Philosophy of Physics

Last night, Natalie fed me chocolate toffee cookies and Chinese beer while giving me a back rub. Life should always be that good. Then we went to Barnes and Noble to goof off and read. After that, dinner at Chi’s, where she asked to speak to the owner about a particular painting there that she really enjoyed. So the owner came out and told us the story. These are the sorts of things people just don’t do very often. Most people don’t even notice restaurant artwork, much less ask the waiter to ask the owner about it. I’m consistently reluctant to talk to people I don’t know. Natalie has no such limitations.

Speaking of people without limits, I’ve recently discovered that Albert Einstein’s path through science appears to have led him to a very Buddhist place:

“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”

“A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.”

“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us ‘universe’, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest…a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”