The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.
– Albert Einstein
Are we, humans, the apex of the universe? Is everything that you see really as it is? What is reality? Does this big picture depend on you? Do you have free will? What is the evidence for the Big Bang theory? Are the laws of physics always consistent? What do you think consciousness is? Where do you think it comes from? All of these issues are related, and if you want to know something about how and where you fit into this biggest of big pictures, you need to gather information that will help you to connect the dots and, thereby, learn more about yourself and your world over your lifetime. Nature is complex, beautiful, fascinating, and often plain weird—but it’s all part of one system.
The more you learn about this system, the more you will start to see patterns. Understanding the patterns will help you recognize them in everyday life, which will help you to develop critical thinking skills that can be used to analyze scenarios in your life (and the world more generally). And once you understand what is really happening, your ability to make better decisions will improve.
You are a product of nature. If “connection” is important to you need to develop your own understanding of how you and nature are “one and the same” and how you interact with it and explore it. When I say, interact with it and explore it, I am not just referring to physical interaction and exploration. I’m also referring to how you feel and what you are thinking when you find moments of peace while being surrounded by nature or perhaps the way you connect to nature or the universe while meditating. It doesn’t matter whether you do all or none of these things. All that matters is acquiring this information and using it in any way that you think makes you a better person and improves your ability to live in a way that maximizes your impact on yourself and everybody and everything around you.
This chapter is not so much about nature from a biological perspective but more about nature from the perspective of understanding some of the principles of nature and how they impact us. As you read this chapter, ask yourself how you think you fit into this big picture and how you can apply some of the concepts to your own life.
The study natural systems (and the replication of natural systems in manmade projects) is central to the MPI philosophy. No matter what you want to do with your life or any specific project in order to achieve MPI, it will involve using something in nature to impact something else in nature – because that’s all there is. You have to operate in this universe. It’s highly likely that any positive impact you plan on having on yourself or anything around you will require a basic understanding of natural systems. Therefore it’s critical to understand how natural systems work. The I iimagine project has been deliberately established in a way that resembles a natural system.
Next article in this series: “Systems Theory”