In the world of physics we watch a shadowgraph performance of the drama of familiar life. The shadow of my elbow rests on the shadow table as the shadow ink flows over the shadow paper. It is all symbolic, and as a symbol the physicist leaves it. Then comes the alchemist Mind who transmutes the symbols. The sparsely spread nuclei of electric force become a tangible solid; their restless agitation becomes the warmth of summer; the octave of aethereal vibrations becomes a gorgeous rainbow. Nor does the alchemy stop here. In the transmuted world new significances arise which are scarcely to be traced in the world of symbols; so that it becomes a world of beauty and purpose - and, alas, suffering and evil. The frank realisation that physical science is concerned with a world of shadows is one of the most significant of recent advances.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Physical science describes a shadow world of symbols, while the human mind transforms these symbols into a tangible world of beauty, purpose, and suffering.
- In plain terms
- Physics sees abstract symbols, but our minds turn them into real experiences with meaning.
- What can you take from it?
- Science models reality, but consciousness gives it value and feeling.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How much of reality do we construct?
- Is science just mapping shadows?
Another view
The quote assumes a dualism between symbols and experience that some physicists reject.
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