Big Bang Talk

Listen in:

“What can I get you guys?”

Shapur: “I’ll have apple pie and decaf.”

Lambert: “Carrot cake for me, and some more water.”

Shapur continued: “…so the molecules are repelling each other…their electron clouds preventing them from forming a bond.”

Lambert: “Yeah, they need a third party, if you will, to overcome their repulsion to each other. They’re both in relatively stable states.” 

Shapur: “ …activation energy, usually some kind of heat.”

Lambert:”Yes, and in the Big Bang expansion, there seem to have been some mysterious ‘potential energy wells’ that protected the newly-forming matter particles instead of destroying them. In a sense, these forces were working against entropy. They were analogous to that activation energy in molecular bonding, And this constructive principle (whatever it was) somehow enabled the stabilizing of fundamental matter components--protons, neutrons, etc. As a result, matter could become a stable, real entity, even in the presence of enormous Big Bang force.

Shapur: “Energy separated itself into matter.”

Kaneesha, who was accustomed to their dialogues, overhead this, set desserts on the table, and inserted: “Or, maybe it was more like: energy was separated from matter…like, somebody did it.”

Lambert: “Thank you, Kaneesha. Yes, you could say that.”

Kaneesha smiled broadly, put her hand on her hip and looked at Lambert, teasing him. She quipped: “Maybe it was like: ‘God separated the light from darkness, matter or whatever you want to call it, and said ‘yeah, it was, like, pretty good.’”

Shapur busted out laughing.

 And Kaneesha chuckled. She raised her eyebrows and started to walk away, tending to her duties. Shapur laughed quite a lot about it, while Lambert’s eyes registered genuine amusement and a sense of well-being.

Shapur lassoed their levity back to discussion: “Well, then…back to the Second Law…the effects of it are really more general than some folks suppose: the original concentrated energy of the universe expanded, diffusing, and slowing down, and thereby sort of ‘condensing’ into matter as it went.”

Glass half-Full  , chapter 8, is my 2007 novel from which this dinnertime discussion of the universe expansion/creation is activated in your mind if you read it. It is never too late to learn something about the Almighty's creation of the Universe.

 

Functionalized Specificity

 In the beginnings of human experience, art and literature had a special importance for us who strive to understand who we are and where we came from.

In prehistoric days, (that is to say) days before we began writing our history, some of our primitive ancestors drew pictures on cave walls, which were later discovered by curious explorers.

 As humble as those first etchings were, they were the beginning our Art history. Ultimately those primitive figures paved the way for the likes of Michelangelo, El Greco, Rembrandt, Matisse, Van Gogh, Whistler and Wyeth, to name only a representative few. . . even, I suppose . . . Warhol, though his renderings seem to represent a return to the primitive side of our expressive powers. 

Design is important. Remember that.

Well, that’s my nutshell explanation about art in human history. There is another long indicator of what we humans have been up to since our beginning. That is writing. 

For my purposes here, I replace the nickel word, “writing”, with a dime word: literature. 

We’ve had a lot of it turn up, and this stuff goes way back in time.   From Bhagavad Gita to Bible to bibliography and beyond, information that is written—literature—has been an expressive and constructive driver of human progress and wisdom since the dawn of human history. 

In the particular culture in which I was raised—the American version—I had an early exposure to the Bible. It is an ancient book that, across multiple millennia of time, has been used as a credible and significant source of history, faith and inspiration.

Way back in Time, Moses began writing it.

 As the years and centuries rolled along, his literary torch was passed along . . . through the trials and tribulations of immigrating patriarchs and matriarchs, through the liberating of slaves, through the manipulations of multiple monarchs, the exploits of expanding empires, persecuted prophets, crucified Christ and beyond.

The impact of a risen Messiah has been a major factor in Western history. Jesus’ disciples, Peter and Paul and many others spread the good news of his victory over death.

By ’n by, that gospel message got ramped up into a major religion.

From bare bones first century faith to catholic control to renaissance renewal to reformation revival to whatever it is we have now, this Jesus phenom has had a major impact on life in this world.

About seventeen or eighteen centuries after the Christian faith expansion had begun, along came a major rearrangement of our skull-based neurons and we began to view things through a different lens.

The microscope and the telescope gave us a miniscule and a new macro view of this amazing world and  universe in which we live and breathe and have our being. 

Long story short, we became so smart that most of us tossed all that ole time religion out with the bath water.

Since we’ve discovered natural selection guiding evolutionary human progress, the polls indicate that most folks have indeed thrown the baby out with the bath water. 

But hey, what goes around comes around. All that scientific inquiry has brought us to the discovery of DNA, which turns out to be a divinely encrypted code of ancient software—with functionalized specificity beyond mere mathematics— by which our human development, progress and destiny is, to some extent, determined.

But not entirely determined. The rest is up to you. 

(Thanks to Stephen Meyer↑)

What you do with your coded life plan and with your life choices is up to you. Ain’t nobody gonna do it for you. So get on it. Do what you gotta do so you won’t have to look back with regret. 

Whatever you do, pause to consider the possibility of living on the other side of death, instead of, you know, becoming a pile of dust. This whole deal started with a big bang but, for you, it doesn't have to end that way.

And if it turns out that there’s someone there to take your hand and lead you to the other side of that dark door . . . well maybe you oughter ponder that.

Thanks for stoppin by.

Glass Chimera

Elohim Design Inc

 Using these four letters, design something meaningful: D-R-W-O.

DROW? DORW? ORDW? ROWD? RODW? WODR? WORD?

Make any sense to you . . . ?

Well, the arrangement at the end does: WORD.

Yeah, that works. An arrangement that has meaning. That’s what we’re looking for.

So we find:  At the end of our search for meaning . . . WORD

In the beginning, the letters were wordless and void of meaning, and meaninglessness was over the surface of the screen.

And then . . . Let there be WORD, and there it was . . .  a WORD.

And it was good, an improvement beyond what we had before WORD popped up; we separated the WORD from sound and gibberish signifying nothing. When I saw it, it was a little bit like a light going on in my head.

But I’m an amateur at this sort of thing. For a more informed view, check out Stephen Meyer’s explanation: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW6egHV6jAw

 

Glass Chimera

Severed Spinal

 In the year 2000, Microbiologist Dr. William Theseus' is on the phone explaining to a colleague his  research assistant's life-threatening spinal cord injury . . .

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story.  I won’t trouble you with it, but he was stabbed.”

“And the spinal cord was severed?”

“We think it’s only partially severed.”

“That’ would be, ah, Brown-Sequard’s syndrome, then?”

“Yes.  That’s what the surgeon called it.”

“William, I can’t imagine what he must be going through right now, or what you must be thinking and feeling.  Your phone call seems a little desperate.“

“I guess I’m grasping at straws.  I probably knew what your response would be.”

“Whatever it is that our research has to offer, I can tell you, is years away.  There’s some earthshaking work going on  at Yale, and a few other places.  They’re closer than we are to clinical experiments.  But we’ve got a long way to go. What’s his name?”

“Uh, Robby.  Robby Davis.”

“I’ll be praying for Robby Davis,

“Really?”

“William. It sounds like a cliché, I know, But you know me. We started out together on this biological quest. I’ve been watching cells and  molecules for almost thirty years now, Let me tell you something, William.  I’m convinced that deep inside the neurons and the axons, wrapped around  the cords and the capillaries of flesh and blood,  a divine design governs all that happens there, and everywhere else, for that matter.  I’ve stood back, at times, in awesome wonder at the intricacy, the elaborate complexity—sometimes even the miraculous simplicity  of this mystery  we call life—all of it spiraling within two helices that surround  virtually infinite permutations of four—only four—nucleotides.”

William had nothing that he could say.

“So when I say, William, that I will pray for your Robby friend, I am not speaking lightly, or tritely.  If I could, I’d go into the lab right now and whip up a biological cocktail to coax those axons into regenerating.  But I can’t.  Right now, no scientist or doctor on this earth can do that. One day, we will.  But I can do this, William.  I can appeal to the great physician—the one who wrote the code and signed the book.   That is all I can offer you.”

“That’s a lot,” said William, through tears. 

(excerpt from my  novel) Glass Chimera

Glass half-Full

Trouble in America

Signs of the trouble have been evident for a while. People need to be aware of the dangers, and learn from the warning signs  that we find in 20th-century history.

In the interest of making people aware of 20th-century dangers, here's an excerpt from my 2007 novel, Glass half-Full. 

In chapter 22, detectives detectives Derek Trent and Lee Nguyen are questioning a suspect, Barney Bluntell, about a slue of recent crimes in the D.C. metro area:

Trent’s eyes narrowed. Again, he stuck his face right into the other man’s. “Tell me something, Barney. Why were you out trying to knock up a nice Jewish girl instead being at home with your wife? Why? Was it personal? Or is there something going on with this list between you and Moa Grindell? Let me tell you something. We’ve been to Mo’s place. We know about the Fascist bullshit that he’s feeding on and propagating. We know about the porno, the methamphetamines, the snuff films.”

Then Barney spoke seriously, looking right at the intimidator. “You’ve got the wrong man. I’ve stayed away from the IEDs. I’ve got nothing to do with them.”

Derrick Trent sat down, poured himself half a glass of water. He looked at the prisoner, but didn’t say anything.

Nguyen spoke calmly to the prisoner. “If you’ve got no direct connection to the bombings, you can prove it now by revealing the identities of the bombers.”

“I didn’t say I know who it is.”

“Okay. Put it this way. What do you know about the bombings?”

“You make this out to be like some kind of crime syndicate or something,” said the prisoner, defensively. “It’s not. We’re trying to bring this country back to its roots.”

Nguyen and Trent were stunned by the improbability of this statement. Trent started to speak. Nguyen quickly set his hand on Trent’s arm, motioning for silence. The two of them looked with askance at the strange man who sat at the table in front of them. But Barney Bluntell looked lost, as if he were a deer in headlights. His deep-set eyes, encircled with flaps of dark skin, betrayed a flash of eccentricity, or even schizophrenia. He was tottering on a decision to speak or clam up.

Nguyen decided to risk tipping the balance with a serious question. “Barney, what roots are you trying to bring this country back to?”

“This country has a history of decent people, white people, who can make it run right without interference from the communists and Jews who’ve taken it over.”

Trent gave a low whistle and shook his head. He was trying to respond to the statement with a reasonable rebuttal, but could think of nothing right away.

But Nguyen spoke, calmly. “And did these decent, white people keep a list of young women and then rape them?”

“Women have to know their place. If men don’t keep them in their place, then other men have to rise up and set things right.”

“By raping them?” Trent was incredulous, getting irate. Nguyen touched his arm again, signaling restraint. He wanted to ask another question, prime the pump, get to the source of this perversity. He probed further:

“So, are you going to put these women in their place?”

“You’re damned right.” Barney was on the soap box now, showing his true colors, almost unaware of his prisoner status, lecturing the cops on what would have to be done to get society straightened out.

“And how did you know who these women are…the ones that need to be put in their place?”

“It’s the Jewish women. They started the whole thing. Now its infecting everybody. The men don’t know how to handle their women. They’ve fucked everything up. The Jews started communism. Marx and Lenin were Jews. You know that, don’t you?”

Now Nguyen thought he’d take a chance. “Is that why you bombed the Holocaust Memorial?”"

Glass half-Full 

GenSeeS

 In the beginning was Word, and Word brought forth hydrogen on the one side and helium on the other.

And it was grand. 

And in the grand space between Hm and He, Word brought forth the elements, and at first they were formless and void, and voidness was over the surface of the Inbetween but the Spirit was moving over the expanding Inbetween and so Word shook out Light from interface of In and Btween and  Light shone forth. 

And it was good.

So Word continued,  separating Light from In and Btween, rendering Light active while In and Btween go passive, at least for a While, as they awaited their assigned roles.

And all that so far was was as different as Night and Day, and it was pretty dam good, holding great Potential.

And Word generated an Expanse in the midst of the In/Btween and before anySapiens knew what was going down (or going up) there was Carbon for building blocks and Nitrogen for mortar and Oxygen for Life, and  Boron got tossed  in there too so the Universe would not  be Boring, but instead, would bore into the Cosmos with Osmosis and all the other processes of Life.

It was a pretty doggone Big bang!

And it was good.

And the rest is History.

Glass Chimera

True Religion

 Feed widows and orphans.

Bless poor people. 

Be gentle. Strive for righteousness.

Be merciful. Try to keep your motives pure.

Make peace. 

Don’t get riled when people insult you and persecute. 

Don’t even get bent out of shape when they lie about you.

Don’t be afraid to let your light shine.

Don’t kill people; don’t threaten them either. Try not to get angry at them; don’t call them good-for-nothing; don’t even call anybody a fool. To call somebody a fool is foolish.

Before getting all religious about who is right and who is wrong, go and seek reconciliation with those who oppose you.

Try to work out your grievances with people without dragging disputes into the Court.

And for God’s sakes, don’t screw around with other people. Remain faithful with your spouse. I mean, what’s best is to not even look at others with desire. Stay faithful to your mate in all intents and purposes. Just sayin'

Don’t go around cursing and swearing. Just try to do what you’ve said what you would do.

If some whacko or self-appointed wiseguy starts pushing you around, don’t get sucked into a fight or even an argument.

And if someone is bugging you for a little donation, give them something. If it’s cold and they need a coat, give them a coat; it won’t break your bank account.

If someone is bugging you for a little attention, or to walk with them for a little way, just do it. You’re not so important that you can’t take time to offer some counsel or solace to a person who needs a little help or attention. After a while, you can wind it down, knowing you’ve shown some mercy to someone who needed a little help.

Heck, you oughta even try to show some love and care for your enemies. Maybe you’ll win them over.

Don’t make a big deal of giving help to poor people. Just do it. Let it be between you, them, and God.

Pray that God’s will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven. There is a God, you know. Why else would I call this piece "True Religion." 

And btw, as far as this religion thing goes, just accept it that God does exist; if you can't bring yourself to believe that, at least allow a little space in your head and in your heart to respect  those who do promote "God", including yours truly.

Forgive people when they do you wrong, and don’t forget that you also need a little mercy and forgiveness every now and then.

Hey, all earthly stuff is vanity. Don’t rack up bunches of impressive treasures, but cultivate spiritual favor with God and with other people.

Don’t be giving people the evil eye. Use your eyes to communicate honesty and, compassion and care.

And don't go destroying Capitols. Have a little respect for the institutions that we the people have erected for the sake of keeping the peace and administering justice.

Don’t get all hot and bothered about eating precious food and drink, or showing off  your fancy threads.

Try not to worry so much. Don’t fret about the future; the future will take care of itself.

Strive to be right and to do the right thing wherever you go.

Try not to judge other people for what they are doing, unless they're hurting others. 

Even so, it is good to defend the weak, the orphans, and anyone who appears to have no defense or provision of their own, if they are being harassed or taken advantage of.

Don’t go around pointing out other people’s faults. You’ve surely got enough of your own that need to be dealt with. 

Give to people in need. Have a little faith that what you truly need shall be given providentially to you, so you have abundance to supply others.

Even so, don’t give precious things to inconsiderate people who have no comprehension about what is truly precious. Some people out there would just as soon toss your precious contribution in the gutter without even acknowledging your good will.

And of course, while seeking (God) for help, strive to treat people the same way you want them to treat you.

King of Soul