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Gordon Robinson | The voice of the soul

Published:Sunday | June 23, 2019 | 12:00 AM

Philosophers know that everything in this world is relative.

Especially “reality”! This is why, for me, the world’s greatest scientific “discovery” is Einstein’s theory of relativity expressed by the simple equation: E = mc2. In that equation, “E” stands for energy (measured in joules); “m” stands for “mass” (or weight, in kilos); and the fly in the ointment, “c”, is the speed of light.

What Einstein was telling us is that there’s immeasurable energy in the world and in every one of us. He was also letting us in on the world’s best-kept secret, which is that nothing is stationary (since everything has “energy”) and that whatever we perceive is relative to the speed at which we’re travelling. There are more complex conclusions to be drawn, including that once we can travel at the speed of light, anything is possible (even paradox), but that’s for another day.

There’s no more persistently false platitude than “What you see is what you get”. WRONG! I’ve repeatedly tried to teach you in these columns that nothing in this world is as it appears. What you see comes about as a result of a complicated interaction between light provided by a source (the Sun) that propels this physical phenomenon 93 million miles; penetrates the Earth’s atmosphere (why?); and lands many places at different times (relative to Earth’s movement) but including in your eye. Photons stimulate your retina and somehow find themselves into your brain’s visual cortex.

So we know the mechanics of vision. But we don’t know the HOW. Yes, photons from sunlight stimulate a working retina, and the eye transmits the light to the brain. And so on and so fifth! But how is sunlight converted into vision? HOW does the light in our brain become a table? Or orange? Or tree? Don’t ask your genius doctor or scientist child. They don’t know. If they try to explain it to you as if they DO know (children are like that), ask them:

• Are photons visible? The correct answer is no. You see sunlight as bright, but scientific fact is that photons are NOT bright;

• How much light does the brain have inside itself? The correct answer is ZERO. If you don’t believe me, ask Stevie Wonder. Trust me, the brain is like mushy seawater. NO LIGHT;

• Are there any pictures or images already stored (“cached” for the computer nerds) in the brain? Again, the correct answer, like the number of answers Harold Brady intended to give the Manatt Enquiry and the number of transformational initiatives Peter Bunting perceives Peter Phillips has implemented, is “Not one, sah!”

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

So, how do invisible photons converted to electrical impulses in a brain empty of light or images create this three-dimensional “reality” in which we believe so fervently? Science can’t answer this question. Religion doesn’t want to answer this question because the answer makes religion redundant. Religion depends on our “reality” being real in order to frighten us into tithing. Only philosophy has the answer.

Before you all rush out and sign up for some modern “class” on philosophy, let me hasten to dissuade you from relying on some fake guru peddling personal philosophy for profit. Philosophy, like existence itself, comes from within. Jesus, the great Philosopher and Saviour of humankind from mental slavery, told you this (John 14:10-12). Pastors prefer to obfuscate.

The answer philosophy gives me is that reality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Or, put differently, perspective is everything. Einstein’s theory of relativity proposes that your personal energy potential (calculated as your weight multiplied by the speed of light squared) is limitless.

Since mankind is yet to find a way to travel at the speed of light, you’re unlikely to use your full potential in your lifetime. What we can safely conclude is, so far, you’ve used a small fraction of your potential, and when your parents said you could be anything you want to be, they were speaking on behalf of that divine messenger deep within them that speaks only eternal truth. There’s so much energy locked up in you and available for use that it’s a crime to limit your ambition by low self-esteem or lack of self-confidence.

You can be anything and everything you wanna be.

You can see anything and everything you wanna see.

You can go anywhere and everywhere you wanna go.

You can know anything and everything you wanna know.

Everything, including your limitations, is created by YOU. YOU are the beholder in whose eyes all that you “see” originates. It’s YOUR perceptions that hold you back. Don’t blame ANYBODY else for your worldly travails. It’s YOUR vision driving your decisions and your decisions causing your results.

IT’S ALL RELATIVE

Let’s look at “reality” through different lenses. Please sit at any table. Look at it. Knock on it (even if it’s not wood). Solid! Stationary! Right? Wrong again. Look at the same table through a microscope. You’ll “see” that it’s constantly moving and has more empty space than solid components.

Okay, now jump on a bus. Travelling fast, isn’t it? But what if you were travelling on another bus going at exactly the same speed alongside the first bus? To you, the “other” bus would be stationary. It’s all relative. It’s all connected. It’s all you.

But it all depends on you, yes it does

Anything you wanna do, ‘cause a long time ago

God made us to be (He made us one by one, yeah)

Anything we wanna be (He said)

To be free to be who we are (well)

To be free to be who we are

To be free to be who we are

It’s a blessin’ to us all

Sent down from the almighty, yeah, yeah yeah

 

Here’s an elocution test for you. You’ll need a partner standing about twelve feet away because the objective is to ensure, he or she can hear you clearly. Now read the words in the triangle below to your partner.

Again! Ask your partner what he or she heard. Now, use your finger. The mind plays tricks on the eyes. You “see” the lies your brain tells you to see. Ok, I lied, too, about the experiment’s objective. It only means I’m a “brains”!

Another simple example: A fire truck passes you on the way to an emergency. Its siren seems to get louder as it approaches and quieter as it goes away. But you KNOW the decibel level hasn’t changed. You believe the lies your ears tell you because of your perspective.

LOOK CLOSELY

Last one. Read the following sentence to yourself (no peeking below).

“Five of the fifty soldiers, stationed in the army of King George the fifth, marched first into the town of Villejuif.”

Read it again (to yourself). Now, AS YOU READ ALONG (no cheating), count the “f”s. How many did you get? Count again. Same number?

You can do anything and everything you wanna do

You can prove anything and everything you wanna prove

You can try anything and everything you wanna try

You can buy anything and everything you wanna buy

One of the most soulful albums released was 1975’s Wake up Everybody by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (featuring Theodore Pendergrass Jnr). The album was musically superb but also profound as it mixed “soul” with philosophy. This is insightful since philosophy is the voice of the soul.

For politics to build a just nation, it must be based on philosophy. Anybody whose political message isn’t based on a philosophical vision that comes from deep within is a charlatan.

“Vote for me and I’ll set you free” is a backward, bankrupt, boorish belief rooted in mental slavery and the opposite of transformational. Any politician who tells you political success depends on him or her alone has a narrow, irrational perspective without philosophical foundation and shouldn’t be touched with a barge pole.

So look closely at what’s placed before you. Look again. Always take into account that you’re seeing relativity NOT reality.

In the sentence above, there are 10 “f”s. Most people “see” only seven. The more sensitive to differences between perception and reality see eight or even nine. Very few see all ten. Why? There are three “of”s in the sentence but, because we pronounce that word (incorrectly) as “ov”, our dark, sea-water-like brains lie to our eyes that the letter is a “v” not an “f”. The eyes believe the brain’s lie.

Peace and love!

- Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.