Interesting quote

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Country Families : One Thread

I found this interesting quote in a novel by Mark Helprin called Winter's Tale I'm not exactly sure what to think about it, but I thought it was thought-provoking, almost poetic. Has anyone read any of his books?

Here's the quote:

"Nothing is random, nor will anything ever be, whether a long string of perfectly blue days that begin and end in golden dimness, the most seemingly chaotic political acts, the rise of a great city, the crystalline structure of a gem that has never seen the light, the distributions of fortune, what time the milkman gets up, the position of the electron, or the occurrence of one astonishingly frigid winter after another. Even electrons, supposedly the paragons of unpredictability, are tame and obsequious little creatures that rush around at the speed of light, going precisely where they are supposed to go. They make faint whistling sounds that when apprehended in varying combinations are as pleasant as the eind flying through a forest, and they do exactly as they are told. Of this, one can be certain.

And yet there is a wonderful anarchy, in that the milkman chooses when to arise, the rat picks the tunnel into which he will dive when the subway comes rushing down the track from Borough hall, and the snowflake will fall as it will. How can this be? If nothing is random, and everything is predetermined, how can there be free will? The answer to that is simple. Nothing is predetermined; it is determined, or was determined, or will be determined. No matter, it happened all at once, in less than an instant, and time was invented because we cannot comprehend in one glance the enormous and detailed canvas that we have been given- so we track it, in linear fashion, piece by piece. Time, however, can be easily overcome; not by chasing the light, but by standing back far enough to see it all at once. The universe is still and complete.

Everything that ever was, is; everything that ever will be, is- and so on, in all possible combinations. Though in perceiving it we imagine that it is in motion, and unfinished, it is quite finished and quite astonishingly beautiful. In the end, or, rather, as things really are, any event, no matter how small, is intimately and sensibly tied to all others.

All rivers run full to the sea; those who are apart are brought together; the lost ones are redeemed; the dead come back to life; the perfectly blue days have begun and ended in golden dimness continue, immobile and accessible; and, when all is perceived in such a way as to obviate time, justice becomes apparent not as something that will be, but as something that is.

-- chuck in md (woah@mission4me.com), February 15, 2002

Answers

VERY beautiful, Chuck. And I believe it - have read variations of the theme in may different publications. However, this is so lovely and poetic; makes me wish I could write or express myself like that.....

-- Bonnie (51940@aeroinc.net), February 15, 2002.

Reminds me of Ecclesiastes: The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
The wind blows to the south and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full......

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.



-- hmm (h.m.metheny@att.net), February 15, 2002.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ