The Big Bang Theory

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field, is an image of a small region of space in the constellation Fornax, composited from Hubble Space Telescope data accumulated over a period from September 3, 2003 through January 16, 2004. The patch of sky in which the galaxies reside was chosen because it had a low density of bright stars in the near-field. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Big Bang theory is a popular scientific theory but by no means a proven fact about the development of the universe.

The Big Bang theory suggests that a massive cosmic explosion took place about 14 to 20 billion years ago, out of which our known universe expanded and developed.

The theory does not account for how the matter/energy required for the hypothesized explosion got there in the first place. Nor does it account for the high degree of specialization and structure found in life that theologians say points to an intelligent designer (i.e. God).

The Big Bang theory is not, as some believe, an adequate replacement for theologically-based creation stories. The Big Bang is nothing more or less than a scientific theory that has captured the imagination of many people.

Not everyone is aware of the fact that many scientists are critical of the Big Bang. The discussion can get pretty technical, so I’ll just outline three leading links for those interested:

• http://science.howstuffworks.com/dictionary/astronomy-terms/big-bang-theory7.htm
• http://www.metaresearch.org/cosmology/bb-top-30.asp
• http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/cosmology/bbproblems.html

The idea of the Big Bang Theory is so popular that it’s not surprising that a hit TV show goes by the same name. IMBD.com sums up the TV show as follows:

A woman who moves into an apartment across the hall from two brilliant but socially awkward physicists shows them how little they know about life outside of the laboratory.

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Cosmology

Hildegard of Bingen receives divine inspiration – Image via Wikipedia

Cosmology is a term used by anthropologists, philosophers, scholars of religion and theologians to denote an individual or group understanding of the world, the universe and beyond. This “map” may or may not include an account of creation.

In contemporary science the term cosmology denotes the creation, structure and evolution of the universe, as with the Big Bang theory.

For all their social legitimacy and status, from a spiritual standpoint modern scientific cosmologies can fall short by ignoring the possibilities of hellish, purgatorial, astral and heavenly realms that could permeate and interact with life on Earth and, indeed, life throughout the universe (assuming life exists beyond our planet).

Perhaps most scientific cosmologists in the 21st century are so focused on their way of seeing the world that there’s little or no room in their hearts, minds and souls to experience numinosity. If they did, they’d probably revise their theories to make them more comprehensive.

Cosmology arguably bears a direct relation to ethics. But these two spheres of inquiry are usually kept apart by philosophers, scholars and theologians. This arbitrary separation of cosmology and ethics has its pitfalls. For instance, a dominant cosmology that excludes the importance of numinosity is probably not going to seriously consider persons claiming to experience numinosity. As a result, persons of numinosity might be marginalized and discriminated against.

The Milky Way Galaxy measured on different wavelengths – Image via Tumblr

While many may naively suppose that science pins down truth, a look at the range of current scientific cosmologies (note: plural) will hopefully dispel that belief.

Instead of truth, what we arguably find is a group of stories, not entirely unlike the ancient myths that preceded them. True, these more recent stories are based on scientific (i.e. measurable and replicable) observation.¹ But their fragmentary nature highlights the fact that human beings cannot really grasp the whole. Not that there’s any harm in trying. But when researchers lose their sense of humility and start overreaching the limits of their observations, all sorts of problems can arise.

For an excellent list of the latest scientific imaginings, see Historical Cosmologies (the latter entries in the chart). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmology. And for a brief timeline see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_cosmology.

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¹ At least, this is what we’re told. In reality fraud and deceit can creep into the halls of science, just any other human endeavor. See Broad and Wade, Betrayers of the Truth: Fraud and Deceit in the Halls of Science.

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• “A” is for axion (Alphabet of Cosmology) (catch26.wordpress.com)
• Astronomers have found the largest structure in the universe (theverge.com)
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• The Kalam Argument – Reddening the faces of atheists everywhere (ferlans.wordpress.com)
• Dynamic, dark energy in an accelerating universe (spacedaily.com)
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• What is the purpose of the Universe? Here is one possible answer. (io9.com)

Nicolas Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus portrait from Town Hall in Thorn/Toruń – 1580 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nicolas Copernicus  (1473-1543) was a Polish scientist and astronomer who specialized in mathematics and optics. He is remembered mostly for advancing the idea that the sun is at he center of the solar system, not the Earth (On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres, 1543).

This was somewhat controversial because Ptolemy‘s theory – that the Earth is the center of the universe – predominated at the time.

Not surprisingly, prominent Churchmen wanted to stamp out his theory. One of such tried to apply the philosophical arguments of St. Thomas Aquinas to do so (name not really worth remembering but if curious, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#Controversy).

The German poet Goethe had this to say about Copernicus’s lasting influence in the history of ideas:

Of all discoveries and opinions, none may have exerted a greater effect on the human spirit than the doctrine of Copernicus.

Copernicus wasn’t exactly the first to come up with a heliocentric theory, however. See http://earthpages.wordpress.com/?s=+Aristarchus+of+Samos and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus#Predecessors.

Related Posts » Cosmology, Galileo

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Dreamtime

Dreamtime (Photo credit: Simondo Nebestanka)

Dreamtime refers to the Australian aboriginal belief that all animal and human life exists in a complex set of interrelations, ultimately connecting to primal ancestors existing in the Dreamtime, a place beyond or behind the apparent distinctions made in our daily lives.

Generally the idea of dreamtime forwards a threefold map of the

• Human World
• Physical World
• Sacred World

These three realms are said to be closely interconnected, with innumerable divisions and sub-divisions.

The idea of Dreamtime loosely corresponds to the notion of the Q-Continuum as found in the science fiction TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation. And some try to explain various types of mental illness through an inadequate biological filtering and coordinating of these three realms in everyday life.¹

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¹ See for instance, The Metaphysical Origin of Attention Deficit Disorder by David Almeida. I should note that I haven’t posted this article at Earthpages.org because it seems a little too influenced by the author’s personal beliefs. Still, taken with that caveat, it does offer a perspective seldom found in contemporary psychiatry. Along these lines, the Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung once noted that the brain is like a radio receiver—i.e. limiting some ‘frequencies’ of reality while receiving others.

On the World Wide Web:

• http://aboriginalart.com.au/

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Eternal Return

Hāfström – The Eternal Return (Photo credit: Julian Stallabrass)

The eternal return is an idea that the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche believed in, as did the Stoics with their belief in ‘conflagration.’

Basically, the eternal return is the belief in an eternal cycle of cosmic destruction followed by identical recreation of what previously existed. Since all elements cyclically repeat just as they were for all eternity, Nietzsche believed our universe (and all life contained in it) forever disappears and then reappears exactly as in the previous cosmic cycle.

To this amelo14 adds:

I think that the point of Nietzsche is not so much a cosmological idea (he was not a scientist) but more a thought experiment which is done by Zarathustra. It involves thinking about living one’s life exactly as one has lived it and in the same vein affirming it so in the absence of any divine project to sustain its purpose.

BOOK IV of Nietzsche’s “The Gay Science” is crucial in this respect. » See in context

And P Will adds:

I believe N considered eternal return beyond just a simple thought experiment. It is useful to think of life as if you had already experienced it but what good what it really be if it were untrue in a cosmological sense? I believe N’s idea of eternal return has ground in Einsteins theory and i believe it makes sense with quantum mechanics. » See in context

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Young, Thomas (1773-1829)

Double-slit interference: Originally uploaded by Ethan Hein

Thomas Young (1773-1829) was an English scientist, physician and Egyptologist who conducted the double slit experiment in 1803.

In this experiment light was said to behave like a wave due to an observable interference pattern.

This suggested that light is a type of energy, as opposed to a collection of particles.

In 1905 the view of light as energy was confounded by the Hungarian-German Nazi Philipp Lenard, whose own experiments demonstrated that light also behaves like a particle–that is, a unit of matter.

Up to this point in Western intellectual history, a history which Richard Nisbett¹ and others say is almost obsessively concerned with rational categories, matter and energy were thought to be entirely different because, according to previously available observational frameworks, matter behaved differently than energy.

Since the discovery of the apparent duality of light as matter and energy, however, an entirely new series of experiments and theories have arisen about the enigmatic “stuff” of the universe.

This search includes what physicists have called the “God Particle.” If its existence is confirmed, this would apparently resolve some current inconsistencies in theoretical physics.

As an Egyptologist, Young also helped to decipher the Rosetta Stone.

» Democritus, Hume (David), Particle, Particle-Wave Duality, Schrödinger (Erwin), Standing Wave

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¹ Richard E. Nisbett, The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently… and Why. New York: The Free Press, 2003.

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Parallel Universes

parallel universes: Martina Rathgens

The idea of parallel universes has been popularized in science fiction TV programs (e.g. Star Trek, Sliders and Charlie Jade) and hypothesized by leading physicists such as Stephen Hawking.

It suggests the coexistence of more than one universe and possibly an unlimited number of universes.

The idea arguably existed in Celtic myths about the otherworld. In pagan Ireland, for instance, the afterlife region of sidh very closely resembles earthly life. On Novemeber 1 during the festival of Samhain, spirits from both worlds are said to interact.

In philosophy, Leibniz argues that God conceived of many possible universes but only actualized one: “the best of all possible worlds.”

The satirist Voltaire popularized Leibniz’s view in Candide with a humorous critique of apathy and clerical excess.

In the 1970′s, Jane Roberts‘ Seth Books presented a cosmology that included not only parallel but interactive universes. For Roberts, the soul exists as a complex entity among multiple universes, learning something unique from each. At certain times some people may sense a “bleed through” from a parallel universe. The rock musician in universe A, for instance, may sense her other self as an astronaut in universe B.

Roberts’ views are no doubt interesting but, then again, so is science fiction. And until some kind of tangible proof can be obtained, her ideas remain pretty much on the fringe.

» Black Holes

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Roberts, Jane (1929-84)

my dad and my mom on a bookshelf: Ari Moore

1970s channeler who wrote the popular Seth Books and several less commercially successful fiction novels before the idea of channeling became a New Age publishing sensation.

Roberts allegedly went into a trance and channeled a spirit entity called ‘Seth’ while her husband Robert Butts transcribed the sessions.

At times Roberts, herself, wondered whether it was just her unconscious speaking but most of the time she writes as if Seth were a separate entity.

Regardless of Seth’s true nature, the worldview advanced by the Seth character is noteworthy.

Seth’s cosmology (i.e. map of the universe) has intersecting parallel universes connecting among themselves backwards and forwards through time. The past and future of all parallel universes – to include our supposed parallel selves – interact with and have an effect on the present as perceived now.

As with other mystical traditions, Seth suggests that part of the self is located in the flesh while other aspects of mind and soul exist beyond the material plane.

The Seth model differs from the belief in reincarnation in three ways:

1. Reincarnation stresses the effects of past lives on our present life, largely ignoring the possible influence of future selves on the present
2. Seth advances the idea of interactive selves existing in parallel universes
3. Not unlike Shakti Gawain, Seth highlights the importance of life in the present, whereas reincarnational theories tend to emphasize an escape from Samsara (the wheel of worldly rebirth)

Science fiction TV shows Sliders and Charlie Jade dramatize some of Seth’s ideas about parallel universes, while many Star Trek scripts deal with a ‘temporal continuum.’

Similarly, respected theorists like C. G. Jung view time, if perhaps not parallel universes, within a holistic framework. And the idea of parallel universes has gained some academic scrutiny through figures like Stephen Hawking and Michio Kaku.

As a final note, the belief in an interactive past, present and future is not necessarily equivalent to the theological idea that God knows the past, present and future. Many traditional theologians become uncomfortable with the idea, for instance, that the future could be seeping into or impinging on the present. They prefer to stick to the old idea that the future just doesn’t exist yet.

This traditional perspective, however, is challenged by the modern physics worldview that space and time are not absolute but rather, relative, multiple and interactive positions.

Perhaps it’s just too challenging for some people to think that far out of the box, and adhering to their cherished old religious and philosophical ideas gives them psychological comfort, much like a baby needs a breast or a bottle before it grows up enough to learn how to walk to the store to buy some milk.

» Leibniz (Gottfried, Wilhelm), Locke (John), Soul

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Siva (or Shiva)

Shiva: true2source

Siva / Shiva (Skt: kind, friendly)

A major Hindu god who, according to the dominant theory, evolved out of the mythology of the conquering Aryans in the Indian sub-continent.

A bit of a latecomer, Siva nevertheless replaced the earlier Vedic storm god Rudra by becoming part the Hindu Trimurti of Brahma, Visnu and Siva.

In popular folk mythology, Brahma is said to have created the universe, Visnu preserves it and Siva, through his cosmic dance, destroys it.

But this is only a general outline, for Siva first created Brahma and Visnu. And instead of merely destroying, Siva also regulates the universe.

In an incident with the Pine Forest Sages, Siva breaks the sages’ excessive meditation by literally seducing their wives. Otherwise, the tapas (Skt: heat, or spiritual force) generated by the sages’ prolonged and intense concentration would have disrupted the cosmic balance.

While sexually enticing their wives, Siva quite intentionally angers the Sages, disrupts their meditation and diffuses their excessive spiritual power.

Siva is not only a trickster, however.

The Other Side of Siva: Taran Rampersad

With his third eye, depicted vertically on his forehead, he emits deathly rays of fire, not unlike the ‘phasers’ of Star Trek. Siva’s death ray incinerates demonic opponents residing in highly volatile spiritual realms.

But Siva’s third eye has a more passive aspect, symbolizing the locus of spiritual ‘seeing’ and peace. Siva’s third eye is sometimes, perhaps inaccurately, equated with Jesus’ teaching, “Let thine eye be single” (Matthew 6:22, Luke 11:34).

Siva is often depicted in temple carvings ityaphallically (i.e. with erect phallus). His linga (Skt: phallus) symbolizes his control over his divine creative power, just as in Hinduism the female yoni (Skt: vagina) represents the cosmic source or life-giving aspects of the divinity.

Siva also rides the sacred bull, Nandi and has a blue throat due to his partial ingestion of a poison which otherwise would have destroyed the universe.

His wife is Parvati and he’s said to reside at Mt. Kailasa in the Himalayas.

Siva Thandavam: Velachery Balu / Balasubramanian G Velu

In Hindu devotional cults and Western popular spiritualism, Siva is, perhaps uncritically, identified with supposedly ‘active male energy’ that must be united with the Shakti – ‘passive female’ energy – to effect a union of these complementary cosmic energies within an given individual or couple–i.e. balancing the Shiva-Shakti.

» Aliens and Extraterrestrials (ETs), Anima, Animus, AUM, Chakras, Death and Resurrection, Ganesha, Homeopathy, Kali, Karma Transfer, Linga, Nandi, Parvati, Ramanuja, Shakti, Tantra, Tapas, Underworld, Vishnu, Yin-Yang, Yoni

On the Web:

• Other excellent CCL pics of Siva / Shiva (so many we had a hard time choosing for the above!):  http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=shiva&l=cc&ss=2&ct=6&mt=all&w=all&adv=1

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Yuga

Kali Yuga

Originally uploaded by
VuduDada ArtStudio

Yuga

In Hindu Vedic and Puranic cosmology, a yuga is an extremely long time period, especially when measured on the human scale.

The Hindu conception of the yuga suggests that time itself differs for gods and humans.

In the Mahabharata an entire human year translates into a single day for the devas.

Each of the four different Yugas represent four general ages of the devas.

As with the ancient Greek and Hebraic sense of time, these ages progress from an initial, ideal Golden Age (Krita yuga) to increasingly corrupted ages.

The four Yugas and their human equivalents
are:

Yuga	Deva Years	Human Years
Krita	4800	1,728,000
Treta	3600	1,296,000
Dvapara	2400	864,000
Kali	1200	432,000
Mahayuga (Great Yuga)*	12,000	4,320,000

A single day for the god Brahma is 1,000 Mahayugas (4,320,000,000 human years). One year for Brahma is 1,555,200,000,000 human years. Brahma’s life span is 155,520,000,000,000 human years.

All this indicates that Brahma exists in an entirely different time frame than human beings.

An arguably mythical, quasi-scientific scheme like this may seem irrelevant to contemporary thinkers but it points to the notion, worth considering, that the universe contains different yet interacting regions of space-time, each region containing its own unique properties and beings. » Mahabharata, Puranas, Ragnarok, Veda
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*A Mahayuga (Great Yuga) is one complete cycle of the four Yugas.
Table condensed from Keith R. Crim (ed.) The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. New York: Harper & Row, 1989, pp. 818-819.

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