Who's Out There?

Exobiology is an interesting scientific pursuit. The crux of the research lies in finding life on other planets. But the life we're looking for is only physical - amino acids, building blocks, a fluid-based entity, carbon-based preferred?? It's all intriguing and arguably a noble cause.

But in a world where we don't even know the nature of our own existence, how can we possibly learn about others? And are there indeed forms of life we haven't allowed for?

I understand that this is where most staunch scientific types will start to roll their eyes or shake their heads (but who am I kidding, they don't read this blog!) - but what if we could prove, physically prove, life after death, or the limitless, undying energy or entities that occupy a different dimensional universe...

These are not beings that are based in the physical world. They aren't sacks of fluid. They don't reproduce (as far as I know)...

I know it doesn't count for much - but I had a very interesting dream back in January (you UFO fans might like this one).

I was in some kind of spaceship - "they" told me I had to go out "there" (meaning space) and handed me a breathing apparatus.

The minute I began breathing through it I was in space. Surrounded by blackness, except that I seemed to be traveling at light speed to a destination.

I approached a large planet - and surrounding the planet, TONS of spacecraft. I internally thought, wow, okay, I believe now (in E.Ts). It was an alien tailgate party of sorts. Weird.

But I quickly moved on - zooming through the universe, approaching and passing through huge, brilliantly colourful nebulae and clusters. And as I was zooming through space I got a little freaked out, because I kind of realized what was happening and I asked to go home. I asked for it to stop.

I HEARD (not just like you hear thoughts but a LOUD VOICE) saying something like 'deinitializing' and I couldn't wake up. I wanted to, but I was frozen. And suddenly in my head my mind was running through images of every bedroom I've ever had, like it was searching for the one I was currently in. It found it and I awoke.

And when I did - I considered for the first time maybe, that there really might be an entire community of physical beings out there who have achieved what we have not - interplanetary travel.

What do you think about the search for E.T.? Are we too limited in our definitions of "life"?

Don't Look Now but...

Excuse my double post today - but this is truly exciting and maddening and awesome.

An article came out today arguing that by observing dark matter, we have determined the fate of our cosmos - and that we have inadvertently caused the end of of the known universe.

This works because of the laws of quantum physics - basically everything on a subatomic level exists in a state of possibility. Basically a subatomic particle might be an apple, an orange or a diesel submarine, but it is also none of those things until you observe it. Then, let's say you observe it as an orange - it will forever be an orange. (As a super tangential side note, proponents of the multiple universe idea would say that in other universes that particle will exist as an apple or a sub.)

So... what scientists are now arguing is that dark matter was, like everything in a quantum state, not a "sure thing" until we observed it - and by observing it we have now made it fact.

And now the universe will decay and expand until it grows cold and dies.

We as humans seem to have a whole lot of power. Doesn't it give you a little rush knowing how much of the universe seems to be determined by our ability to observe it? Kinda lends to the idea that each of us are gods in our own right - creating on the go.

Curiouser and curiouser!

I found myself yesterday watching an old (1988) broadcast called "God, the Universe and Everything Else". It was a roundtable session of sorts with the late Carl Sagan, Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Hawking. I had a few giggles, to be sure, just because they were talking about how the Hubble was going to go up shortly, and how hopeful they were that it would answer some of their questions. It was also funny to hear them talk about Stephen Hawking's 'new book' A Brief History of Time. Twenty years later, though, I have to say that their assessments of what was important, what was going to be important and what the biggest questions were - it was all still quite relevant. Surprising, actually.

But personally, it was an interesting viewing considering that just days prior I had stumbled across PBS' program on The Elegant Universe which discusses similar (almost too similar) topics. What does it mean that these programs are important to me now? Why am I seeking this stuff out?

Not that it's completely out of character for me to research this sort of stuff. After all, the universe had me at hello, and I'm a super keen student of all things astrophysical, metaphysical and quantum physical. It's the universe in all of its beauty, simplicity and intricacy that made me believe in something other than randomness and chaos.

But I digress. Going back to these programs that I watched - it is just so fascinating that for years, since Einstein (and perhaps before that) they have been looking for a unifying theory - a "theory of everything". A simple solution to explain why everything in the universe acts the way it does. Much like what Einstein did for our understanding of gravity, the great minds out there are looking for the key to unlocking the secret of what makes this great, beautiful machine work.

The problem they're encountering seems to lie, however, in the minutia.

The littlest parts of us don't do things in any kind of rational way. The atoms and subatomic particles that make us don't abide by the laws of the universe as we know them to be. They do things differently, particles can disappear and reappear thousands of miles away faster than the speed of light. They seem to react differently when observed. WE, the observer, cannot know their true state because the very act of observing them somehow changes them.

A big fat WTF?!, I know. And yet it's so exciting that there are still mysteries out there, no? I love it, actually. I love that there are big unexplainable, unknowable things about the universe. Because how boring would we be if we knew all the answers?

What would we be without our curiosity?

It got me thinking about a persistent nagging question stuck in my brain. If we are all divine beings, connected to the source of all things, which knows all things, then why don't we know everything? Okay, maybe we choose amnesia when we come to this realm to achieve certain life lessons, but then why don't those on the other side know everything?

But I'm starting to rethink this question - because I'm beginning to realize the intrinsic value of curiosity. Is there anything more beautiful than curiosity? It is the desire to know, the desire to learn... It's practically a primary instinct. And if I believe all of my thoughts on the nature of our species (in the physical form and other forms), then it is our curiosity that drives us forward.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”
-Albert Einstein

So I guess to answer my own question - we don't know everything because we don't really want to. We'd rather spend our time trying to figure it out ourselves. Because that's way more fun.

Hi Universe, It's Me, Diana

Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind. -Albert Einstein

I get really excited about people working to unite physics and metaphysics. I think part of the reason is that I found spirituality through science. I think, like a lot of people, I had been perfectly happy to side with science. We had proof, calculations that explained how we came to be. Religions had nothing but a book and a promise. Science 1, Religion 0.

But as I got older, things got a bit more muddied. I discovered space. Not the near planets, not the constellations and their Greek mythologies - but deep space. The space they don't tell you about in high school.

Because while I had been wading around in my blissful teenage self-absorption, some very smart people decided to send a telescope out into space. Then they decided to point it at a very empty-looking piece of blackness about the size of your pinky fingernail. And then they opened up the shutter for 11 days.

And when they finally blinked, they saw this:



Over 10,000 galaxies, as they existed billions of years ago.

The first time I saw it, I couldn't find my breath. My heart leapt. It was the most beautiful and humbling thing I had ever seen or known.

I wish this was mandatory learning - there should be centres where you can go and recline and look up at a great big IMAX dome projecting this image 24/7. Because seeing it, thinking about how every light in that picture represents a galaxy, comprised of billions of stars. To think that there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth.

It made me feel small, but special. And that's exactly what god does for most people, right? Makes one feel small, but special. I guess that's how I found (my) god. The universe became something much more complicated and abstract than I had thought - and it challenged all of my notions of how things work - because when it came to the bigger stuff, I soon discovered that even the best scientists out there just kind of shrug. They don't have all the answers either. Believe me.

I later came across quantum physics - another interesting little branch of science that had the lab coats scratching their heads. Particles acting like they have a memory? What on earth?!

But as we start to understand the universe in all its facets and functions. I hope that we'll also find out more about how we as a species fit into the bigger picture.