Paradox of Nature

The happenings in nature are mostly contradictions in themselves. A molecule of water rising up in the atmosphere through vaporization, only to come back down to the surface through condensation. Global cooling (ice age) replacing the ambient temperatures, only to make way for the latter. For any creature who is born, the destination is again oblivion (ashes to ashes, dust to dust).

If we consider the universe and not just a little molecule of water, there are theories that support what we observed in the preceding paragraph. If one were to believe the theory of 'The Big Crunch' (I profess to be no expert in the matter and this is just one of the many theories), which suggests that a big bang occurs which creates the universe as we know it, only to be followed by all matter collapsing into black holes, which would then coalesce to produce a single black hole or Big Crunch singularity. What would follow this would be another Big Bang and this process continues eternally. Thus, everything around us seems to be created ultimately for its destruction so that it can be created again.

From here we arrive at - what seems to me - the basis of nihilism,  that the life essentially lacks meaning or purpose, but that I leave for another series of posts.

I know Everything or I know Nothing

You may have encountered some people with such an attitude (if not rash or really low spirited enough to say these very words). First let us consider "I Know Everything" or "I know All". Lets begin by analyzing the universe of knowledge in which such a personage is apparently well versed in.

Let us begin with He/She know everything. This is true and concurs with the first statement.

He/She knows that he/she knows everything. The aforementioned behaviour indicates the veracity of the same.

He/She knows what all he/she does not know!! Here comes the paradox! If the person knows what (s)he doesn't know, it means that the person doesn't know something. But if the same person knows not what (s)he doesn't know, that is the very thing he doesn't know! Hence he doesn't know all!

Similar line of logic applies on the other proposition - I know nothing. By saying so, a person confesses to know "nothing", which indicates he has knowledge of something!

So after all, one can never have knowledge of everything! So all you intelligent guys out there, show some modesty the next time your opportunity to dazzle comes :) 

When ambition ends, Happiness begins!

A famous proverb as well as a wise one. But giving some thought to it, I find the same extremely paradoxical. We can infer at least one thing from it, that a man cannot aspire happiness; for if attaining that state (of happiness) becomes his ambition, then he can never achieve it. Only he who does not want to achieve happiness ends up in that state. Its akin to the scene in the Harry Potter movie (sorry for not being well read enough for quoting a better example), the one where everybody is in a race to get the Philosopher's stone, but only our dear Harry, whose ignorance about the same as well as lack of ambition to attain the same awarded him the elusive stone.

But Alas, a lot of paradoxes hold true! The Pursuit of Happiness is never-ending.