Chapter 81 poetic knowledge and scientific knowledge

Poetic knowledge comes from the intuitive right brain, and scientific knowledge comes from the analytical left brain. Only by using both brains can we understand the truth of the universe and the truth of life. Einstein once asked a psychologist at Princeton University: Why do I always have my best ideas when I shave? The reason is simple, because when shaving, the left brain, which is accustomed to analysis and reasoning, rests for a while, and the mind relaxes its inner control, so it is easier for us to surface unfamiliar thoughts. There are many such examples.For example, when Archimedes was lying in the bathtub and was ecstatically forgetting himself, he suddenly had an idea and felt that the weight (buoyancy) reduced by an object in the liquid was equal to the weight of the same volume of liquid it removed. The whole Archimedes principle It came to his mind at once, making him jump out of the bathtub with joy and run naked through the street.

Another example is Newton, who sat under the apple tree with a dejected expression, and an apple fell and hit him on the head. Why didn't this hateful apple fall into the sky?It was this poetic curse that led to the discovery of the law of universal gravitation. Archimedes, Newton, and Einstein all brought scientific knowledge to mankind, but they obtained the inspiration of this scientific knowledge through poetry.At least, they did not get these inspirations after analysis, reasoning, and verification, but first got inspiration, that is, poetic knowledge, and then verified it. Diersy said: Since the dawn of mechanical science, the function of poetry has been to maintain the great life experience of nature, a mysterious experience that can never be touched by any analysis.Poetry can protect what experience cannot prove, so that it will not die under the surgical scalpel of theoretical science.

In modern society, scientific knowledge has been overemphasized, but poetic knowledge has not received due attention.In fact, a lot of scientific knowledge is preceded by poetic knowledge; scientific knowledge comes from the left brain, while poetic knowledge comes from the right brain. Only by using both brains can we understand the truth of the universe and the truth of life.