“[I]n science we have to be particularly cautious about 'why' questions. When we ask, 'Why?' we usually mean 'How?' If we can answer the latter, that generally suffices for our purposes. For example, we might ask: 'Why is the Earth 93 million miles from the Sun?' but what we really probably mean is, 'How is the Earth 93 million miles from the Sun?' That is, we are interested in what physical processes led to the Earth ending up in its present position. 'Why' implicitly suggests purpose, and when we try to understand the solar system in scientific terms, we do not generally ascribe purpose to it.”
― A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing
― A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing
“Self-awareness is a trait that not only makes us human but also paradoxically makes us want to be more than merely human. As I said in my BBC Reith Lectures, “Science tells us we are merely beasts, but we don’t feel like that. We feel like angels trapped inside the bodies of beasts, forever craving transcendence”
― The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human
― The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human
“I like to say that while antimatter may seem strange, it is strange in the sense that Belgians are strange. They are not really strange; it is just that one rarely meets them.”
― A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing
― A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing
“So what I realized when I was a child was that if I were traveling as fast as light while holding a mirror before me, I would not see my image in the mirror, because as fast as the image of my face in light moved toward the mirror, why, just as fast would the mirror be moving away... It is a rather frightening idea, in fact, that if I moved at the speed of light, I could get no confirmation of my existence from an objective source of reflected light such as a mirror. I would be like a ghost in the universe, materially unverifiable in the stream of time.”
― City of God
― City of God
“The teachings of Buddha are eternal, but even then Buddha did not proclaim them to be infallible.
The religion of Buddha has the capacity to change according to times, a quality which no other religion can claim to have...
Now what is the basis of Buddhism?
If you study carefully, you will see that Buddhism is based on reason.
There is an element of flexibility inherent in it, which is not found in any other religion.”
― The Buddha and his Dhamma: A Critical Edition
The religion of Buddha has the capacity to change according to times, a quality which no other religion can claim to have...
Now what is the basis of Buddhism?
If you study carefully, you will see that Buddhism is based on reason.
There is an element of flexibility inherent in it, which is not found in any other religion.”
― The Buddha and his Dhamma: A Critical Edition
Sreejith’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Sreejith’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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