Have you ever looked up on a clear night and wondered what we can’t see beyond the most distant stars and galaxies, how the entire universe may be shaped? Spirituality, meet science!
Mr. Hartmann, thank you for this topic. The idea that the universe has a "shape" is a consequence of the fact that we humans live in a sociocultural world, created by language.
Our sense organs put us in physical contact with the physical world. Sight, sound, touch, temperature, taste/smell; these are the senses most of us are aware of. We have organs in our bodies which detect stimuli from the physical universe in which we exist. The sources of these stimuli are external to our physical bodies. This much is quite obvious to us all. There is one more sense that most of us do not think about very much, unless the individual has studied this sense in an academic setting, or unless one is adept at some physical activity. This sense is our kinesthetic sense. We can sense the positions of our limbs relative to the rest of our bodies without looking at them, hearing them, tasting/smelling them, or detecting them through touch. The stimuli for this sense come from within our bodies, not from without. Without this sense of kinesthesis we would not be able to learn to type, dance, run, jump, play tennis, etc.
We are able to describe the effects sensory stimuli have on our bodies through language. We can sharpen the sensory limits of our bodies with language and even describe the limits to other individuals as well. But there are great limitations on how well we can describe our kinesthetic experiences to other people. For example: I can tell you how to perform a kip-up on the still rings in a gymnasium, I can describe to you how to hit the ping pong ball back to your opponent, I can describe to you how to hit a golf ball toward the cup, I can describe to you how to type, or swim, etc. But the only way you will be able to learn to do all of these bodily activities is for you to actually move your body and detect the stimuli coming from the sensors located inside your body, not outside it. You must do it to learn it. This is kinesthesis in action. This description of kinesthetic sensory ability is perhaps a little tedious. But it must be included.
Now, let us move on to the apparently vast and largely unknowable universe in its "entirety." We think of the universe as having limits, boundaries, shapes, size because that is how our senses present the physical world to us. We have the linguistic ability to represent, or symbolically recreate the physical world with our symbols, primarily the symbols which make up our language. We can communicate with one another about the nature of our physical universe; its size, shape, boundaries, limits. We do this with language. There is no reason to believe that the universe actually is composed of boundaries, limits, shapes, or size. We sense the physical world as having these characteristics and we can talk about them. But they do not necessarily exist. Just because we can talk about a thing, or imagine a thing; does not mean that thing actually exists. I can imagine a unicorn and so can you. We can talk with one another about a unicorn. But, of course a unicorn does not exist. Many people believe there is a big daddy up there in the sky who created everything, knows everything and controls everything. But it just ain't so.
We must inevitably admit that there is no shape, limits, boundaries, or age to the universe. It is boundless. It is shapeless. It is timeless. It is limitless. It is absurd of us to speculate about these things. It has none of these things. It simply is. At this point it might be useful to talk about time. But we would be wasting our efforts; because time does not exist. It is a symbolic creation of human beings. That is the extent of its existence. It has no existence independent from us. The consideration of how and under what circumstances time comes into existence is a whole other topic.
A discussion of the nature of language might be appropriate here. But that too is another discussion.
Those who believe everything came into existence with "The Big Bang" are simply engaging in a sophisticated analogue of the first book of the old testament in the Judeo-Christian bible. I suggest that those religious individuals who object to my words here read the five proofs of the existence of a god found in the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas, the brilliant, seminal philosophical father of the Christian church.
For myself, I prefer Fred Hoyle's interpretation of "The Big Bang." Hoyle believed there are some locations in the universe where there is an overabundance of matter. Under these conditions the matter spontaneously transforms into energy. There are some locations in the universe where there is an overabundance of energy. Under those conditions energy spontaneously transforms into matter. Various locations in the universe shift back and forth from one state to another in a pulsating manner. We live in a pulsating universe. A hint that this might be so can be found in the work of De Broglie. He said that anytime one physical thing moves relative to another thing, there is a pulsating wave in existence between them. In Physics books this is referred to as De Broglie waves. Astronomers and Cosmologists are fond of talking about how they can detect waves of some electromagnetic/gravitational kind which seem to be pulsating through the universe and their origins in space and time cannot be determined.
The late Fred Hoyle held the Plummerian Chair of Experimental Mathematics at Cambridge University. Mostly, he is remembered as an Astronomer and a Cosmologist
Mr. Hartmann, thank you for this topic. The idea that the universe has a "shape" is a consequence of the fact that we humans live in a sociocultural world, created by language.
Our sense organs put us in physical contact with the physical world. Sight, sound, touch, temperature, taste/smell; these are the senses most of us are aware of. We have organs in our bodies which detect stimuli from the physical universe in which we exist. The sources of these stimuli are external to our physical bodies. This much is quite obvious to us all. There is one more sense that most of us do not think about very much, unless the individual has studied this sense in an academic setting, or unless one is adept at some physical activity. This sense is our kinesthetic sense. We can sense the positions of our limbs relative to the rest of our bodies without looking at them, hearing them, tasting/smelling them, or detecting them through touch. The stimuli for this sense come from within our bodies, not from without. Without this sense of kinesthesis we would not be able to learn to type, dance, run, jump, play tennis, etc.
We are able to describe the effects sensory stimuli have on our bodies through language. We can sharpen the sensory limits of our bodies with language and even describe the limits to other individuals as well. But there are great limitations on how well we can describe our kinesthetic experiences to other people. For example: I can tell you how to perform a kip-up on the still rings in a gymnasium, I can describe to you how to hit the ping pong ball back to your opponent, I can describe to you how to hit a golf ball toward the cup, I can describe to you how to type, or swim, etc. But the only way you will be able to learn to do all of these bodily activities is for you to actually move your body and detect the stimuli coming from the sensors located inside your body, not outside it. You must do it to learn it. This is kinesthesis in action. This description of kinesthetic sensory ability is perhaps a little tedious. But it must be included.
Now, let us move on to the apparently vast and largely unknowable universe in its "entirety." We think of the universe as having limits, boundaries, shapes, size because that is how our senses present the physical world to us. We have the linguistic ability to represent, or symbolically recreate the physical world with our symbols, primarily the symbols which make up our language. We can communicate with one another about the nature of our physical universe; its size, shape, boundaries, limits. We do this with language. There is no reason to believe that the universe actually is composed of boundaries, limits, shapes, or size. We sense the physical world as having these characteristics and we can talk about them. But they do not necessarily exist. Just because we can talk about a thing, or imagine a thing; does not mean that thing actually exists. I can imagine a unicorn and so can you. We can talk with one another about a unicorn. But, of course a unicorn does not exist. Many people believe there is a big daddy up there in the sky who created everything, knows everything and controls everything. But it just ain't so.
We must inevitably admit that there is no shape, limits, boundaries, or age to the universe. It is boundless. It is shapeless. It is timeless. It is limitless. It is absurd of us to speculate about these things. It has none of these things. It simply is. At this point it might be useful to talk about time. But we would be wasting our efforts; because time does not exist. It is a symbolic creation of human beings. That is the extent of its existence. It has no existence independent from us. The consideration of how and under what circumstances time comes into existence is a whole other topic.
A discussion of the nature of language might be appropriate here. But that too is another discussion.
Those who believe everything came into existence with "The Big Bang" are simply engaging in a sophisticated analogue of the first book of the old testament in the Judeo-Christian bible. I suggest that those religious individuals who object to my words here read the five proofs of the existence of a god found in the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas, the brilliant, seminal philosophical father of the Christian church.
For myself, I prefer Fred Hoyle's interpretation of "The Big Bang." Hoyle believed there are some locations in the universe where there is an overabundance of matter. Under these conditions the matter spontaneously transforms into energy. There are some locations in the universe where there is an overabundance of energy. Under those conditions energy spontaneously transforms into matter. Various locations in the universe shift back and forth from one state to another in a pulsating manner. We live in a pulsating universe. A hint that this might be so can be found in the work of De Broglie. He said that anytime one physical thing moves relative to another thing, there is a pulsating wave in existence between them. In Physics books this is referred to as De Broglie waves. Astronomers and Cosmologists are fond of talking about how they can detect waves of some electromagnetic/gravitational kind which seem to be pulsating through the universe and their origins in space and time cannot be determined.
The late Fred Hoyle held the Plummerian Chair of Experimental Mathematics at Cambridge University. Mostly, he is remembered as an Astronomer and a Cosmologist