The Theory Of Everything

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

"Everyone is self centered, its just the radius that varies." - House, M.D.


With the first ever quote from a fictional character in any of my posts, I start a post that I hope can prove to be my humble quintessence to those that actually absorb what I write. At some point in our lives we came across the most fundamental question of all, how did it all began on Earth, in the Universe? What was the Zero Hour on Earth like? What or Who am I? et cetera. Whether we choose to feed our curiosity with facts and theories is in the volition of the person himself. I'd been looking up some of the fascinating textual creations that enabled me to look for the answers in the right direction- the Scientific one. As a man of science, it's been instinctive to me to get things known by the means of logic and science.

I'd like to start the discussion with the most controversial, as well as the most popular facet of Space Science- the Black Hole. To understand the Black Hole, we must acknowledge the process of turning of a Star into a Black Hole. Amusingly we talk about Peace in the world, the harmony amongst the living and somehow we've linked 'death' with being 'at peace'. Hell, we even have a prestigious award on Peace, quite Nobel. It begins when the fuel that power the stars, runs out. The formation of Black Hole begins with the death of a Star, the Supernova phenomenon. The Star explodes & as a result the heavier atoms fall into the core of the star. Imagine a 1x1 cm piece of anything, say Iron. Now, add to it the weight of about a thousand blue whales. That's how dense the core of the star becomes after Supernova. This core is now, the Black Hole.

The universe as we know it, is bound by 4 dimensions, the space-time; x,y,z Cartesian coordinates, Time. The Black Hole has the ability to bind this space-time. We've heard/seen or surprisingly for some, read about the phenomenon of bending of light around such a gigantic Black Hole. Talk about the cyclic 'beginning of the end and the end in the beginning' paradox. No, that statement wasn't a tongue twister. It's just the way of life as it is, break something to create something. Fissions on the Sun yield the energy necessary for the Fusion of Hydrogen atom. Nothing can escape the Black Hole, similar to how a child behaves in a candy store. Matter does not have parents to drag the other matters away from the overwhelming gravity, hence the parents join their kids in a journey towards the other side of darkness- literally. The first thing this family will encounter will be of the Event Horizon, nothing can help bring them back beyond this point. Like jumping in the Niagara Falls won't provide one with an opportunity to return mid-air. However, it shall not affect the observer on the outside. Passing through the Event Horizon, the family of atoms shall now visualise and experience their Spaghettification (Noodle effect). As appetizing as it may seem, it is an event where they experience the distortion of spacetime. Any matter/object shall be stretched and ripped apart due to the strong gravitational pull. This is what the Star experienced. Eventually, they reach the Singularity point. This is the point, the core of the Black Hole.

Modifying the previously stated example, now imagine the weight of a thousand blue whales in 1x1 mm piece of matter, except that there is no Cartesian space dimension here. No shape, no size, no dimension of this core with infinite density. Some scientists have till now proposed this Singularity as the starting point of the Big Bang. Such a violent beginning to a life that pleads global peace, spectacular. There are always a bunch of kids, people that choose to not follow the straight path. This luxury of Choice comes in handy as it led to the discovery of the phenomena of Hawking Radiation. As our family decided to go in for a picnic, their relatives thought otherwise and decided to go about in the opposite direction. These rebellious virtual particles appear and disappear almost immediately. They do not undergo the Event Horizon. This has been speculated as, the particles emitted from the Black Hole. Since I've used the word Black Hole so many times, rebellious as we are, we speculate the existence of the White Holes. Simply put, White Holes exist and are the exact opposite of Black Holes. To complicate it, White Holes exist at the Singularity- core of Black Hole, and replicate the events of Event Horizons at the opposite end. Hence beyond the Event Horizon, while nothing can escape out of the Black Hole; nothing can enter inside the White Hole. No single unit in the universe is capable of emitting massive energies so, Black Holes must emit this energy somewhere- the White Hole. There exists rotating mammoth Black Holes in our own galaxy, that has resulted in the creation of the Gravitational Waves across the planets and celestial objects in it. The gravitational force that we experience on Earth is a result of such chaotic(if by Chance) or contrived(if by Choice). I guess wherever we go, the Choice and Chance paradox never leaves us alone. Talk about harmony, at such a cosmic pinnacle!

The point of this somewhat-scientific post is to create curiosity, draw parallels to what we experience in life. There exist a myriad of metaphors in nature. For example, people usually dwell on their past a lot. They're usually advised to 'move-on' with their lives. Gravitational time dilation is an another interesting concept, the time slows down at the points with higher gravity as the ticking hand of the clock has more opposing force. Now, whatever we see is due to the reflection of the sunlight on that particular bunch of matter, hence, if I'm looking at someone right now- it is due to the travelling of the light from quite some time ago with the integral gravitation phenomena. Now take another example, the shadow. The light travels from the Sun, through the space and the gravitational pull back to us- but is stopped short by no other entity than us. We stop the light to pass through and thus the shadow is created. The deeds of our present shall once become our past and in turn affect out future. We are present, the light is from the past and the shadow is in the future. But as the gravitational wave has gifted the heavenly objects to revolve and rotate, it makes sure that the spotlight does not always fall back on the same person. After all, change is the only constant.

In todays time, we often confuse knowledge with information. Wikipedia or Google provides us with the information that the fire is hot, knowing not to put your hand in one is knowledge. The genetic material passed along to the offspring is mere information. So what about the information that went inside the Black Hole? Drifting back to the science of information, let us now go through the Black Hole Information Paradox. Imagine you writing something important and tearing it apart. These shreds of paper now lie on your desk. The paradox dictates that the information carried on that piece of paper still exists, though in a different and an interrupted puzzle form. What happens when we attend a lecture? We listen to the orator, and once the concept is understood, we move on and forget the other discussions that took place in the lecture. However, the information is passed on to a group of students, not a single student shall have the memory to remember the exact information- the way it was passed. So where does the paradox lie? The paradox lies in the retrieval of this information. How can we put together the minute pieces of the grand puzzle that hold the key to Everything in the universe? Surely, the One created quite the Magnum Opus to not be easily accessible to the un-awakened. How can an information passed on and resting in the Singularity where no coordinates exist, be converted into the mortal and humble world of ours? An explanation was given by the magnificent String Theory. To summarise it in one sentence, every particle, atom in the universe is believed to resemble the string. When you hit this string, it simultaneously exists in many dimensions at once. Sadly and aptly, this hasn't yet been proven. The other one involves a series of complex algorithms for the amplification of this information similar to those used for the conversion of 2D information into a 3D hologram. And we thought Star Wars was just another means of entertainment!

We use our 5 basic senses in addition to over 18 senses to pick and analyse this information as signals. Man is supposed to be a spiritual being that should thrive to understand the very processes that led to the existence of the humble and a bit narcissistic self. We are all trying to achieve peace, the penultimate peace shall not be anything less than answer, 'How did it all began?' Of course there can't be a single answer to the question but, wouldn't it be better to have many answers and a few questions? Probably not. We need a constant migration towards perfection. Perfection can be achieved only when we know everything that the 'perfect' thing needs. Answering the very existential questions can be a step ahead in this direction. Ultimately what that answer we get can be either of Chance or Choice, and the same shall determine what we believe as The Theory of Everything.


"Not only does God play dice, but... he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen." - Stephen Hawking

Where We Are Going

WHERE WE ARE GOING

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” -  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Change is a phenomenon that includes the conversion of anything into something. Paradoxical notion suggests that nothing is as permanent as change, surely. By this, even change must change. A seed germinates into a specific plant/tree. The change is brought upon by several factors. These factors can be anything materialistic to abstract. Again, in keeping with the tradition of my previous posts I've to bring in the 'mind' factor. The factors for bring about the change are guided by the conscious thought process of ours, based on the final outcome. When we let the ends justify the means, we let ourselves to be indifferent to the methods. Every time we leave home or the then-current coordinates, we create a nonentity. This void had since been occupied by our destination.

Amusing how the Golden Ratio set an epitome of the perfect symmetry in things around us, and us, and yet, science dictates that the world is a result of an imbalance in nature between the matter and the antimatter. Boldly put, science suggests that there isn't a proper balance between the two. Both have equal magnitude of potential yet have been directed against each other, leading to the destruction of both. Now, it seems what we lack here is the direct relation between balance and symmetry. Balance is the equal distribution of two things, symmetry means the exact reflection of the other half when an equally dividing plane is passed. It has been mentioned at length in some highly metaphoric texts that; to lead a peaceful life, there must be harmony among the various emotions in us. Without this the life becomes chaos and exists as noise in the universe. So is our existence, the very cosmos or the extragalactic nebula- a noise? The matter would have destroyed the antimatter in its due course so, how is it that the universe exists? Was this imbalance pre-planned, if so then by what/whom? There are always more questions than the answers. What we forgot to consider here are the factors. The distance, time between the matter and the antimatter. It maybe probable that the antimatter might be approaching our matter-istic world. By the way, I find it funny that 'matter' and 'material' appear and sound so similar, they look cute with the suffix 'istic'. They even share the same symmetry, 3/4 letters on either side. Maybe when we believe that the 'matter' is 'real', we call it a 'material', cutting down a little repetitive 't'. I wish I could cut some 't's in the previous statement. Of course, our perception of 'real' is subjective to change- rial; no, not the Arabic currency. Such subtle hints inspire us to form the homophonic and familiar homo words, tell us about the gravity of the actual phenomena.

We tend to maintain harmony between what we effectively see/observe/feel and the expression we use for it. So when we are leaving some- thing/place/one, we use the word that signifies the creation of a nonentity. Similarly, when we are reaching some- place/thing/one, we want to signify completion. So in a way, our final destination is always from being rudimentary to being absolute. The notion of 'perfection', that any specified creation of ours must be self sufficient. To achieve this perfection, we begin our journey. But then again, to know what is complete we must be well acquainted with what is incomplete. This is why there's competition and also where Darwin's Survival of the Fittest holds true. The key to last long in a fight, to keep the head above the water level- survive. Surely it has been glamourized at varying lengths in recent cinematographs; The Dark Knight Rises, Arrow (TV), Lost (TV) etc. An organism shall do anything to survive, even the things it never believed itself to be capable of. Hence, we combine this instinct of survival, with the competition to justify the rotation of the planets. Some call it progress, change; Darwin felt that 'evolution' was the custom-fit term for it. This migration from incomplete to complete can be simply put as the expedition from imperfection to perfection. But there must be a balance. We need the idiots to make ourselves look intelligent. The hunter must have something to hunt. Little do they have an idea that, sometimes the hunted 'improvises' and hunts the hunter. We are ultimately the captives of our minds where the imagination is the only salvation.

We don't have the claws but we improvised and created instruments that could give us an edge over the wild. The jungle law was ultimately defeated and overwhelmed by the civilian law. Whether we believe that it's all, a part of a bigger plan; the nature evolves- one step at a time.

Always, the next step will be other than the ones taken before (that would be deemed cheating). At the same time it'll make sure that the clay remains to remind us of the footsteps we'd taken in the past. To remind us of the number of steps, type of steps (covered/naked legs) etc. we took to reach the paramount position of the present. This ability of nature, its creations to go towards evolution- for the betterment is what I think is responsible for the imbalanced harmony that exists among us.

One can rest assured that the path of sublimation, for redemption & melioration of our current selves and the one that lies beyond the obvious is Where We Are Going.

"Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at the close of day; rage, rage against the dying of the light." - Dylan Thomas

The Feast of Starlight

THE FEAST OF STARLIGHT

"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light." - Theodore Roethke

It begins when the sun sets into the west, taking away the scorching light from the Earthlings. Darkness lurks, the birds return to their nests and the animals look for shelter. Looking up in the sky, there's a white bulb with a powerful halo around it, farther are the small twinkling bright entities, the stars. There comes a time when the moon shies away and the darkness eventually overwhelms the night. It is at this, the darkest moments that, the starlight guides us just as it guides a ship. The star, in singularity, is just a tiny dot in the canvass of the universe. But united as stars, they're like the diamonds of the universe- adding to it's astounding enormity. 

While all that glitters isn't gold, it sure does catch ones attention. Similarly in life, we have such diamonds- memories. Memories can either be cherish-able or perishable. More than the actual events of the memory, it's the essence of it that really dwells and persists under the umbrella of 'memory'. Being living beings, it is never as simple as one, two .. There's always a complex algorithm behind the actions and thoughts that we have. Memory is just time standing still. Cherish-able are the ones we wish to reoccur, inverse is true for perishable. We choose the memory in the former, it refuses to give a choice in the latter. At every stage in life, we create levels to satisfy ourselves. Ask a child to choose from the toys s/he has and you might probably end up uploading the entire episode on YouTube. Ask the same child the same things, a decade later- somehow the ending of Toy Story 3 comes into my mind. Quite an heart-warming moment, to part from the toys that span the entire childhood. That's the circle of life, everything that has a beginning has an end, The Matrix Revolutions really took it seriously. What was once ours will be of someone else. To stress it a little more, to create space for something- there must be vacuum. A specific time-space occupied by someone must make way for other things. This is how emotion makes use of our memories.

The memories are the 'cookies' of our lives, we pass through the doors that lead to a memory in the making. Emotions are the lightings in the room. The more happier or joyful the event, the brighter is the lighting. Joyful ones are brighter, available in a variety of colours. The warmth can melt the igloo. It's almost like the wondrous world of the famous boy wizard, Harry Potter, where the lamps light up as he walks by. Our emotions too, get affected in the same way. But by extending this cynical logic, the sorrowful events must have darkness, thus being invisible. Hence, we pile the painful experiences as one- dark. While we can spot the things near us, after closing our eyes- this increases the complexity. Imagine, see the objects near you once and close your eyes. What do you see? Able to at least point the location of the object? So this memory, though temporary, has associated itself with space. Coming back to the sorrow, it means that every memory that is now dark- had light on it at some point in time. Reflection of the object due to the light made it possible for us to see things in the first place. It was only until we closed our eyes that the darkness overwhelmed. Not trying to be Socrates but, this could then means that it is the perception of ours that dictates our emotions and thus, the memories. Perceive it as being painful, the first failure will always linger. Smile and deprive the world of a little pain.

Few years back one of the recent cult movies was released, Shutter Island, where the protagonist is shown to have stuck on an inescapable island- no matter the efforts, it can't be conquered. I personally believe that, we all live on our own shutter islands. There's always a place, a person we'd rather go back to at the end of the long day before the goodnight sleep than be alone. And after being on the expressway of our lives, there is always a singular moment or an event or a memory to return to; there's always a place in time, in our own space-time, in the corners of our minds that we'd escape to from the tangible present. Sometimes the present becomes too overwhelming, so much that the consciousness becomes a luxury. And just before the long night- the last goodbye, we experience the greatest flashback of our lifetime, we experience the Feast of Starlight.

"Memory itself is an internal rumour." - George Santayana

What Happens Instead

WHAT HAPPENS INSTEAD

"We never live, we are always in expectation of living." - Voltaire


In the beginning there was just darkness and then a wise form of energy proclaimed, "let there be light'. Let me start this post with a critical thinking point: is there light to conquer darkness or does the darkness overwhelm the light? It is no secret that the universe, in terms of physics, is unbalanced (the matter/anti-matter). So it's a part of life to find balance in unbalanced systems, as is to find order in chaos?

As masses of energy, we too have a particular equilibrium. This is usually when we are saturated with ourselves, the desires equate the accomplishments. Man without desire is one with the universe but on the other hand, one with desire has a lot to thrive for its own survival. Speculate the consequences when 2 such people meet. It shall be something on the outlines of, as the Joker said, 'an unstoppable force meets an immovable object'. Two contrasting backgrounds can be deemed as an opportunity to complement by an optimist and as a call for isolation by a pessimist. During childhood, many of the stories pertaining to greed had glorified the feelings of jealousy. "Why should the next person have something more than me?" Jealousy, thus leads to greed and eventually the reason to be self-less transfigures into a being of a lesser self. Let's consider, arguably, the greatest of all traits responsible for the personality divides: Introversion (I) and Extroversion (E). In a conventional scenario, an extrovert gets the attention of the world but the introvert actually gets most of the respect. Within oneself, both want a piece of either's gains. Nobody wants to lose anything. This wish can be a driving force for the people to work harder, smarter. We wish for a better, easier, simpler tomorrow. This takes us to a paradox; if there is actually a scope of improvement in everything- what is perfection, and when is it achieved? Pondering on such a question is a call for many sacrifices to be made in the future by the self. 

The Yin-Yang portray the good-in-evil and the evil-in-good philosophy. Children are innocent, they cry, dance, sing with all the ecstasy that we can fathom and thus a child considers every person a gentle soul for it thinks that it resonates with its own self.  A lawful judge on the other hand, tries to find the true essence of murkiness in people- the lies, betrayals that one attempts to hide. But at any point in life, all the 'adults' want to relive those uninhibited moments they had as a child. So, the circle of our wishes continue: a child wants to grow up and the grown-ups want their childhood back. A person who is observant and quick to judge can usually rely on his judgement, which may turn out to be true in most cases while the other person who is a believer of perceiving things that s/he thinks are as they are might find itself in a situation, crying out to polish or rather develop h-is/er judgmental skills. Maybe that's why common phrase, "Didn't see that coming." still exists. 

Being one-sided has never benefited anybody, it is always aspired to broaden and indulge into various horizons of life. Too much sweetness can be a cause for throwing up. Factorial experiments can inform us about the significance that a particular factor has upon our actions, the more factors we bring in- greater are the chances of an imbalance amongst its variables. Here comes in the principle of harmony. Let the varying factors be closer to some standard, imaginary criteria. One may not want to be completely inclined towards a particular field while being completely or partially oblivious to the existence of the another. The universe works in a consortia of many factors/variables. Aren't we affected by the day and the night as much as with our sleep? We plan many things, maybe unknowingly, by the influence of the sum of various factors. As we grow up, these factors become integral to our decision making. We yearn and yearn with every passing day for something that we do not have, while so callously we overlook the things that we are in possession of, at that moment. Try to achieve peace and you may find your most precious gift, yet.


I think now I can safely bring this topic to full circle and culminate that- it doesn't matter what happens, what matters the most is What Happens Instead.


"The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations." - Eli Khamarov

Life Piled On Life

LIFE PILED ON LIFE

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master." - Ernest Hemingway

A person gets up in the morning, gets ready for work. Works throughout the day, returns. Eats, has some relaxation and ultimately sleeps. During the course of the day we interact with many other supposed fellow human beings and their creations.

The mornings - most vital part of the day.  We are most energized during this time of the day, although, not immediately after waking up. Some of us plan the entire day while doing the daily mundane chores. Leave for work, for some- home is the place of work but the person gets into the mind frame to work, nevertheless. Things sometimes go according to the plan, sometimes they do not. In fact, the incidences of the day is what creates a tentative outline of what the day holds. Run into an argument with someone and there's the shadow of doubt on self's ability for the entire day. Likewise, help some one in need & feel blessed. The ability, efficiency & productivity of our work depends largely on the activities of the morning which is why, offices open up almost during the same time period throughout the globe i.e. ~8 am. Potency of our mind dictates the quality of our work. We meet our colleagues, our superiors and subordinates at the workplace. Not enough chitchat with them in the morning we have, do we. It's because our mind is in a particular 'comfort zone' of its work and within the proximity of it, it really wants to perform well. 

Mind is a funny thing, it has a mind of its own which is pretty egoistic. It never wants to bow down in front of anybody, no matter how just it is. It tries to adjust the facts to fit a theory in which the reasoning of it prevails over all. So when we meet other people as the day progresses, it starts to ease up a little and the comfort zone is then gradually transforming into the casual zone. But there isn't any casual zone during work time, is there? Our human part manifests when we interact with fellow humans, at a human level - the classic paradoxes of empathy & sympathy. The joys and sorrows of others are felt by the brain. A colleague with a bad experience instantly depresses us while a funny incident brings joy- in either case, they knock us off our rhythm. This is all information for the brain to process but as we are humans, the rate of inflow of information is much more than the rate at which it is processed. Think of it as a kid in school who is given many assignments to do but never does it before its needed. We like symmetry in almost all things then why is the 'to-do' and 'done' list not symmetrical? "Tell'em that its human nature?" sang the late King of Pop: Michael Jackson. Coming back to our topic, the information and the brain; as the day progresses the information accumulates in our mind. Here comes in the Conscious, sub-conscious parts of the mind. Notice the tone in which you were complimented or suggested for your work, the not-so-blank eye contacts with someone, the orientation of the materials on your desk or simply-the change in the environment. 

There are a lot of doors in a building or any place with a formal setting. Has it ever happened to you that you enter a room or kitchen and immediately forget the reason of entering there, wondering "why did I come here?". Our brains are programmed in ways, rather we've conditioned them such, that as soon as we enter through a door our mind senses the change in the environment & 'forgets' old information in favour of the new surroundings. Yeah, there's a bit of "Sherlock" in all of us who's constantly judging the surroundings, the things in the background, the temperature fluctuations when someone enters/leaves etc. It's just that as we grow up our observational priorities change. So what to do if you have a really important task at hand but is supposed to be carried in an another room? Simple, just be attentive; repeat the task in your mind as you pass through the door. Focus is yet another answer and reason for almost all our problems. So with every door we enter, equal doors we exit. We always leave with a new information when passing through the doors. 

By the time we leave for home, our head is filled with a huge chunk of information. Every sight is worth a thousand words. Our brain gets exhausted & craves to relax. Exception is when the person has been in complete control of itself during the day and has had the most productive use of it. We reach home as the sun shies away into the west. The animals & birds return to their home and so do we. Home has its own set of information waiting to just seep into our already heavier minds. Then as the darkness engulfs the light, the tired lashes of the eye just give in to the temptation. The conflicts of the mind are then segued into the gentle world of hope & despair. The mind processes the information it gathered and all that it feels immaterial is discarded. The rest? well, ever heard of the word Deja vu, where the mind automatically fabricates the present with our past and tricks us into believing that this is the second time a thing is happening to us.

Liberation comes to those who work towards it. Work smart and not hard, give your brain a much needed peace. Rest, relax and start afresh. Where ever we come across any living being or something created by a living being, it speaks volumes of the creator's intentions. The incredible ability to relate everything we see/experience/hear to ourselves, when we look into any one of the Opus' creations, we look back at ourselves. We are defined by our actions and our actions are defined by our thoughts. This is the life piled on life.


"When you see beyond yourself, you see peace of mind waiting there." - George Harrison