THE BEGINNING AND THE COSMIC
EVOLUTION ( Page 5 ) |
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| Theories may come to support or disprove these views
but we wont be here to verify these. The relevant question I wish
to bring out here is whether such a state of affairs will anyway affect
the views I have presented here about the metaphysical nature of cosmic
evolution? Will such developments affect my faith? There is an unequivocal
negative as answer to this. Scientific views on the nature, creation
or evolution of our universe could be changing and unsure. The theological
view is never changing. The view the people the world over had held
from the earliest times of human existence, the view that the universe
and everything in it are the work of a creator will always hold true.
Nor am I here trying to defend God. He needs no defence, no apology,
not the least from me. |
| Fusion Reactors |
| For the last 50 years or so scientists have gone out
of their way to invent an economical or practical fusion reactor,
the only possible source of plentiful clean energy that the world
need so much. The existing nuclear reactors that supply the power
for many cities, ships and submarines work on the principle of nuclear
fission, or splitting the nucleus of heavy elements like plutonium
and Uranium. These leave so much radioactive waste, very harmful and
impossible to dispose off. The fusion reactors on the other hand work
on the principle of the fusion of hydrogen or deuterium atoms to form
nuclei of heavier atoms like helium or lithium. These would leave
no radioactive waste like the fission reactors, no pollutants like
the thermal power plants and no ecological problem like the hydroelectric
power plants. In both fission and fusion some small fraction of the
matter involved in the nuclear reactions is converted into energy
according to the equation E = mc2. Though the scientists or engineers
could not produce such reactors on a viable scale there is no shortage
of these in nature at large. Every star including our sun is a fusion
reactor that produces energy and creates heavier atoms all the time. |
| The observations on the nature of the cosmic background
microwave radiation tell us that the porridge of matter at the end
of the first phase of inflation was not smooth but very lumpy. The
small lumps formed what are the galactic clusters of today and the
big lumps formed the super clusters of galaxies. Further expansion
of this porridge of matter made empty spaces, first between the lumps
and later, within the lumps. Gravity took control and the first proto-galaxies
and stars were born. The first generation stars were made exclusively
of hydrogen and helium. As gravitational forces brought this small
lump of matter closer and denser the pressures and temperatures soared
to such heights that nuclear fusion reactions began in earnest and
these stars began to shine with ever increasing brightness, emitting
all bands of electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves at one end
to X-rays at the other. In this process, these stars, these fusion
reactors, while giving out heat, light and other forms of energy were
also going into full-scale production as the factories producing the
other heavier elements. The heavy elements like iron and nickel are
produced in the second-generation stars born out of the debris of
the first generation stars. Our sun is a third-generation star. The
very heavy elements like iodine gold or uranium are not formed even
in the most massive of the third generation stars according to the
latest observations. Scientists attribute the creation of these to
neutron star collisions. But we may come to it in another context |
THE SUBLIME TRUTH ( Page 1) |
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| “He who believes
in truth believes in God.” Gandhi |
| “ Truth? What is that?” About two thousand
years have passed since Pilate put this question to Jesus. And this
question was prompted by a statement made by Jesus when he said “For
this I came into this world; that I may bear witness to truth.”
From the nature of Pilate’s question and from the way he behaved
after asking the question it was quite obvious that a reply was not
expected. That is probably why Jesus did not give an answer to the
question then. Our loss! Even if Jesus had given a reply one should
wonder if Pilate or anyone else present there would have understood
the meaning and depth of the reply. Even the disciples, who were with
Jesus for two years on a full-time basis, could not understand much
of what he wanted to communicate to them. Is our plight much different?
How well do we, who had been learning and teaching the words of Jesus
for the last two thousand years, understand his message? Today if
you put the question, “ What is it that Jesus came to bear witness
to?” to the leaders or theologians of the various denominations
of Christendom what a rich variety of often irrelevant and mutually
contradictory answers can we expect? If we put the question: “what
is truth” to people of various persuasions what a variety of
answers can we expect? |
| A verse from ancient Indian Scriptures that comes to
mind while thinking of truth goes like this: “The truth on this
earth is hidden under a gold bowl”. This is a very old line
and I wonder if this has not lost much, if not all, of its relevance
in today’s world. The line implies that if you try and succeed
in removing the bowl we can reach the truth. Sadly that is not the
case today. For most people today truth is not something under the
bowl. It is the material with which the bowl is made - gold. For them
there is only one truth in the world - money. All the rest is falsehood
or humbug. They have faith in only one thing - wealth. They do not
believe in anything else. |
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