There is no escape from change
There is no escape from change. We may lock ourselves up trying to hide, thinking that change will forget about us. But it is always too late, change finds a way. It may appear on the sly one morning, on the other side of our mirror, hidden in an incipient wrinkle that starts to crack under our nose. Tiny changes, giant changes. Societies that are reborn or planets that die. Everything around us is in transformation and we are desperately looking for some peace.
A natural consequence of the breakdown of our plans and expectations is the appearance of uncertainty. Why are we failing? How can we improve? To take advantage of our doubts is essential to grow. And if our goal is to increase our understanding, as important as knowing the things that we know, is to identify those that we do not know.
The goal of any science is to build upon our questions and uncertainties. We identify our own dark spaces to illuminate and explore in that direction. Through this process, per example, we can know how the laws of optics describe the journey of light from the Sun to the reflection on my mirror. Biological interactions in my skin cells conspire to make that unruly wrinkle greet me every morning. Science as we know it is trying to uncover the fundamentals behind all the changes and through this we aspire to have greater comprehension and control over our environment.
Backed by technological development we have tried to tame our outside world. Penicillin to control the infections; those thousand selfies stored in the artificial memory of our phone to capture that flash of time when we looked beautiful. Bullets and CCTV, of course, we also try to tame each other. There is certainly a lot of power in this development, however, has that power been enough to bring us the tranquility we were looking for? The great assumption behind all these magnificent efforts is that power and control over what surrounds us will unlock that peace of mind.
However, dissatisfaction remains. The uncertainty may have another shape, but it is still there when we look at ourselves on the mirror. And it is precisely here where, if we look closely, we can identify the other great unknown. That one that was so intimate, it seemed non-existent. Hidden behind our pupils appears a gigantic universe in constant flux. Our experiences, our wishes. The questions that appear suddenly at three in the morning and never leave. The root of all our doubts. What is that science of the inner world?
Photo: Pradyumna