Time Machine

A time machine would be a wonderful tool. We could use it to undo many things in the past that we regret. We could use it to better our world, ourselves, those around us... but it can't exist...

Why?

From a physics perspective, some physicists believe that we are 3 dimensional beings, existing in a 3 dimensional world, able to experience in 3 dimensions, with just a touch of a 4th thrown in. That 4th dimension is time.

The way in which time works in this theory would be similar to a river (not the water in the river, the actual river itself). The river exists as a continuous stream from beginning to end. All aspects of the river are present. Our experience of this river would be as a rock embedded in the riverbed. We would experience the river constantly changing and moving around us, and it is, however the actual river itself exists as a whole at all times, only our perception of the specific river in our surroundings changes.

This means that our perception of time determines our experience of it. Time itself is not a linear concept, however we perceive it as such. This in turn determines our conception of time.

So, we can't change the past, the present or the future... A very interesting argument indeed.

From a spiritual perspective I like this theory with some reservations. I do agree with the theory that time itself exists outside the human perception and that all aspects of time exist simultaneously (that is, that in reality, past, present and future happen at the same time), however it leaves me wondering about the importance of perception in determining reality. If something is perceived in a certain light, does the perception of it alter it's reality? The same argument that Heisenberg made modified. You can determine the speed of an electron or it's position in space, but not both... Your perception of the electron in terms of discovering it's speed alters the reality of it's position and vice versa.

I wonder if the same can be said of time? Time exists in a single continuous stream, but my perceiving time as this moment must in some way alter it...

I can't know, all I do know is that my perception of time tells me it's limited and a precious commodity that I have only a very limited amount of.

Let's take a moment to think on that.

Physics

As some of you may know physicists at the Large Hadron Collider recently discovered probable proof of the Higgs-Boson!

Great news, any scientific discovery is an important one but this one ties together so many things about the universe... Except it doesn't. The discovery wasn't a perfect one because there were some slight differences between what was seen and what was expected. In a nutshell, we cannot explain the entirety of the universe(s) yet. This may also mean that there may be more than one universe... An interesting concept.

Why talk about this here? Well, religion tells us that the true scope of creation lies far beyond anything we could even begin to imagine... and that refers to only the creation of God, not the Creator.

We will never fully understand and transmit everything, we are probably incapable of it - partially because we are limited in our abilities to articulate and understand and partially because of our innate curiosity and inability to stop. Human beings will never stop trying to grow and because of this, God shall not stop creating.

This leads to the crux of this message today. Some believe that when we discover some phenomena, that moment is when God has created it. Others feel this idea is ludicrous, but it may hold some weight.

Looking at the Higgs-Boson, it is almost like an author saw an opportunity to add a plot twist into a perfectly convenient story. It was perfect. Einstein discusses relativity, if we believe the universe follows a set of laws, that will lead us to the truth, we keep following this path making amazing discoveries... only to find that the set of laws are not fixed. There are a vast multitude of laws and ours...? Ours is an extremely unlikely, rare possibility. One of an almost infinite number. Every law we followed wasn't the truth because the real truth lies beyond all laws, all belief, all understanding.

The truth is beauty. An incomprehensible concept, one that we can't sandbox into the rules of science or religion or even of the universe. The truth is art. Something purely creative, chaotic and ordered at once.

My memories

I was recently thinking about my earliest confirmed memory.

It's an odd one. I now know that I was about 3.5 years old. Prior to this moment I had three small, short scenes I recall, however whether those were a dream, false memories or real ones I don't know. This memory is different, from this time onwards I have a steady, unbroken stream of memories.

I was standing in front of the mirror in my parents room looking at myself... That's it.

That's my first memory, while looking at a mirror and seeing myself, I suddenly realized that I was looking at "me."

It's an odd thing to really think about, at that specific moment, I believe I was first able to truly comprehend what an "identity" was, at least in my simplistic way. I realized that there were discrete pieces of existence in the universe and that I represented one of these discrete bits.

Looking back at it, it may also have been one of the saddest moments of my existence...

Some mystics have claimed that God is separated from the human soul by an infinite number of veils. They go on to say that God has allowed the veils to come up, but He has not created them - we have.

Through our sense of self, through our ability to discern that there is a difference between "I" and "we" we find a double edged sword. On the one had, this ability lets us fulfill an important role, as the Qur'an says, we are all "vicegerents of God on Earth" which means we are here to represent God and care for all creation. On the other hand, this role we have taken on grants both intellect and separation.

As Rumi says, we are like reeds separated from the reed bed - we long for the source. If we are separated for long enough, we continue to feel incomplete, but we no longer truly know what to do to feel complete. We lose that connection to the reed bed until eventually, our mournful cry becomes less mournful, we begin to forget what we have lost and look to the world around us to fill the separation within our souls... unsuccessfully.

Coming back to my first memory, this moment was my moment of personal attainment. I began to become a person, I became an individual, but my longing for my reed bed continued and continues to this day... This was the moment (as close as I can tell), when I was looking into that mirror, when I realized who I was, that I forgot who God was.

Pushing the rocks!

There is an old story about a man who is asked by God to push a rock.
The rock is large in size, but the man tries. He pushes and strains... no movement.
The man puts his back into it. Bears his might... no movement.
The man puts every ounce of strength he has and pushes. Then when he can push no more, he takes a minute to rest and tries once again... still, no movement.
Finally God returns, and the man apologizes. "I'm so sorry, I just could not move the rock."
God smiles at the man and tells him, "I didn't ask you to move the rock. I asked you to push it."

This short story contains a great deal of wisdom... Many times in our spiritual journeys, we find tasks that are exceedingly difficult. For me, one of these difficult tasks is finding the time and will to wake up early in the morning to pray on a daily basis. Extremely difficult for someone who is a self-professed night owl. Considering that some nights I fall asleep when I'm supposed to be waking up to pray, it's a hard task, and one that I'm still working towards doing. However, I know many others who are similar of temperament who have completely given up. They see the size of the rock and say that, "since it's way too big to move, there's no point in trying at all."

I would venture to say that at times, we aren't trying to change our surroundings. At times, we are supposed to change ourselves. If a person strains and pushes at that large rock for enough time, they'll notice a change within themselves. The muscles that they are using will grow stronger, their sense of patience and time will change. They may never move that rock, but maybe they're not supposed to... Maybe there's another, smaller but more important rock that they are supposed to move, and this big rock is just preparation for that task...

We struggle in aspects of our lives because it is necessary. Not everything can be, or should be easy. At times, things must be difficult because we are meant to grow with the experience... There may never be anything we can do about the large rocks in our lives, maybe the obstacles we face are not meant to be overcome, however, the attempt to try... That's where our humanity comes in. Throughout our history, we have never failed to at least attempt the most challenging of tasks.

Back to pushing the rock I go, are you coming?

The Nature of Evil

Evil is a strange concept.

We know it is the opposite of "good" but what exactly does "evil" constitute?

There are some actions, thoughts and intentions that most human beings can agree are "evil" at their core, but even this is problematic... Because evil requires a confluence of actions, thoughts and intentions.

If someone performs an action that is heinous but had no negative intentions, is this an evil deed or simply an accident?

Similarly, if someone thinks something terrible but does not act upon it, does this constitute evil?

What if someone has negative intent in an action but no harm comes of it?

The answer to the above would often fall into the gray area of uncertainty that makes most of our lives, things are not black and white... but for many people the final of the above scenarios is likely the worst. If one has negative intent towards another and means them harm - even if no actual harm occurs - this seems worse than the others.

The world has been made to exist with poles and polarity, for every positive there must be a negative, and between the two there lie varying degrees of each. This is because the world is by nature subjective. Everything that exists must be perceived to exist to exist. By this I don't mean that I subscribe to the naive belief that things outside our perception do not exist, but they cannot exist for us if we don't see them.

If there is a major conflict on the opposite side of the world, unless I make an effort to see it or discover more about it, or it makes an effort to make itself known to me - it doesn't exist for me. It obviously exists for the people living it, but we all have bubbles around us that shelter us from what is outside our perception. What happens elsewhere to all intents and purposes, simply doesn't exist...

Maybe that's the true nature of evil...?

Maybe evil is ignorance... maybe that's why it is impossible to eradicate evil from this world and why it is so pervasive. When another is suffering and we do nothing, that is wrong... but when another suffers and we don't even know of the event... that's a more subtle flavour of evil.

It's impossible to know everything, that's a given, a person cannot be expected to know of all the harm happening to every person, but, not making an effort to try to inform oneself is wrong. Passing by a crime without taking some action (be it calling for help or reassuring the victim after the fact) is wrong. Speaking out about one form of violence while blatantly ignoring another is wrong. The point is to make oneself aware of what is out there and to try and help... and if you feel helpless to do anything... then pray. Prayer is the least and the most that you can do to help someone in need.

There will always be more ignorance than knowledge in the world, ignorance like knowledge spreads easily from person to person, but ignorance cannot stand in the face of knowledge. Let us all try to think critically and interact with information we are given, look outside the facts to find the truth. That is possibly the only way to make a small impact on evil in this world.

After all, the "good society" the Greek philosophers spoke of is today known as our "knowledge society" isn't it?

Let's talk

There are many news articles out there that talk about religion... Perhaps rightly so, many news articles talk about views held by some Muslims that are misogynistic, racist, prejudiced, condescending, snobby and a host of other adjectives.

It is very difficult to defend against these perspectives, because they are truly held by co-religionists of mine. Some Muslims do carry these perspectives as do some Christians, some Atheists, some Hindus, some Jews, some Buddhists, etc... but the thing of real concern to me is found below the articles, in the comments. More and more often, in more and more diverse sources I find people who are frankly, quite reasonable holding views such as "Islam's values [being] incompatible with those of Canada," or the rejection of "Shariah Law" (which by the way is preposterous, in Canada the only law that can exist is Canadian Law... According to some definitions of the word "Shariah," it refers to the way in which the world and universe are ordered... by this definition, everything must live by Shariah Law, besides this definition, there is no other threat of any other set of laws coming into Canada, I would personally fight against any laws that I felt were unjust or impinged on anyone's rights).

These opinions and comments are disconcerting because they carry some truth to them. Why are there so many Muslims who carry radical perspectives? If Islam is a religion of peace, then why is it surrounded by war? What kind of backwards people follow a faith that subjects women to such hardships and makes people into suicide bombers?

There are so many ways to answer these questions, but no one will listen. You can shout from every rooftop in every city, yet people will still ask, "Where are the moderate voices of Islam?" The moderate voices of Islam are in your everyday life, in the Dentist who works on your teeth (okay, fine, I get it - you hate dentists, it doesn't mean they're out to get you), in the cab driver who takes you home after a long night, at the checkout of the Walmart where you get groceries.

Just asking for moderate voices is not enough. People in society have to listen to the voices all around them. People always ask, why aren't Muslims taking accountability for getting their message out there? I think it's a two way street. It isn't just up to Muslims to tell people that they have the same hopes and dreams and aspirations as anyone, it's up to those who are asking for answers, to listen to those answers. By, the way, it seems obvious to me that all people regardless of religion, race, creed, etc... hold the same basic desires. We all want what's best for ourselves and our families. How we go about doing this differs, but the basic desires are always fundamentally the same.

There are Muslims who carry radical perspectives, maybe there are more Muslims than Christians who carry these perspectives. Maybe it has something to do with socioeconomic factors. It can even be argued (I would say unsuccessfully) that there are religious differences that contribute, but just quoting lines from translated Qur'anic verses out of context (keeping in mind it's a pretty hefty book), without any reference to who translated it, why they translated it from Arabic and the background of what the translator wished to accomplish doesn't do much. The Qur'an can mean anything anyone wants it to mean. It's meant to be allegorical and to have multiple meanings, and yes, some of those meanings can be taken in a very negative light, but the same can be said of anything that encounters the human mind.

There are many uneducated and ignorant individuals who are Muslim throughout the world... and maybe this can be excused, compare people living in Agrarian Muslim majority countries with Agrarian Christian majority countries (yes, you may have to go back in time a bit) and you'll likely find comparable levels of education about social matters and egalitarian ideals. However, those who live in a privileged society, owe it to themselves to learn more about a faith with 1.3 billion+ adherents before calling them backwards and ignorant. Who is more ignorant, the educated one who has books in front of him and refuses to read them, or the one who cannot read?

So, let's talk... and listen to each other.

The Life of Pi

The book "The Life of Pi," was an interesting work written by Yann Martel... Amongst the things I found most interesting lay in the way it was marketed as a book that will "make you believe in God."

Intriguing! It will convince one of the certainty of God? That's a book that I need to read... so I did (don't worry if you haven't read the book or watched the movie, there won't be too many spoilers here).

The book is actually a lovely piece of prose filled with metaphors... and those metaphors deal with belief.

In the novel, fantastic events happen to the protagonist and at the end they are explained in 2 ways, a "realistic way" and the way of "mythos." After reading this novel, most would agree that not knowing the truth of events, we would all wish for mythos over "reality"... and that is the genius within this book.

The metaphors within it act to point out to us that there are multiple ways of interpreting and explaining phenomena we perceive... Our many holy books and scriptures often sound fantastical and "unrealistic" to some, however that does not mean that they are false accounts. Oftentimes, metaphors are needed to explain reality. Sometimes reality is too harsh for the human mind to accept or want to accept, sometimes reality makes less sense than fantastical metaphors, and sometimes we just want to believe in a perspective which allows us to live in our world happily.

If given a choice between believing that we are always loved by a supreme being who has created everything, and believing that the world is an empty place created by random chance, where thoughts, feelings, emotions have no life beyond our own, where there is no true purpose, no true meaning... many would choose to believe in the plan... we are wired to want to do so.

But this wiring points us towards something... Why are we "wired" to want to believe? Is it some psychological flaw in the general human psyche, or is there truly something inside of us that wishes to tell us something deeper exists? What about the spiritual experiences of thousands of years of collective memory where we have had individuals who have "experienced" God?

We can never know the truth with our limited minds, however we can choose to believe in whatever we want to. As in "The Life of Pi," in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, I choose to follow what the metaphor of my very existence shouts out to me. I believe!