[Full disclosure, this post is all over the place] — Last night I went on a mini TED binge and somehow ended on the path of public speaking (and confidence in general). Throughout The 7 Secrets of the Greatest Speakers in History, Robert Greene compiles some incredible speeches to discuss why (and how) the speeches themselves served as tipping points in American history.
There were actually a few that I’d never seen or heard before…and at one point he showcases this little treasure (which was the only one he didn’t have audio/video for):
The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious…
To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beautify and simplicity are but a feeble reflection…
To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is.
—Albert Einstein
Heavy stuff. Let’s shift the conversation in that direction for a second…
So many aspects of the human experience are entirely mysterious (and will likely remain that way for quite a while). From the size/age of the universe, to the the complexity of the human brain, to life & death, it seems at times that we really have no idea what’s going on with this surrounding context of ours.
But that’s alright. As Einstein says, that contemplation itself is a beautiful experience. Plus, we seem to inch our way toward uncovering more and more of these secrets each day.
I clearly took a hard left turn to super-deep existential land here…but while we’re at it, take a few minutes to watch of my favorite Neil Degrasse Tyson videos:
More heavy goodies:
- The sharpest image ever take of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) (article + zoomable image)
- Earth/Stars size comparison (3 min video)
- Terence McKenna on interpreting reality (2 min video)
Alright, all done, thanks for playing 