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asymptote
January 06, 2006
very little impressed me about high school mathematics. while i had an interest in physics and astronomy, i lacked the corresponding interest in mathematics. to me, seeing the structure of the universe was intuitive, an arena where the imagination still had a very important place. you have to be able to imagine a black hole in order to be able to really explore it, much less understand it.
but one concept grabbed me, something out of algebra. certain equations yield a curve that will approach a line, asymptotically, that is, constantly and consistently drawing closer and closer by margins that eventually become infinitely small. thing is, the curve never intersects the line, the asymptote. it just keeps approaching it, the distance to its destination growing ever smaller, but the distance never growing to less than an eternity.
there was not only something poetic about this to me, but something sad, and something tremendous, and something lonely, and something right.
the curve was humanity, human comprehension, the material world, reality, desire and love. the arrangement was, in a way, one proof in my mind of a god, some single, all-comprehending consciousness. such things could not exist if they weren't comprehended, just as truly as they could not be comprehended if they didn't exist.
the thing is, i was never sure if god was the line, or the space in between.
Posted by Rob at January 6, 2006 07:20 PM