I've been trying to think of what it is that makes math seem beautiful (for those who disagree with this, it really is a fundamental truth on par with the law of non-contradiction. Just ask any pure math student). After all, I recoil from the thought of a deterministic universe, one which could be completely described with math. And I don't really see why the fact that mathematical laws govern things is all that spectacular - I'm sure that some mathematical figure could describe just about anything, even random chaos. The way in which math fits together really is a giant tautology.
This morning, though, it hit me. Mathematics is the hope of a fundamental peace in the universe, that beneath the dizzying complexity, there is a clean-fitting unity. Math is music, a vast harmony which subsumes the discordance and disorder of the concrete. Math is a gaze at the infinite through the finite, and the presence of stately structures of the whole within every individual. It is the recognition that there can be a skillful composition underlying the chaos, and that even from the simple things of life magnificent melodies can be produced.
Would this give some meaning to math being the thoughts of God?
No comments:
Post a Comment