Saturday, May 21, 2011

MIND OF GOD DECODED - Being Alive


In the last post THE ILLUSION we have seen how lucky you are that you exist. However, from the quantum perspective, all possibilities exist at the same time, and hence it is not a miracle that you are here and reading this post, because in one of those possibilities you had to. So, next time when you are sad, just remember that there is another you somewhere, who is very very happy at that same time. We also saw that we do not know what is real, but we do know that what we think is real is not real! And, like all frequencies adds up to zero, all possible you (including all the you(s) made of antimatter), and all possible universes, adds up to no you and no universe at all. So, nothing exists, and all that exits in just an illusion.

Staying within the realm of illusion we can clearly distinguish between two things, one that we think are non-living, and the others whom we call as living. The distinction is so clear that even a child can recognise it. But, remember, when we call something as non-living, it is an interpretation of the data gathered through our senses. We know that are senses are incomplete and flawed. So, any interpretation of a flawed data is bound to be flawed.
Through the microscope (left) and telescope (right)

According to our ancestors everything is made of air, water, wood and fire, in different proportions; and according to us everything is made of strings, with different vibration patterns. Since the basic ingredients of everything are same, how come the living things separated from the non-living? Is there indeed such a distinct difference, or is the line of difference thinner than we think it is? There was a time when plants were considered non-living until 1899 when Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose proclaimed otherwise. Life has been found in extreme places like in the mid oceanic ridges. Life here exists without sunlight, supported by vented hydrothermal fluids driven by heat from magma chambers! Then, look at the viruses, are they living or non-living? So, where to draw the line?

First let us define a living thing. It is something that takes in nutrients, performs metabolism, excretes waste products, reproduce, die and also respond to stimuli. What one considers nutrient varies depending on who is taking in the nutrient. Pork Ribs can be poison to some, while to me it is finger-licking good. Sunlight, for example, is nutrient for a plant, but to us it is some thing that helps us tan our skin. Now once we intake the nutrients we convert it by complex chemical reactions to something more useful for our bodies. This process is called metabolism. This process creates other products that are useless for our bodies and hence we simple throw them out. The same thing is done by our planet earth; it eats sunlight and excretes heat. Consider our favourite twinkle twinkle little stars. They suck in hydrogen gas into their stomach (core), perform some chemical reactions, and then excrete the heavier atoms in form of stellar winds or violent stellar explosions. Taking in nutrients, performing metabolism and excreting waste products are not unique to us.

Now let us look at the cycle of birth and death. Reproduction does not mean sex; it is just creation of new ones. All some creatures have to do to reproduce is divide themselves into two, like amoebae. Some plants can grow new plants from their broken stems. Similarly, new stars can form by contraction of clouds of gases excreted from older stars. Sometimes planets can explode and reform into many smaller planets. Every star (or even planets) has a lifecycle from birth to death just like the things we consider living, the only difference is the time frame. So, the circle of birth and death is not a distinguishing criterion either.

The only possible thing we are left with, that distinguish living thing from non-living, is our sense of perception and the fact that we respond to stimuli. Sense of perception is different in different things. If we try to perceive the way bats do we will end up hitting the wall, and hence it cannot be a criterion for distinction.  We can never be sure if our galaxy perceives in it’s own way or not, just like a bacteria inside your body is not sure of the fact that you perceive or not. Things respond to stimuli only if there is a need to respond. The earth has no need to respond when you walk over it just like the plants who does not slap you when you sit on its branches. Now think of the double-slit experiment we talked of in the last post. The electron responded to the presence of the observer. Does it feel? Does it perceive? What if the entire universe was alive in all possible scales? The laptop in which you are reading this blog is probably aware of your presence and is responding to your touch; just the timeframe of the response is so different that you do not notice!

19 comments:

  1. Food for thought post. And again something which logically makes more sense than most logic being spread around, but the educationists would die fighting distinguishing the living and the non living.
    Everything around us responds, the planet, the land, the universe; it just depends on how we define response. Let me take a very small example, when we keep our hand/foot (weight) on anything soft, it gets pushed inwards (like a footprint left in soil); we surely cannot call this the response of our foot to the soil. It is indeed the response of the land/soil to our weight. 
    The things that seem most simple and usual, justify what you have written of. It is just a matter of looking carefully.

    And also, all the while knowing, that it is all an illusion. A theater in which we will perform our roles and leave.

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    1. In reality we are not pushing anything,its a space-time illusion.We cannot say it's pushed by weight/pressure because weight doesn't exist.If we look through ego perspective off course it does.Think about two places separated far away(say 500km)
      to reach at other place it takes time but what about w.r.t to earth, they are same places.For earth it doesn't matter ,because earth is already in contact with those places at same time.
      Universe is perfect as it is .You are perfect as you are.But when it comes to role of us I would say follow your dharma ,do what you love ,us it to serve others."Life just is" it doesn't have meaning we think that their must be a purpose but in reality it just is.Just do what u love and eventually the universe will take you where u r best suited.But ego should not come here follow your heart.

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  2.  just like the double slit experiment (in the absence of the observer/conscience) where one single particle passed through both the slits at the same time, and also interacted with each other (interference pattern); your alternate self might be somehow interacting with you...but, yes, good news is that it would never seek you because it is already you... :-)

    Yes it is, in-fact most of the things are given in Upanishads....science is probably taking a full circle and coming back to the days of vedas!!! Surprisingly, Heisenberg (his uncertainty principle opened the world of quantum mechanics to us) was influenced by vedic scripts...

    Consciousness is kind of energy, and energy and matter is inter-convertible (e=mc^2)...however human beings interpretation of "degree of consciousness" can be biased in favor of themselves...


    Thanks a lot for your valuable comments :-)

    Cheers!
    SUB

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  3. Thanks a lot for your compliment Dhruva Mathur  .....I'm glad you liked it...
    You are right...there is always an infinite number of route...the rat could have eaten it , or decide not to eat it...or eat part of it and give rest to it's friend, or may be the cheese could have eaten the rat instead...and so on...each happening simultaneously in different, but interconnected, universes....it is confusing and wonderful....

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  4. Even if another me exists within another dimension, and that He might think exactly like me, I am content that He'll never come to seek me as I would never seek him, as no one would be wiser that the other. :P

    About living and non-living, I think I read it somewhere in a book, that it is given in Trika Shastra (one of the founding ideas of Vedanta philosophy), that spirit is matter and matter is spirit. Difference between living and non-living are nothing but degrees of consciousness, and are interconvertible.

    Nice post yet again.


    :)
    Blasphemous Aesthete

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  5.  I read about this theory of multi-universe where in if there is a mouse and there is a piece of cheese in front of it. Now if it eats it then that is part of one universe and if it doesn't then it is part of another universe.  So the concept is that there is always a second route. And it is impossible for one individual to experience the same route route in the same state of mind. So here I am commenting and there I am not commenting. Confusing?

    All in all a nice complicated post. You need to read every line carefully to completely comprehend it. But nonetheless this is probably one of the best blogs that deals with, should I say 'maya'?

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  6. thanks a lot  kiransawhney  for your compliments :-)

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  7.  Your posts are always very thought provoking.

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  8. i am all smiles...
    :-)....thanks a lot.... :-) 

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  9. u do it brilliantly !!

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  10. from the book of my mind should i say...no i am not that intelligent...

    i mix some portion of science with a pinch of vedic spice and stir it with my own imaginations...that's it :-) 

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  11. Yes @218a2e6d612f30b2623c138af1ef540a ...it is amazing...i do not know if it can solve all the mysteries...but it definitely can take us close...

    honestly i do not want all the mysteries to be solved...we will loose all the fun...a magic trick has no fun when you know the truth :-)....we deserve that little bit of spice in our life so that we keep getting amazed trying to solve the mysteries....:-)

    thanks for your comments and keep visiting :-)

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  12. offloaded  ...glad you liked it...thanks for the wonderful comment :-)

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  13. string theory is amazing... it can really solve the mysteries of universe and can answer about our origin too.... amazing post. :)

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  14. from whr do u hav read all such stuff ??

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  15.  mind boggling! nice post.

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  16. Thanks Jyoti :-)
    Glad you liked it... 

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  17. Another terrific post !!
    Posts like this force you think something unusual.

    Good work.
     

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