Wednesday, October 05, 2005

T.S. Elliot "Four Quartets"

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-thee
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always-
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

3 comments:

Liz said...

Do you think scientific discovery will end? At the moment, I kind of feel like the more we learn, the more we'll realize there is left to figure out..

Jesse said...

No I don't think scientific discovery will end, we'll at least continue modeling stuff (complex systems) w/ sweet computers. Having said that, ponder this quandry: if we can never know everything, then knowledge is infinite. Say we know some finite amount of information (k). Total knowledge (infinitity) minus known information (k) leaves you with unknown information which is infinite. So subtract total knowlege from unknown info should give you back known info, but that's infinity minus infinity, or zero. So we know nothing. Hehe. (PS I don't really believe this.)

Liz said...

I like not thinking we'll ever run out of stuff to figure out. I think we need it. Can you imagine if one day we did? What would everyone do with themselves?? I think everyone would go crazy within a week.