"Because of the hazy, nondefinite character of quantum physics (called the Heisenberg uncertainty principle), at the dimensions of the Planck length, space and time churn and seethe, with the distance between any two points wildly fluctuating from moment to moment, and time randomly speeding and slowing, perhaps even going backward and forward. In such a situation, time and space no longer exist in a way that has meaning to us."
Monday, January 15, 2024
Thursday, December 14, 2023
Orderly Action Within the Whole
a consideration of time as a
projection of multidimensional
reality into a sequence of moments.
- David Bohm (1917 - 1992)
Friday, December 08, 2023
Disorder to Order
- Fritjof Capra (1939 - )
Patterns of Connection
Thursday, November 09, 2023
Observer-Centric Virtualities
Wednesday, November 08, 2023
The Total Perspective Vortex
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)
Friday, November 03, 2023
Photographing Reality
that is photographed because it
seems beautiful to us and the reality
that seems beautiful because it
has been photographed is very narrow.
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Flying Leaves of Autumn
They take their time and wander
on this their only chance to soar."
- Delia Owens (1949 - )
Where the Crawdads Sing
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Geometry of Color
- Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 - 1951)
Remarks on Color
Friday, October 27, 2023
"Song for Autumn"
how comfortable it will be to touch
the earth instead of the
nothingness of the air and the endless
freshets of wind? And don’t you think
the trees, especially those with
mossy hollows, are beginning to look for
the birds that will come—six, a dozen—to sleep
inside their bodies? And don’t you hear
the goldenrod whispering goodbye,
the everlasting being crowned with the first
tuffets of snow? The pond
stiffens and the white field over which
the fox runs so quickly brings out
its long blue shadows. The wind wags
its many tails. And in the evening
the piled firewood shifts a little,
longing to be on its way."
"Song for Autumn"
Monday, October 23, 2023
Expanding Our Vision
- Eric Kandel (1929 - )
The Age of Insight
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Thoughtful Reflection
"A sense of place is a conviction
in the individual’s choice to live there.
That is what gives the whole dignify and purpose."
- Halldor Laxness (1902 - 1998)
"Place is security,
space is freedom.
...
In a sense, every human construction,
whether mental or material, is a
component in a landscape of fear
because it exists in constant chaos.
Thus children's fairy tales as well
as adult's legends, cosmological myths,
and indeed philosophical systems
are shelters built by the mind in which
human beings can rest, at least temporarily, from
the siege of inchoate experience and of doubt.
...
It is by thoughtful reflection that the
elusive moments of the past draw
draw near to us in present reality and
gain a measure of permanence."
- Yi-Fu Tuan (1930 - 2022)
Monday, September 04, 2023
The Edge of Heaven
flung by God from the forge of Chaos.
I soar on wings swifter than wind
above the paths of the pulsing stars.
...
through empty night — an image that speaks:
"Stay, oh traveler tired with flight!
Tell me, wanderer — what are you seeking?
futile wandering through wastes of ether!
...
- Jónas Hallgrímsson (1807 - 1845)
The Vastness of the Universe
This remarkable panorama - well, the actual Icelandic vista, if not my image, which hardly does justice to the preternatural play of shapes, light, and color! - was captured toward the end of our first full day of sightseeing as we were making out way back to our rental house along the southern shore of the Snaefellsnes peninsula. While Iceland certainly has its fair share of grey misty (and often heavily rain sodden) days, it is mostly - quintessentially - a mysterious amalgam of drab coolness and sensual warmth; a fractal superposition of black ("svartur") volcanic shades mixed with effervescent blues ("blár"), yellows ("gulur"), and orange ('Appelsínugulur") tones. And, as is true of all the world's best landscapes, the character and moods change far faster than one can possibly react (or hope to do justice) to with even the quickest "clicks" of the shutter. As I kept telling my wife throughout our trip and afterwards, it was a sincere privilege to call Iceland home during our two weeks there. Truly, we felt on the edge of heaven 😊
Monday, April 24, 2023
A Universe Comes into Being
"A universe comes into being when a space is severed or taken apart. The skin of a living organism cuts off an outside from an inside. So does the circumference of a circle in a plane. By tracing the way we represent such a severance, we can begin to reconstruct, with an accuracy and coverage that appear almost uncanny, the basic forms underlying linguistic, mathematical, physical, and biological science, and can begin to see how the familiar laws of our own experience follow inexorably from the original act of severance. The act is itself already remembered, even if unconsciously, as our first attempt to distinguish different things in a world where, in the first place, the boundaries can be drawn anywhere we please. At this stage the universe cannot be distinguished from how we act upon it, and the world may seem like shifting sand beneath our feet.
Although all forms, and thus all universes, are possible, and any particular form is mutable, it becomes evident that the laws relating such forms are the same in any universe. It is this sameness, the idea that we can find a reality independent of how the universe actually appears, that lends such fascination to the study of mathematics. That mathematics, in common with other art forms, can lead us beyond ordinary existence, and can show us something of the structure in which all creation hangs together, is no new idea. But mathematical texts generally begin the story somewhere in the middle, leaving the reader to pick up the threads as best he can. Here is the story traced from the beginning."
Postscript. This simple "point and shoot" image (albeit with an assist from Photoshop's perspective-crop tool) was taken with my iPhone as my wife and I were waiting for yesterday's matinee of Les Mesirables to start at the Kenney Center in Washington, DC. I have been drawn to mirrors and reflections ever since my teenaged-self stumbled across their deep mysteries through Borges' stories. Objectively speaking, the image is composed of nothing but metal, glass, some branches and leaves, and just a hint of a massive chandelier hanging just inside the Kennedy Center. But, as all Borgesian souls know, this "objectively banal reality" is but a shadow of the dynamic undulating froth of invisible universes! The first step toward catching a glimpse of these other realities is - as G. Spencer Brown reminds us - to draw a subjective distinction.
Saturday, November 12, 2022
Admiring Light's Beauty
Close your eyes, and then look again:
what you saw is no longer there;
and what you will see later is not yet. "
- Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)
Friday, October 28, 2022
Mirror to Mirror
- Italo Calvino (1923 - 1985)
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Sunday, October 02, 2022
One Side of a Mirror
"There are two worlds. The world you understand and the world you don’t. These worlds exist side by side, sometimes only centimeters apart, and the great majority of people spend their entire lives in one without being aware of the other. It’s like living in one side of a mirror: you think there is nothing on the other side until one day a switch is thrown and suddenly the mirror is transparent. You see the other side."
Friday, September 30, 2022
Subjective Wholes
Thursday, September 29, 2022
Relation Between Observer and Thing
- W. Ross Ashby (1903 - 1972)
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Metaphorical Thought
- George Lakoff (1941 - )
Sunday, September 04, 2022
Luminous Beings
- Carlos Castaneda (1925 - 1998)
Tales of Power