Greatest show on earth

Mar 19, 2010, 12.00am IST
RAM SHANKER TIWARI.

Albert Einstein was neither an atheist nor a believer. Yet he found Nature overwhelming.
“Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we, with our modest powers, must feel humble”.


Cosmic awareness subtly pervades the universe as butter is latent in milk. In particle physics, an analysis of organic and cosmic evolutions points towards an upcoming cognisance that our future is ‘kicking in the golden womb of the cosmos’ as expressed in the Hiranyagarbha of the Upanishads.


The cosmic journey of the universe, in many ways, impacts all that is in it including our karma, their fruition, free will, destiny, purpose, consciousness, and known as well as yet unknown natural forces. All phenomena are embedded in the wheel of futurity or the kaal chakra, and they are both future tools that shape our present as wells as an intrinsic part of the present.


In the early phases of atmospheric evolution, the ratio of various gases appears to have been determined by futuristic design so that life could originate and survive on earth. For example, oxygen constitutes 21 per cent of all gases; if increased or decreased even a bit, a high oxidation and spontaneous fire, or a reduction of metabolism would have destroyed the earliest pulsating single-celled life. So is the case of critical balance in cell-content in plants as well as animals, their acidity and alkalinity, chemistry of living and non-living material, temperature, humidity, ratio of matter and antimatter, equilibrium in the pull-and-push between stars, and the dance of atoms and their constituents.
All this is being played out in energy, concealed or otherwise. A slight change at any stage might not have made the universe as we know it today.


And the show goes on...
Currently atomic physicists are looking for those fundamental particles which dispersed through the then newly-created space, immediately after the Big Bang, the point of origin of the universe. The expensive experiment, the Large Hadron Collider, is being carried out inside a colossal tunnel near Geneva (CERN). In this huge underground passage, protons of atoms will smash together. Scientists expect that a virtual yet mathematically proved Higgs-Boson particle will be produced by such a collision; this particle is supposed to be a mother unit of all ‘matter’ that makes our world. However, several physicists are sceptical about such a venture, and apprehend that this could create a black-hole which may suck and digest our solar system, including earth.


Nonetheless, other high energy physicists are of the opinion that the particles thus produced at CERN will be so abhorrent to nature that their creation in the tunnel will never be allowed to happen by the positive forces of Nature. That could mean Nature will stop the collider before it can make one Higgs-Boson particle. It is interesting to note here that the collider has already faced such a breakdown -- scientists Holger B Nielsen and Masao Ninomiya say that Nature seems to be halting the project.
Skepticism and concerns apart, we need to be conscious of the probability that the future may well determine our present in a curious twist of evolution. This is being borne out by the way biological, cosmic and material evolutions along the path of existence are playing out in the present, with future scenarios playing catalyst for current realities.