The Riddle of the Universe

Is this world made of solid matter
Or pure imagination,
An absolute reality
Or just a human sense creation?
Philosophers have claimed
That we are all on solid ground,
But then, old Bishop Berkeley
Other answers did expound,
Claimed that this world only exists
In God's and our mind,
And without substance
He did all existence find,
Mentioned God only because
His trade was the religious kind,
The realists of the Industrial Revolution
Ridiculed his views,
Said that the old Bishop
Was a bit senile, had no clues,
But then, Russel, Einstein
And modern physics came along,
Claimed that old Berkeley was,
Perchance, not quite so wrong,
That matter has no substance,
Functions only as energy manifestations,
Quite different from our senses
And bodily sensations,
The world we see, feel and hear
Is only geared to our mind,
That in reality we only empty space
And energy particles find,
And even those particles
Are 'strings' or waves of energy,
Which leaves all theories of reality
And substance in a bind.

It's strange how the microcosm
And macrocosm seem the same,
The universe and earth, atoms and stars
Play an identical game,
Universes in the atoms
Of our little planet may exist,
Who knows what we may find
If we in our search persist,
Like sun and stars and moon
Are in the heavens reflected,
The same in miniature
May in the microcosm be detected,
Like boxes within boxes
Are by nature all together bound,
Entire universes
Can be in an atom found.

All this does really
Prove the point to me,
That heavens and earth
Hide greater mystery
Than meets with my
Inadequate philosophy...

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2006 Alfred Charasz