What is true, and what is beautiful.

Some weeks ago, I found myself tinfoiled by the question of the objective vs. subjective nature of reality. I was so endlessly obsessed with trying to understand, what is the true nature of the world, as opposed to the nature of the world from my perspective? It sounds like a meaningless question, and probably is, but is extremely fascinating.

At first, it was just an amusing thought. Later it would grow into a behemoth that occupied a great percentage of my working CPU. A friend was also fascinated by this question, and we talked about it at some length.

The question itself is increasingly scientific, especially in fields of quantum physics, whereas in the past it may have just been metaphysical. It asks, if every conscious organism in the universe ceased to exist, what would the universe look like? What would it sound like? What would be its purpose? Would it even exist?

And while this question troubled me, to my friend, it was not the slightest bit troubling. He approached it from a different perspective. He spoke of Terrence McKenna, who quoted Plato who said something along the lines of:

The Good, what is it?
Tricky, tricky…tricky.

The True, what is it?
Trickier…even trickier.

The Beautiful, what is it?
The Beautiful is EASY.

The beautiful of course is our subjective interpretation of our world. And while there may be endless contemplation to its objective nature, what is beautiful—this we inherently feel and understand. There is no inner turmoil about it.

When you focus on trying to solve the unsolvable, you’re in for a world of pain. Heading in that direction is great if your title ends in PhD. For casual mortals like me, there is great peace to be found in what is beautiful.

In that direction, I already know the answers to everything.