User blogs

Nobel Laureate Arno Penzias on GOD, Creation & Big Bang (compiled by Tihomir Dimitrov)

1. “If there are a bunch of fruit trees, one can say that whoever created these fruit trees wanted some apples. In other words, by looking at the order in the world, we can infer purpose and from purpose we begin to get some knowledge of the Creator, the Planner of all this. This is, then, how I look at God. I look at God through the works of God’s hands and from those works imply intentions. From these intentions, I receive an impression of the Almighty.” (Penzias, as cited in ‘The God I Believe in’, Joshua O. Haberman - editor, New York, Maxwell Macmillan International, 1994, 184).

2. In an interview published in the anthology 'The God I Believe in' (1994), Penzias talks about his religious views and the Mount Sinai, where God gave the Ten Commandments to the entire Jewish nation – 3 million people:

“Q: You referred before to Sinai. This brings up one of the most complex problems – revelation. Do you think that God revealed Himself at Sinai?

PENZIAS: Or, maybe God always reveals Himself? Again I think as Psalm 19, ‘the heavens proclaim the glory of God,’ that is, God reveals Himself in all there is. All reality, to a greater or lesser extent, reveals the purpose of God. There is some connection to the purpose and order of the world in all aspects of human experience.

Q: When you read or hear the Torah, is it to you the word of Moses or the word of God?

PENZIAS: Well, to me it is the word of Moses and the word of God through Moses.

Q: Then why did Sinai happen?

PENZIAS: I don’t have a good answer, except that Sinai was important for Judaism and important for the future of the world. It was a place where God chose the Jews, but the Jews also chose God. It was a historical moment in which a spiritual connection was made.

Q: Jewish speculations about the hereafter involve the Messiah. Do you believe in such a redeemer or final redemption from all evil here on earth?

PENZIAS: Yes. I believe the world has a purpose, hopefully a good purpose. So I think that a Messiah is necessary to help achieve a purposeful world.” (Penzias, as cited in ‘The God I Believe in’, Joshua O. Haberman - editor, New York, Maxwell Macmillan International, 1994, 188-190).

3. In connection with the Big Bang theory and the issue of the origin of our highly ordered universe, on March 12, 1978, Dr. Penzias stated to the New York Times:

“The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted, had I had nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole.” (Penzias, as cited in Bergman 1994, 183; see also Brian 1995, 163).

Arno Penzias’ research into astrophysics has caused him to see “evidence of a plan of divine creation” (Penzias, as cited in Bergman 1994, 183).

4. In an interview published in the scientific anthology The Voice of Genius (1995), Dr. Penzias says:

“Penzias: The Bible talks of purposeful creation. What we have, however, is an amazing amount of order; and when we see order, in our experience it normally reflects purpose.

Brian: And this order is reflected in the Bible?

Penzias: Well, if we read the Bible as a whole we would expect order in the world. Purpose would imply order, and what we actually find is order.

Brian: So we can assume there might be purpose?

Penzias: Exactly. …This world is most consistent with purposeful creation.” (Penzias, as cited in Brian 1995, 163-165).

5. In Gordy Slack’s article “When Science and Religion Collide or Why Einstein Wasn’t an Atheist: Scientists Talk about Why They Believe in God” (1997), Dr. Penzias stated: “If God created the universe, he would have done it elegantly. The absence of any imprint of intervention upon creation is what we would expect from a truly all-powerful Creator. You don’t need somebody diddling around like Frank Morgan in The Wizard of Oz to keep the universe going. Instead, what you have is half a page of mathematics that describes everything. In some sense, the power of the creation lies in its underlying simplicity.” (Penzias, as cited in Slack 1997).

6. Concerning the Big Bang theory and the observational evidence that the universe was created, Penzias pointed out:

“How could the everyday person take sides in this dispute between giants? One held that the universe was created out of nothing, while the other proclaimed the evident eternity of matter. The ‘dogma’ of creation was thwarted by the ‘fact’ of the eternal nature of matter.

Well, today’s dogma holds that matter is eternal. The dogma comes from the intuitive belief of people (including the majority of physicists) who don’t want to accept the observational evidence that the universe was created – despite the fact that the creation of the universe is supported by all the observable data astronomy has produced so far. As a result, the people who reject the data can arguably be described as having a ‘religious’ belief that matter must be eternal. These people regard themselves as objective scientists.” (Penzias, 1983, 3; see also Bergman 1994, 183).

Articles

Scientific Pathway for Compassion (by Pradeep B. Deshpande)

The Conscious or Unconscious Creation of Experiential Reality (by Steven E. Kaufman)

Glocalisation as a Key Human Survival Technology: Towards a Fractal Logic for Growing Peaceful Futures through an Archaic Renaissance (by Paul Wildman, Iona Miller)

Mystical Experiences

A Cosmic Insight (by Robert W. Campbell)

Essays

About Truth and Bias (by Robert W. Campbell)

The Experiential Basis of the Spiritualist/Materialist Duality (by Steven E. Kaufman)

The Either/Or Nature of the Individual's Mode of Being as Allowing or Resistant in the Creation of Experiential Reality (by Steven E. Kaufman)

The Necessity of God & the Uncreated Whole (by Himangsu S. Pal)

The Way of the Ultimate Tao (by Chris King)

From the beginning both mind and universe exist as paradoxical complements, each discovering its own nature through its complement. That is, the foundation of the mind and of the universe is the Tao. The universe is forever the Tao of Physics, as Capra noted, the paradoxical interplay of wave and particle, and as natural processes gather into the macroscopic world of experience, chaos and order, as the weather, evolution and conscious thought alike attest. For order to attempt to rule over chaos is as futile as for the particle to try to rule over the wave. Any society which attempts to rule by order alone is doomed to catastrophe as the natural process transition becomes frozen into an apocalyptic revolution collapsing the old order. http://scigod.com/index.php/sgj/article/view/164

The Self-Aware Emptiness of the Quantum Universe (by Graham P. Smetham)

Some of Zurek’s remarks seem to indicate that he thinks that his analysis undermines the ‘ultimate evidence’ that the classical world is entangled and dependent upon consciousness. However, a rigorous analysis shows that the opposite is the case; Zurek’s epiontic quantum Darwinian classical universe is ultimately dependent upon consciousness. It would seem that the entire epiontic process of the evolution of reality is geared towards the production of ever greater levels of sentient awareness and the material world is an ‘advertising billboard’ for a realm of solidity amidst the ‘unreal’ ‘dream stuff’ of the quantum realm within which individualized consciousness can grow to fruition. And the reason that the apparent solidity of the apparently material universe comes into being is because the universe is nothing more than an enormous and multitudinous ultimately immaterial epiontic information exchange which takes place within the quantum ‘dream stuff is made of.’ http://scigod.com/index.php/sgj/article/view/165

Various Thoughts on God & Science (by Himangsu S. Pal)

In this essay, I describe my various thoughts on God and Science. God had to create this world in order to overcome His utter loneliness. So He wanted in His creation a conscious life-form (man) with whom He could communicate. It is unbelievable that God can suffer from any uncertainty of knowledge. At deeper level universe is deterministic. My own experience of life (mystical and others) also confirms it. So when God will observe the position of any subatomic particle, He will observe that with His own light. Evil is there not because God has given man free will, but because God is fully free. God is fully free means God has got full freedom to create. This is for those who are very much hurt by the idea that God is neither good nor evil, that He is beyond good and evil. http://scigod.com/index.php/sgj/article/view/166

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the biological plausibility of the pace of creation written in the genesis. A fascinating hypothesis is made on the central role of serotonin as a guide, as the director of the phenomena that enable the best use of light by the plant world, the growth, the regulation of mood in the complex molecular interactions that characterize the varying levels of consciousness. This hypothesis provides biological interpretations of the correspondence of creative steps, from light to man, passing through the vegetable and animal world. http://scigod.com/index.php/sgj/article/view/160

Future Implications of a Pre-Adamic, Global & High Ancient Civilization (by Nadeem Haque)

A pre-Adamic global highly evolved united ancient civilization that believed in the oneness of God is shown to have existed from the textual evidence within the Quran, based on an analysis of certain verses that have been deconstructed and examined, with novel insights. Furthermore, recent archeological and textual work is pushing back the dates of ‘ancient civilizations’. This, together with the Quran’s remarkable historical accuracy of archaeologically unknown facts at the time of its advent about 1,400 years ago, is uncovering unexpected facets of our very distant past, with vital implications for our future. http://scigod.com/index.php/sgj/article/view/161

Pregnant Zero and Universal Paradox (by Chris King):

To illustrate the nature of paradox and sexual division we shall first make a short digression into numbers and logical systems including how to bootstrap from nothing to an abnormal universe. Paradox, in terms of logically confounding, has a wider application. Another face of sexual paradox may lie in our incapacity to completely tie down descriptions of reality into fully-definable closed systems. Thus, logical systems are rather like open thermodynamic systems, which exchange information across their boundaries, and do not necessarily tend to a closed equilibrium. There is also a deep identity between logic and set theory, because the set operations are symbolic logic applied to the elements. Finally, mathematics, like quantum reality, contains two currents, typified by the discrete operations of algebra and combinatorics and the continuous properties of the functions and limit operations of calculus and topology. http://scigod.com/index.php/sgj/article/view/162

Laws of Form: Why Spencer Brown Is Missing the Point (by Claus Janew): Abstract: What Spencer Brown wants to rationalize out of existence is alternation itself – the prerequisite of his whole operation! By that he simplifies (identifies) more than he says. And he does not say all that is important. http://jcer.com/index.php/jcj/article/view/161

The Relationship between Consciousness & Reality (by Huping Hu, Maoxin Wu): Abstract: This Focus Issue features the work of Graham P. Smetham and Claus Janew on consciousness and reality. Again, our goals with this Focus Issue are: (1) bring broader awareness of Smetham and Janew’s work by scholars and all genuine truth seekers; and (2) promote scholarly discussions of the same through commentaries and responses to commentaries in the future issues of JCER. In so doing, we hope that all of us may benefit in our endeavor to reach higher Consciousness within ourselves and build a genuine Science of Consciousness. http://jcer.com/index.php/jcj/article/view/162

How Consciousness Creates Reality (by Claus Janew): Abstract: The present text is a very abridged version of a book I wrote out of the desire to examine the structure of our reality from a standpoint unbiased by established teachings, be they academic- scientific, popular- esoteric, or religious in nature. We will begin with seemingly simple interactions in our daily lives, examine how they originate on a deeper level, come to understand the essentials of consciousness, and finally recognize that we create our reality in its entirety. In the course of this quest, we will uncover little-heeded paths to accessing our subconscious, other individuals, and that which can be understood by the term "God". And the solution to the classical problem of free will constitutes the gist of the concepts thus revealed. You do not need to bring previous philosophical knowledge to the reading of this text, but simply an interest in fundamental interconnections, a certain openness and the willingness to think along. This abridged version, however, comes at a price. Since I had already left out all non-essential points of discussion in the German "long version", in the present text entire topics had to be dropped, along with additional perspectives, arguments, details and in-depth discussion of concepts. The result is a treatise which explains the most fundamental results of my research and their respective central argument, and which, so I hope, serves as a stimulus for a more extensive examination of reality. May it bring you thoughtful pleasure and subtle delight. http://jcer.com/index.php/jcj/article/view/158

Omnipresent Consciousness & Free Will (by Claus Janew): Abstract: This article is not an attempt to explain consciousness in terms basically of quantum physics or neuro-biology. Instead I should like to place the term "Consciousness" on a broader footing. I shall therefore proceed from everyday reality, precisely where we experience ourselves as conscious beings. I shall use the term in such a general way as to resolve the question whether only a human being enjoys consciousness, or even a thermostat. Whilst the difference is considerable, it is not fundamental. Every effect exists in the perception of a consciousness. I elaborate on its freedom of choice (leading to free will), in my view the most important source of creativity, in a similarly general way. The problems associated with a really conscious decision do not disappear by mixing determination with a touch of coincidence. Both must enter into a higher unity. In so doing it will emerge that a certain degree of freedom of choice (or free will) is just as omnipresent as consciousness - an inherent part of reality itself. http://jcer.com/index.php/jcj/article/view/159

RICHARD SMALLEY – NOBEL LAUREATE IN CHEMISTRY

Nobel Prize: Richard Smalley (1943-2005) won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of fullerenes – the third elemental form of carbon (along with graphite and diamond). Upon his passing, the US Senate passed a resolution to honor Smalley, crediting him as the “Father of Nanotechnology.”

Nationality: American

Education: Ph.D. in chemistry, Princeton University (USA), 1973

Occupation: Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Physics at Rice University in Houston, Texas (1981-2005)

1. “Recently I have gone back to church regularly with a new focus to understand as best I can what it is that makes Christianity so vital and powerful in the lives of billions of people today, even though almost 2000 years have passed since the death and resurrection of Christ.

Although I suspect I will never fully understand, I now think the answer is very simple: it’s true. God did create the universe about 13.7 billion years ago, and of necessity has involved Himself with His creation ever since. The purpose of this universe is something that only God knows for sure, but it is increasingly clear to modern science that the universe was exquisitely fine-tuned to enable human life. We are somehow critically involved in His purpose. Our job is to sense that purpose as best we can, love one another, and help Him get that job done.” (Smalley 2005).

2. The books ‘Origins of Life’ and ‘Who Was Adam?’ are authored by Dr. Hugh Ross (astrophysicist) and Dr. Fazale Rana (biochemist). Richard Smalley had this to say about these books:

“Evolution has just been dealt its death blow. After reading ‘Origins of Life’, with my background in chemistry and physics, it is clear evolution could not have occurred. The new book, ‘Who Was Adam?’, is the silver bullet that puts the evolutionary model to death.” (Smalley 2005a).

3. In his address at the Tuskegee University’s 79th Annual Scholarship Convocation (October 3, 2004) Smalley mentioned the ideas of evolution versus creationism, Darwin versus the Bible’s ‘Genesis’; then he pointed out:

“The burden of proof is on those who don’t believe that ‘Genesis’ was right, and there was a creation, and that Creator is still involved.” (Smalley 2004).

JOHANNES KEPLER (1571-1630), founder of Physical Astronomy and Modern Optics

1. “O Thou, who through the light of nature increasest in us the longing for the light of Thy Grace that through it we may come to the light of Thy majesty, I give Thee thanks, Creator and God, that Thou hast given me this joy in Thy creation, and I rejoice in the works of Thy hands.” (Kepler, as cited in Beer and Beer 1975, 526).

2. “The World of Nature, the World of Man, the World of God - all three fit together. We see how God, like a human architect approached the founding of the world according to order and rule, and measured everything in such a manner.” (Kepler, as cited in Tiner 1977, 172).

3. “Since we astronomers are priests of the highest God in regard to the book of nature, it befits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God.” (Kepler, as cited in Morris 1982, 11; see also Graves 1996, 51).

IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804), one of the greatest philosophers in the history of Western philosophy

1. In his chief philosophical work Critique of Pure Reason, Kant wrote:

“I inevitably believe in the existence of God and in a future life, and I am certain that nothing can shake this belief, since my moral principles would thereby be themselves overthrown, and I cannot disclaim them without becoming abhorrent in my own eyes.” (Kant 1929, 856).

2. “In other words, belief in a God and in another world is so interwoven with my moral sentiment that as there is little danger of my losing the latter, there is equally little cause for fear that the former can ever be taken from me.” (Kant 1929, 857; Critique of Pure Reason).

3. In his Lectures on Philosophical Theology, Kant stated:

“God created the world for His honor’s sake because it is only through the obedience to His holy laws that God can be honored. For what does it mean to honor God? What, if not to serve Him? But how can He be served? Certainly not by trying to entice His favor by rendering Him all sorts of praise. For such praise is at best only a means for preparing our hearts to a good disposition. Instead, the service of God consists simply and solely in following His will and observing His holy laws and commands.” (Kant 1978, 142-143).

4. “God is the only ruler of the world. He governs as a monarch, but not as a despot; for He wills to have His commands observed out of love, and not out of servile fear. Like a father, He orders what is good for us, and does not command out of mere arbitrariness, like a tyrant. God even demands of us that we reflect on the reason for His commandments, and He insists on our observing them because He wants first to make us worthy of happiness and then participate in it. God’s will is benevolence, and His purpose is what is best.” (Kant 1978, 156; Lectures on Philosophical Theology).