Mumford read from a faded book.
Not how the world is, is the mystical, but that it is.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Project Gutenberg
‘That feels right,’ said Mieke. ‘But I…’
‘John Horgan calls it The Question. With two capitals.’ Now Mumford was holding a copy of the Scientific American.
Why is there something rather than nothing?
John Horgan,
Scientific American
The magazine didn’t look particularly philosophical.
‘Some argue the problem has been solved by quantum theory. Apparently, even if you had a vacuum, inside it there’d be particles and antiparticles randomly popping into existence, and then just as suddenly ceasing to exist. Or something.’
Mieke said, ‘But that isn’t an answer to The Question.’
‘Exactly. It doesn’t explain where the laws of physics came from in the first place. Where did the vacuum come from? If you try to explain existence with science, you just say, ‘this was caused by that, which was caused by that’ and so on. You never get to the bottom.
‘John Updike talked about this too.
How can you cross this enormous gulf between nothing and something?
John Updike
quoted in “Updike on the Universe”
by Jim Holt
Mieke said, ‘So Wittgenstein said The Question, with the capitals, is mystical…’
‘Horgan explains that too.’
The Mystical
…you feel as though you are encountering absolute truth, the ground of being, God. These revelations are laden with spiritual significance and accompanied by intense emotions. You often feel a sense of blissful timelessness and oneness with everything.
John Horgan via Scientific American
REFERENCES: Horgan, John (2012), “Science will never explain why there is something rather than nothing” Scientific American Blog. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/science-will-never-explain-why-theres-something-rather-than-nothing/
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (1922), Tracatus Logico-Philosophicus. Original English translation by
Frank P. Ramsey and Charles Kay Ogden. New York: Harcourt Brace and Co.
IMAGES: Mt Anne Circuit, Lake Pedder from Mt Eliza Phoenix Creations David Rauenbusch
The Absent Answer 