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

210 infinity and the nostalgia of the starsWe have seen some examples of how artistic language can be effective in expressingmetaphysical infinity. Repetition of patterns is a most basic feature alluding to infinity,a technique largely exploited in architecture and in ancient as well as modern art. Representationsof a vast horizon, with a purposely introduced element of indefiniteness,are a potent rendering of infinity. The idea of a “hedge,” of an obstruction that partlyveils the direct vision of what lies beyond, can be sapiently used to magnify, rather thanto inhibit, the perception of an ineffable, ultimate mystery. In many cases, the presenceof a human figure, small and apparently insignificant, incarnates the paradoxical natureof the relationship between the ephemeral conscious creature and the “infinitely great.”How does the structure of our physical universe appear to us according to the presentscientific understanding? I claim that the salient characteristics of the physical universeas unveiled by science foreshadow all of the aforementioned aesthetic elements usedin artworks to express an Infinity.Cosmology has shown to us the vertiginous immensity of cosmic space – similarto but much larger than Segantini’s alpine views. The depths of the universe are filledwith rich structures in a rather regular pattern resembling a carefully manufacturedPersian carpet. These structures repeat themselves through billions of light-years, mostsignificantly on the scales of stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies. Nonetheless, wehave a finite horizon, a cosmic hedge in spacetime, an ultimate veil that “from so greata part of the farthest horizon excludes the gaze.” This last curtain of the cosmic theateralso has an element of indefiniteness: it is not sharp and fixed, but rather expands intime, and it treasures the secret of whether the entire picture is physically finite orinfinite – a secret that we may have to accept as forever hidden to our inquiry. Thenwe find, in our physical world, the last decisive element: the human presence, so fragileand apparently insignificant in the cosmic picture, and yet a crucial term of a universethat thinks itself. Man is the realization of a reality that is capable of the infinite. Thevast, perhaps infinite universe does not identify itself with the “infinitely great”; rather,it is perceived as a sign of it. The physical universe thus may be seen as an icon of thatultimate Infinite that we call God.9.8 What Is Man?Different religious traditions have express in a variety of ways their images of the divine.In the Judeo-Christian tradition, infinity is a key attribute of God. As all creatures,human beings are finite and fleeting, yet God created man “in his own image, in theimage of God he created him,” 24 so that he shares something of the infinity of God.This direct relationship of every single human being with the infinity of God provides afoundation for the unlimited value of each human person, irrespective of his/her status,power, health, or intellectual capability: “In only one case is this point ...,[the] singlehuman being, free from the entire world, free, so that the world together and even thetotal universe cannot force him into anything. In only one instance can this image of afree man be explained. This is when we assume that this point is not totally the fruit ofthe biology of the mother and father, not strictly derived from the biological tradition24 Genesis 1:27.