“There is a cave - a cave of wonders.” - you might have recognized this quote as something that the villain Jafar tells Aladdin. While this may be true in Aladdin, the reality is far greater.
There is a hidden world, filled with wonders.
This hidden world shimmers at the veil of the physical reality. It obeys the laws of nature, but continually falls into the infinite world beyond the veil. This hidden world is the fabric of reality, the language of creation, the secret of the universe. This hidden world is mathematics. I may have shown you the evidence of mathematics in the created order through the quadrivium, it doesn’t take long for a student of mathematics to discover that geometry is only the tip of the iceberg. Mathematics may be grounded in logos, but it is revealed in mythos and pathos. We experience the wonder of the world around us more and more as we begin to understand the hidden workings of creation.
Mathematicians must delight in the hidden world. As Einstein reportedly said, “Mathematics is the poetry of logical thought.” In this mysterious world, we seek the truth like Euclid, we glory in the beauty like Fibonacci, and we discover the goodness of the universe like Newton.
May your new year be filled with the new wonders waiting behind each door of learning.