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00:28Satsang with Mooji
00:55The Oldest Known Cliche
00:56Oldest Known Cliche, that, isn't it?
00:58Light dawns and the darkness is swept away.
01:02Maybe that's why all great scientific discoveries
01:05are always described as a kind of mystical light-dawning experience.
01:11Einstein is supposed to have thought of relativity
01:13in a dream he had about riding on a beam of light.
01:16When Darwin's theory of evolution hit him, he said,
01:20the scales fell from my eyes.
01:23Gutenberg described the idea of the printing press as
01:26coming like a beam of light.
01:28Kekule was daydreaming on a London bus
01:30when he saw atoms forming into molecules.
01:34And Newton said he got the idea of gravitational theory
01:38from a falling apple, and so on.
01:40All flashes of insight, so to speak.
01:44Great moments of discovery.
01:51That's what's supposed to separate the geniuses from the rest of us slobs,
01:56that mystical experience, isn't it?
01:58And throughout history, each time it has happened,
02:01the condition of mankind has changed for the better in some way
02:05as we took one more step on the road to understanding.
02:08And with each of those steps, each addition to the body of knowledge,
02:12as you've seen in this series, our view of everything,
02:15of the universe and our place in it, has also changed.
02:19As the knowledge changed, we did.
02:24And if you look back as we have to the world of the past,
02:27we've come a tremendous way to our extraordinary high-tech world,
02:30full of innovation, of computers and laser beams
02:35and genetic engineering and artificial hearts,
02:37and above all, of fantastic power.
02:50A thousand years ago, life was ruled by the mysterious and magical powers of nature.
02:56Then, with the fall of Spain to the Crusaders
02:58and the new knowledge they discovered there,
03:00the first hesitant steps were taken
03:02that would bring us to science and the exploration of the universe.
03:10In 1400, the Earth lay uncharted. Some even said it was flat.
03:15To the south lay regions of fire,
03:17and to the west, an endless ocean from which nobody ever returned.
03:21And then, in Florence, prospective geometry was rediscovered
03:26and the world changed shape.
03:28Scale drawing gave people the ability to control objects at a distance
03:33because now they could measure them accurately.
03:35And that new ability laid down a scale for the universe
03:38that freed us to explore the unknown.
03:41Now we could give any spot anywhere a set of coordinates.
03:44It was no longer unknown.
03:47This spacecraft can only go into Earth orbit and return safely
03:50because of those coordinates.
03:52Because we can now grid the planet and the sky.
04:04In the 15th century, the invention of printing took our memories away
04:08and gave us all standardised knowledge.
04:10Thanks to print, we have the know-how to fashion anything we want
04:13and we live in a world of specialisation and expertise
04:15where technology can make spaceships from a million interchangeable parts.
04:23Before the 16th century, we thought the sky was made of crystal spheres,
04:27that things moved up there because they somehow wanted to.
04:30Now we write the equations that make the heavens work.
04:35Where once we spoke of celestial beings and heavenly movers,
04:39we now talk about dynamics and trajectories.
04:42With those abilities, we can turn every aspect of nature into numbers
04:46and then use those numbers to predict what will happen next with great precision.
04:51Here, in this mission control operations room, for instance,
04:54they can send a 75-tonne space shuttle into a 200-mile-high orbit
04:58accurate to within inches.
05:10Until 250 years ago, we relied on the forces of nature as a source of power.
05:14Then, with the steam engine, came the ability to build and operate
05:18the most powerful machines in history that, today, take us off the planet, out into space.
05:27200 years ago, modern medicine began.
05:30Today, we can monitor life even as it circles the Earth at 17,000 miles an hour.
05:41And at the beginning of this century, we found the tools to investigate
05:45the fundamental structure of the universe.
05:47Subatomic physics brought nuclear energy, it unraveled the secret of life,
05:52and, through electronics, it has made knowledge more accessible
05:55than it has ever been before by putting it on a microchip.
05:59Thanks to science, it would appear, the way ahead lies only one way,
06:04onward and upward.
06:05T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven.
06:10We have main engine ignition in five, three, three, two, two, one,
06:16we have ignition ignition, and, and, and, and.
06:20We have is.
06:25We have to take place, and we have to take place, for the space center.
06:27And we are in the tower now.
06:56¶¶
07:04And yet, at any time in the past,
07:06people somehow managed without the benefit of spacecraft,
07:09with a knowledge of everything that was, to us, incomplete, wrong,
07:13but that was, to them, true.
07:18They lived in worlds that were as certain of their facts as we are of ours,
07:22and that led them to do things that we would regard as totally alien,
07:26like the event you're about to witness.
07:27You'll understand every word about to be spoken
07:30by people who lived only 300 years ago.
07:33But their truth was so different from ours
07:37that although you'll understand the words, they won't make sense.
07:41Woman! Stand up!
07:45Beginning with the fact that decent, God-fearing people
07:48have spent days torturing this woman.
07:53Now, tell me, Agnes,
07:55do you know John Bell of Newtown?
08:00Aye, sir.
08:00Are you friendly to him?
08:02No, no, sir.
08:03Why are you not friendly to John Bell?
08:09I don't recall just why now.
08:13We fell out.
08:13And Janet Clarke.
08:15Did you have hot words with her?
08:19Aye, sir, I did.
08:21Does John Bell have many cattle, Agnes?
08:26He does, sir.
08:28A good many.
08:29But not as many as before.
08:32They took sick.
08:34Would that be after your falling out, Agnes?
08:39Seven years ago.
08:43Maybe.
08:44Sir, me a city.
08:46And Janet Clarke's horse.
08:50Did that also die of a sickness?
08:53Aye.
08:55That be four years ago,
08:58soon after you have the hot words with her.
09:03Did you not refuse to see the horse?
09:07I didn't have cures for horses.
09:10But you did not cure John Bell's cattle.
09:11He's a thief.
09:13Oh, so it is true, then.
09:14You threatened him.
09:15No.
09:15You threatened Janet Clarke.
09:16I did not threaten.
09:17But the animals took sick, woman.
09:20Did they not take sick and die?
09:23Aye.
09:25Aye.
09:26They did.
09:28Aye.
09:29Aye.
09:38I hear you spin well.
09:42Do the neighbours take thatch from your roof?
09:45It was Janet Clarke who took my thatch.
09:47And was not clay found in your hearth?
09:50So they see.
09:53Why is it that you spin so well?
09:57How do you explain your skill?
09:59How can you see?
10:01How can you see?
10:11Did you once meet a man near the lower bridge?
10:15Sir, I don't remember.
10:16But you were seen.
10:18Annie Cuthbertson saw you with a man in grey.
10:23Did you go with him?
10:24It is a long day.
10:25I said, did you go with him?
10:30Aye.
10:32Maybe.
10:39And you met him many times.
10:42Also by the round barn.
10:44Oh, it was but a few times I went with him.
10:45I know who he was, woman.
10:47Annie Cuthbertson saw him.
10:57So, we must find the mark.
11:01Aye.
11:04We must find the mark.
11:15The witnesses to this burning of a woman alive
11:18are not going to see what you'll see.
11:20For them, the witch is grateful for what they do.
11:43In the reality of 17th century Scotland,
11:46this was an entirely logical and rational thing to do,
11:49to torture and burn a witch in order to save her soul.
11:53This, for them, was an act of mercy.
12:30But if you're feeling good about the fact that we,
12:33in the modern scientific world,
12:34have a more objective, clear-sighted view of things
12:37than people who believed in witches,
12:39or any other weird version of what the universe was all about,
12:42people had in the past,
12:44that they were in the dark compared with us,
12:46well, if that's being in the dark,
12:49so are we.
12:50Let me show you how everybody sees their own witches,
12:54has their own structure for what reality is,
12:56and whatever you come up against,
12:58you make it fit that structure.
13:00Let me show you the simple stuff first.
13:02Look.
13:04See these two white bars?
13:05This one longer than the other?
13:07Well, it's not.
13:08They're the same.
13:10You made it longer
13:11because your brain decided it was further away.
13:15And look at this.
13:16It's a face,
13:18except it isn't.
13:20It's hollow.
13:21But hollow faces don't exist in your brain,
13:23so you can't see it hollow.
13:26You make it fit your theory of what it should be.
13:29Same here.
13:31Two triangles,
13:33three white dots.
13:34But you take away the dots.
13:37And the top triangle disappears.
13:40Your brain made that triangle.
13:43You alter reality to make it fit
13:46what you've decided it should be.
13:48And once you've made that decision,
13:50it's impossible to compromise with.
13:53Is this a duck or a rabbit?
13:56See how it can't be both.
14:00Is this a young lady or an old hag?
14:03Here's the young lady's neck, chin, cheek,
14:06and eye looking away from you.
14:07Or here's the two eyes of the old hag
14:10and her great big nose and nostrils
14:12and a gash of a mouth.
14:14Now try seeing them both together.
14:17You can't, can you?
14:19There can only be one hypothesis that fits.
14:23Sometimes that hypothesis is so strong
14:25you'll see something that's not there.
14:28What, for instance, do you make of this?
14:46Are you seeing moving people with lights on them?
14:48Because what's on the screen is just a lot of dots.
14:52Or this.
14:53You only see the dog
14:54because you already know the shape.
14:58Without a structure,
15:00a theory for what's there,
15:01you don't see anything.
15:03Take this meaningless pattern.
15:05Or a cow.
15:09See it?
15:12You have to have some version of reality,
15:14whether it contains spotted dogs or cows
15:17or women that should be burnt.
15:20And science is the same.
15:23Without hypotheses, preconceptions about the world,
15:26how could you begin to research?
15:27Without theories about things,
15:30nature is just chaos.
15:34For things to make sense,
15:36you have to make up your mind about them in advance.
15:38Otherwise, you don't know where you are.
15:40These scribbles?
15:43Subatomic particle tracks.
15:46Know what this is?
15:48It's a river delta from the air.
15:51And this?
15:57It's the next place we're going to in the programme.
16:08The mental structure I was talking about
16:11that has already made your mind up
16:12about what you're looking at now,
16:14and without which you wouldn't recognise anything,
16:16works at a far deeper level than just seeing.
16:19It provides a framework everything fits into.
16:27The structure evaluates, explains,
16:31organises every experience you have,
16:34intellectual or physical.
16:36It says what the whole of reality is.
16:39It provides your beliefs,
16:41judgements, morals, ethics, values.
16:45And it also provides a rule book
16:47for the kind of questions you ask
16:49about the world
16:49because it gives you the theory
16:51about how things are supposed to work.
16:54I want to show you what I mean by that
16:56by showing you how the structure controls
16:59how science in particular progresses.
17:02Because science is supposed to be
17:03in some way independent of these things, isn't it?
17:06Objective.
17:07Seeking and discovering the truth.
17:10But as you'll see, the truth is what the structure says it is.
17:14There is progress, change.
17:16But that's because the rules of the structure
17:18control investigation at every level
17:21until you get down to a bit of detail
17:23the structure can't handle.
17:24The bit of detail I'm going to get to
17:26at the end of all this.
17:28That bit.
17:29Remember that.
17:32In particular, remember those lines
17:35running parallel to each other.
17:39So the mental structure operates
17:41at every stage to control what you do.
17:43At the overall level, for instance,
17:45it tells you what the universe is.
17:48A good example of that originated here in Greece.
17:52Aristotle thought it up
17:53and it seemed such common sense
17:55that it ruled all questioning for 2,000 years.
17:59His structure of the universe was like this.
18:01A series of concentric spheres
18:03carrying the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars
18:06all circling around the earth at the centre.
18:09You remember that medieval idea
18:11of the sun going around the earth?
18:12Well, the church that promoted that idea
18:14lived in this.
18:17Now, you'll note that this structure
18:18is complete, closed, unchanging.
18:23In a universe like that,
18:25astronomers only watch the sky
18:27in order to refine this model
18:29as accurately as possible.
18:31And nothing else.
18:40Sometimes, when the universe isn't static
18:43like this one was, but changing,
18:45you can investigate it.
18:49But the investigation is still controlled
18:51by the way you think the universe
18:53you're living in changes.
18:55And the kind of thing you question
18:57in your investigation
18:58depends on what you think
19:00the mechanism of change actually does.
19:04Take the case of the 18th century
19:05financial idea
19:07that the economic market
19:09found a natural balance
19:10between supply and demand
19:11and therefore the whole universe
19:13should be in balance.
19:15Gave us a stuff.
19:16Because when a German
19:17called Liebig
19:18went looking for balance
19:20in plant growth
19:21and found that plants
19:22get their carbon and nitrogen
19:24from the atmosphere,
19:26he burnt all the vegetation
19:28he could find.
19:30Then he looked at the ash
19:32to see what it was
19:33the plants needed
19:34they weren't getting
19:34from the air,
19:35which was minerals
19:37to balance their natural acidity.
19:39Put the right minerals
19:41in the ground, he said,
19:42and you'll boost crop yield
19:44without exhausting a soil.
19:46And because of the stuff
19:47from the air
19:48you'll never upset the balance.
19:50Save the 18th century
19:52from starvation
19:53with artificial fertiliser
19:56thanks to a structure
19:57that said
19:57everything balanced.
20:09So, what you think
20:11the universe is
20:11and how it works
20:13controls the kind of questions
20:14you can ask
20:14not some supposedly
20:16detached scientific view
20:17of things.
20:18And as for how far
20:19you can let the questions
20:20take you
20:20that's just as controlled.
20:23Which is why
20:23the next place
20:24our story takes us to
20:25is an English cathedral
20:27in winter.
20:39Whole areas of investigation
20:41can be off-limits
20:42when it looks as if
20:43the results might contradict
20:44the accepted view.
20:45Science can't rock any boats.
20:48I use the boat-rocking image
20:51deliberately
20:51because when Galileo's
20:53trouble started
20:54down south
20:54with the Vatican
20:55was when he was playing around
20:57with why things floated.
20:59It all began
21:00with ice floating in ponds
21:03or in bowls
21:04and after various experiments
21:06Galileo came up
21:08with the not exactly
21:09earth-shattering idea
21:10that floating had to do
21:11with things being
21:11lighter than water
21:13or not.
21:15Lighter,
21:16the object would float.
21:19Not,
21:20it wouldn't.
21:23Harmless enough remark
21:24you'd think.
21:25Uh-uh.
21:27Aristotle had said
21:28that floating depended
21:29on whether or not
21:30the shape of the object
21:32penetrated the surface
21:33of the water.
21:33Like this.
21:36Same material,
21:37two different shapes.
21:39Round,
21:40penetrating the surface,
21:42goes to the bottom.
21:44Flat,
21:45not penetrating,
21:48stays afloat
21:49just like flat ice.
21:52Well,
21:52Galileo sacked that idea
21:54as easily as I can.
21:55Like this.
21:56You can't do that
21:57to ice.
22:04OK,
22:04so Aristotle was wrong.
22:06What was so terrible
22:07about that?
22:08Well,
22:09you'll recall
22:09that the accepted view
22:11at the time
22:12was the way
22:12Aristotle's cosmic structure
22:14included the idea
22:16that everything
22:17in the universe
22:18had a proper place
22:19in the grand scheme
22:20of things.
22:21So,
22:22you doubted
22:23one bit of Aristotle,
22:25like what he said
22:25about floating,
22:26and you doubted
22:27all of him
22:28because his was
22:29a package deal.
22:31Now,
22:31the proper place
22:33in the grand scheme
22:33of things
22:34for the powers that be
22:35was,
22:36for the powers that were,
22:38at the top of the heap
22:39and there could be
22:39no doubt about that.
22:41Well,
22:41you get the point.
22:42Science came north
22:43for safety.
22:44Galileo's ideas
22:45were,
22:46so to speak,
22:47put on ice,
22:47and he himself
22:49under house arrest.
22:57Experimentation itself
22:58depends on what's
22:59official
22:59and what's not.
23:03Take,
23:03for instance,
23:04this example
23:05of nothing.
23:07The vacuum
23:08in a barometer.
23:11in 1660,
23:13somebody claimed
23:14to have discovered it.
23:15A hole in reality,
23:17they would have called it.
23:18Aristotle,
23:19of course,
23:19said that it didn't exist,
23:21that the universe
23:22didn't have holes.
23:24So,
23:24when an aristocrat
23:25English scientist
23:26called Robert Boyle
23:27started going through hoops
23:28to prove
23:29that the vacuum
23:30did exist
23:31as advertised,
23:32you'd think,
23:33like Galileo,
23:34that the inevitable
23:34trouble with
23:35you-know-who
23:36would have turned out
23:37to be quite a
23:38shattering experience.
23:56But the English church
23:58supported a monarchy
23:59and it needed
24:00a vacuum.
24:01A hole in reality
24:02was a place
24:02for angels
24:03and souls
24:04to go to.
24:05If it existed,
24:06they did.
24:06If they did,
24:08so did God
24:09and his authority,
24:10which was represented
24:11on earth
24:12by the church
24:13and the king.
24:16So,
24:16it was a case
24:17of long live
24:18the vacuum.
24:18Not surprising
24:19that the first barometer
24:20was English,
24:21hmm?
24:38So,
24:39your view
24:40of the world
24:41dictates what you do
24:42down through
24:42every level
24:43of investigation,
24:44even down to the point
24:45where,
24:46during your research,
24:47it controls
24:48what you take
24:48to be
24:49reliable evidence.
24:52Around 1912,
24:53in England,
24:54fossil fragments
24:55were found,
24:56the brown bits,
24:57that went together
24:59in a reconstruction
24:59like this.
25:02Stained from ages
25:03in the ground,
25:03a human skull
25:05in an ape face.
25:06Several bits
25:07were missing,
25:08the jaw joints
25:09and the chin
25:10among them.
25:11The teeth were worn
25:12the way human teeth
25:13get worn,
25:13and nearby
25:14were found
25:15flint tools
25:16and prehistoric
25:17animal bones.
25:19Dawn Man,
25:21they called this.
25:22Now,
25:23I'll do it again.
25:24Around 1912,
25:25somebody faked this lot.
25:27The stain was chemicals.
25:28The teeth
25:29were filed down,
25:30so were the flint tools,
25:31and the prehistoric
25:31animal bones
25:32had been collected
25:32from all over Africa.
25:34And the missing bits,
25:35the jaw joint
25:36and chin,
25:38would have revealed
25:39that the skull
25:40and the jaw
25:41didn't belong together.
25:44A con.
25:46But for 40 years,
25:48Piltdown Man
25:49was a scientific fact,
25:51because science
25:52was expecting
25:52to find
25:53the missing link
25:54between ape
25:55and man
25:55and man
25:55with a developed brain.
25:59This was such a clincher,
26:01the evidence
26:01wasn't questioned.
26:03But in 18th century,
26:04pre-revolutionary France,
26:06the evidence for this
26:07was.
26:10See,
26:11peasants would tell scientists
26:13about these here stones
26:14fallen from the sky,
26:16and the scientists
26:17would make this French sign.
26:19Science hadn't seen them,
26:20they didn't exist.
26:22As for the evidence
26:23of peasants,
26:25came the revolution
26:26with the peasants
26:27in charge.
26:28Suddenly,
26:29their rustic references
26:30became vital
26:31astrophysical data.
26:32By 1803,
26:34there was a book
26:34on meteorites,
26:35by a scientist,
26:36of course.
26:38Just as well
26:39for science.
26:40Otherwise,
26:40what would they have made
26:41of this big hole
26:42I'm at the bottom of
26:43here in the Arizona desert?
26:46It's called
26:47Meteor Crater.
26:59So you see
27:00how the structure,
27:01the view of things
27:02at the time,
27:03controls what science
27:04does at every level,
27:05from the cosmic questions
27:06about the whole universe,
27:08to what bits of that universe
27:10are worth investigating,
27:11to how far you let
27:12the questions take you,
27:14what experiments to do,
27:15what evidence you can
27:17and can't accept.
27:18And down at that
27:20detailed level,
27:20the control still operates
27:22because it even tells you
27:24what instruments
27:25you should use.
27:33And, of course,
27:34at this stage,
27:35you're looking for data
27:36to prove your theory,
27:37so you design
27:38the kind of instruments
27:39to find the kind of data
27:41you reckon
27:42you're going to find.
27:45The whole argument
27:46comes full circle
27:47when you get
27:48the raw data itself,
27:50because it isn't raw data.
27:52It's what you plan
27:53to find from the start.
27:55This instrument,
27:56for instance,
27:57will find only one thing.
27:58How many inches
27:59across my forehead,
28:00between my ears,
28:01and so on.
28:02It's a 19th century
28:03craniological caliper,
28:05and it was built
28:06because they already decided
28:07that skull size
28:09and intelligence
28:09were related.
28:11For them,
28:12inches,
28:13the raw data,
28:14were brain power.
28:16That's when the myth
28:17of clever people
28:17having big heads started.
28:19Now,
28:20there's only one fly
28:21in all this ointment,
28:21and you've already guessed it.
28:23What about big heads
28:24that are stupid?
28:26That's where the whole system
28:27can lead to eternal destruction,
28:29when some detail
28:31doesn't fit.
28:34That's when you see science
28:35hanging on like grim death
28:37to stop the rug
28:38being pulled out
28:39from under years
28:39of happy status quo.
28:44That's why I'm on an oil rig
28:46in the Gulf of Mexico.
28:48You see,
28:49back in 1912,
28:50the accepted view
28:51of the planet was
28:52that while geological ups
28:54and downs were okay
28:55throughout history,
28:56everything on Earth
28:57was in the same basic position
28:58as it had always been.
29:00And then a weatherman
29:01called Wegener said,
29:03I've been thinking,
29:04look how well South America
29:06and Africa fit.
29:08And isn't it funny
29:09how they have the same
29:10fossil animals
29:11up to a certain date,
29:12and then different animals?
29:14And these Scandinavian mountains,
29:16they're the same
29:16as the ones in Scotland
29:18and in North America.
29:22Maybe everything
29:23was all joined up once
29:24and then drifted apart.
29:25Hmm?
29:27Well,
29:28by the time
29:28the geologists
29:29finished with Wegener,
29:30there was nothing
29:30left but the feathers.
29:31The continents
29:32don't fit exactly.
29:34The animals could have
29:35crossed over
29:35on temporary land bridges.
29:37And anyway,
29:38continents drifting
29:39in solid rock
29:40would do us a favour.
29:42So,
29:42for 40 years,
29:44Wegener was a dirty word.
29:46Then,
29:46in the 1950s,
29:47the magnetometer
29:48was invented.
29:49It identifies magnetic fields.
29:52Now,
29:52the Earth's got one.
29:53In fact,
29:53it's like a giant magnet.
29:54and rocks
29:56have traces
29:57of the Earth's magnetic field
29:58in them.
30:02As the magnetic field
30:04in the rock
30:04turns with it,
30:05you can see the needle
30:06reacting to the north-south
30:08variations in the field.
30:13Only,
30:13if you looked at a rock sample
30:15drilled from the Earth,
30:16with the oldest rocks
30:18at the bottom
30:18and the youngest rocks
30:19at the top,
30:20about every 200,000 years,
30:23the rock magnetic field
30:24would reverse.
30:25First,
30:26this way,
30:26then this way,
30:27then this way,
30:27then this way,
30:28and so on.
30:29Now,
30:30since the rocks
30:30got their magnetism
30:31from the Earth's magnetic field
30:33when they cooled
30:34and formed
30:34in the first place,
30:35that meant
30:36that the Earth's magnetic field
30:37was reversing
30:38about five times
30:39every million years.
30:41Now,
30:41remember that for a minute.
30:42In the 1960s,
30:44oceanographers
30:45discovered these.
30:4610,000-foot-high ridges
30:48running down the seabed
30:48like that.
30:49Volcanic.
30:50Hot.
30:51And to everybody's surprise,
30:53the ocean floor
30:54around them
30:55was very young
30:55as rocks go.
30:57It looked as if
30:57molten rock
30:58was coming up
30:58at these ridges
30:59and spreading out
31:00on either side
31:01and hardening all the time.
31:03Now,
31:04one way to check
31:04was the magnetic state.
31:06If new rock
31:06was being made
31:07all the time
31:08parallel to those ridges,
31:09it should pick up
31:10those reversing magnetic fields
31:12I just mentioned
31:13in strips.
31:19Trouble was,
31:20as they moved
31:20around the ocean,
31:21all the magnetic mapping
31:22they were doing
31:23looked like this.
31:25Here's the average seabed
31:27magnetically,
31:27just a jumble.
31:28And then,
31:29right in mid-ocean,
31:31they found these.
31:32Giant strips
31:33of ocean floor
31:34on either side
31:35of the ridge,
31:36each strip
31:37magnetically opposite
31:38to the one before.
31:41You remember those
31:42mysterious lines
31:43I showed you in Greece?
31:44This was the survey area
31:47that revealed
31:48the mid-ocean strips.
31:50The second they saw these,
31:51they knew that
31:52Wegner had been right.
31:53The ridge volcanoes
31:54were making
31:55new ocean floor,
31:56and as that spread,
31:57it pushed the continents apart.
31:59Gradually,
31:59they arrived at
32:00where they are today,
32:01like this.
32:09As the ocean floor
32:10came up
32:11and pushed out
32:12and hit against
32:12the continents,
32:13it would be forced
32:14back down again,
32:15and the pressure
32:16where that happened
32:16would cause earthquakes.
32:17That's why
32:18this is an earthquake zone,
32:20for instance.
32:21And that's why
32:22I'm on an oil rig.
32:24As the continents drift
32:25and the seabed moves,
32:27formations buckle
32:28and form cavities
32:29that fill with oil.
32:30A detailed continental
32:31drift map will tell us
32:32where to look for more oil
32:33in a planet
32:35that is totally not
32:36what science said
32:37it was before Wegner.
32:38today's version
32:39of the truth about the world.
32:42Irreconcilable
32:42with the previous version.
32:57So, you see
32:59how the only structure
33:00in the shifting,
33:01changing face of nature
33:02is the one we impose
33:04on it with our theories.
33:05Each one,
33:06the latest version
33:08of what we call
33:09the truth.
33:26New structures,
33:27new versions
33:28of how the world works,
33:29only appear
33:30because of some bit
33:31of detail the old version
33:33couldn't accommodate
33:34that causes everything
33:35to change.
33:41In spite of what science
33:43would have us believe,
33:44that kind of switch
33:45doesn't happen
33:46because of science
33:47steadily and purposefully
33:49heading towards the truth,
33:50with one discovery
33:52somehow following another
33:53along the way
33:54as part of some grand plan.
33:56As you've seen,
33:58each structure in the past
33:59worked perfectly well.
34:00That's what the truth
34:01was for a while.
34:03And as for one discovery
34:04following another
34:05along the way,
34:06what way?
34:07Going where?
34:12The so-called voyage
34:14of discovery
34:15has as often
34:15as not made landfall
34:17for reasons little
34:18to do with a search
34:18for knowledge.
34:20Science,
34:21like all other
34:22human activities,
34:22is a product
34:24of what society
34:24at the time
34:25thinks is important.
34:27What science has done
34:28in the last few hundred years
34:29has been directed
34:30by that fact.
34:33Earlier on
34:34in the Middle Ages,
34:35the whole structure
34:36of Western experimental science
34:38happened almost unintentionally.
34:41At the time,
34:42science would have
34:43had no purpose.
34:44The church said
34:45the world around
34:46wasn't worth studying.
34:47So the new logic
34:48from Arab Spain
34:49was used
34:50to check holy writing
34:51for errors of faith
34:53to strengthen belief.
34:54And it was looking
34:56at light
34:56with that end in mind
34:57that led one monk
34:59to discover
34:59how the sun
35:00made rainbows
35:02experimentally
35:03using glass balls
35:05and logic.
35:07The very logic
35:08that brings me back
35:10to ancient Greece
35:10where the whole
35:12superstructure
35:12of Western thinking
35:13began,
35:14where the seafaring
35:15Ionians first noticed
35:17that everything
35:18came in opposites,
35:19up, down,
35:20wet, dry,
35:20hot, cold,
35:21and so on.
35:23And took
35:24Egyptian pyramid
35:25building techniques
35:26and turned them
35:27into pure geometry
35:28with which you could
35:29measure everything
35:29in existence.
35:30And then
35:31put together
35:32the logic
35:32of reconciling opposites
35:34with the geometrical tool
35:35for measuring
35:36the physical world
35:37and made what we call
35:38rationalism.
35:39The Greek way
35:40of putting a structure
35:42on the chaos of nature
35:43and our way
35:44ever since.
35:45But you've seen
35:46how structures
35:47give way to each other,
35:48that no single structure
35:50is the only right way
35:52of seeing what you
35:53call the truth.
35:54So why should
35:55the entire superstructure,
35:57the Western rational
35:58system itself,
35:59be the only right way?
36:19There are other ways
36:21of looking at the universe.
36:22Take just one
36:23that started
36:24at the same time
36:25as our Greek way
36:26did 2,500 years ago,
36:28but that unlike our way
36:30doesn't change the world.
36:35And yet, in some ways,
36:37Buddhism does just
36:38what science does.
36:39It explains how
36:40the universe works
36:41and comforts you
36:42when it seems to fail
36:43and is an integral part
36:45of everyday life.
36:55Buddhism gives
36:56the Nepalese
36:57a set of values
36:57and rules of conduct
36:59for every aspect
37:00of their life.
37:01The images
37:01and temples
37:02are constant reminders
37:03of their explanation
37:04of the universe
37:05and where you fit
37:07in the overall scheme.
37:13The explanation
37:14doesn't change
37:15because it's built
37:16round a view of life
37:17as a recurring cycle,
37:19like the cycle
37:19of the seasons
37:20bringing birth
37:21and rebirth
37:22every year.
37:23As in nature,
37:24there is no end
37:25because at the moment
37:26of death,
37:27the life force
37:28returns to the universe
37:29to be used again
37:30in a different form.
37:33A kind of conservation
37:34of energy,
37:35we would say.
37:43And as the returning
37:45seasons remind the believers
37:46of the continuity
37:47of the universe
37:48as they see it,
37:49so too
37:50do all the instruments
37:52that keep them
37:52in daily contact
37:53with that universe.
37:55The opportunity
37:55to be in touch
37:56with the cosmos
37:57through prayer,
37:58driven upwards
37:59from the prayer wheels
38:01that are found
38:01in every corner
38:02of their lives
38:03to be turned
38:04at every opportunity,
38:05a source of comfort,
38:07giving a sense
38:07of purpose to existence,
38:09as science aims
38:11to do for us.
38:32Buddhism,
38:33like science,
38:34explains the universe
38:36to its believers
38:36through the use
38:37of symbols.
38:48where we invent
38:49laws of pressure
38:50and thermodynamics
38:51and gravity
38:52to account for
38:53the different ways
38:54in which the universe
38:54shows itself in action,
38:56Buddhism put it all
38:57in the care of gods
38:58and sub-gods,
39:00each responsible
39:01for a different aspect
39:02of existence,
39:03each explaining
39:04to the believer
39:05why that bit
39:06of existence
39:07does what it does.
39:26And in every community,
39:28like an encyclopedia
39:29of knowledge
39:29available to all,
39:31the Stupa Monument,
39:33a complete summary
39:34of the view,
39:35as well as a guide
39:36to its ultimate aim
39:37of understanding.
39:39Each of these levels
39:40represents one
39:41of the 13 stages
39:43of knowledge
39:43that lead to comprehension
39:45and enlightenment.
39:46Two, Nirvana.
40:05As with us,
40:07the explanation
40:07of what life means
40:08and how it works
40:09is passed on
40:10to the young.
40:14In the monastery schools
40:16every community has,
40:17the basics are taught
40:18by repetition.
40:20Nature is subdivided,
40:22classified, named.
40:23As Einstein taught us,
40:26these monks teach
40:27their pupils
40:27that everything in life
40:29is relative,
40:30that there is no absolute reality
40:32in anything you observe
40:33because it changes
40:35as you observe it
40:36and so do you.
40:37As with us,
40:39some students,
40:39who remember enough
40:40of the 84,000 sayings
40:42of Buddha,
40:42pass tough exams
40:44and graduate
40:45to advanced study.
40:46They become monks.
40:54At this level,
40:55Buddhism takes on
40:56some of the same aspects
40:57as Western science.
40:58Progress depends
40:59on expressing yourself
41:00in the specialist
41:01vocabulary of the discipline.
41:03The ceremonies
41:04act as exercises
41:06in recalling
41:07an explanation
41:07of the universe
41:08that in its own way
41:09is as complete
41:10as that of science.
41:11Thanks.
42:11Ultimately, this view of the universe is different from ours
42:15because it turns away from the world,
42:18believing that to investigate the constantly changing forms of everyday existence
42:22can only bring confusion.
42:24High in the Himalayas, the Buddhist view leads you to the understanding
42:28of the temporary nature of life
42:30and that enlightenment can only come by leaving it behind.
42:59The final step in the expression of this view of the world
43:02lies in the practice of meditation
43:04used to put the believer into direct contact with the universe itself
43:08and to bring understanding that the only permanent reality
43:12is to be found not in the parts of existence, but in the whole.
43:33To become a true priest, meditation lasts three years,
43:37three months and three days, 16 hours a day
43:40and leads to total denial of self.
44:01This view of the universe, then, is no view.
44:05That is, there is nothing to see.
44:07There is no truth, only emptiness.
44:33I'm not saying that we should all give up the life support science and technology
44:38that our rationalist way of doing things has given us
44:40and come here to the foot of Everest,
44:43reject the world and meditate.
44:46Just that non-scientific views of the world like this
44:51aren't necessarily ignorant.
44:53In their own way, they explain the universe as completely as science does.
44:58And as you've seen from this series, all that science gives us is what their belief gives them, certainty.
45:06Only ours changes all the time.
45:08Theirs doesn't.
45:10As for the permanent values that are supposed to remain unchanged in spite of our changing knowledge,
45:17well, they change too.
45:18Once it was good to burn women.
45:21Wrong to claim the earth went round the sun.
45:23Logical to argue about angels on the head of a pin.
45:27The values change every time the universe changes.
45:30And that's every time we redefine a big enough bit of it.
45:33Which we do all the time, through the process of discovery that isn't discovery.
45:38Just the invention of another version of how things are.
45:44And yet, in spite of that, we still go on believing that today's version of things is the only right
45:51one.
45:52Because, as you've learned from this series, we can only handle one way of seeing things at a time.
45:57We've never had systems that would let us do more than that.
46:00So we've always had to have conformity with the current view.
46:04Disagree with the church, and you were punished as a heretic.
46:07With the political system as a revolutionary.
46:11With the scientific establishment as a charlatan.
46:13With the educational system as a failure.
46:17If you didn't fit the mould, you were rejected.
46:25But, ironically, the latest product of that way of doing things is a new instrument.
46:32A new system that, while it could make conformity more rigid, more totalitarian than ever before in history.
46:41Could also blow everything wide open.
46:43Because, with it, we could operate on the basis that values and standards and ethics and facts and truth all
46:51depend on what your view of the world is.
46:54And that there may be as many views of that as there are people.
46:58And, with this, capable of keeping a tally on those millions of opinions voiced electronically.
47:05We might be able to lift the limitations of conforming to any centralised representational form of government.
47:12Originally invented because there was no way for everybody's voice to be heard.
47:16You might be able to give everybody unhindered, untested access to knowledge.
47:21Because a computer would do the day-to-day work for which we once qualified the select few.
47:27In an educational system originally designed for a world where only the few could be taught.
47:32You might end the regimentation of people living and working in vast, unmanageable cities.
47:38Uniting them instead in an electronic community.
47:42Where the Himalayas and Manhattan were only a split second apart.
47:48But, you might, with that and much more, break the mould that has held us back since the beginning.
47:55In a future world that we would describe as balanced anarchy.
47:59And they will describe as an open society.
48:03Tolerant of every view.
48:04Aware that there is no single privileged way of doing things.
48:08Above all, able to do away with the greatest tragedy of our era.
48:13The centuries-old waste of human talent that we couldn't or wouldn't use.
48:19Utopia? Why?
48:21If, as I've said all along, the universe is, at any time, what you say it is.
48:26Then say.
48:43For the deeper moverulean, or above all, the other people who try to nestle.
48:53I don't know what we if we should learn on the mindfulness.
48:53Then say to me that its purists, you know we are not sure how toھی.
48:54So if you Frogsa was able to introduce us andeline.
48:55Then say to me, what we can do here?
49:12There is no place there is no place there, grandfather and grandfather and grandfather.
49:24PIANO PLAYS
49:57PIANO PLAYS
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