Who better to be part of one of my experiences of synchronicity than Brian Greene. Two days ago I wrote about him, then a day later the New York Times published an op-ed he authored about the nature of time.

One of the most interesting points he makes is that with a more scientific understanding of time (as opposed to our more intuitive but inherently subjective experience of it), it’s perhaps even possible “in moments of loss [to take] comfort from the knowledge that all events exist eternally in the expanse of space and time, with the partition into past, present and future being a useful but subjective organization.” How zen, and how beautiful.

In high school I was a math whiz and have continued to be fascinated by mathematics and contemporary physics, though in college I made a decision not to pursue them formally, going down the social sciences road instead. Sometimes, though, I wish I’d taken that other path, for the sheer intellectual joy for their work that so many mathematicians and physicists seem to express. On the other hand, in some parallel universe, Thom-2 did (and Brian Greene-2 is blogging about him).