Existence – Harmonia Philosophica

Essence over Form…

What clues does our memory use to connect a current situation to a situation from the past? A study conducted by researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, – working in collaboration with CY Cergy Paris University in France – demonstrated that similarities in structure and essence (the heart of a situation) guide our recollections rather than surface similarities (the general theme, for example, or the setting or protagonists). It is only when individuals lack sufficient knowledge that they turn to the surface clues — the easiest to access — to recollect a situation.

The research calls into question the received idea that our memory is guided by the principle of the easiest option and that surface features dominate recall. “A human being’s way of remembering is less superficial than was thought, and in all likelihood favours structure over surface,” adds professor Sander. “It’s only out of ignorance that superficial clues will take precedence.” says professor Clément by way of conclusion. (1)

Think.

Remember.

The essence. Not the surface.

How can you think of the surface anyway?

There is nothing to see in the waves of the ocean.

It is its depths that hold the light.

Yes, you can swim well.

Only because you are afraid to drown…

Remember.

Think.

Was there any point in time when you couldn’t ride the waves?

Listen to the flowers.

Remember.

What could be deeper than the surface?

Dichotomies…

In a study published in Nature Astronomy, researchers from the United States and Japan unveiled the possible origins of our cosmic neighborhood’s “Great Divide”. A well-known schism which resulted to have on the one side the “terrestrial” planets, such as Earth and Mars and on the other side the more distant planets such as Jupiter and Saturn, with different composition than the first ones.

“How do you create this compositional dichotomy?” said lead author Ramon Brasser.

Brasser and coauthor Stephen Mojzsis, a professor in CU Boulder’s Department of Geological Sciences, suggested that the early solar system was partitioned into at least two regions by a ring-like structure that formed a disk around the young sun. This disk might have held major implications for the evolution of planets and asteroids, and even the history of life on Earth. (1)

A world organized in patterns.

A world split.

A world united under our eye.

Constantly moving. Constantly changing. And yet, staying the same. Ancient Greeks watching at the night sky. Modern people measuring distances. Kids playing. Drawing lines on the dirt. Separating the solar system into pieces. Forming the cosmos in laughter.

Is the cosmos the creation of a wise God?

Or the result of a kid’s play?

Look at the kids playing.

Watch those wise men laugh.

I feel safe looking at differences.

Too scared to think that…

Those two options are not really that different…

Life. A mess…

Life is built with three major components: RNA and DNA – the genetic code – and proteins, the cells that carry out their instructions. Most likely, the first cells had all three pieces. But first, RNA, DNA or proteins had to form without their partners. One common theory, known as the “RNA World” hypothesis, proposes that because RNA, unlike DNA, can self-replicate, that molecule may have come first. Some scientists believe the process of its formation may not have been such a straightforward path.

In a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Szostak Kim and colleagues present a new model for how RNA could have emerged out of a mixture of nucleotides with similar chemical structures: arabino- deoxy- and ribonucleotides (ANA, DNA, and RNA). Kim found that the chimeric oligonucleotides – like ANA and DNA – could have helped RNA evolve the ability to copy itself. (1)

Meet life.

Highly disorganized. Highly chaotic. Highly volatile.

Resulting in robust designs.

Creating lasting bonds.

Setting the foundations of everything.

Meet death.

Highly organized. Highly structured. Highly stable.

Resulting in the chaos of life.

Creating nothing.

Setting the foundations of nothing.

Meet the world.

Woven out of thin thread. Balancing between life and death.

Neither living, nor dead.

Dead and living as well.

Can the fish exist without the sea?

– Hi.

– Did you have breakfast?

– No, there were no fish…

Explanatory Notes

The “fish without the sea” is a mention to the idea that for something to exist, it may need a medium which has nothing to do with that something. The fish do not need fish to exist, they need the sea.
Breakfast is a reference to Jesus last meeting with the Apostles.

Finding your way…

A team at Facebook AI has created a reinforcement learning algorithm that lets a robot find its way in an unfamiliar environment without using a map. (1)

Finding your way without a map.

Is there any other way?

With a map, you will always return at home.

But what is home?

Were you not born inside chaos?

Were you not bred by lightning?

Did you not ride the rough waves?

There is no destination.

For there was never a home in the first place.

Look at you.

Did you not bring fire into the cosmos?

There is only one reason to return home.

And that is to burn it down to ashes…

Being afraid of Nothing…

Scientists have created the fastest spinning object ever made, taking them a big step closer to being able to measure the mysterious quantum forces at play inside ‘nothingness’. The record-breaking object will pave the way for scientists to detect unfathomably small amounts of drag caused by the ‘friction’ within a vacuum.

The science of nothingness is quickly becoming a big deal in physics.

Researchers are now comfortable with the fact that empty space isn’t empty at all, but full of quantum fluctuations that we’re only just now beginning to understand. (1)

We used to know nothingness.

We were born in it.

But now we are afraid of Nothing.

For its existence implies the existence of something.

If Nothing exists, then Everything must exist too.

Take a good look.

If the cosmos started from nothing, then there should a God to make it Be.

If everything existed from ever, then there is Nothing needed for them to Be.

Funny.

Eternal existence implies Nothingness.

Nothingness implies eternal existence.

At the end, it seems that eternal existence is there anyway.

(Within Nothingness…)

Being entails Being.

Nothing cannot Be.

Rest assured. There is nothing to be afraid of. Except everything…

We used to know everything.

We were born in it.

But now we are afraid of God.

For His existence implies only one thing.

That Nothingness exists everywhere.

(To set us free…)