Harry Potter Mania ?
With the Harry Potter - 6 due to release this month, the atmosphere is all about expectation and enthusiasm. The wait has been really long, but all i hope is that it's well worth the wait. I will be getting a Harry Potter T-shirt in a few days time, specially made to order, so i can't wait to get my hands on that one too.
Though many dismiss it as childish, which it definitely is not, not many understand that it is an amazingly creative work of literature. Imagining a parallel world, co-existing with our own, though is baffling, it is something we really can't completely brush aside as stupid.
People talk great lengths about science and technology, scientific bent of mind and blah blah blah, and carried away by it in thinking that science is all encompassing. For instance they talk about how gravity affects our life, but they forget as to why gravity is present in the first place. As in what is density, why should earth attract us, how did earth come to be in the first place ?
Man only tries to understand what he can comprehend, in effect he needs proof based on his traditional set of beliefs. There is no room for things that the human mind cannot 'understand'. We stuff ourselves into believing that we are scientifically advanced, that we have a scientific bent of mind, but we hopelessly fall short of realizing that by limiting ourselves to what we see, we do not get the big picture.
Many who dismiss Harry Potter stories are in fact victims of the same notion mentioned above. They are hard-pressed to believe that something that science cannot explain is not real or is a figment of one's imagination. It is, however, necessary to understand that science does not explain everything, and hence denying a creative writing by branding it as rat-piss is not only foolish, but is outright barbaric.
I enjoy reading Harry Potter books, and appreciate the author's creativity. I cannot entangle myself into the scientific realm. I do not go by scientific reasoning.
Science is a Sham !
Though many dismiss it as childish, which it definitely is not, not many understand that it is an amazingly creative work of literature. Imagining a parallel world, co-existing with our own, though is baffling, it is something we really can't completely brush aside as stupid.
People talk great lengths about science and technology, scientific bent of mind and blah blah blah, and carried away by it in thinking that science is all encompassing. For instance they talk about how gravity affects our life, but they forget as to why gravity is present in the first place. As in what is density, why should earth attract us, how did earth come to be in the first place ?
Man only tries to understand what he can comprehend, in effect he needs proof based on his traditional set of beliefs. There is no room for things that the human mind cannot 'understand'. We stuff ourselves into believing that we are scientifically advanced, that we have a scientific bent of mind, but we hopelessly fall short of realizing that by limiting ourselves to what we see, we do not get the big picture.
Many who dismiss Harry Potter stories are in fact victims of the same notion mentioned above. They are hard-pressed to believe that something that science cannot explain is not real or is a figment of one's imagination. It is, however, necessary to understand that science does not explain everything, and hence denying a creative writing by branding it as rat-piss is not only foolish, but is outright barbaric.
I enjoy reading Harry Potter books, and appreciate the author's creativity. I cannot entangle myself into the scientific realm. I do not go by scientific reasoning.
Science is a Sham !
posted by Jagadish at 7:13 AM
7 Comments:
Unlike other posts, this is something I never expected. First, Its not hilarious. Secondly, As far I know, you never considered my weird conceptual ideas in this way, instead you have always critised and laughed (like a mad) at my thoughts, though they are baseless, but are realistic and achievable. I wonder on the very fact that you like reading harry potter books.
I like watching the harry potter movies.
Suneel, regardless of my other posts, this was not meant to be hilarious.
I am not aware of any of your "weird conceptual ideas", but if you throw some light on that, may be i can explain why i laughed at it "like a mad" :D.
The reason i like reading Harry Potter books is that the author tries to justify the possible existence of a parallel world, and gets away with it with awesome grace.
Again, i am really not aware of any instance when i critizised your idea, except for that "South Pole" stuff you tried to give, which i thought was impractical.
:)...thanks, at last i made some sense to you :D..
you are right about imagination and stuff, it is wonderful to read HP for the same reason, the way the story guides us and makes us feel as though we are in the midst of all the characters.
hmmm, i have not read LOTR, though i am sure it is an equally well written story.
Like most other fan-following, HP too has started assuming "Cult" like proportions. I can agree to only one thing here, and that the nice lady weave good yarn. Period. Parallel world is such a old & frighteningly common idea that one might just drown in this literary ocean. Ghost stories (not exculding the Edgar Allan Poe kinds), Matrix, Stargate all are just the same.
precisely! what you have agreed on is exactly what i have tried to explain.
Jagadish,
Your article is interesting. But I have to disagree with your stand on Science.
Today we know why a lot of ancient literature like the Bible or Gita are proved to be so full of bunkum. For example, according to bible, the world was created in 7 days. And that Jesus came as a messenger of God..blah blah Or that there is such a thing as heaven and hell.
NOW we have a better understanding of the human body, and various diseases that would otherwise have wiped out the human race. Demons and Spirits are not the reason why we become ill, but due to germs or an anomaly in your body.
How do we know all this?
SCIENCE.
As science has developed, a lot of mis-information such as mentioned above are simply dissappearing.
I agree that there are a lot of things that science fails to explain. But this only means that our knowledge hasn't yet developed enough to unravel the logic behind the so called unexplained miracles/mysteries.
So, when you make a sweeping statement that "Science is sham," you need to re-evaluate your perception of what Science is.
Creativity is a good thing. Harry Potter novels are definitely enjoyable. But does it make sense to think that such things are possible in real life? Like you said, not impossible, but the chances are very remote. So, when someone says that this is absolutely bunkum because science cannot prove it, that person's knowledge and understanding is to be blamed. Not blame SCIENCE itself.
Remember, nothing defies LOGIC. LOGIC is omnipresent. Only SCIENCE can unravel the logic behind everything. When? In its own sweet time.
Creativity can in fact be science's best friend, if used within reasonable boundaries.
Karthik Sridhar
Hi Karthik,
thanks for analysing it so well.
hmmm....you have a good point when you say science can reveal things in it's on sweet time.
However, my contention is not with science itself, but the perception of science as all encompassing. Agreed we have been able to unravel a lot of things with the help of science and today we know more than what we ever knew. The problem i have is about the concept of existence and the subsequent position Science holds in that purview. The concept of 'Maya' yada yada...
Supernatural experiences etc all point to that unknown part of our mind which humans are yet to explore..may be then our understanding of the system will change completely. My contention is with the fact that science does not accept supernatural happenings, while trying to prove otherwise. You are probably right that Science might eventually prove these happenings, but completely denying it until it's proved is something i find difficult to accept.
About logic, hmmm, again we are dealing with things we do not know why they are here in the first place. logic is nothing but reasoning from inference, so when our inference about things itself is questionable, how are we sure our logic itself is right ?
My whole point is the over emphasis of Science in our understanding of things, which i find slightly crosses the line. The "Scientific bent of mind" does not necessary make a person more saner than a person who thinks supernatural occurances do exist, no matter how infrequent they are.
Existance is such an enigma, it's hard to go by any rule established as universally true, may be it is time bound, but we'll never know until we prove...and when we prove it, we'll never know whether are right, as with all things that have been proved till date.
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