Ann Druyan, the wife and long-time partner of Carl Sagan often said that Science is as spiritual as any religion. What it lacks is good music. John Boswell may have created the first "scientific hymn". In this video called, "A Glorious Dawn", he pays tribute to Sagan. I think it's a wonderful blend of science, art and creative license. Druyan could have stopped the video with a threat of copyright infringement but did not. Instead, she praises Boswell and says that Carl Sagan would have loved it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc
Monday, November 9, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Possibilities of Time Travel?
Although Einstein's theory of Special Relativity shows that time is relative and travel is theoretically possible, in the physical world is believed to be impossible because in would require a velocity greater than the speed of light to achieve.
As a particle approaches the speed of light, the effects of gravity on its mass would make it too heavy for any known force to enable it to continue to accelerate. Actually, we experience time travel continuously but only in one direction –forward.
So this applies to particles with mass. Thought consciousness, presumably has no mass so is it possible, at least in theory, for our consciousness to experience time travel into the past? Mystics through the ages have reported an ability to move through time. This is even hinted at in the Sci-Fi show, “Lost”.
Here’s an interesting article about a real-world attempt to build a Flux Capacitor for time travel.
The popular film, "Back to the Future" was based on this idea. Any rocket scientists out there?
http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2009/11/1105back-to-the-future
As a particle approaches the speed of light, the effects of gravity on its mass would make it too heavy for any known force to enable it to continue to accelerate. Actually, we experience time travel continuously but only in one direction –forward.
So this applies to particles with mass. Thought consciousness, presumably has no mass so is it possible, at least in theory, for our consciousness to experience time travel into the past? Mystics through the ages have reported an ability to move through time. This is even hinted at in the Sci-Fi show, “Lost”.
Here’s an interesting article about a real-world attempt to build a Flux Capacitor for time travel.
The popular film, "Back to the Future" was based on this idea. Any rocket scientists out there?
http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2009/11/1105back-to-the-future
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
…and now a disclaimer:
This is a somewhat difficult subject for me to pursue. I am not a scientist but I am a strong advocate for science. Much of the science is over my head and certainly most of the math is way over my head.
So my approach here is more philosophical and spiritual than scientific. Therein, lies the rub: How does one negotiate the intersection of science and spirituality? Is there even an intersection? I’ve heard it said that science attempts to answer the questions what and how whereas spirituality attempts to answer the questions why and who. In this blog, I am exploring the possibilities or the questions about if.
This is a somewhat difficult subject for me to pursue. I am not a scientist but I am a strong advocate for science. Much of the science is over my head and certainly most of the math is way over my head.
So my approach here is more philosophical and spiritual than scientific. Therein, lies the rub: How does one negotiate the intersection of science and spirituality? Is there even an intersection? I’ve heard it said that science attempts to answer the questions what and how whereas spirituality attempts to answer the questions why and who. In this blog, I am exploring the possibilities or the questions about if.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The Nature of the Meditation I do
I’m not planning to do a daily entry. At most, I will probably update this blog weekly but, at this point, I have a backlog of ideas to sort out. I thought it would be good to have a brief discussion of what happens during the initial stages of Transcendental Meditation (which I will refer to as TM henceforth).
You start by internally repeating a mantra which is given to you by your instructor. In my case, it was a word in Sanskrit. The word itself has no meaning to someone who doesn’t speak Sanskrit so there are no thought images associated with it. TM instructors say that these sounds have been specifically chosen to create the desired effect. The sound has a calming effect on the mind which, in turn relaxes the body. The body being more relaxed, in turn calms down the mind even more. So this iterative process continues until you are in a deep state of relaxation.
My experiential evidence of the meditative state of consciousness is that during meditation, I have a sense of peace and timelessness. There have been times when I thought I had been in meditation for only a few minutes but after coming out, more than an hour had passed. At times, I don’t experience thoughts yet I am fully aware. What TM instructors say is that during this phase, your mind has “transcended” into the field that is the source of all thought and it is a field of pure creativity. So, I became very curious about this field. Does it exist inside the human mind or is it a dimension that is shared among all humans or, indeed all of conscious existence?
The problem with exploring this within the TM movement is that after the initial training, it becomes more of a religious exercise where students are encouraged to read the Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu spiritual texts. At the time, I was not interested in that.
You start by internally repeating a mantra which is given to you by your instructor. In my case, it was a word in Sanskrit. The word itself has no meaning to someone who doesn’t speak Sanskrit so there are no thought images associated with it. TM instructors say that these sounds have been specifically chosen to create the desired effect. The sound has a calming effect on the mind which, in turn relaxes the body. The body being more relaxed, in turn calms down the mind even more. So this iterative process continues until you are in a deep state of relaxation.
My experiential evidence of the meditative state of consciousness is that during meditation, I have a sense of peace and timelessness. There have been times when I thought I had been in meditation for only a few minutes but after coming out, more than an hour had passed. At times, I don’t experience thoughts yet I am fully aware. What TM instructors say is that during this phase, your mind has “transcended” into the field that is the source of all thought and it is a field of pure creativity. So, I became very curious about this field. Does it exist inside the human mind or is it a dimension that is shared among all humans or, indeed all of conscious existence?
The problem with exploring this within the TM movement is that after the initial training, it becomes more of a religious exercise where students are encouraged to read the Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu spiritual texts. At the time, I was not interested in that.
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