Friday, May 16, 2008

I read a poem from a blog of my acquaintance, titled 'On time' written by John Milton.




On time

FLY envious Time, till thou run out thy race, 
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours, 
Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace; 
And glut thy self with what thy womb devours, 
Which is no more then what is false and vain,         5
And meerly mortal dross; 
So little is our loss, 
So little is thy gain. 
For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb'd, 
And last of all, thy greedy self consum'd,  10
Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss 
With an individual kiss; 
And Joy shall overtake us as a flood, 
When every thing that is sincerely good 
And perfectly divine,  15
With Truth, and Peace, and Love shall ever shine 
About the supreme Throne 
Of him, t'whose happy-making sight alone, 
When once our heav'nly-guided soul shall clime, 
Then all this Earthy grosnes quit,  20
Attir'd with Stars, we shall for ever sit, 
  Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee O Time.


Beautiful poem. I just wanted to share it with you all.

I’m a physicist (to be). Everything in the world is within the realms of cause and effect, even the imagination of the human beings, even the ‘bits’ of information that can ever be represented by the universe itself. If my belief is true, just what mechanic of this universe allows impressions to surpass their expressions? Musics transcendent over instruments, and memory over life? Integrated together into a beautifully knit whole, yet one’s emergence feels entirely different from the substance it originated from.

Again, I am a physicist and a scientist (again, in training). And I refuse to leave such profound movements of my heart to simple metaphysical jumblings as if they weren’t part of this universe to begin with. I can perceive them, and I can feel its intent spreading throughout my heart. The indescribable sensation of being alive and empathetic to things made by the living, they are definitely integral parts of this physical universe.

The beauty should not be relegated to some pathetic social conventions that grew from physical impediments of last few centuries should humanity ever hope to go beyond a few more centuries into the future. If something in this universe is so capable of grasping at our hearts, then we must be able to explain it in the language of this universe. We must be able to recreate it. And active study and understanding of us, the life, might as well be the first step into the breach.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason why I am obsessed with artificial life.

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