Mark Twain wrote- “Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool”. An appropriate comment, given the laissez-faire of contemporary religion. Misogyny and chauvinism, human rights violation and racism, genocide and terrorism, all in the name of religion. Religion and its God, in effect, is providing the license, the privilege, the entitlement even, to malevolent people for their malevolent intents.
Science tells us that the ultimate reality of the universe is bound by the laws of physics. Of course, most definitely. No contention. Some scientists go further to tell us that all conceptions that fall outside of the laws of physics are basically unreal; they are inventions. The influential and impressive Sean Carroll, cosmologist and professor of physics at Caltech in the U.S., is a public intellectual par excellence.
The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva is one of those technological marvels, right on the cutting edge of human intellect, as avant garde as it can get. 9 billion dollars, 20,000 scientists, 17 miles of underground tunnels with super-cooled magnets and one expected outcome – the Higgs Boson. That elusive ‘mass’ providing particle.
Another confounding dilemma that arises from previous discussions is this: If we see shadows and cross sections of entities in higher dimensions, how do we distinguish between the ‘real’ and ‘reflection’ in our ordinary world?
What if I were to tell you religion and science are both illusions, mere reflections of another hidden reality?
If science is the tool to decode reality, then breaking things down into smaller and smallest parts seems to be the obvious modus operandi. But is it? Is it a question of seeing finer, and finer still? Will refining and enhancing our observations reveal deeper truths to us? You might think greater technological advancement will uncover all truths, in time. Let’s see about that.
Once, long ago, when I was young, fresh and unspoiled, I wanted to be a model child. Please my parents, be a source of pride and joy to them. They were the reference for my naïve philosophy of life. Then, childhood idealism dissolved into angry adolescence. I rebelled to assert my individuality, and the fight itself became my new anchor.
Your reality is yours to create, your truth is yours to prefer. Gone are the days of stifling dogma and righteous rules. Everything is relative now, it depends on perspective and choice. This educated and broad-minded philosophy of relativism underpins the functioning of our post-modern world. For the ardent activists for relativism, such choice is a hallmark of freedom.
Edwin Abbot, English schoolmaster and theologian is best known for his 1884 sci-fi novella, ‘Flatland’. Flatland tells the story of a two-dimensional world inhabited by two dimensional shapes which are sentient beings, like us three dimensional beings in our three-dimensional world.
Scientists agree that a more fundamental reality must exist: more basic, more intrinsic. However, the search for that master theory, the overarching integrator, this ‘Theory of Everything’ is proving to be elusive. The models which describe Quantum, Newtonian and Relativity mechanics are contra distinct, and to the current day do not superimpose upon each other well, having little intersection.
Feeling stressed out because you don’t have plenty of time for your pending papers. In any case, term papers aren’t