Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...

Chapter 2
The Sacrifice
The sacrifice which causes sorrow to the doer of the sacrifice is no
sacrifice. Real sacrifice lightens the mind of the doer and gives
him a sense of peace and joy. The Buddha gave up the pleasures
of life because they had become painful to him.... A man who
was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good
of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the
world. It was a perfect act. (Mahatma Gandhi)
A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it. (Oscar
Wilde)
The idea and practice of sacrifice is central in many religions including
Christianity, with Jesus Christ’s death on the cross the ultimate atonement
for the sins of humankind. There is correspondence between the sacrifice and
the gain from the sacrifice. The bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the gain. To
get something you must give something. To get something big you must give
away something big. A dinner at a top restaurant costs a fortune, and this
is an essential part of the experience: You get what you pay for.
Dr Faustus sacrifices his soul to win the magics of science: An ultimate
sacrifice to win an ultimate capacity.
Einstein sacrificed the notion of space and time, the ultimate sacrifice in
science. This made him the hero of modern physics: Einstein saved physics
by sacrificing physics: The ultimate tragedy.
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