Art Imitates Life, Life Imitates Infinity

The possibilities that life grants us are infinite. The facets of things like opinions, politics, religions, or morals are infinite. So is our ability to miss the point. Mathematics may seem like a subject far removed from a commentary about life. Yet math may be part of the framework of our journey.

It is accepted in math that there are infinitely many numbers between two given numbers. Choosing 0 and 1, we can start by picking 1/2. We can move to each side and find 1/4 and 3/4. Continuing, we can move from these toward 1/3, 1/8, and 1/16. Always to the left or right a slight degree.

Most mathematicians know it is futile to try to enumerate them all. Nor do they assign particular importance to any one. Not the half, not the three-fourths. All the numbers are there. A broad spectrum that mirrors the beauty and need for all things.
Life, or better said, "the human experience" is a poor prism to look though. It finds the infinite between two extremes, but the spectrum fails to follow with beauty. I began to see this in my first year of undergrad. I was studying the modern philosophers, which tends to start somewhere with Descartes or the dawn of the scientific age. First came the British empiricists. Everything was "mind and thought." Knowledge was found through thinking or the five senses. We can call this the "zero." Shortly after came the Rationalists. Knowledge was felt and found from experience. We can call this the "one." A breakthrough occurred and along came Immanuel Kant. Suddenly, knowledge was a healthy blend of both. Some things could be known by mind and some things could be known by experience. This is the "half."

From here on, every new philosophy just moved a little left or a little right. A little more mind. A little more sensory experience. Shifting ever-slightly and filling the void between two extremes.

Beautiful in itself, but life makes it ugly when trying to pick the right one. Trying to assign particular importance to one over the others. Is 3/4,s better than 1/4? Is 5/16 the right answer?

We have loosed a hydra likened to Godzilla in Tokyo. A never-ending experience that assumes it's truth simply from discovery. Descartes was right for a while. Kant was right for a while. Yet people endlessly argue over which is the final "right." A quest with no end because of the infinite choices. The focus on one value destroys our ability to see the beauty. We cannot step back and see that we are between the zero and the one.

It doesn't end there. The terrors of this infinity beast appear everywhere.

Politics: Start with the democrats and the republicans. Halve this and you,ve got a moderate. Go a little left for a left moderate and a little right for a right moderate. Or move around for a conservative democrat and the liberal republican. Where are we now? A compassionate conservative.

Abortion: Do we allow it or not? We can halve it and allow it sometimes. Or do we allow them up to three months? Maybe eight?

Psychology: It started with the neuropsychologists ("mind.") Next came the behavioral psychologists ("experience.") Now we have endless blends of both where they give you some pills and a few therapy sessions.

Outer Space: Astrology gave us the mystical heavens. Astronomy mapped the material heavens. Years later, Stephen Hawking throws in a potential creator as he explains the cosmos.

Sex: It starts with being straight or gay. Halve it for a bi. Then we have transvestites who are straight but look gay and transsexuals who are gay but look straight.

0 and 1, 1/2 then 1/4, 3/4, a little more, a little less..
Is it part of the grand design? It all seems built in. The infinite is there, we just unearth it. Or do we start with zero and one and slowly build the infinite? Or is the framework there and we slowly fill it in?
Sadly, I've just zeroed, oned and halved. I'll stop before I miss the beauty!

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