Heller M, Woodin W.H. (eds.) Infinity. New research frontiers (CUP, 2011)(ISBN 1107003873)(O)(327s)_MAml_

206 infinity and the nostalgia of the starseverything, is much more important to a man than his own happiness. The whole lawof human existence consists merely of making it possible for every man to bow downbefore what is infinitely great. If man were to be deprived of the infinitely great, hewould refuse to go on living, and die of despair” (Dostoevsky 1872).Clearly, the “infinitely great” that Dostoevsky mentions is not merely an endlessexpanse of space or material. We all realize that Dostoevsky’s “infinitely great” issomething of a different nature than any measurable physical quantity. It is not a verylarge number, say, the number of elementary particles in the universe, or even theinfinite set of elementary particles in the infinite universe; nor is it a mathematicalinfinity larger than any physical counterpart. This “infinitely great” speaks of ourdeepest longing for happiness, of our ultimate need for forgiveness and peace. In fact,even those infinite arrays of infinite worlds postulated by multiverse theories would beway too narrow to satisfy the extent of human aspiration. The “Infinity” that the humanheart longs for cannot be filled by any endless amount of space, time, or matter. In thewords of Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi,. . . the inability to be satisfied by any worldly thing or, so to speak, by the entire world. Toconsider the inestimable amplitude of space, the number of worlds and their astonishingsize – then to discover that all this is small and insignificant compared to the capacity ofone’s own mind; to imagine the infinite number of worlds, the infinite universe, then feelthat our mind and aspirations might be even greater than such a universe; to accuse thingsalways of being inadequate and meaningless; to suffer want, emptiness, and hence ennui –this seems to me the chief sign of the grandeur and nobility of human nature.(Leopardi 1981)The physical universe, however infinite and diverse, does not seem to fulfill the yearningof a single fragile human being. Again Dostoevsky commented that the bee knows thesecret of its beehive, the ant knows the secret of its anthill, but man does not know hisown secret. The fact that we understand each other when we speak of the “infinitelygreat” signals that indeed all human beings are structured with a fundamental capacityfor such infinity. If relationship with the infinite is indeed part of the very structure ofhuman beings, then we expect that there will be aspects of human existence that cannotbe constrained within a limited perimeter. It is interesting to explore the dynamism ofvarious levels of human experience in which infinity appears as a clear feature.Human desire, first of all, cannot be locked up within any finite measure. It “burststhrough the walls of any place within which one would want to restrain it” (Giussani1997, p. 79). The human heart is an aspiration to Infinity, as it is apparent whenconsidering the impossibility of our desire to be completely fulfilled by any finiteachievement. Similarly, the human mind is continuously open to an ultimate meaning.No partial answer will really satisfy the quest for deeper explanation. Scientific inquiryis a wonderful example of how human reason, after every finite achievement, is relentlesslystruggling to reach beyond the acquired knowledge. But perhaps the personalexperience in which reference to an Infinity is most undisputable is love: 22 the boundlessintergalactic space becomes like nothing compared to the true love for a single22 The recent Encyclical Deus Caritas Est by Pope Benedictus XVI describes with unprecedented depth thedimensions of love.