Poetry and Science

Rabindranath Tagore's (Indian Nobel Laureate for Literature) Conversation with Albert Einstein Excerpted from: A Tagore Reader, edited by Amiya Chakravarty. Tagore and Einstein met through a common friend, Dr. Mendel. Tagore visited Einstein at his residence at Kaputh in the suburbs of Berlin on July 14, 1930, and Einstein returned the call and visited Tagore at the Mendel home. Both conversations were recorded and the above photograph was taken. The July 14 conversation is reproduced here, and was originally published in The Religion of Man (George, Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London), Appendix II, pp. 222-225. TAGORE: I was discussing with Dr. Mendel today the new mathematical discoveries which tell us that in the realm of infinitesimal atoms chance has its play; the drama of existence is not absolutely predestined in character. ------------------------- EINSTEIN: The facts that make science tend toward this view do not say good-bye to causality. TAGORE: Maybe not, yet it appears that the idea of causality is not in the elements, but that some other force builds up with them an organized universe. EINSTEIN: One tries to understand in the higher plane how the order is. The order is there, where the big elements combine and guide existence, but in the minute elements this order is not perceptible. TAGORE: Thus duality is in the depths of existence, the contradiction of free impulse and the directive will which works upon it and evolves an orderly scheme of things. EINSTEIN: Modern physics would not say they are contradictory. Clouds look as one from a distance, but if you see them nearby, they show themselves as disorderly drops of water. TAGORE: I find a parallel in human psychology. Our passions and desires are unruly, but our character subdues these elements into a harmonious whole. Does something similar to this happen in the physical world? Are the elements rebellious, dynamic with individual impulse? And is there a principle in the physical world which dominates them and puts them into an orderly organization? EINSTEIN: Even the elements are not without statistical order; elements of radium will always maintain their specific order, now and ever onward, just as they have done all along. There is, then, a statistical order in the elements. TAGORE: Otherwise, the drama of existence would be too desultory. It is the constant harmony of chance and determination which makes it eternally new and living. EINSTEIN: I believe that whatever we do or live for has its causality; it is good, however, that we cannot see through to it. TAGORE: There is in human affairs an element of elasticity also, some freedom within a small range which is for the expression of our personality. It is like the musical system in India, which is not so rigidly fixed as western music. Our composers give a certain definite outline, a system of melody and rhythmic arrangement, and within a certain limit the player can improvise upon it. He must be one with the law of that particular melody, and then he can give spontaneous expression to his musical feeling within the prescribed regulation. We praise the composer for his genius in creating a foundation along with a superstructure of melodies, but we expect from the player his own skill in the creation of variations of melodic flourish and ornamentation. In creation we follow the central law of existence, but if we do not cut ourselves adrift from it, we can have sufficient freedom within the limits of our personality for the fullest self-expression. EINSTEIN: That is possible only when there is a strong artistic tradition in music to guide the people's mind. In Europe, music has come too far away from popular art and popular feeling and has become something like a secret art with conventions and traditions of its own. TAGORE: You have to be absolutely obedient to this too complicated music. In India, the measure of a singer's freedom is in his own creative personality. He can sing the composer's song as his own, if he has the power creatively to assert himself in his interpretation of the general law of the melody which he is given to interpret. EINSTEIN: It requires a very high standard of art to realize fully the great idea in the original music, so that one can make variations upon it. In our country, the variations are often prescribed. TAGORE: If in our conduct we can follow the law of goodness, we can have real liberty of self-expression. The principle of conduct is there, but the character which makes it true and individual is our own creation. In our music there is a duality of freedom and prescribed order. EINSTEIN: Are the words of a song also free? I mean to say, is the singer at liberty to add his own words to the song which he is singing? TAGORE: Yes. In Bengal we have a kind of song-kirtan, we call it-which gives freedom to the singer to introduce parenthetical comments, phrases not in the original song. This occasions great enthusiasm, since the audience is constantly thrilled by some beautiful, spontaneous sentiment added by the singer. EINSTEIN: Is the metrical form quite severe? TAGORE: Yes, quite. You cannot exceed the limits of versification; the singer in all his variations must keep the rhythm and the time, which is fixed. In European music you have a comparative liberty with time, but not with melody. EINSTEIN: Can the Indian music be sung without words? Can one understand a song without words? TAGORE: Yes, we have songs with unmeaning words, sounds which just help to act as carriers of the notes. In North India, music is an independent art, not the interpretation of words and thoughts, as in Bengal. The music is very intricate and subtle and is a complete world of melody by itself. EINSTEIN: Is it not polyphonic? TAGORE: Instruments are used, not for harmony, but for keeping time and adding to the volume and depth. Has melody suffered in your music by the imposition of harmony? EINSTEIN: Sometimes it does suffer very much. Sometimes the harmony swallows up the melody altogether. TAGORE: Melody and harmony are like lines and colors in pictures. A simple linear picture may be completely beautiful; the introduction of color may make it vague and insignificant. Yet color may, by combination with lines, create great pictures, so long as it does not smother and destroy their value. EINSTEIN: It is a beautiful comparison; line is also much older than color. It seems that your melody is much richer in structure than ours. Japanese music also seems to be so. TAGORE: It is difficult to analyze the effect of eastern and western music on our minds. I am deeply moved by the western music; I feel that it is great, that it is vast in its structure and grand in its composition. Our own music touches me more deeply by its fundamental lyrical appeal. European music is epic in character; it has a broad background and is Gothic in its structure. EINSTEIN: This is a question we Europeans cannot properly answer, we are so used to our own music. We want to know whether our own music is a conventional or a fundamental human feeling, whether to feel consonance and dissonance is natural, or a convention which we accept. TAGORE: Somehow the piano confounds me. The violin pleases me much more. EINSTEIN: It would be interesting to study the effects of European music on an Indian who had never heard it when he was young. TAGORE: Once I asked an English musician to analyze for me some classical music, and explain to me what elements make for the beauty of the piece. EINSTEIN: The difficulty is that the really good music, whether of the East or of the West, cannot be analyzed. TAGORE: Yes, and what deeply affects the hearer is beyond himself. EINSTEIN: The same uncertainty will always be there about everything fundamental in our experience, in our reaction to art, whether in Europe or in Asia. Even the red flower I see before me on your table may not be the same to you and me. TAGORE: And yet there is always going on the process of reconciliation between them, the individual taste conforming to the universal standard. //////////////////////// vmalpan@gmail.com

Image and Likeness of God

The Triune God is present and active in our Continent, In our Country… Let us see… Let us listen… WE have to constantly bear in mind what has happened and discern what we are called upon to accomplish in the here and now of the history of salvation… Life is full of surprises ... Spiritual life is at once a mystery and a problem. So the process of explaining it is difficult. “Praise the Lord, my soul!All my being , praise his holy name!” (Psalm 103:1) How much can we grasp the mysteries of our faith? Mighty little, indeed! We are created in the image and likeness of God Gen. 1:26

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vmalpan@gmail.com

Historical Note to EASTER CELEBRATION

A Man without legs and mentally challenged playing with stones...

New Life Home: Kibera, Nairobi -Kenya

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HISTORY OF EASTER PRAYERS "Easter, the principal festival of the Christian church year, celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his Crucifixion. The origins of Easter date to the beginnings of Christianity, and it is probably the oldest Christian observance after the Sabbath (originally observed on Saturday, later on Sunday). Later, the Sabbath subsequently came to be regarded as the weekly celebration of the Resurrection. Meanwhile, many of the cultural historians find, in the celebration of Easter, a convergence of the three traditions - Pagan, Hebrew and Christian. According to St. Bede, an English historian of the early 8th century, Easter owes its origin to the old Teutonic mythology. It was derived from the name Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month of April was dedicated. The festival of Eostre was celebrated at the vernal equinox, when the day and night gets an equal share of the day. The English name "Easter" is much newer. When the early English Christians wanted others to accept Christianity, they decided to use the name Easter for this holiday so that it would match the name of the old spring celebration. This made it more comfortable for other people to accept Christianity. But it is pointed out by some that the Easter festival, as celebrated today, is related with the Hebrew tradition, the Jewish Passover. This is being celebrated during Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew lunar year. The Jewish Passover under Moses commemorates Israel's deliverance from about 300 years of bondage in Egypt. It was in during this Passover in 30 AD Christ was crucified under the order of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate as the then Jewish high priests accused Jesus of "blasphemy". The resurrection came three days later, on the Easter Sunday. The early Christians, many of them being brought up in Jewish tradition regarded Easter as a new feature of the Pascha (Passover). It was observed in memory of the advent of the Messiah, as foretold by the prophets. And it is equanimous with the proclamation of the resurrection. Thus the early Christian Passover turned out to be a unitive celebration in memory of the passion-death-resurrection of Jesus. However, by the 4th century, Good Friday came to be observed as a separate occasion. And the Pascha Sunday had been devoted exclusively to the honor of the glorious resurrection. Throughout the Christendom the Sunday of Pascha had become a holiday to honor Christ. At the same time many of the pagan spring rites came to be a part of its celebration. May be it was the increasing number of new converts who could not totally break free of the influence of pagan culture of their forefathers. But despite all the influence there was an important shift in the spirit. No more glorification of the physical return of the Sun God. Instead the emphasis was shifted to the Sun of Righteousness who had won banishing the horrors of death for ever. The Feast of Easter was well established by the second century. But there had been dispute over the exact date of the Easter observance between the Eastern and Western Churches. The East wanted to have it on a weekday because early Christians observed Passover every year on the 14th of Nisan, the month based on the lunar calendar. But, the West wanted that Easter should always be a Sunday regardless of the date. To solve this problem the emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicaea in 325. The question of the date of Easter was one of its main concerns. The council decided that Easter should fall on Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. But fixing up the date of the Equinox was still a problem. The Alexandrians, noted for their rich knowledge in astronomical calculations were given the task. And March 21 was made out to be the perfect date for spring equinox. The dating of Easter today follows the same. Accordingly, churches in the West observe it on the first day of the full moon that occurs on or following the Spring equinox on March 21., it became a movable feast between March 21 and April 25. Still some churches in the East observe Easter according to the date of the Passover festival. The preparation takes off as early as on the Ash Wednesday from which the period of penitence in the Lent begins. The Lent and the Holy week end on the Easter Sunday, the day of resurrection."

CatholicExpert.Com

==========vmalpan@gmail.com

Presence of the Risen Lord

Cardinal Donates Savings

to Start Bank for Poor Naples Prelate Enables Offering of Micro-Credits NAPLES, Italy, APRIL 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).

Cardinal Crescenzio Sepeis responding to the world economic crisis with more than exhortations; he is donating a year's stipend and part of his personal savings to initiate a diocesan bank that will offer micro-credits to the poor. The Naples archbishop explained his plan in a pastoral letter titled"Where Can We Buy Bread," presented in the archdiocese Wednesday. The pastoral letter takes its title from the question posed to Jesus by the disciples before the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Cardinal Sepe said the initiative aims to respond to the needs of"unemployed young people, and also of all those who have lost or will lose their jobs." "Christ wishes to use our hands today to break the bread of sharing,of fraternity and of charity," he noted, inviting all those who are able to help finance the initiative. "[F]ar from being a practice of pure welfare, the micro-credit will Be the way to make the creativity and ingenuity of our people emerge again," the archbishop affirmed. It means "to have the courage to believe in man and to wager on the possibility of multiplying the loaves and fishes." Cardinal Sepe underlined that in these times of crisis, "we have before us a hungry throng that, as sheep without a shepherd, asks for bread." "To offer an opportunity to all those who ask for bread is the only way that we Christians have to address unemployment and new poverties,contributing to the restructuring of the social fabric at a time in which the economy does not succeed in offering a way out," he added. The cardinal said his diocese is promoting this initiative in continuity with all that the Italian bishops have stated, noting their call "for a crusade of charity and assistance." Globalized poverty In describing the crisis, the cardinal observed: "We agree that we have built our society on sand and not on rock and, basing ourselves solely on economic calculation, have built the umpteenth tower of Babel. "We thought that the globalization of markets would bring us further well-being, wealth for all, and instead we globalized poverty. "And now, as evening draws near, we all find ourselves in the same boat and, like the disciples, while the Master exhorted them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, we can say nothing other than: 'We have no bread.'"

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How can I make the presence of the Risen Lord felt

in my surroundings?

Even if I offer a cup of water to the other to alleviate his/her thirst, that would undoubtedly shine in the glory of the Risen Lord! So be It!

vmalpan@gmail.com

"HOPE" IS THE MESSAGE

VATICAN CITY (AP)

Pope Benedict XVI sought to give a message of hope on Easter Sunday to victims of wars, poverty and financial turmoil, saying it was urgently needed to overcome the miseries that are plaguing Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the globe. Benedict delivered his "Urbi et Orbi" message - Latin for "to the city and the world" - after celebrating Easter Mass before tens of thousands of people who packed St. Peter's Square and the boulevard leading up to it. The piazza, decorated with yellow tulips, azaleas, apple blossoms and other spring flowers, overflowed with the faithful celebrating the most joyous and important day in the Christian church calendar,Christ's resurrection. In his speech, Benedict said hope was urgently needed around the globe, despite mounting reasons for despair. "At a time of world food shortage, of financial turmoil, of old an dnew forms of poverty, of disturbing climate change, of violence and depravation which force many to leave their homelands in search of a less precarious form of existence, of the ever-present threat of terrorism, of growing fears over the future, it is urgent to rediscover grounds for hope," he said. In Jerusalem, the faithful celebrated Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, traditionally believed to mark the site where Jesus was crucified, buried and then resurrected. Brown-robed friars marched into the church to the sound of bagpipes, followed by clergymen in purple capes and others bearing crosses. And in the earthquake-ravaged central Italian city of L'Aquila,survivors gathered in makeshift chapels set up in tent cities that are housing some of the 55,000 people driven from their homes by Monday's6.3-magnitude temblor. "We are all a little bit angry with God because we never expected a tragedy this big," L'Aquila Archbishop Giuseppe Molinari told the faithful gathered in a tent. "But even anger toward God is a sign of faith." Benedict, who is expected to visit the quake zone soon, issued special Easter wishes to the quake survivors praying that they have "the courage necessary to go forward together to build a future open to hope." Benedict delivered his Easter message from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, tripping slightly as he climbed up to his gilded chair. As aides lunged to steady him, he recovered and delivered his speech to the crowds below. He noted that he plans to travel to the Holy Land in just a few weeks and said he would bring a message of hope and love to the region. "Reconciliation - difficult but indispensable - is a precondition fora future of overall security and peaceful coexistence, and it can only be achieved through renewed, persevering and sincere efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he said. And he recalled his recent trip to Africa in urging the faithful to keep up hope to combat poverty and wars. "Africa suffers disproportionately from the cruel and unending conflicts, often forgotten, that are causing so much bloodshed and destruction in several of her nations, and from the growing numbers of her sons and daughters who fall prey to hunger, poverty and disease,"Benedict said. The crowd shouted "Benedetto" - Italian for Benedict - as they waited for him to appear at the loggia. They cheered as they awaited his Easter blessing, this year delivered in 63 languages.

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Easter Monday: Feeling at Home Again

Fresh Life of Easter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Somewhere within The seed has sprouted I can feel its movement; I can sense its energy. Somewhere within The rainfall has reached My desert has gone, My dryness has disappeared.

Somewhere within I’ve been given life again I can say goodbye to emptiness; I can say hello to fullness. Somewhere within

My yearning has been met The God of graciousness has graced, The God of tenderness has blessed. Somewhere within I feel at home again I have enthusiasm; I want to dream And so The circle of my life-journey Has once more Come into its season of spring.” ( Joyce Rupp) """""""""""""""""""""""""

“THOU hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.

This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills

and dales, and hast breathed through it

melodies eternally new.

At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable. Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine.

Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill.”

(Rabindranath Tagore: Gitanjali)

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vmalpan@gmail.com

2009-Easter Sunday:Invitation to Come Alive

The Compelling Message of Easter Sunday to All of Us is to Come back to Life! (Do not cling to death in any one of its forms)

Happy Easter to You!

>>>>>>>>>>> Passages from Scripture: Mtt 28: 1-10 Appearance to women. “Do not be afraid”…

Jn 20: 11-18 Appearance to Mary Magdalene… I have seen the Lord.

Lk 24: 9-12, 33-34 Appearance to Peter…..

1 Cor 15: 50-58“O death where is thy victory? O death where is thy sting? Col 3: 1-4 We do not just want our old life patched up - We want to make a breakthrough to a completely new way of living, because Christ, in and through his resurrection, has ushered in a totally new way of life, for himself and for us… A new and transformed order of life is possible for me…

~~~~~~~The paschal mystery is the life, passion, death and resurrection of Christ and his ascension into heaven. Our resurrection with Christ in this life is not complete and will consist in the spiritual joy that comes from an intense spiritual life with Christ in the Spirit… Suffering is not eliminated but hundredfold now will be to taste and see how sweet the Lord is. We rejoice that Christ is raised from the dead and we ask him to give us his consolation constantly so that we may find him in all things. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Easter in our Lives

Each time we love again after having our love rejected, we share in the power of the resurrection.

Each time we trust again after having our trust betrayed, we share in the resurrection.

Each time we fail and try again, we share in the resurrection.

Each time we hope again after having our hope smashed into pieces, we share in the resurrection.

Each time we pick up the pieces, wipe our tears, face the sun, and start again, we share in the power of the resurrection.

Each time we dare see something good in others, we are in the light of the resurrection.

Each time we heartily forgive others, we proclaim the Risen Lord.

Each time we recognize and accept that we are fallible human beings, the strength of the Risen Lord envelops and embraces us.

Each time we go out of our way and help those who are poor and in need, we participate in the liberating power of the Crucified and Risen Lord.

Each time we show our gratefulness to those who may point out in good faith our shortcomings, we rise to the stature of a genuine disciple of Jesus, the Risen Lord.

The message of Easter is that nothing can destroy us anymore - not pain, not sorrow, not sin, not rejection, not even death.

The revelation coming from Easter is that Christ has conquered all, and that we too can conquer all, if we unite ourselves with him.

It is good news that we don't have to wait until death to share in the resurrection of Christ Jesus.

We can begin to do it right now, in this life, at this moment.

May the Risen Lord "EASTER IN US!"

~~~~~~~~~vmalpan@gmail.com