The Elegant Equation

Chapter 32

The Elegant Equation

What I have to say in this final chapter is not an extrapolation from a dream and yet it is born from all of mine….not the dreams found in sleep but rather my dreams of a better world and a better life. It was born of the deep sorrow felt by a seemingly helpless witness to the squandering of an unspeakably beautiful world and a sad father who could not find his son. It was born from the rather Earthly hope that I might contribute to the saving of my son’s future and the hope that he might see me as…special; that he would see what I was doing from wherever he was. It was perfectly…human. What began as a journey to save others ended as a journey that saved only…me.

It began for me with a simple equation that I could not stop thinking about. It was an equation authored by a beautiful, compassionate man with a blazing intellect and a deep desire to understand the Universe; a man who spent his entire life trying to identify a simple equation that explained…”everything” and that, I think, had hoped might prove the existence of “intelligent design”. That man was Albert Einstein.

Professor Einstein died feeling that he had failed but I say that he did not fail. I say that the very answer that he struggled for during all those years existed in an equation that he authored early on in his life. I say that, like Dorothy’s ruby slippers, the answer was there all along; both for him and for us. That equation is “E=MC²”.

This equation is already recognized by many to be the most important equation that has ever been written and, if it isn’t that, then it is undoubtedly the most famous. But I think it is even more than that. I think that there is something truly elegant and simple hidden within this equation. I think that there is something beautiful there; something….amazing.

Essentially, E=MC² establishes the relationship between energy and “material”. It states that “energy” is exactly equal to “mass that is in motion”. The equation is composed of three variables… “Energy”, “Mass” and “Velocity”. This equation is the basis for all modern physics but it does not unite the four basic forces of the Universe, which are defined by physicists as electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force and…gravity. Known as a “Grand Unified Theory”, identifying a concise relationship between these forces (basically a relationship between the enormously large and the enormously small) is the holy grail of modern conceptual physics. E=MC² does not, in and of itself, unite these forces in an equation. However, I think that what is hidden underneath it transcends the need.

The reason why physicists have been in search of a grand unified theory is for the purpose of identifying the precise sequence of events that occurred at the very instant of the emergence of our Universe and perhaps even “before”. The scientists keep telling us that they are getting a little closer with each “breakthrough” but the Grand Unified Theory remains elusive. In fact, many physicists contend that current mathematics simply “break down” as you get closer to the moment of the “big bang”…or the creation, if you prefer, and have resigned themselves to the need of “new physics”. The idea that math can only go so far resonates with me intuitively somehow. I mean, can you imagine having to prove your love to your new lover by providing an equation that articulated the exact neuronal synaptic firing sequence of love? I think I would prefer a hug. Don’t get me wrong, I have the deepest respect for these dedicated scientists. I just think that maybe the solution of understanding the moment of the big bang and what lies “before” it fundamentally transcends mathematics. My sense (not very scientific, I know) is that mathematics is a construct of the Universe itself and not necessarily of where and what it came from. I think the answer is more like a laugh than a relationship between numbers. How do we explain the elements of the instrument that caused the eruption of the need for all mathematics with…uh, mathematics, no matter how exotic or inspired? After all, Einstein always envisioned that the solution would be...elemental. So here is my thought.

E=MC² has been validated time and time again; experiment after experiment. It is the mathematics behind atomic energy, relativity theory and also quantum mechanics. It is as close to a “fact” as any theory can come, even evolution itself. That same equation has ultimately also led physicists to the conclusion that our Universe erupted, in a cosmic flash (the “big bang”) from something physicists call a “singularity”. A singularity is a “thing” with infinite mass but no volume whatsoever and where time itself is suspended. This is a fascinating concept…think about it. “It” is a thing that exists outside and independent of “time” and “space” and yet it is the origin of time and space itself. Singularity does not arise from Universes, Universes arise from it. Universes are a subset of it. The singularity, therefore, contains within itself everything that “is”, “will be” or “ever was” from within the Universes that arose from it. You see, a Universe is merely a construct of space and time where “energy” somehow “creates”…creates more than what it just was; where it…creates itself.

It is more than interesting that, according to physicists, there are precisely and exactly four fundamental forces in the Universe and that each one of those four forces are manifested by one of the only four massless particles known to exist. Electromagnetism is a consequence of the creative energy of the “photon”; the weak nuclear force is a consequence of the creative energy of the “W vector boson”; the strong nuclear force is a consequence of the creative energy of the “gluon” and gravity is a consequence of the creative energy of the “graviton”. The relationship between “the fundamental force” and “the massless particle” is no coincidence. A massless particle, by definition exists outside of the realm of time. So you see, everything that gives our Universe substance and depth and dimensionality exists, at all times and in every way, as a consequence of the movement of timeless consciousness. These “particles” only appear to be “inside” our Universe as a consequence of their function. But the very fact that they are “massless” and “timeless” inescapably reveals that they are infinite. From our perspective there must be trillions upon trillions of massless particles. There are not. There can be no multitude where there is no space. They exist as a consequence of a single creative force that is merely enjoying the passing notion of a horde. Furthermore, there can be no “distinction between” in the realm of the infinite. Gluons, photons, W vector bosons and gravitons are all precisely the same thing; a single “particle”…a single “force”…a single consciousness. It is only our perspective of these things that cause them to appear…”different”. The force that allows molecules to form is electromagnetism; molecular glue is not material, it is nothing more nor less than…light; the very same force that holds together atoms and…stars and…you. To attempt to calculate the infinite is an adventure into the absurd because “infinite” does not and cannot exist here. Every attempt will yield the answer of…zero…because that is the precise value of an “infinite” quanta. The variables are…phantasms of timelessness. Without the creative force of the timeless mind to hold atoms…and molecules…and stars…and galaxies together, there is nothing physical. Indeed, we ourselves would merely morph into what we truly are…the timeless mind itself.

When you remove time from the Universe…in an attempt to apply E=MC² to the “singularity”, the equation necessarily changes. Velocity no longer exists because there are no distances to traverse and mass becomes…infinite…and, as discussed previously, “infinite” is precisely equal to zero. In other words, mass is as much a chimera as time and space. All that is left, therefore…is energy. But it is more than mindless energy like a charge in a battery; it is a creative force; … creative energy. It has to be creative. Since… “IT”… ultimately is the origination point for all Universes then all Universes are necessarily made of …“IT”… and Universes are certainly creative. I mean the very notion that human beings evolved from elemental particles is creative in the extreme, don’t you think? Think about this for a moment, particles adrift in a silent expanding space that organized themselves into…the Mona Lisa, spiraling footballs, frogs and….YOU. So what ever this “energy” is, it is certainly creative. All that is left when time is suspended is “creative energy” by whatever name you choose to call it.

The elegant equation is therefore simply…”E=E”.

Everything is ultimately a manifestation of creative energy which exists in its truest expression in a timeless expanse…without form or volume…and it is our place of origin. No matter what value you assign to “E”, the equation always reduces to one.

In the “singularity”, all that occurs does so in concurrence. Everything that could be or has been…simply…”is”. All knowledge and all experience exists as a single timeless thought; every particle and every piece, every triumph and every tear; every motion and every meaning, every star and every galaxy and…most assuredly, every one…of you, and all of the endless lives that compose and comprise…you.

We are all precisely the same at our innermost but our physical construction and our role are different. It is simple, if our life is one of love, than that is what we shall know; if our life is one of fear, than we will live a life of fear. So if the “singularity” is the repository of all possible experience, then why do we…need to experience? The answer, I think, is that we ARE that repository. Our experiences ARE that knowledge. Our life experiences are a part of the whole…and the whole would not be whole without them. The knowledge of why not to war exists built upon the tragedy of warfare. The knowledge of why not to harm another is because you are simply harming yourself. As I have said several times in this book, the beings that enjoy torture will cease torturing others when they themselves tire of being tortured. We are the creative force learning of the great responsibility that accompanies being that. We can exist for the flash that is this corporeal existence as companions in a peaceful and equitable world or we can extinguish the world altogether. Either way, the experience is ALREADY known even though, from our perspective, we are currently learning it. The world of tomorrow is precisely up to you…to us.

As I have said in all of my writing, my ideas are intended to promote thought only, so take what you will and leave the rest. Truth is the experience itself, of whatever experience you chose to be truthful about. Explanations of that truth are analogies; they are not themselves the experience so they themselves are not the truth. But you may represent YOUR truth in this way as I may represent mine. It may ultimately be accurate that “my truth” and “your truth” are essentially the same despite the great differences in the words we might chose to express them.

As for me, I have come full circle, back to this equation but I will never be the same because the 3 letters that compose it I now see as one. The journey has been long and…poignant. It has been painful and difficult and challenging far beyond my expectation and yet it was precisely the pain and challenge that I sought. The book you hold is really for me. So from here on out, I will love my little boy and my old shaggy dog and I will laugh as often as I can. I will relish every frog and work on the spiral in my football toss and, I think, I will go and look again at the Mona Lisa. I will look for the truth behind the words as much as the truth that seems to be expressed in the words themselves. How ever long I have, I choose to live because I am already special. I will embrace love and truth and the simple elegant notion that today is all that we really have. If I am just me and I have no need to be anything “other than”, then my son will know this. In fact, it is already…known. I wrote this chapter as my son slept in my home for the first time in over a year. There are no coincidences.

I set out to change the world and asked the Universe to guide me. It did, through endless metaphors and coincidences that…couldn’t be. I discovered that the world is just …me. So I have changed…me.

Thank you Albert Einstein, you are beautiful.

I think I will become a comedienne…that sounds like a blast……

© 2009 Michael Nielson “A Novel Thought and the Art of Lucid Dreaming”

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