Of Fascination with The Unknown…

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

                                                               -William Shakespeare (“Hamlet”, Act 1, Scene 5)

Every now and then, we hear stories about ghosts, imps, angels, vampires and what not. Of course, we don’t believe any of those things exist. This is a time of great scientific advancement and our minds have no tolerance for the paranormal or the supernatural. And yet, there are people who swear they have seen, felt or experienced such elements in some way or the other. And quite expectedly, these people become the brunt of ridicule and laughter.

Such people are called ignorant. And yet, with the tremendous advance in scientific research and discovery, we have learnt that there are n number of things in this world that we were wrong about. Latest discoveries in quantum mechanics changed the way physicists looked at the universe. For decades, the atom was considered an indivisible particle. Then they broke it down to finds electrons, neutrons, etc.

Just when they thought, they had found the smallest indivisible particle of matter, there were more discoveries and they found particles inside the sub-atomic particles. The study of these incredible elements of nature led to more baffling discoveries. All of a sudden, a particle was a particle as well as a wave. The latest scientific discoveries sound a lot like science fiction.

If you lived a couple of centuries ago, equipment that are a part of our everyday convenience would have looked like sorcery to you, but today you do not give it a second thought. You exchange messages across continents at the drop of an eyelid, and its a normal thing to do.

Take an evening off from your work, your daily routine, and climb up to the terrace of your building and stare at the sky. Quickly consider all that you have learnt about space and universe in high school and try to imagine and perceive what you’re looking at. Or take a look at the setting sun and imagine how big it is.

Or stare at your fingers. A tiny grain of your skin contains billions and billions of cells, which can be broken down into nucleus, ribosome, mitochondria, lysosome, peroxisome, cytoplasm and other cytoplasmic matter. Microscopic even for a cell, there are atoms and sub-atomic particles. Whether small or big, the concept of infinity is absolute and omnipresent.

Just like we are able to perceive only a certain bandwidth of light, we perceive only a limited bandwidth of this creation. And yet, with our vain ego, we like to believe that we know whatever there is to know. And we refuse to believe anything that we don’t understand.

When Albert Einstein first proposed the Theory of Relativity, only four of his peers could understand him. Others failed to perceive the sheer genius of the eccentric physicist’s idea. Great minds of today talk about wormholes and alternate realities, things that sound improbable to us. Hence these concepts are often turned into very entertaining science fiction and yet every once a while someone stops to think, “What if? What if its all true?”

The possibilities are endless.

Whether its time travel or life after death, ghosts or aliens, soul or super powers, magic and alternate realities, we can choose either to dismiss their existence or keep an open mind to such things. Whatever your choice might be, its possible that one fine morning your reality could turn upside down. And then, based on your choice, you'll either be overwhelmed at the change, unable to accept it or you'll embrace the new reality and prosper in the possibly endless opportunities that it has to offer.

For as they say, there are more things in Heaven and Earth…

“NOTE: This is the Introductory piece to one of my very first full length novels. The novel is still in progress, but I felt like this was worth a read even by itself. I would love to hear your views about it.”