Annus Mirabilis
Il 2005 è stato proclamato Anno Mondiale della Fisica dall'Assemblea Generale dell'ONU.
Sono passati cento anni da quel 1905 in cui Albert Einstein pubblicò sulla rivista Annalen der Physik i documenti scientifici che avrebbero influenzato tutta la fisica del secolo scorso e di questo XXI secolo.
Tre scoperte fondamentali: la formulazione della relatività ristretta, l'interpretazione dell'effetto fotoelettrico e la descrizione del moto browniano.
Evidence for a Spinning Black Hole. (Image by A. Hobart, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, as presented on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day Web site.)
Immagine iniziale: Astronomers from MIT and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have seen evidence of hot iron gas riding a ripple in spacetime around a black hole. This spacetime wave, if confirmed, would represent a new phenomenon that goes beyond Einstein's general relativity. ...
... e, perché no?
Einstein & Buddha
The Parallel Sayingsby Jill Di Donato
The Parallel Sayingsby Jill Di Donato
Since the days of Copernicus and Galileo, science and spirituality have long been valued as incompatible. But a modern understanding of quantum physics and Eastern spirituality reveals common ground between the two. Thomas McFarlane, mathematician, physicist, and theologian, juxtaposes teachings of Western science and Eastern spirituality in Einstein and Buddha, a new book of parallel sayings.
Just as the 18th century defined itself as the Age of Enlightenment and Reason, the 21st century too struggles to find its own philosophical voice. Some might call it a Zeitgeist, a mantra, words to live by. “Einstein and Buddha is an inspired effort to meet the 21st-century challenge of developing a synthetic world view. McFarlane juxtaposes quotations from Eastern contemplatives and Western scientists with insight, clarity, and intellectual integrity,” says philosopher and UNLV professor Dr. Ron Leonard.
“Worldly conceptions of ordinary objects and everyday experience suddenly broke down when physicists began to explore the nature of the atom,” explains MsFarlane. “In Einstein’s world of relativity, the word ‘simultaneous’ has no meaning. Time has no absolute standard…Eastern mystics would hardly be surprised. Their explorations beyond ordinary experience have long revealed that human ideas of the world are merely imperfect tools for viewing subtle phenomena.”
In modern physics, the more scientists learn about reality, the more apparent it becomes that reality transcends theory, reason, and observation. Eastern mystics too attest that ultimate knowledge of reality eludes the thinking mind and its philosophical systems. The Buddha spoke of his teachings as a raft his disciples could use to cross a river, and once the river was crossed, the raft was to be left behind. So begins the search for parallel sayings.
In Einstein and Buddha, you’ll find quotations under such headings as “Paradox and Contradiction,” “Subject and Object,” “Manifestation and Causality,” and “Wholeness and Interdependence.” The section on “Unity and Plurality” encapsulates the theme of the book with profound beauty. In it, McFarlane writes how Newton’s law of gravitation “unified in one equation the motion of planets and the behavior of objects falling on earth.” So it seems as our understanding of physics deepens, its laws become more universal. “The holy grail of 21st century physics is to unify the laws governing all known forces of nature within a single ‘theory of everything,’” McFarlane explains. Similarly, the mystic’s “holy grail” is to find the unity behind all things. “The goal, however,” McFarlane writes, “is not a theory but transcendence of all things. The mystic’s unity embraces not only all phenomena of the world, but his or her own self as well. Like the physicist, the mystic seeks to discover the invariant within all variation, the One at the root of the Many.”
From Max Plank, the physicist who revolutionized thermodynamics, to Shankara, one of the most influential mystics of ancient Hinduism, McFarlane’s collection includes quotations that challenge us to unite knowledge with belief. This book perhaps is a signal that we’ve moved beyond thinking about things we can’t discover under a microscope as “alternative,” but rather as complementary to the wisdom we already have and seek to attain.
Parallel Sayings from Einstein and Buddha:
• “The plurality that we perceive is only an appearance; it is not real.” – ERWIN SCHRÖDINGER
“Whatever you see as duality is unreal.” – SKANKARA
• “A human being…experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as some- thing separated from the rest—a kind of optical illusion of his conscious- ness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” – ALBERT EINSTEIN
“True happiness comes not from a limited concern for one’s own well- being, or that of those one feels close to, but from developing love and compassion for all sentient beings.” – THE DALAI LAMA
• “Truth is what stands the rest of experience.” – ALBERT EINSTEIN
“The real meaning of the Dharma…must be directly experienced.” – SIDDHA NAGARJUNA
• “This world faces us with the impossibility of knowing it directly…It is a world whose nature cannot be comprehended by our human powers of mental conception.” – MAX PLANK
“Brahman is…outside the range of any mental conception.” – SHANKARA
• “The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule.” – ALBERT EINSTEIN
“By merely doing actions in my service Thou shalt attain perfection.” – THE BHAGAVAD GITA
• “In quantum theory, we are beyond the reach of pictorial visualization.” – NEIL BOHR
“Self-realization is an exalted state of inner attainment which transcends all…illustrations." – BUDDHA
Fonte: http://www.nyspirit.com/issue114/article8.html
“Worldly conceptions of ordinary objects and everyday experience suddenly broke down when physicists began to explore the nature of the atom,” explains MsFarlane. “In Einstein’s world of relativity, the word ‘simultaneous’ has no meaning. Time has no absolute standard…Eastern mystics would hardly be surprised. Their explorations beyond ordinary experience have long revealed that human ideas of the world are merely imperfect tools for viewing subtle phenomena.”
In modern physics, the more scientists learn about reality, the more apparent it becomes that reality transcends theory, reason, and observation. Eastern mystics too attest that ultimate knowledge of reality eludes the thinking mind and its philosophical systems. The Buddha spoke of his teachings as a raft his disciples could use to cross a river, and once the river was crossed, the raft was to be left behind. So begins the search for parallel sayings.
In Einstein and Buddha, you’ll find quotations under such headings as “Paradox and Contradiction,” “Subject and Object,” “Manifestation and Causality,” and “Wholeness and Interdependence.” The section on “Unity and Plurality” encapsulates the theme of the book with profound beauty. In it, McFarlane writes how Newton’s law of gravitation “unified in one equation the motion of planets and the behavior of objects falling on earth.” So it seems as our understanding of physics deepens, its laws become more universal. “The holy grail of 21st century physics is to unify the laws governing all known forces of nature within a single ‘theory of everything,’” McFarlane explains. Similarly, the mystic’s “holy grail” is to find the unity behind all things. “The goal, however,” McFarlane writes, “is not a theory but transcendence of all things. The mystic’s unity embraces not only all phenomena of the world, but his or her own self as well. Like the physicist, the mystic seeks to discover the invariant within all variation, the One at the root of the Many.”
From Max Plank, the physicist who revolutionized thermodynamics, to Shankara, one of the most influential mystics of ancient Hinduism, McFarlane’s collection includes quotations that challenge us to unite knowledge with belief. This book perhaps is a signal that we’ve moved beyond thinking about things we can’t discover under a microscope as “alternative,” but rather as complementary to the wisdom we already have and seek to attain.
Parallel Sayings from Einstein and Buddha:
• “The plurality that we perceive is only an appearance; it is not real.” – ERWIN SCHRÖDINGER
“Whatever you see as duality is unreal.” – SKANKARA
• “A human being…experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as some- thing separated from the rest—a kind of optical illusion of his conscious- ness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” – ALBERT EINSTEIN
“True happiness comes not from a limited concern for one’s own well- being, or that of those one feels close to, but from developing love and compassion for all sentient beings.” – THE DALAI LAMA
• “Truth is what stands the rest of experience.” – ALBERT EINSTEIN
“The real meaning of the Dharma…must be directly experienced.” – SIDDHA NAGARJUNA
• “This world faces us with the impossibility of knowing it directly…It is a world whose nature cannot be comprehended by our human powers of mental conception.” – MAX PLANK
“Brahman is…outside the range of any mental conception.” – SHANKARA
• “The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule.” – ALBERT EINSTEIN
“By merely doing actions in my service Thou shalt attain perfection.” – THE BHAGAVAD GITA
• “In quantum theory, we are beyond the reach of pictorial visualization.” – NEIL BOHR
“Self-realization is an exalted state of inner attainment which transcends all…illustrations." – BUDDHA
Fonte: http://www.nyspirit.com/issue114/article8.html
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