Quanta

The equations of quantum mechanics and their consequences are used daily in widely varying fields... yet they remain mysterious. For they do not describe what happens to a physical system, but only how a physical system affects another physical system. What does this mean? That the essential reality of a system is indescribable? Does it mean that we only lack a piece of the puzzle? Or does it mean, as it seems to me, that we must accept the idea that reality is only interaction?

Carlo Rovelli: Seven Brief Lessons On Physics (Second Lesson: Quanta)

Palm Sunday

Leaving church yesterday I came face to face with a donkey named Mungo, who was taking part in the Palm Sunday procession. It reminded me of Chesterton's poem - the last stanza always sends a shiver down my spine.

When fishes flew and forests walked,

    And figs grew upon thorn,

Some moment when the moon was blood

   Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry

   And ears like errant wings,

The devil’s walking parody

   On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,

   Of ancient crooked will;

Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,

   I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;

   One far fierce hour and sweet:

There was a shout about my ears,

   And palms before my feet.

(The Donkey by G. K. Chesterton)

Pushed the sleeping toddler around Kelsey Park. There are always things to be grateful for on a walk, no matter where you go. Here are my top 5 from today:

* a white pigeon sitting in a white flowering tree against a white sky
* the clicking, clucking percussion of a heronry
* rippled water with a misty backdrop 
* intricately weaving tree roots exposed on a riverbank
* the small rat scurrying under leaves which let me get close enough to see him


Grant unto thy people that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found...

(Collect for 5th Sunday in Lent)