Not so Different
The 20th century saw breakthroughs in the world of Physics that brought insight into the inner-workings of the Universe that have increased our knowledge of the nature of existence but have also seemed to raise more questions then they have answered. Discoveries such as Einstein's Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics has showed physicists that the world of the very small and the very large seem to operate by laws completely different than we are used to observing. Classic Newtonian physics has no hold on these playing grounds and its a difficult concept to grasp. However, Eastern philosophies have, for quite a long time now, centered much of their mystical ideologies around this concept of a deep connection between all matter and existence. Now, as science progresses ever onward, these two schools of thought are becoming closer and closer on this key idea which is: to truly understand the very nature of physics, thus the universe itself, one must forget all they believe to know already.
"For a parallel to the lesson of atomic theory ... [we must turn] to those kind of epistemological problems with which already thinkers like the Buddha and Lao Tzu have been confronted, when trying to harmonize our position as spectators and actors in a great dram of existence"
-Niehls Bohr |
"The general notions about human understanding ... which are illustrated by discoveries in atomic physics are not in the nature of things wholly unfamiliar, wholly unheard of, or new. Even in our own culture they have a history, and in Buddhist and Hindu thought a more considerable central place. What we shall find is an exemplification, an encouragement, and a refinement of old wisdom"
-Julius Robert Oppenheimer |