There is No Spoon

 

Today is one of those days where I have a lot to say, but not sure how to put it all on paper.  When I first started “blogging” there was a lot of that.  Random thoughts on digital paper.  For the longest time I joked about having only three readers, because, well…I only had three readers.  Random thoughts on digital paper may be the reason for that.  Who knows?

And that’s precisely my point today.  Who knows?  The world is made up of enigmas, dogma, conjecture and bias.  All sorts of swaying possibilities to get us to believe, to trust or to buy.  Mostly to buy.

Philosophically speaking, the truth is there is no truth.  As a geek, I like to think of it this way…

In the science fiction movie “The Matrix”, the hero walks into a dingy room in a dingy apartment and finds it filled with kids who are there to see the Oracle, just as he is.  They are there to determine if they are “The One”.  The savior.  Yes…The Matrix has a lot of religious overtones.

The hero kneels to the floor to speak with a young boy who is bending spoons with his mind.  The boy tells him “Do not try and bend the spoon, that’s impossible.  Instead, only try to realize the truth.”

“What truth?” our hero asks.

“There is no spoon.”

Indeed the moment is both dramatic and a revelation, for The Matrix is a world where anything is possible if one realizes that it isn’t real.  My point today isn’t to debate the reality of our lives.  The reality of reality.  I’m not going to ask “Prove you exist.”  But questions abound for me concerning the truth.

I adhere to mostly scientific views.  If I can see it and touch it, it must be real.  I’m not the quickest to a boil, but I can wrap my head even some of the most complicated of scientific theory.  I have such a fascination with it that recently I checked off another book on my “To Do List” of reading.  Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time.”

What I found was both fascinating and telling.  Science is filled with trial and error, and proof is based on tested theory.  But I’d like to make a clear point about that last sentence.  Proof is based on theory that has been tested.  Theory is an idea.  Anyone can have one.  Many people believe Lee Harvey Oswald did not fire the weapon that killed JFK.  It’s a theory.  The point is, our ideas or theories can come from anywhere, and don’t have to be based on anything other than our own imagination.

Fact or proof exists once we have enough evidence to support our theory.  There again, a point needs to be made.  Enough evidence.  We once thought the earth was flat, until we had enough evidence to prove otherwise.  Science once thought the sun revolved around the earth.  Again, until we had more evidence.  Our scientific theories are only proven based on the information we have at this moment.  With more information tomorrow, we may learn there are holes in our theory.

Which brings me back to my initial question.  Who knows?  The answer is, in truth, nobody knows.  Science is no more an authority than anyone else.  Many scientists will disagree.  But fanatics are fanatics regardless of which side of the fence you sit on.

The fact is we don’t know for sure if the spoon exists or not.  Common logic, science or faith may give you an answer, but it’s all up to the individual to decide.  The individual.

To pull my thoughts back to a less controversial plane, the question of “Who knows” provides us with an opportunity.  Instead of arguing our points and attempting to get others to view life as we view it, different perspectives allow us to broaden our understanding of our own beliefs.

Let’s pull the thought down even further.

We believe our lives are to be something based on the information we are given.  Depending on who, what, where, when, why and how you were born, that information could differ dramatically.  Some of us are born to believe we must be something or someone specific.  That may not coincide with that burning desire we have deep in our hearts.  The conflict within becomes confusing.  Who am I supposed to be?

Who knows?

In chewing over the endless possibilities of this debate, I’ve come to realize that I can only make decisions based on the information I have today.  The bigger picture, for me, is too complicated to worry about right now.  But I have the power to keep my thoughts in the present, and the desire to chase that dream that keeps coming back.  That creative, magical, wonderful dream.  I can be anything I choose to be.  Artist, author, filmmaker, friend.

Anything is possible, because in truth…there is no spoon.