O valor da educação (...)(1) não está na aprendizagem de muitos factos, mas sim no treino da mente para pensar em coisas que não podem ser aprendidas nos manuais.
English: "The value of an education [in a liberal arts college] is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks."
Exercício prático 21out13:
O dilema de Sita (lenda indiana): Sita está casada com um rico e poderoso mercador. Mas Sita também está apaixonada pelo ferreiro, homem jovem e belo. Os dois homens são os melhores amigos um do outro. Conhecem os sentimentos ambivalentes de Sita e, em desespero, decidem ambos cortar o pescoço. Sita descobre a tragédia e volta-se para a deusa Kali e implora-lhe que dê a vida de novo aos dois homens. A deusa Kali aceita e pede a Sita que junte a cabeça e o corpo de cada um. Só que Sita, na aflição de trazer os homens de novo à vida, engana-se e junta a cabeça de um ao corpo do outro.
Quando ambos retornam à vida, qual deles é o marido rico e poderoso mercador, qual deles é o homem jovem e formoso?
Practical exercise 28oct13:
[English]: Sita's dilemma (indian legende) Sita is married to a rich opulent merchant but she is also in love with the blacksmith, handsome young man. The two men are best friends and in despair both decided to cut the neck. Sita discovers the massacre and asks the goddess Kali to bring them back to life . The goddess ordered her to put the heads of both men in the right position, over the shoulders, but, Sita, ansiously, does it wrong and change heads and bodies... When they are resurrected which is the husband, which is the lover?
[français] Le dilemme de Sita (légende indienne): Sita est mariée à un riche marchand opulent mais elle est aussi amoureuse du forgeron, beau jeune homme. Les deux sont les meilleurs amis et dans le désespoir décident de se trancher le cou. Sita découvre le massacre et implore la déesse Kâlî de leur redonner vie. La déesse lui ordonne de remettre en place les têtes des deux jeunes hommes, ce qu’elle fait mais elle se trompe... Quand ils sont ressuscités lequel est le mari, lequel est l’amant ?
(1) Large quotation: "While Einstein was in Boston, staying at the Hotel Copley Plaza, he was given a copy of Edison's questionnaire to see whether he could answer the questions. As soon as he read the question: "What is the speed of sound?" he said: "I don't know. I don't burden my memory with such facts that I can easily find in any textbook," Nor did he agree with Edison's opinion on the uselessness of college education. He remarked: "It is not so very important for a person to learn facts. For that he does not really need a college. He can learn them from books. The value of an education in a liberal arts college is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks." For this reason, according to Einstein, there can be no doubt of the value of a general college education even in our time."
("Einstein His Life and Times" by Philipp Frank, 1947)
"Na perspectiva cósmica, cada um de nós é precioso. Se um ser humano não concordar consigo, deixe-o viver em paz. Não vai encontrar outro igual em cem milhões de galáxias."
