Is there more than what meets the eye?
Humans hold themselves above others in the animal kingdom, and rightfully so in most cases. The problem is that we often overlook, dismiss or simply fail to consider we may have similar failings in some areas.
I mention this because one of the things in other animals is that they often fail to fully recognize, understand and appreciate what is before them. Take your television for instance. Other animals don't recognize a television for what it is. At worse they see a box that can be noisy. To them, the television is a noisy box perhaps with a human voice uttering undecipherable words that changes in color (assuming they aren't colorblind). They fail to comprehend that the images on the screen are created elsewhere and often times show living, breathing creatures, albeit once removed. It is not to them what we, with our higher intelligence, know it to be.
And so I wonder if even with our superior intelligence we see things in the universe but fail to comprehend fully what we are seeing. We see the solar system, the stars, even galaxies. Are they truly as we "know" them to be? Or is there a connection among the parts of our universe that we fail to comprehend? Might the sum total of what we are seeing be something greater than that collection of observable stars? Is what we see merely the colorful images on our universal TV screen? Some cosmologists say there is more although not even they can see it. Some suggest we are part of a multiverse; others have different theories. The point is that it is all conjecture. All they are seeing is a TV screen that has changing images on it.
I mention this because one of the things in other animals is that they often fail to fully recognize, understand and appreciate what is before them. Take your television for instance. Other animals don't recognize a television for what it is. At worse they see a box that can be noisy. To them, the television is a noisy box perhaps with a human voice uttering undecipherable words that changes in color (assuming they aren't colorblind). They fail to comprehend that the images on the screen are created elsewhere and often times show living, breathing creatures, albeit once removed. It is not to them what we, with our higher intelligence, know it to be.
And so I wonder if even with our superior intelligence we see things in the universe but fail to comprehend fully what we are seeing. We see the solar system, the stars, even galaxies. Are they truly as we "know" them to be? Or is there a connection among the parts of our universe that we fail to comprehend? Might the sum total of what we are seeing be something greater than that collection of observable stars? Is what we see merely the colorful images on our universal TV screen? Some cosmologists say there is more although not even they can see it. Some suggest we are part of a multiverse; others have different theories. The point is that it is all conjecture. All they are seeing is a TV screen that has changing images on it.
I don't doubt in time some brilliant mind will offer a better understanding of the universe than we now have. And probably after that brilliant mind is gone, another brilliant mind will offer even more explanation. There is a good likelihood, though, that we will never truly understand what is before us. It may be that our minds are no more capable of understanding the universe and our part in it than an animal's mind can comprehend the complexity of a TV. We might forever be consigned to see the TV box but fail to recognize what really is at work.
But I do wonder if we had sufficient intelligence might we see so much more? If we were intelligent enough to comprehend what is before us, I suspect we would be shocked. As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet:
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
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