I Had it All Wrong
I thought I knew about special relativity, until last Friday, when I actually learned about it. There were holes in my understanding, I knew, but as it turned out, I pretty much didn't know anything. I don't think most people except physics students really know what it's like to feel like you have a good grasp on things, then realize that there is so much you don't know. You grow up learning Newtonian Physics, perhaps along with Calculus, and it all Makes Sense. Almost suddenly, you realize that you really have no idea what's going on, and you're only seeing a shadow of the "real" world, if there can be considered to be such a thing.
So, on Friday, I was having dinner with Alanna's friend John, discussing Life, the Universe, and Everything (the concepts, not the book). I brought up the subject of religion ("I was raised Catholic, so, I'm sorry." "That's nothing to be sorry about, John." "No, I was raised Catholic. That's what we do."), and reiterated my belief in a God that is quite unlike this anthropomorphic notion that most religious people have. He asked me if I believed in ghosts. I said that, while I did not actively disbelieve in the strange spiritual phenomena many, many people have experienced, they do not fit in my current framework for understanding the Universe. (I think I literally said something more along the lines of "There's some freaky stuff that's happened.") I reflected on Rachel's stories of her grandfather's hauntings ("He is such a bastard!" she says) and realized that that is a fairly significant hole in my current theory. (If you recall, I said that I thought it was most likely that we just cease to be when we die, save the effect we've had on the people around us and our environment in life.)
Connecting the first paragraph to this conversation, I sort of feel like I understand the world, and how it works, with a few holes. It's somewhat of an unsubstantiated prediction, but I just had the feeling that some day, I will have that same feeling that I described up there, that I had it completely wrong all along (though I seriously doubt I will return to organized religion for my answers). As John said, I will some day wake up (figuratively and, perhaps literally. I'm not immune to epiphanies upon awakening), and say "John, you've got it all wrong." Except I'll probably call myself Jimmy. It's halfway plausible that I might some day be known better as Jim or James, but highly unlikely that I'll call myself John.
Of course, it's also plausible that these phenomena might fit into my current theories. It's possible that these phenomena are just unseen effects these people had on their environment, perhaps unconsciously, perhaps with mischievous intent, as with Rachel's grandfather's alarm clock. Then again, this is all anecdotal evidence I've presented, and been presented with. Perhaps there's a reason there's no empirical evidence, and that is because it's something that can't be substantiated. That they're just collective illusions. Or, perhaps I've got it all wrong. Perhaps God works in mysterious ways by necessity, because we'd all freak out if we knew the Truth, but a select few can know, hence the hauntings?
Here's something that's never bothered me until tonight. What if the reason there are relatively few interactions with posthumous spirits is that most people simply die, yet there is a part of some people that lives on in a less abstract, but more ethereal fashion. That, like Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda, they figured out a way to still be in the Force, perhaps manifesting themselves in visual or audio form. But, what if there are some conditions upon death to maintaining some essence of yourself, and I just don't know them, or qualify? I imagine it would difficult for a four+dimension being to maintain a third-dimension projection. Or perhaps it's as simple as making a shadow puppet. This is all speculation, though, for none of this really makes sense in my current framework. I don't believe there's anything to a person but their body, or that a "mind" is formed by anything but the brain.
Anyway, the whole point of this rambly, late-night post is that some day, I'm going to realize that I'm completely wrong, and it's going to freak me out.
--Jimmy out
P.S. Thank God LiveJournal autosaves. One stray button press almost deleted everything when I had but a sentence to go.
So, on Friday, I was having dinner with Alanna's friend John, discussing Life, the Universe, and Everything (the concepts, not the book). I brought up the subject of religion ("I was raised Catholic, so, I'm sorry." "That's nothing to be sorry about, John." "No, I was raised Catholic. That's what we do."), and reiterated my belief in a God that is quite unlike this anthropomorphic notion that most religious people have. He asked me if I believed in ghosts. I said that, while I did not actively disbelieve in the strange spiritual phenomena many, many people have experienced, they do not fit in my current framework for understanding the Universe. (I think I literally said something more along the lines of "There's some freaky stuff that's happened.") I reflected on Rachel's stories of her grandfather's hauntings ("He is such a bastard!" she says) and realized that that is a fairly significant hole in my current theory. (If you recall, I said that I thought it was most likely that we just cease to be when we die, save the effect we've had on the people around us and our environment in life.)
Connecting the first paragraph to this conversation, I sort of feel like I understand the world, and how it works, with a few holes. It's somewhat of an unsubstantiated prediction, but I just had the feeling that some day, I will have that same feeling that I described up there, that I had it completely wrong all along (though I seriously doubt I will return to organized religion for my answers). As John said, I will some day wake up (figuratively and, perhaps literally. I'm not immune to epiphanies upon awakening), and say "John, you've got it all wrong." Except I'll probably call myself Jimmy. It's halfway plausible that I might some day be known better as Jim or James, but highly unlikely that I'll call myself John.
Of course, it's also plausible that these phenomena might fit into my current theories. It's possible that these phenomena are just unseen effects these people had on their environment, perhaps unconsciously, perhaps with mischievous intent, as with Rachel's grandfather's alarm clock. Then again, this is all anecdotal evidence I've presented, and been presented with. Perhaps there's a reason there's no empirical evidence, and that is because it's something that can't be substantiated. That they're just collective illusions. Or, perhaps I've got it all wrong. Perhaps God works in mysterious ways by necessity, because we'd all freak out if we knew the Truth, but a select few can know, hence the hauntings?
Here's something that's never bothered me until tonight. What if the reason there are relatively few interactions with posthumous spirits is that most people simply die, yet there is a part of some people that lives on in a less abstract, but more ethereal fashion. That, like Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda, they figured out a way to still be in the Force, perhaps manifesting themselves in visual or audio form. But, what if there are some conditions upon death to maintaining some essence of yourself, and I just don't know them, or qualify? I imagine it would difficult for a four+dimension being to maintain a third-dimension projection. Or perhaps it's as simple as making a shadow puppet. This is all speculation, though, for none of this really makes sense in my current framework. I don't believe there's anything to a person but their body, or that a "mind" is formed by anything but the brain.
Anyway, the whole point of this rambly, late-night post is that some day, I'm going to realize that I'm completely wrong, and it's going to freak me out.
--Jimmy out
P.S. Thank God LiveJournal autosaves. One stray button press almost deleted everything when I had but a sentence to go.