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     Recently I was reminded of early literary
efforts about fifty years ago, when I composed
a typescript with the title "Ethical and
Esthetic Consciousness as Sources of Doubt
about the Conceptual World." In retrospect, it
seems to me that I was reinventing the wheel,
i.e. existentialism, of which I had (and still
have) only vague knowledge. It may have been my
interest in theoretical physics which led me to
explain ethical consciousness in terms of the
compulsion with which the awareness of time
prods us to action, - and to refer esthetic
consciousness to the demands which the
intuition of space makes on our imaginations.
In the context of this pretentious analysis, I
have always been embarrassed by my ignorance of
the restatements of time and space articulated
by Einstein's theories of relativity.  I felt
like Eric's darting about from side to corner
in his guest room enclosure, as my mind made
another stab at Einstein's mysteries.  On the
Internet it all becomes very accessible; I was
able to download facsimiles of Einstein's
seminal papers in "Annalen der Physik" of 1905
and 1915, and started to read. Lost in
translation, I thought, was his presentation of
his work as an exercise not only in physics but
also in epistemology.  I was startled by the
mathematical deductions to the effect that both
the dimensions of _all_ objects and the timing
of _all_ events should be contingent on the
space-time frame from which they were viewed,
and that such frame was unique for any given
observer at a given time. This assertion seemed
to me to correspond to Kierkegard's insistence
that "Subjectivity is the truth." Similarly,
Einstein's redefinition of simultaneity as
being contingent on the observer, reminded me
of Kierkegaard's postulate of Samtidighed
(Gleichzeitigkeit, simultaneity) as
prerequisite to historical apprehension.
Indeed, if one accepts the physicist's
hypothesis of a "space-time continuum", I don't
see how one can avoid a radical
reinterpretation of history - but I have no
notion what such a reinterpretation might
entail.  At the same time, it seems to me that
the physicists' irrevocable and irreparable
commitment to uncritical mathematical and
verbal symbolism precludes the translation of
their discoveries into the language of the
historian or of the poet.

     I am reminded of a Sonnet of Rilke's which
I interpret as addressing the cosmos of the
theoretical physicist:

                XII. Sonett

      Heil dem Geist, der uns verbinden mag;
      denn wir leben wahrhaft in Figuren.
      Und mit kleinen Schritten gehn die Uhren
      neben unserm eigentlichen Tag.

      Ohne unsern wahren Platz zu kennen,
      handeln wir aus wirklichem Bezug.
      Die Antennen f"uhlen die Antennen,
      und die leere Ferne trug...

      Reine Spannung. O Musik der Kr"afte!
      Ist nicht durch die l"aBlichen Gesch"afte
      jede St"orung von dir abgelenkt?

      Selbst wenn sich der Bauer sorgt und handelt,
      wo die Saat in Sommer sich verwandelt,
      reicht er niemals hin. Die Erde schenkt.


     /Aus: Die Sonette an Orpheus, Erster Teil (1922) /

Heil dem Geist, der uns verbinden mag;
Hail to the Spirit which may unite us

denn wir leben wahrhaft in Figuren.
for verily we live in symbols,

Und mit kleinen Schritten gehn die Uhren
And clocks proceed with tiny paces

neben unserm eigentlichen Tag.
parallel to our actual day.

(I interpret this as an allusion to the circumstance
that Einstein and his fellow physicists are unable
to come to terms with time except as measured by clocks.)


Ohne unsern wahren Platz zu kennen,
Ignorant of our true position

handeln wir aus wirklichem Bezug.
(nonetheless) we act in real relation,

(I think these lines are pre-Quantum Theory,
and the uncertainties alluded to are those
implicit in relativistic physics.)

Die Antennen f"uhlen die Antennen,
The antennas meet with the antennas,

und die leere Ferne trug...
and the empty Void contained

Reine Spannung. O Musik der Kr"afte!
Tension pure. Oh, music of the Forces!

Ist nicht durch die l"aBlichen Gesch"afte
don't our venial occupations

jede St"orung von dir abgelenkt?
distract from you all interference?


     (This was written in the early 1920's when
radio antennas were so named after the antennas
of living creatures which brush up again each
other. "die leere Ferne", the empty distance,
refers to the recognition that the "aether"
postulated in the late 19th century does not
exist, and electromagnetic waves are pure
tension, (reine Spannung) - in German, Spannung
also means Voltage -. At this juncture Rilke
hears an echo of Aristotle's music of the
spheres, which he implies is protected from
(radio) interference by the paltriness of our
venial occupations (laesslichen Geschaefte).)

Selbst wenn sich der Bauer sorgt und handelt,
Even where the farmer sows (acts) and worries,

wo die Saat in Sommer sich verwandelt,
where the seed in summer is transformed

reicht er niemals hin. Die Erde schenkt.
(is a place) he never reaches. The earth makes gifts.

                     * * * * *
Copyright 2007, Ernst Jochen Meyer
