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| Twining all-embracing faith Honeysuckle along the Merrimack CC Jean Stimmell: 11/12/14 |
“Faith is the willingness to give
ourselves over, at times, to things we do not fully understand… the full
engagement with this strange and shimmering world.”
This
profound quote comes from The Accidental Universe written by the
physicist, Alan Lightman. His definition
of faith is truly ecumenical: as applicable to religious folks as it is to scientists. He does, however, go on to make a critical distinction between the nature of science and
the nature of humanity:
By the
experimental nature of what they do, scientists must pose their questions very
carefully: in order to prove or disprove a hypothesis, they must frame their
questions in such a manner that they will have a definite answer.
“But artists and humanists often
don’t care what the answer is because definite answers don’t exist to all
interesting and important questions. Ideas in a novel or emotion in a symphony
are complicated with the intrinsic ambiguity of human nature. … For many
artists and humanists, the question is more important than the answer*”
* Physicist Alan Lightman from his acclaimed book The Accidental Universe, as quoted in http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/15/alan-lightman-accidental-universe-science-spirituality/
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