There was once a civilization that did not know that bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms existed. Diseases were a mystery and their treatment often involved empirical remedies, prayer, rituals, even sorcery. When microscopes were invented we discovered what infection means and their cure became rational and focused. Today, the world of medicine has a wider than ever choice of antibacterials, antifungals and antiviral compounds to treat infections.
We once thought that the Earth was flat and we could only see the Sun, Moon and stars in the sky. The invention of telescopes changed all that. Today we are able not only to see distant planets, stars and galaxies but also actually send manned and unmanned spaceships to visit them. The Universe is much less a mystery and much more a scientific expedition.
So existence is without pretentiousness. It is we, who attribute mystical qualities to it. We do so because we have limited perceptivity and because we are within existence itself, hence unable to stand outside it and view it objectively, as it were. Even our enhanced perception through scientific instruments is limited by that fact that we created these devices. As a result, we still cannot be sure about the dimensions of the Universe, whether it has dimensions or whether it is infinite, whether Time exists and whether existence is time-limited or timeless. We have to just postulate and theorize.
If we then assume that the entire Universe exists as a timeless, dimensionless entity (at least, as is perceivable to us at this time), then it must have some basic common factor – a common medium of existence. Indeed it does. The commonality of existence is energy.
Let’s try and understand what energy is. Yes, of course, we’ve been through all that in school-level physics but let’s review it in our current context.
“If you wish to understand the Universe,
Think of energy, frequency and vibration.”
– Nikola Tesla
Isaac Newton
In Newtonian Physics
- Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
- Energy and mass are inter-convertible – Einstein’s equation, E=mc2
- Energy can be transferred from one object to another.
- Energy forms are inter-convertible.
Let’s look at the first of these today.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed
This reiterates the concept that existence has no beginning and no end – we use words like ‘eternal’ to make our simple minds rationalize it. Indeed if one has to accept that the Universe has no beginning and no end, then this principle of physics explains why so.
The Hindu religion assigns the name Brahma to the Universal entity that is outside existence and regulates it. According to this concept, described in the Hindu Puranas, existence manifests as one day of Brahma and then dissolves into a void lasting an equal period and then existence comes back again, in a cyclical manner. One day of Brahma is called one kalpa. The Big Bang theory, then describes the beginning of one such kalpa.
1 Kalpa = 1000 Maha-yugas = 4.32 million solar years
Likewise, Baha’u’llah the founder of the Baha’i faith also taught that the Universe has no beginning or end. In the Lawh-Hikmat (Tablet of Wisdom) written in 1873-1874, Baha’u’llah states, ‘That which hath been in existence had existed before, but not in the form thou seest today. The world of existence came into being through the heat generated from the interaction between the active force and that which is its recipient. These two are the same, yet they are different.’
Christianity has varied views on the beginning of existence. In 1951, Pope Pius XII declared that the Big Bang Theory does not conflict with the Catholic concept of creation. Some Protestants have also reconciled the Big Bang Theory with the narration of Genesis in the Holy Bible.
Many scholars of the Islam religion reaffirm that the Big Bang Theory is referenced in the Holy Quran. The initial singularity of existence is described in the 30th verse, which states “Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and we separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?”
So religion and science both agree to a large extent now on the singularity of existence, in that the Universe, whether or not dimensionless and timeless, is a single entity – the universal consciousness theory.
The most important thing to understand is that the Universe is at the apex of existence and hence Universal energy is the apex of all energy that exists. Our conscious universal connection is based on this fundamental theory of energy, which will talk more about in future posts.
