4 - Many levels
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and
the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant
and has forgotten the gift .
Albert Einstein
Size matters. We cannot think of atoms in the same way we think of trees or the solar system.
All the cells of the human body are replaced about 10 times a year. Our skin is replaced every 5 or 6 weeks. Even the calcium of our bones is replaced every 3 months. In those conditions, how can you explain that we keep our tattoos? This is a question to ask your doctor the next time you have a check-up. Give him plenty of time to come up with the wrong explanations. Enjoy!
The answer to that question is that our body does not replace 'our skin' as a whole. It replaces 'the cells of our skin' one by one. We don't renew our skin overnight like a snake sheds its skin or a lobster molts. We replace one dead cell with one new cell. One at a time. The ink inserted in your skin is not part of your body. It does not get replaced any more than the fillings in your teeth. Our thinking must be at the cellular level, not the skin level.
We must adapt our thinking to different levels.
This is only the beginning:
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When we look at the water in a swimming pool, we see a clear liquid. When a chemist looks at water, he sees a combination of hydrogen and oxygen. Our thinking must be at the right level and this level is not the same for swimming and for chemistry.
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We don’t have a problem separating Time and Space. The clock on the wall stays in the same place and keeps telling us about Time. This is not an idea that we can apply to the moon. You cannot imagine the moon staying in the same place in the sky, like a clock on the wall. The moon must move. There is some connection between Time and Space. We cannot think of the solar system in the same way we think of objects on Earth. Time and Space are combined like the chemist combines oxygen and hydrogen to make water.
Size really matters! The way we think about our cells is not the way we think about our skin. Can human thinking be adapted to our solar system or the Red Giant?
We were told at school that the world is made of matter, plants, animals, and humans. We placed ourselves on top, of course, and there was no need to look any further!
Reality may be a bit more complicated. We are floating halfway between the infinitely small atoms and the immensity of the universe.
Above us are……. a few things that are important but difficult to describe. Click “List of Angels in Theology” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_angels_in_theology), and you will discover many levels above us that you may not have known existed. We gave them names such as Angels, Archangels, Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, and many others. What we know for sure is that the world around us does not come as a soup. It comes as many separate layers.
Level 1: Matter - This is the lower level. As far as humans can tell, the level of matter is the level of raw materials. Atoms are composed of many particles. Plenty of them! Those atoms can combine to make molecules. Plenty of them! There is a lot of movement inside those atoms. That does not mean that there is life inside them. At least, this is the way humans see the level of matter. Only rocks! No life. No movement. No feelings. Nothing but eternity!
Level 2: Plants - You create plants by combining matter with something else. Something important! You must add the ability to grow and assume a specific shape. You also need the ability to make seeds and reproduce. The level of plants is critical to humankind. This is where our food comes from. We don’t know if there is life in plants, but we can be sure that there would not be life on Earth without them.
As far as we can tell, many stars don’t have the plants levels. That does not mean that there is no life on those planets. It could only mean that their kind of life does not need matter.
Level 3: Animals - They use matter. They grow into their own shape. They reproduce. They can also move from one place to another. Some move their legs. Some move their wings. Others swim. They all use the same idea. They move by changing the shape of their body. The primary difference between plants and animals is the movement controlled by the brain. This is also our criteria of life. That does not mean that everything that moves is alive. There is a significant movement of electrons within an atom. So far, we have not considered that the atoms are alive.
Level 4: Human beings - They are made of matter. They grow in their own shape. They are moving. They also think. That does not mean that animals cannot think. The lion must evaluate the speed and the distance of its prey. Compare it with its speed and how long it can run and in which direction. The lion could make better decisions than us with our GPS and our computers
The primary difference is that human thought is significantly more developed than that of animals.
What could the levels above us be made of? We have a body that belongs to the material world. What is most important in our lives are ideas, love, feelings, and consciousness. They do not have shape or weight. We are halfway between the material domain and the immaterial. Could the level above us be made of energy? Heat? Consciousness? Love? Could it be a level of souls without a body?
When astronomers look for life on another planet, they look for a body. They search for water because our bodies on earth are made up of 80% water. They use the tools and the way of thinking that we have developed in our material world. To explore the non-physical, a new set of tools is required. Our material world was a good point of entry into the vast universe. It was a way to develop a fundamental way of thinking under the guidance of Nature. It was the first step in the development of human thinking. Exploring the non-physical requires a new set of tools and a more elaborate thinking.
We use words to communicate. We soon realize that what is most important in our life cannot be put into words. When using the words ‘consciousness,’ freedom,’ and ‘love,’ we treat them like objects in the material world. We have to consider what is behind them. The words we use show our limitations. We have to push the envelope.
To investigate the purpose of human life is to investigate the purpose of level 4, which exists between level 3 of animals and level 5 above us.
Should that make us insecure in the vast universe? Let’s say that some modesty would be justified.