How comfortable are you with the idea of infinity?
The concept of the infinite is a potentially daunting idea. We can often approach it in a very analytical fashion and speculate on it's theoretical implications without allowing the idea to really "hit home" emotionally. If, on the other hand, we consider our own existence in a context of infinite time and space - if we really think about it, we run the risk of dissolving the comfortable sense of reality we call home. After all, who among us can really integrate the idea of infinity into practical, daily life?
One of your assigned readings (The Art of Infinity by Robert Huddleston) began with the contrasting emotional reactions of two 17th century characters when they considered the notion that the universe may be infinite ins size. The first person, (Blaise Pascal), finds the idea frightening. He says:
When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and after, the little space which I fill . . . engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am ignorant and which know me not, I am frightened, and am astonished at being here rather than there.
Nevertheless, the second person, a fictional character created by author Bernard le Bovier de Fontanelle in 1686, has a very different reaction:
I feel entirely at ease. When the sky was only a blue vault, with the stars nailed to it, the universe seemed small and narrow to me; I felt oppressed by it. Now that they've given infinitely greater breadth and depth to this vault . . . it seems to me that I breath more freely, that I'm in a larger atmosphere, and certainly the universe has a greater magnificence.
How do YOU feel? If you consider the infinite as a reality that is not "just" and abstract idea, are you comfortable with it? Are you "astonished at being here rather than there"? Do you find the notion of infinite space and time threatening at any level? Or, do you identify more readily with the second example? Does the proposition of a finite universe, regardless of how vast, make you feel confined or somehow disappointed? Just the idea that musical possibilities were somehow finite was enough to send John Stuart Mill into depression - even if, in all practicality, the possibilities of music are virtually endless. Or does it seem that, in the end, Fontanelle's confident character just doesn't get it?
Is infinity comfortable for you?
Emotional? No. Challenging? Yes! I think I might be comfortable with the idea of infinity for now. Sometimes I find it threatening because there might exist unknowns which like Blaise Pascal stated, I might be ignorant of.
ReplyDeleteI identify with the later example. I love being part of a mysterious universe that is full of surprises. I just hope that something amazing is uncovered during my lifetime from under the deep sea or the farthest place in space. However infinity is perceived, it’s sure to outlast our limited human lifetime, so there is no need to be depressed about it.
ReplyDeleteI identify with the later example. I love being part of a mysterious universe that is full of surprises. I just hope that something amazing is uncovered during my lifetime from under the deep sea or the farthest place in space. However infinity is perceived, it’s sure to outlast our limited human lifetime, so there is no need to be depressed about it.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Bernard le Bovier de Fontanelle quotation that infinity allows a person to be open and “free” because it can allow a person feel like there is something much more to life when something is infinite. Whereas something that is finite could limit the sense of wonder, hope, freedom or possibilities (= "oppression"). Also, finding something at the end of what was once infinite could potentially be disappointing rather than satisfying.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Bernard le Bovier de Fontanelle's idea. I have always imagined infinity as a concept, which has never ending possibilities and options. In the past I could only imagine infinity as a math problem which has infinity number of answers and now I can think about infinity in many different ways. I especially like the representation of infinity as the vanishing point on a canvas. It is a concept I have studied before and saw on paintings many times , but never associated it with infinity.
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