Omphalos Quotes

“We human beings may not be the answer to the question why, but I will keep looking for the answer to how. This search is my purpose; not because you chose it for me, Lord, but because I chose it for myself. Amen.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Science is not just the search for the truth,” he said. “It’s the search for purpose”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“I’ve devoted my life to studying the wondrous mechanism that is the universe, and doing so has given me a sense of fulfillment. I’ve always assumed that this meant that I was acting in accordance with your will, Lord, and your reason for making me. But if it’s in fact true that you have no purpose in mind for me, then that sense of fulfillment has arisen solely from within myself. What that demonstrates to me is that we as humans are capable of creating meaning for our own lives.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Science is not just the search for the truth,” he said. “It’s the search for purpose.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“I think there are events of another category that are likewise not fixed in a causal chain: acts of volition. Free will is a kind of miracle; when we make a genuine choice, we bring about a result that cannot be reduced to the workings of physical law. Every act of volition is, like the creation of the universe, a first cause.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“I wish this didn't affect me so deeply. Would that we could choose the things that trouble us, but we can't.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“The past has left its traces on the world, and we only have to know how to read them.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Lord, I place myself in your presence, and ask you to shine your light into my heart as I look back upon this day, so that I may see more clearly your grace in everything that has happened.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Forgive me, Lord, for being sharp to a man who sought only to assist me. I ask for your help in being patient with those who believe women helpless.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Would that we could choose the things that trouble us, but we can’t.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“While each of us must find our own way forward through this forest of doubt, it is only with the support of others that we’ll be able to do so.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“But I’ve never prayed with the expectation that it would affect your actions; I prayed with the expectation that it would affect mine.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“This search is my purpose; not because you chose it for me, Lord, but because I chose it for myself. Amen.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Lord, perhaps you don’t hear my prayers. But I’ve never prayed with the expectation that it would affect your actions; I prayed with the expectation that it would affect mine. So I pray now, for the first time in two months, because even if you’re not listening, I need the clarity of thought that prayer provides.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Help me to understand other people’s positions, Lord, even when I don’t share them. At the same time, grant me the strength to not ignore wrongdoing simply because it is committed by someone who is well intentioned. Let me be compassionate while remaining true to my convictions. Amen. ·”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Help me to know when it’s appropriate to keep looking and when it’s better to ignore my doubts. Let me always be inquisitive, but never be suspicious. Amen.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Science is not just the search for the truth,” he said. “It’s the search for purpose.” And I had no response.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“[M]any people are so quick to classify events as miraculous that it devalues the word.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“This search is my purpose; not because you chose it for me, Lord, but because I chose it for myself.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“But if it’s in fact true that you have no purpose in mind for me, then that sense of fulfillment has arisen solely from within myself.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“instead, they sought to improve themselves so that they might become masters of their world.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“I believe the primordial humans made a choice. They found themselves in a world full of possibilities but with no guidance as to what to do.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“But the moment of creation is where all causal chains end; inference can lead us back to this moment and no further.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Each moment follows inexorably from the previous one and is followed inexorably by the next, links forged in a causal chain.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Physical law is what makes it possible to study the past; examine the state of the universe closely enough, and we can infer its state a moment earlier in time.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“They couldn’t have come into being with minds as blank as newborn infants, because they’d have rapidly starved to death in such a scenario.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“But for me, science is the true modern cathedral, an edifice of knowledge every bit as majestic as anything made of stone.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Because I think there are events of another category that are likewise not fixed in a causal chain: acts of volition. Free will is a kind of miracle; when we make a genuine choice, we bring about a result that cannot be reduced to the workings of physical law. Every act of volition is, like the creation of the universe, a first cause.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Because I think there are events of another category that are likewise not fixed in a causal chain: acts of volition. Free will is a kind of miracle; when we make a genuine choice, we bring about a result that cannot be reduce to the workings of physical law. Every act of volition is, like the creation of the universe, a first cause.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos

“Lord, perhaps you don’t hear my prayers. But I’ve never prayed with the expectation that it would affect your actions; I prayed with the expectation that it would affect mine.”
― Ted Chiang, Omphalos