Saturday, May 5, 2012

Waves in Nature

Surface Waves
Are you an observer of waves?

I was an observer of waves in water long before I knew waves were everywhere.

I observed waves long before I knew that light waves make things visible, or that sound waves make things audible, or even that solid things vibrate at a certain frequency.

In waves we observe how energy changes from one state to another and back again.
It would be possible to describe absolutely everything scientifically, but it would make no sense. It would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.
~ Albert Einstein
Dunes Oceano, Ansel Adams, 1963
Ansel Adams, Dunes Oceano, 1963
A wave travels through space-time and is accompanied by a transfer of energy, but there's something more poetic and indescribable about waves.

There are waves one creates and waves one experiences, waves one can see and waves one can feel.
Dunes Oceano, Edward Weston, 1936
Edward Weston, Dunes Oceano, 1936
The first wave says, "You don't understand! We're all going to crash!
All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn't it terrible?"


The second wave says,
"No, you don't understand. You're not a wave, you're part of the ocean.

~ Morrie Schwartz,
   from Tuesdays with Morrie
When does a wave begin? When does it end? Are the terms beginning and end relevant in the context of waves?
I am you; you are me. You are the waves; I am the ocean. Know this and be free, be divine.
~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba

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