So, one of these days I hope to have an original thought to share!
.... 'til then, here's an excerpt from last week's LifeSupport.com's e-feed. In a way, this reminds me of a favorite lyric from Les Miserables -- "You might know how it feels, to be struck to the bone in a moment of breathless delight ......"
Not everyone has a good grip of science. But these children's scientific musings at least show a healthy dose of creativity.
Concerning astronomy, one child said, "Most books now say our sun is a star. But it still knows how to change back into a sun in the daytime."
Another added, "Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun. But I have never been able to make out the numbers."
Another student offered this advice: "To collect fumes of sulfur, hold a deacon over a flame in a test tube." (Ouch.)
These young people are just starting a path of life-long learning.
But I wonder, as they learn more, will they still feel awe when they see a falling star? Even if they are able to describe a rainbow in scientific terms, will they still be amazed at its incomparable beauty?
And what about matters of the heart and the spirit? Not everything we experience can be measured. How does one measure love and beauty and faith?
Albert Einstein's called scientific curiosity "holy." The physicist said, "The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead."
I still want to wonder and stand rapt in awe before the splendor of life and the universe. This is a place of holy curiosity; a place where spirit and science merge.
And it's a place where my soul can be at rest.
-- Steve Goodier
