Hidden barriers or opportunity givers!

“The world is the totality of objects.” With this view from the philosopher Edmund Husserl, it’s easy to think about life as a continuous, non-stop interaction with the world around us, as it seems to be the case in our daily life. As a consequence, not only our choices, but also their outcome always include an element of objectivity. “Objectivity” is an indivisible part of our life, it’s the result of our integration as one object in a world containing unlimited numbers of other physical things with their undeniable influence, direct or indirect on our life. The total effect of this objectivity, that is to say the sum of all the influences of the things around us, manifests itself in the potential energies of the world.

Imagine the potential energy as a function of special form, for instance as a simple polynomial function as shown in Graph A. Now, assume a particle with the intrinsic energy of E1 is moving along a path in the x-direction. For passing over this potential which appears as a barrier in front of the particle, it needs to have an intrinsic energy of equal or greater than V. With the current level of energy, since E1<V, the particle will be stopped at point x1 and wouldn’t be able to move forward, only backward. This comes from the simple physical law of energy conservation; The total energy of a particle (or any object in general) is equal to the sum of the potential energy, that needs to be overcome, and the kinetic energy. That is, the particle uses its intrinsic energy to overcome the barriers (namely potential energies) and the rest can be used for its moving (that is the kinetic energy). Since there is no negative kinetic energy, the region x1<x<x2 is forbidden for the particle that has the intrinsic energy of E1, because its kinetic energy will be negative there. Classically speaking, for the particle to pass over this barrier without feeling it, the only way is to be in a higher level of energy, for instance at E2-level.

This form of function for potential energy is a simple example of how forces in the universe might affect the fate of an object regarding its positioning and movement in space. These forces exist because there is no such thing as a truly isolated particle. Each is bounded in a system and the systems, when it comes to their degree of freedom, differ only in the degree of their interactions with other systems.

What is potential energies of the world and where do they come from?

The potential energies of the world are the result of interacting forces between objects, which can be chemical interaction if objects are atoms in a molecular structure or electrical force if they are oppositely charged, and so on. Of course the natural world doesn’t consist of only some atoms but much more complex structures and systems with atoms and particles as their subsystems. Then, the first thing that comes to mind is that not all the objects of the world are interacting with each other since they might not be subsystems of a system that binds them together, as it’s the case for two atoms in a molecular structure. According to classical physics, however, every two objects that possess a mass interact with each other through gravitational force. That is to say, gravitation is the force that binds all the masses together. Therefore, it produces a potential energy with a form that depends on the distribution and distances of the objects relative to each other. With this view, I interact with the tree in front of my house without having anything to do with it and without being in a so-called binding structure. Simply because both of us have mass, we are subjected to the gravitational force which produces a potential energy. Only, when the distance between us is so long, this interaction can be ignored and our degrees of freedom are not dependent on this potential energy.

All objects are the subsystems of the natural world interacting through different forces and the outcome is an effective and unique potential energy for each object. As a result, the objects surrounding us have the most influence on shaping the overall potential energy that sets boundaries on our life and controls our degrees of freedom. We know that this potential energy is not something visible and the “degree of freedom” that is defined by the potential energy doesn’t control our physical positioning relative to the objects surrounding us, although that’s the case for a particle or atom (small or subatomic objects in general). In the natural world, potential energies are real forces underlying our reality while controlling our energy and, who knows, maybe even our decision-making! But they are also holding our world together and, therefore, they are more than just obstacles.

Looking back at the subatomic level, it is evident that there are limiting boundaries which control the positioning of each entity, being particle, atom,…,  in their system  as well as boundaries of each subsystem such as molecules in regard to their neighboring subsystems. These boundaries, though precisely defined by the potential energies, are impossible to be measured. The obvious reason is the numerous numbers of available forces and their interaction in the real world, remember, every mass-possessing object is the source of at least gravitational force! That makes it extremely difficult to have a clear vision about the total potential energy that the particle, for instance, faces. We might be able to consider our little particle in a simplified system, but the real world as the collection of many forces and their interactions is too complex to be simplified. Adding the parameter of time makes it even more difficult to imagine how the potential function that affect an object looks like!

Up to this point, we might agree that we live in a chaotic world not because there are no ruling principles or accurate natural laws controlling its phenomena, but due to the complexity of the form of their forces and their interactions which makes the result of their temporally changing effects complex and unpredictable. In confronting such a world, we are like that particle, constantly facing some hidden barriers which set boundaries on our life and control how we can use our intrinsic energy according to the level of their potentiality. These hidden barriers, or more accurately potential energies, are present everywhere because they are basically the energy of matter and there is no place in the world that is empty of objects.

How to overcome the potential energies surrounding us?

Being that particle, which we actually are as one entity of a giant world, it seems that our every movement in the world or universe in general is temporally and accurately controlled by unseen natural forces and each entity (being a small particle, a huge mere object, or a conscious human being) has its own proportion of influence on these forces. Naturally, the only way to escape from these hidden barriers is to be in a high level of energy, so that the effect of the world’s potential energies isn’t felt. It seems, at least classically, that energy is everything. Remember, only the particle with the energy much higher than the surrounding potential energy level could move forward without feeling the barrier. This energy can be intrinsic or being added to the particle from any sources in the world. Unlike a particle the intrinsic energy of which is predefined by its structure, we are empowered with our mind which we can use to upgrade our intrinsic energy, for instance through meditation. In other words, the influence that we can have on shaping the potential energies surrounding us is much more than a mere object and can be more than a person with an untrained mind. That is, the right question is not how to escape these barriers but how to shape them! Their constantly- and temporarily-changing character is also an asset; What seems a barrier today might vanish completely during time. If you imagine the evolving form of a potential energy as shown in graph B, again in a simplified version, the particle will not be stopped forever at one point, even if its intrinsic energy doesn’t change. As time passes, the interacting forces might change and there wouldn’t be a barrier, at least for a certain period of time. The potential energy might be higher than the intrinsic energy of particle at a time (for example at t1), but it can be at a lower level at another time (t2) as its form temporally changes.

How to shape the potential energies surrounding us?

Our interaction with the world occurs in three levels; Completely objective, that is in essence no interaction but mostly reaction! In this level we use our sensations, namely to see, to hear, to smell, to touch, and to taste, for our daily life unconsciously without being aware of what we do. Another words, we are not fully present in our interaction with the world around us. While objectivity is a kind of interaction in a physical level, subjectivity, on the other hand, adds the element of consciousness and the power of mind into our experiences with the world surrounding us. That is another level of our interaction with the world, what we might call objective-oriented subjectivity! It’s again using our sensation to interact with the world around us but with awareness and clarity of mind. That is being conscious of whatever we do. These two levels might occur in the same action and environment but in different situations; The beautiful colorful autumn leaves with their pleasant voice under our feet in slow moments of walking probably won’t be even seen while we hurry to pass by and get to a destination! Clearly, a busy and not-relaxed mind is not able to consciously interact with the environment. The highest level of interaction between us and the world is completely subjective. Here no element of objectivity, that is our sensations, are involved. In phenomenology proceeded by Husserl, it’s called the knowledge of essence. A similar concept in science is the existence of a quantum world. That is, to think and to imagine the world and the things around us not just as they really are, rather as they can essentially be. In this kind of philosophy or science, every object can be essentially other than it is and, most of the time, its essence can’t be revealed by our mere sensations. Imagination might be considered as one element of our mind that helps us achieve this level.

The more element of subjectivity that is involved in our interaction with the surrounding world, the more influence we have on shaping its potential energies. I would argue that the level of objective-oriented subjectivity is what we all can easily have access to. It needs a bit of training for our mind to be present in the moments while experiencing our daily routines consciously and with clear mind.

The “real world” appears on the convergent point of our consciously-made sensual experiences in some slow moments.