Age of the universe – Learning from Dogs

We must never lose sight of the greater power of positive thoughts.

Indeed, who cannot look at a dog’s wagging tail and not feel better about life. There is so much doom and gloom around that we need constantly to remind ourselves that there is a brighter future ahead, there always is.

And to understand how little it takes for a positive difference to sweep through, take a look at this article from Science Daily,

Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society.

The implications of this are profound. Be sure that we are living through a transition period, a period necessary to find a better future. Find another nine people who agree with you, and there’s a hundred on their way! Back to the article,

“When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority,” said SCNARC Director Boleslaw Szymanski, the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor at Rensselaer. “Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame.”

Science supporting common-sense!

Only a mystical view can speak to the soul.

: The Helix nebula

(More on the Helix nebula here.)

I have referred yesterday to the series on the BBC hosted by Professor Brian Cox called Wonders of the Universe. Well we managed to watch the last episode last night, entitled Messengers. Like the other three episodes, it was breath-taking.

In this last episode, Prof. Cox speaks of the universe still expanding with the outer edge, if edge is the appropriate word, being about 8.7 billion light years away. Thus the age of the Universe is about that; 8.7 billion light years. Note: NASA has a piece that suggests that this figure may not be confirmed. But let’s not worry too much about the precise value. But we will take a short detour to understand a little more about the ‘light year’.

From here.

So to measure really long distances, people use a unit called alight year. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second (300,000 kilometers per second). Therefore, a light second is 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers). A light year is the distance that light can travel in a year, or:

186,000 miles/second * 60 seconds/minute * 60 minutes/hour * 24 hours/day * 365 days/year = 5,865,696,000,000 miles/year

A light year is 5,865,696,000,000 miles (9,460,800,000,000 kilometers). That’s a long way!

That is a single light-year. Now reflect on the outer edge of the universe being, say, 8,700,000,000 multiplied by 5,865,696,000,000 miles away. Don’t know about your mind, but my mind has no ‘feel’ for that distance whatsoever.

OK, next proposition put forward by Prof. Cox. That is that scientists believe that ‘The Big Bang’ was the instant that the universe erupted, if that’s an appropriate word, from a single point, smaller than the size of a grain of sand.

That has no rational meaning whatsoever. Now my mind just goes into la, la land! But at the level of magic, mysticism, the spiritual, then one does experience the deep meaning of the creation. Our creation. For we are part of the universe and the universe is part of us.

Just like the rose. Trying to describe it cuts nothing compared to closing one’s eyes and simply breathing in the perfume.

Here is that last episode, in four parts from YouTube. Watch and prepared to be transformed.