It began when I was in high school. My mom would cut out and give to me articles on quantum physics from magazines and newspapers. She bought me Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. (Ooh!ooh!ooh! I get to tell you my favorite famous person sighting. Driving up a canyon just outside Aspen, Colorado, on a glorious summer day in 1996, I and my rag-tag band of merry men spot a group of people walking down the two-lane road toward us, one in a wheelchair...and damn if it isn't him! As we passed, I thought "Whoa...I was just inches away from the smartest dude on the planet...and I knew he was thinking the exact same thing!)Anyway, back to the show. I never really knew then why she did this (though I do now, but that's a topic for another day), but I read the articles and did my best to get through the book. That was tough stuff and I was no scientist, but I recall taking away the feeling, the feeling that comes from thinking about what lies just beyond the edge of the ever-expanding universe, or what preceded the Big Bang.
Over the years, I continued to read articles and follow stories in the news about developments in the field, but it wasn't something I ever wanted to study. My brain just don't swing that way, academic-wise. But a desire to know, to understand, to have your brain's reach exceed its grasp? Yeah, I could dig that. Dig it the most.
So that's the start. I think I'm gonna parcel out the chronology over the course of several posts. All at once just wouldn't do. Which is appropriate: I wasn't gonna get familiar with quantum physics all at once. In fact, my paltry understanding has taken me years and years and years.
Where's the eastern philosophy part? Well, chronologically we're not there yet, but I will say my interest in and understanding of eastern philosophy--including but not limited to Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism--would not have occurred or been possible without quantum physics.
As a place-saver and appetite-whetter I'll leave you with the following: quantum physics and Buddhism are two sides of the same coin. Maybe on the surface that seems glib or even obvious, maybe not. But the implications...oh, the implications! See, that's the business end of things as far as I'm concerned: the meaning of objectivity, how it may not be any different from subjectivity, the interconnectedness of all things, our ability to influence the world around us in ways we dimly understand, how we communicate and understand each other....you know, stuff like that, that's what I want to talk about.
Learning about and thinking about this stuff has changed how I see the world and changed it for the better. That's why I want to share it with you. It's taken me years, and many books and many hours, but I think I can provide you a shortcut, because I've reached a point where I should be able to squeeze all this stuff out of my brain and direct it through my fingertips. I'm well aware there's more than a wee bit of hubris involved in such an undertaking. But that's how my brain works best--analyzing, understanding and then synthesizing information. The synthesis part, that's what I like best and it's what I think will be of interest to you.
That's how I do--I come correct with conclusions hot and fresh out the kitchen.
Stay tuned to this space because it's high time for a chautauqua.
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