Is there a Philosopher in the House?

Hello Everyone!

I read this quote this morning and can not get it out of my head! And since I know there is at least one resident Physicist here, as well as many philosophers, we might collectively figure out what this brilliant person was trying to communicate beyond simply confusing my finite brain.

Without any further procrastination, here are the words of that wonderfully philosophical physicist:
Albert Einstein.

As the circle of light grows, so does the
circumference of darkness around it.
- Albert Einstein

**So my question is this: Is he saying that as light gets bigger, so does the darkness?

Is he saying, maybe, as we bring more lightness to the world, the darkness is not overtaken, instead it is "empowered" somehow also?

Is he saying, "Get over it, you'll never figure it out anyway?" so embrace the paradox within?

So, I would love to hear your thoughts in this one, since I so enjoy Professor Einstein's incites as WELL as all of yours...

With Purpose and Passion and Questioning,

JULIE JORDAN SCOTT




Catalytic Coaching, No Obligation!

Light equals darkness.
Darkness equals light.
By definition, they each owe their existence to the other, and in equal proportions.

If light is a metaphor for knowledge, and dark for ignorance, our increased knowledge only creates more questions.

But I think Einstein simply meant there is no end to learning/discovery, that it is a journey with no destination possible. So we shouldn't be so darn cocky over the little bit we think we do know.

Or I could be wrong.

Hello Julie,

Nice to meet you and you new born son. Congratulations. I have been blessed myself with seven children.

Interesting post. I looked at it in different ways. When I first looked at it I immediately thought of light and the shadow its obstacles cast. As the light gets bigger it is able to reach more obstacles, thus more shadows (darkness). That can get pretty deep.

The other side of thought brought to mind of things regarding people. Lets use a group of people set out to do a good thing as an example. I will call those people the circle of light. As that group of people grows their popularity and recognition with outsiders grows as well. At the same time it seems that there is also some dark, sinister plan (the darkness) out there by some other individual or group to shut the circle of light down, darken their hopes, or make them look bad in some way. And as the circle grows, so does the desires of the darkness to bring them down.

For every good there is an evil, every positive a negative etc. Can one live without the other?

I never studied philosophy, Einstein, or anything close. I am probably way off key as to his meaning. This is just the way I look at it.

I learned in algebra class, in H.S., that Einstein is the only person that proved, with algebraic formulas, that 1+1 doen not equal 2. I never got that concept either.

My post is getting long, I better hang up and let someone else talk:-)

Have fun,

Dennis

> As the circle of light grows, so does the
> circumference of darkness around it.
> - Albert Einstein

> **So my question is this: Is he saying that
> as light gets bigger, so does the darkness?

> Is he saying, maybe, as we bring more
> lightness to the world, the darkness is not
> overtaken, instead it is
> "empowered" somehow also?

> Is he saying, "Get over it, you'll
> never figure it out anyway?" so embrace
> the paradox within?

Hi Julie:
Here's my take on your quote: In a darkened room(the center), light a candle. The candlelight will most likely not make every object in the room visible. Blow out the candle and turn on a lamp. I think you'll find that more objects are now visible. Turn on another lamp, less darkness still. In essence, the more light you add the farther away from the center is the darkness. Darkness is never eliminated, but can moved so far from the center as to appear to have completely disappeared. Watch the sunrise one morning; see the darkness disappear!

The same happens with us, I believe, in that more light=less darkness. In this case light can mean love, knowledge, ability, understanding etc,and the darkness would mean the opposite. Ex. more knowledge=less ignorance. Carol

Hi Julie!

Wow, that's an interesting quote.... :)

> Without any further procrastination, here
> are the words of that wonderfully
> philosophical physicist:
> Albert Einstein.

> As the circle of light grows, so does the
> circumference of darkness around it.
> - Albert Einstein

Well.... Here's my guess.... :)

Possibly what he means is that, the more we know (the circle of light), the more we realize we DON'T know (the circumference of darkness)!

I guess this is essentially what James Dupree said in a message earlier than mine, I'll just elaborate.... :)

It seems to be a fact that the more you learn about anything, the more you realize how much there is that you don't know!

There are realms and realms of knowledge which you begin to realize you are ignorant about, the more you learn and understand....

For example, someone who goes into finance at first might think that there really isn't much to know about stocks. Then, the more they know, the more they find out that they never even heard of bonds, options, warrants.... They don't realize all the "stock picking" techniques there are around which people use (successfully or not), such as fundamental analysis, technical analysis, value investing, contrarian strategies, Elliot wave theory, Gann theory, and so on....

I could go into physics (my specialty).... In quantum theory, the guts of it is that the world is essentially (at the atomic scale and smaller) probabilistic, that is, there is an element of randomness.... But as you delve deeper into quantum theory, you realize there is a degree of order to this randomness. Then delve deeper and you realize that there can be very weird effects, like using quantum effects to detect things without "interacting" with them (something called the "interaction-free measurement"), or choosing whether something behaves like a wave or particle *after* the experiment is essentially done (something called the "delayed choice experiment").... And so on....

This is one of the things which keeps me fascinated about learning.... It will never, ever end. There are always new and fascinating things to learn in any area.... No matter what area of knowledge, you can delve into it forever and keep learning more and more.... Curiosity can become like an addiction! :)

Anyway, that's my guess about what Einstein may have meant, but I don't really know for sure.... If we could find out the context in which he said this, we could probably find out more.... :)

Thanks Julie for sharing this very interesting quote!

- Dien

Hi James!

Thanks for thinking alongside me today. When I posted this question my brain was practically writhing in complex pain....AHHH!

I really appreciate and value this part of your post:

> But I think Einstein simply meant there is
> no end to learning/discovery, that it is a
> journey with no destination possible. So we
> shouldn't be so darn cocky over the little
> bit we think we do know.

***Kind of like "The more you learn, the less you know"......I truly believe that the road to success never ends. Like an education never ends....at least for those of us seeking enlightenment...or at least like to think!

Thanks again, James, and I hope to see you around here in the future!

With Purpose and Passion,

JULIE


5passions.com

Hi Dennis!

Thanks for posting and thank you for the kind words about my newest addition.

SEVEN children! WOW! I am amazed! I come from a family of 6 kids, which was more common when I was a child back in the dark ages, lol.

Your post was quite inciteful, and you know what? I have never studied philosophy or Einstein except as a hobby as an adult. I have thought recently I ought to try calculus because I am convinced I have learned how to think better as an adult. PLUS I do not see myself as so limited, like I did when I was younger.

This fascinated me!

> I learned in algebra class, in H.S., that
> Einstein is the only person that proved,
> with algebraic formulas, that 1+1 doen not
> equal 2. I never got that concept either.

***Go figure! I love what Gordon said below about Einstein's sense of humor. I am guessing he really enjoyed perplexing people. :-)

Thanks again, Dennis!

With Purpose and Passion,

JULIE




5passions

Hi Carol!

I really enjoy your imagery with the candle and then inviting more light with the lamp, etc.

Wonderful application. I wrote in an article once: where does a candle burn the brightest? In the DARK. A candle in an already lightened room is interesting, but turn off the lights and you have created atmosphere.....

So maybe what Einstein is REALLY saying is he wanted his significant other to create more ambiance.

Thats an interesting thought: I wonder if Einstein HAD a significant other....

Off on a tangent....

JULIE

> Hi Julie:
> Here's my take on your quote: In a darkened
> room(the center), light a candle. The
> candlelight will most likely not make every
> object in the room visible. Blow out the
> candle and turn on a lamp. I think you'll
> find that more objects are now visible. Turn
> on another lamp, less darkness still. In
> essence, the more light you add the farther
> away from the center is the darkness.
> Darkness is never eliminated, but can moved
> so far from the center as to appear to have
> completely disappeared. Watch the sunrise
> one morning; see the darkness disappear!

> The same happens with us, I believe, in that
> more light=less darkness. In this case light
> can mean love, knowledge, ability,
> understanding etc,and the darkness would
> mean the opposite. Ex. more knowledge=less
> ignorance. Carol

> Hi Julie!

> Wow, that's an interesting quote.... :)

***Thank you, Dien! I thought of you as soon as I read it actually....wondered what one physicist would say to another...lol.

> Curiosity can become like an
> addiction! :)

***Yes, indeed. It certainly is to me!

In re-reading "How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci" included as a Da Vincian trait "Curiosita". Being ever curious.

I was talking to one of my coaching friends tonight and we were saying how we both like to have friends who will ask us questions instead of prescribing stuff for us or giving advice. "Don't just tell me what to do, ask me more questions!"

Or something like that.....

So glad you chimed in, Dien. Whenever you do, you share more valuable insights.

With Purpose and Passion,

JULIE

> Anyway, that's my guess about what Einstein
> may have meant, but I don't really know for
> sure.... If we could find out the context in
> which he said this, we could probably find
> out more.... :)

> Thanks Julie for sharing this very
> interesting quote!

> - Dien