Each and every human life and the human situation itself is a microcosm of the world. This is the point that Jacob Bronowski tries to convey in his lectures entitled, "The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination." In the world around us, no matter how hard people may try to find the definitive "meaning of life," it is absolutely impossible. All aspects of the world are tied together in some way or another, and if one truth is known about a certain aspect of the world, it proves something previously thought to be true to be false. Just as Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle states that one can never know all the possible information about an electron at one time, one can never know all that there is to know about the world at one time (Bronowki, 102). This is very much so mimicked in each human life. Each and every part of human existence, the physical, spiritual, and intellectual, is connected as a whole, and no one part can be justly studied and understood without taking the entire being into consideration. Even upon intense research, no ultimate and final truth can ever be known about the human life. There are always further depths into which to plunge, further puzzles to piece together, and further mysteries to solve. However, this is not an excuse to become discouraged and abandon the art of investigation into the human existence or the world, for humans have been given special gifts in order to facilitate this questioning that leads to small answers, which then, step by step, can lead to the betterment of humanity and the surrounding world.

Although there is no final truth about humans that can be found to answer all of man’s questions, it is important to continue living life in a pursuit of knowledge. With every new experience that one encounters, regardless of how large or small, whether it is moving to a new country or trying a new restaurant, there is a possibility to learn something intriguing and electrifying about human nature and about oneself. This newfound information may contradict something one had previously believed to be true, but this system of revising "truths" is how anything in life is ever accomplished. People are always changing, as is the world. New revelations about the human plight are not flawed or undesirable simply because they may contradict previous revelations or come to one day be overshadowed by other findings. Instead, it is quite the contrary. New findings are an exciting, important part of life. They give humans investigative zest and help put to use the superb visual and intellectual systems with which all humans have been endowed. Many fascinating conversations and captivating interactions would cease to exist if people were no longer interested in finding out about how we function as a species.

There are no perfect, flawless truths in life. Unfortunately, there are people led to believe this. They are deprived of vast amounts of knowledge when they decide to abandon their exploration into the mysteries of life. These are the people who believe that they can close doors when they come to a conclusion, whether it is about their own soul or the way the world around them functions. They believe that upon finding an answer, the mission has been completed and they may turn their backs and never look into that area again. These people are terribly mistaken, as Bronowski points out. "There is no absolute knowledge. And those who claim it, whether they be scientists or dogmatists, open the door to tragedy. All information is imperfect. We have to treat it with humility" (Knowledge or Certainty). These people most often take on an arrogant attitude after finding what they believe to be a final truth. However, they only cripple themselves through this by closing their imagination. After all, imagination is what leads to discoveries. One of the most exciting applications of the imagination is investigating the intricacies of life. There are so many stimulating questions to be asked and possible answers to find. The world is not simply black and white. There is an immeasurable range of gray areas that can be studied and attempt to be better understood. As Bronowski says, "The world does not consist simply of an endless array of objects and the word "table" was not invented in order to bisect the universe into tables and non-tables" (Bronowski, 107). The possibilities for investigation are endless. There are countless new things to be learned about each individual as a person, humans as a species, and the functioning of the world and even beyond. There are so many thrilling questions that have yet to even be conceived. Imagination can be such a powerful thing, and it is tragic when a great mind chooses to limit itself by closing doors.

Fear of failure is not a reason to shy away from the appealing questions that present themselves in the imagination. Some of the most brilliant ideas offered to the world are those that later come to be found to be incorrect. However, the person who originally thought of the idea is not discredited because of the inconsistency. On the contrary, he is admired for his love of life, knowledge, and the pursuit of the improvement of society. He receives respect for his revolutionary work, even if it is found to be incorrect and a misrepresentation. This can be applied to the personal level as well. If one learns something new about oneself that contradicts a previous idea, one need not despair at the thought of prior disillusionment but rather rejoice at that prospect of a life of better personal understanding and, therefore, better tools for making choices. Incorrect findings should be exciting and regarded as a wonderful possibility for further research. They simply present more questions to be posed and additional chances for the imagination to explore the endless potential conclusions.

There is evidence throughout the world that everything is connected. One cannot analyze an isolated part of the world and expect to get an accurate representation of the world as a whole. "That is just the nature of the universe — whatever partition you make of it gives its own answer, which is not the whole answer" (Bronowki, 100). This applies to both the world and the individual. "You just have to face the fact that the totality of mind and body forms a unit in which the mind is not a finite state system" (Bronowski, 101). The mind cannot be regarded as a separate entity, which functions independent of the rest of the soul and body. The individual itself, in turn, cannot be considered as discrete from the rest of the human species. This is characterized in the popular party game, The Six Degrees of Separation. The point of this game is that everyone in the world knows each other through at most six people. For example, John Smith knows Karen Brown, who knows Timothy Green, who knows Jack Bradford, who knows Henry Thomas, who knows Linda Plain. John Smith, therefore, knows Linda Plain through five degrees of separation. The theory of the game is that any two people anywhere in the world can be joined by at the very most six degrees of separation. This is an understandable representation of how everything and anything in the entire world is connected to various degrees.

Although there is no ultimate truth in the world that humans can aspire to formulate, they can continue to pursue accurate knowledge in an attempt to find the explanations of the world that closest represent the truth. This pursuit of knowledge is both exciting and intriguing. Limiting one’s imagination by closing doors on subjects that one believes to have been fully explained only tragically impairs one’s own ability to, in the end, see the world as it truly is. If doors are closed on certain aspects of the world, the continuity of the world is not allowed to exist, and, therefore, all theories found from that point on will fail to be true. No isolated sliver of the world can present an accurate representation of the world at large. This is an integral part of the human existence. Humans must all come to realize that their existence involves cooperation among the mind, body, and soul. No one part can function properly without the others. In order to better this functioning of the human situation, people must continue to let their imaginations wander into those dark corners that house the absorbing questions that may lead to novel findings, which will bring the collective understanding of the human plight slightly closer to the actual truth.

Bronowski, Jacob. The Origins of Knowledge. New Haven; Yale University Press,

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The Ascent of Man. "Knowledge and Uncertainty." Perf. Jacob Bronowski. Time/Life

Films, 1974.