Understanding Reality Beyond Words and Reductionism

BredZ and ArmX are classmates and are exercising their brain muscles at recess.  

BredZ: “I have been recently watching some Logical pro ultra Max stuffs and I found that God is just a concept made by man. Nothing more.”

ArmX: “Woww ..sounds cool na... Btw.. then tell me, what are abuses or praise?”

BredZ: “Abuses or praise… abuse is what is bad and hurt you and praise is what is good thing people tell about you and gives you a feeling of happiness. 

ArmX: “Well what if I say, abuse and praise are just particular speech sounds, or written symbols. Who decides which sounds are abuse or praise? Why do certain words make you feel hurt or happy? The sounds themselves have no inherent value.”

BredZ: “But surely words have meaning and they real!

ArmX: “Let me clarify. Words themselves don’t carry inherent value. What carries value are the things or feelings the words point toward — happiness, sadness, prestige, shame. Words are just a tool to refer to them. Even if we didn’t have words, these experiences would still exist.”

ArmX continues: “In the same way, the feeling of God has been part of humankind from the beginning. Humans expressed it in symbols, rituals, and words, but the experience itself — the sense of transcendence or awe — is deeper than the symbols. It’s a collective human experience, not just a word we made up.”

BredZ: “Okay, but couldn’t science reduce everything to simpler parts? For example, love is just oxytocin in the brain.”

ArmX: “Ah, the problem of reductionism. Let’s follow your logic. If love is oxytocin, then oxytocin is just a chemical compound. Compounds are arrangements of atoms. And atoms? They are arrangements of subatomic particles, which we can describe as energy waves or frequencies.

If we go on reducing like this, anything can become ‘nothing but…’ but that doesn’t capture the real experience of love. Reduction explains structure, but not essence.”

BredZ: “Hmm… so you’re saying there’s more than the parts?”

ArmX: “Exactly. Take water as an example. Water is H₂O — two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen. But does that explain wetness? Wetness is a property that emerges only at a higher level, when molecules interact in a certain way. The atoms don’t feel wet; the experience of wetness only exists at a higher level of reality.

Similarly, words explain the poetry, notes explain the music but none of them truly explain what it feels in reality to experience a beautiful poetry and music! The color on the canvas explain the art but it doesn't tell anything about the beautiful experience of witnessing a beautiful art. 

Hormones explain chemistry, pigments explain paint, letters explain poetry, but none of them capture the full experience of love, beauty, or God.”

ArmX: “Reductionism is a powerful tool, but it has limits. Explaining something at one level doesn’t fully capture it at another. Love isn’t just oxytocin. Water isn’t just H₂O. God isn’t just a concept.

Many things we claim to understand — or reject — seem simple because we oversimplify them. By reducing everything to parts, we risk losing sight of their higher levels of reality. Experience, meaning, and existence operate on multiple levels, and understanding comes when we honor those levels.”

BredX: "Ohkay okay, that's enough for today. So we must understand the reality considering its different levels at the same time OTHERWISE we people can argue or fight because some of them tell a different level of reality and some of them talk about a different level of reality while both are the realities!"

ArmX: "Exactly. The surface level of reality cannot be used to invalidate the deep level of reality! And remember we are what we feel and experience ourselves to be, we can't change the reality by merely manipulating words. For in the pursuit of escapism you may exclaim that 'Human beings are nothing but a complex collection of atoms and cells functioning in a fixed manner arose randomly out of nowhere.' Such claim will not relieve you of your responsibility and accountability."

BredX: "Alright mate. Byeee"

ArmX: "Duhh.. Bye"