Children typically enjoy considerable sensations of wonder and inquiry – their world involves much active experimentation with the ways of the universe. By comparison, adults tend to live in the more rarefied world of the ego involving ingenious, sophisticated rationales, self deceits and delusions of how they think the universe should work.

What’s Up with Up?

Have you ever noticed how our leading “Climate Gurus” and “Energy Experts” cannot bring themselves to say the tiny word “up”, as in “Global warming-up”?
Its such a short word to say: Ah pip (spelt “up”). Simply just relax the tongue, give a wee brief vibrate of the vocal cords (ah) and then simply close the lips together (p). Up. So why is it that this tiny, wee syllable sticks in their craw?

It is a particularly fascinating phenomenon because, in general, these are people who excelled at thermodynamics at university, are fluent in mathematics, can recite the principles of physics in their sleep and phrases like “latent energy”, “phase change” and “adiabatic lapse rate” trip off their tongues like water off icicles in a heat wave.

They are the Scientists and teachers of our teachers, journalists and policy makers. Or are they? Could it be a much deeper and more complex communication is occurring?

Our Great Guide to the Unknown

Those who are following this series of essays on wise uses of English will be aware of the general theses underpinning them.

The most fundamental thesis is the notion that the Conservation of Energy Principle is our most profound, wise guide. It has never been faulted in any practical way despite being subject to the most ingenious and intense scrutiny since time immemorial that human beings are capable of. This great principle gives rise to the following theses:

All is change i.e. change is a constant.
Energy continuously transforms all; no form is energy.
Any form informs all even as it is informed by all in the universal transformation.
Information is physical i.e. it is subject to the principles of energy.
Any form exists as a transient balance of the forces in the universal flux, for instance, as a thermal balance amidst the continuous, dynamic warming and cooling of the universe(s).
We are our language – our use of a symbol simultaneously reflects and generates our state of being.
All existence involves paradox.

The last two statements deserve a brief paragraph discussing our human condition.

Our Human Condition

Like all else, we each exist as a fleeting balance of myriad forces amidst the continuous universal transformation i.e. we are finite (mortal, moral/ethical) human beings informing all even as we are informed by all.
We are all manner of balances, including thermal, electrical, chemical, gravitational and psychic balances.
In this context, we can understand our psyche as being a dynamic balance of exclusive, divisive forces (the ego, “I”) and inclusive, connective forces (compassion). These complementary, paradoxical forces simultaneously arise in any moment of self-awareness and we are sustained by our capacity to experience a healthy balance of these forces and transcend paradox. This is why a good appreciation of the Conservation of Energy Principle is so vital to our survival.

It may be helpful at this point to have read the essays “What is Energy?” and “What is Power?” because both these words are given a radically different meaning to that which our English media (schools etc) may have inculcated in you.
In brief, energy is defined as “the universal potential, all of which is active” while power is defined as “the measure or rate that the universal potential is manifest” (P=E/T).

Similarly physics is defined as “the study of the ways of the universe, all of which involves paradox” while psychology is defined as “the study of ways of transcending paradox”. Ultimately psychology and physics are inextricably intertwined: ” psychology~physics“.

An important implication of this entanglement is that any word can be understood to contain a multitude of universes, even such common words as “a”, “the”, “and”, “but”, “are“ “up” and “down”. Each use of a word generates a different world for us. Our choice of language can act to sustain us and it can act to destroy us.

The above preamble is not the diversion it may seem. It goes a long way to explaining why so many of our leading “Climate Gurus” and “Energy Experts” simply cannot bring themselves to say the tiny word “up” when speaking about the warming process in Human-Induced Climate Change.

The truth is they are mortal beings too like you and me. They too are subject to the forces of acquisitiveness, arrogance and exclusivity of the ego.
They too are dynamic balances of the compassion and the ego. Without sufficient compassion, the ego can also easily make these esteemed people their own worst enemy and have them be oblivious to the dissonance between their words and daily actions. And, like the rest of us, the truth of their lifestyles is reflected in their language.

The Truths of Our Life Styles Speak Loudest

So what our leading “Climate Scientists” and “Energy Experts” actually communicating? They say “global warming” and “climate change” is evil and an existential threat. They say “carbon” is poisonous, call for its banning, legislate for “Zero Carbon” and would have us all aspire for a “Post Carbon World.” What is the truth? Is this the voice of compassion speaking or is it just the voice of ego propagating self-interest, self-deceit and self-hatred, as is its want?

Carbon is a common element in the universe and it forms a prime building block of the DNA cells that so vitally inform our existence. Carbon is life-enabling, to be treasured.
Deep down in our guts and in the depths of every cell in our being, everyone of us welcomes the warming forces of the sun. This is because we are sentient at almost every level of our being of our need for light, wind, liquid water, photosynthesis and all the other requisites of life.

Perhaps the only possible non-welcoming element, the sole dissenting voice in our psyche is the ego. Only the ego, born of the division of consciousness in our moments of self-awareness, is so arrogant and alienated from all that it could deny and demonize our most fundamental, life-enabling elements and processes. It abhors any reminders of our roles as moral beings, as stewards amidst the universal flux for these in turn remind it of our mortality.

Cartoon of an identikit for identifying human traits in terms of the ego and compassion. It is from an imaginary series of letters to my 12 year old grand nephews and nieces in which I attempt to explain the “weird” ways of adults — Cartoon of an identikit for identifying human traits in terms of the ego and compassion. It is from an imaginary series of letters to my 12 year-old grand nephews and nieces in which I attempt to explain the “weird” ways of adults.

Is this why some of the most erudite, “Scientific” people on the planet conflate “global warming” with “global warming-up”.
Is this why they conflate “Human-induced climate change” with “climate change”?
Is this why they associate carbon with death and evil?
In summary, perhaps these professional proselytizers of climate-care do not live what they preach and their lifestyles are unsustainable? Could it be the ego has them deny their personal misuse of the universal potential and disruption of Earth’s climate balances? Without sufficient compassion, the ego can easily subvert our finest intentions, make any of us our own worst enemy and have us blame profound life-enabling processes for our own flawed actions.
The psychology~physics of their language indicates a profound dissonance between word and deed.

Physics of the word “up” according to 3 year-olds

We were all 5 year-old children once and perhaps memories of our compassionate experiences of that time can help us adults better transcend the ingenious self-deceits and desperate refutals of the ego.

Photo of child engrossed sucking an ice-block while sitting on beach. The study of thermodynamics is a very intimate experience for two years old
With much thanks to https://www.juliebhosale.co.nz/blogs/blog/healthy-homemade-iceblocks

Recall how, as a child of 3, your ice-block soon melted and evaporated when removed from the freezer – that is unless you happened to live in the likes of Siberia where air temperatures are normally below freezing.

You may recall how your desire to extend the delight of sucking the ice-block conflicted with your fear that it would all melt first. There was a lot going on.
One element of your psyche comprehended the ways of the universe and the occurrence of changes of state.
Another element of your psyche insisted that you are exempt from this physics.
You still had not developed the fine arts (skills and science) of managing heat transfers and transcending all the paradox of the ice-block eating experience.

The interaction of your warm tongue on the cool ice formed an intimate sensual experience and a potent lesson in physics: the change of state that occurs with temperature change. One minute you are holding a solid, pristine ice-block, then a transfer of heat occurs, a thermal imbalance then occurs and suddenly the ice-block is no more, at most a sticky, clammy, liquid sensation running between your fingers or a sploshy pile on the sandy beach or the dirty pavement.

No amount of weeping and wailing and tantrums can reform the ice-block. It’s a moment of heartbreaking realization of the finite nature of all forms of energy.

Perhaps you even wailed, “Its not fair”. Meanwhile some stupid adult may have been soothing you and advising you to get over it. In so doing, they were being oblivious to the fact that the ice-block was your universe in that moment, a world where the words “up” and “down” have profound sentient meaning. Eat the ice-block too slowly, your hand warms it up and it dissolves. Eat the ice-block too fast, it cools your mouth down and you feel pain, even the sensation of “brain freeze”.

Perhaps you even intuited that adults should know better than to dismiss your experience because the chances are they gave you the ice-block as a treat, a reward or as a distraction to send you to an alternative world while they got on with the adult stuff of life. They should know that you were totally engaged exploring an alternative universe to their one. After all, they had given you the ice-block to suck in the first place.

By the age of 5, you were a master at optimizing the experience of eating an iceblock and you looked on with mild bemusement at the antics and tantrums of your younger siblings.

Cartoon illustrating how 5 year old children can understand that freezing an object slows the movement of it atoms — The children of Mahoe Class know atoms cannot move as freely in a solid as they can in a liquid. They decide to store the jar full of Dave the Liquid into the freezer. However he finds it too still, dark and silent in the freezer and starts complaining he is very bored.

The cartoon is part of the true story created by a class of 5-year olds when they were given the task of saving their school cleaner after he dreamed one night he had turned into a liquid. Their story showed that 5-year old children arrive at school with a clear grasp of the thermodynamics required to care for the atmosphere.
By age 10, our English education system, its well-intentioned “Environmentalists” in particular, will have inculcated them in confusing conflation of the language of warming~cooling processes.
By age 20, with a little more advanced education, they will be cursing “global warming” and trashing Earth’s atmospheric flows and balances like most other adults in our Anglosphere society.

Adults, the Ego and Mortality

So what’s up with the word “up”? Why do so many adults in our society choke on it?

Compassion reminds us words are physical, vital and very potent. However the ego has us dismiss them as ethereal, immaterial and unimportant – especially when they are likely to form inconvenient reminders of our mortality. After all, as mentioned earlier, the ego is born of division and it thrives in divisiveness and paradox. It abhors any reminder we are finite human forms existing as part of the universal transformation and cannot know everything.

The universe continuously transforms. For instance every form is cooling even as it is warming. Any form, no matter how large or small, only exists for the period that a unique, thermodynamic balance of warming and cooling prevails.

We constantly live the paradox of the continuous, universal warming~cooling, arising~passing, inhaling~exhaling, living~dying etc. However our thought (word) process is incapable of transcending paradox and thus this region of our mind forms a fertile domain for the ego’s ingenious self-deceits and conceits.

All forms exist as balances of these processes and vanish with imbalances. Every form is its own unique balance.

This warming~cooling process prevails in and for all forms, whether the form is a child’s ice-block, a human being, life on Earth or our solar system. All forms exist as finite balances amidst the constant universal warming-cooling process. We hear acute acknowledgment of this painful reality in the child’s wail, “Its all hotted-up and its all gone”.

With experience, the child learns to rationalize the situation, develop ways of minimizing the warming-up process and console themselves that more ice-blocks exist. The passing of one ice-block when its temperature changed, once experienced as a universe in itself, is not the end of the world.
The tongue’s acute appreciation of increasing and decreasing temperature is now increasingly muffled by a flood of other stimuli.

By the time the child is a young adult, the ego has amassed sophisticated mechanisms rationalizing why they are practically exempt from the principles of physics. For instance, more highly educated adults have assembled a glossary of words like “phase change”, “phase transition”, “steady state”, “changed state”, “thermodynamic equilibrium” etc to gloss over the inconvenient reality a rising temperature signals a thermal imbalance is occurring and a change of state is imminent.

**Thanks to** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_matter
800px-Physics_matter_state_transition_1_en.svg

Thus we have the phenomenon of our leading “Climate Gurus” and “Energy Experts” flitting around the world in wasteful, polluting jets and cars proclaiming to anyone who will listen to them that “Climate Change is an existential threat to Mankind”, we must all “Stop Global Warming”, we have to “Kill Carbon” and “Cease burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gases”.

Often, very often, they and their appreciative audience wring their hands in despair and ask why they are not getting their message across to the rest of humankind. The truth is they get their message across very clearly, which is that it is acceptable to waste minerals and pollute the atmosphere. How so?

They are equating rising planetary temperatures with “Global Warming” and thermal balance. We are vitally aware at our cellular level that this vital daily solar-warming of Earth is essential and good. We welcome the associated thermal balance because Earth would not exist without our sun and, without the Warmer Trace Gases, its surface temperature would average 33C cooler ( minus 18C) rather than our present comfortable 15 C.

The ego in them appeals to the ego in us, their audience, so it would have us also grasp at their fatally flawed equation because it conveniently obscures the reality, which is that the rising temperature of Earth actually involves “Global Warming-up” and a potentially dangerous, even lethal change of state. Their conflation of Global Warming with net global temperature increase conveniently associates our unsustainable behaviour with comfort and stability, thus allowing us to continue to waste and pollute at will.

This behaviour of our leading “Climate Gurus” and “Energy Experts” is best understood with compassion because it involves deep, subtle forces in our psyche. We are all subject to such self-deceits and delusions to some degree.

Perhaps you can now sense how there is a universe in a word, even a tiny word like “up”. Can you imagine a universe without Mankind?

The question arises, “How can we communicate the truth of physics to our professors, editors and policy makers when their institutions are so ego-driven?” Perhaps we could ask our young children for help and have them explain to these opinion leaders just how and why ice-blocks melt and evaporate according to the thermodynamic ways of the universe?

True Hope of Physics

The least that adults like you and me can do is to give a few minutes in checking out what we are saying and why. Fortunately we have the great Conservation of Energy Principle as our wise guide and wonderful tool plus free etymology dictionaries, such as https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=warming
Those who have read the previous essays in this series will be familiar with how we can use these sources of wisdom to evaluate the relative sustainability of our use of language.

Framework illustrating how to use the principles of physics as wise guide when speaking the word “global warming”. — **Framework illustrating how to use the principles of physics as wise guide when speaking the phrase “global warming”.**

The cartoon illustrates how historically the word “warm” expressed action – thermodynamics in particular. However in Northern Europe it came to the used as an adjective in ways that diminished its potent expression of the principles of physics.
The advent of the thermometer gave special potency to adverbs such as “up” and “down” as rising or falling temperatures portend loss of thermal balance and change of state. Thus our decision whether or not to use of word “up” generates very different universes.

A Summary Compassionate Reminder in Hope

The Etymology-Behaviour table illustrates how the original PIE word for “warm” reflected and expressed our universal thermodynamic reality: all things are warmed or heated.
Northern Europeans then confounded this meaning of “warm” by making it also a measure of relative heat, as in “cold” v “cool” v “warm” v “hot”.
The advent of the thermometer further confounded the use of the word, with thermal changes being measured in terms of relative movements of the indicator fluid “up” and “down” the scale on the glass.

This development coincided with the English Combustion Revolution – the radical notion that any act of combustion is OK if it maximizes short-term profits for The Crown i.e the merchant-bankers of the City of London Corporation. This delusional belief formed the prime driver of the “English Industrial Revolution, underpinning most of the technological innovation.
We then see the notion of “warm-up” becoming associated with specific preparatory activities such as preparing food to eat, the human body for sport and car engines for use.

Indeed ask people what they most associate “warming-up” with in their life and chances are they will reply “physical exercise” (of their body). Relatively few will associate it with the heating-up of our planet’s surface, less still with human-induced global warming-up.

Such priorities (food, personal body, cars etc) are typical of the concerns of the ego. However reminders of our finite nature, our changing states and moral roles as stewards of Earth are very inconvenient for the ego. This is why the ego is so persistent at having us conflate “global warming-up with “global warming” and live in denial of the universal principles of thermodynamics.

These are subtle matters of our human condition that are best understood with compassion. It is the qualities of compassion that enable us to see the truth when our lifestyle destroys the climate balances that sustain us all.
It is the qualities of inclusiveness and honesty that enable us to speak this truth of our lives and call our actions what they are: “human- induced global warming-up”.
It is the qualities of humility and kind humour that enable us to embrace and smile at the grandiose, ingenious self-deceits of the ego.
It is the qualities of inquiry and awe that enable us to most enjoy our thermal potential.

Essays in this series:

Medium part 1 Tongue-tied by the English Language
(On untying the bonds of the m other tongue)

Medium part 2 What’s in a Word?

Medium part 3 What is Energy?

Medium part 4 What is Power?

Medium part 5 What is Economy?

Medium part 6 What is Warming- Up?

Medium part 7 What is a Fossil Fuel?

Medium part 8 What is a Resource?

Medium part 9 What’s with The Ego~Compassion

This series of essays is also posted on Medium.com under my name Dave McArthur.