What is a Good Life? #27
What is a Good Life? #27
Exploring The Nature Of Reality with Julian Voss-Andreae
On the 27th episode of the "What is a Good Life?" podcast, I am joined by Julian Voss-Andreae, who is a Sculptor and a Physicist, with his sculptures often engaging with scientific insights into the nature of reality. His work has received broad acclaim at international art fairs, galleries, and in print and broadcast media, with numerous videos of his work having gone viral with millions of views.
In this episode, Julian shares with us his journey into exploring the nature of reality. From doing his graduate research in the lab of Physics Nobel Prize laureate, Anton Zeilinger, to changing paths in life to pursue art, where his passion for exploring the mysteries of the world have been a continual source of inspiration for his work.
He also shares with us his curiosities and investigations into spirituality, his process of repeatedly challenging his own beliefs and world views, embracing discomfort, and how this has led to contentment with his life.
If you are presently feeling stuck or stagnating, or that life is feeling a bit flat, this episode will give you plenty to contemplate in terms of engaging more with your curiosity and the energy which that can generate.
The weekly clip from the podcast (4 mins), my weekly reflection (2 mins), the full podcast (57 mins), and the weekly questions all follow below.
1. Weekly Clip from the Podcast
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2. My weekly reflection
During the interview, Julian and I discovered a shared interest in exploring numerous approaches to deconstructing our beliefs around the nature of reality. However, as someone without expertise on the subject, I must admit that few fields or experiences have challenged my perception of reality as much as delving into books on quantum physics. As a result, I've learned to loosen my grip on certain fixed beliefs, which has fostered a greater sense of curiosity in various aspects of my existence and an ability to handle ambiguity and paradox.
Here are a few ideas or theories that give me a sense of uneasiness and wonder as to what we know about “reality”:
1) The total amount of energy in the Universe is ZERO, the net of all the positive and negative energy.
2) Multiverse: our Universe might be merely one of an INFINITE number of Universes.
3) Everything we have ever observed with all our instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than 5% of the total Universe. The rest of it (95%) comprises of Dark Energy and Dark Matter, which we still have no provable or clear idea as to what they are.
4) An Atom consists of 99.9999999999996% “empty” space, the very building blocks of us and everything around us.
5) A particle could behave as a solid object or a wave, depending on how we look at it, and sometimes, both at the same time!
6) Quantum tunnelling: say I have a tennis ball (an electron) in my hand at the quantum level, and I throw it against a wall (a solid object), sometimes it will bounce back, sometimes it will just go through the wall, in what is considered a completely random (probabilistic) process.
7) Entanglement: two particles, if entangled, can remain connected even when separated by enormous distances, their correlation connects them FASTER than the speed of light!
8) Two of the most successful scientific theories, General Relativity (larger scale) and Quantum Mechanics (smaller scale), are both individually true, but they are not presently compatible. That means the macro level is made up of micro things that behave in a way that we would consider improbable at the macro level. Confusing, to say the least.
If you were looking to explore this field further, I’d suggest Carlo Rovelli as a great starting point, and specifically his book, The Order of Time.
3. Full Episode - Exploring The Nature Of Reality with Julian Voss-Andreae - What is a Good Life? #27
Click here for Apple and Google.
4. This week’s Questions
What areas or aspects of your life could you benefit from exhibiting more curiosity rather than holding onto the same fixed views?
When is the last time you deliberately challenged or questioned your beliefs or questioned how you perceive reality?
About Me
I am a Coach based in Berlin, via Dublin, Ireland. I left behind a 15-year career in Capital Markets after I became extremely curious around answering some of the bigger questions in life. I started this project in 2021, for which I’ve now interviewed over 150 people, to provide people with the space to reflect on their own lives and to create content that would spark people’s own inquiry into this question. I am also trying to share more genuine expressions of the human experience, beyond the facades we typically project.
If you would like to work with me, or you simply want to get in touch, here’s my email and LinkedIn.