Both the physicist and the mystic want to communicate their knowledge, and when they do so with words their statements are paradoxical and full of logical contradictions.
Fritjof CapraRead
Mystics understand the roots of the Tao but not its branches; scientists understand its branches but not its roots. Science does not need mysticism and mysticism does not need science; but man needs both.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the complementary roles of mysticism and science in understanding the deeper truths of existence.
Fritjof Capra highlights the idea that while mystics grasp the fundamental essence or 'roots' of the Tao, the philosophical concept of the way of nature, scientists analyze its observable manifestations or 'branches.' The quote suggests that although science and mysticism operate in different realms and may not inherently require each other, they both fulfill an essential role in satisfying the human quest for understanding and meaning in life.
In practice
In a lecture on the interplay between spirituality and scientific inquiry.
Both the physicist and the mystic want to communicate their knowledge, and when they do so with words their statements are paradoxical and full of logical contradictions.
The more complex the network is, the more complex its pattern of interconnections, the more resilient it will be.
During periods of relaxation after concentrated intellectual activity, the intuitive mind seems to take over and can produce the sudden clarifying insights which give so much joy and delight.
The more we study the major problems of our time, the more we come to realise that they cannot be understood in isolation. They are systemic problems, which means that they are interconnected and interdependent.
In the end, the aggressors always destroy themselves, making way for others who know how to cooperate and get along. Life is much less a competitive struggle for survival than a triumph of cooperation and creativity.
Ecology and spirituality are fundamentally connected, because deep ecological awareness, ultimately, is spiritual awareness.
I have always grappled with the fact that the truth cannot be packaged into one soul or one mind alone. It is something fragmented: there is so much to it; the truth is varied and scattered across the world.
All experiment is made on a basis of tradition; all tradition is the crystallization of experiment.
Mad Hatter: “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?” “Have you guessed the riddle yet?” the Hatter said, turning to Alice again. “No, I give it up,” Alice replied: “What’s the answer?” “I haven’t the slightest idea,” said the Hatter
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
Who knoweth if to die be but to live, and that called life by mortals be but death?
When holy and devout religious men are at their beads, 'tis hard to draw them thence; so sweet is zealous contemplation.
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