The creative human mind.

• Author: Kreyche, Gerald F.
• Position: Parting Thoughts

"WELCOME TO MY WORLD" is a popular country western song composed by Hank Willliams. What the song implies is that there are different worlds, and in truth, such is the case. All humans dwell in two. One is the world of nature that we share with minerals, plants, and animals, namely, the everyday physical world. The other is the world of culture and, in a very real sense, the truly and exclusive human world. It is the place in which we live and breathe and have our being. Our physical surroundings are man-modified--too much so, maintain the environmentalists. The world of nature was here before the human race and will continue to be here long after we are gone. Call it God's creation if you like.

The world of culture, however, entirely is made, thought, structured, and dominated by humans. It is our very own creation. Nothing within it can be understood except in relation to humans. For example, to know what a hammer is, we must know the nature of humans, especially their brains and hands, for it is we who have created it. And for our purposes, one might add. It is no different with science, mathematics, literature, art, music, and, daresay, religion. Perhaps what we consider as the real world, the world of reality, intimately is related to us and is every much a part of us as apart from us. To the person on the street, this may appear scandalous, an affront to his or her own common sense. Yet, our own experience tells us that the observer alters what he or she observes. The Heisenberg principle of interference prevails everywhere. Let's say that someone who knows nothing about a refrigerator opens its door. Each time the individual does so, he or she sees a light on inside the refrigerator. Knowing nothing about automatic switches, it would be hard to convince this person that the light is out when the door is closed, for every time the door is opened, the light is on.

When the Big Dipper or Seven Sisters constellations are pointed out, one is prone to think there are such things. In fact, though, they only are points of light, having no intrinsic meaning. We forget that it was we who organized them in our mind and gave them the names they bear. We do so in order to invent meaning for ourselves. If we are looking for the direction "north," the Big Dipper's pointer star will help us. If we were aboard a ship whose rudder was broken, to get help we only would have to radio the ship's position in terms of latitude and longitude. Yet, oddly...