Maya

Jostein Gaardner's Maya: Reality, the secret(s) of the Universe, the enigmatic existence of all things that exist, the interconnection of things, evolutionary biology, funny gecko conversations, and a whole bunch of quotations.

Maya just reminded me of how I used to plague myself with the question of how life, or the universe for that matter, came to be. I stopped asking and just went with the "go live life before you get hit by a car or get bitten by a rabid carabao" sort of adage. (Not sure which one, specifically. May just be that exact one.) The thing, is it's never going to present itself. Or humanity's not going to able to come up with an absolute conclusion. We haven't even understood a zillion other things in this universe of ours.

And besides, I belong to the growing school of philosophy that perhaps science has come or is coming to an end. Probably we have already learned or are close to learning everything there is we need to know. Because, after all, what use is there for things that we don't really need? Why do you think humans don't have tails? (Stub of a tail bone, anybody?)

These questions just pop out - or sometimes they don't have the chance to pop up - because of the immense number of similar-natured problems, and even bigger, contemplating reality and the existence of existence, in Gaardner's Maya.

There are truly a lot of things one can pick up from this book. Or if not, a lot of your muddled thoughts organized into words. I bow down to Gaardner's beautiful stringing of words and the fact that his head has not yet exploded into smithereens because of the painful amount philosophy currents waving around inside his head. (But I also think there's equal beauty in seeming lack of eloquence, or use of everyday words.)

And once again, it's time for quotes from the book, kiddies.

There exists a world. In terms of probability this borders on the impossible. It would have been far more likely if, by chance, there was nothing at all. Then, at least, no one would have begun asking why there was nothing.

When the dream picture pinches its own arm without waking, it is us. For we are the riddle no one guesses. We are the fairy-tale trapped in its own image. We are what moves on and on without achieving clarity.

The prettiest lines yet (cos I haven't finished the book yet :p):
...And the world is not something that gives itself away. The heavens still keep their secrets. There is little gossip among the stars. But no one has forgotten the Big Bang yet. Since then, silence has reigned supreme, and everything is moving away.

And the grand prize winner of the Hello Reality Award and Reality's-A-Bitchaward:

It takes billions of years to create a human being. And it takes only a few seconds to die.

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Well that's it for now. I think I'd probably put up a list of all the movie/book "reviews" I've posted in this blog so you can browse back or something. ---> Just because I came across a notepad file of my The Perks of Being A Wallflower. One of my favourite, favourite books. Everybody should read it. (Type in Perks of Being A Wallflower in the searchbox above if you want to read a few quotes from the book and my short description of it.)

Blogflash:
-As you probably would have predicted if you knew me, I am currently watching Queer Eye (for the straight guy) reruns while studying for this Geol long exam I have tomorrow and I just had to laugh at Ted who goes, "In your face low carb people, in your face. *Takes an angry bite out of a bagel."
-Okay, this Billy Yamaguchi dude is interesting. And feng shui haircut is erm... interesting too. I should probably fly to the US and get a feng shui haircut. Meh. Scam or not it's still feng shui, on hair. Sounds like crazy fun. Hehe.