April 2, 2003
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Symmetries…. May 15, 1998
The following journal note, from the day after Sinatra died, was
written before I heard of his death. Note particularly the quote
from Rilke. Other material was suggested, in part, by Alasdair
Gray’s Glasgow novel 1982 Janine. The “Sein Feld” heading is a reference to the Seinfeld
final episode, which aired May 14, 1998. The first column
contains a reference to angels — apparently Hell’s Angels — and the
second column provides a somewhat more serious look at this theological
topic.Sein Feld
1984 Janine
“But Angels love their own
And they’re reaching out
for you
Janine… Oh Janine
— Kim Wilde lyric,
Teases & Dares album,
1984, apparently about
a British biker girl“Logos means above all relation.”
— Simone Weil,
Gateway to God,
Glasgow, 1982“Gesang ist Dasein….
Ein Hauch um nichts.
Ein Wehn im Gott.
Ein Wind.”
— Not Heidegger but Rilke:
Sonnets to Orpheus, I, 3Geometry and Theology
PA lottery May 14, 1998:
256
S8
The group of all projectivities and correlations of PG(3,2).
The above isomorphism implies the geometry of the Mathieu group M24.
“The Leech lattice is a blown-up version of
S(5,8,24).”
— W. Feit
“We have strong evidence that the creator of the universe loves symmetry.”
— Freeman Dyson
“Mackey presents eight axioms from which he deduces the [quantum] theory.”
— M. Schechter
“Theology is about words; science is about things.“
— Freeman Dyson, New York Review of Books, 5/28/98
What is “256″ about?Tape purchased 12/23/97:
Django
Reinhardt
Gypsy Jazz
“In the middle of 1982 Janine
there are pages in which Jock McLeish is fighting with drugs and
alcohol, attempting to either die or come through and get free of his
fantasies. In his delirium, he hears the voice of God, which enters in
small print, pushing against the larger type of his ravings.
Something God says is repeated on the first and last pages of Unlikely Stories, Mostly,
complete with illustration and the words ‘Scotland 1984′ beside it.
God’s statement is ‘Work as if you were in the early days of a better
nation.’ It is the inherent optimism in that statement that
perhaps best captures the strength of Aladair Gray’s fiction, its
straightforwardness and exuberance.”
— Toby Olson, “Eros in Glasgow,” in Book World, The Washington Post, December 16, 1984For another look at angels, see “Winging It,”
by Christopher R. Miller, The New York Times Book Review Bookend page
for Sunday, May 24, 1998. May 24 is the feast day of Sara (also known
by the Hindu name Kali), patron saint of Gypsies.For another, later (July 16, 1998) reply to Dyson, from a source better known than myself, see Why Religion Matters, by Huston Smith, Harper Collins, 2001, page 66.
