A thoughtfest based on the ideas of Stephen Hawking and the ideas I cobbled together from reading him and other scientists.
Dreams of Reality
by Danae Wilkin
Are you and I the same angle,
meeting at the mirror,
the sunbeam and reflection’s light equal,
the connection and separation,
a yin and yang
inexorably spinning together,
different and the same,
Archimedes and China’s legacy?
Or is it only a matter of time
before we fly apart?
What can love do when all fires fade,
thermodynamics proving so,
when all accelerates
apart from everything else?
Might it all explode,
burn out and grow cold,
as Pluto is frozen,
an orphan once
part of our solar system?
Are we scientific facts,
no control over anything,
our fate sealed at birth?
Or are we part of
a multitude of choices, interactions,
cycling an unlimited number of universes,
some where we are already dead,
many where we live on,
and still more where we were never born,
or born on a different planet,
or even immortal?
Maybe a processor in space, bodiless,
visiting each universe, each galaxy,
each star and planet?
So many things that cannot be grasped
in one timeline so we crave the unknown
to be known now.
We reach out and hit walls,
our electrons preventing us
from thresholding through
and yet can be rearranged
to find electron holes,
precisely aligned with objects.
Will we one day pass through,
or have we already
in the other universes?
I believe all the dreams
we have of freedom
from laws we know,
like invisibility and flying,
connect us to those universes,
show us what may be
beyond this one.
Perhaps dreams are the times
when we are truly awake
and meet together
with our other selves,
and people strange to us,
but whose faces seem familiar,
as if we belong there as much as here.
Such a quandary,
the more we ask and know,
there are still more questions,
enigmas that keep us going,
the quest for meaning and reality.
Thus I wonder, no I think
love is infinite as the universes.
A lively read exploring universal concepts with the sweep of a poet's pen. Just as the artist revels in new sources of texture and color, soundwaves give way to atomic knowledge, and all things in future tense become possible. The joy is in the exploration.
Well you rambled a bit through your thoughts, you did chance upon the period mysteries of our growing understanding of the universe. Fortunately, our lives are minuscule and can be played out without any interaction with the larger universe and it's very violent ways.
I find your verses intellectually engaging and thought-inciting, Danae. I mean that as a compliment. I think it is always a good thing to keep the thought process alive... ...and wait for what inspiration and learning comes from it. Love and best wishes,
The poet never tires of the Teeter Totter interplay of dreams and reality. Here, you've extended the wonder with finesse and eloquence, bringing to science more of the lyrical it deserves. Kudos.
The wonders of life has been thought, written about, puzzled over, scientific facts, which may or may not be facts we can cling to, religious alters erected to give us a way, an easy way to grasp the "why" of our individual lives. We are still unable to come to one conclusion, one conclusion that everyone can grasp and believe in, one answer to "why" am I me.
This is a sensational write. It's uplifting and fun, and you show that you are no neophyte to the subject. I have been a big fan of all things extraterrestrial ever since Carl Sagan grabbed my attention. Neil deGrasse Tyson has kept the universe alive in many different media, while a host of newcomers are showing off on How the Universe Works. It all works for me (the subject and its presenters). Maybe we could collaborate on a flight of fantasy like the one shown in your image with this poem. -Ed
Our human genome is full of viruses similar to HIV-1. These have played an important role in human evolution and still play an important role in human embryology and day-to-day chemistry. Just how important are they to our evolution past and future?
Ron
Regis
The wonders of life has been thought, written about, puzzled over, scientific facts, which may or may not be facts we can cling to, religious alters erected to give us a way, an easy way to grasp the "why" of our individual lives. We are still unable to come to one conclusion, one conclusion that everyone can grasp and believe in, one answer to "why" am I me.