Theology and science were never good bedfellows -- until recently.
Last week, we talked about the role religion played historically and why it may be failing us at this point in our evolution. Using science, it appears we can now explain how we interact with God (the universe) through our thoughts. Ancient biblical text, through its rituals, taught us to pray, to chant, to meditate in order to ask God to manifest our desires. Now, it is clear that there is a boundary between science and philosophy, between reality and fantasy. That boundary is Quantum Mechanics. Quantum Mechanics is the steppingstone between ourselves and the Universe, between what we want and making it actually happen in the natural.
Photons
It all starts with the photon, that little corpuscle of light. A photon is a packet of energy of a given wavelength; light of certain wavelengths we can see. Thus red, blue, yellow are all visible wavelengths to us, while infrared, ultraviolet and gamma rays are not. From here, a scientist named Max Planck defined an equation to describe the energy of light. He said that a given photon's energy is equal to its frequency times a constant named after him, that we call Planck's Constant. This simply formula is written as E = h v, where "h" is Planck's constant, and "v" is the photon's frequency. Planck's constant being a very small number, being equal to 6.63 x 10 ^-34 Joule-seconds, so we can expect the energy of a single photon to likewise be equally tiny. But remember that in a given beam of light there are far more photons than there are blades of grass in your backyard.
Albert Einstein Does Not Like Quantum Mechanics
Now, something else that figures in here was actually contributed by one of Quantum Mechanic's biggest detractors, Albert Einstein. He said that energy and matter are the same thing, that all matter is comprised of energy. His equation is the even more famous, E=mc^2, where "m" is an object's mass and "c^2" means the speed of light squared. So all matter -- you, me, this post you're reading, the computer you're reading it on -- is made up of energy. But what is energy? Well, Einstein went on to say that light is, in fact, a very small particle with the energy described by Planck's equation, so energy in it's purest form is carried by photons of light. Thus, we are all of us made up of constrained light.
We speak of light like as if it is a particle, even as we say that photons are discrete packets of energy. But light has a wavelength, which makes it a wave. So is it particle or wave? The answer is both. Thus we have two of the basic precepts of Quantum Mechanics. The first: Energy is not a continuous stream, but actually a stream of discrete, if very small, units that we call quanta. The second is that photons behave both like particles and like waves. It sounded pretty weird at first, but as people thought it over they realized that it did explain why electrons are found only in certain energy levels.
Energy makes up matter, electrons are a form of matter, so electrons are made up of energy, which means photons. Light being comprised of streams of individual particles then forces electrons to inhabit only specific energy levels when in orbit around the nucleus of an atom. When an electron gives up or receives energy, it is doing so in the form of giving up or receiving photons of light (of which it is comprised). Since photons are seen to come in discrete packets and not continuous streams of energy, then an electron is limited to exchanging energy solely in multiples of these minimal packets of energy; no fractional amounts of a single photon are allowed. When in orbit around the nucleus of an atom, then, if an electron is to move closer to or farther away from the nucleus (i.e., raise or lower its energy), it can do so only in multiples of a photon's energy. This translates into there being very specific energy levels that an electron can obtain in orbit around the nucleus. It's like the steps on a ladder: You can't climb up half a step. The steps would be the energy levels and the spacing between the steps determined by the size of a photon.
This insistence on discrete energy levels dictates how atoms interact with one another, which forms the chemistry of bulk matter -- everything from the stars to ourselves. So it can be seen that the nature of the very littlest of things can have a tremendous impact on everything else, on the nature of our reality. The formation of matter in our reality is, at its essence, the result of brain waves.
Thoughts = energy
Energy = matter
Thoughts = matter
Our thoughts are the language of the universe -- the frequency of our thoughts, not the words that we use to describe our thoughts. The Universe/God sends us back exactly what we are asking for. It is not listening to our words though, only our brain waves. The universe does not judge; it simply returns what we are projecting out with our brain waves. These waves can be measured and represent our consciousness. It is our consciousness that creates our world in the natural. Hence, for the first time in the history of man, ask and it shall be given is a biblical truism that can be explained using Quantum theory.
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Peter Russell: Does Our Brain Really Create Consciousness?
Christianity is not a religion; Christianity is the revealed apocalyptic Truth
In all religions the truth is to seek for answers
In Christianity there is the existence of auto Apocalyptic.
God Himself, The Truth, Reveals His Mysteries to His People.
In all religions we only have mania.
In Christianity we have the steadfast Glory of God.
In all religions, the physical existing religions, humans are constantly seeking god, and constantly seeking for him to reveal his mysteries, to uncover his truths.
The solution! Thousands of gods, thousands of idols, thousands of false positive truths. Thousands of raggedy gods thrown out as trash in the remnants of time and history.
Instability, confusion, disturbance, a total state of confusion.
The Idea that 'our thoughts are the language of the universe' implies the universe need a language to express it self. The universe I would argue needs no language it is by definition all that is and defies representation. I hardly think it needs our thoughts.
Consciousness and intent are riddles to be sure, the germaine problem that need answering before the question of intent is address, is what is the nature of self that is observing the thought?, Can it be separated from the very thoughts you propose to observe? I have yet to be convinced that the answers necessary lie in wave partial mechanics.
To make the jump from speculations regarding the nature of the time space continuum to the nature of the self, requires a whole bunch of fact, not yet in evidence.
Under the circumstances, it will be the wisest thing to order our lives on the assumption that God exists at the quantum level, but spread over the entire universe, and creates the laws of Science, in a way that he cannot violate these laws himself, and these laws include the law of probability which too he cannot violate, for he too can just fix probabilities and cannot predict the outcome of an event with certainty, and yet he does all this with a sleight of his hand in a way that leads towards a consciousness that can understand his existence as well as the existence of the universe, and all this he manages to do (the sleight of hand part) by creating a certain principle that provides certain mathematical constants to all the laws of science, resulting in full obedience to all the laws, including the law of probability, and it is this principle which we call as the ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE.
In short it will do no harm to anyone`s religion, to believe firmly that God exists and he is within us and outside us and God is a Scientist who created certain principles and laws that enabled the existence of life that understands the Universe and believing this is our religion and everybody`s religion. And in this respect, the Scientist, the Philosopher, and the Theologian, must necessarily have a common ground.
While it is true that we must take the laws of causation seriously enough, and that it is the interactions of the world which made us what we are, we have the freedom to choose our future interactions and create such probabilities that will help us to achieve what we want to achieve, rather than, as you said, run through life directionless.
I am also preparing my comments on your subsequent very interesting article on `Prayer`, as usual it is going into several pages and I need some time, though I am aware that a much delayed response reduces the probability of it being read widely.
Thanks and regards.
It should be emphasized that none of this denies any supposed wisdom contained in religious stories, only to insist that we not try to grasp for a literal interpretation- which can be extremely difficult for those conditioned to religious literalism. Indeed, a scientific mentality requires significantly more energy to develop, which I believe accounts for its scarcity.
Science and religion must converge to understand reality.
My own view is that the expectation of a classical level God made up of atoms and molecules and having mass, leads us to a state of mind where we have no choice but to ask the question, are we in good hands? Can such a classical level God be considered omnipotent or omnipresence?. How can this be possible?, He would have to occupy a certain limited region of time and space, however large it may be, and be subject to interactions and forces caused by the world outside this region, on which he can have no control whatsoever unless he breaks the laws of Physics created by him. If he sits in judgment in a limited region of space, in say, the Andromeda galaxy and keeps a comprehensive record of the deeds of all beings on the planet Earth or any other planet in any other part of the Universe and then rewards and punishes accordingly, he will have to violate Einstein`s special theory of relativity and Newton`s laws of motion (at the classical level) and many other laws of Physics all created by him, in a continuous manner. The trouble is we don`t see this happening. To think that such a classical level god will come to ourrescue and prevent the civilization from self destruction, will be wishful thinking in the extreme.
(To be continued)
On the other hand the expectation of a quantum level God – who is not required to follow the laws of classical physics – and who is conscious and omnipresent in the form of a cosmic consciousness, having created the laws of Physics, including the laws of probability and most importantly the `Anthropic principle` is easier to believe. But in that case Roger Penrose`s statement given below must be brought to mind.
``Probabilities do not arise at the minute quantum level of particles, atoms or molecules – these evolve deterministically – but seemingly via some mysterious larger scale action connected with the emergence of a classical world that we can consciously perceive``
Roger Penrose …Emperor`s New Mind.
The conclusion is inescapable: There is no other way to prevent such a collapse of civilization from self destruction except to create such probabilities at the classical level so as to enable the quantum level God to come to our rescue. And the only way these classical level probabilities can be created is a scientific approach to the understanding of reality and to base our religious beliefs on Science and Science alone which calls for a comprehensive convergence of Science and Religion, not to mention a comprehensive convergence of all the religions into one religion.
(To be continued)
In the eyes of the quantum level God as an observer, he sees the Scientist and the religious leader as made up of the same quantum entities, atoms and molecules, who could easily have changed places, had their interactions been different. In principle he sees no conflict at all between the Scientist(S) and the religious leader(R). Their roles in understanding reality are complimentary. The former tries to answer the question - ` how we are here?’- by experimental observations and applying the rules of Science (Physics and Mathematics), and the latter tries to answer the question - `Why we are here?` - by intuitive thinking, by taking into consideration the updated status of Science, making sure that all the scientific truths acquired and established till that time are not rejected, while at the same time firmly believing in the existence of God till such time as ( and even after that) Science is capable of supplying answers to the ultimate questions about why things exist and what is their purpose.
Under the circumstances, it will be the wisest thing to order our lives on the assumption that God exists at the quantum level, but spread over the entire universe.
(To be continued)
I am not fearful of death as I am convinced that when I die, that I end to exist at any level that is considered to be of the human experience as I will no longer have any of my senses or brain to process them. Something may happen at the quantum level when we die as it would for all living things, but I don't think this should be described as an after life, spirit or soul, just a continuation of our ever evolving universe and our brief interaction as intelligent life forms made up of the matter and energy provided by it. No superstitious belief or miracles involved.
As Carl Sagan so eloquently said "We are the stuff of stars".
Information Society -1988.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPuXvpkOLmM
What phenomena would require anything remotely akin to "entanglement" to explain?
Hawking (as yet) is not a Nobel Laureate ..
Axel
Perhaps the most promising scientific explanation for "God" amounts to "inter-hemispheric communication", or to put it another way, one hemisphere of the brain "hearing" the other. Yes, every human with two normally functioning hemispheres experiences inter-hemispheric communication, but those who have been "programmed" with "God" interpret their intuition, subconscious, non-dominate hemisphere, etc. as being God. So, one can imagine that when talking to another person, you are interacting with two "selves".
Quantum mechanics (or other areas of physics) are almost entirely unnecessary for describing mystical experience. But, of course, it is knowledge of physical reality that forms the basis of the deductions that eventually lead us to the present conclusions. Further inquiry should be directed to Boris Sidis, Julian Jaynes, Gazzaniga's and Sperry's split-brain research, or perhaps current literature on Dual-Brain Theory.