Hey, are you OK?

This is one of the reactions of my friends on reading this blog ! A tinge of sarcasm & humour colours this question. Answering on the same note, I can say I've never been OK, but maybe closer to getting there. There is no need for concern on hearing the reply if one listens with philosophical ears.

We humans are a strange species resting on our laurels of conquering the planet earth, lording over every other inhabitant. From our narrow perspectives we can convince ourselves that we are all doing OK, immersed in the mundane nitty gritties of life. What about the bigger questions of knowing the mysteries of the entire Universe ? It is obvious that even the greatest scientist ever on earth has only understood a very tiny portion of the entire knowledge that is in existence. No matter the leaps & bounds progress of science & technology, these are like drops of water in the ocean of existence. On being posed these questions, most people either brush it off or appear truly unconcerned. Relativity in it's glory shines forth for I cant help being totally surprised at their answer, while they cant help being equally surprised on my question ! That being said, I think there is no denying the fact that _everybody_ at some moment, however fleeting it might be tend to wonder deeper than their current existence. Getting unnerved, it is very easy to brush off, but never erased it keeps coming back like the relentlessly bloodthirsty mosquito to your ear !

Coming back to the question of Science & technological progress, as a kid I was a firm believer in that alone. Slowly, after 2 decades of witnessing the snail like progress of Science, disappointment set in. Will I ever know or even read about the mysteries of the Universe ? Will I ever in this lifetime meet the aliens on distant galaxies ? If not me, will anybody in the not too distant future get these answers ? It seems very unlikely ! Read about dark matter (or missing mass problem) at http://epo.sonoma.edu/duo/science/cosmos.html & other sites & you'll soon find out that all the Physics, Chemistry, Maths, technology that's been drilled into our heads can't even explain 5% of the Universe ! Isn't that great - most of the Universe does not even follow the laws of the greatest earth born Physicist or Chemist !!! Science is useful, it allows us to spend time & money in relativistic pursuits. But it should be treated as a very small subset of spirituality (reality), without excluding belief in the current unknown.
Perhaps the answer to these profound questions lies in another simple question - do I need to taste all the water in the oceans, rivers, lakes just to know the nature of water ?

Do the surface waves cease to exist in the deep ocean ? Why remain at the surface alone...when I can as well be a deep sea diver rising to the surface as I wish, enjoying equally the sky through the surface & the deep sea dark !!! If you see the connection of this to the start (or topic) of this posting, look in the mirror and ask yourself "Am I OK?"