Finding new scientific theories

Are scientific theories like the winks of a firefly? Even if each wink might take a couple of centuries of Earth-time … …!

The following is an extract from a website titled ‘Aether Vibrations: a wave-based universe’

“Quantum physics that has been around for some hundred odd years now is still mainstream physics’ most accepted physics.

Although quantum science has revealed the presence of the zero point field with all its virtual subatomic particles and photons that jump into existence from apparently nowhere to return to oblivion nanoseconds later, there is still no reasonable explanation as to how and why particles and photons can appear and disappear just like that.

Also the quantum probability wave is still hard to grasp and visualize. Quantum physics may have proven to be a mathematically correct science; for lay people the wave-particle duality of quantum science it is still very hard to understand. How do we visualize particles that are both waves and solid little marbles?

Another difficult thing to grasp is the atom model presented by Niels Bohr where electrons fly in well-defined shells around the nucleus. Since electrons continuously radiate energy they should eventually collapse into the nucleus, but they don’t!

The question is where does this radiating energy actually come from and how is it replenished?

Quantum science has accepted the quantum states of the electrons (distinct shell within the atom) for a fact, but is unable to answer the question why the electrons only occur in discrete shells within the atom and why they don’t eventually crash into the nucleus.

Even three hundred years after the discovery of gravity by Newton, science still has no theoretical explanation for it.

This is exactly why science is moving forward to find new theories that can better explain the anomalies of quantum science. Today mainstream science’s best shot is the string theory. However, a small group of scientists are now taking a radical new view, and their thinking is taking them back to insights from ancient history. … … “

Comment: Promises to be interesting – if I can understand it all. More to follow.

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Whimsical or silly?

A play on words
• If he had to , he could master braille once he got the feel of it
• Create immortal frogs by removing their vocal chords; they then can’t croak
• Cartoonists found dead at home; details sketchy
• Corduroy pillows make headlines
• Did Noah keep his bees in archives?
• He was hit on the head with a can of soft drink; but it was soft drink
• Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?

No comment. Someone sent me these.

The Controller

“Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in the past.”
– T.S. Eliot

Here we go again! Is the future already laid? Or, is it the case that, just as the past is reflected in the present, the present will be reflected in the future? The latter perspective seems acceptably logical.

Yet, there is evidence that the future can be read. How could the future be recorded? As well, for this to be true, all contributors to the future would only be playing roles they cannot avoid.

That would suggest a controller beyond all. Free will would then be a myth for much of the play, would it not?
Thus, all the rapacious politicians and businessmen damaging our environment would only be doing what they have to do. And our global destruction is thereby ordained.

So, who is the controller who lays down the future before it occurs?

The Isha Upanishad

Fullness
Prof. Michael Nagler, in his commentaries to Easwaran’s ‘The Upanishads,’ quotes American poet Anne Sexton:

“Then the well spoke to me
It said: Abundance is scooped from Abundance
Yet Abundance remains!”

Nagler speculated that she ‘may have been thinking of this haunting invocation’ to the Isha Upanishad:

“All this is full. All that is full.
From fullness, fullness comes
When fullness is taken from fullness,
Fullness still remains.”

I remember reading about a scientific experiment which involved emptying a chamber of the hydrogen it had contained. Yet, the level of hydrogen in the chamber had not been diminished.

Renunciation

The first verse of the Isha reads as follows:
“The Lord is enshrined in the hearts of all.
The Lord is the supreme Reality.
Rejoice in him through renunciation.
Covet nothing. All belongs to the Lord.”

Gandhi’s reply to a journalist who wanted to know the secret of his life in 3 words: “Renounce and enjoy!”

The paradigm of scarcity

“ … materialism leads us to lose awareness of our inner life, which is bad enough; but to be hypnotised by our own feelings and forget about others and the world around us is worse. By living in awareness of both these worlds, we can rise above them toward the one Reality.”

“Materialism reinforces a ‘paradigm of scarcity ‘ : there is not enough to go around, so we are doomed to fight one another for ever-diminishing resources. Spiritual economics begins not from the assumed scarcity of matter but from the verifiable plenitude of consciousness … … as Gandhi put it, ‘There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, there is not enough for everyone’s greed: … … There is no scarcity of love, respect, meaning – the resources of Consciousness.”

So wrote Nagler in his Introduction to Easwaran’s Isha Upanishad.

Swami Vivekananda’s quotes on Western culture

• “ In the Western home, the wife rules. In an Indian home, the mother rules. If a mother comes into a Western home, she has to be subordinate to the wife; to the wife belongs the home. A mother always lives in our homes: the wife must be subordinate to her. See all the difference of ideas.[Source]

• In the Western world the idea of a religious man is that he never smiles, that a dark cloud must always hang over his face, which, again, must be long drawn with the jaws almost collapsed. People with emaciated bodies and long faces are fit subjects for the physician, they are not Yogis. It is the cheerful mind that is persevering. It is the strong mind that hews its way through a thousand difficulties. And this, the hardest task of all, the cutting of our way out of the net of Maya, is the work reserved only for giant wills.[Source]

• It seems, however advanced the Western nations are in scientific culture, they are mere babies in metaphysical and spiritual education.[Source]

• Just as the Western ideal is to keep up luxury in practical life, so ours is to keep up the highest form of spirituality, to demonstrate that religion is riot merely frothy words, but can be carried out, every bit of it, in this life.[Source “

Comment
Those who had been exposed to the views of European colonialism on Eastern religions, and the cultures and societal values of Asian peoples may be interested in some of the views on the West by a highly respected Hindu of an earlier generation. I offer these as a matter of interest.

The above extracts are from an Internet site titled ‘Swami Vivekananda quotes.’

A Westernised Hindu contemplates Buddhist teaching

The following is an extract from a review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of the book ‘Eastern Wisdom for Western Minds’ by Victor M. Parachin. (from the Internet)

“Consider the encounter two little American boys had with an elderly Buddhist monk, who was visiting the United States from Thailand. Because of the monk’s reputation as a meditation teacher, he was asked to offer a series of classes. . . . Following the lecture, the monk and the woman were conversing as the children watched with some boredom. A mosquito landed on the monk’s arm and began to probe for blood. Someone was about to whisk it away when the monk shook his head, saying quietly, ‘it takes so little.’

“The young boys, who had been disinterested in the event, suddenly focused intensely on the monk. Evidently, the thought of not killing a biting mosquito had never occurred to them. The monk, noting their interest, used the moment to instruct them in the philosophy of reverence for all life. Addressing them directly, he said, ‘All living things wish to live and be happy.’ ”

That is a most splendid guide for one’s life. However, while I was collecting Buddhist parables which could be understood by a young grandson, I came across one which I did not pass on. Personalising it, I wondered what I should do (under the philosophy of reverence for all life) were I to be attacked by a hungry tiger. Should I do nothing because it is the nature of a hungry tiger to eat me (no personal animosity presumably implicated)?

Or, could I take the view that my spiritual progress through many lifetimes should not require me to be eaten by a carnivore; what learning could I derive from being eaten? What a conundrum!

Quotes relevant for mankind today

I do believe that the original sources of all religions should be taught, because with that we will find our similarities, not just our differences. I believe that if Mohammed, Buddha, Jesus, and Moses all got together they would be best of friends because the spiritual basis of all religions is something that builds unity.
Yehuda Berg

A home with a loving and loyal husband and wife is the supreme setting in which children can be reared in love and righteousness and in which the spiritual and physical needs of children can be met.
David A. Bednar

Man learns through experience, and the spiritual path is full of different kinds of experiences. He will encounter many difficulties and obstacles, and they are the very experiences he needs to encourage and complete the cleansing process.
Sai Baba

As a lifetime Seeker of understanding, I offer these quotes from http://www.brainyquote.com
to those of like mind.

Was the Vietnam War a gang-bang?

“Seventy years ago, Ho chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent nation. More prediction than proclamation, it would take decades and millions of deaths in wars with the French, South Vietnamese, Filipinos, Khmer, the Americans, the South Koreans, the Thais, Laotians, and, yes, Australians and New Zealanders until it finally came true.” (Phillip Adams, social commentator, in ‘The Weekend Australian Magazine.’)

From our media, I gained the impression that it was only the USA and its faithful follower, Australia, which were seeking to save the whole of south-east Asia from a communist takeover. The Domino Theory influenced not only officialdom here but also academe; a young colleague of mine was told by his lecturer that those who did not support this theory would not receive a pass at the end of the year. But no one told my relatives in Malaysia about the threat they faced.

I doubt if they would have believed it anyway, as a very competent British general, Sir Gerald Templar, had got rid of the communists in Malaya in the mid-1950s.

The Domino Theory can be likened to the boy crying ‘Wolf’ in some folk story of my boyhood. But, I doubt if any of us ordinary folk were aware that all those other Asian nations had also opposed the North Vietnamese. It was however interesting to see that a number of Vietnamese we had accepted as refugees went back home to do business.

One might wonder whether a comparable gang-bang has been involved in Afghanistan.

Darwin, Gaia, and Attenborough

In the Darwinian explanation of evolution, life forms compete for survival. They do so by adapting to the environment. Their path is one of chance. Random genetic mutations may provide, in time, a competitive advantage over others of the same species. Since intra-species evolution (but not inter-species evolution) has been proven, one could then focus on apparent anomalies.

I instance the change in colouration achieved by some insects which makes them invisible (in effect) against the colouration of the tree trunk or leaf against which these insects are sited. Do random mutation plus ‘natural selection’ ex plain this achievement adequately?

Perhaps Gaia had something to do with this. Remember James Lovelock? He claimed that there is a living entity which achieves balance in the health of Earth; which looks after Earth. This is a wonderful concept. Instead of random autonomous processes affecting survival, Gaia, the spirit guide of Earth, endeavours to influence the survival of life and its environments, in a balanced manner, as a self-organising system. Self-governing systems are apparently to be found in the Universe, at both macro and micro levels.

Then came David Attenborough on TV with his displays of adaptation in the relationships between plants and animals. The way he describes what happens suggests wilful evolutionary change by one party, to counter excessive damage by the relationship partner; this then produces a wilful evolutionary counter-change by the partner.

I instance a plant which apparently developed thorns to minimise the damage being done by a particular animal. In time, this animal developed a counter to deal with the thorns. The outcome was a balance in respective needs. What is significant here is that purpose (intention) seems to be involved.

Perhaps purpose is also provoked in Darwinian adaptation and in Gaia balance.