Paraphrasing one of the great intellectuals of our time, Elmer Fudd in the title. It seems the search for reality is as doomed to failure and frustration as Elmer's search for that "Wascilly Wabbit". It is simple enough to look around us and take what we see as the pure and simple reality but is that really the case?
It has been proven the the mere act of observation can alter reality at the Quantum level. Light for instance acts both as a particle and as a wave. It just depends on how the observer measures it. Electrons act the same way. Unobserved they act as a wave but "look" at them and they start acting as a particle. So, if reality can be changed at the quantum level merely by the act of observation just how "real" is the "reality" we think we see?
There is also another part of Quantum Theory which states the belief the universe needs a conscious observer in order to exist. To me that raises a very interesting question. See, the universe is something on he order of thirteen billion years old. Our dear, back water planet Earth is only around four billion years old and what we could consider a being capable of conscious observation would only be several hundred million years old. Given one is willing to accept the dinosaurs and their predecessors were conscious observers.
That raises the question of who was observing the universe for those intervening eight to eleven billion years? Someone or something conscious had to be in order for the universe to exist according to that theory and it assuredly was not mankind or any of his/her predecessors on earth.
Given the millions and billions of years it took for even the first starts and planets to form let alone any conscious life on those planets this universe had to exist for an awfully long time without any internal conscious observers. Would that not imply there were one or more external conscious observers? Someone or something (singular or plural) outside what we know as the universe who had to exist in order for the universe to come into being?
To me this thought has all sorts of implications. While I do not believe at all in any human created deity or pantheon it does lead one to speculate if there is not really a creator of our universe. No, not the Semitic War God YWEH/Jehovah or his peace loving hippy of an abused 'son' or Osiris and his brethren and sisteren(? Is that even a word?) or any other of the human creations used to explain a world beyond our understanding that does not preclude the possibility the universe we live in did have a creator.
For 'god' did not create man in his own image but just the reverse. Man created all gods in our own image and imbued them with all our human characteristics good, bad and indifferent. Love, hate, intolerance and lust. Oh, lots and lots of lust. One thing you can say about our gods they do love a good sex life. The kinkier the better it seems. Just like us with all our nobleness and failings. Really nothing god-like about our gods.
So, just leave all the human imagined rulers of the universe out of the equation. Forget the invisible big Daddy in the sky who loves us all like the chronically abused children we are. Think about the big picture. Think back to those billions and billions of years before humanity started imagining supernatural beings to explain the weather and other, at the time, inexplicable events.
If the human created gods were not around to observer the universe from pre-creation who or what conscious entity or entities were? Are we the product of some super being's science experiment? Perhaps for some doctoral thesis at Pharoutthar U. Perhaps just a complex super computer simulation? Maybe just a hobby universe given to some kid who got tired of playing with it and left us ignored or just grew up and tossed us in the attic?
Maybe there are space aliens from other starts visiting earth after all. I mean how much effort would it take for Mr (or Ms... can't be gender biased when contemplating super beings)Super-being to just "drag and drop" beings from one star onto another? Or maybe just create them on a whim to see what would happen?
I wonder what Mr Spock would make of all this?
Hello Frank Van Hoose...I found your blog one night this winter when I goggled Preston Gap School. In your blog, you described your walk to school at Preston Gap School. This brought back so many wonderful memories for me as I have made the same journey many times. I went to Preston Gap from 1948 until 1951, Your brother, William, was my very best friend. I believe we are the same age.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Doug Justice. My wife, Joan Justice is typing this for me and sending it to you through her google account. Our old homeplace bordered Rush Fork and Nats Creek. I am sure the old barn you walked through was our old barn. It had four log pens and was a good sized barn for Nats Creek. The old cemetery you mentioned was part of our farm.
So, we had left Nats Creek and moved to Ohio before you were born. Electricity came to Nats Creek the summer of 1949. So, my memmories of Nats Creek are of a time that no longer exists only in wonderful memories.
Good day Doug. Yes, I believe you are about the same age as William. I am twelve years younger and I went to Preston's Gap the '60 - '61 school year. I do believe that barn was probably part of your old place but everything else was gone by the time I can remember. But I remember walking through that barn very well. Not only when walking to and from school but even later when we'd ride the passenger train from West Van Lear down to Patrick and walk up to Granny and Poppy's house.
DeleteDad did carry a shotgun most of the time but more often, in my memory, he carried either one or two pistols and sometimes the shotgun as well. In fact I can remember on trip from Patrick to Poppy and Granny's when we ran into a large blowing viper on the path not far from the barn. Dad had our clothes tied up in an old sheet. He also had his pistols in there with the clothes as well as his shotgun shells and his shotgun was not loaded. I remember him digging through the clothes hunting for one of his guns. He finally found one and killed the snake.
One of my favorite places to rabbit hunt was back up the hill behind where the barn sat. There was also a fairly large rock overhang farther up the hill where a cousin and I went to have a campfire cookout. It was icy and I slipped off the top of it and sprained my ankle pretty badly. It was a trip home I won't forget. Took a doggone long time.
Hello again, Your cousin Phylis came by our house and held my hand all the way to school my first year in 1948. I thought of her as a beautiful white haired goddess. I was so saddened when I heard of her death and the way she died.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I am related to just about everyone on the creek. My paternal gandmother was Alice Boyd...paternal Uncle of Frank Boyd. My maternal grandmother was Gracie Van Hoose. So, I assume that you and I are related to some degree.
I remember your dad very well. Most of the time he was carrying his shot gun, wearing gum boots and I especially reember him saying "Hey-O".
Your sister who I called Janey was a shy lovely girl. As to your grandparents, Leo and Victory, they are expecially rememer. Victory was grandmother to every kid on the creek. She was truly loved by everyone. (I will con't in my next comment)..Doug
I think about everybody from that neck of the woods is related somehow and we might have been even more closely related (in a manner of speaking). I have been told my mother wanted to marry a Justice lad who lived there where the old barn sat but my grandfather refused to let her.
DeleteI would imagine he would have been many years older than you. My brother has told me his name but I can no longer recall it.
Yes, Granny was a grandmother to everyone around. She had delivered most of them anyhow. I now she delivered me but I am not sure about William and Mary Jane but she probably did as well.
I don't really remember if I ever say Phyllis Jean. I can remember people talking about her dying and I can remember Aunt Dixie bringing Paul as a newborn to our house over on Stafford.
Hello Again, As you know, Leo liked to tell jokes and he always laughed the longest and the loudest at his jokes. I loved to sit on that porch and listen to him tell tales of when he was young.
ReplyDeleteJoe Fitch was my dads best friend on the creek.
Willie Abe was my other great friend. He and I had the job of carrying water for the school. Abe was 6 years older than me but he was extremely small for his age so it took the two of us to carry a bucket of water. In those days, we got the water from a spring in the hollow down the hill from the school. Doug.
Yes, I can remember some of Poppy's jokes. Some of them were probably not really appropriate for one who's age was still in single digits. And, yes, he did enjoy them more than anyone else.
DeleteI don't really much recall Aunt Burnice's older children. I do remember Joe (step-son) since I spent a lot of time at Uncle Jerry's old house when he and Skip Boyd were working at the coal tipple over on Whitehouse. I really remember more of Helen as she was the closest to my age but I did know the girls as they were parents of most of my cousins in the same age group.
Now that you mention it I think I recall that spring. Go from the back door of the house through the garden towards Preston's Gap and it was right before the old road. At least I seem to remember there being one there.
I do remember we got water from the well at Uncle Jerry's house. I suppose there is really never any place anything like where a person spends their formative years. And, you are right in that it was a time and place which no longer exists.
Thanks for taking the time to send me your comments. Brings back a lot of memories.
As to the photo with my grandparents in it, if it is digitized you can send it to frankvanhoose@gmail.com. If it is a physical photo send me your email address as I'd prefer not to put my physical address out in such a public place.
Frank
I don't know if you recall me saying my mother wanted to marry a Justice lad. My brother says it was Cam Justice, Arnold's brother.
DeleteI have a picture that your Grandparents are in. Please let me how to send it to you on the computer. I know you would enjoy seeing it. Doug Justice
ReplyDelete