“I am confused Father” Science gently whispered. Having spent quite a bit of time trying to come into the presence of the ‘Mother’, he had failed. It just didn’t make any sense. With a perplexed frown he had finally sought out the Lord for clarification.
Science: I am confused Father.
God: (With a knowing smile) Let me hear it.
Science: Everything that you have revealed through me has always been replicable. There has never been any occasion when something holds good for one person and not for the rest. Even when we find a variety of solutions to any given theory, there are always variables that have contributed to those different solutions. In other words when the question is constant in Science, the answer revealed has also been, so to say, the same for everybody.
God: That is the way you are designed my child. So what is causing you confusion.
Science: Quantum mechanics has changed all that!! And I realise that when it comes to spirituality the same holds true! There are so many variations! For instance why are there so many religious believes? When you are one, why doesn’t humanity agree in that? I mean there have been Christians who have realised you, Hindus who have attained Moksha, Budhhists who have achieved Nirvana, Muslims who feel one with you – and yet they all are perceived as different realities by humanity. They fight amongst themselves whose God is superior! Why is it so difficult to provide a ‘one-size-fits-all’ description of God?
God: Interesting thought… One-size-fits-all eh?? (With a smile) Let me ask you this question my dear. What is the sum of even numbers?
Science: How many even numbers Father?
God: Say the first five?
Science: 2+4+6+8+10 = 30
God: Sum of first five odd numbers?
Science: 1+3+5+7+9 = 25
God: Hmmm… What if I asked you the sum of ALL even numbers?
Science: (Smiling) I really don’t know what is the last even number! Numbers are like a song that never ends. We don’t have any clue what the last number is. So, if you want to know sum of all even numbers, we simply say it is ‘infinite’. 2+4+6+8+10+12….∞ = ∞
God: And the sum of all odd numbers then?
Science: 1+3+5+7+9+11…∞ = ∞
God: Oh! So actually sum of odd numbers is equal to the sum of even numbers.
2+4+6+8+10+12….∞ = ∞
Also 1+3+5+7+9+11…∞ = ∞
So 1+3+5+7+9+11…∞ = 2+4+6+8+10+12….∞
Which implies 1+3+5+7+9 = 2+4+6+8+10
Therefore 25 = 30
Right?
Science: No ! That is not the way we do it. You cannot equate two infinities in one equation. The sum of ALL odd numbers and the sum of ALL even numbers equal to infinite. But when you take them in a finite sense – like you just have – taking only five numbers on each side, they cannot be equated.
God: Exactly, my child! Infinity is always infinity. But when you deal with finite objects, they cannot be equated into one formula. Rama is the sum of certain elements or shall I say concepts, Allah is sum of certain other concepts, Christ is a sum of other certain concepts. Each of these when experienced in totality will sum up to infinity. Not just them – every dry leaf, every grain of sand, every breath of air, every morsel of food, every atom alive – can and will sum up to infinity. But when dealt with in a finite sense, within the framework of one’s perception and definition, they cannot and will not be equal. That is the beauty of this design. The failure of humanity is not that few enlightened souls considered these as manifestations of the Infinite. The failure is in those men who try to equate the Infinite in finite terms. Naturally then Rama falls short of Allah, Allah fails to match Christ, and Christ refuses to accept Rama. Isn’t the very argument redundant?
Science: Yes Father! It does seem pathetic that with so much intelligence, humanity is still harping behind finite definitions for an Infinite answer. But if that is so, what is the solution? How to help them understand?
God: My child! What is an equation?
Science: An equation is a mathematical statement that asserts the equality of two expressions.
God: And what do you mean by a mathematical statement?
Science: A meaningful composition of words which can be considered either true or false is called a mathematical statement or simply a Statement.
God: Oh! So it could be true or false is it?
Science : Oh yes father. For example we say in any right triangle, the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares whose sides are the two legs. Mathematically this is expressed as a² + b² = c². This is the Pythagorus theorem. This is a ‘true’ statement. Fermat’s last theorem is an example of a ‘false’ statement.
God: Hmmm… Fermat’s last theorem? Is it true that there are no positive integers to solve the equation a³+b³ = c³ ?
Science: Yes Father. Fermat’s last theorem is one of the most famous theorems in the history of mathematics. It has remained unsolved since 1637 when Fermat made this observation in the margin of a copy of Arithmetica claiming that no three positive integers a, b and c can satisfy the equation aⁿ + bⁿ = cⁿ for any integer value of n greater than two. Without going into too many details, very recently this theorem was proved correct for exponents n that are prime numbers – that is the equation is ‘false’ for prime numbers.
God: So statements need not always have a ‘true’ correlation. It can also have ‘false’ as an answer. And even to prove that something is NOT equal to some other thing you took over three centuries!
Science: Indeed Father.
God: My dear! Nothing is outside of me! Logically, even if one atom remained outside of me, you can define me as ‘all except that one atom’. Yes, even the demonic and dark aspects of existence do exist only within me. But those demonic and dark aspects are life negative. Like your anti matter. They will annihilate existence. If the purpose of life was annihilation, I would have ensured there was as much anti-matter as matter to reconcile the two. The negative aspect is as much my reality as the positive. But only when the positive is capable of far excelling the negative, it can manifest as life. Every thing in the manifest world is only oscillating strings. Yet, haven’t I weaved my magic to create the tree and the rock, the fire and the water, the worm and the bird, the pebble and the mountain, the earth and the cosmos – the finite and the universal? Indeed Rama, Allah and Christ are complete manifestations of me – can there ever be an incomplete manifestation of me? Indeed every religion was founded with my complete approval – do you think this thumb shall move in man without my approval? Indeed every moment of time from what you believe as the big bang till your inevitable big crunch or otherwise, every iota of space in this expanding universe including all the black hole, every emotion from the depth of sorrow to the heights of elation, every intellectual understanding from the suckling of milk by a new born to the laws of quantum mechanics, including this word you say ‘everything’ exists only in me. How then can one think, Allah alone is not a manifestation of me and deserves to be omitted? That Rama alone is an undesirable source and needs to be eliminated even from history? Christ alone can lead the world and all other faiths need be crumpled?
With tears tricking down his eyes, Science remained silent. The Lord continued
God: Everything man has defined, man has confined. At least me, can he learn to relate without the mould of his confined understanding? That is why my child I didn’t stop with just the terms ‘finite’ and ‘infinite’. I gave you the term ‘Absolute’. The absolute value of +3 and -3 is ‘3’. In other words, which ever side of the x axis it may fall on the value of it remains ‘3’. What I am trying to say is Rama remains Rama whether you attach a positive or negative significance to it. Every manifestation is simply that – a fact. How each individual chooses to see it depends entirely on the individual. There is however one challenge while discussing this.
Science: What is it my Lord?
God: Again those who don’t understand the basic principle may think I imply that -3 and +3 are the same. In the finite world of numbers they are not. Isn’t it true that your physicists describe this physical world as ‘invariant under time translations’? That is whether 12 am or 12 pm is treated as time ‘zero’ it makes absolutely no difference to the description of the physical world. But it does make all the difference to your perception of the physical world. That is why it is midnight for some and mid-day for some others. The physical processes of the physical world do not depend on an absolute zero of time. The idea of understanding life in terms of the absolute is not to make them irresponsible to right and wrong. But to make them understand that on a finite plane laws of the absolute cannot be used as an excuse. Two equations that equal infinite cannot and will not correspond. And yet you use two equations that equal ‘zero’ to always imply that they correspond. Rather than trying to equate on the differences in their understanding of their religious faith, if they can relate to the similarities – the qualities that are preached by every religious faith of love, compassion, truth, harmony, peace, forgiveness – all the icons of every faith will indeed point just to me!
Tears trickled down the cheeks as Science felt the embrace of the ‘mother’. ‘Mother’ was not a person, a concept, a theory or a validation. Mother was the source and the result, the cause and the effect, the merging of the polarities of manifest and un-manifest. ‘Mother’ was just a term like every other to explain the unexplainable, to limit the limitless in words – just an icon to the experience of silence…
Written by Gita Krishna Raj | Published in infinithoughts in April 2011
When Science met God… | Segment One: A relative World | Chapter Five: The infinite Gods…
