Paradigm Shift

There are things we believe today - things that science has taught us are true - that are not actually true at all. Big things. Things that make us believe the world is the way it is - but it is not. Things that will change the way we see the world.

When I was in grammar school I remembered learning about the solar system. How the sun is the center of our system - but the crazy thing is - it was not always believed to be this way. Before science discovered that it is really the sun that is the center, people believed the earth was the center of the universe. People also believed that the earth was flat and not a sphere.

It wasn't that science had failed those early humans that obsessed me - it was how the new knowledge changed their worldview. The Shift. What was life like when they thought the world was flat, what about after? Did they even know they believed the wrong thing?

And then, in a horror of horrors, it dawned on me, that there are most likely huge beliefs that I believe (and everyone else living along with me) believe as well - in some far far future time, will be shown to be false and incorrect. I could not bear the burden of believing a falsity - being unable to seek out the truth - my 7 year old brain could not bear it. But there was nothing to be done about it, so I went outside and played in the hot humid Iowa air.

But still this idea haunts me. I know that big idea is out there. That big paradigm shift is nearby. The one that will rip the fabric and when the light bleeds out we won't be able to ignore it anymore.

Comments

[John Dougan]

Yeah...isn't it great!?

[Sam]

Reminds me of an article Paul Graham wrote called "What you can't say" :

http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html

[Reality Handbook]

Hello Fellow Consciousness Explorer!!

I am pleased to stumble across your musings that are BOTH technically savvy AND open-minded about the possibility that our current theories might have gaping holes. I love the scientific method dearly in its pure form, yet the rigid dogma of Dawkins, Randi, and Dennett often give me the willies. In fact, even when new discoveries are made that bridge gaps in our knowledge, there's tremendous spin keeping people numb to the idea that the vanguard ever missed a beat:

http://realityhandbook.livejournal.com/46376.html

(For the record: Hofstadter, Feynman and Sacks always seemed more wise and humane to me. They possess(ed) great reason and intuition, yet are less obviously comparable to the closed-minded figures of false authority from the religious past.)

My nightly experiences with lucid dreaming have become an obsession. Part of that fixation is driven from a very personal wound that the rationalist movement which once nurtured me has started viewing me as "obviously crazy and useless" instead of "reliable source of novel data":

http://realityhandbook.livejournal.com/16929.html

I've arrived at this point after over a decade of dreams that steadily grew in solidity, awareness, and detail. Since you've started logging your dreams maybe it will lead (after a time) to comparable circumstances? You may be faced with the same questions I've been... saliently captured in The Matrix:

"Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"

People like yourself give me hope that I might not be entirely alone. If ever you find these issues to be something you need to talk about and can't find a suitable place, please feel free to post a note on my journal or send an email.

3
RH

P.S. to Sam: I *VERY* much enjoyed that article, thanks for the link!