Imperfect Concepts

"To Taoism that which is absolutely still

or absolutely perfect is absolutely dead,

for without the possibility of growth
and change there can be no Tao. In
reality there is nothing in the universe which
is completely perfect or completely still;
it is only in the minds of men
that such concepts exist."

- Alan Watts (1915 - 1973)

Nature's Elegance

"But nature is always more subtle,
more intricate, more
elegant than what
we are able to
imagine."

- Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996)
The Demon-Haunted World

Making Visible the Invisible

"The world is filled with these
invisible islands of energy,
where certain things can happen
and certain emotions and
dreams can be transported.
And as a photographer,
my task is to find those places.

...

Photography for me is not looking,
it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what
you’re looking at, then
you’re never going to get
others to feel anything when
they look at your pictures.

...

The camera is a tool for
making visible the invisible."

- Fay Godwin (1931 - 2005)

Musical Imagination

"Perception is never purely in the present,

it has to draw on experience of the past;
We all have detailed memories of how
things have previously looked and sounded,
and these memories are recalled are
admixed with every new perception.

...

Music can also evoke worlds

very different from the personal,

remembered worlds of events,

people, places we have known.

...

Every act of perception, is
to some degree an act of creation, and
every act of memory is to some
degree an act of imagination."

- Oliver Sacks (1933 - 2015)
Musicophilia

Worlds Born

"Each friend represents a world in us, a
world possibly not born until they arrive,
and it is only by this meeting
that a new world is born."

- Anais Nin (1903 - 1977)
The Diary of Anaïs Nin

Kal-Toh

"Ensign Harry KIM:
That's kal-toh, isn't it? Vulcan chess?

Lieutenant TUVOK:
Kal-toh is to chess as chess is to tic-tac-toe.

...
(Icheb is trying his hand at Kal-toh. Kim coughs just before he makes a move. Icheb moves the rod to another place and Kim nods slightly)
TUVOK: In the interest of fair play, I should inform you that Mister Kim has never defeated me at Kal-toh.
(Icheb places the rod at his first chosen place. The shape does not change.)
KIM: You should've listened to me.
(Tuvok's rod changes the shape.)
TUVOK: Kal-toh is as much a game of patience as it is of logic. An experienced player will sometimes take several hours to decide his next move, and in some cases even days may be necessary to
(Icheb places a rod.)
ICHEB: Kal-toh.
KIM: You beat him.TUVOK: Congratulations.
ICHEB: I'm sure it was just beginner's luck, sir. I'd offer you a rematch, but I'm due in Astrometrics.
TUVOK: Another time, perhaps.
(Icheb leaves. Kim takes his place opposite Tuvok.)
KIM: He may have to go, but I'm free and feeling lucky.
TUVOK: If you'll excuse me, Ensign.
(Tuvok leaves the table.)
KIM: It's just a game, Tuvok."

- Star Trek: Voyager (1995 - 2001)

Vibrating Universe

"Gravitational waves are fundamentally different. Not only is a gravitational wave a side-to-side, lateral wave like light, not a longitudinal wave like sound, but it isn’t a ripple through objects in spacetime; it passes through spacetime itself. When a gravitational wave passes by, spacetime squeezes and contracts. This oscillation influences matter, which exists in spacetime – but doesn’t require matter to be able to travel. It’s quite demeaning to gravitational waves to call their detection ‘hearing the sound of black holes in space’ as some have done. By comparison, sound is a trivial local effect. Gravitational waves make the universe itself vibrate."

- Brian Clegg (1955 - )
Gravitational Waves