IS MY GREEN YOUR GREEN?

: A PHILOSOPHICAL YET MATHEMATICAL

QUESTION




Imam Al-Ghazali wasn't just being philosophical when he asked can we ever
verify whether we are living in a prolonged dream or not. In fact, he was really
discussing the limitation of the verification of what we perceive as physical
truth or reality, leading him to conclude that the only truth one can get, will
never be from physical observation (or measurement) hence deduction, but
from the religious experience specifically termed as kasyaf.

Kurt Godel second to him in this matter when conjecturing that true or false
can no longer be determined when we fail to agree on a given axioms; as
contained in his Incompleteness Theorem. Our progress in any deductions is
built upon our acceptance towards some fundamental premises or axioms
(some called them as postulates). The very basic nature of axiom is that, they
must be accepted (without the need for proofs or evidences) for one to
progress in the paradigm of the deduction. In turn, one is free not to accept
the axiom but this will only mean that he or she can no longer be in the same
paradigm, he or she will be totally out of the system and must make his or her
own system if one ever wants to proceed.

The two above might be too confusing for any don to comprehend, so let me
try to propose my own version of the idea. Lets start with asking a question
How do we know or verify whether we are looking at the same color? This is
another way to ask, Is my green your green?

Yes, you can answer YES to the question and provide further explanation
such that we can always measure the characteristic of the color Green, say
for example its wavelength and frequency and if, somehow we can show that
the same wavelength (or frequency) has entered both my eyes and your
eyes, that means we are seeing the same Green color.

Aha! But isnt this what I said in the first paragraph above that ..the only truth
one can get, will never be from physical observation (or measurement) hence
deduction,. Let me explain further.

Despite the fact that we can measure the characteristic of the light (hence
color) that enter into our eyes and indeed we can always verify such a
measurement, but down to the point of what our brain interpret exactly can
never be verified, we alone know what our brain tells us and us alone.

And I am not talking about the physical phenomenon of electrical pulse
produced and perceived by our neuron and brain cell, these are still physically
measurable, instead I am referring to the state of consciousness, the state
where meaning start to exist. Maybe brain is not the proper word for it, it
should be the SOUL. Down to the level of how SOUL interpret the physical
data or information; all verification fails. We are then left only with ourselves
and of course GOD.

But, if this is true, why there is seemed to be a perfect synchronization with
the rest of us. Why there is no conflict between you and me when we talk
about Green color? The answer lies in the consistency of our SOUL in
interpreting the physical information. With the given wavelength, our SOUL
always tells us, be it 20 years ago or 5 minutes ago, it is Green. Since
childhood, our parents have been telling us this is Green and that is Red and
we live with that for the rest of our life.

But such synchronization is not verification in its strict sense, it just means
that we are progressing in the same paradigm because we have agreed upon
the axiom That is Green and that is Red and never once we doubt it, hence
the prevailing of Godels Incompleteness Theorem.

So if all these are true, what is the implication? The implication is, while we
live in the same world, but in my world the sky is blue and in yours, the sky
maybe red. It sounds a bit scary, isn't? Haha..But should we verify this? NO,
because as I said, there is no way we can do that and NO, because we must
never doubt the accepted axioms else we can no longer be in the same
paradigm, meaning we can no longer be together, anymore.

Another implication of this is that, it limits the deterministic nature of science
because science is the knowledge deduced from our five senses. A fact in
science or theory as we call it, is a tested hypothesis and since we have
argued that we can only test or measure only so much, then science itself
must be limited. But do not get me wrong, I am not saying that sciences and
maths are wrong, but all I am saying is, if they are right or correct, such a
correctness must only be accepted in a very limited domain, that is in the
domain which is measurable and of course in accordance to the earlier
accepted axioms. "Seeing is not believing" after all and there is totally
"something more than what meets the eyes". But having said this, we can not
easily brush off any ideas of science simply because it does not fit us, as this
is really a matter of how deep we really know about science itself. If we want
to against any proposal in science, we still got to do it in its own paradigm;
you got to fight it fire against fire. I am not to elaborate on this here because I
have written about in a previous entry. Those who are interested can refer to it
by clicking HERE.

And how all these from Islamic perspective? The way I see it as a Muslim, this
is when we the concept of Iman comes into play. In the time when nothing can
be verified, we are lucky to have the ultimate truth sent by Allah that is Al-
Quran and in Al-Quran, is therefore we must just believe and beriman.

I believe the last two paragraphs above are in a close agreement with those
by Imam Al-Ghazalli's. Wallahhualam.