Number of words: 318 Since space and time are now reduced to the subjective role of the elements of the language a particular observer uses for his or her description of natural phenomena, each observer will describe the phenomena in a different way. To abstract some universal natural laws from their descriptions, they have to … Read more

Number of words: 473 The precise mathematical form of this relation between the uncertainties of position and momentum of a particle is known as Heisenberg’s uncertainty relation, or uncertainty principle. It means that, in the subatomic world, we can never know both the position and momentum of a particle with great accuracy. The better we … Read more

Number of words: 125 Particles moving in wave patterns do not exist in nature. In a water wave, for example, the water particles do not move along with the wave but move in circles as the wave passes by. Similarly, the air particles in a sound wave merely oscillate back and forth, but do not … Read more

Number of words: 191 The dynamic unity of polar opposites can be illustrated with the simple example of a circular motion and its projection. Suppose you have a ball going round a circle. If this movement is projected on to a screen, it becomes an oscillation between two extreme points. The ball goes round the … Read more

Number of words: 301 The crucial feature of atomic physics is that the human observer is not only necessary to observe the properties of an object, but is necessary even to define these properties. In atomic physics, we cannot talk about the properties of an object as such. They are only meaningful in the context … Read more

Number of words: 440 In spite of its rather special character, Zen is purely Buddhistic. in its essence, because its aim is no other than that of the Buddha himself: the attainment of enlightenment, an experience known in Zen as satori. The enlightenment experience is the essence of all schools of Eastern philosophy, but Zen … Read more

Number of words: 258 From the notion that the movements of the Tao are a continuous interplay between opposites, the Taoists deduced two basic rules for human conduct. Whenever you want to achieve anything, they said, you should start with its opposite. Lao Tzu says ‘In order to contract a thing, one should surely expand … Read more

Number of words: 124 Mistrust of conventional knowledge and reasoning is stronger in Taoism than in any other school of Eastern philosophy. It is based on the firm belief that the human intellect can never comprehend the Tao. In the words of Chuang Tzu, The most extensive knowledge does not necessarily know it; reasoning will … Read more