I know a lot of you are still reeling from the Tom Brady news and the fact you can't escape the coverage, so I thought I would give you something else to think about. This is good.
Check out this photo:
What does it look like to you?
Actually, it's not. This is a photograph of the universe. This photo shows what are called galaxy filaments. They are the largest known structures in the universe and what they basically are is normal matter that is attracted to web-like strings of dark matter which run between galaxy clusters. Think of them as things that connect all the galaxies in the universe.
Why is this interesting? Well, check out this image:
This is active neurons in the human brain.
See any similarity? Indeed you do, right?
Now, this is obviously all speculation, but I find it fascinating that when you take an image of the energy in the universe, you get an image that is, essentially, identical to an image of the human brain. Coincidence? Most likely, though things like the golden spiral suggest that the universe uses the same building techniques at all levels, from galaxies to disease spread patterns to the construction of the human body. So it seems to me that at least there is the suggestion that our minds are built the same way as the universe builds itself.
Even more interesting to me is the question of function. Why is the universe built this way? I wonder if the image we are seeing isn't a bit of insight into what created the universe. Could the universe be a single thing, like a giant brain? If so, perhaps the universe is nothing more than the brain of God, and we've now seen it... we're a part of it.
This is just guesswork, obviously, based on scant evidence, even less knowledge, and perhaps the human flaw to see form in chaos and shapes in static, but it definitely makes me think. Wouldn't it be interesting if the answer to the question "is there a God" is yes, God is the universe, the universe is God, and we are a physical part of it like an electron running across a neuron. That's kind of a cool idea, if you ask me.
Thoughts?
Check out this photo:
What does it look like to you?
Actually, it's not. This is a photograph of the universe. This photo shows what are called galaxy filaments. They are the largest known structures in the universe and what they basically are is normal matter that is attracted to web-like strings of dark matter which run between galaxy clusters. Think of them as things that connect all the galaxies in the universe.
Why is this interesting? Well, check out this image:
This is active neurons in the human brain.
See any similarity? Indeed you do, right?
Now, this is obviously all speculation, but I find it fascinating that when you take an image of the energy in the universe, you get an image that is, essentially, identical to an image of the human brain. Coincidence? Most likely, though things like the golden spiral suggest that the universe uses the same building techniques at all levels, from galaxies to disease spread patterns to the construction of the human body. So it seems to me that at least there is the suggestion that our minds are built the same way as the universe builds itself.
Even more interesting to me is the question of function. Why is the universe built this way? I wonder if the image we are seeing isn't a bit of insight into what created the universe. Could the universe be a single thing, like a giant brain? If so, perhaps the universe is nothing more than the brain of God, and we've now seen it... we're a part of it.
This is just guesswork, obviously, based on scant evidence, even less knowledge, and perhaps the human flaw to see form in chaos and shapes in static, but it definitely makes me think. Wouldn't it be interesting if the answer to the question "is there a God" is yes, God is the universe, the universe is God, and we are a physical part of it like an electron running across a neuron. That's kind of a cool idea, if you ask me.
Thoughts?
Cool concept.
ReplyDeleteThanks, LL. I thought so too. It's definitely something to think about.
ReplyDeleteI always just shook my head when Ultra Religious "friends" commented that scientists couldn't possibly have any religion. They just didn't see things they way I did, and never would.
ReplyDeleteI see His hand everywhere, and yet I'm not particularly "religious".
DrJim, I always found the claim that religion and science can't coexist to be ridiculous. Science can learn many things, but where it cannot, it has nothing legitimate to say and it has no right to shoot down belief. Yet, too many anti-religious people want to claim that faith is somehow wrong according to science... it's not. Legitimate science is silent at that point. You don't have to share the believe, but it's simply incorrect to say the belief is wrong -- we just don't know.
ReplyDelete(On the other side of the coin, it's also foolish to take religious dogma and deny science. Faith is a belief where proof is not available, it should not be a believe against reliable evidence.)
Anyways, all that aside, there's been a pretty fascinating amount of science of late that is starting to prove religious things. Archeology and medicine in particular are finding evidence that suggests that a number of Bible stories are factual. And the more we look into the nature of the universe, the more strange it gets, rather than getting more clear. When science itself suggests different dimensions, unknown energies, dark matter and an uncertain universe, then it gets harder and harder to say the universe is one natural process without some help by design.
I find the intersection of science and religion fascinating.
Relational theology (the sort of theology anyone who prays believes in whether they admit it or not) states that God is quite literally in relationships. God is effectively a network. It sounds all John Lennon with the Yogi, but all things really are connected. So it makes sense that the Universe looks exactly as the ancient mystics described it.
ReplyDeleteI actually did think that the picture had something to do with space actually. Interesting observation regardless and great points on why the antagonism between modern science and religion is harmful to both. Here's hoping that the Almighty gives us all a break soon, though.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the earth is a sub-atomic particle in the universe.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, don’t know if you ever got a chance to read any of Roger Penrose’s works. Your thoughts made me think of him, although it has been at least 30 years since I read anything of his.
ReplyDeleteJed, The name is familiar, but I can't place it.
ReplyDeleteIt could be the exact same model as subatomic particles.
Daniel, I tend to think we make our own breaks.
ReplyDeletetryanmax, I tend to think all things are related.
ReplyDelete