I found myself yesterday watching an old (1988) broadcast called "God, the Universe and Everything Else". It was a roundtable session of sorts with the late Carl Sagan, Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Hawking. I had a few giggles, to be sure, just because they were talking about how the Hubble was going to go up shortly, and how hopeful they were that it would answer some of their questions. It was also funny to hear them talk about Stephen Hawking's 'new book' A Brief History of Time. Twenty years later, though, I have to say that their assessments of what was important, what was going to be important and what the biggest questions were - it was all still quite relevant. Surprising, actually.
But personally, it was an interesting viewing considering that just days prior I had stumbled across PBS' program on The Elegant Universe which discusses similar (almost too similar) topics. What does it mean that these programs are important to me now? Why am I seeking this stuff out?
Not that it's completely out of character for me to research this sort of stuff. After all, the universe had me at hello, and I'm a super keen student of all things astrophysical, metaphysical and quantum physical. It's the universe in all of its beauty, simplicity and intricacy that made me believe in something other than randomness and chaos.
But I digress. Going back to these programs that I watched - it is just so fascinating that for years, since Einstein (and perhaps before that) they have been looking for a unifying theory - a "theory of everything". A simple solution to explain why everything in the universe acts the way it does. Much like what Einstein did for our understanding of gravity, the great minds out there are looking for the key to unlocking the secret of what makes this great, beautiful machine work.
The problem they're encountering seems to lie, however, in the minutia.
The littlest parts of us don't do things in any kind of rational way. The atoms and subatomic particles that make us don't abide by the laws of the universe as we know them to be. They do things differently, particles can disappear and reappear thousands of miles away faster than the speed of light. They seem to react differently when observed. WE, the observer, cannot know their true state because the very act of observing them somehow changes them.
A big fat WTF?!, I know. And yet it's so exciting that there are still mysteries out there, no? I love it, actually. I love that there are big unexplainable, unknowable things about the universe. Because how boring would we be if we knew all the answers?
What would we be without our curiosity?
It got me thinking about a persistent nagging question stuck in my brain. If we are all divine beings, connected to the source of all things, which knows all things, then why don't we know everything? Okay, maybe we choose amnesia when we come to this realm to achieve certain life lessons, but then why don't those on the other side know everything?
But I'm starting to rethink this question - because I'm beginning to realize the intrinsic value of curiosity. Is there anything more beautiful than curiosity? It is the desire to know, the desire to learn... It's practically a primary instinct. And if I believe all of my thoughts on the nature of our species (in the physical form and other forms), then it is our curiosity that drives us forward.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”
-Albert Einstein
So I guess to answer my own question - we don't know everything because we don't really want to. We'd rather spend our time trying to figure it out ourselves. Because that's way more fun.
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