Einstein's Harvest - 75th Quareness "Lecture".
There is an Eastern view that this universe of ours is constructed on holographic principles...that our underlying reality is one of pure vibration i.e. a primal frequency realm which is beyond time and place, analogous to the frequency patterns in a hologram. In this perspective any observation or awareness of the world is a concretisation of this underlying "reality", and a perception by the human brain is in effect one particular image reconstructed from the infinite number stored in the hologram. It appears to us as real because we can only encompass one particular manifestation at any particular time, and since the hologram is all pervading we are each usually obliged to see the same "reality" as everyone else.
Such a viewpoint sits comfortably with what we know of the submicroscopic world of quantum physics, where objects only have well-defined positions and velocities when they are observed. When not being observed, an object can be in any one of an infinite number of possible states - in fact it is generally said to be in all states at once. The act of observation, however, forces the mathematical equations to condense out in one particular solution while quantum physics assesses the various probabilities of an object appearing in any particular state. It is our own being conscious of the world that forces it to adopt a particular reality and laws of space and time herein are only constructs imposed by our particular concretisation of the underlying frequency realm.
We are told that a person deep in meditation may pass beyond the many activities of the mind and experience a timeless and spaceless realm in which all things are one...
apparently coming into direct contact with the underlying frequency realm. And this raises a fascinating proposition that if we do indeed construct our own reality, we could do so in any way we can imagine...we'd only have to allow the individual mind and its imagination to resonate with the underlying reality - with the field of all possibilities - for anything to be possible.
Our Western mind would perhaps be more inclined to focus on say the asymmetry we observe between past and future, rooted in the one way tendency for order to disintegrate into chaos, and which appears to have a cosmological origin. The cosmic structure which emerged from the primeval furnace was highly ordered, and all the subsequent action of the universe now looks to have occurred in order to spend this order and dissipate it away. While plenty of this structure remains, it probably cannot last forever. Nevertheless we can in our age readily see how deliberately life in our known universe, and our own existence as observers, depends on the "right" cosmic arrangement of ordered structure and relative smoothness of the cosmic material...one that gives a sharp distinction between past and future based on primeval orderliness - an orderliness that reaches a pinnacle of complexity in living matter.
To keep perspective here, it's as well to be aware that this intimate connection between our own existence, the asymmetry in time of the world about us and the initial cosmic order, can be reasonably viewed within a concept/context of "superspace" where the orderly cosmos is only one of very many "worlds" that are possible. Other possible universes may include those in which disorder reigns throughout, as well as those which start out in a disorderly state and then progress towards order. And in such "spaces" time may even run backwards relative to our own world.
Einstein's famous E = MC2 joining light to time, time to space, energy to matter, matter to space, space to gravitation, tells us that the total energy of an entity is realised when its mass is "speeded up" (increased) by the speed of light squared. As mass is "speeded up" energy released is increased, and as mass is "slowed down" energy released is decreased. As the equation also shows, the total mass of an entity is realised when its total potential energy is at the point reached when it is divided by the speed of light (squared). At zero "active" energy there is "non-active" mass...
energy and mass are convertible into each other.
All this raises some interesting questions...can something be created from no thing?...do all our life forms in fact emerge/fall into "the order" of matter from "the disorder" of energy, and vice versa?...is energy itself "eternal"?...is energy just "potential" at zero? ...does mass irreversibly "die" at zero energy or is it just "dormant"? And I wonder if perhaps there could be some profound "religious/spiritual" type truths entangled here e.g. in respect of say "after death experiences" where we have reports of survivors having perceived "themselves" as moving at speed through dark tunnels towards an "all enveloping" brilliant white light of warmth and comfort, or say in sudden "brush with death" situations where a body may have the experience of observing all of his/her life flashing by in seconds (time appearing to slow down simultaneously with memory speeding up). In both of these scenarios the "confining" mass/matter (physical body) appears to be engaged in a process of being rapidly abandoned (at least temporarily) by the life force energy (consciousness). Whatever about the mystery of such "non scientific" examples perhaps we can be reasonably sure at this stage of our human knowledge that the basis of our chemical reaction is electricity and that the immensely strong forces which hold matter together for us are electromagnetic?
As for Einstein himself it seems he saw Truth, Goodness (Kindness) and Beauty as the embodiment of Infinity. For him the linking of man to a universe of infinite complexity, the genesis and evolution of multi-dimensional man, connects our knowledge and the components of our culture with goodness and beauty. Human individuality became deeper and more interesting as it became to a greater degree connected to the "extra-personal". Inner freedom represented a set of bonds with the extra-personal world, with the infinitely complex, infinitely measured universe, the knowledge of which serves to set free the individual consciousness. In this way he saw knowledge as a liberation, a growth and realisation of internal freedom.
Apparently something that he regarded as absurd from an objective point of view, was any inquiry into the meaning or object of one's own existence or that of all creatures. At the same time he readily acknowledged that everybody has certain ideals which determine the direction of their endeavours and judgments. Rather than regarding ease and happiness as ends in themselves, he proclaimed Kindness, Beauty and Truth as the ideals which lighted his way, and time after time gave him new courage to face life cheerfully. Life would have seemed empty for him without a sense of kinship with others, without an occupation with the objective world and the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavour.
He did of course also confess to never having lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude. With increasing years he became sharply aware of the limits of mutual understanding and consonance with other people. Despite feeling that such awareness might be the cause of a person losing some of his innocence and unconcern, this was not a matter of regret for him... given the upsides of becoming largely independent of the opinions, habits and judgments of his fellows and thereby avoiding the temptation to build his inner equilibrium upon rather insecure foundations.
He believed any autocratic system of coercion would inevitably degenerate because force always attracts those of low morality. Indeed he came to regard it as an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels. For him the most beautiful experience we could have is the mysterious, seeing this as the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science, and whoever did not come to know it and could no longer wonder or marvel, was as good as dead with his eyes dimmed.
We can perhaps conclude from these "pointers" by Mr.Einstein that it may be wise and ultimately advantageous to avoid any betraying of the human spirit through the assertion of dogma that closes the mind and turns people into regiments of obedience. On the contrary diversity and differences appear to be essential for evolution and the ascent of man.
Diversity (the breath of life) must not abandoned for any single form which happens to catch our fancy. Cloning for example is the stabilisation of one form seeming to run against the whole current of creation. Evolution is founded in variety necessarily creating diversity, and man appears as our most creative animal because he carries and expresses the largest store of variety. Looked at this way, every attempt to make us uniform (biologically, emotionally or intellectually) is a betrayal of the evolutionary thrust that has made man its apex.
Detached observation of humanity's place/role in evolution suggests that our childhood, puberty and youth are now largely about putting off the decision-making process in order to accumulate enough knowledge as a preparation for our future of active power.
We can no longer afford to perish by the distance between people and government, between people and power, as happened with the failures of earlier empires. And it would appear that such distance can only be conflated/closed if knowledge sits in the homes and heads of people with no ambition to control others, rather than in isolated seats of power.
Our actions as mature adults / decision makers / human beings are mediated by values, which can be interpreted as general strategies in which we balance opposing impulses. It ain't true that we run our lives by any computer scheme of problem solving...indeed the problems of life seem to be insoluble in this sense. Instead, we shape our conduct by finding principles to guide it and devising ethical strategies or systems of values to ensure that what is attractive in the short term is weighed in the balance of the ultimate long-term satisfactions.
From all of the above it seems quite evident that for us humans, knowledge is above all a responsibility for the integrity of what we are and will be (primarily as ethical creatures). And I can hardly maintain that informed integrity if I let other people run my world for me while continuing myself to live out of a ragbag of morals and outlooks that come from past beliefs. Like the man said...I give you life and death...choose life.
Sean.
Dean of Quareness.
February, 2017.