"That's what makes a view so sad. And so beautiful. It'll be there when we're not."
Let's explore the famous quote by Virginia Woolf, perhaps one of the most known British Writers of the past century. Born in 1882 as the seventh child, she has contributed to the literary world with many and more Gems, Mrs. Dalloway (1925): To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928) are among her well-known work. In her Novel Between the acts, she has written the above quote, which overlaps with some of main Ideas I have written in previous articles hence it is a good subject to study.
The quote captures following ideas.
A view is both beautiful and sad. It seems there cannot be genuine beauty which is in its platonic form. So always there will be pain in pleasure. You can read about this more in Why I am afraid of beauty.
A view would be there when we are not looking at it. That adds to the pain in a Suttle way. You cannot be on a vacation every day. And all the other days you would be missing sunsets. This is similar to any pleasant experience you are having. It doesn't last. The moment you stop experiencing it ends. This idea is further explored in Unseen world.
How can we get away from the pain, of not being able to capture it all? Just like in limitations in photography, our consciousness is limited. And there is always something missing. Is there a way to solve the problem? This article is trying to explore some of possible solutions. But I can warn you it may not be pleasurable, as pleasure you can see will always be associated with pain. You can call it peace, silence, mindfulness, or nothingness. I can assure you words would not matter if you understood the concept.
Quantum Philosophy.
This is where quantum philosophy comes handy. Look at following ideas from quantum physics. We can provide intuitions to our daily understanding of views from these.
wave particle duality- They can behave as discrete particles (localized entities) and as waves (with associated wavelengths and interference patterns)
Uncertainty principle-The uncertainty principle, formulated by Werner Heisenberg, states that there are limits to how accurately we can predict certain properties of a quantum particle. (like mass and momentum)
Fundamental principle these observations have is, that it is at a certain point in time, it is uncertain what is the mass, position, energy etc. of a particle until you measure it. And there is no way we can predict everything at the same time. And if you explore the cat in the box experiment by the Schrodinger, this illustrates this fact of quantum superposition.
Cat in the box experiment.
Physicist Erwin Schrödinger proposed it to illustrate the challenges of the Copenhagen interpretation. Here’s the setup:
A cat is placed in a sealed box.
Inside the box, there’s a flask of poison and a radioactive source connected to a Geiger counter.
If the Geiger counter detects radioactivity (i.e., a single atom decaying), the flask shatters, releasing the poison and killing the cat.
Now, here’s the twist: until you open the box, the cat is simultaneously both alive and dead due to quantum superposition. The experiment highlights the question of when superposition ends and reality collapses into one possibility or the other. While not meant for actual cats, it illustrates the behavior of atoms and remains an unsolved puzzle in physics.
Virginia Woolf and Quantum philosophy
After all Virginia Woolf seems to have written nothing on quantum philosophy. I think it is due to the fact that these quantum physics was not in any way was in the curriculum of a women who was home schooled. And some of the ideas surely were not even invented.
So, her quote remains as it is. "That's what makes a view so sad. And so beautiful. It'll be there when we're not."
Quantum philosophy suggests that a view would be there and not there when we do not look at it. Just like a cat in the box. And it is really unpredictable, hence a relative truth that the sunset is there when you are not on a vacation. It seems like a stupid argument. However, it is strong enough argument that nobody can break. Hence, we have to take it as a relative truth. And that is also a solution to the problem. If something is a relative truth, there is no need to be sad or greed over it.
Here is another way to look at truths about what we see. What you see is not what it is, but who you are.
I will end the article with another quote from VW. Which reads "Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others" or living in a dream
Comments