Fractals are cool mathematical objects with a core property: scale-free. That is, its appearance is gonna the same no matter how you zoom-in or zoom-out.

I say the world is a big fractal precisely for the reason that I think the world, and life in general, is scale-free to a great extent.

That means the same patterns happen everywhere. As you move along the temporal or spatial frame, the patterns won't change. As you zoom-in or zoom-out, you see similar patterns (just at a larger or smaller scale)!

It is both a philosophy for doing science and a philosophy for living a life. And a philosophy of philosophy. Why can I make such claims across different domains and levels of abstractions? Because the world is a big fractal!

I see many compelling examples as I create my life. Unfortunately many of those had been conjured up before I got the habit into writing down my thoughts. But I can share two recent ones.

The first example is about the statement “It does not give you answers, it gives you questions”. When I was at Burning Man in 2024, I met a person with whom I chatted about my interest in Carl Jung's personality type theory. Then the person recommended that I read an Astrology book. I raised an eyebrow upon hearing the word astrology. I asked why, isn't it pseudoscience? The person said, yes, and what's good about astrology is that it doesn't give you answers, it gives you questions. I thought the person was probably right. Two months later I had a revelation that, in counseling sessions, the therapy doesn't give you answers. They provide you with questions. They keep probing you about what formed your emotions, habits, or complexes. If you directly ask for an answer to your problem, your therapist probably doesn't have one. Then I immediately saw another striking analogy: the statement applies to advisor meetings as well. In advisor meetings, you should NOT seek answers from your advisor, you should seek questions.

The second example was about how my hobby and professional pursuit interestingly align. Recently (Mar 2025) I found out that my random hobby in counseling psychology and Carl Jung's analytical psychology, which has always been a “side” aspect of my life, surprisingly begins to superimpose onto the “main” aspect of my life, which is becoming a professor who will, apparently, advise students. I can "see" that the art of counseling psychology and the art of advising are mirroring each other remarkably. A podcast run by a therapist precipitated me to realize this. He said in counseling, when the therapist notices the timing ripens for conveying a certain message, he will say it. The message usually brings discomfort, and may even trigger a tragic mental breakdown of the client. However, being shattered is the prerequisite for growth. The same pattern actually occurs in advisor-advisee dynamics more frequently than I had ever expected. In retrospect, many words from my advisor that I had taken as “pushing me/stressing me out/not fully understanding me”, could well be interpreted as “seeing the timing is ripe to convey a message to me”. And this interpretation is both relieving and reassuring.