“You’re not going to make one of those science-life analogs again, are you?”
“Sorry, but once the idea pops into my head, I just can’t resist.”
“So, what’s it this time? Some parallelism between the way snowflakes crystallize and philosophies take shape? Maybe some comparison between photons and paparazzi?”
“No, I was thinking about gravity and how if Earth were cognizant of its movement around the Sun, it would think it’s traveling in a straight line. I think it’s okay to say that with respect to spacetime, everything moves in a straight line. We just get fooled because to us Earth falls in an elliptical orbit around Old Sol. Spacetime is curved, but we think we move in straight lines.”
“Oh! I can’t wait to hear what lesson you’ll derive from that. It’s probably as far out as all those other analogies you’ve written.”
“Well, I don’t want to be one of those Deepak Chopra guys who applies quantum mechanics to life or one of those Teilhard de Chardin types who applies evolution to morality. There’s always a danger in seeing meaning where there is none or where creativity replaces reality. But..”
“I knew it! Here comes the ‘but’.”
“But when you think of how we travel our life-paths, we pretty much think at any moment we are headed in a straight line on a flat surface, much like a conscious Earth would think in its orbit. Outsiders, however, see the curved path we follow from a dimension beyond our limited and self-contained comprehension. That is, if we are on a path of addiction, we see only the miniscule movement of one drink at a time or one fix at the moment. If we are on a path of desire, we see the goal immediately ahead of us. The path is straight for us. We think we are headed to what we want, some satisfaction for the body or mind. Others, however, see the curve, see the spiraling like some heavenly body falling into the warp of a planet or a sun’s apparent pull. What we don’t realize is that addiction or desire has warped our path much the way a large body like the Sun warps the spacetime through which Earth travels. Others have a perspective we don’t have. In fact, each of us recognizes the warp in others’ spacetime, that is, each of us sees the larger context and the laws that govern our behavior. Each of us can see what object or goal warps the paths of everyone else, but not his or her own.
“From the perspective of our free fall around the object of our goal, we believe we move in a straight line, but others recognize that any obsession we have warps our path. That’s the reason we are eager and able to give advice to others but reluctant to take advice from them. Each sees his or her own path as straight, whereas others see the path as curved. I'll try again: When we walk on Earth's surface, we think we are walking on a flat surface, but we are really walking on a curved surface.”
“Gosh! You sure went out of your orbit on this one, but I think it makes a little sense. On a flat surface, movement seems to be a straight line, but in spacetime, movement is on the curve caused by some object that warps spacetime. Since we travel in spacetime and not just in space, we follow the curve of that warp. The bigger the control on that warp—for Earth, the Sun—the greater the warp. The bigger the addiction—like nicotine or alcohol, for example—the greater the warping of our personal spacetime. Yet, like free-falling astronauts around Earth or planets around the Sun, we don’t personally recognize the real direction of our movement through curved spacetime.”
“Yeah. What I said.”
“Sorry, but once the idea pops into my head, I just can’t resist.”
“So, what’s it this time? Some parallelism between the way snowflakes crystallize and philosophies take shape? Maybe some comparison between photons and paparazzi?”
“No, I was thinking about gravity and how if Earth were cognizant of its movement around the Sun, it would think it’s traveling in a straight line. I think it’s okay to say that with respect to spacetime, everything moves in a straight line. We just get fooled because to us Earth falls in an elliptical orbit around Old Sol. Spacetime is curved, but we think we move in straight lines.”
“Oh! I can’t wait to hear what lesson you’ll derive from that. It’s probably as far out as all those other analogies you’ve written.”
“Well, I don’t want to be one of those Deepak Chopra guys who applies quantum mechanics to life or one of those Teilhard de Chardin types who applies evolution to morality. There’s always a danger in seeing meaning where there is none or where creativity replaces reality. But..”
“I knew it! Here comes the ‘but’.”
“But when you think of how we travel our life-paths, we pretty much think at any moment we are headed in a straight line on a flat surface, much like a conscious Earth would think in its orbit. Outsiders, however, see the curved path we follow from a dimension beyond our limited and self-contained comprehension. That is, if we are on a path of addiction, we see only the miniscule movement of one drink at a time or one fix at the moment. If we are on a path of desire, we see the goal immediately ahead of us. The path is straight for us. We think we are headed to what we want, some satisfaction for the body or mind. Others, however, see the curve, see the spiraling like some heavenly body falling into the warp of a planet or a sun’s apparent pull. What we don’t realize is that addiction or desire has warped our path much the way a large body like the Sun warps the spacetime through which Earth travels. Others have a perspective we don’t have. In fact, each of us recognizes the warp in others’ spacetime, that is, each of us sees the larger context and the laws that govern our behavior. Each of us can see what object or goal warps the paths of everyone else, but not his or her own.
“From the perspective of our free fall around the object of our goal, we believe we move in a straight line, but others recognize that any obsession we have warps our path. That’s the reason we are eager and able to give advice to others but reluctant to take advice from them. Each sees his or her own path as straight, whereas others see the path as curved. I'll try again: When we walk on Earth's surface, we think we are walking on a flat surface, but we are really walking on a curved surface.”
“Gosh! You sure went out of your orbit on this one, but I think it makes a little sense. On a flat surface, movement seems to be a straight line, but in spacetime, movement is on the curve caused by some object that warps spacetime. Since we travel in spacetime and not just in space, we follow the curve of that warp. The bigger the control on that warp—for Earth, the Sun—the greater the warp. The bigger the addiction—like nicotine or alcohol, for example—the greater the warping of our personal spacetime. Yet, like free-falling astronauts around Earth or planets around the Sun, we don’t personally recognize the real direction of our movement through curved spacetime.”
“Yeah. What I said.”
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