Whether in the intellectual pursuits of science or in the mystical pursuits of the spirit, the light beckons ahead, and the purpose surging in our nature responds.
Arthur EddingtonRead
Whatever else there may be in our nature, responsibility toward truth is one of its attributes.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the intrinsic responsibility we have to seek and uphold the truth in our nature.
Arthur Eddington suggests that regardless of other traits we may possess, the duty to be truthful is an essential part of our humanity. This responsibility entails a moral obligation to pursue, acknowledge, and maintain honesty, indicating that truth is not merely an abstract concept but a vital characteristic that defines our actions and interactions.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech on the importance of integrity in leadership.
Whether in the intellectual pursuits of science or in the mystical pursuits of the spirit, the light beckons ahead, and the purpose surging in our nature responds.
The physical world is entirely abstract and without actuality apart from its linkage to consciousness.
It is one thing for the human mind to extract from the phenomena of nature the laws which it has itself put into them; it may be a far harder thing to extract laws over which it has no control. It is even possible that laws which have not their origin in the mind may be irrational, and we can never succeed in formulating them.
In the world of physics we watch a shadowgraph performance of the drama of familiar life. The shadow of my elbow rests on the shadow table as the shadow ink flows over the shadow paper. It is all symbolic, and as a symbol the physicist leaves it. ... The frank realisation that physical science is concerned with a world of shadows is one of the most significant of recent advances.
So far as physics is concerned, time's arrow is a property of entropy alone.
A star is drawing on some vast reservoir of energy by means unknown to us. This reservoir can scarcely be other than the subatomic energy which, it is known exists abundantly in all matter; we sometimes dream that man will one day learn how to release it and use it for his service. The store is well nigh inexhaustible, if only it could be tapped. There is sufficient in the Sun to maintain its output of heat for 15 billion years.
I'd finally come to understand what it had been: a yearning for a way out, when actually what I had wanted to find was a way in.
Violence is fomented by the imposition of singular and belligerent identities on gullible people, championed by proficient artisans of terror.
Without realizing that the past is constantly determining their present actions, they avoid learning anything about their history. They continue to live in their repressed childhood situation, ignoring the fact that is no longer exists, continuing to fear and avoid dangers that, although once real, have not been real for a long time.
In the long run, the people are our only appeal. The only ones who can free us are ourselves.
It is given to no human being to stereotype a set of truths, and walk safely by their guidance with his mind's eye closed.
Isn't it strange how upset people get about a few dozen baseball players taking growth hormones, when we're doing what we're doing to our food animals and feeding them to our children?
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