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Science does not reveal the meaning of our existence, but it does draw back some of the veils.
Thus the original and literal meaning of “universe” was “everything turned into one.” In
to
to explain why the properties of our universe must necessarily be what they are—is futile, a beautiful philosophical dream that simply isn’t true.
Physicists call it the second law of thermo dynamics. It is also called the arrow of time. Oblivious to our human yearnings for permanence, the universe is relentlessly wearing down, falling apart, driving itself toward a condition of maximum disorder.
To my mind, it is one of the profound contradictions of human existence that we long for immortality, indeed fervently believe that something must be unchanging and permanent, when all of the evidence in nature argues against us.
“A man can do what he wants,” said Schopenhauer, “but not want what he wants.”
For many artists and humanists, the question is more important than the answer.
“We should try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.” Then there are also the questions that have definite answers but which we cannot answer. The question of the existence of God may be such a question.
Science can never know what created our universe. Even if tomorrow we observed another universe spawned from our universe, as could hypothetically happen in certain theories of cosmology, we could not know what created our universe.
Faith, in its broadest sense, is about far more than belief in the existence of God or the disregard of scientific evidence. Faith is the willingness to give ourselves over, at times, to things we do not fully understand. Faith is the belief in things larger than ourselves. Faith is the ability to honor stillness at some moments and at others to ride the passion
impulse, the flight of the imagination, the full engagement with this strange and shimmering world.
The fewer parameters and principles needed to specify a system, the greater the understanding.
mathematical theorem says that a sphere is the particular geometrical shape that has the least surface area for a given volume.
A character who always acts rationally is a fraud. Any character you fully understand is as good as dead. Is that clear?
I believe that it is bracing and vital to live in a world in which we do not know all the answers.
Evidently, our impression that solid matter can be localized, that it occupies only one position at a time, is erroneous.
In fact, the visible can lead us astray, presenting to us what we consider an inferior reality.
