Hawkins + Tower of Babel + Surah Hujurat = Exist

“Up to now, most scientists have been too occupied with the development of new theories that describe what the universe is to ask the question why. On the other hand, the people whose business it is to ask why, the philosophers, have not been able to keep up with the advance of scientific theories. In the eighteenth century, philosophers considered the whole of human knowledge, including science, to be their field and discussed questions such as: Did the universe have a beginning? However, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, science became too technical and mathematical for the philosophers, or anyone else except a few specialists. Philosophers reduced the scope of their inquiries so much that Wittgenstein, the most famous philosopher of this century, said, 'The sole remaining task for philosophy is the analysis of language.' What a comedown from the great tradition of philosophy from Aristotle to Kant!



However, if we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason--for then we would know the mind of God.” - Hawkins, Brief History of Time.

The Tower of Babel  as told in Genesis 11:1-9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages.
According to the story, a united humanity in the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating eastward, comes to the land of Shinar. There they agree to build a city and a tower tall enough to reach heaven. God, observing their city and tower, confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other, and scatters them around the world.


Surah Hujurat 13

 Hai manusia, sesungguhnya Kami menciptakan kamu dari seorang laki-laki dan seorang perempuan dan menjadikan kamu berbangsa-bangsa dan bersuku-suku supaya kamu saling kenal-mengenal. Sesungguhnya orang yang paling mulia diantara kamu disisi Allah ialah orang yang paling takwa diantara kamu. Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengetahui lagi Maha Mengenal.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Balai Seni Negara's Treasures

Image
after weeks of lecturing and exposing my students to various masterpieces of the Western paintings, sculptures and other notable artefacts, it's time for me to introduce them our nation's wealth and masterpieces which i deem noteworthy. Q : how i evaluate a work of art to be noteworthy? A : it must stand through the test of time, requires full attention and forget all the pretentious glorified curatorial writings. The image produced must show evidence of thoughts, thoughtful strokes and skills - in terms of composition, mastery of the colors and must be one that control the gallery space. ( to be honest, i cant appreciate digital paintings as it is missing the most vital elements - that is texture and the evident of the strokes. ) example - Michaelangelo's Pieta and Monet's Waterlilies. What is brilliant is, i brought them to National Visual Arts Gallery, where they got a chance to meet up my old dean/sifu/friend/mentor/adopted guardian angel/humanist - Naji...
Read more

The Final Lesson by Syed Ahmad Jamal

Image
Intro This is will be a long note - edited again thoroughly. Before i begin, this writing will touch on an individual goes by the name of  Syed Ahmad Jamal ( our National Laureate ) who passed away on 2011 and DBKL - stands for Kuala Lumpur Municipal Council. My heart dropped when Syed Ahmad Jamal public sculpture entitled Puncak Purnama ( Lunar Peaks, 1986 ) was destroyed by the local KL municipal council DBKL few days back. DBKL stands for Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur - actually is quite notorious for a list of bad PR moves by cutting off trees, blocking the Pertiwi Soup Kitchen ( which been feeding the homeless ), their zealous traffic summons - but seriously they broke the camel's back by destroying the modernist, geometrical - clean cut sculpture. The Battle of Non Permission This sculpture was highlighted in  2010 as "someone" decided to pimp it up, changing it's appearance without Syed Ahmad Jamal's permission.This is how it looks like.........
Read more

Awesome Bowie Notes No 1.

Image
William Boyd collaborated with David Bowie - published this book as a hoax, presented as a real biography. "Nat Tate" is a combination of the names of two London art galleries, the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery. Boyd and his conspirators set about convincing the New York glitterati (social elites) that the reputation of this influential abstract expressionist needed to be re-evaluated. Bowie held a launch party on April Fool's Day eve, 1998 and read extracts from the book, while someone talked about Tate's friendships with both Picasso and Braque. About a week later, journalist David Lister,said that no one he spoke to claimed to know Tate well, but no one claimed not to have heard of him. In reality, it appears that few were fooled and most of the big names in the arts world (including artists, collectors, art historian, art dealers, New York based writers like Paul Auster, and editors of literary journals) quickly realized that Nat Tate ...
Read more