"Among the many things that religious tradition holds in store for us is a legacy of wonder. The surest way to suppress our ability to understand the meaning of G-d and the importance of worship is to take things for granted. Indifference to the sublime wonder of living is the root of sin. Modern man fell into the trap of believing that everything can be explained, that reality is a simple affair which has only to be organized in order to be mastered. All enigmas can be solved, and all wonder is nothing but “the effect of novelty upon ignorance.” The world, he was convinced, is its own explanation, and there is no necessity to go beyond the world in order to account for the existence of the world. This lack of wonder, this exaggeration of the claim of scientific inquiry, is more characteristic of writers of popular science books and of interpreters of science to the laymen than of the creative scientists themselves. Spencer and others “seem to be possessed with the idea that science has got the universe pretty well ciphered down to a fine point; while the Faradays and Newtons seem to themselves like children who have picked up a few pretty pebbles upon the ocean beach. But most of us find it difficulty to recognize the greatness and wonder of things familiar to us.” [Charles S. Peirce, Collected Papers, Cambridge, Mass., 1935, vol. V, p. 65].
“The facts of the case, we venture to say, are so wonderful that from first to last no general impression of Nature reached along scientific or any other lines can be even in the direction of being true that does not sound the note of joyous appreciation and of reverent wonder.” [J. Arthur Thomson, The System of Inanimate Nature, p. 650.]
“The history of European thought, even to the present day, has been tainted by a fatal misunderstanding. It may be termed The Dogmatic Fallacy. The error consists in the persuasion that we are capable of producing notions which are adequately defined in respect to the complexity of relationship required for their illustration in the real world. Canst thou by searching describe the universe? Except perhaps for the simpler notions of arithmetic, even our most familiar ideas, seemingly obvious, are infected with this incurable vagueness. Our right understanding of the methods of intellectual progress depends on keeping in mind this characteristic of our thoughts. During the medieval epoch in Europe, the theologians were the chief sinners in respect to dogmatic finality. During the last three centuries, their bad pre-eminence in this habit passed to the men of science.” [A. N. Whitehead, Adventures of Ideas, New York, 1933, p. 185].
When the electric streetcar made its first appearance in the city of Warsaw, some good old Jews could not believe their own eyes. A car that moves without a horse! Some of them were stupefied and frightened, and all were at a loss how to explain the amazing invention. Once while discussing the matter in the synagogue, a man entered who in addition to studying Gemara was reputed to know books on secular subjects, to subscribe to a newspaper, and to be well versed in worldly affairs.
—You must know you how this thing works, they all turned to him.
—Of course, I know, he said. And they were all hanging on his every word with total concentration.
—Imagine four large wheels in a vertical position in four corners of a square, connected to each other by wires. You get it?
—Yes, we get it.
—The wires are tied in a knot in the center of the square and placed within a large wheel which is placed in a horizontal position. You get it?
—Yes, we get it.
—Above the large wheel, there are several wheels, one smaller than the other. You get it?
—Yes, we get it.
—On the top of the smallest wheel there is a tiny screw which is connected by a wire to the center of the car which lies on top of the wheels. Do you get it?
—Yes, we get it.
—The machinist in the car presses the button that moves the screw that brings the horizontal wheels to move, and thus the car runs through the street.
—Ah, now we understand!"
