Math
When I gaze upon the stars, I am filled with a sense of cosmic truth and connection, I feel that somehow there must be a way to unlock the mysteries that must lie somewhere in space, somewhere out there. I am drawn to the idea that eons ago, perhaps someone just like me was lying on his back looking at the space between the stars and pondering the same questions. Perhaps he looked right where the earth would someday be and thought about what lies beyond and what might someday be. Perhaps he imagined that there would be a kindred spirit who lived in a distant galaxy and wondered how everything he could see had somehow come to be.
It makes intuitive sense that we humans are not the first beings to ask these questions. And if by chance we are, it seems to make even more sense that we will not be the last. I frequently turn to the writings of others who know more about the universe than I do, but I feel limited because I seldom understand the foundations upon which they write. Apparently most people who purchased Hawking's, A Brief History of Time, didn't actually read it. If that is true, I am one of not too many who really enjoyed the work, all of it. In fact, I enjoyed it enough to read several of his books to try and catch a glimpse of the universe as he sees it. In one of his texts, The Universe in a Nutshell, Hawking did his best to explain the preeminent theories about our universe and how it might have come to be the way that it is. While I love his writing and his ideas, I just don't understand the math.
Besides, great scientific authors, like Hawking, seldom postulate regarding the nature of other intelligent life in the universe because it tends to lie outside of what they expect to be able to observe. So I am left to gaze at the stars. You might think that with as much star gazing I do, I would be able to identify a few more of the constellations. I think of the explorers of old and the stories of how they used the stars to travel the seas. That is something that I cannot even fathom. I have been outside at night in the mountains where no clouds, moon or city light pollution diminishes the view of the stars. I still have no idea how someone could look up at all those dots in the sky and use their locations in comparison to where they were and then plot a course home. I really just don't understand the math.
As much as I am fascinated by the stars above me, they remain somewhat of a passing fancy.
I feel drawn to the mysteries that seem to fill the space between them and I believe that the answers they hide are supernally important. But I still haven't learnt the math.
It makes intuitive sense that we humans are not the first beings to ask these questions. And if by chance we are, it seems to make even more sense that we will not be the last. I frequently turn to the writings of others who know more about the universe than I do, but I feel limited because I seldom understand the foundations upon which they write. Apparently most people who purchased Hawking's, A Brief History of Time, didn't actually read it. If that is true, I am one of not too many who really enjoyed the work, all of it. In fact, I enjoyed it enough to read several of his books to try and catch a glimpse of the universe as he sees it. In one of his texts, The Universe in a Nutshell, Hawking did his best to explain the preeminent theories about our universe and how it might have come to be the way that it is. While I love his writing and his ideas, I just don't understand the math.
Besides, great scientific authors, like Hawking, seldom postulate regarding the nature of other intelligent life in the universe because it tends to lie outside of what they expect to be able to observe. So I am left to gaze at the stars. You might think that with as much star gazing I do, I would be able to identify a few more of the constellations. I think of the explorers of old and the stories of how they used the stars to travel the seas. That is something that I cannot even fathom. I have been outside at night in the mountains where no clouds, moon or city light pollution diminishes the view of the stars. I still have no idea how someone could look up at all those dots in the sky and use their locations in comparison to where they were and then plot a course home. I really just don't understand the math.
As much as I am fascinated by the stars above me, they remain somewhat of a passing fancy.
I feel drawn to the mysteries that seem to fill the space between them and I believe that the answers they hide are supernally important. But I still haven't learnt the math.
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