thing on the reader's mind, right now, is to continue reading these words.

Still, it might be said that the scientific reaction to this seems to be to try to get to know things, in the sense of carefully obtaining a correct understanding of the things that apparently exist.

The spiritual reaction, on the other hand, seems to be that there is an ultimate truth in this which cannot be known in the above sense. That is not to say that it is not possible to be aware of this truth, or to go in search of it.

We can easily imagine a discussion between a scientific and a spiritual person where each becomes impatient with the other. The one may wonder how there can be any value in something outside comprehension; the other may feel that focusing on the knowable, the greater point is missed.

It might be possible for them to disagree while still sharing a similar sense of wonder.