I may or may not have mentioned to you
that among my ambitious presumptuous and pretentious pipe dreams
is to write a cycle of "Sonette an Chronos"
as a shamefully disrespectful parody of Rilkes "Sonette an Orpheus".

Möglich, dass ich's erwähnte, den Vorsatz, die Absicht, den Entschluss
einen Gedichtensammlung mit der Überschrift, Sonette an Chronos, zu schreiben.
anmaßend dreistig überheblich vermessen unverschämt
wenn nur weer  bist denn du, was weiß ich denn von dir.
Und welch ein Unsinn die Zerstückelung des Geists in Dokumenten zu bewahren

In preparation for this project I am practicing meditation on Time. 
The more I think about Time, the more inescapable it becomes to my intuition, 
that by its very nature, Time is, and must be, continuously flowing, 
a stream which not only has neither discernable beginning nor end, 
but is not susceptible to and will not admit divisions or interruptions.  
There can be no "points in time"; 
the intransigence of Time's flow will not permit them.  
I am reminded of the teachings of Heracleitus 
which we reviewed some months ago.

An dieser Stelle, entdecke ich eine Frage:
Woher kommt die Annahme, 
dass meine Erkenntnis der reinen Zeit, der Zeit an sich,
als Gegebenheit der Natur betrachtet werden sollte,
indessen meine Erkenntnis einer Zeitspanne, wie etwa des Jahres, des Monats,
als Abwandlung (Modifikation) eines ursprünglichen naturhaften Zeiterlebens
von Seiten es Geistes betrachtet werden sollte.
In dieser Frage entdecke ich den Hinweis auf einen, auf meinen Fehler;
und dieser Fehler ist meine Annahme,
dass es überhaupt möglich sein könnte,
die ursprüngliche, eigentliche Natur, in auch nur einer einzigen
(ihrer zugegebenen möglich vielfachen) Phasen zu erkennen.
Hieße nicht das, gemäß Spinoza, Gott zu erkennen.
Hat Spinoza nicht festgelegt, Deus sive Natura?
Und wäre nicht damit das bisherige Verbot behoben? (widerrufen?)
Die richtige, die gerechte Antwort auf diese Frage lautet,
dass jede meiner geistigen Vorstellungen gemütsbedingt ist,
dass es mir unmöglich ist soetwas wie Natur in irgendeiner Weise zu bestimmen,
dass die Folge, das Ergebnis, meiner Untersuchungen
lediglich, nicht mehr und nicht weniger besagt,
als dass ich meinen Geist als begrenzt erkennen, 
und (aus) dieser Begrenztheit entnehmen, folgern, schließen muss,
dass irgendwo ein mir unzugängliches Deus sive Natura besteht;
dass Sinn und Wert meiner Bestrebungen nicht in der Enthüllung
eines verschleierten Bildes zu Sais zu suchen ist, 
sondern in Lessingschem Zweifel, in dem Bewusstsein
und in der Vergegenwärtigung der Unerreichbarkeit
des mir von Natur aufgegebenen Zieles, die Natur zu entschleiern.


I recently read a set of lecture notes about Special Relativity, and was startled by a reference to "transporting" of Space, as if "Space" might be contained in a box to be moved from my attic into your basement, or vice versa.  Analogous to my intuition of "Time" as having neither beginning nor end nor subdivision, I find myself convinced that Space is by its nature, inherently and essentially unbounded. I am reminded of Anaximander's teaching about the Apeiron, the Unbounded, from which everything that exists comes into being, and into which all that exists will ultimately decay, (and by its decay requiting the injustice of its existence.) You may remember our discussions on this topic.

Of course I am sensitive to and acknowledge the many cyclical phenomena of nature, the seasons of the year, the months, the days and nights, the pulsation of the heart, the in and out of breathing. I suggest that these cyclical phenomena may be interpreted as being superimposed or projected on the uninterrupted streaming of time. Such cycles are products not of Time, but of my memory, which is affected, molded and impressed by what I see, hear, touch and smell from moment to moment of awareness, and strives to preserve or recapitulate such moments as emblems of its powers of cogntion, by mental processes which, far from interrupting, confirm the inexorable flow of time.  Thus, it seems to me, the apparent terminations and interruptions of time arise and occur within my mind, not in the nature which I presume to perceive and understand.  I further suggest that the operations of geography and geometry which enable me to come to terms with the expanses of unbounded Space by projecting onto this Space patterns and constructs which seem to divide and partition Space, are in fact, faculties of the human mind analogous to memory, which enable the mind to orient itself in the otherwise incomprehensible vastness of the unbounded.

Because I was dissatisfied with and uncertain of my understanding of Space and Time, and perhaps because I had nothing of substance to impart to the sonnets I wanted to write, I persuaded myself that I should review and "upgrade" my knowledge of "physics". Nowadays such efforts in self-education, in self-improvement, are eminently practical and very inexpensive. The Internet, it seems to me, is crowded with a spectrum of physicists eager with evangelical fervor to share the intellectual and spiritual edification that their discipline seems to promise. For example, Richard Feynman writes freely available, in an epilogue to a three volume collection of his physics lectures:

"Finally, may I add that the main purpose of my teaching has not been to prepare you for some examination—it was not even to prepare you to serve industry or the military. I wanted most to give you some appreciation of the wonderful world and the physicist’s way of looking at it, which, I believe, is a major part of the true culture of modern times. (There are probably professors of other subjects who would object, but I believe that they are completely wrong.)

Perhaps you will not only have some appreciation of this culture; it is even possible that you may want to join in the greatest adventure that the human mind has ever begun."

In my very old age, I presume to re-embark on the study of physics as literature, in the manner in which I have for many years, studied other writings,
a) by listening to and looking at the words as they are spoken, as they have been written, giving the words themsemlves the opportunity to address not only myself, but also my fellow listener or reader without any intrusive interpretation.
b) by maintaining a catalogue of relevant new concepts that correspond to my own experience.
c) by maintaining a catalogue of relevant new concepts claimed by the lecturer to flow from experiment
d) by maintaining a catalogue of relevant new concepts required by the lecturer to be taken on faith
e) by maintaining a catalogue of new mathematical concepts required to be memorized and practiced.

The strict symbolisms of reasoning, of mathematics and logic, are in fact exhibitions of the constraints, of the laws of human thought.  These laws we discover not by observation, not by experiment, but by the exercise, by the practice, by the act of thinking itself.  Hence the intrinsic quasi esthetic value of mathematics.  Hence also the undeniable circumstance that it is possible to think in the absence of mathematics and that mathematics is not essential for thought.  Mathematics does not guarantee the validity of thought.  Indeed there are circumstances where calculation masks that validity, because while "figures don't lie", "liars can figure."

Arguably and sometimes obviously, even "correct" calculations do not assure, do not guarantee the validity of that which is calculated.  Likewise that which is not calculated is susceptible to validation independent of calculation.  Furthermore it is of much importance that formulas are derived, that calculations are discovered, invented, elaborated in a social context.  The paraphernalia of mathematics convey authority and prestige not only on their discoverer or inventor but also on the mathematician who can exhibit his knowledge and skill in demonstrating their application and use.  Given the competitiveness of academic disciplines such as physics, theoretical physics, applied physics, proficiency in mathematics is an essential prerequisite for professional and social success.  Given any specific mathematical exposition, it is, superficially at least, not at all apparent, to what factors the value of such exposition should be ascribed.  Whether to the demonstration and exhibition of the validity of a proposition, whether to the creation or documentation of that validity, whether to the enhancement of the authority and power of the scientist making the declaration.
Theoretical and apriori judgments on this issue are unreliable.  The student has no option but to proceed and become proficient in the (mathematics of the) discipline; for only then from the retrospect of proficiency, can he judge the meaning of what he has learned and of what he believes he understands.

My understanding of the medical profession and my understanding of the "science and art" of medicine changed radically in the 70 years of my close relationship with this "discipline" (racket). There's no reason to anticipate that there would not be analogous discontinuities and contradictions in my experience with - and in my interpretations of academic physics. Indeed, it is only a very superficial reading of the history of physics which would venture to claim a straight, unimpeded ascent from ignorance to truth, from superstition to wisdom.

EJM