Chapter 30 Think about it, isn't it also very good?

There are often such shots in American movies. Someone walks to a place such as the Grand Canyon and stands on a promontory that stretches out into the void. Then the camera rotates 360 degrees, allowing us to see the whole world crawling under his feet.We know that this man has gone to the end of the world, and he is free.Sometimes a good history book, such as Arnold Toynbee's A Study in History, can take me to similar places.From this, I discovered that human life is so complicated that no one can grasp it except the so-called God, and I am afraid that no one can really understand it, and those powerful people who shine in the history are nothing but the scum in the vortex.

This reminds me of my feelings in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. At that time, under the blue sky, I looked at the snow-capped mountains and glass-like lakes and thought, ah, this is the earth, it is really amazing.The vastness of history and the magnificence of the plateau will both impact a person's sensibility, and make you surprised that the world is not the mediocre way you are familiar with, so you are somewhat excited, but you are no longer a young man full of pride, so you are also I no longer believe that one day I will stand on the headland at the end of the world.

I had a similar feeling when I was reading a book on the history of astronomy, and it was like you've been living in a prison and suddenly the walls disappear in front of you.Discovering the deep side in the vastness of things has always had a huge impact on human psychology. Science and religion, true or false, are all magic powers here?I read an interview with Yang Zhenning. He said that he was deeply shocked by physics research, deeply attracted by a kind of beauty, and felt offended, "as if he had seen something that shouldn't be seen." So the world is pretty interesting.For those who see the world as a toy, perhaps it is more interesting.For me, the world is just this spinning planet. The most distant place is probably Antarctica, where whales spout and play, where penguins make sushi like in "Madagascar", and red bean icebergs are dying because of Excessive carbon dioxide emissions and slow melting, and then there is a different dimension.But an astronomer can lie in front of a radio telescope, watch the light emitted by a star millions of years ago, and deduce from the bending of light that the universe is a finite but boundless space.That's what makes me jealous: someone can have a world that's completely different from mine, a world that actually exists that I can't even imagine.

It's shameful to say that I have really thought about the theory of relativity: why does a bullet pass through a falling room, and the people in the room will see that the bullet's trajectory is curved?Once I interviewed a physicist and specifically asked this question.The physicist gave me an answer, but it was so common that I didn't remember it at all. I only remembered his expression: What are you doing studying this? It's a good question: what am I going to do?The answer is, I'm curious.The theory of relativity is so famous, I always want to know more about it.Besides, people are vain. Since Einstein has the best mind in human history, I naturally hope that my mind can keep up with him.I even thought I had figured out relativity, it wasn't complicated anyway.But the remaining rationality tells me that this is not a Sudoku game or something.So I sadly recalled that I only read physics until the first year of high school.

The truth is, I want to experience vastness, freedom and truth.As the ancients said, mind wandering is too empty, this is what I want.It sounds mysterious, but it is actually very simple. If a person controls the mysteries of a place, he is free in this place.If a person understands the universe, his mind can fly freely and boundlessly; if he understands history, he can feel the weight of eternal time in his mind.To me it's like an unattainable erotic dream, but I still think that if I were the best physicist or other scholar, I could experience all the magnificent and mysterious things, just like sitting Be in the front row to watch God play.

Regarding this kind of unattainable thoughts and melancholy, Frost has a famous poem that makes it very clear: There are two roads in the forest, and you can only walk on one forever, and miss the other.There is a more appropriate plot in it.Jack in that novel is impotent due to war trauma, but the heroine Brett likes him very much.At the end of the novel, they're sitting in a taxi, and Brett says, well, Jack, if only we could be together.A mounted policeman in khaki uniform ahead, directing traffic, raised his baton, and the car slowed suddenly, bringing Brett close to Jack. "Yes," he said, "isn't it good to think of it that way?"

It's sad and ridiculous to say it, but I think it's a really romantic story.