Smita Pani: [World Malayali Club] Nanocosm, Microcosm and Macrocosm

Consider a novel or a story. The author has complete control over the settings, the characters and the events in the novel. We can call the story or the novel a nanocosm where the author is in complete control. Stage plays and movies are other instances of nanocosms where the trinity of the script writer, the producer and the director have complete control over the events taking place on stage or screen. Cartoons, myths and special effect movies, depict events that often go against the natural physical laws, and heroes and villains carry out impossible feats. These mythical and cartoon characters fly through space defying gravity, bring the dead back to life, stop the sun in its tracks when it suits them and so on and so forth. Our infancy and childhood form another nanocosm where parental and ethnic scripts have almost total control over us.

Now take a human society. We may call this a microcosm. Here the events are subject to natural laws and yet there are hierarchies of power and other factors, which fall under human control. In the old days, human societies were virtually isolated and formed numerous microcosms insulated from each other. With the advance of technology and globalization, we form virtually a single microcosm of humanity. In this microcosm The President of the United States of America is considered as the most powerful and influential being at present.

However, The President of the United States of America is a helpless pawn in the face of natural forces like Typhoon Katrina. We may term such immense natural forces before which the human microcosm is insignificant, as the macrocosm. Science studies the nature of this macrocosm and tries to bring more and more of the infinite number of elements of the macrocosm within the sphere of the microcosm so that these macrocosmic forces can be put to human use. In the process, science studies the macrocosm as cause-effect events and tries to find the exact interrelationships among the infinite number of events in the macrocosm.

Our microcosm used to be insignificant before the macrocosmic forces. With our advances in technologies, the picture is beginning to change and the microcosm is beginning to have its impact on the macrocosm. The population explosion we see today is a definite pointer to the success of our microcosm in reducing death and decease. This population explosion in its turn has had cataclysmic effects on the environment in the form of devastation of forests for food, fodder and fuel and has further led to the extinction of many flora and fauna. Fluorocarbons emitted by us have been detrimental to the Ozonosphere. Greenhouse gases emitted by microcosmic industries and transport have led to macrocosmic effects on weather. The microcosmic pollutions, emissions and the exploitation of the earth's resources resulting from the population explosion, our increasing mobility and the rising consumerism have played havoc with the macrocosmic environments of earth, water and air. As a result, the interface between the microcosm and the macrocosm is growing in scope and becoming more and more diffuse with passing time.

With our birth, we enter the nanocosm of the maternal bosom from the macrocosm. We then grow up into the microcosm of a particular human society with its unique outlooks and traditions. In spite of the apparent variations in social factors this microcosm is homogeneous in that it always promotes optimum efficiency in accordance with 'The Law of Optimum Efficiencies'. This is the single factor – optimum efficiency- that binds our various human microcosms together. Subsequently with death we pass on to the macrocosm – dust thou art to dust returnest. Then things start all over again – much the same matter taking on different life-forms and adopting different microcosms.

The truth - if there is such a thing as truth - comes in its multifaceted dimensions, and is in the domain of the macrocosm. Our authority however powerful is microcosmic at best and cannot challenge or alter the macrocosm. The presumption that the macrocosm is subject to human authority however great, is sheer idiocy and vanity. And if there is such a thing as a divine, infallible being, you can rest assured it will not dance to the tune of the self-proclaimed divine representatives.

Unquestioned obeisance to unverifiable and conflicting dogmas and doctrines lead to violent conflicts, which are set backs to peace and progress. These political and religious dogmas and doctrines can be analyzed in the light of clear and unconditioned thinking, and their insignificance realized. We can thus steer clear of most if not all conflicts in our world today if we can see through the insignificance and triviality of these dogmatic differences.

There is no such thing as the absolute in thinking. For centuries it was thought that mathematical methods were absolute. However theory of relativity and the concept of black holes changed all that. Newton's Laws and other scientific phenomena that were held sacrosanct were proved inoperative at the speed of light and near black holes. Chaos theory postulated that there is no such thing as absolute objectivity and observations depended upon the observer. Hormones and body conditions also contribute to the thinking process. Thus men and women differ to a great extent when it comes to perceptions and thinking. Among individuals of the same sex, people of different ages have different perceptions of everyday life. Thus children of the same sex think alike to certain extend while youth and the aged have their own perceptions and opinions. If perceptions differ then the thoughts, conclusions and knowledge derived therefrom can also differ. In short there is no such thing as the absolute knowledge or truth. The secret to success in clear thinking lies in our willingness to accept changes, which in turn comes from the realization that there is nothing like the absolute truth when it comes to knowledge and to our perceptions of the world around us.