Never solve a problem in the plane of its original conception.
–George Saunders (after Albert Einstein)
Humans suffered from heartbreak, hunger, and pain.
The reason was God’s will.
The “answer” was Human Science.
The most human of Human Science is known as biology. With a strong enough loupe, biology reveals itself to be chemistry, the study of molecular reactions. Chemistry is addressed with physics, the motion of particles. Physics is math. The deepest maths are philosophy in disguise. And philosophy is best understood by walking in a human body and suffering God’s will.
Never solve a problem where you found it. You must change the plane of conception.
The most profound breakthroughs are betrayals of common sense. To solve disease you need to invent disgusting critters called germs. To grok alternating current you need numbers that don’t exist. You, yourself, are a country nothing like its citizens: the cells of your body. These aren’t contradictions.
Synthesis accretes in dimensions that don’t currently exist. (So Don’t leave out the impossible.) Expect to be confused. All novel dimensions are like the internet to a dog: inconceivable!
Transcending conceptual planes doesn’t eliminate your problems, of course. They just change shape. Once you feared bears. Then you feared the bomb. Now you fear upward scrolling text on illuminated glass.
Each new plane of conception is a step through an infinity mirror—more perspective, more terror. It gets worse before it gets better.
It’s worth slowing down.
Fast-moving eyes must latch to the sticks and stems of the trail; you become stuck to the current plane of reality. When you move as slow as possible, you are able to see more. You might even pause at the base of a tree and climb. A new plane. A different vantage point.
You learn the true shape of the path: it’s a spiral.
You learn the truth about the forest: it’s ablaze.
You notice a beetle on a leaf, and it stares back at you.
The beetle asks you a question, but you can’t understand it.
The reason is God’s will.