Happy Pi Day

NATURE and Nature’s Laws lay hid in Night:

 God said, “Let Newton be!” and all was light.

Alexander Pope

Back in my mispent high school days I got extra credit in one of my math classes by giving presentations on Friday each week on the lives of famous mathemeticians, my way of compensating for the fact that math and I have always had a tortured relationship.  However, even though higher math will always remain a closed book to me, the history of math is not, and it reminds me that exploration in the realm of pure knowledge can be just as exciting as the exploration of the earth and the stars.  Faith and Reason allow us to explore the glory of God’s creation and what we do with the knowledge we gain thereby makes all the difference, both in time and in eternity.

Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau:
Mock on, mock on: ‘tis all in vain!
You throw the sand against the wind,
And the wind blows it back again.

And every sand becomes a Gem,
Reflected in the beam divine;
Blown back they blind the mocking Eye,
But still in Israel’s paths they shine.

The Atoms of Democritus
And the Newton’s Particles of Light
Are sands upon the Red Sea shore,
Where Israel’s tents do shine so bright.

William Blake