Truth Without a Cause
"I don't know what to do."
Once more, Sarkon the Prophet was wondering if he was doing the right thing. And once more, he was complaining to exactly the person least likely to make him feel any better, namely his arch nemesis General Kwar the Dictator.
"You never did anything anyway!" was the Dictator's reaction to Sarkon's complaint. "Why do you start wondering only now? Seems to me you haven't ever known what to do!"
"I just wanted to take my time to think about it!" protested Sarkon. "I wasn't going to waste my life doing useless or even harmful stuff!"
"Your thinking didn't bring you any further, in any case. You didn't know what to do before, you still don't know what to do now," criticized General Kwar.
"My not knowing now is wiser than my not knowing before," argued Sarkon.
"That's the most foolish thought I ever heard," sighed General Kwar.
Dr. Qworm the Mad Scientist overheard his nemesis' conversation and could not resist stepping in. "It is not what you know that's important – it's how you got to know it," he lectured. "A logical thought process makes your truth worth a thousand fold more than a truth without a cause!"
"Truth without a cause… Sounds like evil philosophy!" joked General Kwar. "Is there something like renegade truth?" he asked.
"Truth without a cause is all things that are considered true without a logical thought process leading to it. Truth without a cause is also called belief," explained Dr. Qworm.
"Belief…" General Kwar took a deep breath. "Isn't belief – truth without a cause, as you say – the arch nemesis of philosophy?" he asked with a wink towards Sarkon.
Sarkon's look darkened noticeably. "Belief may well be the evil opposite of philosophy, indeed," he agreed. "Historically, belief has been the cause of denial, stifling, forbidding and persecution of philosophy, and all philosophy ever had to defend itself against belief was mockery."
"And still, philosophy is winning the feud," said Dr. Qworm.
"Is it really? By doubting everything, philosophy ends up doubting even itself. In a way, philosophy is eating its tail," Sarkon said, visibly worried. "Somehow, it still and always is losing – against itself, into the bargain! Because there's another truth without a cause that it has to struggle with, a truth that's without a cause for quite another reason than belief: the origins of existence. Philosophy just isn't able to find the ultimate origin of existence. It isn't able to find the ultimate cause of truth, and because of that, philosophy is itself a truth without a cause!"
"So philosophy is just a belief, too? That would be contradictory – I mean, philosophy is doubt by essence!" exclaimed Dr. Qworm with a frown.
"Maybe philosophy is just a belief in doubt," Sarkon said darkly. "And even if you think you know something, you never actually know – you just believe you know. You always just believe, because if there's one thing history and science have taught us, it's that that today's logical thought processes are tomorrow's sophisms, and today's truths are not tomorrow's!"
Dr. Qworm and General Kwar both felt uneasy at this point. In science as well as in politics, much of what had been considered true in the past was considered wrong now, and they both felt queasy at the thought of their contributions suffering this fate.
"So philosophy is the belief that one is wrong?" asked the Dictator.
"That's quite a good definition," agreed Sarkon.
"Well, then…" General Kwar pondered for a while, covering his right fist with his left hand, "I hate doing that, but maybe we have to involve ethics to weigh this belief in doubt against any belief in certainty. Maybe we have to ask yourselves the question of which is ethically better: to believe one is wrong, or to believe one is right?"
"To believe one is wrong, of course," Dr. Qworm answered immediately. "Because if you believe you are wrong, you long for improvement, and you try to find ways for improving. If you believe you are right, there is no room for that, and you try to keep things as they are. Thus, if you want improvement, you have to believe you are wrong!"
"That's what I suspected," General Kwar agreed with a smile. "So philosophy is not that useless after all," he winked again towards Sarkon.[1]
Sarkon brightened up. "So philosophy – doubt – is a belief ethically better than any other belief? That's at least something in its favor, because doubt sure doesn't make your life as easy to bear as certainty," he finished, looking almost unhappy again.
"Maybe not as easy to bear," General Kwar clasped Sarkon on the shoulder, "but it sure makes it more interesting!"
"If we didn't question ourselves from time to time, we'd still be hanging around in trees!" laughed Dr. Qworm.
Sarkon weakly returned Dr. Qworm's smile. He felt a little better, but…
He still didn't know what to do.
* * *
"Look at what I can do!"
To change his mind, Sarkon had decided to visit cookie the harlequin on his playground. cookie was doing somersaults, something he apparently had begun daring only recently.
This didn't make much sense to Sarkon. "Why are you doing somersaults?" he asked.
"Because I want to!" cookie called in the middle of a jump.
That answer was deceivingly simple, and it made Sarkon remember his own inadequacy to know what to do bitterly. Was there nothing he wanted? Well, he wanted ideas. Think of answers to old questions and find new ones. But was that really doing something?
"What I mean is, what's the meaning of your somersaults?" he asked again.
This time the question made cookie stop jumping. He looked at Sarkon with his head tilted and, for once, a trace of seriousness crossed his eyes. "The meaning of my somersaults… is the somersaults themselves. Nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else."
* * *
"I discovered the meaning of the universe!"
Sarkon had burst into the Welgon Age's tea room, where General Kwar and Dr. Qworm were having an argument about some shares Kwar wanted to sell.[2]
"You discovered what?!" exclaimed Dr. Qworm, who couldn't believe Sarkon had turned mad in such a short time since their last meeting.
"It is too complex to be actually worded out, but it can be defined," Sarkon explained with a trembling voice. "The meaning of the universe is…"
Dr. Qworm and General Kwar couldn't help repeating, "Is?…"
"…The universe itself. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else."
General Kwar and Dr. Qworm looked at each other. They were speechless.
"Congratulations. You just proved that 1 = 1," Dr. Qworm said finally.
General Kwar burst out laughing, and that was all the effect Sarkon's discovery of the meaning of the universe had.
* * *
"Tell me some more about somersaults," Sarkon said to cookie. The Prophet, depressed about his lack of knowledge about what he should do, had returned to cookie's playground to change his mind again.
cookie was eager to comply. "The somersaults themselves have no importance at all; it's how they're done that matters. Look," he said, and he jumped in a way that made him rotate only halfway in the air and land on his butt. "This wasn't a very good jump because I didn't rotate enough. And I didn't rotate enough because I didn't bend my head and spin my hips enough. And I didn't bend my head and spin my hips enough because I decided not to. And I decided not to because I wanted to show you a bad jump. And I wanted to show you a bad jump because I wanted to explain you what matters in somersaults. And I wanted to explain you what matters in somersaults to show you that how they were done was the thing that made somersaults what they are."
Sarkon's eyes lit up again.
"Now here's a good jump –" cookie went on, but Sarkon was already gone.
* * *
"It is how the universe is made that matters; the universe itself has no importance at all, because it is how it is made that makes it what it is!"
Sarkon was back in the tea room. General Kwar was barely done laughing.
"What do you mean, how it is made? Since when do we make the universe ourselves?" asked General Kwar, chuckling again.
Dr. Qworm rasped his throat. "As a matter of fact, Dictator, we do make it ourselves," he said. "At least since recently. Remember that cars and computers and human rights seem to be the consequence of a force we call 'force of will' – our force of will, and not some other being's force of will."
General Kwar swallowed his chuckle embarrassingly. He had forgotten that Sarkon had found this out not a long time ago.[3]
"Sure, it is how the universe is made that matters… But so what? Does it have any ground-breaking scientific, political or philosophical implications?" asked Dr. Qworm.
"Well… Since we make the universe ourselves – its ongoing creation is ours, as Dr. Qworm so accurately reminded us – maybe we could look at how it was made until now – at how we made it until now – to get an idea of how to make it in the future," suggested Sarkon.
"You mean to get an idea of how we personally can make it?" asked Dr. Qworm.
"Yes, that's it," agreed Sarkon.
"Okay then – now we just have to identify how the universe was made until now," General Kwar intervened haughtily. "I suggest the world became what it is now mostly through arguments. We argue all the time, so that's what made the universe how it is now!"
Dr. Qworm rolled his eyes. "Please stop limiting yourself to our universe, Dictator. It's too small to be of any significance. Besides, you know I can't stand it. Think of where you came from!"
"Oh, that universe," said General Kwar. "Sure. In this case, I suggest the world became what it is now mostly through wars. Should we make war, then?" he asked provocatively.
Sarkon cringed. "That's not what I had in mind –"
"Afraid of seeing truth you don't like, Prophet?" General Kwar asked with a grin.
"I don't know, Dictator…" Dr. Qworm jumped in. "By definition, wars have destroyed the world more than making anything in it. Anyway, you can't take events to identify what made the world: that would be taking the effect as the cause! No: by definition, the cause of changes that have force of will as their root has always been people."[4]
"So we have to identify what people made the world; but wouldn't that be everyone?" asked General Kwar.
"Indeed… So we're no further than before," shrugged Dr. Qworm.
Sarkon shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe we have to…" he paused a little to think, "…Try to identify those people who made it most?"
Dr. Qworm and General Kwar let this proposal sink into their minds. "Some people… are indeed known for having had quite a big impact on what the world is now," Dr. Qworm agreed finally. "Maybe they can be said to have made the world a little more than others."
"So we can pick out some names, see what they did, and draw conclusions about what should be done to make a world?" ventured Sarkon.
"Could work. We can at least try," agreed Dr. Qworm.
"I'll start," said Sarkon. "Plato, Aristotle, Christ, Da Vinci, Descartes, Dunant…"
"Euclide, Galilei, Newton, Curie, Einstein…" Dr. Qworm went on.
"Innocent III, Stalin, Hitler…" General Kwar joined the listing.
"Why must you always spoil it?" Sarkon gritted angrily at General Kwar.
"They made the world just as much as the ones you mentioned!" General Kwar defended himself.
"So we'd have to take Hitler's life as an example of what to do to make a world?" Dr. Qworm asked with a frown. "That doesn't work, Prophet!"
"That's a bad example, indeed…" Sarkon bit his lip.
"Unless…" General Kwar raised a finger.
"If you say anything positive about him, I burst out laughing at your face!" warned Sarkon.
"Have you noticed, though, how the world suddenly progressed morally and ethically right after his passing? Help plans were set up, independence was given to colonies, the United Nations were created…" said General Kwar.
"But that's all very logical. Steps were taken so that something like that wouldn't happen again!" explained Sarkon.
"So in a way, he made a better world?" ventured General Kwar.
"You're turning it the wrong way! The people after him made a better world!" exclaimed Sarkon.
"But he was the cause! He was the hard lesson that had to be learned!" argued the Dictator. General Kwar and Sarkon were nose-to-nose, ready to hammer their points into each other's heads.
"Maybe we should just try to find out what all these people had in common," Dr. Qworm tried to calm them down.
"What would Dunant and Stalin have in common?" spat General Kwar.
"They have… They have…" Sarkon really wanted to find something just to spite General Kwar. He needed an idea fast…
"…Ideas!"
"Ideas?" Kwar asked, surprised. "You mean Stalin had ideas?"
"Sure. Bad ideas, but ideas nevertheless."
"They weren't really his," General Kwar shook his head. "They were mostly other people's ideas. Marx's, Lenin's…"
"But he tried them out," argued Sarkon. "In the worst possible way, but he did try them out."
General Kwar sighed. "Alright then. Stalin did try out ideas, but what's your point?"
"They all had ideas. Or tried ideas out. All the people we mentioned, they all had and tried out ideas," said Sarkon.
"So that would be how they made their universe?" asked Dr. Qworm.
"That's how you make a universe, indeed," answered Sarkon. "Think of ideas and try them out."
"So now we know how to make our universe, too!" marveled Dr. Qworm. "Get an idea, try it out – and voilà! Our universe has become a little bigger!"
"But didn't we do that already?" General Kwar asked.
Dr. Qworm looked at Sarkon. "As a matter of fact, we did. Especially you, Prophet. Nobody has a many ideas as you around here!"
"You mean my constant thinking is the best thing I can do?" asked Sarkon.
"As long as you keep telling us what you think… If you want to have any input in the biggest work of art that is, you better go on doing that. But hey – you don't have to!" said Dr. Qworm, looking at General Kwar.
"Gee. I guess I better start thinking, too," the Dictator said sheepishly.
Sarkon the Prophet was ecstatic: now he knew what to do.
And even better, he had done it all along.
* * *
From the top of the Welgon Age's hill, Sarkon looked towards cookie's playground. The harlequin was still there playing.
Sarkon wondered how such a small being, who seemed so carefree of all the limits and constraints of life, could hold such an almost endless wisdom, to the point of telling him…
…The meaning of life.
[1] To be fair, Christianity used the same theory: make everyone believe s/he is a sinner so that everyone always tries to improve. And it worked, as it was a tremendous help for humanity to improve morally.
[2] See Everyone Counts (In Large Amounts).
[3] See Big Bang.
[4] Deleted paragraph: "I wouldn't say consciousness is the primary cause for change; I would rather say consciousness is a catalyst for change," specified Sarkon. "Events cause consciousness to cause events, which in turn cause consciousness to cause events5… It is a never-ending cycle that started maybe in the flight from omnipotence,6 or maybe it starts and ends in a never-ending cycle of Big Bang engineering,7 or maybe it just started randomly, or maybe somehow else – we're not sure. But that's not the point here."
5 See The Speed of Stone.
6 See The Vanishing Point.
7 See The Final Prophecy.