The quantum entanglement of the voices of peace
Dear reader,
I hope these words find you well. I strongly hope so because lately, the world has been filled with tragic news.
As for myself, art is helping me cope. While I write this, there’s a red alert all over the region where I live here in Italy due to incoming floods, one of the many ugly effects of climate change.
Right now, climate change effects aren’t the only concerning issues in the world.
In fact, oil lobbies aren’t responsible only for what many of us are experiencing due to natural disasters; their interests are also involved in geopolitics, and many of us are aware of it.As an example, the conflict over the Gaza Strip. What’s happening right now is connected to an old war that has been ongoing since before I was born. There’s a lot of hate, a lot of human rights being dismissed and trampled, and a lot of violence. We are witnessing these events from afar, at least I am, and I’m not just sorry for the countless victims; I’m also terrified by our human nature, capable of creating and uniting as well as to destroying and separating.
The conflict is fueled by several geopolitical interests in the region, and I can’t help but wonder: would it be the same if there wasn’t oil in the area? It’s a rhetorical question, I guess.
As I mentioned in one of my previous articles, last summer, I read a book about wars, written by several journalists who cover the news despite the risks involved in it. The one who covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is Meron Rapoport, who is also a leading member of A Land for All.
Reading his article, I found out that there are people over there trying to find an actual solution to the conflict, a long-term one. There are human rights activists as well, such as Yesh Din, and who knows how many others exist that I just don’t know about because their peaceful voices are silenced or killed. They should be heard instead. I’m not going to delve further into the conflict or possible solutions; I just signed up for the ceasefire (if you want to join me, here’s a link) to give those voices an opportunity to speak and be heard.
You know, the more I live, the less borders hold meaning for me. Maybe my opinion is influenced by the fact that lately, I’ve been reading books about quantum physics, which I find incredibly fascinating because it’s not easy to understand. The books I chose to understand it a bit better are “Helgoland” and “Seven Brief Lessons on Physics” by Carlo Rovelli.
I’ve read about the peculiar phenomenon of the quantum entanglement. Maybe you’re familiar with the concept; otherwise, I’ll try to describe it using simple words since quantum physics is complicated enough already. It’s a phenomenon that describes a relationship between quanta: after one of them is observed, it spins at a precise speed, and the entangled quantum spins exactly at the same speed. Their relationship remains intact despite the distance. I like to imagine the peaceful voices from both sides of the border as if they were entangled: connected to one another, despite the bombs and the bullets, despite the hate. This is the side of human nature I admire the most.
Have you ever seen a picture of quantum entanglement? It shocked me when I found it and inspired me as well; I even made a drawing.
As you see, a dark blue dot is included in the orange area and vice versa. It’s just like the Yin-Yang symbol.
As humans, we often draw borders that we let define ourselves. We believe they have a meaning. We don’t understand that we are one species, not nations. Maybe that happens because many politicians promote nationalism as a value, but I don’t see nationalism as a value. It reminds me too much of history and the Second World War. Many people would agree; we all vibrate in peaceful harmony, trying to be heard over the drums of war. So, why do some of us perceive a border as if it were something important? Maybe it’s because our human brains perceive the world around us in structures. That’s why I chose to paint the background alternating little squares and rectangles. After all, we can represent matter itself in structures.
Perhaps this is just a limitation imposed by our perception.
As a species, I believe our challenge is to go beyond this limited perception. The reality we can perceive is just a tiny portion of the reality that exists. A border has no meaning other than the one we give to it. With peace and unity, we can hope. Hope that the innocents will survive, just as we do because we were born somewhere else. Hope that as a species, once again, we realize that coming together is the only way out in this climate crisis we’re facing more and more.
Nature doesn’t care about our nationality. Nature is not racist. She blesses us and curses us regardless of our opinions and political beliefs. My two cents: we should learn from Her.
