The More We Know

Recently my son sent me a PBS video (link below) on the topic of a “Crisis in the Foundation of Mathematics”. This is because he knows of my interest in the subject, despite my rather rudimentary understanding. The spirit is willing . . .

I found the narrator to be lively and intelligent, and I could tell she was dumbing-down her talk considerably. Nevertheless, she lost me about two minutes in (and that’s being generous), but I persevered till the end, and I found her conclusions fascinating.

It amuses, but does not amaze me, that yet another of the ‘concrete’ pillars upon which our science rests, has turned out to be as ephemeral as the others. Our math has no solid foundation, our Cosmos is made up of mostly dark matter and dark energy, whose existence we can prove only by the observance of their effects on that small percentage of ‘normal’ matter we can actually see.

Similarly, we do not understand how electricity works, nor gravity, without which we and all else would cease to exist. We stand on an Earth which appears solid, but which at its fiery heart is as alive as we. Witness its constantly shifting tectonic plates, volcanic eruptions and vast storms. Mere miles stand between us and the pitiless, cold vacuum of space, from which we face daily threat of extinction by meteor. Clocks and calendars measure our hours and days and years, but at any significant distance from our planet, they have no relevance. What is time, for instance, to a Cosmos which measures its existence and its distances in infinities.

Such a lot to think about, on a Wednesday morning.

Missing Persons

You listen to me
With an air of faint distraction ~
Sometimes I wonder
If you’ve heard a word I’ve said ~

It’s obvious it’s not my input
Or approval that you’re seeking ~
Your mind’s made up and
That is definitely that ~

I miss the you I used to know ~
As far as that goes ~ I miss me ~
We used to have such fun before
We lost our spontaneity ~

When was the last time we did
Something wild and foolish ~
When did I last surprise you
Or you me ~ and tell me

Does the new you ever think
About the old me any more ~
Where did the sweetness go ~
Where did the time ~

Although we swore we’d never
Let our story come to this ~
It happened in such tiny
Incremental unregarded steps

We didn’t notice ~ or we pretended ~
But now it’s in the open ~
Our cards are face up on the table ~
I wait only for your answer ~

I am all in on the side of love ~

 

Mutability

 

I watch the way the flame
Changes the wood
The smaller pieces writhe
And twist and then surrender
To their appointed fate

The logs are dry and soon
The fire claims them
From within ~ till
What was once so solid
Has turned to weightless ash

They say that matter cannot
Be created or destroyed
But only changed in nature
Ice to liquid or to gas
Solid flesh to spirit only

What they call science
I call magic ~ I cannot
Think of it in any other way
Perhaps it’s just the language and
Not the logic that divides us

Where you call gravity and fractals
And cats which either live or don’t
All scientific questions
To me they are the stuff of magic
Gifts of a whimsical Universe

I Hear You

Eyes have caught and held
And kingdoms have been
Won or lost
Hearts have spoken
Without a single syllable

The language of our bodies
Is older than the spoken word
And even now
In these days of instant
Communication

When our devices ping
And chirp and call out
To us even when we sleep
We read each other’s bodies
And we understand