Australian Mythology

AUSTRALIA – MYTHOLOGY | SYMPHONY | DIARY

17 October 2026

THE CLOCK FACE — WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW

1. Imagine an analogue clock face. Its sixty minute marks symbolise the many laws and relationships that shape our lives. Sixty is only a symbolic number. We do not know how many there really are.
2. These laws operate together, whether we understand them or not. Yet each of us sees only part of the whole.
3. Even a Nobel laureate, representing exceptional knowledge in a particular field, does not possess equally complete knowledge of every other field. Understanding takes time, experience, mistakes and correction.
4. A decision made from the perspective of one minute can have consequences across the whole clock face. The limits of our knowledge do not limit the reach of our actions.
5. This applies to everyone entrusted with maintaining the functioning of society: officials, judges, ministers and those above or below them. Who understands every relevant field, including what humanity has yet to discover?
6. A person may consciously make a decision without understanding all its consequences. Good intentions alone cannot guarantee a good result. There is a saying: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
7. My question is therefore: when we make decisions about other people’s lives, do we recognise the limits of our understanding?

Holding a position of authority does not make anyone infallible. Responsibility requires us to keep learning, examine the consequences and correct our mistakes.

18 October 2026 — ADDITION

WHO SERVES WHOM?

1. Today, I feel that we have reached a harbour. Three texts — 06, 06.0 and 12 — may prove to be important foundation stones in what I am building.
2. In text 12, I used the example of a Nobel laureate to illustrate the limits of specialised knowledge. Now I want to bring that understanding closer to everyday life.
3. Imagine that different minute marks on the clock face represent a baker, a builder, a plumber, a farmer or an artist. Each person develops an understanding through time, work and experience. From that position, they form their view of life.
4. How well does the baker understand the farmer’s position? How well does the plumber understand the builder’s? Their work connects, but understanding one occupation does not automatically provide an understanding of the others.
5. Where, then, does the politician stand on this clock face? Has that person acquired the understanding of all these occupations and the lives surrounding them? From which position do they create laws that apply to everyone?
6. We speak of those who make laws and those who carry them out. I look at their responsibilities through the image of a maintenance department: keeping society functioning requires attention to the relationships between its many parts.
7. I will give one example from my own experience. I witnessed people bowing as they entered a courtroom. That gesture raised a question for me.
8. Which came first: society, or the position of judge? My understanding is that the need to resolve problems within society gave rise to that position.
9. If society created the position to meet a need, then the judge holds a responsibility towards society. In my analogy, the judge is one of the people employed to maintain its functioning.
10. What, then, does the bow mean? Respect for the responsibility entrusted to that position? Or submission to someone regarded as standing above the people?
11. Is the judge serving society, or is the judge being treated as its lord?