All The Trees

Bright, blue expanses illuminate the brisk sky above. Fluffy pockets of pale vapor float over our heads, beneath that blueness. Our golden sun emits rays of warmth and a bright radiance of early morning light. Swooshes of a cool morning breeze puff a stern draft toward our covered arms.

“We're getting close to the top of the hill,” I said. “It's hard to see over the hilltop because all the trees are in the way. And that murky, cloudy fog at the bottom of the gorge is everywhere.”

Just like that age-old idiom states - We can't see the forest because of all the trees. Our small group couldn't see over the hill because of those trees. But, many of us made it to the top of the hill despite the trees. We peered over the edge at what was in the ravine below, on the other side. Yet, it was still too foggy at the bottom of that huge gorge, even with the morning sun shining so brightly, glistening off the moist dew. Like anyone else might do, we began to guess at what was down there.

The sun shone very brightly. The sky was Carolina blue. There were a few puffy wisps of gentle, fluid, blue and white popcorn-like clouds. Our field of view was excellent. We could all see very clearly.

Some people saw foreigners from far-off, unknown nations. Others saw spirits and devils. A few even saw monsters. Each person had their own vision of what they saw below. But we all saw the same thing. Each of us saw exactly what we wanted to see.

As the fog cleared, we saw more and more of what really was in the ravine below us. People still had their preconceived ideas of what they actually saw. The fog had not lifted yet. Our vision was just a mirage of what may be in the valley.

Climbing to the top of that steep hill was quite an accomplishment. Over many years and lifetimes, few people had ever gotten close to the apex of this one, large mound. Other nearby hills and mounds led even the most attentive person astray. There are too many distractions and diversions. It was a riddle just to get started. To finally get to the top was an enigma. So many different ideas about how to get to the top. The number of unique pathways seemed uncountable.

That is only part of the whole riddle. Now that our group has reached the summit, many things start to change. The laws of physics break down as we approach the peak, even if those laws are immutable. It makes you wonder how those rules could change that way, so quickly and suddenly. And, we still can not see the beings at the bottom very well.

Our scientists and philosophers have studied, experimented, and developed our physical laws of nature. That seems to be how we learn. We amass information after years of trying to understand the universe around us. We try things, then we record the results. It's all trial and error. If it works and can be repeated, then it may become a law of nature, a law of human nature.

This happens over a horrendously long period of our time. Longer than we have records for. We still do not believe we have exhausted all the canon's of natural law in our physical universe. We are still searching and looking for unexplained differences and alterations of the rules that maintain life as we know it. That is more trial and error.

Well known scientists, like Newton, Einstein, and Oppenheimer; philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes; all had to start by using the old rote learning method. We each must memorize so much at first. That is life as a human, here on planet Earth. We are all human beings. We don't know anything until we first memorize facts.

Of course, some have the ability to understand and expand upon the natural laws. They develop new theories based on those previously learned concepts. There are many who can stretch the current paradigm to explain their theoretical concepts. Those persons are just human beings, as limited as you and I are.

The unknown beings at the bottom of the hill are intellectually greater than we are. They create and produce abstract and wildly complex devices and concepts. It seems so simple for them. We can't do that as easily. We can't do that at all. We are only Human beings?