Who can answer my Question about Space and Time?

Question

A Question about Space and Time

by Elaine Polin

Behind the laughter tears attack

fended off by grace of God

or by strength of poetry

do those hearing us on

the edge of the Universe

perceive the tears

do they understand Human laughter

or have they so evolved that

emotion is no longer part

of their physicality?

Answer 1

laugh

all you want.

cry about laughing.

look

to space,

and live

your time.

(a septolet without its image,

and i dont think it answered the questions.

but i liked the curiosity)

Answer 2

That's so great, really deep, well done!

Answer 3

They, on the edge, dissociate* and cannot hear the laughter or see the tears because they perhaps choose not to. Laughter with tears is not black and white enough for them. Their confusion dictates their response.

*They can separate the emotion from the physicality but not from their underlying humanity.

  

Answer 4

If evolving means no emotions, give me the tears anyday.  We are meant to explore the universe as we explore our own frontiers: our minds.  Words help define both. Emotions are the engines driving these explorations.  A thoughtful and thought provoking piece.

Answer 5

elaine, you rock

Answer 6

huh?

Answer 7

Space and time are categories of human consciousness.  Tears and laughter are expressions given by our Creator. It is to be expected that evolution progresses at a different rate throughout the Universe, with some behind and before, yet many may attune to our condition whether primitive or advanced. we can also think of time and space folding and layering as tesserae.

Answer 8

If ever I should evolve to the point that I can't laugh or cry, I will be living a virtual death, so shoot me and make it real.

Answer 9

My mother always used to say that women were on a higher evolutionary plane than men!  What criteria she was using to judge I don't know....but, whatever it was it wouldn't fit with your consideration of evolution.  Highly evolved beings should be more emotional not less -  - compassion (a strong emotion) must feature highly in an advanced society, why else would we care for those less fortunate than ourselves?...Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest works in the animal kingdom, but we have risen above that, surely.

Very interesting poem, demanding serious consideration.

Answer 10

Elaine P,

The metaphor is pretty good except that showing redundancy in any word lacks a broader sense of imagination. If intelligent life forms other than us that could hear us from afar, they would not understand our emotions from listening to communicational satellites! Most of our communications are 90% entertainment related and I would pray that other beings would not judge our character from "I Love Lucy" reruns, spying on China or how the weather will s***w up another launch or landing from space... Grade AA    My thoughts on the matter are this...

TIME LIFE SPACE

Behind the curtain attack is eminent

Fended off by a belief in God

Or of strength in mere words...

Could others hear us

From the edge of a Universe?

Perceiving our tears and fears

Our sounds of Human laughter

Evolution modified

So much that emotions

Plays no part in their physicality?

Answer 11

We must be on the same wavelength because I was having similiar thoughts yesterday. When I get in a sort of down mood, I always think about how it would be if I couldnt feel, if I had no emotion and couldnt feel the pain of loneliness or sadness or any of those feelings. But eliminating those feelings would make the good ones (happiness, contentness, etc) less powerful. I hope evolution does not rid us of the ability to cry at our child's graduation, laugh at our husband's corny jokes, and smile up at the sun knowing life is beautiful in all of ours moods. Very thought provoking poem, I really liked this one a lot.

Answer 12

Emotion is not a part of anybody's physicality (using the words 'emotion' and 'physicality' in their regular senses). Emotion is part of one's psychological make-up.

If there are beings on the edge of the Universe (assuming that such a place exist), I can't think of any good reason why they should be more or less emotional than we are.