As we approach the day where many celebrate the birth of "The son of G_d", perhaps we might momentarily stop our shopping mall worship ceremonies and ask if "G_d" exists and, if so, who or what he/she/it is.
I believe that science answered that question back at the beginning of the 20th Century and that Albert Einstein and mathematics proved, irrefutably, that there is a precisely quantifiable quantity of energy in the Universe that is even more vast, powerful and awesome than any religion's current definition of G_d . . . a quantity of "Force" or "G_d Force" or "Nature" or "Energy" that is so mind-blowing it dwarfs even the grandest conventional imaginations of "the power of G_d".
And, scientifically verifiable and without dispute.
What Einstein figured out represents a Force of such magnitude as to make any thinking person fall to his knees, regardless of the definition . . . a Force so vast that not one person, our neighborhood Priest, Imam or Rabbi, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck or even The Pope himself can truly understand it or credibly say they can explain it.
And yet this new definition of the non-definable (thus the funny way of writing it - as it cannot be contained within or accurately represented by a 3 letter word) is actually best represented, with scientific accuracy, in a 3 letter and 1 number mathematical formula . . . a formula that, appropriately, is the most famous in history.
E=MC2
This most cited and powerful equation is also, ironically, one that causes all of G_d's Earthly creation to be seconds away from complete annihilation at any moment in time, as it was the source of the secret of the power of the atom and the development of the atomic bomb.
Here's the E=MC2 math and the Theology, all rolled up into one:
Step One: Add all of the Matter on Earth and contained in the rest of G_d's creation, 100 Billion Galaxies, each with about 100 Billion stars,
Step Two: Multiply that amount of Matter by the speed of light,
Step Three: Square THAT number . . .
and then understand that EVERY gram of that incalculable amount of Matter has the Energy of a Hiroshima nuclear bomb.
A 100 pound human, for example, contains the force of approximately 45,000 Hiroshimas. A 200 pound person over 90,000 and 6.5 Billion humans with an average of 100 pounds of mass contains over 292 Trillion times the force of an atomic bomb. Add other animals, mountains, oceans and the mass of the Earth itself and we have approximately 13 septillion pounds or approximately 6 Octillion (6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) or 6 to the 27th atomic bombs worth of Force contained in just the Earth itself. Understanding that Earth is a small part of one solar system which is tiny part of one galaxy which is a tiny part of a Universe estimated to have 100 Billion galaxies, each with 100 Billion such solar systems . . . one can quickly begin to comprehend that the quantity of Force/Energy/Power/"G_d" determined by Einstein's tiny formula, E=MC2, is beyond all human comprehension.
E=MC2, scientifically, thus, allows us to define the quantity of Energy in the known Universe. And, if Energy is "G_d", as some believe, or but one of many manifestations or reflections of "G_d" as others may believe, the words, in any spiritual tradition, that "G_d is great" or "G_d is awesome" are almost laughable understatements.
But whatever you call the quantity of Energy or Force in the universe, it is now clear that the ancient depiction of "G_d" as an old White guy with a beard (Santa Clause's brother), does not, in any way, communicate the far more awe-inspiring scientific reality unearthed by Einstein in his 1905 formula.
If we were to mature enough as a species to embrace the scientific "quantification" of the power of the universe as at least one way to begin to approach the definition of "G_d" we would realize that no religion can, with any integrity, manipulate such a definition to its own dogma and practices. Man's ability to understand and appropriate something of this magnitude is like a single plankton cell pretending to explain, or swallow up, or have dominion over all the oceans . . . of a billion planets!
So, thanks to the Time Magazine "Man of The 20th Century" and his formula we can begin to appreciate, despite our ego and pride, how insignificant and inadequate is our understanding of the unfathomable sea of energy that surrounds, and likely, created us.
Einstein, despite his massive intellect, himself surrenders to the unfathomable nature of G_d. He wrote the following in 1932 . . .
"The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as of all serious endeavour in art and science. He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense I am religious. To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all there is."
Indeed.
And perhaps we, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Jews, can reflect on this visionary scientist and his little formula the next time we think we understand that which we call "G_d" and chauvinistically discount those who don't share what is most certainly our own seriously inadequate definition.
Richard Greene is a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post, radio host, public speaker and author of the new children's eBook, "E=MC2 and The New Definition of G_d". www.TheNewDefinitionofGod.com
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There is a LOT more energy than from your above calculation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_energy. The mysteries of the vacuum have just begun to be explored in recent decades.
"And perhaps we, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Jews, can reflect on this visionary scientist".... actually many physicists are atheists except for one sacred document, which is to them the closest thing they have to blind religious worship, that is Einstein's 1905 paper.
These are exciting times because that 1905 paper may be in trouble.
Physics community has clung to the religious belief that Einstein's two 1905 postulates could only lead to one possible set of equations -- the Lorentz transformations (except for one highly-respected physicist who broke from the crowd in mid-20th century and suggested otherwise). Who was this highly respected physicist? Well, he was so highly respected that if you have heard of Einstein you have heard of him too! He gave a warning that special relativity's equations could be wrong, while the postulates could be correct. And you have heard of him but won't believe this thoughtful man said such words. You can read his quote and details at http://www.physicsnext.org.
Step One: Add all of the Matter on Earth and contained in the rest of G_d's creation, 100 Billion Galaxies, each with about 100 Billion stars, each with about 100 billion trillion atoms of Pure Energy Matter
Step Two: Add the Totally-Organized Chaos of the Self-Aware Supra-Intelligent Collective Consciousness
Step Three: Add one packet of Zero Energy Diet Black Raspberry Kool-Aid mix
Step Four: Turn on the NuWave Twister Multi-purpose Blender
. . . and then understand that EVERY gram of that incalculable amount of Smoothie Matter has the Unifying Energy of a Synchronicity Shower.
You haven't drunk the kool-aid, have you?
; )
2 Chronicles 6:18a: "But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you."
Green: "it is now clear that the ancient depiction of "G_d" as an old White guy with a beard (Santa Clause's brother), does not, in any way, communicate the far more awe-inspiring scientific reality..."
Isaiah 55:9: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Green: "Man's ability to understand and appropriate something of this magnitude is like a single plankton cell pretending to explain, or swallow up, or have dominion over all the oceans . . ."
Psalm 8:4a. "what is man that you are mindful of him,"
What you are describing is a caricature of God. Man tries to make God small in his imaginations, if he believes in God at all. But the Bible describes a God who is Holy, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent with will and intellect to whom we will give account. And that's the rub isn't it? To quote C.S. Lewis, "We have cause to be uneasy."
First of all, you got your algorithm wrong. It should read :
Step One: Sum all the matter in the universe ,
Step Two: Square the speed of light,
Step Three: Multiply the two quantities from steps 1 and 2 to get all the energy.
But that is the least of your mistakes.
Notice that that the equation is E=M*C^2. It is not E=C*M^2. Nor is it E=C*M^n for n>1. This is extremely important - mass and energy are of the same degree. The constant multiplier C^2 is of NO consequence. Using the definition of big-O, E is O(M) and M is O(E).
It may appear to the unsophisticated eye that energy is waaaay bigger than mass, but that ignores the fact that the units we humans use to measure mass, energy, and the speed of light are of OUR choosing - and we can alter them at will. Physicists refer to the concept embodied in Einstein's (famously misunderstood) equation as "mass-energy equivalence". In fact, in many systems of natural units, the speed of light is set equal to 1 , and the formula becomes the identity E = M; hence the term "mass–energy equivalence".
There is NOT more energy than mass in the universe. But even that matters little. Equating this notion with a proof of Gud (I replaced your missing vowel - did I get it right?) is sheer unsupported make-believe.
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btw - My guess was g-a-d ... as in egads.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-briggs/studies-going-to-church-c_b_791742.html
If you asked me about God 25 years ago, I would have not had an answer, or invented my best guess. But I had an experience which I can't deny, and once that happened, all bets were off. Apparently, there is some force which actually can manifest when an elderly woman put her hands a few inches in front of a man's chest and knock him over when he insisted he "wasn't going to be knocked over, by G-d." I still love my trig, running out coordinates on a 20 dollar calculator, but I know there is something more now, and I can't go back. Einstein uses the word 'humble' in his words there. That, to me, is his clue that G-d has that characteristic.
Interesting post, best wishes.
"This most cited and powerful equation is also, ironically, one that causes all of G_d's Earthly creation to be seconds away from complete annihilation at any moment in time"
No, we are not seconds away from complete annihilation at any moment in time. And mathematical equations don't cause anything.
Energy cannot be G_d because G_d has to be a being of some kind for the term G_d to have any meaning at all. Energy is bound by rules, it does not create the rules.
1. If Russia or America or Pakistan, etc. pushed a button, hundreds or thousands of nukes could be launched, almost immediately ending all life on Earth. Sad, but true, ergo the need for many more Treaties and actions like START.
2. Why does G_d have to be some sort of "being"?, or a "being" that you, one of the Universe's many, many creations, thinks of as a "being". A bit short-sighted. And how do you know the "Force" that Einstein measured is not, indeed, a Being. Under the Gaia philosophy, Earth is a "Being". I also believe that. Read the comment from JohnFromCensornati, below. Richard
2. Because if G_d is not a being, then it isn't something that made any kind of decision to create, or wants to be worshiped, or responds to prayer, that provides an afterlife. Without those properties, how can you still call it G_d?
2b. A being isn't just something that changes and self-regulates, its something that contains consciousness, which is the result of a complex interconnected central nervous system. Unless we find that there is some sort of centralized communication network that allows the world to actively modulate its properties, "Gaia" is not a consciousness.
The purpose of creation is the desire of Consciousness for relationship. Everything is G_d and the Universe and everything in it is Oneness and our world and our experience is nothing but the Oneness dancing with Itself to the Vibrations of the Cosmic Beat and G_d is a series of insufficient explanations of the Absolutely Undefinable Energy Force Flow of the Unifying Energy Field.
The human body is a macroscopic Quantum computer system. Excellent Quantum-receptivity of microtubules and other sub-neuronal arrays in the brain is key to Phase-Conjugate Quantum Resonance with the Akashic Information Field of the Cosmos. There is mounting scientific evidence that suggests that time simply reboots when you die.
Quantum be upon you.
If only I could fan you again.
It is said that God exists between thoughts. Often when enlightened ones are asked about the existence of God and the nature of reality they remain silent as the answer. In Judeo Christian terms, think when God was asked His name by Moses, the reply was "I AM THAT I AM". No religion uses mathematics to define God, though it can be used to define the" handiwork" of God.
'30 points for suggesting that Einstein, in his later years, was groping his way towards the ideas you now advocate.' the attempt at merging santa claus, god (sans underscore), science in general and energy (which is not force by the way) in particular is both naive and misguided. i'm not sure if it's a good thing or not that you're writing for children.