Monday, December 19, 2005

Heat Death

There was a time in the imaginable void of the distant past when there was nothing and there was everything. All was encompassed in the largest and the smallest as size had no meaning and everything was wholly one. This was not really time, nor was it really space, but it was. Some call it the singularity, some call it God, some have no words to express the idea of this incredible thing which existed for all time and for no time and which existed by itself and for itself. It was a unity beyond all comprehension.

And it thought. Not thought in the way of cognitive judgement of ideas, but thought in a consciousness that was not conscious and of ideas that could not be called ideas. It did this for eternity and it did this for just an instant, but finally and suddenly it decided. It decided to die.

In an instant of endless compassion and boundless generosity it began to destroy itself in a brilliant explosion of energy and of space and of time. It released into itself an unimaginable wealth of energy which it had been storing in its being. Its unity and the highest order of its existence began to fall as it became fractured and particularized inside. This was painful, in a way.

These strange fractured and particularized parts interacted. They grew complex and they formed what we now call things like atoms and stars and solar systems. They grew galaxies and they lit up the expanding vacuum. They formed planets and oceans and they formed LIFE. But as they formed these complex structures and systems the pure energy of the unity of the universe was degraded. Forever it would hurt the universe in this endless tradeoff to have entropy always increasing for the sake of localized ordered existences. But this was the choice of the universe and it could not turn back now. It gives of itself and it sees its own inevitable entropic heat death so many eons in the future, but it does not weep and it does not regret.

We ordered conscious minds grow and we multiply and the universe rejoices for it is our kind which made its sacrifice worthwhile. We exist because the universe dies. We enjoy sustenance from the flow of blood from the death wound of the whole. Through its gift do we exist and through its death do we live.

Let us be thankful.

16 comments:

Mar Gavriel said...

Nice.

Tzimtzum?

Orthoprax said...

Mar,

"Tzimtzum?"

Well.. not quite. ;-)

Enigma,

"Sounds like the story of Xenu. Been reading L. Ron Hubbard lately?"

Ha! It's not quite as science fictiony as that. ;-) Twas just a little musing that came to mind.

Anonymous said...

Why do you think its decision indicates that it decided to die, as opposed to become even more alive?

"Let us be thankful." -- Would you kindly propose a little prayer -- or shall I say statement -- for us to express our thankfulness? After all, a *feeling* of thankfulness isn't sufficient for a person who wants to *express* that thankfulness.

Orthoprax said...

Alex,

"Why do you think its decision indicates that it decided to die, as opposed to become even more alive?"

To live is to die. One cannot become "more alive" without the eventual demise.

"Would you kindly propose a little prayer -- or shall I say statement -- for us to express our thankfulness?"

I'll consider it the next time I'm feeling poetic.

JDHURF said...

Orthopax,

Interesting post, I doubt that something such as this really happened although it is quite entertaining. I think I read an overview for a book that put forth a theory similar, that the universe was created when a god decided to destroy itself. I found your post quite enchanting, an idea regarding the beginnings of our universe as we know it such as this is much more poetic than others. Personally I feel that the universe as we know it was created by natural forces; I’m fascinated by Brane cosmology as derived from the quantum super-string theory. In any case I believe that our universe was merely an alteration and transformation of a material existence that is eternal with no beginning nor ending. For even when considering the supernatural one conceives an eternally existing realm, mine is simply natural. Great post though, I really liked reading it!

JDHURF said...

PS – Sounds nothing like Scientology or anything written by good ole’ L Ron. His would be much more paranoid and fallacious. This post was much too positive and elegant for L Ron.

Ben Avuyah said...

That was intense, I really liked it. If my religion had that view I likely would have never broken away. Rabbi orthoprax, anybody? Well, perhaps not, but a great read anyway.

I have to say in my own view I think our need to find a begining and a cause for the universe is just a symptom of the human disease of cuasality. We have lived our entire existance in a place where time, the byproduct of gravity and space, is constantly moving at the same pace. But we know this is just a function of the particular shape of space in our general local. Time can be very different in places of intense gravity, moving so slowly it approaches the idea of not moving at all.

Our intuition that something had to happen first so that we could be here next might just be based on our very parochial upbringing.

Just a thought!!

Orthoprax said...

Jdhurf,

Thanks for the nice response. I don't really believe something like this happened either, but it was an idea that struck me and I felt compelled to write. It has a nice balance to it as well.


Ben,

Much thanks, and coming from an obviously superb writer as yourself, that really means something.

"Our intuition that something had to happen first so that we could be here next might just be based on our very parochial upbringing."

Certainly a possibility, but I, in my faulty human nature, can't help but speculate and ponder our deepest origins.

Anonymous said...

"One cannot become "more alive" without the eventual demise."

That's true if you're flesh and blood.

Orthoprax said...

Alex,

To quote the Oracle, "Everything with a beginning has an end."

Anonymous said...

"To quote the Oracle, 'Everything with a beginning...'"

That's fine and dandy, but you yourself said:

"some have no words to express the idea of this incredible thing which //existed for all time// and for no time..."

Perhaps you're not too sure that this entity had a beginning.

Orthoprax said...

Alex,

The destruction had a beginning.

P.S. I don't know what you're getting at. I wrote a semi-serious fictional account of creation and you're treating it like scripture.

Jewish Atheist said...

Sounds like Taoism to me. Been reading the Tao Te Ching? :)

Orthoprax said...

JA,

Nope, this was an original creation as far as I know.

B. Spinoza said...

my god, is better than your god :)

B. Spinoza said...

shtern,

did you ever see the movie The Blob? Sounds to me like your image of god was right out of the movie :)