Physics and mystics, cycles of space and time<\/p>\n
By Rahayu Ratnaningsih<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): My fixation with physics and mysticism has
\nbrought me this far in the series of musings on the absurdity of
\ntime.<\/p>\n
What fascinates me even more is that the Eastern mystics share
\na strikingly similar dynamic view of the universe and time with
\nmodern physics. They see the universe as an inseparable web,
\nwhose interconnections are dynamic and not static. Fritjof Capra
\nwrites in his Tao of Physics that throughout Eastern mysticism
\nthere seems to be a strong intuition for the space-time character
\nof reality. The fact that space and time are inseparably linked,
\nwhich is so characteristic of relativistic physics, is stressed
\nagain and again.<\/p>\n
This intuitive notion of space and time has, perhaps, found
\nits clearest expression and its most far-reaching elaboration in
\nBuddhism.<\/p>\n
Buddhism sees time as circular, with no beginning and no end,
\nno genesis and no Armageddon. The cosmos is a never-ending
\nprocess of appearance and disappearance, sandwiching a natural
\nprocess of aeons of evolution. The cosmos evolves together with
\nthe living creatures it contains, one affecting the other.<\/p>\n
This co-evolution is also poignantly asserted by the Taoist
\nview of the cosmos as an organic, growing entity. The principal
\ncharacteristic of the Tao is the cyclic nature of its ceaseless
\nmotion and change; that all developments in nature, those in the
\nphysical world as well as those of human situations, show cyclic
\npatterns of coming and going, of expansion and contraction.
\nChuang Tzu says: \"In the transformation and growth of all things,
\nevery bud and feature has its proper form. In this we have their
\ngradual maturing and decay, the constant flow of transformation
\nand change.\"<\/p>\n
The metaphor of cosmic dance has found its most profound and
\nbeautiful expression in Hinduism in the dancing of god Shiva. In
\nHindu mythology, among his many incarnations, Shiva appears as
\nthe king of dancers, the god of creation and destruction who
\nsustains through his dance the endless rhythm of the universe.
\nAccording to Hindu belief, all life is part of a great rhythmic
\nprocess of creation and destruction, of death and rebirth, and
\nShiva's dance symbolizes this eternal life-death rhythm which
\ngoes on in endless cycles.<\/p>\n
Alan Lightman's Einstein's Dream, an exquisite blend between
\nphysics and poetry, is, again, best to sum up the awe:<\/p>\n
\"Suppose time is a circle, bending back on itself. The world
\nrepeats itself, precisely, endlessly.<\/p>\n
\"For the most part, people do not know they will live their
\nlives over. Traders do not know that they will make the same
\nbargain again and again. Politicians do not know that they will
\nshout from the same lectern an infinite number of times in the
\ncycles of time. Parents treasure the first laugh from their
\nchild as if they will not hear it again. Lovers making love the
\nfirst time undress shyly, show surprise at the supple thigh, the
\nfragile nipple. How would they know that each secret glimpse,
\neach touch, will be repeated again and again, exactly as before?<\/p>\n
\"On Marktgasse, it is the same. How could the shopkeepers
\nknow that each handmade sweater, each embroidered handkerchief,
\neach chocolate candy, each intricate compass and watch will
\nreturn to their stalls?<\/p>\n
At dusk, the shopkeepers go home to their families or drink
\nbeer in the taverns, calling happily to friends down the vaulted
\nalleys, caressing each moment as an emerald on temporary
\nconsignment. How could they know that nothing is temporary, that
\nall will happen again? No more than an ant crawling round the
\nrim of a crystal chandelier knows that it will return to where it
\nbegan.<\/p>\n
\"... In the world in which time is a circle, every handshake,
\nevery kiss, every birth, every word, will be repeated precisely.
\nSo too every moment that two friends stop becoming friends, every
\ntime that a family is broken because of money, every vicious
\nremark in an argument between spouses, every opportunity denied
\nbecause of a superior's jealousy, every promise not kept.<\/p>\n
\"And just as all things will be repeated in the future, all
\nthings now happening happened a million times before. Some few
\npeople in every town, in their dreams, are vaguely aware that all
\nhas occurred in the past. These are the people with unhappy
\nlives, and they sense that their misjudgements and wrong deeds
\nand bad luck have all taken place in the previous loop of time.
\nIn the dead of night these cursed citizens wrestle with their
\nbedsheets, unable to rest, stricken with the knowledge that they
\ncannot change a single action, a single gesture. Their mistakes
\nwill be repeated precisely in this life as in the life before.
\nAnd it is these double unfortunates who give the only sign that
\ntime is a circle. For in each town, late at night, the vacant
\nstreets and balconies fill up with their moans.\"<\/p>\n
Lightman's skillful penmanship is perhaps not a mere pastime.
\nIt is said that history repeats itself as if there is a pattern.
\nNothing could prove this better other than the uncanny account
\naround the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.<\/p>\n
There are seven letters in each name. Both presidents had the
\nlegality of their election contested. Both were directly
\nconcerned with the issue of civil rights. Both were slain on
\nFriday and in the presence of their wives.<\/p>\n
Lincoln was elected in 1860. Kennedy was elected in 1960.
\nTheir successors were named Johnson and were Southern Democrats
\nwho previously served in the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n
Andrew Johnson was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson was born in
\n1908. Booth and Oswald were murdered before their trials could
\nbe arraigned. Booth and Oswald were Southerners favoring
\nunpopular ideas. Lincoln's secretary, named Kennedy, advised him
\nnot to go to the theater.<\/p>\n
Kennedy's secretary, named Lincoln, advised him not to go to
\nDallas. John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald each contain 15
\nletters.<\/p>\n
Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson each contain 13 letters.
\nLincoln and Kennedy were carried on the same caisson. What is the
\nhidden message of this? That time is circular, or is life merely
\na series of random incidents?<\/p>\n
The author is director of the Satori Foundation, email:
\nsatori@cbn.net.id.<\/p>",
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