What Is a Cosmos?

October 25, 1995 | David Fideler

[betty boop]

A friend shared this with me, and I thought it was lovely! So I'm sharing it with you-all....

I particularly liked Fideler's discussion of industrial society and its basic premises....

[OXENinFLA]

This guy was on C-span2 yesterday, very intersting.

---

The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality

from April 18, 2004

Brian Greene talks about how the scientific understanding of space and time has changed over time, from Newton to Einstein and beyond. Professor Greene argues that our senses do not always lead us to an accurate picture of reality and describes the current understanding of space and time created through the study of quantum mechanics. He also outlines some of the latest theories in the field of quantum mechanics, including the one he is currently working on, superstring theory. The talk was hosted by Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver. Includes Q&A.

[Huck]

I was feeling pretty much at one with the cosmos this weekend when I tossed a shallow running perch-pattern crankbait right up next to a beaver lodge when--WHAMMO!--a 16" largemouth bass hit the thing with a splash.


Wasn't feeling as at one with the cosmos when my dern passenger side mirror on my 91 Mercury ragtop wouldn't stick no matter what glue I used. So I'll be at one with Maaco later today.

My wife and I were SO at one last night though (get yer mind outta the gutter!) We sat out on the deck with a fire in the little outdoor fireplace, a warm comforter over us, looking up at Venus and Saturn and the stars for about an hour. Not wanting to return to corporate drudgery today. Ugh.

Being at one with the cosmos is pretty easy. What sucks is working at a job that has no real meaning for you. I am stuck in that boat now. Wishing I'd learned a trade or skill that means something to me. Wondering how to escape corporate hell.

[reagan_fanatic]

What is a Cosmo?

Perhaps we'd better not ask...

[TomSmedley]

I just had to retrieve this quote from my favorite Papist writer, G. K. CHesterton:

Take first the more obvious case of materialism. As an explanation of the world, materialism has a sort of insane simplicity. It has just the quality of the madman's argument; we have at once the sense of it covering everything and the sense of it leaving everything out. Contemplate some able and sincere materialist, as, for instance, Mr. McCabe, and you will have exactly this unique sensation. He understands everything, and everything does not seem worth understanding. His cosmos may be complete in every rivet and cog-wheel, but still his cosmos is smaller than our world. Somehow his scheme, like the lucid scheme of the madman, seems unconscious of the alien energies and the large indifference of the earth; it is not thinking of the real things of the earth, of fighting peoples or proud mothers, or first love or fear upon the sea. The earth is so very large, and the cosmos is so very small. The cosmos is about the smallest hole that a man can hide his head in.

The created universe is not autonomous, we can only derive our sense of direction by knowing the universe's Creator. Then, we understand more fully some of the reasons why He made it. As a scholar I dislike put it, "No matter how loudly you shout the word "MAN!" down into a well, the echo will never return "GOD!""

[PatrickHenry]

Thanks for the ping, BB. I agree, it's lovely. I don't quite know what we're supposed to actually do with this fellow's outlook, but it's a nice essay.

[Tribune7]

Thank you BB

[PBRSTREETGANG]

What is a Cosmos?

Two of these?

[redhead]

"What Is a Cosmos?"

[TheBigB]

Can a person with multiple personalities be two or three with the Cosmos?

[TC Rider]

What Is a Cosmos?

Jonah Goldberg's dog, over at National Review Online.

[VadeRetro]

A soccer team, I think.

[VadeRetro]

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you oh so very much for this excellent article!!! I'm going to meditate on the points a bit longer before making a more thorough reply but I just had to repeat this important statement:

The fact that the physical world embodies beauty and harmony can be demonstrated in many ways, but rational proof is only required when we have forgotten our own connection with the underlying fabric of life.

When I read that sentence, I knew you had a "goldmine" here.

[restornu]

Thank you for this article somewhere along the line it seemed to attract the input of the inane!

Do you have a link for this?

[theFIRMbss]

>"The fact that the physical world embodies beauty and harmony can be demonstrated in many ways, but rational proof is only required when we have forgotten our own connection with the underlying fabric of life."

[blue-duncan]

The article is very interesting. However, look at St. Peter's understanding of the Greek "kosmos" in 1Peter 3:3. He tells us don't let our "cosmos" be superficial, skin deep.

[Alamo-Girl]

LOL! Thanks for the chuckle!

[betty boop]

When I read that sentence, I knew you had a "goldmine" here.

Thank you, Alamo-Girl! I thought the passage -- "The fact that the physical world embodies beauty and harmony can be demonstrated in many ways, but rational proof is only required when we have forgotten our own connection with the underlying fabric of life" -- was wonderfully perceptive and truthful. In addition to your cite, I also think this is a most powerful observation:

"The idea of the cosmos is also important because it reconciles the worlds of fact and value. We do not inhabit a double-truth universe of objective facts on the one hand and subjective values on the other. The world is not just a collection of meaningless things, but a web of interrelated phenomena that embody beauty. The beauty of the world is a fact, but it is also a profound manifestation of value. And value is a form of meaning."

I'm still meditating this article, too.

I think it's safe to say the "machine analogy" is a very poor one WRT the cosmos. The Greeks said the universe is a living being; and there are some serious astrophysicists around today who take that insight quite seriously.

In point of fact, I am eagerly looking forward to the English edition of Attila Grandpierre's The Book of the Living Universe, forthcoming late this year or early next.

Thank you so much for writing. Hugs!