Thanks for joining me!
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
Welcome to The Mystery Corner! In this blog we will explore a series of nature and science topics. The topics will be many and include subjects ranging from what you find in your house or garden, the outdoors, and even trendy topics that continuously show up in the news. The sky is not the limit and we’ll read about it too! How will these topics be different from others that are written about elsewhere? Each of the articles will uncover and discuss mysteries-where knowledge stops and uncertainty begins.
Why discuss mysteries? First, I am passionate about nature and science, and my biography is here. Second, within a society nearly all of us are held captive to the zeitgeist or “spirit of the times”. (Leave it to the Germans to come up with one word, which substitutes for a phrase!) That is, we are products of our times. Just like we think of the people who lived 200 years ago as ignorant, 200 years from now people will look at us and think, “How did they believe that”? You may not have to go back that far. Consider our understanding of the cell before the description of DNA in 1953. It was a little black box. Now we know that the components (organelles) inside of a cell function as tiny factories within a factory. And, the cell still contains mysteries. Or, take the human appendix. You may have learned in high school and college that it was a vestigial organ. Now we suspect that it plays an important role in regulating intestinal flora and the immune system. Third, C. S. Lewis alluded to mysteries in his Perelandra, “All that is made seems planless to the darkened mind, because there are more plans than it looked for…” Although it is true that we presently know more about our natural world than during any period in history, much of what we knowhas embedded mysteries. For example, we know that the shortest and longest days of the year occur on December 21 and June 21, respectively. The Ancient Egyptians were the first people to accurately observe these “winter and summer solstices”, and weaved these into their religion and civilization. Their observations were passed on to the Greeks, then to the Romans, and on to us. At present, we can explain the processes behind the “solstices”in great detail – predicting these with incredible exactness – to the minute – something the Ancients could not do! But what is the mystery? The mystery is the incredible precision that has been built into our world! The above is one example but there are an infinite number of these.
So why bother thinking about mysteries? Once we learn about “things” (from here on out: an object, organism, process, or some principle), we fall into a comfort zone. We may not even feel the need to think about it anymore. Is it possible, that once we think we know something we no longer see the forest through the trees? Is it possible too for boredom to set in and we no longer feel refreshed? Do we walk into the woods and fail to notice anything, except perhaps something obvious? Extending this a little bit further, an elderly professor once told me that if you meet someone who researched or worked on the same thing for his entire life, he may seem a little bit tired or bored.
Once we venture into the unknown, either willingly or unwillingly, we remove ourselves from certainty and are forced to take a leap of faith from what we think we know about our world or “things”. When we do this, we challenge ourselves and possibly, may free ourselves from assumptions, no matter how popular these might be. We should be able to ask questions about everything. Likewise, we can have excitement about our ideas as well. St. Thomas Aquinas displayed an example of this when he was at a dinner in the palace of King Louis IX (St. Louis), in Paris. Deep in thought and oblivious to his banquet surroundings, he slammed his fist down on the table and exclaimed, “That should settle the Manichees!” His outburst caught everyone’s attention, especially King Louis IX who instructed his secretaries to take a seat near St. Thomas and take note of the argument because it must be a very good one, and he might forget it. I bring up this point solely because it illustrates that we should be willing to examine – and become excited about new ideas.
Every society has had its “high priests” including ours. Furthermore, we live in an atypical era with abundant scientists. In fact, some have suggested that 90% of the scientists who have ever lived are alive today! What is to make of all of these scientists? Well, if there are more doctors, will they promote and refine health care? If there are more attorneys, will they write more laws and litigate? If there are more scientists, will they develop more science? Really? I am not so sure. In any case, I have met people who believe that scientists have unlocked or will soon unlock all of the secrets of the universe. I suppose that is OK to think like that, but is there peace in not having the need to know everything? I like Socrates’ comment about knowing: “All I know is that I know nothing.” Philosophers still debate the true intention of his comment, but his fellow Athenians still put this humble philosopher to death!
We make many assumptions about the things we use, read about, or experience on a daily basis. And there exists a certain amount of comfort in knowing these. Our entire society is built around the rhythm of the universe and to pretend otherwise would invite chaos. When I am flying in a jet at 37,000 feet, I don’t ponder the four forces of flight, or the Law of Gravity, or the composition of the gases in the lower stratosphere. The flip side of this is that I don’t need to know anything about flying when I sit in my economy seat and move through space-just like our dog sitting in the cargo compartment!
Most of what we think we know about a “thing” is only the surface or façade of something. Every “thing” possesses many truths that can be likened to an onion (okay, make it a sweet onion), its layers ripe for investigation by peeling these away one at a time. We keep stripping away each layer and find a never-ending mystery.
So, every “thing” is a mystery and awaits further discovery. That should be a call to renew a daily sense of wonderment. The discovery about “things” doesn’t require money, travel, or a great deal of time. We have a birdfeeder positioned directly across from our breakfast table. I have occasionally birdwatched for years but admit that I have not watched very well. My daughters occasionally point out some behavior in the birds or squirrels that I had not seen before. I sit in awe at their observations. How difficult it is to look at familiar things in a new way!
We cannot know the unknown but we can investigate it. That is a job typically conducted by scientists who use the scientific method to learn some truths about the universe. You can read about science and the scientific method here.
The Mystery Corner 