Book Chapter 2

Here is Chapter 2. Hope you like it.

Chapter 2

Cosmology is the Key: A New Creation Myth That Isn’t New At All

With any philosophy that hopes to become a world view, there better be real world data and application. What I mean is that the theory needs to describe the world how it is. If I tried to convince you that murder was good and the sky was green you would think I was rather insane. That is because we can look at the sky and see it is in fact blue, and we can look out over history and see that murder has been almost universally condemned. We see that man has decided it not good. We adopt a world view because it fits, at least partially, with the world we live in. This was the classic goal of philosophy, to define the world as it is. Modernism gets a great boost because of Galileo and Kepler, culminating in Newton and his formulation of certain “laws” nature obeys. This gave weight to the idea of external truth that can be found by observation and study, a main stay of Modern thought. Post Modern Philosophy latches on to Darwinian evolution and more importantly Quantum Mechanics as “proof” that nature is unpredictable. They point to the way the world “really” is scientifically, and then show that this means any truth is therefore inherently wrong. Après Post, being birthed out of these two movements, is not any different. It too has its scientific roots.

We need to note something before we go further. Philosophies are very often there before the science that backs them up. It was the belief that Nature was observable and rational that lead Galileo to observe it and find order. Newton was a hundred years later. The “proof” for Modernism didn’t exist until Modern Thought had taken over the landscape. Evolution was also a late comer to the game. Social Scientists, like Herbert Spencer[i] had coined the term “survival of the fittest” 10-20 years before Darwin would ever get on the Beagle and discover a plethora of finches. His scientific observations were just what society had been looking for. The philosophy of evolution was around well before the science. And Post Modernity was around before physicists discovered Quantum Mechanics. They were looking for evidence of their new philosophy, and thought hey found it in this new branch of science. And so they interpreted the data to fit their ideas, and not visa versa. Looking back then, it is “obvious” that Quantum Mechanics proved the Post Modern’s point, since that is how they taught the next generation to see things.

These men weren’t malicious in their thinking. They really believed that the science proved what hey had been thinking all along. They did not set out to twist data to fit their world view. In their minds, this was the proof they had been looking for. They did not think they were changing any interpretation of the data. We need to remember that. But, like all of us, they were human. They were confined to history and couldn’t change the circumstances of their life. They are like the child in Plato’s cave who can only think in two dimensions because it is all he has ever seen.[ii] It is impossible for him to transcend his own prejudices. These men too could not see anything but what they had been conditioned to see. And so, when science gives the world its raw data, the philosophers of the time mold it to fit the current world view. This in turn gives weight and authority to that view, and it can now trickle down to the Common Man. They point to the real world is order to validate themselves and their philosophy, and since they are describing things the way they are, the world view takes root.

This is the reason Modernity lasted for as long as it did. It described what was actually happening. You could do an experiment and see for yourself that the way the philosophers described things was the way they in fact were. It is also one of the reasons Post Modernity isn’t lasting. It contradicts itself, and so isn’t cohesive. It doesn’t describe the world. It tells its followers to disregard and suspect the expert, but relies on the expert to do the experiment. It is very hard for you or I to find quantum phenomena on our own. Quantum Mechanics describes the world, but not our world. It also fails when describing morality. It doesn’t define what people are feeling. It disregards this reality as false. Modernity, along with every other world view, had some answers as to why the world sucks. Post Modernity’s answer is that sucking is relative and that your feelings are wrong. This can’t sustain itself. It can only be a transitional phase from one set of truths to another.

Après Post fixes this foible in Post Modern thought. Scientific experts are restored to their former glory. The suspicion of the expert has all but vanished. We are now accepting what they say carte blanche. They have actually been raised to a level higher than Modernity would place them. They function much more like ancient shaman and priests in our culture than scientists. Today we see experts on all manner of Television shows, from news to entertainment, telling us all sorts of things. They control our food consumption and production, our economy, our politics. There are agencies for everything, and people assume that these people know more that they. This may be true, but it also may not be. Après Post has managed to restore a hierarchy and order that was threatened by Post Modernism. The experts almost drove themselves off the cliff. But they didn’t quite make it. Because they held onto scientific roots for justification, the expert could never be fully marginalized. And in a new culture, one that is throwing off Post Modernity, the expert must have a leading role.

In an age where old superstitions are dying as “unscientific”, but paganism is resurfacing, the typical priest will not do. The witch doctors and prophets must take a different form in a culture that refuses to believe in witch doctors and prophets. The role of them is still needed though. The gods must be communicated with somehow. There must be a conduit between us and the spiritual. Someone need to tell the people when and how to worship. Someone needs to write the creation story, and explain why there is pain and injustice. This is fast becoming the realm of the scientist, the expert.

There is a new science to go along with this new philosophy. The realm of the really small no longer holds people’s attention. Quantum Mechanics was fun, but the ride is over. It is not of particular use to people. Only those of us trained in science care about it or know it anymore. There is a science on the rise though, that affects all of us daily. We see it, we wonder about it. It calls out to our more basic selves and brings with it the great questions of humanity. This science is Cosmology.

Cosmology is the new astronomy, but sexier. Astronomy is the study of space, but it is the boring study of space (I apologize to any astronomers reading the book, but you know I am right). It is classification and observation. It is astronomers that find comets and label stars. This is why there can be amateurs making discoveries. It is Modern Science in its purest form. Cosmology is so much more. It looks deep into space and the past to find out how the universe began. It is cosmology that gave us wormholes ( a mainstay of science fiction writing today) and the big bang. Cosmology takes massive equipment, super powerful computers, and tons of money. It is securely in the realm of the expert.

Because it has now focused on discovering the origins of the Universe, it is also a science that can answer some of our more basic questions like, “Why am I here?” And it is attempting to do just that. The common man has no idea what is about to burst on the stage. Right now we are all comfortable with the Big Bang theory. There have been Christians touting it as proof of Genesis since it first burst into being (no pun intended). But scientists have always been slightly uncomfortable with it, and our universe. The universe is too perfect. Why should it be this way? Also, how can the Big Bang even happen? How can something come from nothing? They here assume no God, but as we shall see, that doesn’t mean there are no gods.

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Since Big Bang theory, science has set its mind to figuring out how it occurred and why the Universe turned out the way it did. For years there were only a handful of real theories. There were the weak anthropic theory, the strong anthropic theory, the infinite universe theory, and the Creator God theory. The weak anthropic theory said the universe is the way it is and only because of this can we observe it. It follows Darwinian logic. If the Universe wasn't ripe for life, life wouldn’t exist and we wouldn’t know other wise. There is life though, so lucky us, the Universe is ripe for life. The strong anthropic principle is more deist. It says all the conditions for life are too great to have happened by chance. Everything is fine tuned. There must therefore be a tuner. The Multiple Universe Theory comes directly from the Weak Anthropic Principle and says that there have been, and are, an infinite number of Universes. Some can support life, some can’t. We live in one that can. And then there is a loving Creator who sets his creation down in a garden to enjoy what has been done for him. These theories of creation and existence are either Christian, or closer to Post Modernism than science is really comfortable being. The idea that we are lucky and happen to live in a Universe where life can exist is not a satisfying answer as to why there is life. It is science giving up on itself. And humans are not content with this either. It does not let one sleep at night. And so, all of these theories are being shrugged off or recast.

Cosmology is trying to figure out creation. There must be a reason for the Universe coming into existence, and science will find it out for us. Cosmology has a few answers already. I am writing this in July of 2008, and Scientific America has for the past few moths been writing articles about what I am going to describe. They are claiming knowledge of creation. A knowledge that Post Modern Science could not explain. And this new scientific evidence is a tool in Après Post pagan agenda. Remember for a moment pagan creation. There is chaos first. Order is the aberration. The chaos is tamed by order. The Apollonian asserts itself over the Dionysian. This is going to be a key in understanding the new mythology being created in labs today.

And what is this new creation mythos? There are a few at this moment, but they all seem to follow the same principles. There is chaos outside our universe. It is a seething ocean of exotic energies and dimensions. Our Universe erupts out of this.

As I continue, remember, I hold a physics and math degree, but have been out of academia for 4 years. All of my science comes from more layman sources. This is almost better for a study of culture though, since the science is already packaged for us as the culture is dictating. Let us talk about Manifolds. Manifolds, as I understand them, are sheets of energy that exist outside our universe in multiple dimensions. The Universe was created when these sheets collided. Other Universes are being created all the time. Logically, it is a progression of String Theory, which has failed to live up to its promises, but allowed the idea of more that 3 spacial and one time dimension to be taken seriously. These manifolds are chaotic. There is no order to them. Dimension wrap and curl and unwrap all the time. Whenever shown visually, it looks like a boiling liquid. Chaos is supreme. There are rules though, that govern this ocean. Science is still a god.

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More recently the proposition that an old Universe birthed our current one has been becoming the vogue. The realization that our Universe will not collapse on itself, meaning it had only 1 beginning, has lead to a reorganization of Big Bang theory. It used to be thought that maybe the universe continually expanded and contracted like a spring. This has been shown to not be the case. There was a very special creation. (The moments after creation looked a lot like Manifold Theories soup, by the way.) There is energy and matter turning into each other freely, particles come into existence as they please, and leave in much the same manner. There is no order to things. Chaos is the rule. Multiple dimensions existed, since they had yet to compact to nothing, leaving us our orderly 4. Soon order takes form though, and quarks are trapped in particles, particles in atoms, atoms in molecules. Gravity pulls things together. Most energy turns into visible, orderly matter. But where did all this come from? First lets look at the naturalistic end of our universe as now accepted by science.

There will be what is called the Big Freeze. The Universe will continue to expand forever. The Temperature of everything will become absolute zero. Stars will become to far away to be seen, and then be extinguished all together. Soon, even gravity will fail, and the very atoms comprising stars will begin to spread out. The universe becomes a cold, black nothing. Atoms will eventually fall apart, and only elementary particles will fly around, rarely ever finding another. But this is not order. In the vacuum of space, something is happening. Random energy fluctuations produce particles. The seemingly flatness and emptiness of space is actually a lot like manifolds. It is teeming under the surface with chaotic “quantum fuzziness”. And from these quantum abnormalities, another universe is brought into creation. In fact, infinite universe are birthed. Big Bangs are happening everywhere. This is how our universe will end, and it is now thought, how we came into being. We are the byproduct of another Universe, who comes from another, ad nauseum. This is pagan in nature. Chaos is the winner. It is the first. Order comes from this, but it will be returned to chaos again. How close to Hinduism is this idea? From death there is new birth. Extremely pagan. There is no special creation by a loving Creator God. There is only scientific truths that permeate all universe everywhere, and it is indifferent. There is order, but it is not loving. This is not Post Modern’s lack of absolutes, or Christianities loving God. It is pagan creation retold in the guise of science.

The gods existed in another Universe. Before them were the Titans. Always is there a new creation. Always is the old birthing it. The god’s blood and death birth creation. There is, in this new science of cosmology purpose, there was a reason for the new creation, but it is also by chance. This is not God stooping down into creation and breathing the breath of life into His creation; this is the god’s seed spilling accidentally into their universe and haphazardly creating ours. This is pagan creation.

This is also seen in the new appreciation of time as it own thing. After Einstein’s General Relativity, it slowly became assumed that there was no difference between time and space. They were two sides of the same coin, and could be turned into each other. This is a Post Modern loss of truth and identity. There is not really space or time; it depends on how you look at it. Recently though, articles have been written refuting this claim. As scientist attempt to model the creation of the Universe on computers, they have found that time matters for their models. If they have 4 dimensions of space-time, things don’t work out as they “should”. If though, they have 3 dimensions of space and one of time, they can create what looks like our Universe.[iii] The assumption is that time must matter. Space must matter. There must be greater truth in these dimensions than Post Modernity gave them credit for. In actuality, there may be a lot more wrong with their computer models, and this “artificial” fix to solve the problem just coincidentally gives us what we think we should see, but that is not their conclusion. Guided by this new Après Post mentality, they are ready to declare truth and purpose in the Universe, and not error in their model.

The very fact that we model things on a computer is interesting. We have become the gods, and the real Universe is the Titan’s realm. We will create from the Universe but something completely other to it. Modeling also assumes truths. We have to program in the rules of the game. The most basic of these can’t change or the program doesn’t run. We have adopted a new mindset that is distinctly un-Post Modern. Some Universes we create are better than others. We are trying to make the “right one”. This is an embrace of truth that Post Modernity can’t make. In fact, Post Modern Universe modeling assumed all Universes were equally valid. It enjoyed the study of what other realms could be. It explored them. It studied them. Today, that is waning. We want to model reality. This assumes there is a reality external to us, and that it matters. This is what we program in computers now. This is how cosmology operates.

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One final note about cosmology. It has its roots in paganism. Astrology becomes astrology which has become cosmology. The study of the stars has always been pagan. The idea that the heavens held secrets or knowledge that we could study and control is pagan worship. The God of Scripture can not be controlled. He forbids this practice for this reason. When He prophesies, it is to talk about His plan, not to help us with ours. He alone is to know the future. Pagan gods are different. They can be bought. They will allow us to know things. The stars will give up their secrets if we ask the right questions. Nature is who we ask for answers, because she and her chaotic forces are what are really in control. When she sends a comet, it means something. When there are eclipses, she is sending a message. Pagans have looked to the stars to give them knowledge and power here on Earth. Jews and Christians have looked to the stars with wonder and amazement and praise that the God who created all that could love us too.

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Pagan science must always end with the stars. That is where the gods live. That is where the secrets of existence lay. That is where power resides. Modern Man began at the stars, but he linked them to Earth through Newton, and once this link was created, science began its study of the world. Sure, astronomy was part of this, but the real science was in biology, chemistry, and physics. Those were the truths that had consequences. The stars held nothing practical. Modern Man wanted to know how to make better steel and dynamite. This culminated in Quantum Mechanics, the opposite of astronomy, if sciences can be said to have opposites. With Post Modern Man origin tales did not matter. The study of the seemingly chaotic hit full stride. But Après Post must throw this off, both the Modern and Post Modern mindsets. The greatest truths, our very existence, is now credited to the study of space. Cosmology reigns supreme as the science for this new age. Paganism needs truths and creation lore. Cosmology is what will provide it, indeed, it is the only science that can provide it. It exists in the realm of speculation and models. We can never go to the edge of pace, only talk about it. We can never visit these other Universes, only theorize about them. We are locked into faithing in the expert that this is how creation really happened. They point to truths found in universes they create, proving simultaneously that truth exists in our Universe, and that it is their pagan truth. If we can create universes, then surely other Universes can also. The universes are birthed from disorder, and will always fall back into it. There is truth, but no plan. They have their proof in science, and the new Après Posts will soon start selling it to us.

But like all science before, Cosmology doesn’t actually prove or disprove a world view. Science is, it is man that proves. Science is the collection of facts, it is man who interprets. I say this to remind us that cosmology is not bad in and of itself. The first cosmologists did not have an Après Post agenda. If anything they had a Modern, or more likely Post Modern agenda. But seeing an opportunity to validate itself within the new structure afforded it, paganism will use science to plead its case. Après Post will use the cult of the expert, necessary in a science that we can not perform ourselves, to tell us what all the data means. Increased specialization means decreased ability to enter a field. We are more reliant on those who study their material to analyze it for us as well. Cosmology will be in the forefront of popular science and imagination. It is going to be the justification for the paganism that we are beginning to see today.

It is not the only science that is being twisted by philosophers to drive their thought. People are beginning to question the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, and chaos theory points to an order and truth even amidst disharmony. The sciences that were the foundations of Post Modern Man are slowly being reinterpreted to fit with Après Post culture, just as Post Modern man redefined the older sciences in his terms. We predict weather with amazing accuracy given its nature, finding order and meaning in the chaos. We predict tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and earth quakes, admittedly with varying accuracy. But even this prediction is something not dreamed about 50 years ago. We have studied them and found truths to guide us. We find a deeper reality in nature that is knowable, though unplanned. We even study the Earth as a whole, and make predictions about what we are seeing.

Environmental Science is the next science we will look at. Not does cosmology have pagan roots, but here too we will find a pagan stream that is undeniable. The fact that it has become the forefront realm of the expert is further proof Après Post culture is pagan. This science has truths and dogmas (a step closer to religion than cosmology at present is comfortable going) that are not to be questioned. It has its zealots and rituals and alters. Mother Earth is an extremely old pagan cult, and we are seeing its rise again. Earth has its own name, Gaia, and even a day to celebrate her. She is alive. Even science here uses the language of life, breathing, lungs, self repair. Analogies are made to crying, anger, recourse, consequences. Earth is seen as an organism. All this will be unpacked in the next chapter, Global Warming: Mother Earth in Menopause.

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[i] Spencer’s Book

[ii] Plato’s Republic

[iii] Scientific America, June