August 18, 2012

A glass of wine

 

A poet once said, "The whole universe is in a glass of wine." We will probably never know in what sense he meant that, for poets do not write to be understood !

But it is true that if we look at a glass of wine closely enough we see the entire universe. There are the things of physics: the twisting liquid which evaporates depending on the wind and weather, the reflections in the glass, and our imagination adds the atoms. The glass is a distillation of the Earth's rocks, and in its composition we see the secrets of the universe's age, and the evolution of stars. What strange arrays of chemicals are in the wine? How did they come to be? There are the ferments, the enzymes, the substrates, and the products. There in wine is found the great generalization: all life is fermentation. Nobody can discover the chemistry of wine without discovering, as did Louis Pasteur, the cause of much disease. How vivid is the claret, pressing its existence into the consciousness that watches it! 

If our small minds, for some convenience, divide this glass of wine, this universe, into parts - physics, biology, geology, astronomy, psychology, and so on - remember that Nature does not know it! So let us put it all back together, not forgetting ultimately what it is for. 

Let it give us one more final pleasure: drink it and forget it all!

 The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1964, Volume I, 3-10


PS. Will you kindly click on the 2 images and 2 links ?

:) 

10 comments:

to alataki said...

Όπως και νάχει, ένα ποτήρι κρασί και μια καλή παρέα, είναι αναντικατάστατα.
Στην υγειά μας...

negentropist said...

Επίτρεψέ μου να προσθέσω ένα .. σαξόφωνο στη παραπάνω .. εξίσωση! Soprano, alto, τενόρο ή βαρύτονο .. δεν έχει σημασία :D

Στην υγειά σου, Ιωάννα !

Winelight

:)

Αγγελοπούλου Ιωάννα said...

interesting theory..

cheers!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIEHyK7fqfk&feature=fvst

negentropist said...

Just a beautiful point of view from the poetic standpoint of a great Physics Nobel Laureate, κοριτσάκι !

Goodbye Stranger

Cheers 2 u !!

:)

Bitch said...


"The Good Nights"
by Joseph Mills

On the good nights
when the bottle's empty
we always want
just a little more,
half a glass,
a few sips,
a taste.
We know
this desire
can be dangerous
to pursue,
that it can make
mornings difficult,
so usually we
brush our teeth
let the dog in,
lock the doors.
But sometimes,
even as we say
we really should
get ready for bed,
instead of loading
the dishwasher
we will search
for the corkscrew,
all the while
shaking our heads
in wonder
at this willingness
to ignore the clocks
and the fact we have
to work tomorrow,
this irresponsibility,
this evidence
even after all these years
of the unquenchable desire
for each others company.

Cheers, Darling negen!!!

etcétera said...

"Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh."

Yeats

negentropist said...

What a fantastic poem !!!!!

Let's sax, with Ava Rovatti:

Shelter island

Cheers, lovely Monika !!!!!

:)

negentropist said...

Yeats is great, dear etcétera :)

All things can tempt me from this craft of verse:
One time it was a woman’s face, or worse
The seeming needs of my fool-driven land;
Now nothing but comes readier to the hand
Than this accustomed toil. When I was young,
I had not given a penny for a song
Did not the poet sing it with such airs
That one believed he had a sword upstairs;
Yet would be now, could I but have my wish,
Colder and dumber and deafer than a fish.


W.B. Yeats (1865–1939), All things can tempt me

Wasn't gravity that kept me there? But the music and the magic in the air !

Cheers !!

:)

Mayara Cruz said...

A Brazilian music for you to enjoy a little bit of my Brazil!
good night kiss :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_k267ZH4oQ

negentropist said...

Thanks for your wonderful anime, Mayara !

Ary Barroso's samba-exaltação .. "national" anthem is one of my favorite songs of all time:

Aquarela do Brasil

xxx

:)