Thanks to everyone for the good wishes re my headache. One day has made all the difference and as we had a very sunny day once again, we went off to the botanical gardens in Dawyck where I took all the pictures seen on this blogpost. They somehow relate to time in my mind. It's also where I always end up buying yet more postcards. They have such a marvelous selection. One of my purchases today featured the text: "Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf" (Rabindranath Tagore). And that made me muse on the nature of time and my worry about not having enough of it left as well as wasting it frivolously. Every moment we live is unique, it will never come again! What a frightening thought that can be.
Long ago, I had a lecturer who tried to explain the theory of relativity to us, students, and a thankless task it must have been, as needless to say we saw eons of time ahead of us once all those exams would be behind us! All I remember from this was that he had a book of cartoons that tried to put all Einstein's ideas across in an entertaining way. It talked about the 4th dimension and just thinking about it was so confusing that most of us soon gave up.
But one page grabbed my imagination and has remained with me through all the intervening years. This was the page that explained that in the 4th dimension events that are spaced out in our normal time frame happen simultaneously. The cartoon to go with this surprising statement showed a person in a car setting out on a long journey and then meeting themselves coming back again. Yes, I know! And please don't ask me to explain, it would be way beyond me. But at the same time it has always been a comforting thought to me and whenever I set off to go and teach faraway, I sometimes catch myself checking out the cars coming towards me going in the opposite direction (i.e. the way home again) and looking to see if I can spot myself! That apparently is the nature of time!
Long ago, I had a lecturer who tried to explain the theory of relativity to us, students, and a thankless task it must have been, as needless to say we saw eons of time ahead of us once all those exams would be behind us! All I remember from this was that he had a book of cartoons that tried to put all Einstein's ideas across in an entertaining way. It talked about the 4th dimension and just thinking about it was so confusing that most of us soon gave up.But one page grabbed my imagination and has remained with me through all the intervening years. This was the page that explained that in the 4th dimension events that are spaced out in our normal time frame happen simultaneously. The cartoon to go with this surprising statement showed a person in a car setting out on a long journey and then meeting themselves coming back again. Yes, I know! And please don't ask me to explain, it would be way beyond me. But at the same time it has always been a comforting thought to me and whenever I set off to go and teach faraway, I sometimes catch myself checking out the cars coming towards me going in the opposite direction (i.e. the way home again) and looking to see if I can spot myself! That apparently is the nature of time!
1 comment:
Frieda - I love what you've done with your header and background on your blog - it reminds me of Beryl Taylor's work and if I ever get ahead of my projects, one day I really want to start on a detailed beautiful project like you've shown here.
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