"It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God - but to create him." -Arthur C. Clarke
Koen De Paus
Antwerpen, Belgium
The beauty, the power, the vast scale, the awe inducing mystery,... I am truly madly deeply in love with our universe. The universe is not just out there, it's inside of us. It is us. Our idea of reality has been in development forever and most likely forever will be, but what we now know to be is so grande, so stunning, that I can not pretend as if it doesn't matter. While this mystery keeps me up at night, the rest of the world shrugs. I would like to see mankind wake up from it's culturally conditioned human affairs point of view. Our mind is matter and this matter is mostly thinking about itself. We are too self centered. It wouldn't hurt to let the mind think a bit more about other matter.
With the passing of time we have constructed this human reality of ours, layer upon layer, out of a shitload of different ideologies and technologies. Consumerism, religions, our own individualistic hopes and dreams about money, power and love, lady Gaga and Ashton Kutcher, tv dinners and coca cola,... This has become our day to day reality, a reality that blinds us from nature. It's not just the stars that our cities and their lights obscure from our mind's eye.
Now and then you should just close your eyes and forget that you are human. Try losing all your socio-cultural baggage and looking at the world around you with new eyes. A realistic view of the world holds so much beauty that it's hard not to drown in it.
I am in no way advocating that we should go back to a more simple time to enjoy the wonders of nature. Our cities are wonders of nature too and I love our modern life. However, I do think that we need to be reminded of the actual layer of reality that is hiding under all these easy to use labels that we stick on everything. It's not because you named a rainbow a rainbow that you know what it is. Most people go their entire lives without ever wandering off the beaten path and they really miss out on all the wonder and awe that everything around us has to offer.
Everywhere we go, out on the streets, on tv, on the internet, we are always bombarded with commercials, traffic signals, background noise, or other people that need our attention. We are being flooded with so much information that there is hardly any time left for long and deep thought. Sometimes I feel as if we are about to lose ourselves in the entertainment jungle that we have created. Although entertainment is fun and even necessary, we must never forget where we came from, and more importantly, where we want to go.
People need a reality check! to (momentarily) break free from the shackles of modern popular thinking. Yes we live in houses but we also live as self organizing neural patterns in biologically evolved machines powered by a massive nuclear fusion engine on a tiny life rich planet on one of the outer arms of the milky way in our 13.7 billion year old universe.
"The mind of the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist...". Rosalind Lutece, Barriers to Trans-Dimensional Travel, 1889
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"Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System. This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of the Black Mesa Research Facility personnel. The time is 8:47 A.M."
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