LIM 6

¹As the energy of the universe falls in time, from less likely to more likely states, symmetries and patterns emerge from the chaos. ²And the human is a delicate manifestation of these energies, a beautiful system of woven patterns, alive. ³And although the universe is endlessly complex, humans have worked hard to understand these patterns, trying to predict and approximate the truth of the universe. ⁴Mathematics, logic, and science, as they are called, are impressive in their extent, and quite useful, indeed, for building airplanes and clocks and cameras. ⁵But these things are not truth, for there is only one truth in the universe, always changing, the truth of the moment. ⁶So humans must rely on assumptions and axioms from which they can build greater knowledge. ⁷And the nature of these assumptions can vary, and sometimes they are so natural and reasonable that they can seem indistinguishable from truth. ⁸The assumption that tomorrow will behave the same as today, or that the things you see and feel are really and truly there, for example, are often accepted without question. ⁹And these assumptions are true, in their own right, not for any particular reason, but simply because they are something, able to be expressed and understood. ¹⁰And some assumptions are certainly better than others, more realistic and more useful for the human. ¹¹But the universe does not pay mind to these things, for in the universe, there is only life, and death. ¹²So truth can be misrepresented, because even if a fact is good and useful and spreads itself across the world, it can never be truth. ¹³But no matter how useful or accurate these logical frameworks might seem, they will always be limited. ¹⁴For even if the deepest and purest assumptions are found, it stands that a system can never prove its own consistency, and there will always be truths that can never be proven. ¹⁵So there will always be things that the human can never know, infinities beyond recognition, even through the most determined pursuits of knowledge. ¹⁶And maybe one day, humans will understand enough about the vibrance of a sunset or the elegance of art that they can confidently say that they know what is true and what is good in this vast universe. ¹⁷But today is not that day, for although the modern world is great, the depth of chaos is far greater. ¹⁸So knowledge can never replace faith, for skepticism might show you many things, but it can never show you faith. ¹⁹But that is the beauty of it, in a way, because although complicated symmetries can be powerful, simpler patterns are more common, and often more profound, too. ²⁰And it is only through religion that you can begin to understand the simplest truth. ²¹And it is only through faith that you can dream of catching a glimpse of the glory of the universe.