To know that world is why I studied science as a young man, and why I still try to see the world as the scientist sees it: matter and energy interacting in time and space. A reason for everything but a purpose to nothing. As Democritus remarked 2500 years ago, "In reality, nothing exists except atoms and the void".

But that is not the world we actually live in from day to day. Our consciousness inhabits a universe of our own prejudices and preconceptions, one which we construct from our flawed and limited sensory impressions, our incomplete and changing memories and our personal subjective interpretations. And when you get right down to it, our consciousness is the only thing we can be sure of that really exists.

We do not inhabit a strictly ordered world of natural law, of particles and waves, forces and fields. We live in a reality based on our biology, our psychology, our personal relationships with others, and our connection to family, community and society. Our jobs, professions and careers mean much more to us than the laws of Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics.

Nature has evolved us to survive and reproduce. We choose instead to work and to love. Each of us is more a product of our individual history and internal wiring than of the shared world around us.

The human universe is totally subjective, and it differs for every one of us. Just talking to a few of our fellows is all we should ever need to convince us of that. We can't agree on anything! To believe everyone else must be mistaken while only we possess the ability to recognize the truth is the height of hubris, arrogance--and Narcissism.

The amazing thing is how little we need to know about the real external universe to exist in it sucessfully. We don't need to know the true arrangement of the solar system to predict eclipses, devise a calendar, or navigate a ship across an ocean. We don't require a knowledge of Newton's Laws in order to throw a baseball. We don't need to know chemistry to prepare a meal.

It is tempting to delude ourselves into believing our unquestioning adherence to any doctrine is a virtue, a form of intellectual honesty, consistency or integrity. It is not. It is a form of stubborness and a closed mind. And when we interpret the failure of those around us to arrive at the same conclusions we have as evidence of their lack of morality, intelligence or courage, it leads to fear, contempt--and Paranoia.