Search for Reality

countries to explore the mysteries of the universe, such as on research, observatories, and space missions. In the field of astronomy, the results of research often come out after many years of effort. Because of the expenditure of large sums of money on what may appear to some to be a useless cause, many people criticize research plans that seek to enable us to know more about the universe. Answering them, Nobel Prize winner Roger Penrose (b. 1931) asks: “Do economists not share the thrill accompanying each new piece of understanding? Do they not care to know where we have come from, how we are constituted, or why we are here? Are they not driven to understand, entirely independent of economic gain? Do they not appreciate the beauty in ideas?” Penrose adds: “A civilization that stopped inquiring about the universe might also stop asking about other things. A lot else might then die besides particle physics.” (SUNDAY Weekly, Calcutta, November 30, 1980) From these words, we can gauge how important and necessary the issue of understanding the reality of life is. Even someone who does not want to interpret the universe based on God is restless to find something else based on which he can try to explain and make sense of himself, his existence, and the universe. For a creature like man to exist, the visible universe and inside it is so unique that man cannot remain without wondering about its essence or reality. Not even ‘big’ material successes can make him indifferent to such a question.