What is the universe? What does the universe do and not do?
The universe, as we know it today, exists independent of when and where there is life or not. It follows its trend on its own. It has no conscientious movement and it doesn’t talk. The universe doesn’t know about its existence. It does not worry ceasing to exist.
On the other hand, no one has control over it. No one can destroy it nor modify its course. The universe is a self-regulated thing. It can destroy itself totally or partially. It can regenerate itself as well.
The Universe has produced life on earth and maybe on other planets within our galaxy or in other galaxies, it could be, although we have no evidence of such reality as of yet. But, according to science, that life on earth has evolved over time and there we are as a result, thinking, talking, arguing, and even fighting over just this fact. Meanwhile, the universe is not bothered by our misunderstanding, it simply goes on its way. We call ourselves Theist, Atheist, Agnostic, Anti-theist, Deist, scientist, thinker, etc.
According to its trend and based on evidence of what already happened in the past, it is possible, even probable, that it destroys us completely or partially unless we manage to escape. As a species, and maybe at a certain point in time, the same history will simply repeat itself and the ones who manage to survive might need to start all over again. All the technology we have today may be gone again…Just remember, without technology, all we have is blablabla, our senses, our aspirations, wishes, desires, our limited and most of the time biased logical argument or conclusion, etc.
The Universe doesn’t “know” we exist, or other beings exist wherever they may be (If that is the case). The universe doesn’t protect us from itself. The Universe doesn’t’ think about us. The universe doesn’t think at all. If we disappear tomorrow, the universe will keep existing; in other words, the universe doesn’t depend on us at all. Now, my question is: What is so hard to understand about this fact?
A BIG universe and a tiny planet called “Earth” with no effect at all on it.
The universe, again as we know it today, or unlike the limited view our ancestors had about it, is immense. This immensity is nowhere close to what our ancestors perceived. Just understand that we, humans beings, live on earth with all it has, an atmosphere within a solar system with other planets that is by itself huge. Now, according to NASA SPACE, so far astronomers have identified 2500 solar systems, and given how many they have found close to us, and the fact that they are finding more every year, their estimation goes up to 100 billion in our Milky Way galaxy alone. Keep in mind that one thing is a star as a solar system meaning having planets like Earth, Mars, Jupiter orbiting them, and a star just by itself. In our Milky Way alone, the estimation is about 200 billion stars. It has been observed that one planet may be orbiting two suns at the same time. The earth alone is very insignificant among the very little we have observed so far in the universe. Nonetheless, the earth is the only place with life in the midst of all those solar systems we have observed so far.
Another way to look at the universe is by clearly observing the distance between stars, solar systems, and galaxies with respect to the earth as well as establishing the travel time to each of them from the earth. We could also situate or envision when we could visit to make those trips a reality. The earth, nor our solar system, is the center of the universe. We only refer to the earth as the point of comparison because that is where we are.
Today, within our solar system, it will take us about 7 months to visit the closest and most habitable planet to earth: Mars. Although Mars has been considered the best alternative option to escape earth in case of an emergency or even for leisure, the conditions over there will have to be accommodated. Significant use of technology is required. We know that.
What about the “Parker Solar Probe” and the closest star to our sun?
After 60 years since the “Solar Probe” concept was introduced, last year, August 12, 2018, NASA has launched the Parker Solar Probe; “It will be a historic mission, flying into the sun’s atmosphere (or corona) for the first time. Coming closer to the sun than any previous spacecraft, Parker Solar Probe will employ a combination of in situ measurements and imaging to achieve the mission’s primary scientific goal: to understand how the sun’s corona is heated and how the solar wind is accelerated. Parker Solar Probe will revolutionize our knowledge of the origin and evolution of the solar wind. Its mission will last 6 yrs, 11 months“. Quote from NASA, Parker Solar Probe link.
It is expected to reach about 430.000 mph or 700.000 Km/h. If this technology is used, which represents about 0.07 percent the speed of light, (or more exactly 0.064) it will take us 6300 years to reach Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our sun, discovered just in 2016. It is located at 4.25 light-years or 268770 Astronomical Units away from our sun. However, we must acknowledge the fact that 50 years ago, Appollo 11 reached 25.000 mph or 40.000 Km/h on its trip to the moon. In that case, it would have taken us 100.000 years to reach Proxima Centauri. Given that huge gap, and if we continue on this path proportionally, (this is me speculating here) by the year 2200, we may be talking about something reaching 25 to 50 percent of the speed of light. As a result, we will need between 25 to 10 years to reach the closest star to our sun. The time will come when will know much about this closest star. Now, if we want to escape our solar system, we know the closest star to us is called Proxima Centauri. As of 2017, according to the Journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, astronomers have observed, through computer simulations, habitable conditions similar to earth.
In the meantime…What do we do with life on earth?
So far, when we consider the universe as we know it just today, it should be obvious, easy to realize how insignificant we are within that universe, at the same time, how special can we be if we can understand that.
And then, only if we could focus our time and energy in digging into the universe, in finding how it works, and how to make the life we already have great, joyful and more perfect to all living today and tomorrow… Maybe something in those planets around the Alpha Centauri Star system could help solve a bunch of problems, here on earth.
Some want to give the universe more credit than it deserves, others want to believe the universe is controlled; the truth of the matter is the facts are the way they are and they don’t vary according to our aspiration, our thinking, our belief systems, and our senses. Technology has already proven wrong so many of our obsolete perceptions that were solely based on our 5 senses. It’s time to move past them.
Did you mention life without purpose?
While we touch that aspect, let’s include the “life without purpose” promotion: Have you ever heard this saying: “Just hold on until we die or until the end comes”. Holding on is another way to tell people “Just survive, this life is not for you, you messed it up or your ancestors did”. Also, have you heard: “We don’t belong to this earth”
A better way to understand the concept of life without purpose is when it is said: On the outset, a purpose for life was predetermined by some sort of designer to whom it belongs. We, humans, cannot find, on our own, a common purpose for life.
The necessity for the gods or a GOD within or outside the Universe
It seems normal to me that there was a necessity to imagine the existence of any type of supernatural being. Using parsimony, the best explanation for this need resides in the fact that at the first level of human conscientiousness, human life was surrounded by so many natural events for which they had no understanding. At that level, the most advanced of course, attempted any type of explanation such as Someone is watching over them, someone controls the winds, the rain, the sun, the moon, the heat; someone must have power over life, over death, and maybe if they please him or them, their lives could be better. He could spare them some suffering…He could resurrect them after dying… He could transform them…He could give or share with them some superpower as well.
Those who went this way found the challenges of life on earth unbearable and have been continuously searching for a superpower that could save and protect life. Thus, they have created all the gods we know of; but in reality, the challenges stay the same, we have the same problems, the same concerns and the same worries about life we had 10 thousand years ago, and we still have the same hope there was at least someone like “Batman” or “Superman” in the real life.
Our ancestors have even come up with a better place to live: “The Heavens”. Unfortunately, the heavens are still being promoted nowadays and many are dying with this hope. And I can understand where they were coming from. Most of those living in the first world countries may not be able to imagine how life was back then, and how life still is in third world countries. The universe was only killing our ancestors, they had nowhere to go, they could not escape hot, cold, hurricanes, flood, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. And on top of that: hunger, illness, death, powerful animals killing/eating them, including human beings like them killing them, controlling them, abusing them, oh… What a sad past and still a sad present as well!
We know, based on how we describe these superheroes in our imagination, they will do good to us, they will be protecting us from natural disasters, from wicked people that do bad to us, from this World Order or this Statuquo such as the socio-economical structures, the political systems, that outdated human established laws, etc.
And because no real help will ever come from any of these gods, they simply gave up on life on earth: WAIT with courage, DIE with the conviction that you will go to HEAVENS where LIFE is different, better and perfect. The new purpose of this life is to accept the way it is, to believe nothing good can come out of it, and to expect for the next life to come and of course not on this earth the way it is, rather on a different and renewed earth. In conclusion, anytime reference is made about the gods or GOD, it is connected to the real-life and the real challenges we humans are going through only on earth. The best example we have about this belief comes from the monotheist Jewish religion, Judaism. First, everything from the beginning of their story with their God is connected to the suffering, sacrificing, the portion of earth where everything is great (Canaan). Bear with me please, and look at the big picture: Around 1000 BC, after they conquered the land (by killing the ones living there) when supposedly they were being led by their god, they too got divided. Then, they are invaded by others, they were enslaved as well and their story goes on like any other story in the world at that time. Some people were conquering others, that was a “normal thing“, others were losing everything they had. Later at the end of this text, I included an example of the chronological most relevant empires throughout the world known history.
A little more about the Jewish story and their “God” within context:
The Jewish people were not an exception. However, they connected their story to their god and even blamed themselves each time they were under attack by another nation. Their prophets realized that the only way out was a”savior“. Their “God” will send a “Savior” also called “Messiah” that will come and will deliver them, then they will live in peace. They were supposed to have built a ” Temple” and they had to practice a bunch of ceremonies, rituals; they had to remain faithful to that god if not, nothing will change for them, and worse, He will be punishing them.
The Jewish story, like any other story, is about power, control, domination, slavery, injustice, abuse, intolerance among themselves, and abroad. When I hear those taking some events related to their story out of their contexts, placing those events in a “god-people” dynamic relationship and promoting a sort of true-belief systems, I feel their ignorance, I feel their hypocrisy as well because many of them have complete knowledge about what I am talking right now, but worse, I feel the pain, the despair, the resignation, the abandon, the misery, the poverty of the majority who rely on those teachings as effectively “true reality” and as a result give up on the fight for a society more just, more compassionate, less violent, less abusive. Yes, they gave up on the fight for civility, real love among humans, and while being the majority, they are letting the very few get away with everything we have on earth. They are born blind, they grow up and die the same way. They do not develop nor do they attain High Critical and Scientific thinking skills.
Seriously, who did you say are benefiting from our achievements today?
Bizarrely today, we can protect life from many things it was not protected against hundreds of years or even decades ago to stay the closest possible in time. Guess what? This level of protection arises only for very few. technology has been monopolized by a little group unable to look at the big picture. While it works in their favor that the majority keeps believing in their myths, in the other life to come. The very few are using technology for their good; not caring about those unable to even overcome the challenges of the past. The very few are using their agents to keep the great majority in darkness, praying, fasting, and hoping while dying every day. Those agents of the World Order have been granted some privileges and they are still playing the game of the very few to go against everything that is obvious, evident. Their mission: Tell people not to understand what they can observe by themselves, what they are living, bottom line: NOT TO LOOK AT REALITY but rather to stay strong in their beliefs that this world is no good until the next one come and for sure that will happen only (after they die). Those agents use everything science and technology bring to them, and yet they do nothing to help the majority of the people benefit from science and technology as well. They use science and technology to build their megachurches, to create the videos, to go live stream; when they are sick, they go to the best hospitals, they drink pure water, their houses can resist any hurricane of category 5, their family is well protected and by the way, if the universe ever decides to hurt us again, let’s say, by an asteroid, they will manage to escape while the majority with their gods and their beliefs will simply die.
If we stay within context, how did we get there?
At some point, it was a quest for land… At another it was a quest for natural resources, both humans didn’t create. Those men had no clue about respecting the right to life of others: They will stop in, take over, kill, and control. Today, they created technology on the land they invaded and made theirs, with the natural resources they found on earth and don’t share it with the rest of humanity. They put a “price” on everything as if they owned anything and the great majority of human beings still face the same challenges our ancestors were facing unsuccessfully.
Some went farther to blame the so-called “Devil” or “Satan” also figures they have invented since they simply could not understand why life was so challenging, so difficult, or why they had to face “death”. Worse, they went after the first supposedly man ever existed “Adam” to make him responsible for the unfairness of life as punishment but from who? From the same SUPERPOWER that created all supposedly. It is still unfortunate that these myth stories are being presented even today as true stories, not only that, the “agents” of the very few as well as those without a clear understanding, will argue nail and tongue to prove their point but only using their perceptions(senses) as evidence. There is an explanation for that fact as well: “Cognitive dissonance”. If you believe something was true, then all the evidence proves otherwise, but you want to keep believing the same way or you find an imaginary explanation to keep believing the same thing…brothers and sisters, the fact is you are experiencing a state of cognitive dissonance. The Seventh Day Adventists today came from a similar experience: October 22, 1844.
Any idea about the imagination power of our brain?
The power to imagine has been the greatest power ever possessed by man. Through imagination, many things become reality today. However, that same power has also brought humanity apart. Many are those, as of today, unable to differentiate imagination as a wish for something to become real. For example: If not all of us, but many have at some point dreamt about flying in the air, moving in or through space. We simply keep wishing we had this power to make it real when we wake up…
Unfortunately, with everything going on earth (Wars between men, the tenuousness of lifestyle for so many, meaning the great majority; belief systems and distractions thus limiting high curiosity level for seeking and understanding knowledge, and with the very few trying all they can to maintain the Statuquo) those are the reasons why very little time, energy and resources are being dedicated in a collective way to differentiate reality from imagination/illusion/aspiration. In a more knowledgeable society, a society where “reasoning” is no longer an aspiration but a reality, that should be “THE GOAL“.
BUT when is the great majority going to wake up?
We have identified many reasons:
1) Everything, as described above, is not yet clear in the brain of the majority of human beings and the main cause is, based on the oldest writings ever found from the Sumerians, as well as other predominant other religious views of the world (Muslims, Indhus, Buddhists, etc), our ancestors were unable to reach the highest level of scientific understanding. Most of them stayed at the first level. They were able to systematically observe some natural events, quantifying, and classifying them. However, they failed when based on that level of scientific understanding which is “Description“, they attempted to establish some causal explanations.
The same thing happened with others that reached the second level of scientific understanding which was ” Prediction“. At that level, they were able to identify some Correlation, Covariation between events in the sense that two events occur regularly at the same time, however, it was not wise to assume one causes the other. Again, our ancestors failed to grasp this difference and many causal explanations were emitted based only on that second level of scientific understanding.
Only at the third and Highest Level of Scientific Understanding, the causal explanation is sustained. At that level, it is not merely a systematic observation or an assumption based on correlation, but rather a control level through evidence of cause-effect relationship by experimentation, repetition, and generalization.
Again, we didn’t know that much back then and our leaders in the past were being guided by their perception (1st and 2nd level of scientific understanding) of the universe. That limitation itself has generalized and promoted over thousands of years. The majority of people are still reluctant to embrace evidence-based knowledge (the 3rd level). The imposed belief systems are still predominant. When facing the evidence, their escape is to create an alternative reality, such as “we don’t need the highest level of scientific understanding to know what is true or real”. Of course, they may be right, whenever it is evident, the truth may come just from a simple observation. But if it is not so obvious and/or convincing, the 3rd level is what is needed to establish causal explanations. Whether you know it or not, you always use science to explain anything. Science has discovered that many explanations based only on perceptions were wrong and to avoid misleading, or making more mistakes, it is wiser to wait until the third level of scientific understanding is reached to relate to a causal relationship, objective truth. Today, we talk about evidence-based applied science through which objective truth emerges, and then that truth is true anywhere at any time. It is true and works for all, without reverence, dogma to follow, ritual, worship, praise, affiliation, etc. I am telling you, there have never been other ways to know what is true and real, to understand our world, our universe and how it works, to organize and generalize knowledge besides scientific understanding. It was rather a difference in the scientific level.
Spirituality?
The irony here is the fact that the ones who want to keep people misinformed, separate “spirituality” from the real world. In other words, because I am using a scientific methodology to understand the natural world, I am not spiritual, I can’t feel, I can’t connect with the universe, I can’t be inspired… Look at me, (I know you can’t) but as you are reading all these things now, can you infer that I care for humanity? Do you see love, compassion behind my writings? So, open your eyes, and see who is lying to you, who is confusing you, who is keeping you the way you are…Ask yourself why do they want you to believe so much? Why do they want you to fight or even die over your beliefs? Why do they want you not to connect with others who question their belief systems imposed onto you?
2) Keeping people uninformed, misinformed has been a well designed and implemented strategy that came from far behind. Those with a certain level of information have always used this privilege to manipulate and control the mass. One way to keep people misinformed or uninformed is to discourage them to search or reach for evidence-based information or to twist, mix some evidence-based with other myths, thus creating a false equivalence. Many times you will hear them say: “we will never fully know the truth”, “it’s all according to someone’s opinion”, “The truth is relative” Another way is to keep them always struggling to “survive” so they don’t have time to question or search…Also keep them distracted, entertained. It is so fascinating to observe how many people shut down the door of “curiosity” within themselves and say: “I rather not know much“.
What about the BIG PICTURE?
3) This structure of human society has benefited the most powerful and they have not been able to look at the big picture as of yet. This is true from all the empires that have existed throughout world history that we know of, from the Sumerian (2300 BC) to USA (Present), included the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Egyptian, the Jewish, the Persian, the Greeks, the roman(lasting about 2000 years), Germany, the Spanish, the french, the japan, the soviet union, etc.
4) As stated before, the universe can “destroy” us, can destroy itself at any time. This fact alone converts the universe in a violent thing at a time, with no mercy for anything or anyone. Why do we have to be violent? Violent towards ourselves, towards each other, towards the earth where we are granted the privilege to live? And the answer remains the same: We are still unable to look at the BIG PICTURE. We are at the stage where we don’t have the power to understand the universe, how it works, and how we can make life great, joyful, and more perfect to all living today and tomorrow. As I am writing this post, I am also thinking about you reading it now. I would love for you to help me spread this news to the world, but first, get it to yourself. Look, Individually, our life doesn’t go beyond 100 years and we look at the universe, the way we know it today (2019), this represents absolutely NOTHING. However, if we look at this fact as a species, as a whole, (without discrimination) we may behave differently. We may become more tolerant, more compassionate, less selfish (or not selfish at all). We may not feel okay when other beings like us live their whole life struggling. We may not make anyone else’s life miserable, less/non-valuable. ANYONE granted the privilege to be alive ANYWHERE on earth, should be taken care of as a precious gift. The dinosaurs didn’t choose to be destroyed, many animals never chose to be extinct. However, we have much power today to avoid certain extinction, we have much power today to save humanity, and yet so many are still perishing under our eyes. Dogs are great animals, we need them. Horses too, as well as so many others. We need to take care of them. But why the life of a dog should have more value than the life of a human? Why, today, the life of certain human beings have no value at all? Why doesn’t that bother the very few that millions are dying every day simply because they don’t have access to food, to water, to shelter or to medicine? The reason is simple: They are not capable of looking at the UNIVERSE and see the BIG PICTURE. But what about you, are you? Let me know. Leave a comment.
