--Heinz R. Pagels, died on July 23, 1988, in a mountain climbing accident on Pyramid Peak in Aspen, Colorado. His death had an enormous impact on a wide and disparate range of individuals who, each in their own way, were affected by his inquiring mind.
Heinz, a physicist, was Executive Director of The New York Academy of Sciences, adjunct professor of physics at Rockefeller University, and president of the International League for Human Rights. He was the author of three books: The Cosmic Code (1982)Perfect Symmetry (1985), and Dreams of Reason: The Rise of the Sciences of Complexity (1988). He was also a founding member, and, at the time of his death, president of "The - In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, t3rinity <no_reply@> wrote: > <snip> > An atheist may be in awe, but > > basically (Unless he is a Buddhist or Taoist)he is just exploring > > a kind of a metaphysical study. So he may be in awe, yes. But he > > cannot LOVE reality as such, and he cannot develop a passion about > > it. > > Boy, Michael, I don't think that's true. Some of > the most passionate expressions of love for > reality-as-such that I've ever encountered have > come from atheists. > > One of my favorite passages is from the end of > atheist physicist Heinz Pagels's "Cosmic Code," > a book for the general reader about physics and > quantum mechanics: > > "Science is not the enemy of humanity but one of the deepest > expressions of the human desire to realize that vision of infinite > knowledge. Science shows us that the visible world is neither matter > nor spirit; the visible world is the invisible organization of > energy. I do not know what the future sentences of the cosmic code > will be. But it seems certain that the recent human contact with the > invisible world of quanta and the vastness of the cosmos will shape > the destiny of our species or whatever we may become. > > "I used to climb mountains in snow and ice, hanging onto the sides of > great rocks. I was describing one of my adventures to an older friend > once, and when I had finished he asked me, 'Why do you want to kill > yourself?' I protested. I told him that the rewards I wanted were of > sight, of pleasure, of the thrill of pitting my body and my skills > against nature. My friend replied, 'When you are as old as I am you > will see that you are trying to kill yourself.' > > "I often dream about falling. Such dreams are commonplace to the > ambitious or those who climb mountains. I dreamed I was clutching at > the face of a rock but it did not hold. Gravel gave way. I grasped > for a shrub, but it pulled loose, and in cold terror I fell into the > abyss. Suddenly I realized that my fall was relative; there was no > bottom and no end. A feeling of pleasure overcame me. I realized that > what I embody, the principle of life, cannot be destroyed. It is > written into the cosmic code, the order of the universe. As I > continued to fall in the dark void, embraced by the vault of the > heavens, I sang to the beauty of the stars and made my peace with the > darkness." > > I don't think it gets much more passionate > than that. > > There is a huge tragic irony in the last two > paragraphs, however. Not long after this was > written, Pagels died in a fall while mountain > climbing. Not only does that make the dream > rather eerie, but even more so the paragraph > above it about mountain climbing involving a > subconscious death wish. > > It's almost as if Pagels had become impatient > with human progress toward the "infinite > knowledge" he refers to in the first paragraph, > and his subconscious mind had prodded him to > "let go" of the struggle to climb the mountains > of ignorance and instead experience directly his > oneness with the order of the universe. >
