Le Grand Illusion

This morning, I need to get a grip on the maze. So many thoughts and emotions swirling around. The Ridiculous -- Our new mattress arrived yesterday, last night was like sleeping on 'cloud nine.' Yes, I must admit, I am a side-sleeper (with occasional tosses and turns)! Sleep is a strange thing, it seems so odd and necessary, it's good to turn off the internal monologue for a few hours (just lay back and enjoy the show).

Also, I finally landed a big contract I've been working on (it's like bringing in the big fish, you have it on the hook, you just don't want to screw up and let it slip away) for quite some time. It's a substantial deal, over $200K, keeps the boat floating for a while longer. There was a brief moment of joy (no one really to share it with) then, mainly relief; it's a great weight lifted off my shoulders.

The Sublime -- Finally, I finished the Godel biography. The second to last chapter is all about time. Nothing new, except if you really take it in, it is totally mind-blowing (The Firesign Theater: "Everything you know is wrong!"). Einstein radically altered our perception/knowledge/thought on time forever. The real mind blower: Time is a dimension (Space-Time) and our subjective experience, our perception of time is false. Past, Present and Future all co-exist. Quoting from the book "Incompleteness," --- "In Einstein's physics, there is no passage of time, no uni-directional flow away from the fixed past and toward an uncertain future. The temporal component of space-time is as static as the spatial components." Weirdly bizzare, and totally contrary to how we experience time.

I'll leave the last words (speaking of a recently deceased collegue) to Uncle Albert: " In quitting this strange world he has once again preceded me by just a little. That doesn't mean anything. For us convinced physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only an ILLUSION, albeit a persistant one."