SINGULARITY

When scientists say universe is expanding I used to think what they meant was that matter is spreading deeper into empty space. Now I realize that actually space is stretching. There is no limit of universe in same way as earth has no edge. My idea of universe was that there is a center of universe and then a huge sphere of matter surrounding it and then limitless empty space. That’s not the fact. Matter is uniformly distributed all over the universe there is no center just as there is no edge. Space is folded in the same way as we fold long slender wire into a loop. The fact is that when universe was created some 14 billion years ago in a big bang the entire universe was compressed in just a point called singularity. All this is derivable through General theory of Relativity / Quantum Mechanics as well as a large part of this theory has been verified through observations. There are still some loose ends but there is general consensus on origin of universe.

What is not however clear is who set the initial parameters for singularity or if they were just random! Similarly we are stuck at the origin of evolution i.e. life evolved from mono-cellular life form in primordial sea is agreed. But whether rich organic sea made membrane which folded into cell and life began on its own due to presence of amino acids which are basic building blocks or first cell was seeded into primordial sea is a matter of debate.

Does any Mullah or Priest or Pundit understand this?

P A I N

Somehow we tend to ignore simple explanations and opt for bizarre to make ourselves appear intelligent. Pain is basic survival tool, yet pain is variously assumed to cleanse us of our sins and a mean to appease deity. I have seen people fasting, rolling instead of walking to shrines, lashing, impaling and doing stuff like that in the assumption that God will appreciate their efforts. Beats me! Why, doesn't this reduce God into some kind of tyrannical zamindaar?

Strangely happiness appears to us elusive, fickle and unreal. We perceive reality from pain. The assumption that pain elevates art too is similar myth. Then what elevates art? Transcendental Tranquility!

Interface

Is there life after death, there is no way we can tell. Death by definition is irreversible therefore life beyond death is pure conjecture. All rational observations deny life beyond death. In fact life seems simple progression of evolution yet there is mind boggling complexities in universe and this raises the question all this just for what? Our relentless quest to search for meaning of existence is due to our inability to settle for anything that reduces us into mere creatures busy regenerating ourselves.

Yet if death is indeed an interface to higher existence then parameters of that exalted life must necessarily be qualitatively different from this life, else death as an interface is meaningless. Aren’t, therefore all our texts that allude to a life beyond death phoney? After all they are projections of this life only with some window dressings.

Sound of Silence

[Picture along side is one of the most expressive work of art, a painting by Edvard Munch titled 'The Scream'. Need I say more!]

I saw this man holding his cell-phone to his ears tightly. He seemed as if trying to listen to faint sounds. But he was holding it for so long, he may just be listening to silence. What does silence tell us? Silence talks to us about our own self. It only holds mirror to our own weird thoughts and ideas, which sound bizarre sometimes. It makes us look intelligent and thoughtful or perhaps only intelligent and thoughtful can listen to silence. It crystallizes our thoughts, tells us of our standing in space and time and in relation to world at large. Silence tells us so much only if we care to listen.

When these thoughts come to me I get a feel of deja vu, of having heard these thoughts in verse.