The duality of existence
mozart violin concerto no 3. Do read while listening to the track. the Link is given below https://open.spotify.com/track/1CD8Ch227a7oP0W8jpctBh?si=057e1e9327fd472a
The cosmos is infinite, defying simple categorization as purely objective or subjective. The only absolute is its vastness. Within this vastness, an intricate interplay exists between subjectivity and objectivity, shaped by historical fantasizing. We need both: the objective, empirical truth, and the subjective, poetic, and numinous. This duality is essential in our post-religious era, where science has become the dominant lens through which we seek truth. As a result, truth has become synonymous with reductionism, where only the empirical is considered real. However, this view is limited, and the answer to whether something is real may be a resounding "maybe."
Academia clings to a rather naive scientific model of "the truth". The approach seems incomplete, as it fails to account for the complexity of absolute truths. Academics often treat subjects as though there is a singular, faithful way to understand phenomena. Can we rely solely on subjectivity, and is it necessary to adhere strictly to one perspective? No, we cannot depend entirely on our subjective experiences, as advances in neuroscience, psychology, and pharmacology clearly show. Both objective and subjective lenses are intrinsic to human consciousness and necessary for a complete understanding of our world.
Ursula K. Le Guin aptly captured this duality: "Poetry is the human language that can try to say what a tree or a rock or a river is, to speak humanly for it, in both senses of the word 'for.' A poem can do so by relating the quality of an individual human relationship to a thing, a rock or river or tree, or simply by describing the thing as truthfully as possible. Science describes accurately from outside; poetry describes accurately from inside. Science explicates, poetry implicates. Both celebrate what they describe." We need the languages of both science and poetry to save us from merely stockpiling endless information that fails to inform our ignorance or irresponsibility.
Le Guin emphasized that objectivity alone won't take us far and that subjectivity is equally important. Subjectifying does not necessarily mean co-opting or exploiting; rather, it involves reaching outward with the mind and imagination. A consensus of objective and subjective realities is necessary; both are true for us.
Philosopher Alain de Botton illustrated this balance:." i was on etihad airways once and before take off we had an arabic prayer and i was surprised and i thought let’s not pray this thing gets off let’s not pray that we get to our destination let’s do some sums use the tools of mathematics and science let the well trained pilots apply reason and science and the prayer has other place, (on objectivity)but then again i was in an observatory in spain and the tour guide was trying to explain me this is kepler b and that is that constellation and I said i am not an astronomer and i am here just for an humanistic experience “
I vividly remember thinking how accurate and true it was that we need both perspectives, depending on the context. The narrative and interpretative framework are essential. We shouldn't use prayer to take off; instead, we should rely on reason and science. However, we don't need intricate details to have a subjective experience of wonder when looking at the stars because The message is general rather than specific.
Both are modes of existence, as Bruno Latour suggested, akin to the Greek concepts of chronos and kairos—different ways of interpreting reality. Each, as Le Guin argues, is a mode of tending to the world, training us to be better participants in the interconnectedness of which we are a part. "By replacing unfounded, willful opinions, science can increase moral sensitivity; by demonstrating and performing aesthetic order or beauty, poetry can move minds to a sense of fellowship that prevents careless usage and exploitation," she noted.
A poet may reveal deeper truths beyond the literal grid, offering personal experiences that feel true. Religion's mistake was trying to turn poetic truth into scripture for everyone.Science, too, is an experience often made mundane by academics. It is a lens of our consciousness. Science is also an experience and Science is a lense of our consciousness and we can look at it from a phenomenological perspective. A writer for the atlantic Ross andersen wrote an marvellous article called golden eye and in that article he talked about the Hubble deep field telescope and its images.The thing i liked about that article is that he talked about metaphysics and the philosophical wonderment evoked by the deep field images even though everything about the telescope is science the telescope itself is an sublime instrument of science made by the people of science, everything about the telescope is science but he talks about what does the hubble do and he wrote
“It mainlines space and time through the optic nerve through the sheer aesthetic force of its discoveries the hubble distilled the complex abstractions of astrophysics into singular expressions of color and light vindicating Keats's famous couplet Beauty is truth and truth beauty”.
Werner Heisenberg's encounter with Niels Bohr after publishing the uncertainty principle underscores this need for balance. Bohr remarked, "Religion uses language in quite a different way from science. The language of religion is more closely related to the language of poetry than to the language of science. True, we think science deals with objective facts and poetry with subjective feelings. But the division into objective and subjective is too arbitrary. Religions speak in images, parables, and paradoxes because there are no other ways of grasping the reality to which they refer. Splitting this reality into objective and subjective won’t get us far."
A communion of science and art, to fully engage with the abundant cosmos of which we are an integral part. We have a variety of experiences.
And we should not stop.