2 posts tagged “science”
Exciting news! It seems that there is the possibility of Earth-like life habitat existing on another planet in the "neighborhood."
It's good to know there's another planet we can take over and destroy when push comes to shove with this whole global warming thing. Maybe we should send an oil exploratory team there to investigate first.
Last night I was listening to a radio program I'd never heard before. It's called Speaking of Faith and it is distributed by American Public Media. The broadcast was entitled Einstein's God and focused on his thoughts on religion and science (links to podcasts here). There were a number of fascinating segments, from his take on time and that whole relativity thang to his feelings about various classical music composers.
One of the most striking things I found was this excerpt from The World As I See It:
The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. It was the experience of mystery—even if mixed with fear—that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms—it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man. I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the type of which we are conscious in ourselves. An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond my comprehension, nor do I wish it otherwise; such notions are for the fears or absurd egoism of feeble souls. Enough for me is the mystery of eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvelous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavor to comprehend a portion, be it never so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature.
That passage really resonates with me and I can't seem to find the words to share my appreciation for it. I like this idea of religion as a kind of mysterious realm that envelopes art and science, which is such a departure from what I tend to think of when people talk about "religion" today. It's comforting that a man as brilliant as he was, found himself humbled by these things and accepting that some things are beyond comprehension.
One of the guests, Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist/cosmologist/bioastronomer (just image that business card), observed that "he did have, I think, a genuine cosmic religious feeling, a sense of admiration at the intellectual ingenuity of the universe. Not just its majesty, but its extraordinary subtlety and beauty and mathematical elegance."
And yet we should not grieve for those who have gone from us in the primes of their lives after happy and fruitful years of activity, and who have been privileged to accomplish in full measure their task in life.
Something there is that can refresh and revivify older people: joy in the activities of the younger generation—a joy, to be sure, that is clouded by dark forebodings in these unsettled times. And yet, as always, the springtime sun brings forth new life, and we may rejoice because of this new life and contribute to its unfolding; and Mozart remains as beautiful and tender as he always was and always will be. There is, after all, something eternal that lies beyond reach of the hand of fate and of all human delusions. And such eternals lie closer to an older person than to a younger one oscillating between fear and hope. For us, there remains the privilege of experiencing beauty and truth in their purest form.
I'm not quite sure what to make of that (particularly the latter part). Maybe because I don't consider myself "an older person" (yet), I don't understand? I like the sound of "something eternal that lies beyond reach of the hand of fate and of all human delusions." There is something that makes me smile about the mention of the beauty of Mozart being timeless too.
[On second thought, I'm going to add this to The Academy of Fine Ideas group. Let me know if this post isn't up to par for it and I'll remove it, but I thought it might be appropriate for that group.]
