Life and other Matters

Whether Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224-1274) debated over how many angels could dance on the head of a pin, or not, isn’t important in itself.

It is interesting, however, to consider the type of  arguments which can ensue.

Our interest in such discourse is not so much the merits of the specific arguments but in the premises from which the arguments derived. What is quite evident is that incredible brainpower was used in these debates – very intelligent scholars of the time. And from the premise that angels do, indeed, exist, the arguments were ingenious.

But to any who might doubt the existence of angels, certainly sacrilegious at the time,  these arguments would seem nonsensical.

The arguers of these, and many, many points since and even now, have been, and indeed, are, very intelligent people.

But they are folks with a slant. All of us have a pitch.

The slant is a premise. A premise is a basic stable point of certainty from which we evaluate the world and upon which our arguments, as above, rely.

The premises which are most interesting are the hidden ones. These are the ones which are so ingrained that they are not seen. They are, essentially, hidden from view.

One theory, a modern one, which is ingrained in and held sacred by most scientists is that everything is mass, energy, space and time. All is comprised of or derives from those quantities. These are the four basics of everything.

The word “science” is  from the Greek word “Scio” which means “to know”. Therefore, scientists, are “knowers”. They are, to us, of similar authoritarian value as were priests, rabbis and other shaman of the ages.

We pride ourselves, as has all of man, into believing that we are at the pinnacle of enlightenment. Our reverence for the Church of Science is no different, in effect, as our ancestors were in their pillars of stable data of the time.

Scientist, today, measure, evaluate, speculate, experiment, derive, induce and conclude within a framework bound by mass, energy, space and time. Everything must have location. All must have size. Time is a flowing thing. Space is there whether we like  it or not.

This assumption runs so deep in modern thinking that it has become, essentially, inescapable. This assumption is hidden from view.

We watch parades of TV shows about the origins of the universe. We learn of the “Big Bang” theory when everything started  from a location less than a point in size. We are told that everything that there is has come from this single point. From this point came all the masses, all the energies, and space and all time, starting at zero at that point of beginning.

And, since the boundaries of thought and possibility have been drawn and only include the four basics, of course, life must have also derived from these. Life, somehow, origins not figured out just yet,  began messing around with and juggling elements and messing with space to its own amusement.

There is a basic law that every engineer, every physicist, has learned. It is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It basically says,  “In a system, a process that occurs will tend to increase the total entropy of the universe.”  Thus, while a system can undergo some physical process that decreases its own entropy, the entropy of the universe (which includes the system and its surroundings) must increase overall.

It is a wonder how, given this apparent law, it can be proposed, accepted or postulated that this universe, starting from the “Big Bang” to now, somehow assumed the order that we see today. This system, despite the laws of entropy  (ie. a natural inclination, if left alone, to greater and greater chaos) somehow manifested the event of my writing these words from a room in my beautiful home.

This is a world of order – not chaos. Around us we see grass and trees and buildings and animated objects that walk around and watch movies and chase caterpillars.  It is also observable that when  we take our attention off of man made things these ordered objects tend to fall apart (per the Second Law of Thermal Dynamics) and change to disorder.

Take away life and that law ensues as predicted.

So how did we get from the Big Bang to here? How does a system comprising of mass, of energy, of space and time, which, left alone, tends to fall apart end up with scientists sitting in their beautiful laboratories considering its and their own origin?

In the encyclopedia Britannica (11th addtion of 1911) the following was said of SPACE AND TIME “The metaphysical problems connected with Space and Time are so similar and have been so closely conjoined in history of thought that they may well be treated together . ……. In an exhaustive treatment of Space and Time by far the largest share of the work rests with the psychologist.“

From the NATIONAL STANDARD ENCYCLOPEDA (c. 1886) – a copy of which I own:

• Psychology is defined as, “That branch of knowledge which deals with the human soul”..
• Soul – The spirtual, rational and immortal part in man which distinguishes him from the brutes.
• Brute – A Beast; any animimal destitue of reason. A brutal person; a lower bred, unfeeling man.

Yet today, in our “enlightened” age, psychology has nothing to do with the soul. Today space and time are absolutes which exist independent of observation.

Are we advancing?

Consider the possibility that man will never understand and will always debate the origins of the universe coming up with greater and greater imponderables and mysteries as long as he  considers the basis for everything  to be  mass, time, energy and space.

As the observer sees everything but the observer himself, modern scientists are missing the key factor. This factor has been called many things by man – élan vital, theta, spirit……life.  It is not something that comes from time and mass and from energy and space. It is something which has a relationship to these four basics in a way that has been missed or ignored. Like the dog who bites at the water stream from the hose, oblivious to the cause, these very intellient folks chip at, disect and discuss the manifestations as though they are the thing itself. They watch shadows with certainty that within the shadow is the answer to all things. It is an attempt to solve five variables with only four equations.

A paradigm can be a strong influence… and blinding to those unaware that they have one.

Life is factor which lies outside of time, and space – yet creates them. It isn’t mass, or energy or space or time but it juggles them and  animates them and makes them walk around and build things and marvel at the aesthetics of if all. Add that as an equation and the mysteries may begin to drop away.

This is certainly not a new concept.  But as we “advance” in this society, the scientists who like to consider themselves the elite of intelligence are attempting, with some sort of pride, to free themselves from this notion. If it is not directly measurable, it does not exist.

If you close your eyes and think of a picture of a pet that you owned; if you can see this picture and note the many details as you observe it; ask yourself, “Who is looking at the picture?”

Until this is recognized, until this  little blind spot is found, our “knowers” will never really know.