God as Mathematician

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory - Coquimbo Region Chile 

E = MC2

Albert Einstein once wondered: “How is it possible that mathematics, a product of human thought that is independent of experience, fits so excellently the objects of physical reality?”  Sir Isaac Newton formulated a mathematical law of universal gravitation that has proved to be better than 99.99999% precise yet, due to technological limitations of his time, Newton himself could only verify to an accuracy of less than 4%.

It was once thought that the universe was comprised solely of a substance called ether.  Matter, it was postulated, was the result of "knots" in this ether.  Knot theory evolved as an obscure branch of pure mathematics in an attempt to explain this phenomenon.  Amazingly, this abstract endeavor now finds extensive modern applications in topics ranging from molecular chemistry, particle physics and even statistical mechanics.  The same exact "knot" equation, for example, can be used to explain stock option pricing and the agitated motion of pollen suspended in a liquid.

So how can we explain these incredible powers of mathematics?  And fundamentally, what does this all mean?  Are we merely discovering mathematics, like an astronomer discovers a previously unknown comet or asteroid? Or, is mathematics a purely human invention?

These really aren’t questions I can answer... but I can certainly contemplate their profound significance.  It is a significance written in symmetry and logic.  The evocative poetry of mathematics transcends experience and attempts to lay bare creation itself.  Whether we want to call that God or some sublime inspiration, it doesn't matter because it's a tangible place where all rational minds can meet.

"Mathematics and logic, historically speaking, have been entirely distinct studies. Mathematics has been connected with science, logic with Greek. But both have developed in modern times: logic has become more mathematical and mathematics has become more logical. The consequence is that it has now become wholly impossible to draw a line between the two; in fact, the two are one. They differ as boy and man: logic is the youth of mathematics and mathematics is the manhood of logic."

~ Bertrand Russell

Faith as Ethical Alchemy

The Bronx Zoo - New York City

Learning to Live Compassionately

The vase where this verbena’s dying

Was cracked by a lady’s fan’s soft blow.

It must have been the merest grazing:

We heard no sound.  The fissure grew.

The little wound spread while we slept,

Pried deep in the crystal, bit by bit.

A long, slow marching line, it crept

From spreading base to curving lip.

The water oozed out drop by drop,

Bled from the line we’d not seen etched.

The flowers drained out all their sap.

The vase is broken: do not touch.

The quick, sleek hand of one we love

Can tap us with a fan’s soft blow,

And we will break, as surely riven

As that cracked vase. And no one knows.

The world sees just the hard, curved surface

Of a vase a lady’s fan once grazed,

That slowly drips and bleeds with sadness.

Do not touch the broken vase.

~ The Broken Vase, By Sully Prudomme 

Translated by Robert Archambeau

The epistles of Paul, those actually attributed to him anyways, are filled with love for people.  He taught we can endure all manner of trial including being crucified as martyrs, have faith capable of moving mountains but if we lack charity, none of that matters.

Surprisingly, true religion is not about believing things.  It is said the Jewish rabbi, Hillel, an older contemporary of Jesus, was once approached by a group of pagans.  They said they would convert to Judaism if he could recite the entire Tora while balancing on one leg.  He responded with, “Do not do unto others what you would not have done unto you.  That is the Tora.  The rest is commentary.  Go and learn it.”  (Babylonian Talmud - Shabbat 31a)

Beyond the dogma, endless meetings, planning and herding the faithful, there is an underlying element in Mormonism, and many other religions for that matter, that often goes under appreciated; service.  I’m beginning to understand what religion tries to convey at its best.  It really doesn’t matter what you believe.  Religion is about doing things.  It’s about living in a compassionate way that changes you.  Instead of creeds and beliefs, Judaism and Islam place the emphasis on a collection of practices... like giving alms, prayer, fasting, worship.  These observances are designed to change our inner world.  Each is an opportunity to encounter God.

You also see this in the Gospels.  There is very little doctrine as we now know it.  Jesus isn’t going about giving dissertations on the Godhead, original sin, divinity, or other finer points of doctrine.  He’s going out visiting sinners, traitors, the nonbelieving and unclean... people beneath contempt.  He seemingly valued practice over ideas... much like Buddhism does today.

Religion is a form of ethical alchemy.  As we strive to behave in compassionate ways, it changes us.  Egotism and greed keep us from a knowledge of the divine.  It's not the believing of creeds or the undertaking various sacraments but compassion that allows us the perspective to apprehend the sacred.

The Buddha said that the practice of compassion can introduce us to Nirvana. Jesus said that on the last day, it's those who have visited people who are sick and naked, hungry and in prison, looked after them, who will enter the kingdom of God.  They are the ones who enter God's presence, not those who necessarily have the "correct" theology or the "right" sexual ethics.

So many different faith traditions have come to the conclusion that compassion is the test... it’s the key to exaltation.  I do not believe they all came to this same conclusion out of happenstance.  They came to it because it really does work.

We are at our most creative and wonderful when we are ready to give ourselves away... when we are in the service of others.  Equally, we are the most dangerous, the most unimaginative when we only seek ourselves and our own benefit.  It is in the service of others that we ultimately find ourselves.  When we find ourselves, we find God... not the other way around.