The Great Cosmic Dance
- Western science meets Eastern mysticism -
"Dancing, he sustains its manifold phenomena. In the fullness of time, still dancing, He destroys all forms and names by fire and gives new rest. This is poetry, but none the less, science."
- Ananda Coomaraswamy -
According to the ancient beliefs of India, all life is part of a great a rhythmic process of creation and destruction, of death and re-birth. As the cosmic dancer, Shiva is the symbolic "Lord of Creation and Destruction", who sustains through his dance, the endless rhythm of the universe. His dance is an important symbol in Yoga, representing the eternal life-death rhythm which goes on in endless cycles.
"Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and the birth and death of all creatures, but is also the very essence of all inorganic matter...
Modern physics has thus revealed that every sub-atomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of perpetual creation and destruction... The dance of Shiva is the dancing universe...
The metaphor of the Cosmic Dance thus unifies ancient mythology and modern physics."
- Fritjof Capra, physicist
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