pastura

Thinkers say it is ignorant of folks to assume that the world as we "see" it truly is as we imagine it to be out there. That is, we should understand that "reality" is simply a creation of our experience, and that without our reflection upon it, there would be no it. But isn't it profoundly arrogant to say that our limited experiences make up that which is? Arrogant to believe that, without our perceptions and without our phsycic acquaintance, the world would simply not exist? The universe knows it exists. It does not need our acknowledgement to be.

Now I confess that I do occasionally take walks through the school of thought that says there is nothing which our minds do not create (if a tree falls... it does not make a sound if sound = sound waves + something to perceive them), but I think the whole fun of the subject is being able to change sides depending on how I feel any given day. I reread a book of quotes today called Love Letters to the Universe which I would recommend to anyone with a sense of awe. Stephen Hawking, Yoko Ono, Einstein, Hafiz, Shakespeare, Thoreau.... tons of voices and a thousand different reactions to the world around us: nature, science, mathematics, god, existence/non-existence, rain, sun, sand, fire, life, atoms, Tao.... it's just incredible. I drew little stars next to each quote that gave me chills, and there are a liot of little stars in this book now. I'll try and share a quote in each post...



"I am standing on the threshold about to enter a room. It is a complicated business. In the first place I must shove against an atmosphere pressing with a force of fourteen pounds on every square inch of my body. I must make sure of landing on a plank traveling at twenty miles a second round the sun - a fraction of a second too early or too late, the plank would be miles away. I must do this whilst hanging from a round planet, heading outward into space." - Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington