The content in this work is fiction, fiction in the sense that the
main character through which the eyes of this metaphysical and
philosophical journey is viewed, Charlie, is not a real character,
nor are his counterparts and foils through which he explores
various topics such as love, the meaning of existence or the
origins of the cosmos and how our understanding of these abstract
ideas have evolved since the dawn of civilization. But like any
work of fiction, the characters do have some basis in real
experience, from which of course nothing can be created. The intent
of the work is to explore the foundations and evolution of
knowledge and the boundaries between reason and faith, boundaries
which from the author's perspective are not quite as clear as some
might have us believe. And the point of going through the exercise,
the purpose as it were, is not only for the author to come to a
better understanding of how all our modern branches of science hang
together, how they have come to be given their socio-political and
historical context, but also for others to share in his journey and
perhaps learn something along the way. Since the birth of language
and thought even, going back thousands of years and even prior to
the dawn of civilization itself, mankind has attempted to answer
two fundamental questions, questions that have spurred countless
creative forces and branches of thought over the centuries; namely
who we are and from whence we came. The answers to these questions,
no matter what race, religion or creed the seeker might be, or what
philosophy or religion they might adhere to, are inextricably
linked to each other. This journey of trying to understand our
place in the world, and the origins of the universe itself, is an
ageless quest that in many respects distinguishes mankind from the
rest of the creatures on the planet. Furthermore, this very same
quest to answer the same questions fuels not only scientific
development but also is the basis for theology and religion, both
approaching the same set of questions with a different set of tools
and with a different mindset but both trying to answer the same set
of basic questions as to who we are and how we got here. From the
author's perspective, in order to answer these questions
effectively in the Information Age, we should have at least some
understanding of the history of our answers to these questions as
they have evolved over time. For we all build our collective
knowledge on those that have come before us, whether we recognize
this or not. And in turn, that in building this bridge, a common
metaphor used throughout the work, we must leverage the tool of
metaphysics, a term originally coined by Aristotle but in the
context of this work implies a level of abstraction that sits above
physics as we understand it in today's world but also provides a
conceptual underpinning to all of the branches of knowledge that
collectively make up our ?understanding? of the world and out place
in it. In doing so, it is the author's hope that we can not only
come to a more complete and fuller understanding of the answers to
these basic human questions that have plagued mankind since time
immemorial, but also at the same time perhaps develop a deeper
understanding of the problems of life in the Information Age and
how we might best approach them, or cope with them, in way that not
only benefits ourselves as individuals but to society as a whole,
to which our individual well-being depends upon whether or not we
recognize it or not.
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