It is amazing what the human brain focuses on in the middle of the night. I am sure many of you suffer from chronic pain much worse than I do. Those who do know that, for whatever reason, it seems worse at night – right? It is pretty cool though, cause you can do an awful lot of thinking, daydreaming, writing, and thought experiments while everybody else is asleep. I ponder – a lot. Ponder is one of my favorite words in the English language – I ain’t real sure why. Maybe it reminds me of fishing… I like to ponder on and research where old proverbs or old wives’ tales originate: and, which came first, the chicken or the egg… For example, you and I know that our 911 emergency system was already created and had been in use for a long time before the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. However, in 150 years, no one alive will know that – at least not from personal experience. If our country and its government is still around then, some immoral leader could have “alternative” facts that his party or group created the system AFTER 9/11/01 to prevent future attacks and assist during times of crisis. The same thing applies for Twitter and the saying “A little bird told me”. That is how so much history gets screwed up in the first place – it is written by the victors after all. Winston Churchill has a quote that says, “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it”.
This post started with the thought “the devil’s in the details”. In trying to find the origin of the saying, I found that the saying “God is in the details” is more prevalent? Which brought me to the great divide of both science and religion… Hang in there with me – it may be a bumpy ride for a bit. I am sure most of you know who Stephen Hawking is – I am thankful and blessed to have been able to share the planet at the same time with such a brilliant man. Those who don’t know who he is, while alive on this planet, he was widely regarded as the most important mind in the quantum mechanics branch of physics. He lived his entire adult life suffering from ALS, and was in a wheelchair for most of it – but his mind never suffered at all. Unfortunately, he was an atheist. I have always heard – and it is a common saying in religious studies – that no one dies an atheist. In his case, he very well may have – and I will tell you why. Quantum mechanics, the branch of physics that studies at the sub-atomic level, is a mixture of chaos, voodoo, black magic, guesses, and shoulder shrugs. Google CERN (where the internet began BTW), boson higgs (aka “God”) particle, string theory, and super symmetry. Instead of getting simpler, it (quantum mechanics) keeps adding quarks and sparks and boogers and God only knows what else – almost in the same manner as counting numbers to infinity. Super symmetry establishes a cousin for every particle we have – whether we can see it or not. Nothing is absolute – things can be in two places at once. Nothing is beautiful and graceful. Nothing is governed in the same manner as the rest of the universe. It is complicated and confusing. Einstein’s beautiful and simple general relativity equation E=mc^2 does not apply here. I did find it quite ironic, and honestly wonder if it went against Dr Hawking’s wishes, to have this read at his funeral…
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+3%3A1-8&version=NKJV
I mean, at the very least, they could have just played this at the funeral. There ain’t no telling how many folks have heard this song since the 60’s and have no idea whatsoever that it is lifted (almost) verbatim out of the exact same passage above. Hmmmm. Which makes me wonder… I wonder if Solomon is still getting his royalty checks in the mail from it? With all these digital free streaming services, it’s dang near impossible for a songwriter to make a living anymore,,,
Now, if you will permit me to quote the other great scientific mind of the 20th century, I think we can have some “symmetry” (see what I did there?). “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” is the lesser known of his theological quotes. Most everyone knows this one: “God does not play dice with the universe.” These two quotes, of course, belong to Albert Einstein. I would have loved to meet ol’ Albert. He was a world class ponderer – he is known for his thought experiments almost as much as for his physics or mathematics. I would like to ask him what would happen if I was traveling in a spaceship at the speed of light and I turned my headlights on? I used to say that as a joke – as everyone knows that the speed of light is the universal speed limit, right? In fact the idea for the joke came from this music video.
It is no longer a joke to me. Today’s astrophysicists are also getting much closer to an answer for the question I posed. And, to be honest with you, it blows my mind… There are four points I need to make before I continue. First, I am about as far from a scientist as you can get – but I do have a curious nature. Second, scientists now consider gravity a weak force, and a warp or bend in space time instead of an attraction or pull between objects. Third, light travels at different speeds in different mediums, and it also travels in both waves and particles – kinda hard to measure the speed of light accurately if you ask me. But I’m just a country boy, not a scientist. Last but not least, NASA has been able to accelerate particles at the subatomic level faster than the speed of light in a vacuum… What does this all mean? I have always wondered about black holes. Scientists say that their gravity is so powerful that even light can’t escape, yet gravity is the weakest force in the universe. HUH? Light bends before it enters the black hole and disappears. So… What if, instead of “crushing” whatever enters a black hole, black holes are simply a different medium that accelerates the light away from us so that it disappears?
https://www.newscientist.com/round-up/instant-expert-general-relativity/
My point is this… Einstein knew there was a God, because he saw the Creator’s Creation and the order and beauty of its structure. He knew it couldn’t possibly be random chance. I have always said that I don’t know how anybody could look through a telescope and not believe in God. I was fortunate enough to study astronomy in high school and study the sky through a 12 inch reflector telescope. It changed my life forever. Where does this leave us? We have one branch of physics looking inward toward infinity seeing nothing but chaos, confusion, and complication. The second branch is looking outward toward infinity seeing beauty, design, and simplicity.
Ok. I said I would combine science and religion in this post, but I am gonna keep the religion part short. I know there will never be any world class scientists like Dr. Hawking who will read this, but I do hope those who do can use it to make any atheist think long and hard about their position. I beg them to look outward – find a telescope. Looking outward you can see God. Looking inward you can only see the chaos of you; at least until you invite God in… How can science say that the Bible is no good – that it can’t possibly be right because the God of the Old Testament is so different from the God of the New Testament? Wait,,,,,,, Doesn’t physics have the same problem? Oh…… Yeah.. I bet I know why. The same God made both.