Thought for the Day - July 26,00

Subject: Thought for the Day - July 26,00
From: Peter T.
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 09:41 AM

I have lunch with an ex-student of mine and she says something profound that occupies us for the rest of the lunch. I ask her what she is doing for the summer, and she -- who is an arts student -- says she is studying astronomy. I am surprised and amused, and say, Why? And she says, the stars change when you know something about them. Go on, I say. She says, we have a cottage up north, and I always wanted to know what the stars were, all the constellations, etc., but never got around to it. And as I am learning about them, the sky looks different, deeper, more interesting.

We exchange examples of this. I talk about how the woods look different when you know something about the ecology, and can name the different trees. She says, yes, it stops being just an undifferentiated background and springs into complex patterns. I talk about learning music and how that has completely changed the way I hear music -- it has depth and quirks and shapes -- it stopped being background. The same thing about painting -- you start seeing shadows differently, and you can grade colours better. We end lunch, and I ask her what she is going to do this fall. Oh, she says, I'm thinking of getting my pilot's licence. I say, so you can work on the daytime sky. And we smile, and part company....

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - July 26,00
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 09:45 AM

First there is a mountain
Then there is no mountain
Then there is

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - July 26,00
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 09:47 AM

The next extension Peter is obviously people isn't it? As you begin to understand someone, you view them in a different light. The problem in all of this is that most of us never take the time to learn......the stars or the people.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - July 26,00
From: Peter T.
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 10:24 AM

I think that is true CP, but she was talking about something slightly different, which was about how knowledge informs/changes the dimensions of things around us. I guess in human terms it would be more like learning about human psychology and then finding people in general more complex (finding more in them). But it would certainly work on the individual level -- I knew a lot less about women before I undertook a course of intensive studies with one or two of them!!!! The rest of the bunch looked a lot different afterwards....
yours, Peter T.