By necessity, this will be a short, simple post. My eyes are strained again. I love words. I enjoy the magic of conjuring images and telling tales with words. But, still, they are often woefully inadequate.
When it comes to speaking of matters of the heart, words cannot describe the feelings, the joy and the angst of falling in love, nor can the fully explain how, over years, those feeling morph from a rafing fire to a wonderfully warm glow.
In the sciences, physicists will tell you, when being honest, that we cannot conceive of what is going on at the quantum levels, even using our most abstract and precise language, mathematics. Biologists have no words to explain consciousness.
In theology, the matter is worse. Countless volumes have been written trying to descrine the Divine and our relation to our Creator and everyone has failed miserably. There are things that cannot be put into words and, as much as I love writing, I am learning to shut off the words and just enjoy the feelings.
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Where are the Stars
I have been taken recently by the small numbers of stars I see in the night sky. The town I live in, Brunswick, Ga, is hardly a bustling metropolis, yet it seems that as time passes I see fewer and fewer stars/
I know, or rather I am told, that this is because urban lights block the celestial view. I guess that's right but, as I said, I hardly live in a big city. When I was a kid, I lived in Ft Lauderdale, Fl, a much bigger place, the sky, on clear nights, was filled with an overwhelming sea of stars. Now, just a few, sometimes nothing.
Every now and then, I wonder what is really happening. Oh, I'm sure that the stars are still there, but it seems that there must be another reason why we no longer see them.
Sometimes, I wonder about a lot of things. We are told that all of those stars are light years away and that scientists, using models based on how bright the various stars are, mathematically determine their distance. Are they correct? Probably, but, here and there, I cannot help asking, what if the basic assumptions they are using are incorrect. After all, no one has gone out with a ruler and measured.
Oh well, this is all just silliness on my part. I am sure that they are correct and I am sure that city lights are the reason our local view of these wonders is blocked. Still, I have to ask, just how much do we know and how much are we guessing? What if we are wrong? Does it really matter?
Truth is, it actually does not matter a whole lot. Whatever we know or don't know does not really affect how we should live. While on this Earth, we are called on to be kind and productive, and, astrology aside, the stars have nothing to do with that. Still, being human, I cannot help wondering, just what is true.
I know, or rather I am told, that this is because urban lights block the celestial view. I guess that's right but, as I said, I hardly live in a big city. When I was a kid, I lived in Ft Lauderdale, Fl, a much bigger place, the sky, on clear nights, was filled with an overwhelming sea of stars. Now, just a few, sometimes nothing.
Every now and then, I wonder what is really happening. Oh, I'm sure that the stars are still there, but it seems that there must be another reason why we no longer see them.
Sometimes, I wonder about a lot of things. We are told that all of those stars are light years away and that scientists, using models based on how bright the various stars are, mathematically determine their distance. Are they correct? Probably, but, here and there, I cannot help asking, what if the basic assumptions they are using are incorrect. After all, no one has gone out with a ruler and measured.
Oh well, this is all just silliness on my part. I am sure that they are correct and I am sure that city lights are the reason our local view of these wonders is blocked. Still, I have to ask, just how much do we know and how much are we guessing? What if we are wrong? Does it really matter?
Truth is, it actually does not matter a whole lot. Whatever we know or don't know does not really affect how we should live. While on this Earth, we are called on to be kind and productive, and, astrology aside, the stars have nothing to do with that. Still, being human, I cannot help wondering, just what is true.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
God Does Play Dice With The Universe
Albert Einstein insisted, when talking to his friend Niels Bohr, that "God does not play dice with the Universe." This was during their discussions of quantum theory, when the Uncertainty Principal was well on its way to becoming certain. Bohr replied, "Albert, you have to stop telling God what he can and cannot do."
Well, much time has passed and Bohr was right, not just about quantum theory, but about everything. Humans are often an arrogant lot and many, scientists, philosophers and theologians, have made careers out of insisting that they have the answers. Since they all have different answers, it would seem that they might be well served by showing a little humility and backing off from absolute statements, but, no.
Instead we have physicists insisting that all theories must be 'elegant,' in that they are balanced and display a unity. We have no real reason to assume that things really work that way, but it seems that it just makes them happy.
We have theologians, from academics to street preachers, who swear that they have all the answers, having consulted their favorite source, be it the Bible, the Upanishads, the Diamond Sutra or the Book of the Tao. Now, each of them say that they have the truth and we should follow them but, when asked for a good reason why, they invariably reply that you must believe them because their particular book is the correct one. This is, I believe, in logic, called a tautology. A is true because A is true. This is fallacious reasoning but, they will then tell you that you only say that because you are human. I guess they believe that God is irrational; I don't.
WE need to back off and admit that we don't really know much. When you admit ignorance, wisdom may enter.
Well, much time has passed and Bohr was right, not just about quantum theory, but about everything. Humans are often an arrogant lot and many, scientists, philosophers and theologians, have made careers out of insisting that they have the answers. Since they all have different answers, it would seem that they might be well served by showing a little humility and backing off from absolute statements, but, no.
Instead we have physicists insisting that all theories must be 'elegant,' in that they are balanced and display a unity. We have no real reason to assume that things really work that way, but it seems that it just makes them happy.
We have theologians, from academics to street preachers, who swear that they have all the answers, having consulted their favorite source, be it the Bible, the Upanishads, the Diamond Sutra or the Book of the Tao. Now, each of them say that they have the truth and we should follow them but, when asked for a good reason why, they invariably reply that you must believe them because their particular book is the correct one. This is, I believe, in logic, called a tautology. A is true because A is true. This is fallacious reasoning but, they will then tell you that you only say that because you are human. I guess they believe that God is irrational; I don't.
WE need to back off and admit that we don't really know much. When you admit ignorance, wisdom may enter.
Monday, August 8, 2016
Get Rid of Mythology
Mythology seems to be the way our subconscious communicates with our conscious. There are things that go on in the Universe that we have trouble grasping with our rational mind and we deal with them through stories and images, in short, poetically. For long, long years, that has sufficed.
But, like children, we grow up, and the stories and tales of our youth begin to lose meaning. All over the world, as new discoveries are made and as humanity comes in closer and closer contact, the myths no longer work.
A rational person can no longer accept the Creation story of Genesis, anymore than we can accept the ancient view that the Earth sits on the back of a tortoise which is supported by 4 elephants. We know better.
A case can be made for using these old tales to show certain psychological truths but, more and more, even that does not work. Humans are so incredibly complex that simple stories are just that, too simple.
How then can we communicate the deep truths, the ones that we perceive sub consciously, in a less than rational way. The answers lie in science. Now, before you start laughing, let me explain. I do not mean science the way it is done now. Now, scientists search for answers that will most please the people paying for their research. They all but refuse to consider alternate theories even when an idiot can see that the current theories are at least partially wrong. After all, if you admit a mistake, the folks paying you may cut off the funding.
No, I am talking about scientific research that is open to ideas and that is daring and, most of all willing to say, 'hey, we might be wrong.'
That is the first step. After that comes the hard work, teaching the ideas to young people. That will be difficult but it will be far better to have them grow up in a world governed by rational laws, the laws set up by the Creator instead of a world governed by superstition.
But, like children, we grow up, and the stories and tales of our youth begin to lose meaning. All over the world, as new discoveries are made and as humanity comes in closer and closer contact, the myths no longer work.
A rational person can no longer accept the Creation story of Genesis, anymore than we can accept the ancient view that the Earth sits on the back of a tortoise which is supported by 4 elephants. We know better.
A case can be made for using these old tales to show certain psychological truths but, more and more, even that does not work. Humans are so incredibly complex that simple stories are just that, too simple.
How then can we communicate the deep truths, the ones that we perceive sub consciously, in a less than rational way. The answers lie in science. Now, before you start laughing, let me explain. I do not mean science the way it is done now. Now, scientists search for answers that will most please the people paying for their research. They all but refuse to consider alternate theories even when an idiot can see that the current theories are at least partially wrong. After all, if you admit a mistake, the folks paying you may cut off the funding.
No, I am talking about scientific research that is open to ideas and that is daring and, most of all willing to say, 'hey, we might be wrong.'
That is the first step. After that comes the hard work, teaching the ideas to young people. That will be difficult but it will be far better to have them grow up in a world governed by rational laws, the laws set up by the Creator instead of a world governed by superstition.
Monday, July 18, 2016
What We Don't Know
I heard someone once, when asked about some investigation say, 'we don't know what we don't know. I believe that this should be the motto of our new religion.
We humans are quite full of ourselves the crown of creation. Maybe that is a bit of an over reach. Yes, we have enormous brains buy it seems that we use very little of them and spend much of our time filling what we do use with useless junk. Now, I have no problem with useless junk, it can be a lot of fun, but we overdo it.
We think that everything we do is of vast importance. Well, most is not and much of what is important, we do wrong. Of that were not true, we would not be killing each other at the fantastic rate we are now seeing.
We think we know so much. We do have some things that seem to be facts but, are they? Our science presupposes that the rules it has made up are actually descriptive of the world. To a degree they are but only to a degree. Take quantum mechanics; the laws we have work within a certain limit of values, then they break down. Physicists tend to just want to overlook that inconvenient fact but, the guy who wrote those formulas, Paul Dirac chastised them mightily for that since they cannot justify simply ignoring answers that don't make fit their beliefs. He insisted that either his formulas were incomplete or that there were things going on that they just didn't understand.
Biologists still teach Darwinian evolution. One problem. It does not work. Fossil record show that biological change does not happen slowly. Instead it tend to happen in great bursts, followed by long period of stasis.
We only perceive a small range of the energies that exist. And that only applies to what we can detect evidence of with our most sophisticated tools. What else exists? We don't know what we don't know.
We humans are quite full of ourselves the crown of creation. Maybe that is a bit of an over reach. Yes, we have enormous brains buy it seems that we use very little of them and spend much of our time filling what we do use with useless junk. Now, I have no problem with useless junk, it can be a lot of fun, but we overdo it.
We think that everything we do is of vast importance. Well, most is not and much of what is important, we do wrong. Of that were not true, we would not be killing each other at the fantastic rate we are now seeing.
We think we know so much. We do have some things that seem to be facts but, are they? Our science presupposes that the rules it has made up are actually descriptive of the world. To a degree they are but only to a degree. Take quantum mechanics; the laws we have work within a certain limit of values, then they break down. Physicists tend to just want to overlook that inconvenient fact but, the guy who wrote those formulas, Paul Dirac chastised them mightily for that since they cannot justify simply ignoring answers that don't make fit their beliefs. He insisted that either his formulas were incomplete or that there were things going on that they just didn't understand.
Biologists still teach Darwinian evolution. One problem. It does not work. Fossil record show that biological change does not happen slowly. Instead it tend to happen in great bursts, followed by long period of stasis.
We only perceive a small range of the energies that exist. And that only applies to what we can detect evidence of with our most sophisticated tools. What else exists? We don't know what we don't know.
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