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.
Fritjof CapraRead
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.
Interpretation
Both scientists and mystics express complex ideas that often seem contradictory or paradoxical.
This quote suggests that both physicists, who study the natural world through science, and mystics, who explore spiritual truths, share a common goal of conveying their understanding of reality. However, when they attempt to articulate their insights using language, they frequently encounter paradoxes and contradictions, highlighting the limitations of words in encapsulating profound truths.
In practice
In a lecture on the nature of reality, one might quote Capra to illustrate the intersection of science and spirituality.
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.
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.
A man falling into dark waters seeks a momentary footing even on sliding stones.
As I grow older and older, _x000D_ _x000D_ And totter toward the tomb, _x000D_ _x000D_ I find that I care less and less _x000D_ _x000D_ Who goes to bed with whom.
For a war to be just three conditions are necessary - public authority, just cause, right motive.
Though dreams can be deceiving; like faces are to hearts, they serve for sweet relieving, when fantasy and reality lie too far apart.
For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.
Aphrodite-Venus had become not a subject of adoration, but an agent of exploitation. From the moment Christian society perceived sex not as a gift of the goddess but a crime against God himself, women were believed to be the vessels of love's malign power.
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