Feynman always says it best.
I also believe in being unsatisfied with one’s life, and being in constant doubt of every thesis I come across to explain nature around me. It’s what keeps one moving, evolving, without stagnation. The Universe is what it is. We are but observers of this cosmic dance, and such a beautiful show must be watched without prejudice, and with a child’s awe and curiosity.
Creatures in the dark, fumbling through naked truth
Such emphasis on transient sorrows leaves ties stranded;
Mercurial thoughts can offer no solace, what can soothe ?
A reflection in hindsight vivid, memory branded.
Be water, flow with joy, bend on a whim and a will,
Neither shape nor form, binds frame,
Without color or odor, energy be Nil,
Sannyasi, and an artist did once lay their claim.
Nice.
“I believe in Spinoza’s God, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of the world,” he told him, “not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.”
Source: How Einstein Reconciled Religion to Science
On a similar note, I also like this thought that resonates with my own.
https://twitter.com/ProfFeynman/status/1072868443110559746?s=09
Watching waves of hordes walking by,
A clarity dawns, suddenly.
The sense of joy, blossoming visages,
Evolved out of once parted tears.
When arrival welcomes the loved,
The parted, embrace the void. A wicked cycle.
The event, absolute,
the twisted coin, relative,
Binds in a mirage, to confound perspectives.
Never seared, heat and pressure adored,
When roti falls to the floor,
Deciphered nay, burnt black the heart
Far from sustenance, food ain’t always about survival.
Vain be ye, fool, ignorant, without questions,
Knowledge be ye, experience, taking first steps without a push,
Anguish be ye, steadfast, avoiding consequences,
Strength be ye, czar, ruling emotions without oscillations,
Woe be ye, ghora, roaming mortal worlds, with sophisticated rules,
Evolution be ye, yogi, free without facades,
Perseverance be ye, incessant, with only one focussed thought,
Serenity be ye, enlightened, tranquil without attachment,
Prayer be ye, shining, soul resplendent with flawless spirit,
Aspiration be ye, zealous, causing effects without actions,
Purity be ye, hemisphere, lifetime of search concluded,
Aghori be ye, kolaveri, adoring all, live or immortal without judgement,
Divine be ye, beloved, fulfilling with thou hallowed touch,
Eternal be ye, infinite, eventual part, the astounding fractal of life.
Peace, wished, yearned, null satisfied;
Aspired, immersed with actions,
Fulfill’, not a throbbing heart.
Captain, a ship floats yonder, steadfast
Meditated, on now, even with a trace,
Beloved, shattered fallacies, intrinsic.
Dexterous dreamer, evolving, surviving
manholes and pitfalls, still walking tall.
Mutually seduced and stripped, iron to cotton.
A delicate lotus, blooms, ‘midst raging sea,
A split soul, earned, past deeds, karma;
A yoke formed, sublime fruition inevitable.
Ye celestial suns, witness, bless an union.
Thank thee elements, fire and water, pure.
Dawned today, afresh; A new day, bright.
In the blue of the sky, in the green of the forest,
Whose is the hand that has painted the glow?
When the winds were asleep in the womb of the ether,
Who was it roused them and bade them to blow?
He is lost in the heart, in the cavern of Nature,
He is found in the brain where He builds up the thought:
In the pattern and bloom of the flowers He is woven,
In the luminous net of the stars He is caught.
In the strength of a man, in the beauty of woman,
In the laugh of a boy, in the blush of a girl;
The hand that sent Jupiter spinning through heaven,
Spends all its cunning to fashion a c#url.
There are His works and His veils and His shadows;
But where is He then? by what name is He known?
Is He Brahma or Vishnu? a man or a woman?
Bodies or bodiless? twin or alone?
We have love for a boy who is dark and resplendent,
A woman is lord of us, naked and fierce.
We have seen Him a-muse on the snow of the mountains,
We have watched Him at work in the heart of the spheres.
We will tell the whole world of His ways and His cunning;
He has rapture of torture and passion and pain;
He delights in our sorrow and drives us to weeping,
Then lures with His joy and His beauty again.
All music is only the sound of His laughter,
All beauty the smile of His passionate bliss;
Our lives are His heart-beats, our rapture the bridal
Of Radha and Krishna, our love is their kiss.
He is strength that is loud in the blare of the trumpets,
And He rides in the car and He strikes in the spears;
He slays without stint and is full of compassion;
He wars for the world and its ultimate years.
In the sweep of the worlds, in the surge of the ages,
Ineffable, mighty, majestic and pure,
Beyond the last pinnacle seized by the thinker
He is throned in His seats that for ever endure.
The Master of man and his infinite Lover,
He is close to our hearts, had we vision to see;
We are blind with our pride and the pomp of our passions,
We are bound in our thoughts where we hold ourselves free.
It is He in the sun who is ageless and deathless,
And into the midnight His shadow is thrown;
When darkness was blind and engulfed within darkness,
He was seated within it immense and alone.
— Sri Aurobindo
Yesterday, had the privilege of attending an opera, one by the greatest composers of all time, Wolfgang, his last. It was beautiful, the setting, the music and the execution. Delightful. Made me get out of my seat again and again for I couldn’t stay still in the ecstasy of the experience. The story in itself is woven around a couple in love, and their eventual journey to overcome the ordeals of a union, to face their family, to conquer death together. Enlightened and united, they are initiated into the temple of wisdom, ruled over by Osiris and Isis. Here’s a short synopsis.
I knew about the act that involved an Aria by the Queen of the night, even before I went in. I was looking forward to it and wasn’t disappointed. It enraptures one and leaves you speechless in its highest tempo and emotions conveyed.
The Queen is persuading her daughter to not join her mortal enemy Sarastro or fall in love with prince Tamino who has become part of Sarastro’s wisdom clan. A translation of the conversation by the Queen is below.
The vengeance of Hell boils in my heart,
Death and despair flame about me!
If Sarastro does not through you feel
The pain of death,
Then you will be my daughter nevermore.
Disowned may you be forever,
Abandoned may you be forever,
Destroyed be forever
All the bonds of nature,
If not through you
Sarastro becomes pale! (as death)
Hear, Gods of Revenge,
Hear a mother’s oath!
Sublime. Such intensity and passion in music. And the F’s flailing about and the Queen delivering her emotion with depth that only an opera well written can showcase.
A heart bulges with emotions, of something familiar, with music scales rising and falling, a story one can understand, an aspiration binds two far away souls to connect and conquer even death on the quest for wisdom. I wish a magic flute would present itself to me, to make everyone merry and burn away thoughts sombre.
A great cast and a wonderful performance. I’m very glad that I didn’t miss it.
Another one by Dylan (Do Not Go Gentle Into the Good Night).
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.
— Dylan Thomas
That is sublime. Dylan with an interesting background reminds me yet again that writing is an outlet powerful enough to sap excess emotions. Stronger the emotions, often sweeter the poetry, respite imminent…
