Donna Lee
2009-09-12 06:31:35 UTC
I guess this is not exactly astrology, but it is astronomy. I was
rereading a travelogue about the author's travels in Asia between 1971
and 1973: Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and India,
entitled, Return to Sender When the Fish in the Water was Thirsty, by
Raymond Mungo (a Pisces native by the way who seems to know somewhat
about astrology, with Saturn in Cancer in the 9th natally and a Scorpio
Ascendant), when his words about a mind-blowingly mind-expanding
experience that happened to him reminded me of such an experience that
happened to me sitting right on the loveseat in my apartment:
I was speaking with an associate about the Universe, although I don't
remember in what context and he said something to the effect that the
entire Universe is only a tiny portion of the whole of existence! My
mind immediately expanded even more than I thought it could in
contemplating this possibility, which had never occurred to me. It took
me about a week to get back in touch with this man to ask him just
exactly what he meant by his statement. It wasn't what I'd originally
thought.
I originally thought that he was making his statement in terms of
physical space, which he partially was. However, he was mainly talking
about higher mathematics, in other words, the fact that there is an
infinity of decimal places between the integers "1" and "2." This is
similar to Zeno's Paradox, which an ancient philosopher by the name,
Zeno, came up with, which is true on a microphysics level, but is
nonsense on a macrophysics level or in everyday reality.
Zeno proposed that one could divide in half the distance of one foot
infinitely and therefore one could not (on a microphysical level) ever
travel the full distance, but only half of any remaining distance. For
instance, to walk one foot from where one is sitting to a door, one
would have to walk 1/2 foot, then 1/2 of 1/2 foot, and so on,
infinitely, which is true, but which any ambulatory person accomplishe
in a second. My associate also mentioned the infinity of integers
themselves, in that there's an endless number of numbers. I don't know
if those necessarily are supposed to correspond with and infinite amount
of space, like inches or feet or miles or light years, because I don't
know much about higher mathematics.
In any case, I called Joe Rao, the resident astrophysicist and "Answer
Man," at the Hayden Planetarium here in New York City (212) 769-5901,
who is my "go to person" for questions of this nature, and he told me
that at this time, astronomers are able to "see" up to something like
475 billion light years (!) away from us into the further reaches of the
Universe. He said that in past times, astronomers started off being able
to see much less far and as time progressed and their equipment
(telescopes, etc.) became more powerful and more sophisticated, they
were able to see further and further, and they expect that in the future
they'll be able to see further still.
This really made me realize yet again the aptness of the words of the
Jewish philosopher, I believe it was Maimonides, who said that we must
keep opposing thoughts in each of our two (metaphorical) pockets to look
to when we need to and to keep us in balance and give us the right
perspective at the right time: in one pocket we must have the thought:
"The world was created just for me" and in the other: "I am dust and
ashes."
rereading a travelogue about the author's travels in Asia between 1971
and 1973: Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and India,
entitled, Return to Sender When the Fish in the Water was Thirsty, by
Raymond Mungo (a Pisces native by the way who seems to know somewhat
about astrology, with Saturn in Cancer in the 9th natally and a Scorpio
Ascendant), when his words about a mind-blowingly mind-expanding
experience that happened to him reminded me of such an experience that
happened to me sitting right on the loveseat in my apartment:
I was speaking with an associate about the Universe, although I don't
remember in what context and he said something to the effect that the
entire Universe is only a tiny portion of the whole of existence! My
mind immediately expanded even more than I thought it could in
contemplating this possibility, which had never occurred to me. It took
me about a week to get back in touch with this man to ask him just
exactly what he meant by his statement. It wasn't what I'd originally
thought.
I originally thought that he was making his statement in terms of
physical space, which he partially was. However, he was mainly talking
about higher mathematics, in other words, the fact that there is an
infinity of decimal places between the integers "1" and "2." This is
similar to Zeno's Paradox, which an ancient philosopher by the name,
Zeno, came up with, which is true on a microphysics level, but is
nonsense on a macrophysics level or in everyday reality.
Zeno proposed that one could divide in half the distance of one foot
infinitely and therefore one could not (on a microphysical level) ever
travel the full distance, but only half of any remaining distance. For
instance, to walk one foot from where one is sitting to a door, one
would have to walk 1/2 foot, then 1/2 of 1/2 foot, and so on,
infinitely, which is true, but which any ambulatory person accomplishe
in a second. My associate also mentioned the infinity of integers
themselves, in that there's an endless number of numbers. I don't know
if those necessarily are supposed to correspond with and infinite amount
of space, like inches or feet or miles or light years, because I don't
know much about higher mathematics.
In any case, I called Joe Rao, the resident astrophysicist and "Answer
Man," at the Hayden Planetarium here in New York City (212) 769-5901,
who is my "go to person" for questions of this nature, and he told me
that at this time, astronomers are able to "see" up to something like
475 billion light years (!) away from us into the further reaches of the
Universe. He said that in past times, astronomers started off being able
to see much less far and as time progressed and their equipment
(telescopes, etc.) became more powerful and more sophisticated, they
were able to see further and further, and they expect that in the future
they'll be able to see further still.
This really made me realize yet again the aptness of the words of the
Jewish philosopher, I believe it was Maimonides, who said that we must
keep opposing thoughts in each of our two (metaphorical) pockets to look
to when we need to and to keep us in balance and give us the right
perspective at the right time: in one pocket we must have the thought:
"The world was created just for me" and in the other: "I am dust and
ashes."