The implications of this staggering notion are absolutely momentous; permitting the incongruous illogicality of the quantum paradox. The most famous of these paradoxes is known as Schrodinger's cat; a creature which, if the laws of quantum mechanics were applied to the macro level, could be simultaneously dead and alive. At the subatomic level, it seems that the observable truth is very disturbing indeed. Neils Bohr said that ‘anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory … has not understood it17’; and Einstein, commenting on the implications of quantum paradoxes, said that ‘no reasonable definition of reality … could be expected to permit this18’. Psychologists and anthropologists lend support to the idea of truth existing only as a relative entity. They propose that what we believe to be the truth actually becomes our own truth. In the Mae Enga tribe of New Ginea, for example, it is believed that men will die if they remain in the presence of menstruating women: ‘they believe that contact with it [menstrual blood] … sickens a man and causes persistent vomiting, kill[s] his blood so that it turns black, corrupt[s] his vital juices so that his flesh wastes, permanently dull[s] his wits and eventually lead[s] to a slow decline and death19’. Not surprisingly, females are excluded from the camp at the appropriate time in order to prevent unnecessary loss of life.

This is not the truth for men and women within our western culture, looking at the same matter but from a different viewpoint - from outside their system - but it remains the truth for people who live within that particular tribal culture. Of course, as Edward De Bono points out, in his book The Art & Science of Success, ‘the reality of beliefs is quite different from experience reality or scientific reality, and yet it’s every bit as real20’ .If however, a true and objective reality does exist, then to discover that objective reality we must somehow escape from the confines of the system, either physically or conceptually, by which we are bound.

Let us consider how this might be achieved by examining a historical example with which we will be familiar. For many years, it was believed that the Earth was flat. Most ancient cultures believed that it was physically supported in some way; as for example in Greek mythology where it is held in place by Atlas. This idea seemed to fit well with the observable evidence: it could be clearly seen that the broad shape of the Earth was flat, and it seemed obvious that it would fall out of the sky if it were not held up by something or someone. Of course, we now know that the Earth is broadly spherical. Although this truth was generally accepted well before the space age, overwhelming photographic evidence has been produced by astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts.

The objective truth has always been that the Earth is more or less spherical - actually it is slightly pear shaped - it is only our perception which has changed. Technology has made it possible for us to slip the constraints imposed upon us by our natural viewpoint, and to observe this problem from outside the system, in a truly objective manner. When considering the truth of any proposition, this problem must always be confronted. It is not always possible to physically escape from the subjective framework in which we dwell; but many great thinkers down the ages have succeeded in breaking free from their intellectual straight- jackets through the imagination.