Shaping Perception: Understanding the Foundations of Certainty
Axioms
Have you ever stopped to wonder how we come to know what we know? What if the things we consider to be certain—like the solidity of the ground beneath us or the patterns we observe in the sky—are built on unspoken agreements about how reality works?
Background Ambience specifically made for reading this article.
Our understanding doesn’t arise in a vacuum. It’s shaped by foundational assumptions, or axioms, that act as the starting points for how we perceive and interpret the world. These assumptions include ideas like:
- Reality is consistent and observable - it is real.
- What is sensed is real
- Other beings exist independently of oneself, they are real
These axioms form the bedrock of everything we build, from personal beliefs to scientific theories. Based on these, data, when gathered and repeated across contexts, is considered to be more reliable. This lens shapes how lives understand the world and is seldom questioned.
From Axioms to Systems We Trust
The things we consider certain grow from these foundations, forming broader systems like science, religion, or personal experience. Science, for instance, relies on shared observations and repeatable data. Religion often takes form, as values and approaches to faith are derived, using a foundation of these assumptions. Personal experience too may be based on a combination of these - each distinct in their methods, yet in shared reliance on foundational agreements.
Understanding this is critical because it reveals that what we think of as “certain” is always shaped by the roots it grows from. Like a building, the stability of these systems depends on the strength of the foundation - determining the usefulness of information procured. A structure of certainty, which in turn acts as a basis for actions. Outcomes, subsequent of the thoughts, feelings and decisions that determine how a being approaches living, and shapes the reality it experiences.
How Distortion Affects Information
When external forces, like oppressive systems or ideological bubbles, overlay these foundations, the information we rely on becomes distorted. Narratives are reshaped to fit the system’s needs rather than align with truth.
For example:
- In consumption-driven societies, growth is often prioritized over sustainability. This leads to justifications for unsustainable practices, warping the narrative to support short-term goals.
- Scientific endeavors may be determined by funding-priorities - decisions seeking advantage, that may lead to overemphasis on certain areas, leaving blind spots and imbalanced development in its wake.
- News driven by direct government imposition, censored by the need to cater to tastes or by avoiding negative responses ensuing upon differing to craved narrative.
The distortion renders the flow of information less useful - lowering resilience, compatibility with meaningful change and the capacity to act with appropriate consideration. Recognizing these influences is the first step to reclaiming clarity.
Layered Reality
The Layers of Gravity
What if every step you take is not just on the surface of the Earth? While the gravity of the Earth may provide the local surface-experience, the pull of the sun ties our planet to the Solar system, which in turn orbits the black hole (dubbed Sagittarius A*) at the center of the galaxy within which we reside. These points of gravity shape the surfaces upon which we walk. The material composition of the earth, upon which we rest the feet, determined through the proxy that is the planetary gravity.
Since the surface of the Earth is shaped by its gravitational center, in a way, we are also walking on the surface of the Solar system - on the surface of the galaxy. Something that may remind of how we are part of a nested, connected framework of forces that shapes everything we experience. Something that I would claim extend well beyond the material reality - into the metaphysical. Into the greater container within which are the foundational layers, out of which the reality we experience is formed.
Depth
A simple observation provides an approximation of how greater depth in these gravity-zones, means encountering zones of immense force. Imagine diving into water - you know how the the pressure builds the deeper you go? At the bottom of the ocean, pressure builds to levels hard to fathom for the beings whose legs traverse the land.
These pressure zones aren’t just crushing—they’re transformative. The immense weight, temperature, and energy-changes present fundamentally different environmental conditions - and shape a foundation for different structures. What would happen if you built a wooden house at the bottom of the ocean, without anchoring it to the bottom? It would float upwards, instead of being determined by a downwards pull.
This collapse from broad gravitational layers to concentrated zones of force mirrors the shifts we experience in life: from the macro to the micro, from the surface to the core.
Growth Across Barriers
Say the theory that life began close to undersea volcanoes, within an environmental incubator, is the case. From deep-sea heat and crushing weight, life transitioned to colder, lightless waters and beyond. Each time environmental conditions changed, adaptation acted as a bridge across barriers:
- From liquid to gas, adapting to UV radiation and temperature extremes.
- From intense pressure to the more forgiving environments of Earth’s surface.
- From the earthly environment, out to the environment void of molecules outside the planetary sphere.
This reflects a universal principle: growth happens at the edge of the current "world", when environments change and expansion-challenges required adaptation. Living beings are sensitive and dependent, and as the grow, they gain freedom and resilience - yet that requires a process of growth; overcoming obstacles, going through painful moments and taking risks. These barriers are not just Earthly—they exist on cosmic scales. In the dense spiral arms there is greater radiation, more star-systems and greater likelihood of meteor-showers - while the sparse inter-arm regions of the galaxy may seem to lack nourishment.
Time, Speed, and Temperature
Such cosmic environments raise questions about fundamental forces:
- Does time flow differently, as there is a change in the fundamental speed at which the host-environment moves through the greater space?
- How does motion change when an object escapes the pull of the galaxy?
- Could temperatures drop below what we currently define as “absolute zero” in the vast void beyond the galaxy’s influence? Are negative temperatures possible, something on the opposite end of the scale to increased kinetic energy?
These questions remind us that the universe is a vast and layered system, with a vast diversity of conditions in which we cannot exist. Spaces within which structures naturally take form, part of a greater eco-system of interconnected elements, one amongst countless being what sustains the structured matter so very common here.
Tracing the Roots of Life and its Branches
Looking Inwards for Origins
What if the answers to life’s mysteries lie not out in the stars but in tracing inwards to the zones where it began? The world full of skyscrapers, flying matter and the lively buzz of interconnected lives facilitated, emerged out of the depths of pressure. Following these origins, life can be observed to branch out into a range of different environments. Tracing backwards to the trunk of the tree, other branches are found - an inward exploration that reflects in a principle of growth: to understand what is, the origins must be fathomed.
If this is the case, what if we trace the growth even further back; are there kinds of predecessors to what currently is regarded as the "beginning of life as we know it"? Following the direction, looking into deeper pressure-zones would seem be the origins within which these are found; be it the center of the planet, closer to the sun or nearer the galactic center. Were an origin to be found, other branches may be easy to spot, and there would be a way to encounter alien life.
Linked Living Material
Life is not isolated—it is linked. Every living being is part of a broader system, where changes in one area ripple into others. Consider how:
- A conflict in one region creates pressures that shape relationships in others.
- A rise in electronic prices affects consumer goods, altering demand and creating broader economic shifts.
- Food-sourcing and improved labor conditions demand greater capital resources.
These connections are not abstract—they are tangible. Virtual spaces, for example, are "real" environments within which interactions create ripples, in ways that may change based on the environmental conditions of the virtual space. Though intangible, through interfaces with the host-world, external systems are influenced and influence - presenting a proof of the interconnected nature of being. Like quantum entanglement, every action reflects and shapes another, the surface manifestation of a life reflecting circumstances, interconnection and a myriad of systems - that in turn are impacted by how a life is lived.
The Blessing of “Capability”
In itself a life is a thread of continuous interconnected energy, like a rock - a coherent set of particles moving through the structured energy oft called "the world". Inanimate objects, differing to which are those living by being endowed with the capabilities to process, sense, and alter its surroundings. This blessing allows living beings to:
- Observe and interpret their environment.
- Influence systems beyond their immediate reach.
- Create feedback loops that sustain and evolve structures over time.
This capacity transforms life into an active participant in the universe’s structuring forces, bridging the material and the intangible.
Building Integrity for Growth
Cosmic Patterns to Everyday Life
From galaxies to human systems, growth depends on balance and integrity. Collapse occurs when systems expand beyond what their foundations can sustain.
- In the universe, gravity pulls matter together to form stars, planets, and down-the-line the conditions for life. Without this passive stability, chaos prevails, and structures would fail to form - unable to act a pathway to the various demand.
- In daily life, caused overconsumption destabilizes economies, relationships, and environments. A dynamic of collapsing, that echo the cosmic principle: growth requires strong roots.
The Need for Strong Foundations
Seeking to reach higher—whether into space, toward spiritual alignment, or into thriving systems—the integrity of the foundation must be ensured. Without it, any growth upward risks collapse. Even worse, it may continue and become a foundation for what builds even higher, functions, presence and resource upon which dependency take form. Reliance, with a risk of losses, instability and damages, leading to fear and cravings for control - oppression, malicious governance, abuse and self-deprivation - each creating environmental conditions with fertile soil for self-destructive habits - collapsing under its own weight, or...
Empowerment Through Capability
As beings endowed with the blessings of capacity to sense, process and exert influence, we can alter the environments within which we reside. By aligning this with balance and integrity, we can shape systems that grow and endure. We can be active co-creators of the reality we experience, and the flow of fate that comes to company.
The slightest movement—physical, spiritual, or cosmic—ripples outward, influencing the structures we inhabit. By channeling this influence constructively - by prioritizing what is important and letting go of excesses - we align with the forces that sustain growth and create lasting change.