Newton's Principles of Dynamics and Interior Causality

is measured by the effect it produces (change of state of rest or motion)". To these two simple hypotheses on causality, Newton added a third, also extremely profound in its philosophical implications. We will have the opportunity to deepen this later when dealing with the law of evolution:

• THIRD PRINCIPLE OF DYNAMICS (reaction equals action): "To every action produced on a body there always corresponds an equal and opposite reaction".

These three principles of Newton's dynamics, since in their general formulation they constitute hypotheses about the nature of causal relations and are not simply limited to the motion of bodies, have a much broader validity and allow us to understand some implications of the principle of causality in our daily interior and exterior life.

THE FOUNDATION OF INTERIOR PERCEPTION

If one were asked what is the fundamental principle that can make possible a science of one's interior life, the answer would be simple: the extension of the principle of causality from the exterior world to the interior one. All our knowledge and our possibility of understanding our interior life is based on this simple and natural assumption.

Very often we find ourselves in interior situations whose origin we do not understand and in which the principle of causality seems to be suspended. If indeed in exterior reality we demand an almost absolute causality that allows us to account for everything that happens, towards our interior life, instead, we not only do not demand that this causality be respected, but we even often consider it absurd.

How many times, for example, do we witness the birth and disappearance of love towards a person without being able to, nor believing we should identify the cause responsible for this effect? Or the appearance and disappearance of a passion, the presence of melancholy or pleasant serenity. How many times does a thought or a person flash into our mind without knowing the actual cause that brought it to mind? How many meaningful dreams are abandoned without any thought? How many times do we not know the reason for a desire or the origin of a certain behavior? How many times do we not know why we are attentive or inattentive, or the reason for a brilliant and sustained intuition?

If in the case of a psychological illness one seeks to trace back to the causal links that prevent the normal development of interior activity, in daily life most individuals give up understanding the causes of their own psychic and mental activity, refusing to improve them and, finally, passively submitting to them.

As faith in a Principle of Causality is the foundation of all knowledge of exterior reality, so faith in a causality of mental and psychic states is the principle of all knowledge of interior reality. This principle is indeed the necessary foundation for being able to organize our interior impressions into something coherent and organic and find in them a guiding thread that can allow us to act and operate a change in our interior state (the effect) dependent on our will (the force) through a point of application: the mind.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

The principle of causality therefore assures us that for everything there is a cause. It tells us that if we are in a certain situation there is a reason. If we want to obtain a certain effect we should propose an adequate cause and vice versa, by reproposing the same causes we will obtain the same effects. What is realized has a realizing cause and what is not realized is not, does not have a true cause. Trees that do not bear fruit are destined to dry up and the goodness of a tree is seen by its fruits and not by its flowers.

These observations seem evident and of embarrassing simplicity yet it is incredible to realize how many times in our daily life and in our value system these simple rules are disregarded. First of all, many people consider the state they find themselves in to be an injustice despite the fact that in most cases it is nothing other than the result of causes set in motion by themselves over the years. If they find themselves alone it is because in one way or another they have pushed others away, if they find themselves fat it is because they have eaten more than they needed to live.

In its linearity the principle of causality is fierce and merciless, but it is also just and provides individuals with a key to act and a basis for any future prediction. By observing what we do, the causes we set in motion, we can induce with educated intuition where we will end up. If an individual smokes heavily, sooner or later he will have respiratory problems, if he continues to drink without moderation he will poison his liver, if he always thinks about the stars he will become an astronomer, conversely if he dedicates himself day and night to sport he will become an athlete.

If an individual dedicates all his energy to becoming an athlete, his life will follow - in the best case scenario - the typical path of athletes. He will begin his career obtaining some success, then become a promise; he will have one, two, three exceptional years and behold, the moment of his peak will then also mark the beginning of his decline. Victories will be more difficult and he will find himself having to compete against younger athletes, he will then have the last song with the last victories and finally after losing ground with opponents he will retire from competitions.

A similar path will be followed by the musician, like the doctor, lawyer, physicist or scholar, each according to the fundamental traits of the one he takes as a model. Already from the choice of master one can understand the future of the disciple, in this sense Jesus Christ encouraged choosing carefully saying "a disciple is not greater than his master".

In the absence of objectivity, instead, when we must judge our life or that of those dear to us we generally operate a sort of exceptional suspension of the principle of causality. By planting a lemon tree will grow a lemon tree that will produce only lemons and would be...