Forgiveness

To be social is to be forgiving. Am I social? Only very slightly so.

I prefer an empty countryside to a gathering of most people. 

I find more civility there and certainly a more honest forgiveness in return.

How I can prove God exists, sort of.

How I can prove God exists, sort of.

Scientists have a problem called the cosmological constant. This is a reference (as I understand it, and this disclaimer applies to everything I say here) to the level of inherent energy in the vacuum of spacetime.  If lower, the stars and life could not form. If higher, all would fly apart and life would be impossible. I think I have that close to right. In any case, because the cosmological constant is balanced so perfectly, impossibly perfectly, they are troubled by this fact. Some have said this has to point to a higher intelligence, i.e. God, to have so many things so perfectly tuned for existence to work. 

The solution comes in the form of Multiverses , and the Many Worlds theory, which may be two perspectives of the same thing.  The Multiverse theory is that this is only one of an infinite number of universes, each with its own set of physical laws and circumstances. To make sense of our perfect situation, it is said that we just happen to be the one that worked among the infinite number of those that didn’t, at least the same way. In this scenario all possible (or should I say impossible) universes must exist. An infinite number, for us to have occurred. This means much the same as the Many Worlds theory puts forth. In that case, the timeline of your life is a constant selection of choices every instant, and a constantly new number of “yous” follow every possible choice path; an endless infinite branching of your timeline.

Now consider what this means, and what they say about this which may sound ridiculous. Every scenario you can possibly think of exists in one of these worlds. In one, you are Hitler. In another you are long dead, or never been born. In another we never became human, and another we are gods. Whatever.  So you see, this doesn’t sound sensible whatsoever, but the vast array of universes don’t care what we think sensible.

Now in one of these universes, there exists, beyond  any doubt, a god, in fact God, if all possible worlds exists. And this god is the God of all the timelines and all the multiverses. And so God exists. And if theses theories are as foolish as they sound, and wrong… what then? We are left with the conundrum that our set of circumstances are too, in fact, impossibly balanced. What then?

Here’s what I think, lowly as my educational and intellectual status might be. First of all, regarding infinite timelines and free will: The past is recorded and done. It existed but is now a static record that helped to establish the present. The future is potential, and its path, though there are many possibles, is not yet established. The future is potential, in the same regard as wave function in quantum mechanics. The present is dynamic, and is the current state of the universe as determined by the past state, and entropy and past choices. The present, along with the current state of the universe, and flow of entropy, is also dynamic with an infinite web of events and choices, which collapses the wave function and determines the next instant of the state of the universe. It is like a rolling wave or a turning wheel, where the present is where the wheel meets the ground.

And what of God? Well, personally, I think we have a problem. What IS God? I feel we have not truly defined what we even mean. Oh, we have this childish mythical figure we use in our minds, and that is forgivable because the concept of God is really, by “definition” well beyond our ability to comprehend. Here is what I think. In the old testament Moses ask God his name. God’s reply is something akin to “I Am.” And thus you have it. God Is existence.  The Mystery buried in existence, and there is nothing more difficult to understand then that.

My Night Began Like Ancient Men

My Night Began Like Ancient Men

My night began like ancient men,

Who close their eyes and wake again.

Those things that do disturb my sleep,

And cause most men like me to weep,

Are things in past I did not do,

Yes indeed, it is so true.

Life neglected is not regained,

That is the thing that’s most insane

About this life, the waste involved,

When not lived fully, and not resolved.

To live it bravely and without regret,

One must get up, not be beset

By seductive comfort, and simple ways

That fills one’s soul and kills one’s days.

An adventurous life need not die,

Because of age and death grows neigh.

Live your life as if it’s new,

Beauty, hope and love pursue.

Then go gently into that night,

Knowing  full well that all went right.

In a Moment

In a moment it comes back to you; the things you've forgotten to remember.

Country Cafe

Country Café

Nice high ceilings, big open windows, country kitchen chairs, and tables, wooden US flag on the wall, big preamble of the Constitution on the wall under glass, a man with wife sitting below it, he with an NRA tee shirt on. I want to tell him it’s not just his, it belongs to all of us! Glad to see they have not edited out the part that says ‘to promote the general welfare’. It belongs to and includes all of us, every one of us, even those you and I don’t like or agree with. I enjoy the space, the country feel, but the coffee is sub-par, and the hash browns tough and too crunchy and somehow flat. I’m reading a chapter entitled ‘Paganism’ from ‘Holy The Firm’ by Annie Dillard. Trains have been passing by. Now sitting out front on a porch bench writing, country songs suddenly switch to ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’. When I paid my bill there was a stack of US Constitution booklets on the counter (the kind those so-called militia men were carrying around at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge), free for the taking. That’s fine. It’s the “Mine not yours” attitude I object to! Just like their so called version of Christianity. When you walk into someplace like this I love the country-friendly attitude you have here, but I fit in with my blue jeans and red ball cap. I worry that they’ve lost their soul, their Christianity has lost it’s soul, their country-friendly attitude has lost it’s soul once the “other” walks in, or I tell them I voted for Obama twice and love him, or that I read Annie Dillard.

Am I being unfair? Am I prejudging, judgmental? I hope so, I hope it’s just me, but I’ve been to the town of Connell, Wa. I’ve seen this before.