“Reality becomes illusory and observer-oriented when you study general relativity. Or Buddhism. Or get drafted.”

—  Joe Haldeman, book The Forever War

Source: The Forever War (1974), Chapter 10 (p. 46)
Context: Relativity propped it up, at least gave it the illusion of being there... the way all reality becomes illusory and observer-oriented when you study general relativity. Or Buddhism. Or get drafted.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Reality becomes illusory and observer-oriented when you study general relativity. Or Buddhism. Or get drafted." by Joe Haldeman?
Joe Haldeman photo
Joe Haldeman29
American science fiction writer 1943

Related quotes

Shunryu Suzuki photo

“The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism but to study ourselves. You are not your body. You are the Big Activity. You are just expressing the smallest particle of the Big Activity. That is all. But when you become attached to a temporal expression of the Big Activity, it is time to talk about Buddhism.”

Shunryu Suzuki book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Part 3, No. 3 "Study Yourself"
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1973)

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy photo

“The more superficially one studies Buddhism, the more it seems to differ from the Brahmanism in which it originated; the more profound our study, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish Buddhism from Brahmanism”

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877–1947) Ceylon-American art historian

Ananda Coomaraswamy, Hinduism and Buddhism
Context: The more superficially one studies Buddhism, the more it seems to differ from the Brahmanism in which it originated; the more profound our study, the more difficult it becomes to distinguish Buddhism from Brahmanism, or to say in what respects, if any, Buddhism is really unorthodox. The outstanding distinction lies in the fact that Buddhist doctrine is propounded by an apparently historical founder, understood to have lived and taught in the sixth century B. C. Beyond this there are only broad distinctions of emphasis. It is taken almost for granted that one must have abandoned the world if the Way is to be followed and the doctrine understood.... but nothing could be described as a 'social reform' or as a protest against the caste system. The repeated distinction of the 'true Brahman' from the mere Brahman by birth is one that had already been drawn again and again in the Brahmanical books.

Dogen photo

“To study Buddhism is to study ourselves. To study ourselves is to forget ourselves.”

Dogen (1200–1253) Japanese Zen buddhist teacher

Source: As quoted in Exploring the Inner World : A Guidebook for Personal Growth and Renewal (1974) by Tolbert McCarroll, p. 6

Dogen photo

“Students of the Way must not study Buddhism for the sake of themselves. They must study Buddhism only for the sake of Buddhism. The key to this is to renounce both body and mind without holding anything back and to offer them to the great sea of Buddhism.”

Dogen (1200–1253) Japanese Zen buddhist teacher

V, 2
Shobogenzo Zuimonki (1238)

Dogen photo

“Just study Buddhism. Don't follow the sentiments of the world.”

Dogen (1200–1253) Japanese Zen buddhist teacher

V, 9
Shobogenzo Zuimonki (1238)

Tenzin Gyatso photo

“If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change. In my view, science and Buddhism share a search for the truth and for understanding reality. By learning from science about aspects of reality where its understanding may be more advanced, I believe that Buddhism enriches its own worldview.”

Tenzin Gyatso (1935) spiritual leader of Tibet

The New York Times (12 November 2005).

Cheng Yen photo

“To study Buddhism under me is to adopt a new way of life.”

Cheng Yen (1937) Taiwanese Buddhist nun

Source: Master of Love and Mercy: Cheng Yen, p. 20

Gerald James Whitrow photo

“As the degree of observational accuracy at which general relativity becomes significantly different from Newtonian theory is far from being achieved in this field, and as stellar velocities are small compared with light, there is no sign yet that any non-Newtonian theory is required.”

Gerald James Whitrow (1912–2000) British mathematician

"Newton and the Stars" (10 Oct 1957)

Willem de Sitter photo

“There is another side to the theory of relativity. We have pointed out in the beginning how the development of science is in the direction to make it less subjective, to separate more and more in the observed facts that which belongs to the reality behind the phenomena, the absolute, from the subjective element, which is introduced by the observer, the relative. Einstein's theory is a great step in that direction. We can say that the theory of relativity is intended to remove entirely the relative and exhibit the pure absolute.”

Willem de Sitter (1872–1934) Dutch cosmologist

Kosmos (1932), Above is Beginning Quote of the Last Chapter: Relativity and Modern Theories of the Universe -->

Klaus Kinski photo

“At sixteen I get drafted. When I read the draft notice, I cry. Not because I'm a coward - I'm not afraid of anyone. But I don't want to kill or be killed.”

Klaus Kinski (1926–1991) German actor

Source: Kinski Uncut : The Autobiography of Klaus Kinski (1996), p. 42

Related topics